Hi All,
So our new Fitness Center is way ahead of schedule! Originally it was scheduled to be finished in late December. Now the push is on to finish it before the start of classes! The progress has been amazing! The new windows in the main hallway allow a beautiful amount of natural light! Nice to have that coming into our offices!
At this point construction should finish in the next two weeks with the equipment moving in after construction is complete. The final opening will depend on the delivery date of all of the equipment.
The equipment includes 36 pieces of cardio equipment - all with their own TV and Ipod connections, 10 pieces of selectorize weight machines and all new free weights! We also have a mezzanine level that will be used for yoga, Pilate's and spinning classes!
I am trying to down-load video of the project but my new computer does not seem to like flip video! So i will keep working on that!
More later,
DA
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
High Tech Suits
News from Yesterday!
It looked like FINA was taking a strong look at the newest wave of high-tech swim suits and had initially banned 100+ a earlier in the spring. See John Leonard's article "What's up with the Suits?" from March on the ASCA web site. You need to scroll down a ways to get to the initial article. There are also some other updates as you scroll.
Unfortunately, it appears that almost all of the suits have since been reinstated. Here is an article from the June 23rd edition of the Washington Post.
It is unfortunate that this controversy continues. Yes, technology will always impact sports and just about every other sport continues to evolve with technology. The big difference that I see is that we have now completely changed the goal of swimming. Until last year, the goal was how fast can a swimmer pull his or her body through the water. Now, it is more like, how fast can she pull the suit through the water. The swimmer is now encapsulated in a shell that eliminates many of the physical challenges faced before the new suits.
People have said it is all about the athlete and not the suit. Clearly you still need to be a great athlete to swim at the elite level, but just as clearly with significantly more records falling in the past year, it is about the suit. Times have dropped so significantly that it is not about some new training or swimming technique.
"This is sport that used to be about technique and training and talent, and now it's going to be about technology" until the rules are tightened, said Bob Bowman, who coaches Phelps and fellow Olympian Katie Hoff, by phone. "I'm also concerned about the long-term ramifications for the sport that come out of this period of free-for-all. Once records are set, it's hard to get them back. . . . It's not going to be just six months of chaos, we're going to be paying for this for a decade." (Washington Post article).
And unfortunately, all swimmers are going to be paying for this, literally, dropping $300-$500 for a suit that lasts at best for a weekend championship. This will certainly make for an uneven playing field where results will reflect as much about the training as the ability to purchase super suits.
Hopefully FINA will realize what the focus of the sport should be!
Best,
DA
It looked like FINA was taking a strong look at the newest wave of high-tech swim suits and had initially banned 100+ a earlier in the spring. See John Leonard's article "What's up with the Suits?" from March on the ASCA web site. You need to scroll down a ways to get to the initial article. There are also some other updates as you scroll.
Unfortunately, it appears that almost all of the suits have since been reinstated. Here is an article from the June 23rd edition of the Washington Post.
It is unfortunate that this controversy continues. Yes, technology will always impact sports and just about every other sport continues to evolve with technology. The big difference that I see is that we have now completely changed the goal of swimming. Until last year, the goal was how fast can a swimmer pull his or her body through the water. Now, it is more like, how fast can she pull the suit through the water. The swimmer is now encapsulated in a shell that eliminates many of the physical challenges faced before the new suits.
People have said it is all about the athlete and not the suit. Clearly you still need to be a great athlete to swim at the elite level, but just as clearly with significantly more records falling in the past year, it is about the suit. Times have dropped so significantly that it is not about some new training or swimming technique.
"This is sport that used to be about technique and training and talent, and now it's going to be about technology" until the rules are tightened, said Bob Bowman, who coaches Phelps and fellow Olympian Katie Hoff, by phone. "I'm also concerned about the long-term ramifications for the sport that come out of this period of free-for-all. Once records are set, it's hard to get them back. . . . It's not going to be just six months of chaos, we're going to be paying for this for a decade." (Washington Post article).
And unfortunately, all swimmers are going to be paying for this, literally, dropping $300-$500 for a suit that lasts at best for a weekend championship. This will certainly make for an uneven playing field where results will reflect as much about the training as the ability to purchase super suits.
Hopefully FINA will realize what the focus of the sport should be!
Best,
DA
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Miki Yoshida Named to National SAAC
Raising Junior Miki Yoshida has been selected to represent both the NEWMAC and GNAC conferences on the NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). She will serve on the committee for the next three years. Miki also represented Mount Holyoke at the NCAA National Student-Athlete Development Conference in Orlando, Fla at the beginning of June
Miki is spending the next month in Japan working as an intern for an international rugby tournament.
See the full story.
Best,
DA
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Athletic Awards Ceremony
On Thursday May 7th the Athletic Department held it's annual award ceremony. Two seniors received the Senior Athlete Award for competing on the team for 4 years. They are Natalia Sadaniantz (pic left) and Lisa Nash. Both also served as captains this year.
Lisa also received the teams Ann C. Cummings Award for the person for "gave the most in the sport".
Lindsay Schonborn '10 received the Noll Newcomer Award, which is voted on by her teammates.
Lisa was also honored for her being named one of the NACWAA Administrator of Tomorrow. (See previous post). Lisa also received the Athletic Directors Award. This award is not an annual award but is given to student athletes that really exemplify the meaning of student-athlete and make significant contributions to the department. Lisa has worked tirelessly the last year and a half to promote student-athletes as the chair of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and as a department intern.
Congratulations to Lisa, Natalia and Lindsey.
To see more information, click the link.
Best,
DA
Friday, May 1, 2009
Dance Studio Story
Here is the link to the story about the opening of the new Dance Studios. The dance studios where the first phase of 2 phases to complete the renovations of Kendall. Currently work to create a new fitness center is well underway. The renovations are expected to be completed by late fall. Here is a video of the current space - doesn't look to pretty right now, but is moving along!
Best,
DA
Best,
DA
Volunteering at the Peck School
Nine swimmers and divers volunteered to help out with the Peck School's after school program. Miki helped organize the team and they came up with a number of fun activities including, chain tag, the human knot, basketball, soccer and the show stopper - sponge relay. Fifteen children from the school participated. Here are two videos!
Best,
DA
Best,
DA
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