Tuesday, June 29, 2010

9.30am swimmers - discount off pool entry!

Dear Swimmers

For those of you swimming with us in the 9.30am "Time-4-Me" squad session on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Challenge Stadium, you'll be pleased to know that Challenge are offering a discounted $3 pool entry compared to the normal $5 - not bad! I think it's only for the winter period, but well worth making use of if you can!

Hope to see you this week!

Paul

Monday, June 28, 2010

Session Card Increase from Thursday 1st July 2010

Dear TEAM

Brrrr!!! Bit chilly isn't it! I had my first session back down on the pool deck this morning and it was freezing it has to be said! Beautiful sunrise though and nice to be back. There were only 4 of you at the Monday 7am technique swim session this morning, so I had ample opportunity to work with you on your strokes then. This is a great session for those of you who haven't yet tried it. If you fancy popping along, just turn up next week - the water's warm! ;-)

As mentioned back at the start of May, it has been necessary for us to increase our session fees due to GST liability and also the substantial increase in lane fees by moving up to Challenge Stadium. This increase will take effect as of Thursday 1st July 2010. This is something I have been hesitant to do. Our prices have not increased at all in the last three years and I'm afraid to say that this move is entirely necessary to secure the longevity of the squad. I had hoped that by giving you all a 2-month notice of these increases that it would allow you time to ensure that you have had chance to purchase your cards at the current rate for a little while longer. The new prices (as per below) will go into effect as of Thursday, so you still have a couple of days to purchase some before the increase if you so wish.

Here are the new prices:

  • Single session = $15
  • 10 sessions = $120
  • 25 sessions = $270
  • 50 sessions = $480
  • 1-2-1 session = $165
  • 1-2-1 follow-up = $120

To purchase your cards online, please go to http://www.theteamcore.com/shop.html

Many thanks and I do hope you're able to support and understand this very necessary price increase. See you down at the pool this week.

Cheers

Paul



Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Back to Perth in 3 more sleeps!

Dear TEAM

Hope you are all well. I'm into my last 3 days here in the UK and am now just relaxing after 3 very busy weeks! I'm in London and soaking up the British summer atmosphere - Wimbledon, the decisive World Cup game this afternoon and then a trip down to Dover on Thursday to meet my English Channel Swim pilot and test out the chilly waters - great stuff!

The trip over here has been unbelievably successful - we sold over 500 Training Guides for our new www.swimtypes website in the first 24 hours and have some exciting news coming up about the British Triathlon Federation and two major swimming brands, so watch this space! Thanks again for allowing me to make this breakthrough and decisive trip it really has been very worthwhile and I thank you for your commitment to the squad whilst I've been away! 

I land back in on Saturday evening, have Sunday to recuperate and then will be back on the pool deck bright-eyed and bushy tailed as of Monday 7am. I have some great new ideas to try out with you all and help to get you through those longer, darker winter months in a very enjoyable fashion!

So remember, we have our very first Mini Olympics scheduled for Saturday 3rd July at 1pm. Anyone can come along and take part. We'll have a short warm-up and then in this first running of the session you have the option of competing in as many of the following events as you wish to do so (hopefully all!):

  • 50m Butterfly with / without Fins
  • 50m Backstroke
  • 50m Breaststroke
  • The "Blue Ribband" 50m Freestyle Sprint
  • The 100m Bands Only Challenge
  • The 50m Parachute Only Challenge
  • The 400m "Go Until You Blow" Draft Fest
  • The 100m World Record Attempt in a Wetsuit
  • The 4 x 25m Individual Medley Mad-Man Challenge

Cost for the event will just be a normal tick off your session card. I'm hoping that the stalwarts of the normal Saturday afternoon session will all get into the spirit of this event and you are invited to bring a friend along as well to give it a try-out. The next date for this event (with a few modified events) will be Saturday 14th August. I do hope you can attend! I'll be taking people's event nominations down during next week's squad sessions, so please be ready with these.

See you on Monday!

Cheers

Paul



Monday, June 14, 2010

Swim Types website!

Dear TEAM

Hope you are all well? We're having a great (but very busy) time over here in the UK. We've now run a total of 7 one-day Swim Smooth Clinics in the last 12 days and the response has been tremendous across the country. We have just delivered our two Scottish Clinics near Glasgow and are currently relaxing in Edinburgh with my sister for a couple of days before heading down to Manchester and then Windsor to complete the series. We're getting chance to work with a wide variety of swimmers and triathletes and it's been a great opportunity to officially launch our brand new Swim Types system - check it out at:

www.swimtypes.com

...the real question is, which Swim Type are you?! And what technique work and training do you need to be doing to improve your swimming? All is revealed on the site and in our special downloadable Training Guides.

This whole system is aimed at making sense out of swimmer's individuality. As you all know I am very much of the belief that there is no "one-size-fits-all" approach to swim stroke correction and what works for one swimmer, won't necessarily work for another. Hence, in our Perth squad sessions we cover a range of bases which add variety to the sessions and ensure that everyone is developing at their optimal rate.

Adam has gone through and tweaked the algorithm for the questionnaire so for those of you have already tried it, why not go back through this and see if this gives more pleasing results.

This whole system is the culmination of over 2 years of research, tweaking our methodologies, design implementation and a LOT of midnight oil burning!! We do hope that you find it interesting, are keen to share it with your friends and family members and if you have any queries or feedback, we'd love to hear it.

See you all in 2 weeks!

Cheers,

Paul

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Hello from sunny England!

Dear TEAM,

Hope you are all going well and had a great long weekend. We arrived in the UK last Tuesday (to rain and wind it has to be said!) and have had a very busy time since that point. The weather picked up considerably towards the end of last week and I even managed a short swim in the English Channel in preparation for next year's Channel crossing attempt. It was just 12 degrees, but without sounding too macho, it really wasn't that bad!! Maybe I've been eating too much Fish 'n' Chips over here!

On Friday we commenced our 3-day Swim Smooth Coaches Education Course which we ran for 11 coaches from around the UK. Two coaches even flew directly over from St John's in Canada just for the course. This level of interest was amazing for us and I had to pinch myself on more than a couple of occasions as this has been a dream of mine for quite some time now to be able to pass on our knowledge and techniques in such a format. We also had two officials sitting in from the British Triathlon Federation too, to see what we were teaching and how this fitted with their philosophy. The course was a great success and we officially released our brand new coaching system "Swim Types" which will be released to the general public as a website at www.swimtypes.com hopefully within the next couple of days - watch that space!! Everyone loved it and we really believe it will change the face of swim stroke correction going forwards.

We then had two more fully booked normal Swim Smooth Clinics on the following two days, with one swimmer flying in from Pakistan literally just for the course! These both went really well too. When you present for 4 days solid and are literally on the go with this for 18 straight hours at a time (including liaising with the coaches at breakfast and dinner etc) - it takes a bit of the stuffing out of you, so myself and Adam are now recuperating up in York at my Dad's place before continuing on with our further six Clinics in York, Glasgow, Manchester and Windsor all of which are fully booked as well. Should be a lot of fun - we're very lucky to have this level of interest especially in a country where we no longer have any permanent residence.

So, I hope the training is going well. The coaches in Perth have been liaising with me directly and letting me know how it's all going and I look forward to seeing how you've all progressed in time for our Mini Olympics on the 3rd July!

Cheers

Paul