Welcome to the 40th anniversary of Pennsbury Aquatic Club swimming and diving! For this year, as in past years, our club is affiliated with and will compete in Suburban Aquatic League (SAL) and USA Swimming (USA) sanctioned diving and swimming events.

 

Our main focus on this anniversary year was to utilize a "Send it Forward" approach by building on the core values we already had.  First, we wanted to strengthen our whole program and coaching staff.  To do that, we needed a strong leader on the deck who could take the good foundation that was already in place and improve on it for this year and beyond.  The new head coach had to have the ability to develop the young and inexperienced swimmers while honing the skills of all swimmers on every level.  This person also needed to be able to motivate our experienced coaching staff so they could carry out the goals of the head coach AND the club.  I would like to personally thank David Schmidt for stepping in initially to build the new coaching staff and start the season.  He was instrumental in working with the Board to forge the improvements you are seeing today.  Based on the recommendation of our Head Coach Search Committee, we selected Jersey Wahoos, Auburn University and USA National Team standout Dean Hutchinson to lead us in our 40th year and beyond.  His experience working under some of the most respected coaches in swimming and on the deck at Rider University will prove vital to the future of our club.  Along with a great head coach and coaching staff, PAC also needs other ingredients to make this season a complete success.

We need YOU, PAC parents!

 

Swimming and diving are the kinds of age group sports that need PLENTY of parent volunteers in order to make it all work for our young athletes.  After all, when we volunteer for a swim meet job or give our time to help out the club, what we are REALLY doing is helping our kids.  I am asking that ALL parents volunteer on the deck or in another capacity whenever you can.  It's the best way to help your child!

Our Board of Officers for the

2009 – 2010 season are as follows:

President - George Keehfus

Vice President - Anthony Lippincott

Secretary - Patty Gallagher

Treasurer - Stefanie Beliveau

Business Manager - Sally Young

Past President - John Perdoch

Head Coach - Dean Hutchinson

Head Coach Emeritus - Dave Schmidt

 

As is customary with our club, we are going to rely on some very important anchor positions within the organization to insure success.  David Shuster is going to serve as our new SAL Girls Meet Director.  He has been trained by our previous Meet Director of four years, Diane Rice.  She will be greatly missed but I know she has left the SAL girls meet management position in capable hands.  The meet direction veteran, Cathy Jeronis, is back again for another SAL and USA swimming season.  She will lend her expertise and perform Meet Director duties for the SAL boy’s swim meets. Cathy is also a certified USA Swimming Meet Director for future PAC sponsored/USA Swimming sanctioned swim meets.

28th Annual Pennsbury Splash 2010

PAC would like to welcome back Yvonne Pastor as this year's new Pennsbury Splash Director.   She was assistant Splash Director last season.  Diane Moran, who did an excellent job as the 2008 and 2009 Splash Director, has left the area at the end of this past season to pursue other opportunities with her family.  Diane did a great job with the event and even assisted the new Pennsbury Splash project team during the transition. As most of you know, this is PAC's BIGGEST fund-raiser. We need your help in many areas of the event so we can make this season's SAL sanctioned, USA Swimming Accepted swim meet the best ever for the young swimmers who come from all over the Delaware Valley to participate.

Coaching

Dave Schmidt started the season as interim Head Coach.  He will continue to lend his vast expertise as Head Coach Emeritus and as a USA Swimming-certified Coach for USA meets in 2009 and 2010.  Since 1994, Coach Dave has consistently given PAC some great years as coach, head coach and consultant.  His successor will be Dean Hutchinson (see the Our Coaches area of the web site).  I wish him much success as he settles into his new position with the club as PAC Head Coach.  Jason Clark and Jill Schieren will be Girls SAL Coach and Boys SAL Coach, respectively. Coach Jason is also Lead SAL  Coach/Coordinator while Jill is also the Pennwood Site Manager at the Pennwood Pool in Yardley.  I would also like to welcome Meredith Blackman, Mathew Chyznowski, Casey Cloman, Andrea Raffle, Jane Kriss, Emily Howard (Diving), Alicia Raffle (Diving) and Tara Lindenmuth (Diving).  They will all be coaching in some capacity with the team either as Instructors, practice coaches or coaches during swim meets.

Safety

Safety is very important to all of us. If you have a child practicing in the evening please insure that he or she has reliable transportation to and, most importantly, from their practice pool.  We also ask (at the Pennsbury high school pool) that unless you are a swimmer, diver or coach, please stay off the deck during practices.  If you are a parent or guardian waiting for a swimmer at the Pennwood pool, please stay near the wall as the swimmers, divers and coaches will need as much room as possible to complete their practices. 

Commitment

If the PAC organization is to succeed, we will need the commitment of our swimmers and divers to attend scheduled practices each week. They are also required to attend all Suburban Aquatic League (SAL) dual meets scheduled on Saturdays (all afternoon) in November, most of December and part of January.

Another large part of our success depends on the involvement and help of our parents.   As I have mentioned before, there are many different jobs to work at each swim meet and invitational and we ask that each family sign up to work a minimum of 4 meets. We truly count on parent’s participation because, without you, there would be no swim meets or swim program! No job is too difficult.  We also have a coaching staff and other experienced parents available to help you learn the job you have volunteered for. They will be there for you to teach the basics of each job and answer any questions you might have.

That leads me to our biggest annual fundraiser for PAC; the Pennsbury Splash meet. This year, the 28th annual Pennsbury Splash will take place on Sunday, January 17th, 2010. It will be held at the College of New Jersey's NCAA Aquatic Center in Ewing, New Jersey. Please reserve that date for your swimmer to participate or work AND for you to volunteer so that we can continue to make this a spectacular event.

In conclusion, we have a renewed interest in swimming and diving this season.  There are a lot of new swimmers, divers and parents who may be new to swimming and diving.   The Pennsbury Aquatic Club provides flexible programs for competitive or non-competitive swimming and diving. Our affiliation with the Suburban Aquatic League and USA Swimming programs at PAC both provide a great avenue for children to compete in the sport of swimming and diving either at a novice or advanced athletic level. We combine (and stress) the spirit of competition and camaraderie for all of our participants. I would hope that everyone's experience this year with the Pennsbury Aquatic Club is filled with a sense of accomplishment, team spirit and fun.  I am always open to any suggestions that you feel would help make this season a success. If you have any ideas, please do not hesitate to talk with me.

George Keehfus, PAC President