CBAC PARENT'S NEWS
February 27, 2004

CBAC Swims into Spring….

Welcome back to all the returning swimmers and their families. This session promises to be another exciting one with the Championship season upon us and plenty of fun activities on the schedule. A special welcome to all the new team members – we look forward to having you on the team!

Championship Meets:
Maryland Junior All Star Championships – CBAC will be hosting the Jr. All Stars in Annapolis the weekend of March 12th through 14th. This meet is for all swimmers with times slower than the 2004 Maryland All Star Qualifying times. Please go to the team Website for swimmer and parent volunteer sign-ups. CBAC needs your support to make this another successful team fundraiser!

Maryland All Star Swimming Championships – The State Championship Meet will take place at the Naval Academy from March 18 through 21st. Qualifying times are posted on the Maryland Swimming Website (mdswim.org). CBAC has a large group of swimmers who have already qualified, and participants in the Jr. All Star Meet who achieve a qualifying time in an event will be eligible to participate in this State Championship. Good luck CBAC Swimmers!

Eastern Zone Sectional Championships – Good luck to Trey Ruefle, Eric Skrabacz, Eric Pinno, and Will Richards – CBAC’s sectional qualifiers. They will be participating in individual events as well as 2 relays from March 25th through 28th.

CBAC Swimmers Shine:
Our team practice venues are at Great Mills Pool and Spring Cove Marina. These facilities, along with the Base Pools, have allowed our swimmers to remain in the water since the closure of the St. Mary’s College pool nearly 2 years ago. Despite the lack of a permanent training facility, and the difficulties posed by having multiple practice sites, our swimmers have remained competitive and successful. Since the college pool closed in June 2002, 31 short-course team records and 27 long-course team records have been broken! Our swimmers at every level are achieving best times and meeting individual goals all the time. The team has remained consistent in size, around 100 swimmers strong, and we have added several new coaches. Just wait until we get into the new facility at St. Mary’s College – the sky’s the limit!!

Introduction of the Coaching Staff:
Head Coach Chuck Jacobs has been a swim coach for over 20 years. He has coached swimmers of all ages (preschool through masters) and has achieved success at the local, state, and national levels. Coach Chuck has been with CBAC since 1998 where he has reorganized and improved the swimming program, enabling countless swimmers to achieve success both in and out of the water. In addition, Chuck holds a position on the Maryland Swimming Board of Directors and is very involved with the activities of the LSC. With the help of his dedicated parent volunteers and coaching staff, Chuck has kept CBAC focused on achieving the very best for our swimmers.

Cindy Slattery coaches Levels 1 and 2 for CBAC. Cindy has extensive experience, including swimming on a USA team in Pittsburgh as well as in College and coaching for the Fox Chapel Swim Club in Pittsburgh. Cindy has been with CBAC since the fall and does a great job with our younger swimmers. Denise Buckley, a CBAC swimmer and lifeguard, is helping Cindy as an Assistant Coach for those groups.

Chuck Burghardt has worked with several groups at CBAC over the last 3 sessions, including Level 3. Chuck is a swimmer himself and coached on swim teams in Hawaii and Japan before coming to Maryland. He also has an extensive background in American Red Cross Training.

Porter Schiavone, our Level 3 Assistant Coach, is a student at St. Mary’s College and an accomplished swimmer. She coaches for the Winchester Swim Team in Virginia in the summer.

Assistant Coaches Eric Skrabacz and Trey Ruefle are senior swimmers with CBAC. They have nearly 20 years of swimming experience between them, have lifeguard experience, and are pool operators. They have been valuable additions to the CBAC coaching staff, especially for levels 1, 2 and 3. Eric and Trey have been training extremely hard in their efforts to attain National Cuts in this Olympic year. Everyone at CBAC will miss them when they head off to college in the fall.

Other Assistant Coaches for CBAC are Penny Branaman, Chuck Webb, Nora Burghardt, Mindy Johnson and Joe Askins.

Upcoming Team Events:
The Birthday Club – each month we will celebrate team birthdays at a Saturday practice. There will be cake after practice on March 6th to wish many happy returns to those born in March. Don’t miss it!
To the Movies – There will be a team movie event on Saturday, March 6th. Please watch the team Website for details.
CBAC Year-end Team Picnic and Awards Ceremony – Mark your calendar for the annual CBAC Picnic to be held on Sunday, May 16th on Base at the Beach House Picnic Pavilion. Details and sign-ups will be posted on the Website soon.

Communication:
Please do not hesitate to contact your swimmer’s Coach or any CBAC Board Member if you have any questions or concerns. The phone numbers and email addresses of Coach Chuck and the Board Members can be found on the team Website (cbacswimming.org). Each family has a folder in one of the file-boxes, which are located in the Lounge at Spring Cove Marina. Escrow updates (swim meet entries) are placed in your folder at least once a month, as well as newsletters and other handouts. Please remind your swimmer to check the folder often. We will try to get the folders of the Level 1, 2 and 3 swimmers to the Great Mills Pool once a week. It is also important to check out the team Website on a regular basis. Everything from practice schedule changes and meet sign-ups, to team party information is posted there, as well as team contact information, swim meet schedule and meet notices, important links and much more. Check it out!!

BOAT FOR SALE
A 26 foot S-2 Center Cockpit Sloop was donated to CBAC. The sailboat is in excellent condition and is valued at $9,000. The asking price is only $6,000 and the proceeds will go to CBAC. Please contact Mardy Millen or Trevor Richards if you, or anyone you know, are interested in seeing the boat (located at Spring Cove Marina).

REMINDER – Volunteers are needed for Jr. All Stars!! We need timers, clean-up crew, program sellers, and more. Every CBAC family needs to participate in at least one session! Please sign up your swimmer and yourself on the Website as soon as possible (or contact Trevor Richards) to help our Club make this another successful fundraiser. (Remember, nearly 30% of total team revenues come from these home swim meets – your participation is crucial to maintaining stable swim fees for our team.)