Fall 2011 Water Polo Season

Hi Everyone:

Given that some swimmers who never played water polo may be interested in the sport, we are posting this information on the Swim and Dive site.

Welcome (almost) to the 2011 SHS Boys Water Polo season. We’ve made progress in the past few months on scheduling practice times, organizing volunteers and setting the game schedule. We’d like to share this information so you can begin planning for the season.

Please be sure to sign up for e-news and updates by entering your email address on the right hand side of the Staples Boys Water Polo website.
Theo will be returning as head coach. Brandon Arias will be assisting 4 days per week.
We hope to begin captains’ practices the week of 8/22. A location is not yet finalized but we will let you know as soon as we can.
Try outs will be Saturday 8/27 from 12:30 to 2:30. The playing season will run through November 12th, followed by a banquet, date to be announced.

We will have our kick-off parents’ meeting at the same time as try outs at the school, location TBD.
Nussbaum’s will host a season opening pool party at their home on Saturday 9/10.

Our practice schedule is as follows:
Monday – Friday: 5:30PM – 7:00PM
Saturday: 7AM – 8:30AM
Saturday: 4PM – 6PM

Our game schedule, still subject to some changes, is attached.
Daniel and David are working on suits and team apparel, and plan to have samples and order forms for the team kick-off meeting.

Thanks to all our volunteers: Communications and website management – Gloria Nussbaum; Fundraising – Jeanne Bowles; Bake Sales – Julie Haroun; Apparel – Lee DeMonico; Pasta Dinners – Joan Siegel; Travel Bus Sandwiches and Snacks – Jocelyn Armstrong; Senior Day – Jodi Reiner; Banquet – Gloria Nussbaum & Joan Siegel; Finance – Rick Yu.

We are still in need of volunteers to write articles and submit them to the newspapers, to take photos and film games, and to prepare the yearbook for the year-end banquet.

Let us know if you have any questions. We’re looking forward to a great season.

Gloria Nussbaum glorianuss@optonline.net
Chuck Katter charles.katter@mssb.com

Staples Swimmers to Cross Long Island Sound

BRIDGEPORT – Representing the Staples High School Swimming and Diving Team are five young people, impressive not only as athletes, but as individuals. The Staples High School team will participate Saturday, Aug. 6 in the 24th Annual Swim Across the Sound Marathon. St. Vincent’s Swim Across the Sound provides cancer education, screening, and prevention programs for the community. These athletes join a field of over 250 swimmers for a 15.5 mile journey across the Long Island Sound from Port Jefferson, N.Y. to Captain’s Cove Seaport in Bridgeport.

Raising over $10,000 last year, and finishing in the top third, the Staples High School team will compete again with returning swimmer Kyle Bacon, 16. Kyle is joined this year by Jocelyn (“Joss”) Abel, 17, his brother, Laurence (“Larry”), 19, their sister, Verity, 15, and their friend, Gabrielle (“Gabby”) Wimer, 16. This year they are swimming in honor of Masato Sakaguchi, the 4-year-old brother of Fairfield swimmers Miki, Tomoya, Toshi and Yumi. Masato passed away last July after a two-year battle with brain cancer and Verity describes him as a “ray of sunshine”. Gabrielle says that they lost a member of their “swim family” when Masato passed away. The Sakaguchi children have swum with the Staples swimmers for years on the Westport Weston Family Y’s Water Rat Swim Team.

“We hope to bring the same tenacity, determination, and optimism to the swim as Masato brought to his battle with cancer. His spirit will be with us during the swim, and his smile will be in our thoughts, Joss said.”

Each relay team must raise $7,500, averaging about $1,500 a swimmer. At this year’s event, which is open to the public, the fastest swimmers are expected to cross the finish line at approximately 2:30 p.m., depending on the weather. The majority of the field will jockey for the finish line at about 4:30 p.m. with an awards ceremony to follow at 7 p.m. at Captain’s Cove Seaport.

Reprinted from The Minuteman

Editor’s Note: Click if you wish to support the Staples team by donating to Swim Across the Sound.

Abel Siblings Swim to Help Cancer Victims

By Eliot Schickler

Swimming and altruism intersect when countless people participate in Swim Across the Sound Aug. 6.

Larry, Joss and Verity Abel along with Gabby Wimer and Kyle Bacon will do their part as members of the Staples High School Swim Across the Sound relay team by raising funds for St. Vincent’s Medical Center Foundation, which provides cancer support for under-insured and uninsured people.

The Abels, Wimer and Bacon are also swimming in honor of Masato Sakaguchi, the 4-year-old brother of Fairfield swimmers Miki, Tomoya, Toshi and Yumi, who passed away last July after a two-year battle with brain cancer.

“We’re a swimming family and we want to swim for a very good cause,” Verity said. “We wanted to swim in honor of Masato Sakaguchi.”

Last year, the Staples team raised more than $10,000 and placed 14th. The team would like to raise $20,000 this year. Joss, Wimer and Bacon will be senior captains next year for their respective teams. Verity will be a sophomore and Larry, who graduated in 2010, is entering his sophomore year for Susquehanna University and swims for the Crusaders.

“I think it will be great being on a team with my siblings, Kyle and Gabby but especially my siblings because we’re a family team and it will be a great experience,” Larry said.

Joss said, “I’m excited to swim with my family because it’s a family-oriented event and I haven’t swum with them in awhile. It will be cool.”

Verity said, “I think it’s going to be very fun and I like to do things with my family.”

Swim Across the Sound is also personal for the Abel siblings because their mother, Linda, worked at St. Vincent’s for many years and their father, Paul, is a cancer survivor. Paul was afflicted with colon cancer, which has been in remission for five years.

“It brings it closer to home because without the research at Sloan-Kettering, he would not be with us today,” Joss said. “I’m looking forward to the swim because it’s for a good cause and it’s relevant to the swimming community. We lost a few members of the swimming community and it’s a good way to raise funds towards cancer research.”

In addition to Sakaguchi, YMCA Water Rats mom Maura Marden died last September and Staples boys swimming coach Jeff Schare’s mom, Eve, passed away in 2002 from cancer.

“We were thrilled when we found out he’s [their father] OK, but we have to remember it doesn’t always work out for others,” Larry said. “It gives us a true feel for it and luckily for us, it wasn’t as tragic as it was for many others.”

Photo above: The Abel siblings, Larry (left), Joss and Verity (far right) will swim for the Staples High School Swim Across The Sound team Aug. 6 to raise funds for St. Vincent’s Medical Center Foundation, which provides cancer support for under-insured and uninsured people. Their mother Linda (second from right), worked as an occupational therapist at St. Vincent’s.

Reprinted from The Westport News