Date	June 2006 Message Ticker  +++ Message Ticker +++ Message Ticker +++
06/28/06	Hi Tsunamis, for the social event on Sat. July 1st, PCST is providing the food (hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, dessert). For drinks,  PCST is offering bottled water. If you would like any other drinks you are welcome to bring your own. Please remember, you can sign-up for the social event until Thursday. FYI: Ansel is leaving the team by end of August and he is getting married. If you would like give him a message or do something funny for him Saturday would be the day to do it. Regards Mike
06/28/06	Hello my beloved Tsunamis! Some of you make take this as good news because it will provide momentary relief from my thousands of emails. :)   For the next week I am going to have very limited internet access which will make it tough to be in touch with me and communicate.  I may be able to get to a computer over the next couple of days while I'm still in town, but after Saturday I will not be near the internet until the following Wed. or possibly Thursday.  I am apologizing ahead of time if I am unable to return emails.  If you have something very important or critical that needs to be handled by me, then please contact me on my cell phone.  That number is (864) 508-2961.  Please, only call if you REALLY need me though because my cell phone bill was about $100 over last month and I'm sure all of you know how much you hate to see bills like that!  haha.  However, I have free nights and weekends.  :) I will be in Clemson getting a truck load of my "necessities" because I will finally begin settling into my own personal residence when I get back.  I want to thank Dom, Debby and Victoria Hove for being so incredibly kind to me by opening up their home in a time I really needed it.  I have noticed that PCST is full of absolutely wonderful families and I want you all to know that you are providing a great atmosphere for this kids to learn, improve and make some great accomplishments.  Keep being the great people you are and this team will go very far! This Saturday, July 1st, we have a team social at Frank Brown Park at 12:00.  All of you should be well aware of this by now, so please sign up and come have some fun!  Practice will be held from 10:00-12:00 just before the social if you would like to come.  (Some of you older swimmers don't have a choice!  haha).  Also, to clear up any confusion, the "family fun meet" that you received a flyer for a while back has been cancelled and will not interfere with PCST practice on Saturday. We have a lot of new families attending the Dothan meet and for you I want to say "WELCOME!"  I want this to be a great experience for the children AND the parents!  I will do my best to make sure you are informed for the meet, and the best way to start is to read through the meet information attached to this email.  Generally, I like our swimmers to arrive at the pool 15 minutes before the meet warm up so that we may get seated together as a team (tents, banners, etc.), and the swimmers will stretch together before hand.  Each swimmer is receiving a list of the events they will be swimming.  Please note that I have entered the swimmers in a lot of events.  In most cases your child will swim all races they are entered for.  However, in some specific situation, some swimmers will not swim an event if the coach feels they should not do it for whatever reason.  (Some reasons would be: child not able to swim stroke legally, child is not ready for the length of a race, etc.) Also, since we are taking a very good sized team, I want us to look like a team!  If you are swimming Friday 7th, please wear any PCST shirt you have.  On Saturday 8th, please wear your Grey/Silver PCST shirt and on Sunday 9th your Black PCST shirt.  Parents are encouraged to wear these colors too if you have enough shirts.  (Our parents looked GREAT in the stands at Auburn this weekend!) :) One last thing; I am hoping to send out an email to give our first time meet-going parents tips about making the meet an enjoyable experience for all.  However, since my internet exposure will be so limited the next 7 days, I cannot guarantee I'll be able to do that in time.  If that is the case, please ask around to experienced parents who will be able to give you some great tips and ideas. :) I hope this email finds all of you well!  If you are traveling for the 4th of July, please be safe and have a wonderful time! Catch the Wave! Jonathan
06/27/06	Tsunamis, this is a reminder of the social event that we have on Sat Jul/01 after practice at the AC pool. Coach Jonathan postponed his moving activities a little bit in order to attend that event. This is a good opportunity for a meeting with our new head coach. Please come all - and don't forget to wear the Tsunamis T-shirt to show support for the team. Greetings Mike
06/26/06	Hi Tsunamis, For upcoming meets we might be considering of chartering a nice bus. Other teams, like GPAC, do it and the swimmers like it very much. It surely helps fostering team spirit. If you would be interested please let me know. (We can figure out the cost once we know the # of swimmers participating) Should we decide to do this we would also need chaperons on the bus. So if you would like to volunteer for this let me know also. Catch the wave - and catch the bus! regards Mike
06/26/06	Hello my wonderful Tsunami families! Before I type out the Dothan meet entries I have so far, I want to say that this weekend was a tremendous one for the Tsunamis!  Unfortunately, we were split up at two different meets, however, I think that's just our way of making sure everybody gets a little bit of Tsunami love, haha.  I was at the Auburn meet in Alabama, and I must say that was a great experience for all the girls and families involved.  We had loads of best times from swimmers, a couple of new Southeastern Swimming Championship cut times achieved, and a lot of smiling and giggling faces. Although each swimmer deserves recognition, I'm afraid I'd type waaaaaaay too long if I went on about how great each one of them did.  However, I do need to point out that Kyle Olstad qualified for the championship meet with an incredible 100 breaststroke swim, and Laura Kearns got her 2nd SES championship qualifying time in the 50 backstroke.  PCST will be representing quite well at that meet with a TEAM! :)   I love it!  Also, Laura Kearns and Victoria Hove came home with trophies for placing very high in the 11-12 girls age group!  Well done Tsunamis!  I'm awaiting to hear the exact results from the ATAC meet, but I heard we had many great swims, including some overall victories from Kevin Faulhaber!  Great job everyone! Sign ups for the Dothan meet are looking good and I can already tell this is going to be a wonderful team meet for the Tsunamis!  Below is a list of the swimmers and days I have them signed up for in the meet.  If you signed up at GCCC, please note that there are events to be swum on FRIDAY, JULY 7TH, and if you want to sign your child up for that day too, please email me right away!  This is also a last chance for you to email me and sign your child up for the meet because I will be sending entries away tomorrow (Tuesday).  Finally, if you are swimming at the CLUB long course meet because your child is trying for an SES championship cut (or two, or three), please let me know asap so I know who's going and can sign them up. Okay, here's what I have for Dothan so far (the letters in () denote which day they are swimming) (email me immediately with changes): Cody Bronnenberg (F,S,S) Carson Bronnenberg (S,S) Drew Bronnenberg (F,S,S) Nathan Williams (F,S,S) Victoria Hove (F,S,S) Kyle Olstad (S,S) Emily Claveau (S,S) Matt Bryant (S,S) Josh Bryant (S,S) Jake Bryant (S, S) Cameron Lahren (F,S,S) Lane Mixon (F,S,S) Mikey Faulhaber (F,S,S) Kevin Faulhaber (F,S,S) Britt Bean (S,S) Dylan Dyell (Sat only) Kelsie Dyell (S,S) Nicole Gazia (S,S) Fallon Gelsleichter (S,S) Mary McDermott (S,S) Sarah McDermott (S,S) Nate Reyes (S,S) Sammy Reyes (S,S) Gunner Ellis (Sat only) Raven Ellis (Sat only) Devin McGrew (S,S) That's 26 swimmers, not too bad. :)   My goal was to bring 30 and get about 1/3 of the team to go, but we're getting close.  Maybe once these kids have a blast, word will get out about how much fun they have and our meet attendance will continue to grow.  Remember, Friday is available for racing and I know a lot of you don't realize that.  Please email me right away if you want your child signed up for the day, or if they aren't signed up at all and you want them to go.  Thanks a ton Tsunamis and as always, you'll be hearing from me again soon with more updates.  Hope everyone had a great weekend! Catch the Wave! Jonathan
06/25/06	Must Read: June 2006 PCST Newsletter
06/21/06	Hello Tsunamis! Whether you practice at the beach pool at Frank Brown Park or not, please pay attention: When you enter the pool, you MUST sign in first.  We are giving the people at the front gate a team roster and they have asked that you sign in before entering the pool area.  Please do not just walk in without signing in first. Also, parents who choose to stay for practice at the beach pool must stay in the area of the bleachers on the deck.  Only those families that are members of the facility or have paid an entrance fee may be allowed to use the rest of the facilities.  Otherwise, PCST families may only use the locker rooms and stay in the bleachers.  Even the nice umbrellas in the grass are rented out by facility users and must be paid for if we choose to sit under them.  The staff at the Aquatic Center has been very kind to us and I want to return that kindness by obeying their rules.  If you live in the area, I would suggest getting a year-round pass because it's a great facility and it would show our support to the new pool and facility. Okay...........on to Dothan meet hotel information.  Janice Bronnenberg from the PCST board has booked rooms at a couple hotels in Dothan so I'm passing along the info (Thanks Jan!).  I would like for the team to stay together, but you are more than welcome to stay wherever you like. Holiday Inn Express 334-671-3700 is $62.00 a night (pets are allowed) and there are 10 rooms booked for PCST.  Last day to book is June 30th. Best Western 334-793-4376 is $52.00 a night (pets are allowed) and there are 15 rooms booked for PCST.  Last day to book is July 1st. Fairfield Inn 334-671-0100 is $79.00 a night with a Marriott Rewards Card and there are currently no rooms booked for PCST. I hope this helps all of you who plan on attending the meet.  Remember you can sign up by sending me an email with your child's name, age (as of the first day of the meet) and days they will be competing.  You can also sign up at practice. Catch the Wave! Jonathan
06/20/06	Article in the News Herald about Jonathan Kaplan - Read here!
06/20/06	Hi Tsunami Parents, I want to make sure everybody knows how to sign up for our swim meets. We will have 3 ways for our parents to sign our kids up to meets.  First, you can email me letting me know you want to sign your kid up.  When you do that, please let me know the days they will be competing and I'll sign them up for particular races.  I'll speak with their coach to find out what events they should be doing, but generally they will get signed up for a lot of events and not just their favorites.  The only time we would sign up for fewer events would be a championship meet.  (This is because I want all of our kids to learn to swim all strokes and not specialize in just one or two). The second way to sign up will be a sign up sheet at GCCC and the third will be a sign up sheet at Frank Brown Park.  You can sign up for the Dothan meet until the end of this week. Here is a link to the meet information on the Dothan website.  (Just copy and paste it)  You can also access this through the "meets" section of our website (www.panamacityswimteam.com) http://www.dothandolphins.com/SwimFiles/MeetInvitation.pdf Our vice president, Rob McDonald sent this meet information out to the team already, so check your previous inbox for the information.  It will give you an idea of when the meet is, where it is, the events offered on each day, etc. etc.  Have a great day and let me know if you have any questions. Catch the Wave! Jonathan
06/20/06	Hello Tsunamis! My goal is to keep this short and to the point for you.  Be sure to check out The News Herald on Tuesday 20th because there is supposed to be an article about PCST in the sports section.  I was interviewed over the phone today and the sports writer said they will have an article in Tuesday's paper, so if you don't get the paper, get one at the store. :) There was supposed to be a full length story about PCST on News Channel 7 either Monday or Tuesday at 6:00.  If you're not at practice and happen to see it, try and record it if at all possible and we'll see if we can put a video link up on the website for everyone to see. I also want to make sure the team is fully aware of the upcoming schedule (especially with a holiday coming up).  Check the list below for schedules announcements: Friday June 23rd practice will ONLY be at the Gulf Coast Pool.  There will be no Frank Brown practice that day, but there WILL be Saturday practice at FBP the following morning. Saturday July 1st we have our PCST team social at 12:00 at Frank Brown Park.  You can come to the Family Swim meet and stay for the social. Monday July 3rd there WILL be available practice at the Gulf Coast Pool ONLY (no FBP) for those families still in town.  If you're here, definitely come by and get a good workout in because it might give the coaches a chance to give your kids some good fun individual attention. Tuesday July 4th there will be NO PRACTICE at either location.  Enjoy the day with your family and celebrate our nation's independence safely. :) Friday July 7th and Saturday July 8th there will be NO PRACTICE due to the Dothan swim meet.  Sign ups for the meet are coming soon so be sure to talk to myself and/or our other wonderful coaches about going to the Dothan meet and showing your Tsunami pride in a great meet.  I want this to be our team's first big step into the direction of really becoming a close team.  It's an incredibly fun meet for the kids (even the siblings not in the meet!).  Free waterpark admission to all swimmers entered in the meet and I've been told they even close the waterpark to the rest of the public so it's available to only the swimmers of the meet.  It'll be fun, so be sure to join in on it! :) Alright, that's all I've got.  Have a great day and as always..........Catch the Wave! Jonathan
06/18/06	Hi Tsunamis, there will be 2 local meets organized by Lori Beaver. attached are the meet information. July/1st - July22nd Please let her know if you will participate and also if you can help for stroke & turn and the timing system. Thanks Mike
06/18/06	Hellooooo Tsunamis and Happy Father's Day! I have some great news for you!  Although we had a small team this weekend at the Bluewater Bay Invitational in Niceville, we still came out great!  The Tsunami team, made up of Drew, Cody and Carson Bronnenberg, Jamie McDonald and Alecia Lowery, left the meet with their heads held high holding a visiting team 3rd place trophy.  I want to thank those families for all of the support they brought the team this weekend!  We may have been one of the smaller teams there, but we showed what a great team we are as our swimmers cheered each other on to many best times. I want to say that I'm very proud of all our Tsunamis who swam this weekend because it was a great experience for all of us.  For those of you who weren't there, you missed out! :)   Yes, it was a little hot at times, but what meet in Florida isn't, right?  Haha.  The best part about the meet, (besides our swimmers coming home with multiple ribbons, trophies and best times) was how much fun we had together.  I got to know our swimmers very well and they were able to get some great individual coaching.  And most importantly, they were able to really build upon the friendships they've been building in practices. I hope all of you are looking forward to being a part of this excitement and will attend the Dothan short course meet July 7th-9th.  This is a incredibly fun meet for the whole family where every swimmer entered in the meet gets free admission to the Dothan Waterworld Water Park!  I want the Tsunamis to have a tremendous showing in numbers at that meet so we can really come together as a team and family.  If you have children who may or may not be excited about competitive swimming but you want them to really get a chance to see what it's all about, then the Dothan meet is the perfect low-pressure racing situation that allows us to really be a "team" in a great racing environment.  Then, you can take the family to the waterpark afterwards and have a blast!  Please keep an eye out for entries to that meet.  This will be a great chance for you to really "Catch the Wave"!  (you know I have to say that at least once an e-mail!) If you check the attached article, you will see what I sent to the News Herald tonight.  Even if the sports editor doesn't put an article about the Bluewater Bay meet in the paper, at least we have our own short article to give recognition to the great swims we had this weekend.  (I also included individual swim results in my email to the paper in case he really wants to put together a great article). For those of you who did not know, Channel 7 News came to the Gulf Coast Pool on Friday to interview myself and our President, Mike Faulhaber, as well as get some good footage of the team swimming.  The Tsunamis were on the 10:00 news on Friday night!!  Every swimmer who attended practice on Friday at GCCC was on television! :)   Adam Roland from Channel 7 came by to do the interview and said he is hoping to put a "package" on for Monday or Tuesday night with a more in depth look at the team.  So keep an eye out for Channel 7 News at 6:00 for Monday or Tuesday.  This is another great opportunity for the city to see that PCST is on the rise, so if you like what you're beginning to see with the team then please pass on some of our great news to friends and families you know! Finally, this coming week marks the first week of some new great changes for PCST.  Our swimmers can look forward to seeing the same coaches on a consistent basis now. :)   I have designated coaches for each group as well as a designated coach for the Frank Brown Park location.  Right now I am still coaching practices for all groups and both locations depnding on the day.  I strongly encourage all of you to bring your kids out to practice these next couple of weeks so that they can have opportunities to get to know me and be coached by me, as well as begin establishing a great coach/swimmer relationship with their designated group coach.  A good coach/swimmer relationship can do things like build self-esteem in your kids, help them look forward to practice everyday, and start setting goals for themselves in swimming.  That goal setting will lead to great self-discipline, self-motivation and wonderful friendships with their fellow teammates. Also, I have established training schedules for each group and am working hand in hand with those coaches to make sure our swimmers are progressing with their fitness, skills and abilities.  To get the most out of what our coaching staff is offering, all you have to do is show up as much as you can. :)   This consistent training (even for the youngest child) will help them get in great shape, learn a lot of great things about the sport, and have a fun time doing it. For those of you who are still hoping to meet me soon, I will be at the Gulf Coast Pool on Monday and Wednesday this week as well as the Frank Brown pool on Tuesday and Thursday.  Friday I will be leaving for Auburn to coach 11 or our swimmers at the Speedo Inivitational.  Also keep an eye out for some great meet results from the ATAC Invitational in Tallahassee where we will have 5 swimmers competing. Once again, thanks to the great parents who supported our team this weekend at the meet!  (Especially those fathers spending their Father's Day at the pool).  Don't forget to sign up for the July 1st team social at Frank Brown Park following practice at 12:00.  This is a great opportunity for our kids and families to get to know each other outside of the pool and just relax and have fun together. Catch the Wave! Jonathan
06/14/06	Hello there my new Tsunami Family! (This may take a few minutes to read, I apologize for that!) For those of you who do not know me, my name is Jonathan Kaplan and I am the new Head Swimming Coach for Panama City Swim Team.  I have been fortunate enough to meet quite a few of you already and am really looking forward to getting to know all of you in the years to come!  As you can imagine, things are incredibly hectic and crazy for me during my first week in Panama City.  I apologize for not getting a first team email out sooner but I wanted to get partially settled into my week before doing so.  Here I am now though and I just wanted to share a few things with you that excite me about this swimming program and hopefully you will all continuously become more and more excited about how great this team and family will become! I've been fortunate enough to be a part of some very great swim teams and programs in the past and cannot wait to pass along all I've learned to our swimmers and staff, all while continuing to learn from and grow with them as well.  I grew up swimming with the Winter Haven Stingrays in central Florida from ages 6 to 19.  I had so much pride in my team, I passed up offers from my parents to go swim for Bolles in Jacksonville (a private school notorious for creating Olympians).  I want to create that sense of pride in PCST!  In college I was lucky enough to swim for and become captain at Florida State University.  That's where my love for coaching grew and I have never looked back.  I was a head high school coach at Lawton Chiles High in Tallahassee, a senior assistant coach with the Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club, Graduate Assistant Coach with Florida State, Head Coach of NCFY Makos in Gainesville and most recently Assistant Coach at Clemson University.  I've done everything from teaching private lessons, to working with summer league and age group levels, to coaching developmental and elite high school swimmers,  then most recently to coaching National, NCAA and Olympic Trial qualifiers. As most of you will come to realize, I truly do not like talking about myself like that, but I want you to get a chance to know me and understand where I come from in swimming.  I tell you this stuff because I have been fortunate enough to have found success in virtually every level of swimming and cannot wait to work with you on making PCST one of the most well-rounded and successful teams the Panhandle has ever seen!  My vision for the team includes a place for every type of swimmer while creating limitless opportunities for everyone involved.  I hope to do this by finding a way to make every swimmer on this team believe in themselves and realize that they are in fact capable of achieving greater things than they ever imagined. I understand this team has had a lot of inconsistency in the past, making it hard to achieve that level of success.  One thing this team has never been short on though is people who truly love PCST and will do just about anything to see the team succeed.  Hopefully times are looking brighter than ever now and this entire city will soon see all of the incredible life-lasting benefits the wonderful sport of competiive swimming can bring.  I see one's swimming career as a smaller version of their life.  There are so many ups and downs that teach you how to work hard for success, overcome failure, treat others with respect and believe in yourself.  Just like in life, you don't have to be the absolute "best" or "fastest" person/swimmer to have a successful swimming career.  With this team, I look forward to creating an environment where your kids will never want to leave the sport and will use all of those great life lessons as they grow older. To accomplish this, there will need to be changes, but I truly believe they will all be for the better.  Please understand that my decisions will always be based purely on what's best for the team.  I hope you look forward to more things like our team social on July 1st, and many other ways we plan to bring this team together as a family!  It will involve doing things we've never done and straying from the path PCST has used to for so many years.  Of course, I will bring details of what changes can be expected and when.  For now though, I want to encourage as much attendance as possible because your children cannot enjoy the great benefits swimming has to offer if they are not at practice.  :)   I am putting together a coaching schedule that will have coaches work consistently with the same group so they and the swimmers can build great swimmer/coach relationships, providing the best opportunity to build upon their improvement on a daily basis.  For these first few weeks, I will be "floating" around all groups and both pools to get the entire team familiar with me and my coaching style.  With great regular attendance, I will theoretically get to work with each of your children first hand initially and I cannot wait to do it! Thanks for listening and I look forward to meeting you and getting to know you!  Please feel free to e-mail me anytime at coach_jonathan@hotmail.com, and always check our website for team updates.  That's www.panamacityswimteam.com.  I'm sorry this e-mail is so long too!  I type almost as fast as I think and in case you haven't noticed, I have a lot I want to pass along to you. :)   So I'll go for now and leave you with a good quote that I stumbled accross last week in a chapel as I was hiking through the mountains in South Carolina.  This quote comes from "Pretty Place", South Carolina and it struck me as incredibly appropriate for my new life with PCST. "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go, instead, where there is no path, and leave a trail." CATCH THE WAVE! Sincerely, Jonathan Kaplan Head Swim Coach Panama City Swim Team
June/10/06	Hi Tsunamis, Coach Jonathan will start coaching on Monday, June 12, 2006. Here are his contact information for time being: Jonathan Kaplan c/o Panama City Swim Team PO Box 15651 Panama City, FL 32406 Tel: 850-872-6701 email: coachjonathan@panamacityswimteam.com regards Mike