The Alameda High Mens water polo team successfully defended their league water polo title Saturday, October 29th against longtime rival Berkeley at Contra Costa College. The Hornets played some stifling defense from the first whistle of the game defeating the Yellowjackets in a heartstopping double overtime 11-10 game.

The Hornets started the tournament beating the #8 seed St.Patrick High by a score of 17-4. They then had to face crosstown rivals Encinal High to get into the championship game. A nailbiter game itself, the Hornets pulled out a narrow 11-10 victory over the Jets in regulation. This victory gave the Hornets their shot at a 3rd title in as many years, a feat never accomplished in the history of Alameda water polo. Read more »

Michele Ellson has a story at the Alameda Journal about potential closures at Emma Hood due to lead paint at the facility. The higher-than-allowed levels were discovered during an insurance inspection. Read more »

The Alameda Islanders were well represented in the 11-12 Girls Division at the 2011 Pacific Swimming Far Western Long Course Championships, held in Concord, California July 27-31. Catherine Boles placed 1st in two events - 50m Backstroke and 100m Backstroke, and Maddy Delore placed 1st in 50m Freestyle.

Far Westerns is a fiercely competitive meet comprised of the best age group swimmers from the western half of North America. Just to qualify is extraordinary. To place or win is absolutely stupendous. Read more »

A Fundamentals of Water Polo camp for 12-and-under kids has just begun in Alameda and is open to newcomers.

Classes are from noon to 1pm on Monday/Wednesday/Friday at the Harbor Bay Club and each session is 2 weeks (6 classes.) Members and nonmembers are welcome but as you might suspect.... campers should already be decent swimmers. Read more »

Eleven Islander swimmers qualified for Pacific Swimming’s Long Course Junior Olympics held in San Jose, CA, July 7-10, 2011. Catherine Boles, Maddy Delore, Morgan Truong and Daniel Truong advanced from the trials to swim amongst the top 8 swimmers in the Final Heats of the following events: Read more »

Alameda Islander and AHS swimmer Ben Krause competed against some of the best swimmers in the world at last weekend's Grand Prix in Santa Clara.

Krause qualified in 3 events: 400 meter free (4:22.04), 400 meter IM (4:54.07), and 200 meter fly (2:10.66.) These were not his best times but the Grand Prix didn't line up with his training schedule. We might see him in the Grand Prix finals one of these days though.

It's a small venue so it must have been very exciting to see so many Olympians compete up close.

Here is a video of the 200 meter fly finals: Read more »

The Alameda Islanders will be hosting the annual City of Alameda Swim Championships on August 12, 13, and 14 (2011) at Encinal Swim Center. The Masters (19 and over) compete Friday night and the age groupers on Saturday and Sunday. The awards ceremony will take place on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm after the meet concludes. Read more »

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Heat Sheet for Alameda City Swim Meet 2011 (updated)

The 2 sunscreens shown above -- bought at the Alameda Marketplace -- are not inexpensive. At $15 for 3 ounces, you may wonder why my family uses Badger SPF 30 instead of much cheaper chemical sunscreens such as Banana Boat or Coppertone. The reason is simple: the latter 2 brands could be extremely dangerous to your health. Read more »

Swimming stars such as Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Missy Franklin, Chloe Sutton, Brendan Hansen, and many more Olympians will be competing this Thursday through Sunday at the George F. Haines International Swim Center in Santa Clara. One local swimmer -- Ben Krauss of Alameda High School / Alameda Islanders -- also qualified to compete at the Grand Prix.

This is a great opportunity to see Olympic caliber athletes compete in person. The event will also be webcast live on USASwimming.org (the link follows below.

As everyone in Alameda knows by now, a man drowned out by Crown Beach on Memorial Day while Alameda rescue units (police and fire) stood by and did nothing. Apparently, there was confusion over jurisdiction and policies in place that prevented them from attempting a land-to-water rescue.

What they did do was call the Coast Guard but their boat couldn't reach the area (water too shallow!) and their helicopter arrived nearly 90 minutes after the incident began. The body was eventually recovered by a volunteer swimmer. Attempts to revive the 53-year-old victim onshore were unsuccessful. Read more »