The Fat Lady Has Sung

The team managed to make a great come back from 11th place to achieve 6th place. With just about the whole team gaining a pb and many fantastic individual swims

Blog Contributions
If there are any team members who would like to make a contribution (Posts, Comment or Photos) to the site please email me and I'll add them to the blog. kiwimw@gmail.com

Team Photo with trophy after meet: 6th Place (293.5 Points)

1st Place (Womens 13-14)
Jenna with 74.5 points

1st Place
Women 13-14 200 LC Meter Medley Relay
Harriett, Ursula, Jenna, Claudia

2nd place
Women 13-14 400 LC Meter Medley Relay
Harriett, Leandri, Jenna, Claudia

1st Place
Men 13-14 400 LC Meter Freestyle Relay
Sam, Angus, Alex, James

2nd place
Men 13-14 200 LC Meter Medley Relay
James, Kurt, Alex, Sam

2nd place
Men 13-14 400 LC Meter Medley Relay
James, Kurt, Angus, Alex

[Editors Note]

How does the saying go. "The best laid plans blah, blah, blah..." I think it would be appropriate to thank the Coach & Team Managers Tina, Veronica, Lee, Karen & Andrew for service above and beyond the call of Duty. "Anything & everything can go wrong, its what we do to make it work that makes the difference."

The Last Hurrah!

update from Andrew - Sent Sat 7th July 11:30pm (Hawaii Time)

All righty then here we go, 11.30pm on our last night at camp.... all the kids packed their bags tonight in order to fly home tomorrow night. I think that they may have to buy some new cases after our final shopping trip tomorrow!!!

I see that you can link through to the results so I'll let you know some of the things going on behind the scenes. Today we started at 16th on the team points and thanks to some great individual and relay (double points score!! it's like scrabble really) we finished the day on 8th place. Targeting 5th by the end of Tomorrow!!!!!!

Our boys seem to have a mystical charm that attracts American Girls because there is a constant stream of them through our team area, they start by trying to swap some gear and stay for hours!!

After the meet today we had a BBQ with the Hawaiian Swim Club, the team hosting the meet, and it was great to watch the interaction between the kids as they talked about their schools, the differences and what it's like to live in Hawaii/NZ plus lots of other stuff.

The meal we shared was representative of all of the cultures that have been introduced to Hawaii over time American Pizza & Nachos, Teriyaki burgers, Macaroni salad, Chicken Katsu, Korean BBQ chicken and Kim Chee, Chinese Noodles (hot), Japanese noodles (cold) and spam musubi (look it up!) with Apple pie, Haupia and Macadamia nuts for dessert. Then the boys taught the Hawaii Swim club swimmers how to play bullrush and it was all on!!!!!

On the way back to camp we stopped at the ATM to get much needed cash injections for the team. The T-shirts for the meet are cool and custom printed in the designs of the kids choice! - Plus a shaved ice after competing is a must.

Back at camp the local wildlife made an appearance with wild pigs (yes!), Giant spiders, gecko's and Owls emerging from the night.

We have a long day tomorrow around 30 hours from when we leave Camp until we drive into the WestEnd Carpark (approx 2pm Tuesday 9th). So no training Tuesday PM for Hawaii tour kids; they have some great caps that they have traded and they can wear these at training... Andrew

Just A Bit Of Swimming

update from Andrew - Sent Fri 6th July 11:02pm (Hawaii Time)
- Photos inserted if & when available

Well we finally got to do what we came for. We Toasted all those of you who have made it possible for our team to be here at lunch and then set off to the pool.

The ride to the pool was marred by a bitter escalation in the ongoing battle between me and the team rebel and all round trouble maker Bridget Maher. When she viscously and maliciously ripped off my team hat and threw it out onto the four lane highway. While Bridget insists it was an accident I have my doubts. It certainly put a smile on the teams face though.

We sent an advance party to the pool to secure our seating and get settled in, Lee, James D, and others from our unwell section set up for the rest of the team. We looked great and our uniforms are once again in high demand. Our hosts from the YMCA stayed at the meet and acted as our cheering section.

Down to brass tacks!!!!
No Marshall, so all kids focus was on the first few races to see how a meet can possibly function without a part which is at every meet they have ever been to. It is too late at night for me to list all the times but PB's from (please excuse me if I have left anyone out)

• Margot
• Nadine
• Liam
• Sarah
• Harriet
• Claudia
• Caleb
• Regan
• John-Joe
• Troy
• Alex
• Angus
• Sam
• Sam
• Christina
• Kurt
• and to top off the night Jenna took away 2 medals a Gold (200IM) & Silver (50 Freestyle).
  

Keep in mind that a long course PB is different from a short course conversion. Hopefully we will be able to take some swimmers off the sick list by tomorrow afternoon.

Our boys seem to be a hit with the girls from the Kona swim team with coach having to regain their focus back onto the pool several times tonight. Tomorrow we are singing the national anthem in the opening ceremony and the boys will issue their Haka.

USA swimming value the input of coaches much more than NZ Swimming with coaches having a direct line to the meet director without having to try to communicate through a manager!! ...& the Coaches all got a free dinner at the pool.

In my last snorkel today I saw a turtle and remembered that sharks eat turtles so i got out.... Andrew"

Dont Stop Till You Get Enough

update from Andrew - Sent Wed 4th July 10:09pm (Hawaii Time)
- Photos inserted if & when available

It's the 4th of July in the USA today flags flying and fireworks a popping. At Camp Erdman there are other campers here who stay anywhere from a week to a month and tonight they have a 4th of July dance! ...of course when the Kiwi boys heard of this, they were dead keen to impress upon the local American girls their incredible dancing ability ????.

So taking the lead young Sam Regan asked the camp staff if it would be possible for the Kiwi Allstars to be in on the Dance, and after roping me in to chaperone we were off.

It was a very funny sight our boys in a group surrounded by circling groups of American girls. Our boys did not have the courage to face outward and realise that the girls actually wanted to dance with them and the girls did not have the courage to try and break up the Kiwi boys!

The team left the dance with none of the boys' having spoken to a single American girl; and of the girls, a special shout out to Steph White who despite having everything but the kitchen sink thrown at her by a shirtless American teen kept the dignity of the Kiwi Allstars name.

We had a visit from the Hawaii swim club coach today who is also the meet director, this gave us a chance to catch up on the peculiarities of US swimming (ie. No Marshalling, You have to make sure you are ready to go when they call you)

With the meet only 2 days away I am very conscious that some of our team are struggling with the environment. The YMCA staff here have made it easy to accommodate the team members who may need only a taste of adventure for the day rather than a full blown expedition.

As for the shopping in Waikiki Sarah Houston from the Shoppy, Shoppy Till You Droppy Droppy group set the shopping world on fire today!!

Everything is going great & your kids are doing you proud, I can't wait to get to the meet....
Coach.