You’re loading the car for an entire weekend trip to Louisville, Kentucky for the Lakeside Seahawks Invitational. You’ve got your hotel reservations, you programmed the directions into the Garmin, and your Sienna or Tahoe just got an oil change last week. Little Susie decides that now is a good time to mention that her goggles broke during yesterday’s practice, her cap melted in the dryer, and all her friends just got the ‘Sea Creature’ Silly Bandz that are way cooler than the dorky ‘Dinosaur’ pack she already has.

Luckily, you have options. You can either drive like mad to the local swim shop or you can just pick up some goggles and a cap from the meet vendor first thing in the morning. Do you know how that meet vendor got there? Do you know where they came from?

We’re from your local swim shop, we brought the store with us, and we’re probably staying in your hotel!

We’re at the meet (in the trenches just like you), adjusting Little Susie’s goggles minutes before her race. We’re your local swim shop, we’re parents and coaches and [former] athletes, and we’re here to help. Knowledge of the product is something you can always count on from a local swim shop.

Can’t get the goggle nose-piece to cooperate? Hand it over, we’ve done this a thousand times. Fallen behind in the polyester vs. Lycra debate? We’re your own personal Ask.com. We do this for a living, and stay versed on the changing product line so you don’t have to. You don’t need to dig through anonymous product reviews online, just ask us, our kids swim too!

Let’s look back at the opening scenario: Little Susie’s last-minute crisis. Buying locally is always the quickest solution. This is where the rubber hits the road, and you walk away with what you need that same day. UPS and FedEx can do some amazing things, but I’ve never seen them put a cap on someone’s head within minutes of buying it.

Aside from knowledge and immediacy, local shops allow you to be a hand-on shopper. “I don’t like the feel of this material”, “These goggles are a little darker than I thought.” Get in there and get handsy!

We know all of our local teams, and we’ve got your best interest at heart. We can either help keep your team on budget, or glitz up your swimmers with custom spiritwear and banners. We always give team discounts, coach discounts, and quantity discounts. We’ll even bring the gear to you and host your equipment night.

So let’s hear it for the local swim shop – the store whose brick and mortar will outlast the faceless competition. Let’s hear it for Kast-A-Way Swimwear, Kiefer, D&J Sports, All American Aquatics, NorCal and CAS Swim Shop – thank you for supporting the great sport of swimming in your local community!

Ok, so I’m just gonna do this like a quick news brief of posts worth saving: Try to read it all in one breath!

Cincinnati Wakeboarding Team Sets Guinness World Record – The Wake Nation Cincinnati Team recently set a Guinness World Record for the greatest distance traveled on a wakeboard in 24 hours by a team. The 10 member team covered 506.8 miles by doing 1,448 labs around Wake Nation

An article on The Swimmers Circle brought the story from Cincinnati.com to my attention. When Josh Schneider won the 50 yd Freestyle at this year’s NCAA Championships, he brought some well deserved attention to the University of Cincinnati with the team’s first national title since 1946.

Unfortunately, as previously announced by UC Athletics Director, Mike Thomas, all signed and current financial aid promises to swimmers and divers will be honored, but no new scholarships will be given out until the university is closer to balancing its athletics budget. Schneider compared the financial aid phase-out to “cutting off the blood to your heart… you’re going to die slowly” (source).

Schneider seems convinced that the program must reinstate scholarships in order to continue. He is further quoted in the Cincinnati.com article as saying:

“I think they will be able to get it back. I don’t know how long it will take. If not, they’ll have to cut it. They’re just waiting for it to implode.” (source)

Branden over at The Swimmers Circle brings up the argument about whether a team can support itself following a club model, or whether a scholarship cut is just the first step toward cutting the program. It seems the University of Cincinnati is in the unfortunate position of testing the theories. The nation will surely keep an eye on Cincinnati to see whether a program capable of producing national champions will fizzle without its blood supply.

I got an email from Sue with some information of local interest. She took the time to write a little bit about the induction of the Ursuline Academy 1991 State Championship swim team into their Sports Hall of Fame, along with some background on the nationally and internationally renowned coach, Frank Busch, who will be speaking at the event.

Rather than re-wording her synopsis, I’ll post what she wrote:

On Saturday, April 17th, Ursuline Academy in Blue Ash will induct their 1991 state championship swim team into their Sports Hall of Fame. What may be of interest to your readers is that the featured speaker will be Frank Busch.

Frank is in his 21st year at The University of Arizona and has a long history with Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Swimming. Many, many people in the local swimming community know and love Frank. Busch began a four year career with the Northern KY Piranhas (1974-1978), followed by a year with the senior program of the Cincinnati Marlins. He began his long service in the coaching ranks at the University of Cincinnati (1980-1989), where both teams broke into the Division I Top 20.

In 2008, Frank became only the second coach in NCAA swimming history to coach both the men’ and women’s teams to national championship titles in the same season.

Coach Busch has been named NCAA Coach of the Year six times and is an 11-time Pac-Ten Coach of the Year. In 1998, Busch was named Coach of the Year by both USA Swimming and the United States Olympic Committee. He has been selected by United States Swimming to serve on numerous coaching staffs, including the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.

Admission includes cocktails and heavy appetizers. For tickets and sponsorship information your readers can contact Sue Mackey, Ursuline Sports Hall of Fame Chair at 513-583-5614 or 884-4266.

Thanks for the info, Sue! If anyone else has some relevant swimming news, announcements, or press releases they would like to promote, email me at erict@kastawayswimwear.com. (Hint: If you write something in press release format, I can just copy and paste it).

Also, feel free to share links on the Kast-A-Way Swimwear page on Facebook.

In an unexpected report on Swimming World Magazine, a University of Cincinnati press release announced plans to begin phasing out financial aid for men’s swimming and diving as early as this fall.

Director of Athletics at UC, Mike Thomas, explained that all signed and current financial aid promises to swimmers and divers will be honored, but that no new scholarships would be given out until the university is closer to balancing its athletics budget. Once scholarships for men’s swimming and men’s track/field have been phased out, the university will be able to put $400,000 per year towards helping the department bail itself out of an unbalance budget.

Because of these questionable economic times, and likely due to the swimming community’s heightened fear of program cuts, the University of Cincinnati contacted Swimming World Magazine to emphasize a point: “We’re not phasing out funding for the men’s swimming program, just financial aid. The program will still be competing and funded.”

> Full press release on Swimming World Magazine
> University of Cincinnati Natatorium: Form vs. Function
> UC athletic site: GoBearcats.com

One of the most interesting pools in which I’ve had the opportunity to compete, is the Keating Aquatic Center natatorium at the University of Cincinnati Campus Recreation Center. The building was completed and opened in early 2006. The Campus Recreation Center, including the natatorium, were designed by KZF Design, Inc., working with internationally renowned architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis, based out of Santa Monica, Calif.

Campus Recreation Center at UC, Source: Wikipedia.org

The interior of the pool has an intimidating, angular feel–with sharp contours imposing from the ceiling and walls. The slanted ceiling makes diving spots and backstroke especially interesting. The pool itself is exceptionally well-made and adequate for competition. Overall this unconventional pool design works, and fits well with the collection of award-winning architecture found on campus at the University of Cincinnati.

Keating Aquatic Center, Source: GoBearCats.com

>The Miami University RedHawks Men’s Swimming and Diving program will take on the University of Cincinnati Bearcats tonight at 5:00pm @ UC

Source: GoBearcats.com, Wikipedia.org