A Queen, Her court, & A LOT OF $$$$!!!

I'll skip the apology for not posting more, just move on. Last week we celebrated Homecoming. While the weather and football game weren't much fun, the girls team was busy. Congrats to Laura Johnson for being named Homecoming Queen. Her majesty was not alone. Analiese Van Sparanken was named Junior Class Attendant and Jill Kawasaki was also on the ballot for the attendant award. Pretty cool seeing the girls recognized like that by their peers.

Saturday was also the day the girls participated in the "Hour of Power" relay to raise money for the Ted Mullin Fund for Sarcoma Research at the University of Chicago. Ted was a swimmer at New Trier and Carleton College who passed away in 2006 from sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. The Hour of Power was one of Ted's favorite sets and colleges, high schools, and clubs have been participating in this annual event. The Hour of Power is a team challenge. The whole team is divided into relays, and the goal is to go all out, or Leave It In the Pool. The real trick is that all the relays try to stay on the same length and finish the hour the same way they started, TOGETHER! The girls did a great job and raised over $900. Here's the great part. Ted's father, Rick Mullin, was on hand and explained that the fund goes out and gets grants matching all pledges. It was a great time for a great cause and girls were awesome. A special thanks to Coach Wapler for helping to organize the event. The boys will be doing an Hour of Power in December, I can't wait! One of the motto's for the fund is "Cancer Sucks". I couldn't agree more.

For more information on Ted Mullin Fund for Sarcoma Research, click here.

Art Van Aman

I've been busy and haven't had much time to post. We did receive some bad news last week. Former GBN swim coach and teacher Art Van Aman passed away. Coach Van Aman was in his 80's and we haven't heard many details. He was living in western Wisconsin when he died of heart failure.

Most of you that read this probably didn't know Coach Van Aman. I'll put it like this, all things we have aquatic at GBN are due in large part to his work. He was head coach who started up an age group program for the community and was the 1st aquatics teacher at GBN. More than likely, if you grew up in Northbrook, you learned to swim from him.

That was Coach Van Aman, the teacher/coach. The man known as Art was a kind, kind person. He was a mentor and a colleague, but most of all a friend to many. I know how special he was to my family and we will all miss him greatly.