“Out of Town” Meets 2010-2011

The Mississauga Aquatic Club has always looked for great opportunities for our athletes to experience “Team Travel”.  The range of what competitive swimming as a sport has to offer extends far beyond just swimming.  We see the opportunity of “Team Travel” as one that combines the sport part of swimming with real life skills and learning.  It is true that part of the sport culture includes travel to various places of varying distances.  It is important for this reason that sport participants become familiar and comfortable with the practices of travelling to a meet without mom and dad by their side.  It is more valuable to experience this type of travel early and at less significant competition in order to be better prepared for the bigger competition should “Team Travel” be required.  In addition to the idea being a big part of sport culture, the experiences during team travel that include bonding with team mates, overcoming the challenges of sleeping in unfamiliar place, sharing space and rooms with athlete on your team and learning common respect for each other, as well as the FUN!  Many swimmers that have finished their swimming careers and moved on to their next stage in life have remembered their swimming days with highlights being around the enjoyment of such experiences and the appreciation they have for the opportunity for these types of experiences.  The Mississauga Aquatic Club will continue to pursue opportunities for “Team Travel” and although some may choose not to participate in these events we want to encourage you to view these opportunities as great experiences for your swimmers and hope you will join us when these “Team Travel” meets are available.  When we do these “Team Travel” experiences they will be full participation required and we like to view the experience as one that includes a swim meet but not only about the swim meet.  Swimming fast and having fun during a great experience.

 

Our goal is to provide good swimming competition experiences to each level of swimming.  We are fortunate to live in the GTA and have numerous quality meets in our back yard.  At different stages of your swimmer’s development it may be beneficial to attend a meet “out of town”. The benefit can be for the meet itself but the other side is the experience of travel.  Our goal is to provide different levels of “Team Travel” so that when the time comes for your child to travel on his/her own they are ready.  Also, to ensure that the fees (expenses) for these travel experiences are reasonable we have rules to follow.  We have planned this year’s “out of town” meets to allow each swimmer to experience some form of “team travel”. We also try our best to accommodate swimmers who will need assistance for some meets. As usual it is impossible to please everyone but we feel we have offered some good travel experiences.  Thank you to Belinda Goncalves who has volunteered to be the Travel Director for 2010-11.  Belinda will arrange and plan all the travel details as advised by the Coaching Staff. You will receive specific travel information from Mike and Belinda via emails from your Group Parent Rep.
Each season, swimmers may be required to travel to competitions and/or swim camps. This may involve transportation by a car, van, coach bus or plane as well as hotel accommodations, food and restaurant meals. 
Any exceptions to the team’s travel plans (i.e. for Health, Medical or other reasons) must be requested in writing to the Head Coach a minimum 21 days prior to departure. The Head Coach will consult with the Club President and Travel Director and will reply directly to the family requesting the exception. Should a swimmer leave the group accompanied by a parent/ legal guardian and has previous board approval, they (parent/legal guardian) will assume immediate and full responsibility for the swimmer and thereby release the Club from any liability and/or obligations related to the swimmer.
Should a swimmer violate the Code of Conduct or leave the group without any prior communication with BOTH the Chaperone and the Coach, he/she will be subject to immediate disciplinary action (as deemed appropriate by the Chaperone and Coach) as well as follow-up action on their return.


For the 2010-2011 Season, the travel plans are outlined below. Questions should be directed to your Coach or our Head Coach, Mike Rutledge. 
This year we have offered different levels of “Team Travel”.  We have tried our best to listen to all the parent concerns and incorporate solutions into the meet schedule.  We continue to work toward creating some team opportunities within the meet schedule while being fully aware of the costs for out of town meets. 


Mandatory Team Travel – to be eligible to participate the swimmer will travel on the bus with the team, coaches and chaperones, stay at the team hotel, eat with the team and travel home with the team.


Family Team Travel- Swimmers travel with Family but are required to stay in the team hotel. Swimmers will be entered in the meet with proof of hotel booking. MSSAC will select the hotel and block a series of rooms for our club. Parents will call the hotel directly to secure a room. Swimmers will be supervised by parent and eat with parent BUT there may be mandatory team meetings and a team meal organized.  There may be variations to this from year to year based on size of the meet, location of the meet and ages of the swimmers.


Assisted Team Travel- for some meets we will offer team travel for swimmers in need. A minimum of 6 swimmers must request the assistance. These swimmers will travel with the coach/chaperone by rented van / air / train to the meet, stay in the team hotel, be supervised at all times by chaperone and return home with the chaperone/coach


“Out of Town / On your Own” - Swimmers will travel with family and can stay where ever they wish. MSSAC will block rooms at a hotel for those families wanting to stay as a group.

 

The Following meets have been designated “Mandatory Team Travel”. 

  • Team Champs: Sudbury April 15, 16, 17
  • 12 and Under Celebration* -London- January 8 and 9

The following meets have been designated “Family Team Travel”

  • Eastern Canadian Championships –London – February 17-20

 

Assisted Team Travel Offered

  • Short Course Junior Provincials –Nepean- February 24-27

Assisted Team Travel Offered

  • Spring Nationals** – Victoria – March 31-April 3

Assisted Team Travel Offered

  • Summer Nationals ** - Montreal –July 21-24

Assisted Team Travel Offered

  • Age Group Nationals – Montreal – July 28-31

 Assisted Team Travel Offered
** Minimum for Assisted Team Travel is 2.
The following meets have been designated “On Your Own”

  • Nothers – London – November 27 and 28
  • Muskoka – Bracebridge – February 26 and 27

Selection / Eligibility
Team Champs- Selection is made by the coaching staff based on criteria shown on the website (http://www.mississaugaswimming.com/coaches/dts/dts.htm).
All other meets please refer to the meet calendar for group participation and to Swim Ontario for Time Standards where required

http://www.swimontario.com/index_sr.php?id=1657