13-15 Desert Dolphins return from the 2010 West Zone Championships

The 13-15 Cars Routine returned Sunday from Seattle where they participated in the 2010 West Zone Championships.

Besides having tons of fun the girls placed 5th in Trio, 18th in Duet and 9th in Team.

Great Job Ladies!

AZD Swimmers featured in Mesa Independent Newspaper

It's always a special day when AZD athletes are featured in the news.

This week the 13 & Over athletes from the Arizona Desert Dolphins were featured on the front page of the Mesa Independent, and a regional story will debut later in the month.

The story was about City of Mesa pools and fees, and the newspaper wanted to get some athletes pictured that use the pools!

Check out the picture!

Did you know.....

Did you know the Coaches are available for private lessons?

If you're looking for a leg up on the competition, check with your coach.

Our coaches are able to schedule a private lesson with your daughter on Figures or Routines.

Private lessons are flexible with the coaching staff and offer athletes one-on-one attention. They are suitable for any athlete on our team and any level.

Sometimes athletes and parents prefer to do this individually, or in a group setting, with two or more athletes. When doing a private lesson with two or more athletes, it's still the same price, and you split the cost with your team mates.

Here's the private lesson rates:

Coach Lorette: $30 per hour

Coach Becky: $30 per hour

Coach Kendra: $30 per hour

Coach Katelyn: $20 per hour

Coach Sarah: $18 per 30 minutes, or $30 per hour

Individual Flexibility Stretch Session with Coach Becky: recommended $10 donation to team per 30 minutes.

Cheering at Synchro Meets

Who would have thought there would be so many guidelines to cheering!!!

Well, during a synchro ROUTINE competition, cheering is highly encouraged. In fact, it actually looks bad upon a team that doesn't cheer. (There is no cheering during the figure competition).
We're super lucky, because we have the largest team, therefore, our cheering should be the loudest!!

Perhaps the most important thing to realize, (and I believe this goes for most things in life): when you hear cheering for you... it spurs you on!

The girls are swimming hard routines, and when they come up out of the water and hear cheering, it renews their energy and their spirit. Think about something hard you've done. Maybe you ran a race recently. You're getting to the end, you're literally pooped, and you can't find the energy to finish the race strong and fast. Then you come around the corner, and BAM! people are cheering! Suddenly you get a kick of adrenaline to finish the race strong!

Cheering goes a long way! I promise you! When the girls come up and hear you, see your smiling faces and waving your flags they'll feel incredible. How can they not smile, (which is required in competition) when they see your smiling faces!

Elizabeth Cluff is our new Cheer Captain! She has graciously taken on this task for us.

At the competitions, she'll be following the routines and whenever one of the AZD routines is about to swim, she is going to round up all the athletes and parents, remind you to grab your flags we made and CHEER!

Here's the guidelines to follow:
Make sure you are not seated directly behind judges when you cheer. It's very distracting!

Make sure your cheering is not a high pitched squeal. (Lots of little girls do this...)

Please refrain from saying a girls name while cheering. For example, please don't cheer, "Go Becky, you rock!!" I do love to hear that I rock, but saying names while girls are competing is not appropriate.

Cheering should take place for most of the routine. But especially when girls just complete a difficult or long hybrid, whenever something has been done well, and after highlights like lifts and throws.

You don't need to cheer when girls are under the water unless something was spectacular. They can't hear you, so it's best to wait until they surface and can.

We always encourage our parents to sit together to promote team unity. This meet, we will set up in a different place than at the one in Jan. We will be setting up on the building side of the pool, (opposite of the covered bleachers). There will be 3 tier bleachers there, and we're asking that parents that have canopies bring them. We are hoping to line our canopies over the bleachers for the parents to sit under, and then use more canopies to put directly behind the bleachers for the girls and their stuff. That way all parents and athletes are together, and we're all shaded. The team has a few canopies, and we're hoping that we can get 2 -4 more brought to the competition. We have over 50 athletes competing, so we need lots of canopies! Please let me know if you have one that we can use.

Thank you all for reading this and making an effort to cheer for all AZD routines. And thanks to Elizabeth for taking this task on and rallying up our troops!

It's going to be a great competition! It's a great week to be a Dolphin!!

The Coaches

Parent Meeting tonight!

Parent Meeting tonight: 6 pm at the pool.... you won't want to miss it! We are unveiling our Daddy/Daughter Craft!!

See you there!

The Coaches

FOXY Ladies Endurance Swim, Synchro and Strength & conditioning BOOTCAMP.....

Join us T/Th from 6-7 pm and Sat 8-9:30 am.

This camp will continue until Feb 27th.

New camp begins March 1st-April 28th

$30 USSS one time registration fee and $35 camp fee.

Total-$65.

Print out the registration material (link on the side)

Mark the $30 booster box.

Come to Brimhall Pool- Higley and Southern.

YES! Its heated.

I'll even teach you to swim if you can't.

questions email- swimmingmom888@aol.com

Workouts- (endurance workouts taken form http://www.crossfitendurance.com/

T/TH 6-7pm- 5 min land workout. 40 min endurnace swim/skill work. 15 min synchro.

Sat 8-9:30- 25 min land workout. 30 min endurance swim/skill work. 30 min synchro.

What a great Synchro Week!

Hello Desert Dolphin Family!

We had a wonderful week this week!

I hope everyone is looking forward to a great weekend and a fabulous week next week!

Rec/Divas Parents: Don't forget to check the blog for a "Knoxing 101" video! It will teach you all the necessary steps to knox your athletes hair, and give you a list of supplies!

Practice CD's were distributed, however there are only a couple of girls who didn't receive theirs. (Coach Becky ran out of discs!)

But, have no fear, the girls will receive them at practice on Tuesday, or please feel free to stop by Brimhall tomorrow from 7-11 and you can pick it up too!

Last thing.... don't forget to start working on your dads! Our Desert Dolphin Dads will be performing at our watershow and their practices will begin soon!!

Have a great weekend!

First Parent Meeting of the Year

Tonight!!

See you at the meeting!

6 pm in the classroom!

FOXY Bootcamp

The next FOXY ladies Bootcamp is coming.....
Workouts are for ALL levels.
There is always a option for beginners to competitive athletes.


Jan 4th-29th Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday
ONLY $29 if you already have USSS membership!
$59 if its your first time ($30 USSS registration is required)
THIS IS A SMOKING DEAL....
T/TH at 6:00- Crossfit land workout and endurance swim. Usually combined.
Sat 8:00-9:30- 90 min bootcamp consisting of 30 min land, 30 min endurance swim, 30 min synchro
Free noseclip if you pre-register!
email swimmingmom888@aol.com or becky@azdolphins.com to register
Please print out this registration document and bring to the pool. You are registering as a booster.  This allows you to swim at any AZD practices and are covered by USSS insurance.

All workouts will be emailed to participants the night before or posted on Facebook (follow "swimmingmom" or "Sarah Williams")

Mommy and Me Craft Day

Our Craft Day is coming up this week! We are looking forward to another great night.

Thursday Dec. 3rd from 5:30-6:30pm.

Our craft night is an opportunity for the girls and the moms to get together and get to know everyone a little better, AND make some great AZD crafts!

All swimmers will be participating, so it would be great if all swimmers had someone to accompany them. (Mom, Grandma, sister, aunt....).

If you are not interested in doing the blinged up crafts, (cost associated), there will be three free craft items for the girls to make.

This year, we BLINGING up some apparel!

We have rhinestone transfers, all you need to do is bring a shirt, pants, pillow case, or tote bag.... anything you can think of! (Attached are a couple ideas of what you could make).

Here are the prices for the transfers:

I Love Synchro: $4

Dolphin Mamas: $5 (We want as many moms as possible to get this one!! That way we can wear them to the competitions and show team spirit!!!) Remember... our dads have shirts from last year... this year it's mom's turn!

Dolphin: $2

AZD: $3

Arizona Desert Dolphins (words only): $4

Arizona Desert Dolphins with Logo: $5

Logo only: $3

We also have lots of Non-synchro rhinestone sayings, perfect for a sibling, grandma or gift for someone:

Twinkle: $3

Believe: $3

Grannylicious: for that super chic grandma out there!!: $3

I love Cheer: $4

I love Dance: $4

If possible, we need pre-orders to cut down on time the night of. Most of the transfers will need to be made ahead of time. You can bring your apparel, and money for the number of transfers you'll be buying.

If you aren't able to find time to purchase your own item to bling up, AZD has a small selection of shirts you may purchase from us. I would contact me right away to see the sizes we have to make sure we have one that will fit your needs.

It's going to be lots of fun and we can't wait to enjoy the night with you!

Parent Meeting: This Week!

Don't forget the parent meeting this Thursday at 6pm in the classroom!

This will be our last parent meeting of 2009!!!! You won't want to miss it!

We'll be discussing MANY things, including the Holiday Cottage and the upcoming meet!!

Competitive Team Parents: we will have a meeting immediately following the Parent meeting, with just the Competitive Teams.... 6:30-7. Please plan on staying for this part.

Nov 7th will be a FREE class and we will have a class the 19th also!
We need a HUGE turnout to these classes...so we can be famous!
Come to the first class to see why!
scroll down for a detailed class plan.
Check this out..... Whoever Recruits the most FOXY ladies to the class will get a *BLINGED* out T-shirt!
Sign up is the first day. Bring you $ and we'll have you fill out some paperwork.
scroll down for a detailed class plan

OSU (Overall Champions) Synchro 2009 US Nationals B team

We'd LOVE to welcome Kendra Sollars to our team!
Shes recently graduated from Ohio State where she swam collegiate synchro for 4 years.
She's going to be coaching all of the girls and sharing lots of great knowledge with us!
This is a video clip from the US Nationals Swim, where they were overall champions.

SYNCHRO MAMA'S BOOTCAMP!

-30 MIN Bootcamp with a certified Crossfit Trainer. Sarah Williams

-45 min Synchronized swimming and laps.

Brimhall Pool

6 weeks. Saturdays 8am-9:15.

November 5th - Dec.12

Cost- $59 (**includes USSS membership)

This camp is suitable for all levels. General public welcome!

Sample workout-

LAND- 10 min light cardio workout. 20 min intense cross-fit workout.

(scalable to ANY level).

15-25 min lap swimming.

20-30 min treading water, sculling and basic synchro skills.

(floatation devices ARE available)

Supplies needed- practical swimsuit, cap, goggles, optional- noseclip.

*if you already have a USSS membership this camp and following camps will be $49.

Sign-up at any Desert Dolphins practice or email

becky@azdolphins.com

Look hard...they are on the poles! Kids should be able to do things like this. Great climbing ladies!

Coach Sarah climbing up the pole, why not?

13 and up working on kipping pull-ups. Pull-ups make for strong swimmers!

Wow, nice ladies....this was a lot harder than it looked on TV.

We won't be posting workouts online anymore, we want you to be surprised when you come to practice! Check back for pictures though!

Learn how to do Frog Stands/ Crane Pose

Hey kids! We're working on a Dolphins Crossfit kids blog so you can see all the Wods and pictures of yourself! Stay tuned, its coming soon.

Gymnastics work for this week.....
Crane Pose and work with the yoga chair

Do The Crane Pose LIVESTRONG.COM

(click on link for instructions)

This week we'll be learning THRUSTERS!
This exercise will give you stronger legs for egg beatering and shoulders for sculling!
I'm so proud of the girls and how quickly they are picking up these complex movements!

Saturday....

WOD-

Kettlebell fun!

and...Your going to love the skill work from Born to Run.

Tuesdays workout!!!

We had a super time today doing an obstacle course! The girls were great! They put forth a lot of effort even thought it was HOT outside. The pool felt great later on.

Back handspring tutorial

Japan at Beijing Olympics.
Tues WOD- 2 rounds -obstacle course for time! (this is really fun, bring shoes!)
13 & over- Crossfit kids skills test. We will compare in a few months.