Sunday, July 27, 2008
The temperature may have been hot at the Sterling Park Swim Club, but a heavy dose of Snow dominated the Old Dominion Swim League's All-Star meet on Saturday.
Of the nearly 700 swimmers participating -- all between ages 5-18 -- more than 250 were Snow swimmers. Regarded by many as one of the premier year-long swim programs in Northern Virginia, roughly 80 percent of the Snow swimmers went home with medals.
(For complete meet results, click here.)
In many heats, the real competition was between different Snow swimmers. Because teams are divided by region, representing local pools, the ODSL features many swimmers competing against their own teammates from the year-long or high school programs.
Snow swimmers Sophie Newton, 14, who competed for the Greenway Gators, and Caleigh Hensley, 13, who competed for the Brambleton Bettas were their own toughest competition in the 50-meter freestyle and 50-meter butterfly. They finished first or second in each of their races against each other, dominating the rest of their competitions, with Hensley taking the freestyle and Newton the butterfly.
"We’re good friends, as long as one of us won, that’s all that mattered," Newton said after her butterfly win.
"But we both still want to go out and beat each other," Hensley added.
ODSL All-Star Meet
Both Newton and Hensley are members of Snow’s highly competitive national program. Led by former Canadian Olympic coach Mike Pliuskaitis, Snow’s national program prepares swimmers to compete for college scholarships or the junior Olympics.
"If I can save a parent $100,000 in college tuition then I’ve done a good job," the five-time Canadian national team coach said. "But there’s only a select number of colleges that offer swim scholarships, but last year we had a kid go on to swim at Duke University that will get a Duke education and all that entails because he was a good swimmer."
He added: "In the early stages, its about fun. We try to develop skill and interest. Once those two things are there and both the kid and parent are ready, we go to work."
For parents, the commitment to developing better swimmers is every bit as challenging. With the majority under 16, parents spend hours chauffeuring their kids to and from practice twice daily. Despite the 4 a.m. wake-up call each day, few parents complain and some even see those efforts transfer into the classroom.
"I can’t tell you how great this has been for my daughter,” Caliegh’s mother, Lisa, said. All three of Lisa’s children compete with Snow and though their schedule does tend to dominate her schedule, she is happy reaping the rewards for her sacrifice. "My daughter gets straight A’s and takes all honors classes. She’s benefited from the discipline and work ethic that competitive swimming has taught her."
Piliuskaitis credits swimming for raising many of his swimmers grades throughout the year. "They don’t have that built in excuse, that 'I'll do it later mom' attitude, because they have practice later. They have to be disciplined, they have to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Five a.m. comes really early."
For Piliuskaitis, the day is one of great success. He brought a snow-cone maker to Saturday’s meet, giving out well over 1,500 in the first few hours. He also gave the winner of each event a new set of high-priced goggles, never asking for proof of victory, relying solely on the honor system. For each of his swimmers, he leaves his tent and stands on the scorching hot concrete just outside the pool. As dozens of other coaches, scream and goad their teams to victory, Pialiuskaitis watches silently, making mental notes on improvements for each swimmer.
After watching Newton and Hensley cruise to victory by several meters in the 50-meter butterfly, Pialiuskaitis turns and says to no one in particular: "Caleigh needs to work on her under water dolphin. Right now it's about a C, and Sophie needs to accelerate her hand speed at the end of her stroke."
He’s not worried though. He knows that there’s still plenty of time to get it right and that both girls have the desire and work ethic to do it. He even grinned a bit watching Sophie capture the 100-meter individual medley to close the competition.
"Usually I can find something to work on, but how do you criticize that?" he asked as Sophie touched the wall, meters ahead her closest competition.
Tagged: Old Dominion Swim League, Sterling Park, swimming, youth sports
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This is truly sad that 700 swimmers worked hard to get to this meet and this article focuses on Snow and two of their swimmers in particular. What team won? How about the winners of 3 scholarships that were given out? How about the league records that were broken? How about the swimmers who won their events that never swam on any team other than their summer league team? This article is a pathetic advertisement for Snow and not representative of the purpose of the All-Star meet.
Posted by green4us (anonymous) on July 27, 2008 at 8:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
How nice that the Washington Post gave a full article of free advertisement for Snow Swimming. Gee I guess the other roughly 500 swimmers weren’t even at the meet. What about the twin girls and the young man that received the ODSL scholarships for all their work and time with the SUMMER LEAGUE of ODSL. Yes a lot of these summer teams do have Snow swimmers but there are just as many kids that always bring home points for their summer team that are not Snow swimmers or attached to any US Swim Team. Why was there no mention of the winning team and the following second and third place teams?
Very disappointed in the final coverage of the ODSL season to be nothing more than free advertising for Snow.
Posted by xmscluvr (anonymous) on July 27, 2008 at 8:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Once again your staff has missed the point of the ODSL. There are swimmers from Snow Aquatics, true, but there are swimmers from Curl-Burke Swimming, and US swimmers from other clubs. There are High School swimmers and soon to be High School swimmers from every High School in Loudoun County, public and private. The ODSL is comprised of swimmers from the member community swim teams. The competition is between these swim teams. There are swimmers who do not compete, train, or swim at any other time of the year but May through August.
This organization is about the kids like Dustin Skyler, male recipient of this year’s $500.00 scholarship, who have competed since childhood at all levels of swimming and return year after year to contribute to a summer league. It is not about which swimmer some team or organization is trying to promote with repeated notices of their name or picture. It is about the coaches and assistant coaches (some paid, some volunteer) who give of their time to take kids from the age of 6 and teach them how to compete and be good sports. It is about the volunteers at each pool who make it possible to have weekly competitions. Wednesday meets require swimmers at pools by 5:00 for warm ups, Saturday morning meets require set ups starting at 6:00 AM. It is about Homeowner Associations which put up with late openings of the pool on Saturday and early closing on Wednesday. The rivalries exist between sub-division and neighborhood, not year round swim affiliation.
Very disappointed in your coverage .
Posted by dove1 (anonymous) on July 27, 2008 at 9:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
the story's narrative is focused on a coach, 2 swimmers and a parent, not a program. The girls deserve the attention they got, they dominated their competitions. The fact that one program represented 20% of the participants was an interesting story WITHIN the ODSL All-Star meet, not the story OF the ODSL meet.
Posted by jqcb (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I didn't realize this was a Snow meet, I thought it was an ODSL meet. How did 4 people eat 1500 snowcones?
Posted by swimfan (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 1:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The ODSL is a great idea for a developmental league, and it looks like they are woking hard to acheive that. It is unfortunate that SNOW seems to be using them as a vehicle to boost the roster of their mediocre at best USA Swimming team.
Posted by swimmerdc3 (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 1:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Shame on that coach to put two swimmers on a pedestal, when he has 248 other very talented swimmers of his at the meet who are seemingly ignored. How do you think the other Snow swimmers felt reading this article?
Posted by singintheblues (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 1:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"How do you think the other Snow swimmers felt reading this article?"
They probably felt inspired to do better.
Posted by foobar2 (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 2:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is ridiculous...you can't put 700 different kids in a single article...who would have the time or desire to read it. If you want to see the kid's names...READ THE RESULTS. I doubt the article was meant to slight anyone, you're arguments are not based on fact, but that your kids aren't the ones being written about.
http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/n...
Posted by jqcb (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 2:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To jqcb, in an article written about the ODSL All-Star meet, most people would expect to read about the highlights of the meet itself, not about a specific private club team and its 2 swimmers.
Posted by singintheblues (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 2:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
there were 700 kids...those two stood out among the rest.
Posted by jqcb (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 2:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I am the father of a Snow swimmer who is very embarassed by this article.
Posted by snoswmr (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 2:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
And my swimmer does not feel "inspired to do better" by this article.
Posted by snoswmr (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 2:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I concur with all of the contributed comments; this article is a deeply disappointing and not a representation of what the ODSL is supposed to be about. I’m saddened that so many deserving and hardworking swimmers were ignored in order to promote a business. What I and many others felt was even more insulting during the All Star meet was the lack of team spirit shown by the swimmers from numerous teams in the ODSL that did not wear their summer team suits but those of Snow (is they is mass coincidence)? It felt more like it was a Snow competition “Snow Day” against summer swimmers than a final ODSL event. Then to add insult to injury; the Post feeds into that frenzy and calls it a Snow event (was anyone else even interviewed)? A comment like “the real competition was between different Snow swimmers” was insulting to the many hardworking children that pour their heart and soul into the summer league. I understand these swimmers are good; they should be; they work at it year round but this is a SUMMER league not a podium to promote Snow and their swimmers. ODSL should not support any one year-round program as we have numerous very good swimmers from other organizations that wear their summer team suit and act like they are part of that summer team.
Posted by lbraxton3 (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 2:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The controversy and hard feelings generated by this article serve to prove that kids' swimming has gotten completely out of hand, as have most youth sports programs.
Posted by foobar2 (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 3:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
jqcb, to say that those two swimmers stood out among the rest is subjective and not based on fact. Looking at the meet results, I noticed other swimmers who had a larger time spread in their wins than the two swimmers glorified in this article. How about Stefanick who won by 4 seconds in the 13-14 backstroke?
Posted by brittney (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 3:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
WOW...what summer league team does Pliuskaitis coach? I dont beleive I saw it mentioned in the article about summer league swimming..and how is saving 100,000 dollars on college at all pertinent to the spirit of what summer league is and has always been about?
If you are going to do a story about ODSL, then make it inclusive of all the swimmers, many of who's goal is simply go a best time or learn to swim a stroke legally.
If you are going to do a story about SNOW, then make it be about SNOW..and while I am on the subject, be sure and include the names and colleges and scholarship amounts of ALL those swimmers who's parents he is saving 100,000 dollars.
Posted by zrobertson1966 (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 3:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I want to save $100,000 on college! I want to know the details too.
Posted by chadster (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 3:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I learned from the comments here that there were apparently 3 scholarships given out at this ODSL meet. How come that wasn't mentioned in the article? It seems pretty important to me that kids actually got scholarships from this meet. Being an outsider to the swim world, I just wanted to see what all these comments were all about. I agree with the postings above that Snow has no relevance to this meet referenced. It appears to be a greedy marketing ploy by their coach.
Posted by chadster (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 4:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
At the beginning of the summer league, the Post contacted me about doing coverage of the ODSL league. They asked many questions about the various leagues in the area, Colonial, and ODSL. Based on their research it was decided that they would cover the ODSL league versus the Colonial.
This article did not reflect the intent of what the writers at the Post had explained about covering the ODSL.
There are no quotes from the respective summer league coaches. This article did not convey who won the Championship for the 2nd year in a row nor did it have quotes from the Head Coach, Ms. Bev Kelley. Instead it quoted the Head Coach of SNOW who was not one of the coaches within ODSL. I also beg to differ that you can post results of the kids -- it's been done in many papers.
In reference to the comment related to the 13-14 swimmers who dominated the Meet; were these swimmers part of the team who won the title? I take nothing away from these two young ladies. If you want to do a "focus" article on the swimmers, make it about the swimmers and who they represent at the summer league. Mentioning their respective club team is not inappropriate but making it the focus of the article is.
Taking a quick look at the results: There were various kids who did very well: Cam Lucas, (2) 1st places, and one 2nd place, Michael Stefanick (2) 1st places, and (1) 2nd place, Nathan Pawlowicz (2) 1st places, and (1) 2nd place, Tom Casey, (2) 1st places, and (1) 2nd place, Will Brandt (2) 1st places. In reviewing the results, I do not see any swimmer who placed 1st in the maximum allowable three (3) events.
The ODSL is comprised of many levels of swimmers: whether they particpate with the USA clubs in the area, HACC, The Fish, Blue Waves, and CUBU or swimmers who just started to swim this summer, swimmers who swim for High School only,and swimmers that love the summertime fun!
The article from the POST is disappointing, and I hoped that an end of the season piece would capture the heart and soul of the entire league not be an endorsement for a private enterprise.
Kudos to all the swimmers, and the coaches who volunteer many hours.
Posted by kempawl (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 5:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sure sounds like a bunch of parents whose kids swim for another swim team outside the summer complaining to me. My kid swims in the ODSL - wasn't an all star, but had a blast. I think this article shows one side of the swim world and was pretty interesting. Can't understand all the complaining in the least. Congratulations to all ODSL swimmers, those who swam in divisionals, made the All Stars meet and those who won. What a great summer of swimming.
Posted by playingketchup (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 7:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
My kids swim in the ODSL because they have fun and they like to be with their friends. I did not like this article because I dont think it reflects the true spirit of summer swimming, which is to have FUN. I was disappointed that the article focused on competitive swimmers, rather than the majority that do it to have fun and make friends. I expected the article to be more of a season wrap-up than a Snow advertisement. I disagree that the comments sound like complaining parents of kids who swim for another team. I think the majority were just shocked at the slant of the article that was written.
Posted by chickfilet (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 8:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm responding to the comment made earlier "Sure sounds like a bunch of parents whose kids swim for another swim team outside the summer complaining to me". I'm not 100% certain as to what is meant by this due to the way it is written. If your intent is to state these comments are made by parents of children that swim in other year round programs then that's a cheap shot. I have three children in the ODSL league that do not swim year round and my wife and I find this article inappropriate. There are very legitimate complaints and concerns referenced here. I did not read any comments that stated either one of these girls did not deserve to be mentioned for their accomplishments; just that the content was suppose to be about the ODLS's All Star event and ODSL summer teams. There is not one single comment from any summer coach; no mention of the three scholarship winners; etc. In fact from what I have read here it appears the owner is not even a coach in the league! The entire article is about this Snow club and what a great swimmer you will be if you join his organization. I have no issue with the article itself if it were about year round swimming clubs. But this is suppose to be representation of ODSL. Personally I think the problem is far larger than this article based on the overwhelming presence SNOW had at the event. This is my third year in the League and I was a little shocked at how it seemed like a SNOW event when we arrived. I think the league itself need to reexamine their approach to dealing with year round sponsors. I don't fault the journalist; obviously he was advised that this was an appropriate venue from someone somewhere...
Posted by BLRBJ (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 9:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Parents these days are so overprotective of their perfect kids feelings every parent thinks their child is the end all and be all. No child reads a washington post article about a swim meet, well unless a parent shoves it in their face so that they can later say on some stupid blog that their kid feels bad. Get over yourselves.
P.S.
Dusty skyler the kid who won the scholarship swam on snowbird aquatics for multiple years. Looks like some people should do their research before posting negative comments on blogs.
Posted by SwimMore (anonymous) on July 28, 2008 at 10:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
In response to SwimMore: For someone who suggests that people do their research, why don't you research and tell us all why Dusty Skyler and so many other swimmers have left and are still leaving Snow? Also, no parent is saying that their child is perfect or that they are the "end all and be all." They are simply stating that this article should have been about the ODSL All-Star Meet, not about Snow Swimming. It should have been about the 700 swimmers who qualified for this meet, about the coaches who take time away from their families to coach these teams, and the countless parents who volunteer their time to help make meets like the All-Star meet run smoothly. Why is Snow Swimming more important than swimmers who received scholarships, which by the way will benefit them far longer than a snow cone?
Posted by happyswimmer (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 12:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The last comment has absolutely nothing to do with the comments and concerns I've seen expressed. If you actually read the first comment "green4us" it lays out the issues quite well. This was a article about ODSL and All Stars however that fact was lost in the content. Juvenile comments about parents being upset because their children were not mentioned is absurd. The point here is that ODSL was hardly mentioned. Through the entire article ODSL is only mentioned as "but a heavy dose of Snow dominated the Old Dominion Swim League's All-Star meet on Saturday", " 700 swimmers participating", and "the ODSL features many swimmers competing against their own teammates from the year-long or high school programs".
The remainder of the article goes on to talk about number swimmers from Snow, two specific swimmers, takes credit for the swimmers grade averages, how their child could win a large scholarship if they swim year round, how Snow provided free snow-cones and goggles, how he leaves the comfort of his tent to watch "his" swimmers (they don't actually belong to the summer teams, guess they are out on rent) and (the summner coaches were standing in the scorching sun too); stands calmly making mental notes as he watches his swimmers while the rest of the crazy out of control summer coaches scream and goad their teams to victory (most were cheering them on with words of encouragement). In otherwords this was a very slanted article promoting a business and it's owner. Many of the summer coaches do this because they enjoy the children and the sport and might I add without pay in some instances.
Most of comments expessed these concerns not that their child was not selected as a feature. Without all of these other children there would be no ODSL. The comment "Parents these days are so overprotective of their perfect kids feelings every parent thinks their child is the end all and be all" has absolutly nothing to do with the what was so completley wrong about this article. I guess it easier to sling mud and insults instead of dealing with the real issues. If one of the scholarship winners was part of Snow then that should have been mentioned as it was applicable to the ODSL ALL STAR Meet. Point in case this was not the SNOW All Star Meet.
Posted by BLRBJ (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 1:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
A $500 scholarship is not going to benefit a kid in the way that an athletic scholarship would to any school. Swimming(along with gymnastics) are forgotten as high school sports so the only way for kids to get that chance is through year round programs such as Snow Swimming. And the number of coaches, parent volunteers, and refs that have affiliations with Snow are overwhelming because without them this league would be nothing so be careful what you wish for when you say this league should reevaluate year round teams influence.
Posted by SwimMore (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 8:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Obviously a $500 scholarship is not as beneficial as a larger scholarship (whether athletic, academic, or something else). But lets face it, many youngsters going to college depend on lots of small scholarships for various things to help pay the big expense. I have not seen anything in the newspapers about Snow swimmers getting full rides to college. Can you give us any more specific statistics about this? Maybe I can be convinced that my youngster should swim.
Posted by chadster (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 12:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To SwimMore: For anyone to state that ODSL would not exist without Snow participants is beyond shallow and shortsighted. Obviously you are affiliated with Snow either as a parent, employee or friend of either. I have no doubt that ODSL will survive and function quite well whether Snow related individuals chose to participate or not. We have plenty of other parents; coaches and swimmers that will continue in the true spirit of what the league was originally created for. I can't believe you speak for all Snow parents as one individual commented earlier so I unlike you will not group everyone in your mindset and opinions. I will state for the record that I had very limited knowledge about Snow or other swim clubs prior to this article and postings and from what I have witnessed would not want my children to be exposed to this mentality.
Posted by BLRBJ (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 2:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Its not just getting money for college but using athletics to get into a better school than you normally could with your grades. Some of the top kids on snow from a few years ago did this. Some of the schools they attend now are a much higher caliber than what they would have gone to had swimming not supplemented their admission. They attend schools like Emory and Duke Just 2 examples.
Posted by SwimMore (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 2:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
SwimMore, I am just curious. Did those swimmers get full swimming scholarships to Duke and Emory? Are you saying that academically those swimmers would otherwise not have qualified for Duke and Emory?
Posted by chadster (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 3:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
As a Snow dad, I take offense to SwimMore's comments that parents are "overprotective of their perfect kids feelings" and "every parent thinks their child is the end all and be all." That sounds like a blatant generalization to me. I hardly think that is the feeling among most parents. Um, interesting that someone would assert that SwimMore is somehow affiliated with Snow. Why would someone affiliated with Snow make such a derogatory comment toward their own swimmers and parents?
Posted by chadster (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 4:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ah, SWIMMORE..Emory and Duke do not have swimming scholarships and unless you work for admissions at either of these schools, how do you know they would not have gotten in?
Look, swimming is a great sport on ALL levels and one that should be supported for what it is, not becauuse a coach holds out a carrot that says swim scholarship. Swim scholarships are very hard to come by unless you have a truley national level swimmer (and I dont mean being in a group called "national")if you have a swimmer that will have senior national/ot cuts by the time they are recruited, thats awesome but swimming is a lot of hard work for kids and should be appreciated for all that it brings to an individual. It should not be the means to an end,ie scholarship..if that is what you are looking for, its time to stop drinking the kool aid, you will be better off banking the 4000 a year in a college account.
What parents and coaches seem to miss in their persuit of the holy grail (scholarship) is that swimming is FUN especially at summer league..Summer league without the club swimming involvement gets kids into a wonderful sport and if done right, they will keep coming back every year.It is a great example of what being on a team and having fun can be. Its a shame that the true spirit was not conveyed in the article
Posted by zrobertson1966 (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 4:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To chadster: My reference to SwimMore being Snow related was based on statement of Dusty Skyler and no mention of him leaving Snow. The comment "number of coaches, parent volunteers, and refs that have affiliations with Snow are overwhelming because without them this league would be nothing" I would think someone involved with Snow either directly or getting this information from someone that is would have these details. The average summer swimmer has no idea how many Snow personnel are involved in ODSL. Heck most don't even know who Snow is (well now they do) and unfortunately the feedback I'm hearing is very negative.
Posted by BLRBJ (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 5:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Dang you swimmers sure do need to let off some steam. must be them 4am practices noone complains about.
Posted by chuck (anonymous) on July 29, 2008 at 6:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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