GiveAways!!! - $50 Swim T3 Winner Announced

Like and Subscribe Competition Winner!!

Congratulations!!  The lucky winner of the $50 Swim T3 voucher is: 

Jan Hughes from Dunedin

Thanks again Swim T3!

Single Entry Passes for the Kohi Summer Swim Series up for Grabs:

To be in to win one of these entry passes make sure you register at this link: http://masterscrawl.wufoo.com/forms/z7x4m1/.

The winners will be announced around the 15 October.

For more info on the Kohi Summer Swim Series please visit their website: http://www.summerswim.co.nz/

NZMS Swimmers head to Las Vegas, Nevada, to participate in Slam the Dam!

According to the Open Water Pedia, Slam the Dam comes in at #29/100 of the top open water swimming races in the United States and is quickly rising in the ranks as a must-do event.

That is exactly what Dawn Walker, Giles Walker and Dan Feisst are planning to do! These three NZMS swimmers are heading to Las Vegas Nevada this week to participate in the 2.4 mile event taking place on 5th October.  Dawn, Giles and Dan, all live in Auckland and swim for South City Masters Swimming Club.  

Swim smart, swim hard and good luck! We are rooting for you!

The 2.4 mile is a clockwise loop and will begin and end at Boulder Beach in Lake Mead National Recreational Area.

 
The event Schedule is as follows:

6:30 am: Check-in opens
7:45 am: Safety Meeting
8:00 am 2.4 mile race begins

For more info on Slam the Dam visit their website:  http://www.slamthedam.com/index.html

If you are participating in an exotic or exciting event, please message us and tell us about it.

2013 Taupo Masters Brown Trout Spring Fling - 21 September 2013

Taupo Masters Swimmers hosted their 'brown trout' swim meet

on 21st Sept 2013.  It was a fun, relaxed, successful meet.

There was a good variety of short and long distance events,

two fun relays, and an awesome feed at the end.  The event

went very smoothly with the help of volunteers and the Taupo

(junior) Swim Club.  Warm up started at 1pm and prize giving

was at 4pm.  A great afternoon of fun, fitness and

friendship.  Well done Taupo Masters!    

Linda Nouwens                                                                                                                                             

About Linda Nouwens

Linda is the Taupo Masters Swimming Club Secretary and Treasurer.

Linda in her own words:

I have been a member of the club for 6 years, and lived and
swam in Auckland before that. I love swimming, have done
many sea swims in and around Auckland, and now love swimming
in the lake in Taupo. I don't swim competitively but love
being a member of masters for the fun, friendship and the
training that keeps me fit and healthy.

Results for the Taupo Brown Trout Spring Fling can be found here:   https://app.box.com/s/wl72kcbldctlpfkjjd8r

Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com

Swim Sets of the Week

IM Workouts

	Hard Set: 3km	Easy Set: 2.1km
Warm-up Swim ChoiceDrills Back:dolphin kick to flags, 1 armstroke kick on side, other arm etc.	200 2x100	200 4x25
IM + Stroke Swim  IM Free IM Breast IM Back IM Fly	400 4x100 300 4x75 200 4x50 100 4x25	100 4x100 100 4x75 100 4x50 100 4x25
Choice Kick	200 8x25	200 8x25
Swim-down Free Count strokes & reduce the number	100	100

Most Common Swimming Mistakes - General Overview

These are the most common swimming mistakes I have come across in my "swimming life" and I wish correcting them were as easy as erasing them and simply replacing them with a new technique. Unfortunately, swimming is not a very forgiving sport and only practice makes perfect. Hopefully, these tips will help ease your road to perfection or at least swim more comfortably and possibly faster.  I'll do my best to discuss at least one in depth each month.  Meanwhile, below are a few brief tips to get you started.

A weak leg kick–  Beware all pull buoy junkies, excessive use/reliance on your pull buoy may decondition your kick!  Also, a good kick requires very flexible ankles.    Tips:  Do some ankle stretches everyday. Once in a while, include a kick set as a “key set” in your workout.  Learn to kick in time with your breathing and don’t kick from the knees but from the hip flexors.

Doing only fitness training and no technique work –  Tip: If your workout time is limited, fit your technique work in with your warm up.

Poor Breathing Technique – This could be because: you breathe too early or breathe too late; you breathe to one side only; you may be lifting your head to breathe.  Tips: Rotate your head don’t lift your head to breathe.  Practice keeping one goggle in the water and one goggle out when breathing.  Find an alternating breathing pattern supporting both sides e.g. breathing every 3rd stroke.

Lifting your head –  This causes your hips to sink and may also lead to neck injuries.  Tip:  Don’t look forward while swimming, use the black line as your marker to keep your head down and low.

Short Stroke – With a short stroke the hand entry is usually correct, but the stroke is completed too soon and the hand exits before the extension is complete.  This decreases your DPS dramatically.  Tip: Include the  “Salute drill” into your technique work to improve this mistake.

Swimming Flat – this is a result of poor hip rotation.  Tip: to improve your hip rotation, practice the 6-Kick Switch drill set.  This clip from Go Swim is an excellent explanation of this drill.

GIVEAWAYS! - Kohi Summer Swimmer Swim Series (single passes)

There are single entries up for grabs for The Summer Kohi Swim Series (each valued at $20). To go into the draw to win one of these click on this link to enter:  http://masterscrawl.wufoo.com/forms/z7x4m1/

Winners will be announced 15 October.

Some Info on the Kohi Summer Swim Series:

16x Thursday Nights at Kohimarama Beach over Summer

Every night you have the option of choosing from one of 4 distances which allows us to cater to all levels whether you're new to ocean swimming or at an advanced level. That means its a great way of preparing for any swim-related event, from a Tri A Tri, Half or all the way up to the Full Ironman.

Dates: Nov 7,14,21,28 Dec 5,12,19 Jan 16,23,30
Feb 6,13,20,27 Mar 6,13

Distances: 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 2000m - accurately surveyed courses

When: Starts 6.15pm every Thursday, Late Entries 5.00 - 6.00pm
Where:  Kohimarama Beach

For more info visit their website!    http://www.summerswim.co.nz/

Excercises To Strengthen Your Shoulders and Help Prevent Injury

Last week I posted about Swimmer’s Shoulder and a few stretches you could do before a swim to help prevent injury. Here are a few exercises to strengthen your shoulders and help prevent injury.  I love doing these especially on days I need to workout but can’t get to the pool. 

I found these on the triathlete.com website

The Three Way Lift – Using light weights of about 2 – 3.5kg, start by holding the weights at your sides then lift your arms, palms down, out to the sides until you reach shoulder height, then slowly and controlled lower your hands back to your side.  Now,  lift your arms, palms facing each other to the front of you to about 10 degree angles, shoulder width apart, then slowly and controlled lower your arms back to your sides.  Finally, lift your arms to the front of you to about 45 degree angles, palms now facing away from each other,  then slowly and controlled lower your arms back to your sides.  Do two sets of 12 to 15 reps.

Overhead press: The position of your arms are very important here, so try and perform this in front of a mirror using slightly heavier weights of about  4 – 6kg. Start by holding the weights next to your head, palms facing the mirror, your shoulders and elbows should be at 90 degree angles.  Press the weights straight up with extended arms and slowly in a controlled motion bring them back to the start position.  Next rotate your shoulders, keeping your elbows and shoulders at 90 degree angles, bring the weights together in front of your face, palms facing your face, tap the ends of the weight and return to the start position. Do two sets of 10 to 12 reps

The Up-out-in-down -  Using medium to light weights of around 2.5kg – 5kg.  Start with your arms at your sides, palms facing your hips. Lift the dumbbells straight up in front of your body to shoulder height. Spread your arms out to the side of your body (keep them at shoulder height), bring them back in together and then lower them back down to your sides. Do 2 sets of 10 reps

Rowing - This is a great excercise to prevent swimmer's slouch. You can counter this slouch by working the trapezius muscles with a rowing machine or just some dumbbells and a bench. Think about pinching your shoulder blades together each time. Do two sets of 10 to 12 reps.

Race Dive Tips

Performing a proper race start could potentially improve your PB by 0.5sec but the same goes for a poor race start which could potentially add an extra 0.5sec to your PB. Race starts could either win or lose the race for you.  Here are a few tips on how to improve your dive.

Race Dive Tips

• On take your mark take a strong powerful position and be ready to fly off the blocks when the gun goes.
• Start with a grab start.  Aim to have the centre of the outside of your hip, the centre of the outside of your knee and the centre of the outside of your ankle bone in one straight line and your chest flat on your thighs.
• Track starts - these are likely NOT to utilize your full explosive power
• When you are in the take your mark position pull back on the blocks, this will increase tension and energy in the tendons and muscles in your arms and upper chest and will help you explode forward.

Step by Step Guide to Race Diving - source:  bbc.co.uk

Step One

The better your starting position, the better your dive, so:
•  Head : Tucked in as close to your knees as possible
•  Hips : As high as possible, lift them up and try not to push them back
•  Legs : Curl your toes over the edge of the block and bend your knees slightly
•  Arms : Should be in a "hands on" position, this means one hand on top of the other. Stretch your arms down, point your fingers to the floor and put your palms on the front of the wall or starting block.

Step Two

Push off with as much power as possible.
Press hard with the palms of your hands and throw your arms forward.
Look up slightly as you push away to get your body to follow your head.
If you look up for too long, however, your feet will go in at the same time as your hands. This is not a good idea.

As soon as your feet leave the starting block:
•  Tuck your head in
•  Push your hips up
•  Streamline your body so that you go into the water head first

Step Three

As you approach the water, imagine you are trying to slide through a hole without making any splash.
As you go in, let your hands and head lift slightly.
Try to hold the "hands on" streamlined position until you are close to the surface and ready to start swimming.
A really good tip for making a smooth change from diving to swimming is to imagine that there is no join between the two.
Someone watching should not be able to see where one finished and the next one started.

Swimming Injuries: Swimmer's Shoulder - 7 Stretches to Help Prevent Swimmer's Shoulder

Source:  Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma

What is swimmer's shoulder?

Swimmer's shoulder is an inflammatory condition caused by the mechanical impingement of soft tissue against the coracoacromial arch. This condition is most often caused by the repetitive overhead arm motion of the freestyle stroke. The pain associated with swimmer's shoulder may be caused by two different sources of impingement in the shoulder. [Read about shoulder anatomy]
One type of impingement occurs during the pull-through phase of freestyle. The pull-through phase begins when the hand enters the water and terminates when the arm has completed pulling through the water and begins to exit the surface.
At the beginning of pull-through, termed hand-entry, if a swimmer's hand enters the water across the mid-line of her body this will place the shoulder in a position of horizontal adduction which mechanically impinges the long head of the biceps against the anterior part of the coracoacromial arch.
A second type of impingement may occur during the recovery phase of freestyle. The recovery phase is the time of the stroke cycle when the arm is exiting the water and lasts until that hand enters the water again.
As a swimmer fatigues it will become more difficult for her to lift her arm out of the water, and the muscles of the rotator cuff which work to externally rotate and depress the head of the humerus against the glenoid become less efficient.
When these muscles are not working properly the supraspinatus muscle will be mechanically impinged between the greater tuberosity of the humerus and the middle and posterior portions of the coracoacromial arch.  These two repetitive use injuries can result in painful swimmer's shoulder.

Why do swimmers get swimmer's shoulder?

• Poor swimming technique.
• Over training can lead to shoulder pain if the swimmer continues to swim with fatigued muscles Unilateral breathing may also cause swimmer's shoulder.
• Overuse of certain training equipment may cause shoulder pain.
• Using a kickboard with arms fully extended in front of the swimmer can place the shoulder in a position of impingement.

7 Stretches to Help Prevent Swimmers Shoulder

1.  Tricep stretch:

Begin by raising your arm directly over your head with your palm facing front. Bend your elbow and try to reach the shoulder blade on the same side of you body. Use your opposite arm to push your elbow back.

2.  Doorway stretch:

Begin by placing your elbow against the frame of a door. Keep the angle between your trunk and your arm at 90 deg. Rest your forearms against the door frame. Step forward with one foot to feel the stretch.

3.  Infraspinatus stretch:

Extend your arm out directly in front of you and bend your elbow across your body. With your other hand gently pull your elbow across your body.

4.  Levator scapulae stretch:

Begin by placing one arm as in the first part of the triceps stretch. Look towards your opposite hip and use you free hand to gently pull your head towards your hip.

5.  Upper trapezius stretch:

Lean your head to the side trying to bring your ear towards your shoulder without lifting your shoulder.

6.  Latissimus dorsi stretch:

Raise both arms overhead and place palms together interlocking fingers. At shoulders lift arms upwards with fingers remaining intertwined.

7.  Axial extension:

Pull your chin down and backwards as if trying to make a double chin.

Upcoming Events - Pool and Open Water Events

Pool Events

September:
21 September: Taupo Spring Fling
21 September: Harbour Capital Chocolate Fish Swim
1 Aug – 30 September: Foveaux Sprinters Postal Meet
1  – 30 September: NZMS 800 – 1500m Postal Swim

October
1 -  31st October: NZMS 2013 Oceania 1 Hour Postal Swim
26 & 27 October: North Island Short Course Champs

Katikati Masters Swimming Club NZ 33.3m Pool Champs
18 Jan 2014

Entries can be found here:   http://www.masterscrawl.com/p/events.html

Open Water Events:

Central Masters Harbour Series swims 2013 -2014: http://www.aucklandharbourswims.org.nz/
10 November: Herne Bay
24 November: Chelsea swim
2 February 14: Bays
23 February 14: Rangi

Bean Rock Swim – 1st February 2014.  More info here:  http://www.beanrockswim.co.nz/

Ocean Clinics: More info here:  http://www.oceanclinics.co.nz/
Block 1: 26 Oct, 2 Nov, 9 Nov
Block 2: 23 and 30 Nov
Block 3: 1, 8 and 15 March
Block 4: 29 March and 9 April

Kohirama Summer Swim Series:  More info here:  http://www.summerswim.co.nz/
Nov 7,14,21,28
Dec 5,12,19
Jan 16,23,30
Feb 6,13,20,27
Mar 6,13

State Ocean Swim Series:  More info here:  http://www.oceanswim.co.nz/
17 November: Harbour Crossing
7 December: Bay of Islands
26 Jan 2014: Capital Classic
22 Feb 2014: La Grande
22 March 2014: Sand to Surf
12 April 2014: King of The Bays

Katikati Masters Swimming Club NZ 2km Ocean Swim on 19 Jan 2014.
Enter here: http://www.masterscrawl.com/p/events.html

Swim Sets of The Week

	3400m	2300m
Warm-up Choice Free drills 1-arm, catch-up, kick (no board), fists, hesitate before recovery	250 250	150 150
Freestyle Swim Kick Pull very easy	8x125 on 1:30 400 100	8x75 on 1:30 200 100
IM Swim  Fly Fly,Bk..Bk,Br..Br,Fr..Fr,Fly Back Fly,Bk..Bk,Br..Br,Fr..Fr,Fly Breast Fly,Bk..Bk,Br..Br,Fr..Fr,Fly Free Fly,Bk..Bk,Br..Br,Fr..Fr,Fly	100 4x50 100 4x50  100 4x50 100 4x50	100 4x50 100 4x50 100 4x50 100 4x50
Swim-down Choice	100	100

Technical About Swimming?

This is a must read for those who are interested in the technical aspects of swimming.  The Journal of the International Society of Swimming Coaching is an academic journal and the ISOSC publish 3 Issues per year.  This Issue contains a review article on swimming propulsion; and a critical review article on core stability training and whether this can improve swimming performance?  It is a lengthy read of over 90 pages, but well worth it. It is free to download just click on the link below:
http://isosc.org/pdf/volume%203%20issue%201.pdf

Essential Techniques to Improve Freestyle Swimming

I found these clips very useful as a refresher.

Technique 1. Hand Placement: How to properly set up the stroke

Technique 2. Fingertip Orientation: High Elbow Catch or Early Vertical Forearm

 Technique 3. Wrist Awareness and Karlyn's secret weapon: The Power of the Y

Technique 4. Umph at the Front: Where to apply the power in your stroke

Technique 5. Exiting the Stroke: Reduce drag and use less effort on the recovery

Swim Sets for the Week

HARD SET

Distance:  3.6km

Warm Up: Repeat X 2 - EASY

1 X 200m Any Stroke, rest 0:20 / 200m

1 X 100m Backstroke, rest 0:20 / 100m

Build Up

6 X 50m Breaststroke, 3 kicks, 1 arm stroke, rest 0:15 / 50m - aerobic

4 X 50m Easy Any Stroke, rest 0:10 / 50m - easy

6 X 50m Breaststroke Stretch & Glide, rest 0:15 / 50m - aerobic

Core

4 X 200m Freestyle, rest 0:30 / 200m - aerobic

6 X 100m 50/50 Free + Butterfly, rest 0:20 / 100m - endurance

6 X 100m Swim (any stroke), rest 0:20 / 100m - aerobic

Warm Down - EASY

2 X 50m Backstroke Easy, rest 0:10 / 50m

2 X 50m Freestyle Push & Glide, rest 0:10 / 50m

EASIER SET

Distance: 2.8km

Warm Up: Repeat X 3 - EASY

1 X 100m Backstroke, rest 0:15 / 100m

2 x 50m Breaststroke Easy, rest 0:15 / 50m

Build Up

4 x 50m Backstroke DPS with paddles, rest 0:10 / 50m- aerobic

2 x 50m Backstroke Single Arm with paddles (arm by side) 12 x left, 12 x right, 12 x full stroke, rest 0:10 / 50m- aerobic

2 x 50m Backstroke Push & Glide, rest 0:10 / 50m ] – aerobic

Core

4 X 200m Freestyle, rest 0:30 / 200m - aerobic

6 X 100m 50/50 Free + Butterfly, rest 0:20 / 100m - endurance

6 X 100m Swim (any stroke), rest 0:20 / 100m - aerobic

Warm Down - EASY

4 x 50m Easy Any Stroke, rest 0:15 / 50m

Do you have a workout you'd like to share?  Leave a comment, message us or email us here

What to do One Week before a Swim Meet

The South Island Short Course Champs is only a week away, and now is a good time for a refresher on what you should be doing during the week leading up to your big meet.

Tips:

1. Decrease Volume - Increase Intensity:  The volume of your workout should be decreased by at least 50% of your normal workout, but your intensity should increase.  In other words, swims should replicate race swims - hard and fast.  Make sure to recover at least 1 – 2min between each repeat.  Remember:  swim hard, swim fast, swim smart BUT DON’T swim more.
2. Starts:  Every start should be a race start.
3. Turns:  Every turn should be a race turn.
4. Sleep an hour earlier each night:  This is one of the most important tools, races are often lost due to poor sleep.  Doing this will mean you’ll get an extra night's sleep by week end.
5. Don’t Sleep in: Yes,  this is the time to take it easy, but don’t become lazy and miss swim sessions, especially if you are like me and only workout about 3 times per week, you’ll run the risk of losing your feel for the water.  Also,  too much sleep will throw out your natural rhythm and make you feel lethargic.
6. Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate!:  Drink plenty of fluids.  It is believed that drinking at least 2l of water per day increases your energy level by 10 - 20%.  Drink even more on days you workout.  Try to avoid caffeinated and alcoholic drinks.
7. NO Weightlifting:  Do not do any heavy weightlifting the week before an important meet.  Lifting heavy weights may tear your muscles down and your muscles will need time to rebuild for you to swim well.
8.  Eat plenty of “good” carbs and proteins:  bagels are not good carbs.  Be careful not to overload calories.  Remember your volume of exercise has decreased, so keep calories in check to avoid putting on unwanted pounds.
9. Visualise your races: Visualise your start, turn, finish and the exact time you want to finish on.  Swimming is 90% mental and 10% effort so stay positive.
10. Last but not least remember to have fun:  But this is not the time to take up roller derby!
    
    We'd like to hear what you do during the week leading up to your big meet!   Leave a comment, message us or email us here

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events in September

13 & 14 September:        South Island Short Course Champs

21 September:                 Taupo Spring Fling
21 September:                 Harbour Capital Masters Chocolate Fish Swim

1 Aug – 30 September:    Foveaux Sprinters Postal Meet

1 Sept – 30 September:   NZ Masters Swimming 800 – 1500m Postal Swim

Other Event News:

Entries are now open for NZMS North Island Short Course Champs.  South City Masters will be hosting this event on 26 &27 October, at the Lloyd Elsemore Pool, Howick.    

Entries are now open for the Katikati Masters Swimming Club NZ 33.3m Pool Champs & 2km Ocean Swim on 18 Jan & 19 Jan 2014.   

Below are the provisional dates for the Central Masters Harbour Swims Series  2013 -2014: (entry forms available mid September)

10 Nov:              Herne Bay
24 Nov:              Chelsea swim

2 Feb 14:           Bays
23 Feb 14:         Rangi

All entry forms and event info are available on our Upcoming Events Page:  http://www.masterscrawl.com/p/events.html

Competition - "Like" and "subscribe" and be in to win a $50 Swim T3 voucher

There is a $50 Swim T3 voucher up for grabs for a lucky NZMS facebook page “liker” and MasterScrawl.com “subscriber”! 

The catch -  to be eligible to win you have to live in New Zealand;  like our facebook page AND subscribe to our MasterScrawl.com blog. 

The competition will run from 5 September 2013 until 11.59pm on 30 September 2013 and the lucky winner will be announced on 1 October 2013. 

So, get “liking” and “subscribing” and pass the message on to all your fellow swimmers.

You can subscribe MasterScrawl blog by clicking on this link and following the instructions: http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=Masterscrawl&loc=en_US

Like our face book page by following this link:  https://www.facebook.com/nzmastersswim/likes

A massive shout out to Swim T3 for sponsoring the voucher.

The Top Ten Reasons Why Your Swimming Isn't Improving - according to Boost Swimming

10. You Swim Alone.  For most people, swimming with a masters team or training group will help you get to the pool, to push yourself and to have more fun training

9. You don’t swim often enough. Elite swim specialists swim 8 – 12 sessions per week. While that isn’t possible for multisport athletes, realize that much of your adaptation will come through frequency. Finding a way to add a session or two per week could help you improve.

8. You don’t swim enough volume. In swimming, efficiency is acquired through volume. Even with lots of technique work, there are some things that you just need to swim to acquire. Bump your workout volume up by 20% for a while and see what happens.

7.You don’t utilize interval training. Always swimming long distances or just jumping in and lap swimming will not help you improve beyond the bottom of the learning curve. Interval training works. Do it.

6. Your training plan does not push progression. Your main set each day should have a specific goal attached to it that is part of a larger plan. If your sets do not contain a specific interval and a specific time goal for each repeat, you will plateau quickly. Descriptions like “medium effort or “fast” are ambiguous and not specific enough to push progression past the beginning stages of your potential.

5. You don’t swim fast enough. Even though you may be training for a long distance swim, you need speed work to push the ceiling of your capabilities and make room for your improved pace at longer distances. If you can only go a 1:20 100 all out, you are not going to be able to hold 1:25’s for a mile. Bring that top end speed down to 1:15 and it becomes possible.

4.You don’t take enough rest on your speed work. Don’t be afraid to take lots of rest of your speed work. If you are trying to improve speed, it is better to go 1:10’s with 2 minutes rest than 1:12’s with :30 rest.

3. You don’t stretch. If you can’t get your arms comfortably over your head or plantar flex your foot past the line of your shin bone, you are fighting your own flexibility. Spend some time after each training session addressing any mobility issues you may have.

2. You are frustrated. The secret to swimming efficiently and fast is RELAXATION. There is a tension and relaxation rhythm in swimming that highly skilled swimmers use. Although nothing can take the place of many years in the pool, learning to relax and not battle the water will speed the process. Sometimes you make things happen, sometimes you let things happen. Know the difference.

1. Your technique is holding you back. Because water is around 800 times denser than air, technique errors can have catastrophic impacts on your swimming speed. One meaningful stroke correction can have a larger impact on your speed than almost any amount of training. If you can, swim with a coach that has a proven track record of success. If you can’t find a program nearby, find a coaching resource that you can work with periodically to keep your technique sharp.

Flip Turns - what to do with your hands during a flip turn

With the SISC and NISC Champs around the corner, it is now time to fine tune your flip turns.  The difference between a slow turner and a faster one could be what you do with your hands when turning...

This is a great clip from Effortless Swimming

Meet the Editor

Liesl Ploos Van Amstel has very generously volunteered to be the new editor of MasterScrawl.  Liesl has been instrumental in developing the new NZMS annual communication plan. 

Here’s Liesl, in her own words…

I hail from Bloemfontein, South Africa and used to be a competitive swimmer in my younger days at national level.  I returned to swimming in May 2012 after a 20+ year clean break. 

Born and raised in a town far far away from any sea or ocean, I had never swum or competed in any open water events, neither did I think I ever would.   Pool swimming is more my thing, however, because there aren't many pool events, I decided to give the ocean a try and took part in the State Ocean Swim Series 2012/2013 and am proud to say that this little "boere nooi" (for my SA friends out there) loosely translated "farm girl" - still managed to finish 4th in the Harbour Crossing, 1st in the Sand to Surf and 2nd in the King of the Bays in my age group, and 3rd in my age group for the overall series. To be honest, I am still not totally convinced I like it, though!  But I am giving it another try this year.  

I am a mother of a 2 year old, 5 year old and a 13 year old and it is always a challenge getting to a pool but I do try to workout at least 3 times a week.  My favourite stroke is butterfly, even though I can only manage a 50m Fly at this stage, freestyle is a close second.  Backstroke and breaststroke are definitely not my thing, but are still fun to swim anyway.

In the past year and a bit I have rediscovered my passion for swimming and that is why I decided to become a part of the NZMS communications strategy.  

Introducing MasterScrawl - but not as you know it!

Welcome to the new look MasterScrawl!

MasterScrawl has been published in a magazine format from the very beginnings of Masters swimming in NZ to June 2013.  It’s a huge part of our history.

In the beginning, MasterScrawl was posted to every member but that soon became way too expensive so is now posted online.

For many years the editor was Tom Logan, former President and Life Member of NZMS.  Tom and his wife Priscilla worked tirelessly and put in long hours to make sure each issue was published on time.

Ingrid Saxton took over for 10 years, and finally Sue Pollard acted as editor (at the same time as being President).  Masters Swimming is extremely grateful for all of the past editors' efforts.

However, it’s become clear that producing a quarterly publication is both hard work and expensive.

Contributions from members have dwindled and the numbers of members accessing MasterScrawl has fallen - fewer than 20% of the members actually read the December 2012 issue.

Clearly the magazine is no longer meeting the modern day expectations of our members.

In considering all of this, the 2013 AGM voted to discontinue MasterScrawl in its current format and the delegates directed the Executive to investigate new ways of communicating with the members and move MasterScrawl into the 21^st Century.

In saying that, it was made clear that the MasterScrawl “brand” should be retained as it is a treasured part of masters swimming in NZ.

Welcome to the first step in the plan – www.masterscrawl.com

• You’ll no longer have to wait for 3 months for each instalment to arrive – updates will be added as they happen.   To be notified of new articles, all you have to do is click the subscribe option.

• We’ll be able to include many more photos and even video and sound.

• We’ll make it as interactive as possible – you’ll be able to add your comments to each article.

• And, when events warrant it, we will continue to publish a magazine style MasterScrawl, especially after major events such as the AGM.

So please send us your news and contributions to masterscrawl@gmail.com – its hard work generating all of the content ourselves.

Basically, if you send it, we’ll publish it!

If you want to be a regular contributor, let us know and we’ll organise that too.