January 2010
To the Farmingdale Aquatics family,
As you know by now, Coach Eric has decided to take early retirement. I am sure we all wish him well with whatever he decides to do. At first I was asked to step in on an interim basis to fill in as head coach. Then I was approved by the Board of Farmingdale Aquatics to be the head coach on a more permanent basis at the January 19, 2010 meeting and will be proud to serve you. Most of you already know me with the work that I’ve done the last season with our Intermediate squad and with my wife Debbie the past six seasons on Preteam. I’ve been swimming since the age of 5 and still do 3-4 times a week. One of the reasons that I love the sport is because you can keep it with you your entire life.
I would like to open a new line of communication between our coaching staff and parents. We know how to teach them to swim faster, you know how to be their parents and together we can help them reach their full potential. We are still going to have to make some adjustments to our program as we find what works and what does not. Our goal is to find what works best for each swimmer.
We will be hiring a new coach named Kelly Harris. I feel Kelly will be an asset to our team. Kelly swam at SUNY Binghamton for four years, was a FHS Varsity swimmer as well as a club swimmer. She will be working with some of the seniors. Kirk will continue doing a great job with the Developmental program and I know his kids love him. Dan will be working with his Intermediate group taking them through the finer techniques of all four strokes. Mark and Bruce will keep working their magic with our Elite/Senior squad. I will still keep my group working hard to make sure they reach their goals of Silver and JO times. Debbie and I will continue to use our love of swimming to help the Preteam swimmers progress by finding their balance and feeling confident in the water. I feel we have people who are good at what they do and love what they do. Farmingdale Aquatics will remain strong and grow in the future. We also have a great board and many people behind the scenes who make this all work. When you see them, please thank them for their commitment.
As you know our pool is over 40 years old and has seen better days. We are unable to host a meet here due to the shallow depth of lanes 1 and 2. The pool has many mechanical problems that come with age and use. I believe we should push the Town of Oyster Bay to build its residents an indoor pool. This will not be an easy fight, but remember without a pool there would be no team. We need lots of people to get involved with this project. It would be for your swimmer as well as the future of our swim team. Think of how nice it would be for the kids to finally have a home team meet. Additionally, think of the financial boost it would give us to put back into our club. I cannot stress how important this is. You cannot assume someone else will do it.
All of us must do it. Please become involved with this endeavor. It will pay us and your children back many times over. We need to start with this right away and put a real 100% effort into it. Failure is not an option. Please contact me to become involved in setting up a committee to keep the pressure on the Town to get this done. We deserve this pool as we are one of the few Nassau townships without an indoor pool.
Lastly, I would like to personally thank Jim & Chris Casement for taking over our meet-entering software program called Team Manager and our website. They have picked up the pieces and have kept us up to date with our meet entries.
Remember that the entire coaching staff is here for you. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to ask. I am accessible to you and welcome your input.
Thank you very much,
Coach Bill Manton