Hi Blue-Planet Citizens!

I’d love for you, your family and friends to consider a new set of swimming, play, fitness and community engagement events slated for August and detailed at a website I just launched.

https://Ammon.4rs.org

We are holding drop-in practices for the next 2 weeks at Citiparks Ammon outdoor pool in Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood from 3:30 to 5:30 pm on most days. This is a few blocks up from PPG Paints Arena where the Penguins play, central the to the city.

See the calendar and sign up there. Come on out and bring a team too.

Last night I had fun playing the water disk game, SKWIM, with a championship girls field hockey team and its coach. See my Facebook page. Rowers, hoopers, triathletes, and video-game players can give SKWIM a go.

Furthermore, we are gaining participation in club water polo efforts with the help of South Park Aquatics. Kids from the city, Mt. Lebo, South Park and Elizabeth Forward are all doing it now. More from Peters, Bethel and elsewhere are expected next week.

Coming to Highland Park Pool.

Lastly, on Saturday, September 1, 2018, NCAA Men’s Water Polo games are slated for Citiparks Highland Park Pool between Washington & Jefferson, Penn State, Gannon, Mercyhurst and our Pittsburgh Masters team, Renegades. See https://Renegades.4rs.org. Free admission. Save the date.

I’d be happy to coordinate to see you and your group at the pool this month. Call or email me for any additional insights.

(Please forward far and wide.)

Wellness and Water Warriors – podcast appearance and NCAA Water Polo at Highland Park Pool

I’m the featured guest giving an interview about our approach to ending drowning with SKWIM and water polo.

Listen! Share! Subscribe to the podcast.

We’re hosting a day of NCAA water polo at Citiparks Highland Park Pool on Saturday, September 1, 2018, with games played among Washington & Jefferson College, Penn State, Gannon, Mercyhurst, and Pittsburgh’s Renegades (our masters team).

Water Polo Games at Highland Park Pool on Saturday, September 1, 2018.

Ongoing practices happen at Citiparks Ammon Rec Center Pool in The Hill District every Tuesday and Thursday from 6 to 7:45 pm. Tonight will be a good practice date as Daniel, a guy I coached when he was a college swimmer back in the early 1980s, is in town and playing.

Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto might have retweeted after working at the McDonalds Drive-Thru while supporting youth employment opportunities, “If you wanna get a gun out of a young person’s hand, put a paycheck in it.”

IMHO, It is impossible to swim with a gun in your hand.

Hopefully all the shooting we all encounter for the remainder of the summer is confined to area swim pools and within the context of water polo and SKWIM practices and games.

Water polo players at edge of Ammon Swim Pool
Pittsburgh Renegades Masters Water Polo Squad at a regular practice at Citiparks Ammon pool. Join us every Tuesday and Thursday from 6 to 7:45 pm, weather permitting. (Click photo for enlarged view.)

 

 

In the news, water, community and a summer of patience

Thanks in advance for reading and passing along these good news links — far and wide. Three different chapters of the same engagement story. Video highlights too.

  1. https://thealmanac.net/sports/achilles-changing-water-polo-landscape/article_9f931a72-836e-11e8-bd88-8f5778a0c127.html
  2. https://thealmanac.net/sports/water-polo-drawing-interest-in-the-region/article_0f34c59e-836d-11e8-89ca-cf31dad77ec9.html
  3. https://thealmanac.net/sports/peters-mom-playing-water-polo-again/article_9f172894-836a-11e8-89f9-b338007a087b.html

Our Northside pool is still not open, sadly. Under construction still.

But we’ll be outdoors at 6 pm at Citiparks Ammon tonight, (and every Tuesday and Thursday), weather permitting. Plus, we go to another site to play SKWIM with 3 summer teams as well.

And around the world,

Wonderful that the team and coach are out and in the light of day, but please don’t say, again, that “it is the best possible outcome.” Part of the outcome was the death in service of a gentleman / diver, and that should not be discounted.

Tremendous efforts from a team of super talented individuals from around the world. The entire ordeal is so hard to fathom.

Time to celebrate — and mourn. May peace come to all who return home. May future explorers always posses the wisdom, courage and lessons learned from these past weeks.

Friends of summer, sounds and recycled electrons, lend me your attention for these dozen invites

Plans for summer are starting to hatch. Invites are for your consideration. Feel free to pass this along to others in your network as well.

School-age swimmers (and their guardians) throughout the region who are interested in playing organized, competitive water polo are being called to an organizational meeting from 7:30 to 8:30 pm on Thursday, May 31 at the swim pool lobby of Mt. Lebanon High School. The South Park Aquatic Club is going to expand and host the new water polo club and accept participants from any school. This is Pittsburgh’s COMBINED team for boys and girls in high school and middle school. More details then.

After the meeting on 5/31, join in for Underwater Hockey, 8:30 pm, most Thursdays at Mt. Lebo’s indoor HS pool.

On from 5 to 7 pm on June 1 and again on June 7, 2018, our fun aquatic team game, SKWIM, is going to be shared with the swimmers on the Greensburg Country Club team.

I’m willing and able to bring along equipment and go to your area swim pool or lake-front and meet with your team, campers or groups to conduct a clinic and organize some games. Call or email me to schedule a visit. Water safety, sportsmanship, teamwork, and fun are all guaranteed.

To experience SKWIM at our indoor city pool, adults and kids are welcome join us from 11:30 am to 1 pm on Saturday, June 2, 2018, at our final Saturday Swim School of the school year at the Northside’s Oliver High School. See https://Swim.CLOH.org/saturdays/

We need LIFEGUARDS everywhere, especially at The Pittsburgh Project. I might be able to help you get certified too. Anyone willing to get a summer job as a guard – email me. Apply by following links at http://pittsburghproject.org/

HOUSE Concert & Music with our guitar-playing, songwriting friend from Austin, Texas, Kyia Hartman, Thursday, June 12, 2018, at our home. Limited space, wonderful tunes and talent. Just $15 per to performer. So talented.

Outdoor water polo at Citiparks Ammon Rec Center pool in The Hill District happens from 6 to 7:45 pm every Tuesday and Thursday, weather permitting, starting June 19.

Save the date for our annual July 4th open house when sit around and hold a group reflection on the most fantastic and inspirational the June 12th house concert.

Techie types, save Saturday, September 22, 2018, for Pittsburgh’s WordCamp, a one-day community event about the open-source WordPress software.

Tomorrow wraps up the membership vote for President Elect of the American Academy of Audiology. I’ll be holding my breath — when playing Underwater Hockey, and that’s about it. =;-0

All this and more, such as Monday nights open water swim at the lake at Moraine State Park, are kept up to date the Google calendar at CLOH.org, https://cloh.org/wp/cloh-org-calendars
Subscribe.

Be safe and mindful on this Memorial Day Weekend.

Mark Rauterkus
Mark@Rauterkus.com
412-298-3432

Blast from the past: Rauterkus history – Joe’s Arm Discharge papers

Joeseph A. Rauterkus, Jr., for many years of Pittsburgh’s Steuben Street, served in the army and had medical training and a post in New Orleans. He also went to Tulane University, were another Rauterkus is now attending and heading into his junior year of undergraduate study. I think it is an interesting Tulane and Pittsburgh connection.

Plus, Joe also represented as he played on the tennis squad there.

 

 

Perspectives from Coach Mark at The Athletes Village

The web site, The Athletes Village, has many insights worthy of reading.

See the hub page and “up-score” the replies posted by Coach Mark Rauterkus:

https://www.theathletesvillage.com/user/mark-rauterkus-889

Question:

What advice would you give college athletes who are coming to the U.S. from other countries.

Answer:

Talk to your coaches often. Build a relationship with them. Ask for advice on other matters beyond the sport.

Get your books early. They are expensive. Pre-read the text books. Study in advance on the classes you’ll be taking.

Get your tutoring options understood early, far in advance of the tests and assignments. Generally there are great tutors who work with the athletic departments. Meet with them. Use them. Ask for extra insights. Share your class syllabus with the tutors and seek their wisdom – even if you know it all and feel confident at the outset of the semester.

Later, as the season picks up, so too do the courses. Stay ahead. in the early years of college, there are so many pages to read and content to master, it is really hard to figure out what to wrap your head around. Is that going to be on the test or not?

Finally, as things are going along, look to some mentors in your field and start to make a relationship with them too. Go to office hours without pressing needs. See if there are some open lab meetings or extra presentations, research discussions, PhD. defences, invited speakers – etc. The field of study is something to consider. Is that exciting to you? Can you devote future decades in these endeavors? These extras go beyond the classroom and go beyond the athletics – but they’re going to be the value for the education. They’ll be the one’s to write you a reference for graduate school. They’ll be the one’s to shape your long-term career. If that stuff is bland – find other mentors, departments and fields of study.