Specialty Clinic to support the BBD National Team

Sunday, February 5

The National Team will be in the water to help instruct your swimmer on proper stroke technique, starts, and turns.

This is a great opportunity to meet the National Team swimmers and have fun!!!!

$35 per swimmer

Held at the Birmingham YMCA

9 & Up 9:00 am – 10:00 am
8 & Under 10:00 am – 11:00 am

Please see the attached flyer for more info.

Greetings Parents and Swimmers,
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The dates and locations for our YMCA championship meets were finally recently solidified. Thank you for your patience while the hosting YMCA teams have been working hard to secure pools for these meets. While the rough schedule has been on our website for some time, we have recently added new details, some of which are also being provided in this email. You will receive an email from our entry chair when these meets are open for entries.
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As stated previously, swimmers are expected to be at every championship meet for which they qualify. To be eligible to compete in the championship season, swimmers must have completed their 3 YMCA meets. All BBD swimmers who have met this criteria compete in Clusters (expect some of our HS boys), and all 8 and Unders who have met the criteria also are expected to compete in the 8 and Under State Meet.

The season will conclude for 8 and Unders following the 8 and Under State Meet (February 18th) unless a swimmer has a 9 and Up State Meet qualifying time. For swimmers ages 9 and Up, their season will conclude following the latest meet for which they qualify. Please ask a coach if you feel you need clarification on any of this. Time standards for the championship meets with qualifying times are on our website under the “Time Standards” tab.

Please be sure these dates are on your calendar!
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Eastern Clusters – NO QUALIFYING TIMES, ALL SWIMMERS (EXCEPTION FOR SOME HS BOYS)
FRIDAY 2/10 – SUNDAY 2/12 – SPLIT BETWEEN TWO LOCAL VENUES.
SWIMMERS ONLY COMPETE IN THEIR DESIGNATED SESSION, AND 9 AND UP SWIMMERS HAVE THE CHOICE OF SWIMMING IN DISTANCE EVENTS ON FRIDAY NIGHT.
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FRIDAY, 2/10 @ NORTHVILLE HIGH SCHOOL – DISTANCE EVENTS
Girls 9/10 – 200 IM, Boys 9/10 – 200 IM, Girls 9/10 – 200 free, Boys 9/10 – 200 free, Girls 11-18 – 400 IM, Boys 11-18 – 400 IM, Girls 11-18 – 500 free, Boys 11-18 – 500 free

SATURDAY, 2/11 & SUNDAY, 2/12 @ LAKELAND HIGH SCHOOL
Saturday AM @ LAKELAND HIGH SCHOOL – 8 & under boys & girls
Saturday PM @ LAKELAND HIGH SCHOOL – 9/10 boys & girls
Sunday AM @ LAKELAND HIGH SCHOOL – 11/12 boys & girls
Sunday PM @ LAKELAND HIGH SCHOOL – 13-18 boys & girls

8 and Under State Meet – NO QUALIFYING TIMES, ALL 8 AND UNDER SWIMMERS
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2/18, 3 PM START @ GRAND TRAVERSE BAY YMCA
PLEASE NOTE THAT ARRIVAL/WARM-UP TIME HAS NOT BEEN PROVIDED. We assume most families will drive in on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, due to it being the holiday weekend, we are unable to secure a team hotel block. Some families have made arrangements to stay overnight on Saturday in Traverse City.
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9 and Up State Meet – QUALIFIED SWIMMERS ONLY
SATURDAY, 3/4 AND SUNDAY, 3/5 @ SAGINAW VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY
*THIS MEET WILL BE HOSTED BE OUR TEAM, AND OUR PARENTS WILL BE EXPECTED TO VOLUNTEER. PLEASE SEE THE WEBSITE FOR HOTEL BLOCK INFORMATION IN BAY CITY/SAGINAW. *
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Great Lakes Zone Championships – QUALIFIED SWIMMERS ONLY
FRIDAY, 3/17 – SUNDAY, 3/19 @ SPIRE INSTITUTE, GENEVA, OHIO
PLEASE SEE THE WEBSITE FOR HOTEL BLOCK INFORMATION IN GENEVA, OH.

Following Zones, qualified BBD swimmers will also complete in the Michigan Age Group State Championships (MAGS), a USS meet. Here is the information for that meet:

Michigan Age Group Championships (MAGS) – QUALIFIED 14 AND UNDER SWIMMERS
FRIDAY, 3/24 – SUNDAY, 3/26 @ EAST KENWOOD HS, GRAND RAPIDS, MI
PLEASE SEE THE WEBSITE FOR HOTEL BLOCK INFORMATION IN GRAND RAPIDS.

Finally, our National Team will head to Greensboro, North Carolina for YMCA Nationals April 3-7th.

Last, but not least, please save the date of Wednesday, April 19th for our 9 and Up Banquet. This event will require pre-registration and space will be limited. We will also host a banquet for 8 and Unders at the YMCA…info coming soon!

We look forward to a fun and exciting end of our season!
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BBD Boosters Board and Coaches

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10:
Location: NORTHVILLE HIGH SCHOOL
45700 Six Mile Road
Northville, MI 48168

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11 & SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12:
Location: LAKELAND HIGH SCHOOL
1630 Bogie Lake Road
White Lake, MI 48383

Here is the format:

Friday evening at NORTHVILLE HIGH SCHOOL will be the following events:
Girls 9/10 – 200 IM
Boys 9/10 – 200 IM
Girls 9/10 – 200 free
Boys 9/10 – 200 free
Girls 11-18 – 400 IM
Boys 11-18 – 400 IM
Girls 11-18 – 500 free
Boys 11-18 – 500 free
*swimmers pick ONE event to swim. Awards and team points will be broken up into specific age groups

Saturday AM @ LAKELAND HIGH SCHOOL:
8 & under boys & girls

SATURDAY PM @ LAKELAND HIGH SCHOOL:
9/10 boys & girls

SUNDAY AM @ LAKELAND HIGH SCHOOL:
11/12 boys & girls

SUNDAY PM @ LAKELAND HIGH SCHOOL:
13-18 boys & girls

Swimmers will be allowed 3 individual events and 2 relays for the session they are swimming.

Thanks to everyone for their patience and understanding while we work through this process. Meet packet and Entry File will be out next week.

Dear Parents and Swimmers,
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The coaches are thrilled with our swimmers’ performance at the Flint meet. We are coming off the holiday break in very fine shape.
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Our Saturday and some of our Sunday first places included…
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Eight and Unders
Reid McCuiston ( 50 free, 25 back, 25 fly)
Teddy Howe (100 IM, 25 free, 25 breast, 100 free)
Catie Samouelian (25 fly)
Jack Palmer (50 back)
Leyre Bonel Muras (25 free)
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9/10s
Beckham Leith (200 free)
Mary Bailey (50 breast)
Brody McCuiston (50 back, 100 free)
Winston Lu (50 fly, 100 IM, 500 free)
Claire Tomasek (100 breast, 50 free)
Eric Dunn (200 IM, 100 back, 50 free)
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11/12s
Allie Page (50 back)
Michael Bailey (50 breast)
Jack Ruud (100 fly)
Allie Schwartz (100 Fly)
Lyla Collins (100 back)
Catherine Howe (100 free, 25 free, 50 free, 50 breast, 50 fly)
Sully Jackson (100 back, 25 free)
Nolan Knudson (200 IM, 50 fly)
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13/14s
Quinn O’Neil (200 free, 200 fly)
Taylor Robinson (50 free)
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15/17s
Sam Clifford (200 free, 100 fly)
Eryn McLaughlin (200 fly)
Ramey Ankatha (200 fly)
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Upcoming Meets
Soon the entry for the Eastern Clusters Meet will be available. This is a required meet for our swimmers. Farmington has had some difficulty securing a pool so the format may change. The weekend of Clusters is also the weekend of the Michigan Open at Oakland University. Experienced swimmers , thirteen years and up, may attend as long as they attend one day of the Cluster Meet. The Michigan Open is a prelims/final format. DO NOT SIGN UP FOR THE MEET UNLESS YOU PLAN TO BE AT THE FINALS SESSION IF YOU QUALIFY IN THE PRELIMS SESSION.
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2023 Mid-States All-Star Championships
We had three of our swimmers participate in the 2023 All-Star Meet at Indianapolis representing Team Michigan. Charlie McCuiston, Malin Murphey and Will Schwab swam sixteen individual events and several relays among them. Malin finished 16th in the 50 back and Will finished 16th in the 500 freestyle. Charlie finished 4th in the 50 and 200 free, 5th in the 100 free, 10th in the 200 breast and 16th in the 100 fly and 100 back. They made us proud!!
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Camera Session
The 9/10s have a camera session at Covington on Thursday from 6:00-7:30. Only swimmers who have not had the opportunity thus far should register. Please sign up using this link:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0c4ca9aa2aa3f58-bbd910#/
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We have had a great season to date. Let’s maintain the momentum!
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Kevin

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
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It seems strange to type 2023!
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I hope all of you enjoyed the holiday season. I sure did. Thank you to all of you who thought of the coaching staff. The board treated us to a very nice dinner hosted by Coach Jeannie and then to cocktails at the Birmingham Pub. We certainly are spoiled!
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Did you make any New Year resolutions? Here let me help you…
1. Get to practice often and on time.
2. Meet with the coaches to revise your goals after the January meets.
3. Prepare for a very exciting championship season.

The progress we have witnessed in our swimmers never fails to impress. New swimmers have become good swimmers, good swimmers have become great. We are poised to see some incredible performances.

As I have explained, putting together facilities, schedules, coaches etc. is like building a house of cards. Not only for Birmingham, but for all of the Y teams. Farmington is scheduled to host our first championship meet, Eastern Clusters, and they have had the two facilities they contracted with back out. We will still have the Cluster Meet, but it may need to be spread out over two weekends (February 4-5, and 11-12.) They are still working to secure a place to host it on the 11-12. If they have to spread it out the meet will be at Northville High School. We will send more information as it becomes available.
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Because we were shut out of some of the sessions of the USSC meet, we are adding one day of the Grosse Pointe Gators US Meet on Sunday, January 29. This is the same weekend as Indy and we have well over 100 swimmers making that trip so we will only attend one day and practices will be canceled on that Sunday. This meet format is morning pre-lims/ evening finals for 11 and ups. If you choose to attend you are expected to attend the evening finals if you qualify. Afternoon events are timed/finals.
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Flint and the Blue Water Otters are planning a one-day Y meet on Sunday February 5. The only swimmers who should attend that meet are the handful of swimmers (mostly high school girls) who need their third need to continue in the program.
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The 9/10s will have a camera session at Covington on Thursday from 6:00-7:30 for any swimmers who have not yet had this opportunity. .To register, please sign-up here:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0c4ca9aa2aa3f58-910#/
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Kevin