Riptide Ramblings NovemberISH 2024

Kelly & Matt Murphy

 

Welcome to another edition of the Riptide Ramblings! This is a regular newsletter for Riptide Swim Team to communicate our teams’ successes and what is happening throughout the season. This edition includes a video on Backstroke technique from Coach Brian and an introduction to our Tiny Tides and Tidal Wave Coach Jeni Stefanowicz. 


 

Team News

SAVE THE DATES

  • GMNY Holiday Mini Meet: December 8

  • BB Snowflake Invitational: December 15

  • Holiday Classic Invitational (By Invitation Only): December 20-22

  • New Year's Splash Invitational (12 & Under): January 4-5

  • PTAC Tiger Invitational (13 & Over): January 4-5

  • HCY Stingray Splash Invitational: January 18-19

  • Sunkissed National Meet: March 27-30

  • End-of-Season Banquet: April 27

 

RIPTIDE SWIM TEAM’S HOLIDAY BOWLING PARTY

This is the Riptide Team Social for the season - DON’T MISS IT! CLICK HERE for all important information, including ticket purchases and Work Bond volunteer shifts.



 

 

DUAL MEETS

Dual Meet Results: Current Overall Record 4-1

November 2nd- Boys White vs Metuchen-Edison-South Amboy Win 221-112

November 2nd- Girls Purple at Greater Monmouth Win 206-162

November 9th- Boys Blue at Fanwood-Scotch Plains Win 211-154

November 10th- Girls Combined Purple/Black vs Greater Somerset Win 197-179

November 16th- Boys White vs Greater Monmouth Loss 165-195

 

RIPTIDE APPAREL

Deck out your swimmers this Christmas in Riptide Merch. Look good. Swim good. Riptide Merch always helps them look good. Grab some merch here.


 

TEXT BLAST NOTIFICATIONS


There are certain instances throughout the season, such as meet updates, changes to practice due to inclement weather, etc., where TEXT BLASTS are sent out to families, in addition to emails and website updates. To ensure that you are receiving these important notices, please do the following:

  1. Log in to your Team Unify account

  2. Select the My Account —-> Account Info option

  3. Ensure the following:

    1. Your phone number is accurate

    2. Your cell carrier is selected

    3. You have clicked the yellow "Unverified" button and followed any applicable steps to make it a green "Verified" button

 

December Practice Calendar

          



 

Holiday Classic Invitational

 

December 20-22 at Rutgers. This event is by invitation of Coach Brian only and has qualifying times. This is a meet any competitive swimmer should strive to make as they develop in our program, and is a great goal for younger swimmers to pursue. In terms of competitiveness, it is the fall equivalent to our spring Sunkissed Invitational. Many college coaches attend this meet if swimming in college is your swimmer(s) aspiration. Good luck to all Riptide Swimmers who qualified!

 

YMCA Championships

 

The regular season ends with the YMCA Championship Meets in February. These meets all have qualifying times, and there will be an informational meeting about them in January. You can see the qualifying times HERE. 

 

The YMCA Championship meets consist of the Bronze Meet, the Silver Meet, and the State Championship Meet. Swimmers compete in the meet(s) they qualify for, relative to meeting time standards in each event. For example, a swimmer may have Bronze-level times in Fly and Breast but may have Silver-level times in Free and Back. In that case, the swimmer would swim Fly and Breast in Bronze Championships and Free and Back in Silver Championships. Should that swimmer reach a Silver time in the Bronze Meet for Fly and/or Breast, they will then add those events to their Silver Meet line-up. The same would be true should swimmers reach State Championship times in the Bronze or Silver Meets. 













 

Swimmers of the Month: October

Tiny Tides

 

  • David Hung—David always works hard at practice and has had great performances at meets at a young age, such as a legal 100 IM at age 5.

  • Charlotte Bobkowski—Charlotte always gives 100% effort and is eager to apply suggestions when they are given.

 

 Tidal Wave

  • Wren Bennett—Wren is receptive to corrections and always has fun at practice.

  • Jack Bobkowski—Jack enjoys working hard at practice, and won 2 events at Spooky Sprints. 

 

Junior 1

  • Samuel Fridman—Sam practices with focus and is willing to try all different events in his first year on the team.

  • Tessa Dreher-Agner—Tessa always brings energy and fun to practice, and she had great performances at Go for the Gold and Spooky Sprints.

 

Junior 2

  • Morgan Lawrence—Morgan always works hard and is interested in taking stroke corrections.

  • Riley Agustin—Riley has been a consistent worker for a long time but has come out of the gate strong this year with Silvers times and establishing himself as a top 11-12 on the team.

 

Senior 1

  • Tanina Dreher—Senior 1 girls may be the deepest group of talent on the whole team, and Tanina has stepped up in both practice sets and meets to show she is a top swimmer in that group.

  • Justin Freyer—Justin’s habits show a quiet attention to detail, and he is developing into a young leader of the team.

 

Senior 2

  • Joey Fay—Joey is working harder than ever and embracing a leadership role in his senior year on the team.

  • Reagan Umbach—Previously a stand-out in younger age groups, as a Senior, Reagan is consistent each set and is someone younger swimmers can look up to.

 

Fundraising

Funds Raised:

  • Spooky Sprints: $7,000

    • A portion of funds raised will be used toward the following:

      • Sunkissed Swimmer Costs

      • Riptide Swimmer Bowling Cost Offset

      • Riptide Swimmer End-of-Season Banquet Ticket

  • Delicious Orchards Pie Sale: $359

Funds Spent:

  • Heat Winner Prize Ducks

  • Swimmer of the Month Awards

 

Coach Spotlight

 

Jeni Stefanowicz


This week’s spotlight is on Coach Jeni. Coach Jeni is entering her fifth season of coaching in our Riptide program. Jeni has been teaching swim lessons at the YMCA since she was 15 years old. Jeni started coaching the swim team a year after her daughter started swimming. Coach Jeni is a Pre-K teacher, so Coach Brian figured she would be good with the 8 and under Tiny Tides and Tidal Waves group. I really enjoy coaching and watching these little ones bloom into great swimmers. When she is not working, you can most likely find me at the baseball field watching my son play.

 

Coach Jeni takes her role as a coach seriously and desires to see each swimmer succeed. She said, “Every time I watch my little ones succeed is a special memory to me.” This summarizes her passion for every swimmer she coaches.

 

Coach Jeni can also relate to each parent who has a swimmer on Riptide as she is also a swim mom. Her daughter Kayli has swam for Riptide for the past six years, and she is now 10 years old. So, Coach Jeni can be a great resource as you navigate your life as a swim mom or dad. 

Coach Jeni grew up around the pool. She always remembers being in the pool and being able to swim. Coach Jeni was on the swim team in Parlin until she was about 10 years old when that YMCA closed. Coach Jeni’s mom is a lifeguard and swim instructor at the Raritan Valley YMCA. Coach Jeni became a lifeguard and swim instructor at 15. Many of our Riptide Swimmers have 

 

been taught to swim by Coach Jeni’s mom, and many even now work as swim instructors and lifeguards following in Coach Jeni’s footsteps. Because of all her experience, it was a natural step for Coach Jeni to get into coaching. She also spends time in the summer Coaching for the East Brunswick Sandpipers.

 

Coach Jeni is a Kindergarten teacher at Good Day Preschool and Kindergarten in Milltown, NJ. She spends her life investing in our young kids. We are lucky to have her gifts investing in our young swimmer(s). 

 

We asked Coach Jeni some of her favorites:

 

Favorite Swim Memory: As a coach every time my swimmers come up to me proud of how well they do, time they drop or a legal swim they have been working on! As a swim mom the first time my daughter won a race she got out of the pool so happy and and yelled up in the stands to her father and I “ I actually beat somebody” 

 

Favorite Stroke: Breaststroke 

 

Favorite Set: The IM sets as you get to work on a little of everything.

 

Favorite thing about Riptide: The Closeness of the team like a family!

 

Favorite Food: French Fries

 

Favorite Band: Country Music, especially Luke Bryan

 

Favorite Thing to do for fun: Spending time with my family

 

Finally, as part of our Coach Spotlight, we will highlight their number one piece of coaching advice. This week Coach Jeni says, “You get out of swim what you put into it!” She says the key to success in swimming is: “Practice Hard!” Check out this article on surviving swim practice.

 

Coach’s Corner


Coach Brian took some time to teach us how to get our Backstroke to look smooth and move fast. Click to watch.



 

2025 Graduating Seniors

Do you have a swimmer graduating from High School in May 2025? We want to celebrate them! Please CLICK HERE to complete the Graduating Senior Questionnaire no later than November 30, 2024.

 

Swimmer Survey

In our last newsletter, we dove into your favorite swim strokes, and the votes are in! Now, let’s make a splash with a new survey: What’s your favorite swim cap color? CLICK HERE to cast your vote, and stay tuned to see your teammates’ top picks in the next edition!