NOVA Alumni Magazine - TeamUnify

NOVA Swimming
N O V A o f V i r g i n i a A q u a t i c s , I n c . R i c h m o n d , V A
Strokes & Turns
Nova Aquatics’ Alumni News Magazine Spring 2008 • Volume 1, Issue 1
Ten Years of
Accomplishment
at NOVA
Letter from Africa:
Catching Up With
Julie Gehm

NOVA Swimming
N O V A o f V i r g i n i a A q u a t i c s , I n c . R i c h m o n d , V A
Nova of Virginia Aquatics, Inc.
12207 Gayton Road, Richmond, VA 23238
Main Office: (804) 754-3401
Swim Shop: (804) 754-3402
Nova of Virginia Aquatics, Inc. was founded in 1987
and is a non-profit, year-round, competitive swim
program serving central Virginia. Nova strives to
provide individualized training, promote excellence in
aquatics, and instill in today’s youth the physical, mental,
and social responsibility that will help them become
tomorrow’s leaders.
2007–2008
Officers & Board of Directors
Diana Barden
Jim O’Brien
Dwight Hopewell
Karen Lee
PRESIDENT
PRESIDENT - ElEcT
SEcRETaRy
TREaSURER
Debbie Bernardes Shary Hunt
Kevin Bailey Dan Murphy
Brent Holsten
2007–2008
Nova Committees and Chairpersons
Meet Entry lEIgh RobbINS & DIaNE
Meet Director
Registration
Officials Coordinator
Away Meet Logistics
Webmasters
WElch
Public/Media Relations lISa PoWEll
Virginia Swim Shop DEbbIE STEvENSoN &
Noteworthy News
Fundraising
caycE
SUzaNNE MaRTIN
ScoTT caMPbEll
WIll baSSETT
TINa coPElaND
DavID SchREck & WIll
lISa STEvENSoN
gEoff bRoWN
bRENT ST. PIERRE
Strokes & Turns
Strokes & Turns is the official alumni magazine of Nova
of Virginia Aquatics, Inc. Strokes & Turns is distributed
twice yearly.
Editing by
Graphic Design
Cover Photo by
Richard Lampe
Richard Lampe
Richard Lampe
Greetings fellow NOVA alum!
OFF THE BLOCKS
with Drew Hirth
Welcome to the first edition of Strokes & Turns, the new NOVA alumni
newsletter. One of the goals we have for this newsletter is to make the expansive
NOVA alumni universe a bit smaller. Over the last few years, I have often wondered
about who is doing what, where someone is living, and other nuts and bolts information
about our far-flung Nova family. This newsletter is a great first step in reconnecting.
The memories we shared together were unique, and some of the best times
I have now are getting together and recounting old stories from days (and mornings)
at NOVA.
While I am sure most of you know that NOVA has grown astronomically since our
days here, so many things are the same. The unique bond that today’s swimmers
share with each other is still as strong as when I swam ten years ago. I see many
of you in NOVA’s current swimmers. There are the ardent workers who are driven
almost beyond belief, the screwball jokers who look for a laugh even during the
hardest sets at 4:30 am, and the quiet souls who each day get closer to their goals.
And yes, the same beat up, red Mazda still comes flying into the parking lot at the
last possible minute.
What constantly amazes me is the incredible connection our swimmers have with
each other even though we are approaching 600 kids. I remember seeing the quirks
and traditions passed down through my five years in the Senior Group and the unity
that created. But first and foremost we are a team, and I know that all of us set the
foundation for the successes of NOVA today.
Take some time and check out our website (www.novaswim.org). We are adding an
alumni section that will include a database of all the alumni information we have at
NOVA. This is by far an incomplete record and we are trying to get it as accurate as
possible. Please change anything that is out of date for you, or for any of your teammates.
I hope all of you are doing well and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Drew Hirth
Age Group Coach & Class of 2000

Volume 1
1997. The NOVA Aquatic Center opens.
A mad dash from the last practice at the
University of Richmond to our new home.
Balloons, lots of swimmers, Bret Stone
jumping to hyperspace and almost beating
me there (I left 10 minutes earlier). From
that day onward, NOVA has marched
steadily to championship after championship
and is now, unquestionably, the best
team in the Virginia LSC and ranked
annually from 4 th to 8 th in the country.
My son Gaites was seven, my daughter
Alaina was four and my youngest son
Gavin had not yet been born. The Red
Mazda looked much better than it does
now. Jay Brinson and Brent Holsten
were coaches and janitors and lessons
instructors and supermen. We knew the
pool was special and we all thanked Don
Farmer for his drive in getting it built.
Drew Hirth was a slightly argumentative
swimmer who seemed unlikely to be
a future coach. Leigh Robbins had not
yet arrived from TIDE and Diane Cayce,
Mark Kutz and David Schreck had not
yet seen the light and were still on the
South Side of the river. Brent St. Pierre
was beginning his ten-year stint at CCA.
The coaching pieces of the puzzle all lay
somewhere nearby but they had not yet
been assembled.
What was there was a capable nucleus
of swimmers who would, unbeknownst
to them, set a pattern and create a
spirit that is still part of NOVA today.
They practiced harder with each passing
year and raced harder still, letting
Virginia Swimming and Potomac Valley
Swimming know that something was stirring
in the West End. And the memories
- Blake Martin racing from the pool deck
to hug Winkie, Scott Harper and the rest
of his teammates celebrating his little
sister Rebecca’s first Senior Cut, our first
state Women’s Senior Championship in
Newport News, followed by a dominating
performance in Charlottesville the
next year where we won in what we now
term the NOVA way: men’s, women’s and
combined.
The T-shirts still rock. NOVApoly was
Visit www.novaswim.org for More News and Information Issue 1
Ten Years of Accomplishment
by Geoff Brown
a favorite and
NOVAToids
received some
favorable press
when I was interviewed
for an online
article about
our team. That
torch still burns
brightly.
Since the pool was built, check out this
list of accomplishments:
1987 - 2007 A/BB Championship (now
called Regional Championships) – and
now surpassing a 20-year streak.
2000 - 2007 Virginia State Age Group
Champions - short course.
2001 - 2007 Virginia State Age Group
Champions - long course.
2000 - 2007 Virginia State Senior
Champions - short course yards and long
course meters - we won every time we
showed up. Some years we elected for
the competition of Potomac Valley.
2006 - 2007 Potomac Valley Swimming
Senior Champions - short course and long
course.
2006 NCSA national team men’s champions;
runner-up in combined.
And now there are the marriages - Shana
Bullock and Patrick Lowry being the
first all-NOVA marriage, followed by
Mike DellaNoce and Elaine Bennett last
year (and a lot of other happy unions that
weren’t NOVA-NOVA).
Most amazing are the
babies that have begun
to slowly make their
way onto Planet NOVA.
The championships
were great but somehow they pale besides
attending a wedding or holding someone’s
baby. Kerry’s national championship was
a thrill, but her wedding reception was
better still. You get the point: memories
are great when they are attached to something
that is right here, right now as well.
Memories are what the NOVA Aquatic
Center and NOVA are all about. Now
there is a second pool and what was
once fresh and young is now termed the
old pool. NOVA is host to almost all the
important Central Region meets. There
are now 600 current versions of what
you were then. They are cute and fast
and eager and some of them even find
me vaguely amusing. You’ll be happy
to know that the Senior Group continues
to be baffled and amused by what they
call “my lectures”. For Halloween this
year, they came dressed up as characters
from the ideas from my talks: Stephen
Hawking, Adam Smith, Lord Nelson,
Chuck Yeager, and so on.
These newsletters will, I hope, re-connect
you to NOVA. We will spotlight current
swimmers and coaches and have articles
that explore what some of you have been
doing (see the Julie Gehm article in this
issue). Coach Brent St. Pierre hopes to
bring us together for Holiday gatherings
so that we might share laughter once more
and find out what is new. So welcome
back. The pictures in this newsletter will,
I hope, remind you of yourselves and
show you that the NOVA star continues to
burn brightly.

Strokes & Turns Nova Aquatics’ Alumni Magazine Spring 2008
Why A Newsletter?
Blame it on nostalgia. Blame it on
a desire to connect old memories
with new ones. Heck, blame it on
Geoff. We’re no longer a small organization
– over 650 swimmers pass through
our doors every week. The Board is
responsible for a million dollar budget
and a five million dollar physical plant.
The coaching staff searches tirelessly for
new programs to offer to the community.
Those new programs cause us to strive
constantly to refine and improve our
business practices. Communicating with
our alums is a very important part of that
improvement process.
Why now? We’ve been frantically running
from place to place for the last ten
years. We had to discover how to make
this “owning our own pool thing” work.
We’re still running frantically, but at least
we’re running more productively. Call it
a breathing space. So a few free moments
appear. Then someone comes up with a
great idea to consume that spare time: an
alumni newsletter.
We’re proud of what we’ve done at
NOVA. New state championship banners
are hung each year. A top five National
ranking is expected. But there is this
need to do more and that’s why we turned
to you.
I’ll be frank - it’s what I do best. You
are, I hope, gainfully employed or thinking
about becoming so. You earn money
and you probably – if you are community
spirited – give some away. I’d like you
to consider NOVA for your donations.
We’re a 501 (c) (3) and we have a United
Way number posted on our website. As I
said, we’ve grown and we have financial
burdens. Some of our swimmers need
financial aid; our equipment wears out
and breaks down in the pool environment.
We have a dream of an outdoor 50
meter pool. Through you, your parents
or sympathetic businesses, we can make
more dreams come true. We can give our
dreaming young people a facility as large
as his or her dreams.
So be a part in some way. Reading
this newsletter is a modest beginning.
Reconnect with that wacky part of your
life that was NOVA Swimming. Thanks
for listening. We hope to hear from you.
– Geoff
Did You Know . . .
• Drew Hirth, class of 2000,
is now a coach at NOVA?
• Diane Cayce (formerly of
Poseidon for some 20 years)
has been at NOVA for the
past 5 years?
• Elizabeth Shaw, class
of 2007 participated on the
National Junior Team in
2006?
• Geoff Brown’s eldest
son, Gaites, has accepted a
scholarship to swim at North
Carolina State next season?
New NOVA Website
Boasts Special
Alumni Section
NOVA aquatics has a
brand new website! The
site, hosted by Splash
Central, offers a pool full of
improvements and opportunities
for swimmers, parents and
alumni.
Splash Central offers an online
club management system that
allows teams to control everything
through the website. This
means that meet entries, billing,
volunteer signups, and much
more, can be handled online
through the team website. It
also means that alumni can
more easily stay in touch with
the NOVA family, update their
records and contact information,
and remain a part of NOVA.
The site, which is expected to
be fully functional by March
1, 2008, can be accessed via
the same NOVA internet URL:
www.novaswim.org. Look
for the special alumni section
among the blue tabs on the left
hand side of the page.
“The water is your friend... you don’t have to fight with water, just share the same spirit as the water, and it will help you move.”
Alexandr Popov

Volume 1
W
hat sign are you?
Leo
Year of the . . . ?
Sheep – I learned this from a place mat.
I’ve visited more than my fair share of
Chinese restaurants.
Your
favorite
coaching
story?
No doubt
about it
– Crenshaw Pool, when a wandering dog
grabbed Michael Cousins’ goggles and
ran off with them. Michael took off after
it in his Speedo and returned what seemed
to be 30 minutes later. After I told him
not to take his goggles outside.
Favorite movie?
Lord of the Rings. Good versus evil.
Powerful jewelry. Epic battles. The
Rohirrim. Second breakfast. Some nasty
villains. Three three-hour episodes and a
volcano. How could it miss?
Interesting books you’ve read recently?
Atlas Shrugged, Infidel, An Inconvenient
Book, Essays by PJ O’Rourke
Cartoon character you most resemble?
Mr. Peabody. Nobody
will understand that reference.
The Wayback
Machine. A dog and
his pet boy, Sherman.
The puns. I’m glad I
grew up when I did.
Too bad none of you ever saw it.
Cartoon character you admire most?
Jimmy Carter or Al Gore. They were
once human beings but they managed to
Visit www.novaswim.org for More News and Information Issue 1
A Candid Interview with
Head Coach Geoff Brown
become cartoon characters. Amazing.
Each of them could use a sidekick.
What is the most embarrassing TV show
you’d admit to watching on a long-term
basis?
Lost in Space. It started out as sci-fi then
lapsed into camp. I was too young to
know the difference. Being loyal, I hung
on until cancellation. Dr. Zachary Smith
was an early education in odd people.
Would you rather have been the older or
younger child?
I am the younger and my sister took great
care of me. But we were close in age so
it didn’t seem to matter after a while. I’m
happy with my family status so I’d have
to say younger.
What did your dad do?
He had three lines of work – he was a
regional personnel
director for
the National Park
Service, a labor relations
troubleshooter
for the US government
and, much later, a painter.
Any cool Dad work-related stories?
Lots. I saw every National Park in the
Southwest. The rangers were ever-helpful,
doing stuff like turning off the lights
in Carlsbad Cavern just for us, shortly
after I’d watched several billion bats
boil out of this hole in the ground. Then
they’d cheerfully gesture to holes and
chasms without guardrails and announce
that they hadn’t found the bottom of that
particular piece of darkness.
Your Mom? Possessed of the same
phenomenal energy. She looks great!
My sister and I and my children are so
blessed to have had such a woman in our
lives.
Favorite musical
group?
King Crimson.
Groups we might
know? Wilco, The
National, Snow Patrol, Beck.
Musicians we should know? Kate Bush,
Bach, Beethoven,
Wagner, Mozart.
Band you liked, but
would like to forget?
My taste in music is
generally impeccable
but I do think I slipped
a bit on T. Rex. The Bang-a-Gong, get it
on group.
Last Movie you saw in a theater?
Let’s see – what did my children want to
see – I am Legend on Christmas Day.
Last Video?
The Simpsons
2 nd best funny NOVA
memory?
Danny Mizelle and
the rescue squad. He
had a back spasm
and crawled out of warm-ups to lie on the
deck. New Jersey rescue squad had him
strapped to a backboard in seconds. Off
he went to the hospital. I have to think he
would have re-thought his position given
foresight and a space of time. There
he was strapped to a gurney when Grif
Continued on next page

Strokes & Turns Nova Aquatics’ Alumni Magazine Spring 2008
Continued from previous page
Lutterbein leaned over him and asked if he
could have the bed that night. The concern
of fellow swimmers for their own!!
Are you making any interesting global
warming preparations?
I’m making sure my cold weather gear is
in order. In the 1970’s “they” announced
a New Ice Age was coming. Maybe they
meant the movie. Pardon me for being a
skeptic.
Favorite town for hosting Nationals?
Irvine, California – Mediterranean climate,
plenty of good restaurants, outdoor
pools, cool morning runs. Plus, we get to
travel to another country.
What’s new in your life?
I’m engaged to a beautiful and wonderful
woman. My son is going to college in the
fall. The red Mazda is probably dying or
dead.
Last time you dressed up for Halloween,
what was it?
I was Spa Guy this year, complete with
a beauty mask, painted toe nails and toe
separators.
Speeding tickets lately?
I’m too old to get tickets.
If you and the current NOVA staff left for
a meet in separate cars, who would get
there first, second, etc. and why?
If I thought it was a competition, I would.
Otherwise, I’d guess next to last with
Leigh being first, Diane second. Mark is
a polite poker – he’d finish last. David
or Drew would win the bronze. Brent’s a
new father - how fast could he be?
The Christmas Songs? Swimming Claus?
Oh my goodness – how that has exploded.
The Sisk family donated a sound system
that rocks. The swimmers bring in
Christmas CD’s in droves. A truly NOVA
Christmas moment is every swimmer
– boys and girls – together hitting the high
notes in Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for
Christmas is You”.
Coach Leigh Robbins chats with one of her
swimmers before a meet.
Brent St. Pierre reviews his swimmers’ performances
in practice.
Coach Mark Kutz shows how it’s done.
Diane Cayce leads her Senior Development
Silver Group at a recent meet.
(Left) David Schrek
discusses strategy
with his swimmers at
a recent NOVA meet.

Volume 1
Julie Gehm Overly (NOVA alum,
1996) has been busy to say the least
since her graduation from Godwin
High School and our NOVA family. After
competing for four years at the University
of Virginia, Julie graduated in 2000 and
embarked on a life that has taken her all
over the world. Married in 2005 to Nate
Overly, Julie began a teaching career
in Israel and most recently in Tanzania.
This year will mark Julie’s second year
teaching kindergarten in this East African
country known for its incredible beauty
and nature.
It hasn’t been all work for Julie though.
“This past summer we had an amazing
two weeks that took us on Safari through
Mikumi National Park all the way to
the beaches of Zanzibar and the narrow
streets of Stone Town. Just before school
started, Nate and I went scuba diving off
the coast of Mafia Island, south of Dar es
Salaam at the PolePole resort. We plan
on returning in November to snorkel with
the resident whale sharks that come
Visit www.novaswim.org for More News and Information Issue 1
Letter from Africa: Catching Up with
Julie Gehm by Brent St. Pierre
around at that time each year.”
Even though Julie’s swimming career
officially ended in 2000 she hasn’t been
able to completely sever her ties with the
sport. Julie will start her second year
coaching the after-school swim program
and working one on one with one of the
country’s top rising stars. Having learned
her lessons well from Geoff and recycling
all the knowledge that she learned
in those informative years at NOVA,
Julie helped lead her star swimmer to
the World Championships in Melbourne,
Australia.
The competitive bug hasn’t exactly left
her either. Last year Julie competed in
her first half marathon and is training for
a race in Kilimanjaro. “Since I did a half
marathon last year, this year I think I’m
going to try . . . oh, you won’t believe it
. . . the marathon! Okay, all of my excoaches
and teammates, can you please
pick yourselves off the floor? I’m dead
serious. Since I’m a water animal and
a sprinter, I figure doing a marathon has
to be the most ridiculous thing ever and
would consider my life a total success if I
do it. I suppose doing my first marathon
in Kilimanjaro may not be the smartest
first marathon to tackle, but, what the
heck.”
If you would like to see Julie she has
officially invited all of her NOVA family
to come and help her celebrate her 30 th
birthday. “We’re going to have a
big birthday bash on Mdudya Island, one
of the small islands off the coast of Dar.
Nate has arranged for a bunch of us to
camp overnight to celebrate my entrance
into the world of the 30’s. I’m actually
pretty excited and embracing this new
decade of my life. All are welcome, so
bring your tent!”
If you would like to reach Julie you can
e-mail her at julie.overly@gmail.com.
You can also see more pictures of her
adventures in Africa by going to www.
kodakgallery.com/julie_nate.
For all the other NOVA alumni that have
moved on, we would love to here from
you too. Please e-mail us at novaalumni@comcast.net
and let us know what
you are up to.
Photos courtesy of Julie and Nate Overly

NOVA Aquatics of Virginia, Inc.
12207 Gayton Road
Richmond, VA 23238
NOVA EXCELLENCE!
75 Virginia Short Course Yards Records
71 Virginia Long Course Meter Records
32 SC Age Group Championship Meet Records
35 LC Age Group Championship Meet Records
6 SC Senior Championships
9 LC Senior Championships
7 Current USA Swimming National Record Holders
4 USA Swimming Scholastic All-Americans
11 Virginia Swimming Swimmers of the Year Awards
2005-2006
10 Virginia Swimming Coaches of the Year Awards
2000-2006