December 5, 2007

Grocery Cards for December
Submitted by Evelyn LaRoche

As you all know by now, there was a delay in getting the Loblaws cards from Montreal this month due to a shortage of $100 cards. I have changed our order to $50 cards and should finally receive them tomorrow or Thursday. The cards will be ready to distribute this Saturday. I will be out of town this weekend but my husband Philippe will be at Ottawa U in the stands with the cards from 4:30 to 5:30 pm.

To speed up the process of getting the cards out to families this month as time is running out before X-mas, I will need one volunteer parent form the RED BOYS group, one from the RED GIRLS group to help out . I will take care of the WHITE group, I will be a the Monday practice at Ottawa U and at the beginning of the dryland practice on Wednesday for about 1/2 hour.

If you can help, please email me ASAP at eve.laroche@rogers.com or phone me at 613-240-5243.

Thank you all for your patience.

Ontario Summer Games Application Deadline Extended to December 12

Athletes born in 1992 and wishing to apply for the Ontario Summer Games must do so by December 12. The 2008 Ontario Summer Games are being held in Ottawa in August. Please click here for full details: http://www.ontariowaterpolo.ca/ShowNews190.aspx

Note From the Titan's Competitive Program Director
Submitted by Paul Massel

With December suddenly upon us, we are fast approaching the end of the Collective Training phase and gearing up for the Team Training phase.

Thank-you for your patience and support through these first two phases of the Long Term Athletic Development (LTAD) program. This is a new and different way of running the program and it has not been with out its challenges, but in any number of ways it has been a success. No small amount of praise and thanks is due to David and the many coaches who have worked to make the program work! At the risk of being overwhelmed by response I encourage any of you who would wish to share your comments, pointed, constructive, or supportive, on the program progress to date by contacting me (yes me would be Paul Massel, the Titans Competitive Program Director) at titanscompdir@rogers.com, or to share them with me in person around the pool deck.

Looking ahead, David and the club coaches are working hard at dividing up training opportunities, setting the training schedule, identifying the various tournaments and playing opportunities, and setting up the team structure for the upcoming Team Training phase. We are doing our utmost to get these details all sorted out as best we can in advance of the coming competitive season and these details will be coming out in the next few weeks. But, after much healthy discussion amongst the Club Executive and the senior coaching staff, I would like to pass on to you the guidance and direction that we have agreed to use in the Team Training phase:

Titan's Competitive Program

The Titan's Water Polo Club has adopted a simple set of guiding principles and a few caveats that will be applied as the basis for the Competitive Program in this and future years. They are as follows:

Principles:

As a key objective, the Titan's Water Polo club has adopted the goal of growing the sport: creating the circumstances which will allow for more players to play this sport more often. While recognizing the inherent and compelling nature of achievement, the club promotes the fact that it is a club and as such it strongly supports the importance of participating and having opportunities to play. To that end, in forming its annual competitive program, the club will be guided by the following three principles:

All players should have reasonable opportunities to play and grow in this sport.
All players should have the opportunity, at their individual level, to excel in this sport.
Teams are important and a key part of the sporting experience. Teams should be formed at the end of the Collective Training phase of the LTAD and once formed should work towards goals that are consistent with both of the above principles.

Caveats:

Each year brings its challenges and no one program is going to ever be 100% successful at delivering on all of these principles.

The principles will be applied and adapted to the year to year changing nature of the club (ie enrollment numbers, level of ability, etc) and the sport at the provincial and national level (ie location, number of tournaments, nature and structure of the sport) as best makes sense

Applications:

The ideal application is to have player play on one team and the vast majority in their respective age group.   The reality is that water polo in Ottawa, Ontario, or Canada isn't big enough for this to work yet and, at the same time, for principles 1) and 2) to be honoured. To that end for the 2008 Competitive season the Titans will:

allow many players to play on more than one team;
name players to one or in many cases two teams early and establish reasonable goals for each of them that are consistent with the three guiding principles and the potential of each individual and each individual team.
identify early on goals and objectives for different tournaments that are consistent with the guiding principles
that every competitive player will have the promise of playing in a minimum of three tournaments including the provincial tournaments. Depending upon interest, location, goals, and objectives most or all players will also have the opportunity to compete in a national championship. Furthermore, again depending upon interest, ability, and availability most or indeed all players will participate in the sport of water polo well beyond this minimum
that solid lines of communication between athletes and coaches, coaches to coaches, etc, will be established so that athletes playing on more than one team are certain of their 'priority' team when having to make choices for conflicts in timing, or if they have to miss a practice.

Summary

The overall quick outcomes of identifying these teams early and up front is to allow every player to see clearly his or her playing opportunities and to see how he or she will be challenged in the coming Team Training phase. Each player is assured membership on at least one team best matched at his or her level of ability and ample opportunity to play in the upcoming Team Training phase.

KW Winter Classic December 1st - 2nd 2007 Tournament Report

This year, the Titans sent one mixed team to the 2007 KW Bantam Classic on December 1st and 2nd. With thirteen players, two coaches (Blake and Jen), two chaperones (Monique's mom Sue and Taylor's mom Sue), and the number one fan (me!), we opted to rent a 15 seat van for the players and chaperones, and I drove an extra car with the coaches. We left at 2:15 pm on Friday with bagged suppers expecting to be checked into our hotel by about 8 pm. But it was not to be as an accident blocked highway 401 at Kingston, resulting in a 5 hour crawl through town not even keeping up with pedestrians. We arrived at our hotel at 12:30 am at about the same time as parents who left after work at 6 pm, not a great start to the weekend. But luckily our first game was not until 10 am so the players got to sleep in until 9 am, roll out of bed, have a quick light breakfast and roll right over to the pool, a 5 minute drive away.

Unlike recent KW Bantam Classics that had two separate divisions, the 10 teams entered were divided into two divisions that played round robin inter-division followed by a single cross over playoff game against the team with the same rank in the other division. The Titans were a co-ed team with 8 girls, 5 boys and 10 goalies! By that I mean there was no designated goalie and almost everybody had a turn at goal.

Our first game was against the Pumas from Mexico City. The speedy Pumas jumped out 5-0 lead at the half, but the Titans shook some cobwebs out and started clicking in the second half for an 11-2 final. The second game against KW I was a real nail biter with the Titans taking an early three goal lead and KW I coming back with four unanswered goals. From there it was a see-saw battle until the fourth quarter when the Titans went up 8-7 and held on for the win. We credit this win to extra cheering from Titans parents and grandparents that made the trip to see the game. The late night appeared to be taking its toll on the Titans early in the third game with York II jumping out to a 10-0 lead. But the Titans dug deep and fought back for a 17-8 final.

After a dinner of big pizzas, not quite so big lasagnas, and a big piece of Sophie's birthday cake, it was off to Laser Quest for some further shooting and agility training. Then it was back to the hotel for some chats in the hall until 9:30 no 9:40 no 9:30 and quiet time until lights out at 10:00, or was that 10:15 pm?

So the Titans finished the round robin with a 2-2 record and in a three way tie for second place in their division behind the Pumas. The head to head results couldn't be used to break the tie with Scarborough beating York II, York II beating Ottawa, and Ottawa beating Scarborough. So it was down to goals for and against. But do goals in forfeited games count? Obscure sections of the rule book were consulted and the computing power of several laptops were used, and unfortunately it was determined that the Titans ranked fourth in their division, which set them up for a cross over game against Lindsay.

The Lindsay game started off well with the Titans up 4-2 at one point. But the Titans were unable to score again despite penetrating for numerous close in shots off the crossbar and goal posts, and one Lindsay player had an outstanding performance racking up seven goals for an eventual 8-4 win for Lindsay. It would have been nice to end on a higher note, but lots of fun was had, a new team gelled together nicely, and lots of lessons were learned.

You can check out all the detailed results here: http://www.kwwaterpolo.com/20071201/KWBB2007_index.html .

NEW- Nutrition/ Healthy Eating Information
Submitted by Deanna Barry

The Titans will be providing regular information on nutrition and healthy eating. The first place to start is Canada's Food Guide. To find out more about the new Food Guide, including nutrition needs for various age groups, tracking progress, making healthy choices, etc., please click on the link: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/index_e.html . If you know of any good articles or websites on nutrition and healthy eating, particularly as they apply to young athletes, that we should be sharing with Titans families, please submit them to General Manager Deanna Barry, at INFO@titanswaterpolo.ca.

Leadership Opportunity for Girls Ages 15-20
A workshop designed for girls and young women (ages 15-20) who are involved in sport, recreation and physical activity as athletes, coaches, volunteers and who hope to continue to contribute to sport in their future career or through volunteer activities. Click here for details: http://www.sirc.ca/news_view.cfm?id=18632

Where the Titans are at this Week

Good luck to our four Titans Cadet teams competing in the Laval tournament this weekend!

Today is United Nations International Volunteer Day!
Submitted by Deanna Barry

To all the parents and athletes who volunteer with the Titans as chaperones, team managers, referees, coaches, committee members, tournament organizers or minor officials, or in some other capacity, hats off to you and a huge THANKS on behalf of the Board of Directors! Without you, we would not be able to provide the high quality programs that we offer. Canadians make an enormous contribution of time to make life better in our communities. According to the latest figures, almost 12 million Canadians volunteer with charities or organizations and contribute close to two billion volunteer hours! Impressive as these numbers may seem, the vast majority of volunteer hours are contributed by a small group of Canadians. In terms of the whole Canadian population, only 11 per cent of Canadians contribute 77 per cent of all volunteer hours. This means that 1.3 million volunteers provide 1.5 billion hours- an average of 1,000 hours each. WOW! We know some of our Titans volunteers fit into this category. For more information on International Volunteer Day, please click here: http://www.volunteer.ca/volcan/eng/content/dec5/about.php

Titans Merchandise Sale, Saturday December 15

The Titans will be holding a merchandise sale on Saturday, December 15 in the lobby of the U of O pool from 1:30-5:30pm. The sale will include bathing suits (women's black training suits in size 34 and 36 have finally arrived), new club bathing caps (dark and light both, for the girls to wear under competitive hats), balls, back packs, sweat pants, hoodies, toques, mittens. Stock up now for Christmas!!

Also for those Titans who are new to the Club, or for those who missed out last year on ordering the black Club jackets, we will be taking orders (and cheques!) for jackets and pants at this time. Sizes will be available for trying on. This will be the ONLY opportunity to order Club jackets this year.

Any questions on merchandise can be sent to Christine at equipment@titanswaterpolo.ca .

Titans New BATHING SUIT Survey- Your Input is Requested!

Please assist us in choosing our new Club bathing suits by completing the survey, which can be found by clicking here (or by copying and pasting this into your Internet browser) http://titanswp.hypermart.net/2007/docs/2007BathingSuitSurvey.pdf

We need to know if you are a player (and if you are male or female), a parent or a coach, and you need to choose ONE suit (there are 3 women's and 3 men's choices). We would also like to know if you have any other suggestions for merchandise items that could be offered for sale. Please e-mail your responses to Christine, at equipment@titanswaterpolo.ca Deadline for responses is DECEMBER 14.

Once the survey responses are collated, we will make a choice and order the suits. We hope to have them available for provincial championships. Please be thoughtful in your choice. We would like to have a design that we can keep for a number of years.

Newsletter Submissions
If you would like to contribute an item to the newsletter, please send your submission to Sue Sidebottom at news@titanswaterpolo.ca . Any submissions received before noon on Wednesday will go out with that week's news.