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FRIENDS OF
ARMY SWIMMING
AND DIVING |
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| Message from Coach Wender (Head coach of the Army Swimming and Diving Team): Dear Friends of Army Swimming & Diving,
I hope you and your families are enjoying a relaxing summer. As you
know, summer at West Point is far from relaxing. It's probably the
busiest time of the year. Cadet Basic Training, Swim Camps, Cadet Field
Training, swim meets, recruiting, and preparing for the season are a few
of the things keeping us all on our toes. So far everything is
progressing well and I know the best is yet to come...
Most of you know that my long-time assistant Kim Harada (we'd been
together for nine years) hung up her stopwatch and moved back west.
Replacing Kim is Jillian Wyrick, an enthusiastic and energetic young
coach who has worked at New Mexico State, Yale, and Hamilton College.
Jillian is no stranger to West Point - she was accepted out of high
school and her father (a '71 grad) was the captain of the football team.
She has hit the ground running, and I have no doubt that she'll do a
great job for us.
R-Day has come and gone and our new cadets are holding up pretty well.
We brought in a class of over thirty swimmers and divers who have the
potential to make some major contributions this season. They've been
doing well at mass athletics, and I can see them changing before my
eyes. The process is quite a roller-coaster, but as an outsider I'm
blown away by how quickly and effectively it transforms these young
people. "Those who stay will be champions."
I'm proud to say that we represented you very well at the Olympic
Trials. 2LT Jake Mentele (our new Grad Asst.) finished 23rd in the 200
breast with a time of 2:17.20 (he was seeded 40th with a previous best
of 2:19.24). Jake also went a best time in the 100 breast (TT) by almost
a second. 2LT Zach Disbrow also swam well. He came back to West Point in
December (after completing BOLC 2 and advanced training as an Armor
Officer) and went the second best time of his life in the 100 fly. The
event itself was quite a spectacle. USA swimmers definitely out-did
themselves.
The highlight of my summer will most certainly be our attendance at the
Olympic Games in Beijing, China, in August. Rising Yuk Stewart Glenister
earned the privilege to represent American Samoa, and I was selected as
the head coach of the team. We are both very excited to have the
opportunity to represent all of you on our sport's biggest stage. Look
for us at opening ceremonies on August 8th. I'll be the guy in the brown
Lava Lava (that's Samoan for skirt).
Our fundraising efforts are improving and I'm very grateful for all of
the time and money donated by many of our generous alums. Our most
recent gift was a beautiful set of new record boards for Crandall Pool
donated by the Bernstein Family. Currently, we are raising about $30K /
year to supplement our budget. My goal (and my bosses') is to double
that number soon. Some of my short-term fundraising goals are to raise
money for parkas, a new timing system and scoreboard, Dartfish stroke
analyzer software, and renovation/upgrade of the swimming Hall of Fame
at Crandall Pool. My mid-range goal is raise enough to hire an
additional assistant (to match the size of Navy's staff). Long term, my
vision is to endow the program and build our own facility (we all love
DPE but it would be nice to have our own pool).
Most of the cadets keep in close touch, and fortunately, I have nothing
but positive things to report. Just the other day, I received an email
from a former swimmer stationed in Afghanistan. She told me how much she
missed her teammates and what a thrill it was when one of them showed up
at her base the other day. It was just another reminder about how
honored I am to be involved in the Army Swimming & Diving legacy. I am
constantly in awe of the bonds and relationships that are formed on your
teams. Thanks for letting me be a small part of it.
GO ARMY!
Respectfully,
Mickey Wender,Head Coach Swimming & Diving USMA-West Point, 845-938-3604 phone, 845-938-5348 fax
mickey.wender@usma.edu" |
| Mission: Friends of Army swimming is a Non-profit organization dedicated to providing support to Army Swimming and Diving. |
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