March 2025 Newsletter
UPCOMING MEETS:
Senior Championships
March 13 - 16, 2025
InterSquad Meet
March 19, 2025 (Last day of Short Course Season)
Save the Date
Swim-A-Thon will be May 9th
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Hello from the Coaches
Swimmers of the Month
Official’s Corner
Birthdays
Nutrition Tips
Stroke Tips
Volunteer Information
Contacts
Scholarship Applications: If you are in need of financial assistance to help pay for monthly dues, please submit an application by April 11th for consideration. More info and applications can be found here.
RESOURCES:
Volunteer Hours / Event Sign Up / OSI Time Standards / USA Swimming / DDAC Facebook
COACH JIM
What a great High School State and District Swim meet the Senior/High School team just competed in. DDAC was represented by 4 different high schools at the district meet(Nelson, Clackamas, Central Catholic and David Douglas). It is always fun to see the relationships and support for our club athletes across schools. David Douglas High School had the majority of swimmers that have grown up in the club and had tremendous success in both meets. The DDHS team won both the girls and boys district championships and 14 swimmers earned swims at the High School State meet. At that meet the Girls team placed 5th overall with two event state titles, Ariya Abdullah 50 freestyle (23.03) and the 200 Freestyle Relay Alyssa Siripatrapa (25.41), Kim Ngueyn (25.22) Ja’lan Abdullah (24.45) Ariya Abdullah (22:55)
Ariya’s 50 free and the 200 freestyle relay also broke the David Douglas School Record.
The boys placed 7th overall in state. The meet was highlighted by The bys 200 Free Relay breaking the school record: Elliott Huelshoff (22.76), Nathan Nguyen (22.53) Nathan Vuong (21.79) Austin Pham (21.24)
Austin Pham also finaled at the state meet in the 50 freestyle (22.13) and the 100 Breaststroke (59.48)
After the high school state meet I went and watched the Sunday session of the 10 and under champs swim meet and was very impressed by the wealth of talent we have in the younger age groups in our club.
COACH BOBBY
Welcome Back Newsletter! DDAC did a great job with our newsletters before COVID, and I am glad to see it return to our program. The newsletter is returning because we have a new great group of parents that are very involved in making DDAC a quality organization. Keep it Up! My article this month is about EFFORT & ATTITUDE.
“The two things in life you are in total control over are your attitude and your effort” There are so many things that happen around us everyday that can influence our choices, that can change our mood, and that can inspire us or discourage us. BUT we can take that information and choose what our attitude is going to be everyday & what effort we are going to give at any given time.
Why not choose to have great positive attitude even when it might be difficult, why not choose to give your full effort even when you are tired. When you approach all situations with an outgoing positive attitude of “throw me whatever you got”, it is not only easy to give 100% effort, but you also won’t know any other way.
Walk into any room with excitement of being there, and you will be mentally and physically productive in that space.
Wake up every day ready and motivated to tackle any challenges that come your way, and when those tests happen you will barely notice them.
Evaluate yourself on your attitude and your effort. You have total control over these characteristics, and you want to be known as someone who has a great attitude and gives great Effort.
Thanks – Coach Bobby
COACH BRAYDEN
The Power of a Pre- & Post-Race Routine
Championship season is here, and success isn’t just about how hard you train—it’s about how well you prepare and recover. Having a structured race plan before and after each event can make the difference between an average swim and a peak performance.
Before Your Race: Set Yourself Up for Success
Your body needs to be primed and ready before you step on the blocks. Whether you have access to a warm-up pool or not, your goal is to activate your muscles, get your heart rate up, and mentally lock in.
In the Warm-Up Pool:
• Swim at least 200 yards before your race to stay loose.
• Focus on key race elements: breakouts, turns, breathing patterns, and pace if needed.
No Warm-Up Pool? No Problem:
• Get moving behind the blocks—jump, jog, or do dynamic stretches to keep warm.
• Stay bundled up in sweatshirts, parkas, sweatpants, shoes, and socks to maintain muscle readiness.
After Your Race: Recover Like a Champion
Your race isn’t over when you touch the wall—how you recover impacts your next event and overall performance.
Stretch It Out – Focus on static stretching (holding positions for 20-30 seconds) to improve flexibility and prevent stiffness.
Hydrate – Water is your best friend, especially after intense efforts.
Stay Warm – Avoid cooling down too fast; keep your parka, sweatshirt, and warm layers on to maintain muscle recovery.
Small habits lead to big results. Stick to your plan, control what you can, and set yourself up for success!
Trust the Process, Embrace the Grind
Success comes from consistent effort, resilience, and learning from every challenge. Stay focused, stay hungry, and keep pushing forward—greatness is earned, not given!
High School / Seniors – Ariya Abdullah and Austin Pham - Both of these swimmers have demonstrated dedication to the process. They both attend mornings and afternoon swim practices. They also are in the weight room getting stronger and compete at a high level at the biggest meets.
Gold – Topher Ashmore - Great Leader of the squad. Mature and driven to achieve.
Silver 2 – Emerson Loveless - Very talented and awesome attitude.
Silver 1 – Mara Davis - Extremely coachable and attentive. Takes advantage of each minute.
Bronze 2 – Nico Townsend - Immense potential and very positive. Amazing teammate.
Bronze 1 – Scarlett Chen - Excited to improve every day.
How to Become a Stroke & Turn Official
Becoming a ST official appears to be a LOT easier than it used to be! We need to have more trained officials on our team. Having dedicated team officials helps us get into meets and gives our swimmers more opportunities. All required training is provided. Training and officiating time counts towards volunteer hours and is a great way to support the team.
If you are interested in learning more, take a look at this link. If you have questions, you can email Robin Young at cotreasurer.ddac@gmail.com.
The Power of Nutrition
Your time as a competitive swimmer requires nutrition for optimum health and maximum performance. Food helps you improve your skills, strength and power. Fuel your brain and muscles with carbohydrates, proteins, fluids and iron. Carbohydrates need to be consumed throughout the day both at meals and surrounding training sessions. Good sources of carbohydrates are whole grains, starchy vegetables, fruits, fruit leather, dried fruit and beans. Proteins are especially important after your training session but should be eaten four or five times per day. Good sources of protein are lean meats, fish, Greek yogurt, cheese, eggs, quinoa, edamame and tofu. Fluids need to be consumed on a regular basis.
Swimmers don’t know they are sweating. So, drink all day long, but especially before and after practice. Iron brings oxygen into your muscles and assists in creating energy maintaining your immune system. Good sources of iron are animal meats, seafood, pumpkin seeds, beans, leafy greens and sweet potatoes. Eating iron with foods high in vitamin C (citrus, tomatoes, peppers) helps with iron absorption.
RECIPE: BLT EGGLET
Cut a hard boiled egg in half, longways
Top with: bacon, lettuce, tomato, sriracha mayonnaise
There’s no limit: cheese, refried beans, salami, bbq sauce etc.
Isaac Campbell Senior 3/18/2007
Layla Daily Silver 3/18/2014
MacKenzie Guillet Gold 3/19/2010
Wilson Tran Bronze 3/21/2011
Nathan Vuong Senior 3/24/2009
Kyra Morrill Silver 3/27/2013
Youtso Lama Silver 3/28/2013
Kofi Franklin Senior 3/1/2007
Nathan Nguyen Senior 3/5/2008
Malakai Junio Senior 3/6/2009
Benjamin Tran Gold 3/6/2012
Josephine Hoang Bronze 3/7/2013
Olivia Mindra Silver 3/7/2012
Bella Pietrzyk Silver 3/11/2013
Artem Mushchak Bronze 3/16/2013
Improve your freestyle stroke
Hips high in the water, head neutral position
Fingertips enter the water about 18” in front of shoulder, at 45 degree angle
Don’t squeeze your fingers together, leave a few mm between fingers.
Reach as far as you can to the front
Arms should not cross the center of your body
Begin pull back by bending at the elbow, fingertips pointed down at the pool
Start to pull straight back, brushing past your hip
Keep your elbow above your hand most of the way.
Keep your elbow high as your arm comes out of the water
As you take a stroke, your body rotates to one side
To breath, keep one eye in the water. Water flow will create a pocket of air
Take a quick breath and get your head back in neutral mode for the next stroke
The volunteer requirement resets at the beginning of each season. For the Long Course Season, you have from April to August to fulfill your hours.
The volunteer hours required each season is 10 hours per swimmer & is capped at 15 hours per family per season.
Members who do not meet their volunteer commitment will be charged $15 per hour not completed.
Food donations at meets count towards volunteer hours (new this season).
Volunteering on one of the subcommittee counts towards hours.
April Front Desk Volunteer - Sign up here. (we will be moving to a new system soon)`
We need to have more trained officials on our team. Having dedicated team officials helps us get into meets and gives our swimmers more opportunities. All required training is provided.
Please email andrea.guillet@ddacswims.org with any questions and thank you for volunteering!
BOARD MEMBERS
Robin Young – Co-Treasurer
robin.young@ddacswim.org
Andrea Guillet – Volunteer Coordinator
andrea.guillet@ddacswim.org
Jamie King – Member Representative
jamie.king@ddacswim.org
Coaches:
bobby.deroest@ddacswim.org
brayden.franzke@ddacswim.org
James Bowe – President
jim.bowe@ddacswim.org
Crystal Mandery – Vice President
crystal.mandery@ddacswim.org
Jennifer Lindeman – Secretary
jennifer.lindeman@ddacswim.org
Heather Franklin – Treasurer
heather.franklin@ddacswim.org