July 25, 2000 Volume 4, Issue 3 This Issue: Celebrating The Fourth In .

July 25, 2000This Issue:SportsTeamsPages 2-4New Lostand FoundPolicyPage 5Notes fromthe StaffPage 5-6On theGroundsPage 7Volume 4, Issue 3Celebrating the Fourth in TraditionalOverlee StyleThe Fourth of July dawned warmand sunny this year bringing a largecrowd to the pool for a day of fun inthe sun. Traditional events for theday included a variety of family funrelays, shows by both the Dive andSynchro teams and, of course, theBig Splash Contest. Refreshmentswere supplied again this year byBubba’s Barbecue.Swimming while keeping a pingpong ball balanced on a spoon is not The Syncro Team “Strokes” their stuff during the Julyan easy task. The difficulty of this4th Festivitiesrelay encouraged a great deal of creativity among the entrants. Apparently, aity when their spoon flipped over in abit of bubblegum strategically placed beswimmers mouth. Younger swimmerstween the spoon and ball makes an excelfiercely competed for sunken treasure aslent adhesive. Unfortunately this inventhey dove for coins scattered along thetive team was disqualified as judges obbottom of the tub pool. The competiserved their ping-pong ball defying gravtion in the diving well for the covetedbig splash title was equally combative.This years winner set a new standardfor style by performing a single flipinto a magnificent can opener (seesplash page 6).Mike Kane and John Yost get wet running the kickboard relay in the tub pool.1The Synchro team put on a beautifulshow to the Pink Panther Theme. Thedive team showed off its depth as veteran divers and newer team membersshowed their form in a spectacular display of aerial gymnastics.

Looking Back on The A Team Seasonby Maura Yost, Caitlin Sweeney, Emily Loney and Anna TsuchitaniDevotion: 110 kidsbetween the age ofsix and eighteenstanding on the edgeof a pool at 8 o'clockon Saturday morning screaming forthe team that theylove and will foreverbe apart of. Dedication: getting out ofbed every morningof the summer,andspending every waking moment rehearsing their starts turnsand strokes. Family: the way thatOverlee comes together to make the best swim team in the NorthernVirginia Swim League. Regardless of the outcome ofour 2000 season we all had fun this summer.This year, though we struggled early in the season weshowed Division 1 what Overlee is all about when wetriumphed at Divisional Relay Carnival. For the firsttime in 7 years every single relay at Overlee qualifiedfor All Star Relays the following week. The teamcame together to cheer and stood behind every singlekid in each relay. It was amazing to see all the spiritthat Overlee had at that relay carnival.that showed us our rootsthat they remembered fromtheir Overlee days of swimming. The parents watching from the upper deckwere clapping and cheeringlouder than any other meetthis season. Following theindividual events the teamretreated to the team roomand emerged to the some'Eye of the Tiger'. The entire team danced around onthe deck getting ready forthe upcoming relays. Theincredible spirit blazedthrough as we out cheeredand out classed our competition.Not many people have a chance to have this bond with somany people every summer. Every kid that swims for Overlee dedicates there summer, their voice, and there spirit.They come together for 5 weeks of the year to make the bestteam in Northern Virginia. The other 48 weeks of the yearthey can only dream and wait for the fun that had and willhave. The Overlee swim team is an incredible way to spendan entire summer. Whether we win or lose all of our meetswe still have the bond that will never be broken. Team matesare turned to best friends and the pool is turned into a homeAt the beginning of the season Overlee outswam thecompetition of the rising division two team, VirginiaRun. In our second meet, Overlee swam Chesterbrook, at their pool, and despite several outstandingswims we were defeated. Because of the odd numberof swimmers in Division 1 this year we had to swimone meet that was out of our division. The Overleeswimmers swam an incredible 85% best times of theseason against division two team Tuckahoe. Overleerebounded the following Wednesday with a win atDivisional Relay Carnival. We came back the nextweek at All Star Relay Carnival and swam theirhearts out. Our 8 and under boys dropped 4 secondsin each of their freestyle and medley relays. Theydropped from 11th and 10th seeds in each relays finishing 3rd and 5th respectively.This week we swam our rivals Fairfax Station. Although we were defeated by a few insignificant pointsthe team had more spirit and fun together than wehave had all season. The teams alumni led cheersLeft:Coach Doudshowing hisspirit with future A TeamSeniors2

B Team Families Get Wet To WinBy Ashley and John Bacon“Swimmers take your marks.” The term “swimmers” may have been used loosely, but with that phrase,ndthe 2 annual Overlee B Team Family Relays kicked off with a BIG splash. The importance was dulymarked by the presence of Arlington’s #1 swimming legend, Joe Adams. “You don’t see swimming likethat very often,” Mr. Adams said, shaking his head.The relays included the standard Olympics fare: freestyle, IM, noodle and ping ping-pong ball on a spoon.The latter proved the most challenging for the families to get the hang of. All you had to do to be a winner at this meet was get wet-and there were plenty of prizes for all. The runaway biggest hit with theoverflow crowd was the orange bandannas, you may have seen fashioned by swimmers around the pool.Competitive juices flowed when neighborhood families clashed. “You’re going down!” one father washeard saying, waving a pink swimming noodle menacingly, his stomach resolutely lopping over his swimsuit. “Maybe now we’ll be invited to their next BBQ”; one Mom sniffed as her family emerged victoriousfrom the pool.The coaches relay played out like a scene fromthe hit TV show “Survivor.” The coaches, giantO’s of orange lipstick glistening all over theirbodies, desperately paddled across the pool inmini inflatable rafts. Maura Yost definitely gotthe hang of it first, putting pressure on SusanCocker. Maura’s team seemed to have more of astrategic plan, though, as Maura casually flippedan opposing team member’s raft. Lisa Bates,Ellen Loney, Aaron Shapiro and Anna Tsuchitanibacked up their teams with impressive paddlingskills and each kept the competition close.Sportsmanship was definitely an issue at this relay. Head coach, Michelle Van Tassell, the coach who emphasizes it more than any other, wanted to win.Badly! Spectators were shocked and amazed to see this calm, sweet coach lunge viciously at Matt Elmore, in the other lane, knocking his raft over and tipping him out. Michelle then proceeded to kick herway across the pool and another lane line, scoring victory for her team.The events all ended on a positive note, dripping swimmers excitedly waving an array of prizes. Parentstrying to collect the family pool gear while kids raced to the clubhouse deck where pizza and soda wereenjoyed by all. The “relaxing” night ended with the air thick with laughter, the smell of chlorine and pizzaand shouts of “We’ll beatcha next year!”3

THE OVERLEE DIVE TEAMBy Debbie KirchnerIn Division II this year there have been some major upsets. Theteam that came down from Division I to join us was strongerthis year than last. The team that came up from one of thelower Divisions ended up having so many U.S. Divers that theycan sweep most age groups. It’s been rough, but Overlee canstill walk proud and tall. We won a meet with Vienna Woods46 to 26, we tied equally with Sleepy Hollow Bath and Racquet, and lost to the two teams that I mentioned above. Wehave one more dive meet away at Orange Hunt tonight, andthey are a power house. We’ll see we never lose hope.With almost 60 divers participating this year, we have oodlesof young aspiring divers joining our ranks. Last year we hada small number of divers that continued to dive through thewinter with great results. Our new divers that have seenwhat they could be doing if they committed to year rounddiving are signing up for this winter and our hopes for nextyear? It will depend on how many of them keep with it. AsOverlee has in the past had so many year round swimmersparticipating I’m sure they understand how it is. You trainhard, you stick with it year round, you plan your holidays/vacations around the competition schedule, and you work toimprove your score. It’s the same with diving. The difference is that you are working at breaking a speed record you aren’t doing the same thing everyday. Youare training to be physically able to do the more complicated dives with a higher degree of difficulty tocompete – and compete it well. It takes a certain kind of person to commit to that, with the body capableof doing it to start with, and the mind that can focus on their objective and fight the fear that questionswhether they can do it or not. These kids are special and I want them to know it.The parents have been great in helping to keep the team goingand we take this chance to give them a big THANK YOU! Ashley Kirchner and Rachel Henderson are doing a great job withthe kids, and we hope you’ll take the time to watch them in action this year or next they’ve left there mark here at Overlee.If you are interested in finding out more about the Dive Team,please check out our Web Page atwww.NVSLpools.NVSLDive.com. Check out Division II –that’s where we are now, and hope to stay!4