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Thanks for the Memories, Brooktree!

 

2009 PASDA Board of Directors

 

Tentative 2009 Officials Clinics

 

2009 PASDA General Membership Meetings

 

PASDA Bylaws Committee

 

2009 Division Alignments

 

 

 

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES, BROOKTREE!

 

Representatives of the Brooktree Swim Club confirmed at the August 2008 general membership meeting of the Princeton Area Swimming and Diving Association, that their swim club, barring a totally unexpected – but welcome – turn of events, will have served its membership for the final time after closing this past Labor Day Weekend.

 

The Brooktree Swim Club has been a fixture in the East Windsor/Hightstown area for over 30 years.  Brooktree, an early – if not founding – member of PASDA, has provided its membership with a quality recreational summer-swimming facility, including a spirited, highly competitive swim team for their children and teens over that period.

 

Ed Fago, a longstanding Brooktree member and PASDA trustee, says that there has always been an atmosphere of good affordable family fun at the Brooktree Swim Club.  Ed believes that this is likely what initially drew prospective members to the club, and what made Brooktree especially attractive to families with children.  In addition to sponsoring special events such as movie night, teen night, camp outs, pizza night, and holiday parties (with the best DJ in New Jersey), the club owners have been incredibly supportive of the swim team, both financially and organizationally.

 

For many families, Brooktree Swim Club was their first exposure to the sport of organized swimming.  Many Brooktree swimmers have gone on from their first swim lessons or summer swim team experience at Brooktree to join year-round competitive teams and succeed at many levels, including USA Swimming, YMCA Swimming, college swimming, and high school swimming.

 

The Brooktree Swim Team epitomizes the kind of enthusiasm and involvement we all know keeps our children happy, healthy, and safe.  Each year the coaches were excited to compile the team roster, whether it consisted mostly of returning swimmers or those who were entirely new to swimming.  Returning swimmers would eagerly volunteer to take novice or younger swimmers under their wing (or fin!) and pass along their own hard-learned pointers for improving technique.

 

By the end of the relatively short summer season, the Brooktree coaches have transformed a group of children who thought they were there only to have a little fun, into a squad of cheering, excited teammates who, without even realizing it, picked up some pretty amazing life-lessons along the way.

 

Fago happily reports that at Brooktree everyone got the opportunity to swim – athletes are not cut from the team.  Swimmers learned what sportsmanship is all about and were trained to congratulate their competitors, regardless of the finish order.  At Brooktree the swimming was great, but this club is about much more than swimming.  Brooktree’s culture, beginning with the club owners and continuing down to the youngest swimmer, is something that is truly priceless.

 

If, in the end, it turns out that 2008 was Brooktree’s final season of PASDA competition, Head Coach Beth Bright’s remarkably energetic and talented squad wrote the final chapter of their pool’s history in a manner that the Brooktree faithful won’t soon forget.

 

In dual-meet competition, the club sported an impressive 4-1 record for the summer.  Brooktree sandwiched a pair of consecutive victories – against Country Pool (Chesterfield) and Twin Rivers to open the season, and Ben Franklin (Lawrence) and Bedens Brook (Montgomery) to close the season – around a defeat by the slimmest of margins in the best, most exciting PASDA meet in this writer’s recent memory to Ravine while on the road in Ewing.

 

The Brooktree kids guaranteed that their membership would see a brilliant sunset on their proud PASDA history by capturing the Division III title at PASDA Swimming Championships at Flemington-Raritan Community Pool in late July.  Brooktree left their closing mark on PASDA by defeating second-place Twin Rivers by an notable margin of almost 400 points!

 

From their early years through a memorable summer of 2008, the swimmers, coaches, and parents of the Brooktree Swim Club have always exhibited the best that summer swimming competition has to offer.  Brooktree’s athletes and coaches have provided spirited, yet sportsmanlike, competition in the water and behavior on the pool deck, while the Brooktree parents have always been gracious, welcoming hosts to their guests at their home meets in East Windsor.

 

Over the years, the young athletes, coaching staff, and adults associated with the Brooktree Swim Club have represented themselves at PASDA competitions in a manner that would make their families, friends, and neighbors extraordinarily proud.

 

Ed Fago’s closing comment is succinct yet revealing.  “Being a member at Brooktree was an incredible experience and fun for all.  We will miss it.  Wherever the members end up it will certainly still be fun but it will, no doubt, be different.”  Surely Ed’s fellow club members share his sentiments.

 

All of PASDA wishes the Brooktree families all the best as they carry on their PASDA “careers” with a former competitor somewhere close by.

 

[Many thanks to Ed Fago for his valued contributions to this story.]

 

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2009 PASDA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

 

At the August PASDA general meeting, the membership elected the association’s Board of Directors for the 2009 season.  The new roster of officers and trustees can be found on the Board of Directors page.

 

The 2009 PASDA Board of Directors remains mostly unchanged from 2008.  Jim Devlin, Co-Vice President, Ravine Swim Club, Hamilton Hurricanes, has retired from the Board.

 

Returning Board members are:

·         President – Ellen Mace, Hamilton Hurricanes

·         Vice President – Lauren Hebert, Cranbury Swim Club

·         Treasurer – Pam Owens, Cranbury Swim Club

·         Secretary – Ed Fago, “Unattached” (formerly with Brooktree Swim Club)

·         Trustee (Officials) – Jeffrey Mace, Hamilton Hurricanes

·         Trustee (Diving) – Kirk LeCompte, Lawrenceville Swim Association

·         Trustee, Percy Keith, Hopewell Valley Golf

 

We thank them for their time and service to our swimmers.  Special thanks is extended to Ed Fago who graciously and ably served as Lead Clinician in Jeff Mace’s temporary absence at this past season’s officials clinics.

 

Any PASDA member – parents, swimmers, and coaches – are welcome to contact any members of the Board with their questions, comments, or concerns.

 

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TENTATIVE 2009 OFFICIALS CLINICS

 

Swim officials are a critical element of any fair, well-run meet.  The association relies on member clubs’ PASDA-trained parents to supplement the numbers of certified USA Swimming- and YMCA-certified officials working in the association.

 

In support of the above, Jeffrey Mace (PASDA’s Official’s Chairman), with the assistance of Ed Fago (as needed), will again be running a series of officials clinics for PASDA’s membership before the start of next season.  Following is information on these clinics:

·         Saturday, June 13, 9:00 a.m., Nassau Swim Club, Princeton Township

·         Saturday, June 20, 9:00 a.m., Hopewell Valley Golf Club, Hopewell Township

·         DATE AND TIME TBA, Penn Brook Swim Club, Pennington

·         DATE AND TIME TBA, Country Pool, Chesterfield Township

 

Please note that this information is tentative.  A finalized schedule will be posted on this website when these dates and times are confirmed at the May 2009 general membership meeting.

 

PASDA encourages EVERY CLUB to send at least one representative if not more (see “Note” below) to one of these clinics.  It’s not too early to target potentially interested individuals to send to next year’s clinics.

 

NOTE:  At the 2009 swimming championships, PASDA intends to strictly enforce the requirement that each club will have on deck during each session a number of officials equal to the maximum number of relay teams entered for any single relay event during that session.

For example, if Ravine has three relay teams entered in the Girls 14-and-Under Freestyle Relay but has only one relay team (or none) entered in all of the other relays in the 14-/17-and-Under session, then Ravine must furnish three officials for that entire session.

 

Each clinic runs about two hours.  Swimming or officiating experience is NOT required, nor is a reservation – just show up!  Directions to the host pools can be found on the PASDA website on the Directions to Club Pools page.

 

Questions?  Please contact Jeffrey Mace at (609) 587-3628 or purplemommy@juno.com.

 

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2009 PASDA GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS

 

Exact dates for the 2009 PASDA general membership meetings were not determined at the August 2008 meeting.  However, following are the weeks during which PASDA have traditionally been held.  Exact dates will be published on the home page of this website when they are determined next spring.

·         May Meeting – 3rd week.

·         June Meeting – 2nd week.

·         Final Meeting – Last week of July or first week of August.

 

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PASDA BYLAWS COMMITTEE

 

During the 2008-2009 offseason, a committee chaired by former PASDA Vice President Jim Devlin will evaluate PASDA’s bylaws and bring recommendations for appropriate changes to the PASDA Board for their consideration.

 

If you have any concerns or issues that you would like to see the committee address via the bylaws, please bring them to the attention of one of the members, below.  A final, Board-approved set of bylaw revisions will be brought to the membership for their approval next spring.

 

Bylaw Committee members are:

·         Jim Devlin, Chairman, Ravine Swim Club/Hamilton Hurricanes, swwimdad@comcast.net

·         Percy Keith, Hopewell Valley Golf Club, pck_iv@yahoo.com

·         Mike Aversano, Flemington-Raritan Community Pool, cheddar88@hotmail.com

·         Cyndy Kornfeld Country Pool, cfwindyknoll@comcast.net

·         Jenn Mack, Bedens Brook Country Club, jmack@bedensbrookclub.com.

 

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2009 DIVISION ALIGNMENTS

 

The three PASDA divisions were realigned at the August general meeting based on the results of the 2008 dual-meet competition and factoring in the loss of Brooktree Swim Club, the 2008 Division III Dual-Meet Champions.  For 2009, teams will compete in PASDA’s three divisions as follows:

 

·         DIVISION I:

Community Park, Cranbury, Flemington-Raritan, Hamilton, Lawrenceville, and West Windsor.

 

·         DIVISION II:

Cherry Valley, Hopewell Valley Golf, Hopewell Valley Tennis, Penn Brook, Nassau, and Twin Rivers.

 

·         DIVISION III

Bedens Brook, Ben Franklin, Country Pool, Lenape, Ravine, and Trenton Country Club.

 

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