jcollingsworth
Guest
2nd Annual Jill Griesse Memorial Invitational Is This Weekend
jcollingsworth via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Teresa Fightmaster, an OSU swimming legend, an All-American in ’83 & ’85, All Big Ten her entire stay at The Ohio State University ’83, ’84, ’85, & ’86, along with holding records as a member of the 200 & 400 Medley Relay – which still to this day stands. She is also the individual record holder for the Buckeyes in the 50, 100 & 200 yard Breaststroke – but to Teresa these are simple accolades, nice indeed, but not the essence of her mission in life. She is busy nowadays as the Head Coach of a swim club she started – Pau Hana (translation in Hawaiian means – ‘your work is finished’). This coming weekend (05/21 & 05/22) will be one of the busiest times of the year for her.
The 2016 Jill Griesse Memorial Invitational is hosted by the Pau Hana Swim Team at Denison University’s Trumbull Aquatic Center in Granville, Ohio which is a two-day event – May 21st & May 22nd with three sessions each day. The morning session will start at 8:15 a.m., the afternoon session begins at 12:15 p.m. and the final session begins at 6:00 p.m.
The teams participating are:
1. Buckeye Swim Club
2. Dayton Raiders Swim Club
3. Delaware YMCA
4. Dublin Community Swim Team
5. Greater Columbus Swim Team of Ohio
6. Lancaster YMCA
7. Liberty Twp-Powell YMCA
8. New Albany Aquatics Club
9. Oak Hills Youth Athletics
10. Pau Hana Swim Team
11. Springfield Family YMCA
12. United Swim Association
13. Upper Arlington Swim Club
14. Westerville Aquatic Club
15. Worthington Swim Club
16. Wsy Swimming
The event is held in the honor of Jill Griesse, highlighting her numerous contributions of complete unselfishness to swimming – with the countless lives she touched throughout her coaching career and life.
Jill Harms Griesse had a deep love for the sport of swimming. She was responsible for instilling a sense of dedication and commitment into all of the athletes she coached. At the age of 30, Jill was one of the youngest and only female head coaches in the country coaching an AAU swim team. She was also a member of the Olympic Competition Committee responsible for deciding how the Olympic swim camps were conducted and what international competition the teams would participate in.
Jill’s parents were both Olympic officials. She learned her sense of dedication and commitment early in life. She was a competitive swimmer by the age of 9 in her home state of New Jersey. Her parents quickly realized better training would benefit their daughter and sent her to Hawaii to train with Soichi Sakamoto, the best swimming coach in the country at that time. Jill spent two years in Hawaii with the Sakamoto family. When she returned home, she included synchronized swimming into her busy schedule which she continued throughout her high school and college career.
Following her graduation from Washington State University and her marriage to Paul Griesse, the couple moved back to Hawaii where Jill began her coaching career as an AAU swim coach at Hickam Air Force Base for the next four years.
After Jill returned to the mainland and moved to Licking County, she began coaching at the local YWCA. There she founded the Pau Hana Swim Team. Jill wanted her team to be known as something different. The name Pau Hana means “your work is finished”. It is a Hawaiian phrase that her coaches would often use at the end of each practice. During her time as head coach for Pau Hana, Jill’s swimmers shared impressive success. Many of her athletes were nationally ranked in AAU swimming including number one rankings in the United States, Top finishes in Europe and multiple top 10 rankings in the world. Her swimmers were State High School champions and multiple record holders throughout the United States. Many of her swimmers went on to swim in college and compete at the junior and senior national level.
Jill was the recipient of innumerable awards, including her 1994 election to the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame, the 2007 Licking County Foundation Everett D. Reese Award, the 2011 Granville Good Scout Award, the 2013 Robbins Hunter Women’s Board Victoria Woodhull Woman of Distinction and the 2013 Central Ohio Technical College Legends of Loyalty Award.
Jill brought joy while enhancing the lives of everyone she came upon, inspiring each to try a little harder to fulfill their purpose. Considered by many a force of nature, she dreamed up inventive ways to entertain, often fund raising for her favorite causes while sharing pure fun with her friends and family. She left the world a better and more beautiful place, and she was afforded the tremendous opportunity to live her goodbyes with everyone she loved.
This is the 2nd annual event for a wondrous cause. If you are local, or nearby to Denison University (with the above mentioned times) go have some fun for something that is right. In lieu of an admission fee, a $5 minimum donation to the National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation (NPCF) is requested. Again, it’s this Saturday and Sunday, May 21-22. The three sessions will start at 8:15 a.m., at 12:15 p.m. and at 6:00 p.m.
If you are unable to attend donations can be made at The National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation in her honor. T-shirts of the event (all purchases go for the cause as well) are available too.
Last year’s event raised over $6,500. As Buckeyes we can make this a better year.
Teresa Fightmaster, one of those kids that benefited from the coaching prowess of Jill fondly recalls: Jill had a unique way of making all of us feel special … she was a great motivator… and instilled in us a belief that we could do anything. She knew exactly what to do to get the most out of each of us. Looking back now at some of her workouts…I wonder how I survived … but it was all worth it because it has made me a better person and coach.
I want my kids (swimmers) to feel that special. I am proud to have the name Pau Hana swimming back!!
We can do this Buckeye Nation.
The post 2nd Annual Jill Griesse Memorial Invitational Is This Weekend appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...
jcollingsworth via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Teresa Fightmaster, an OSU swimming legend, an All-American in ’83 & ’85, All Big Ten her entire stay at The Ohio State University ’83, ’84, ’85, & ’86, along with holding records as a member of the 200 & 400 Medley Relay – which still to this day stands. She is also the individual record holder for the Buckeyes in the 50, 100 & 200 yard Breaststroke – but to Teresa these are simple accolades, nice indeed, but not the essence of her mission in life. She is busy nowadays as the Head Coach of a swim club she started – Pau Hana (translation in Hawaiian means – ‘your work is finished’). This coming weekend (05/21 & 05/22) will be one of the busiest times of the year for her.
The 2016 Jill Griesse Memorial Invitational is hosted by the Pau Hana Swim Team at Denison University’s Trumbull Aquatic Center in Granville, Ohio which is a two-day event – May 21st & May 22nd with three sessions each day. The morning session will start at 8:15 a.m., the afternoon session begins at 12:15 p.m. and the final session begins at 6:00 p.m.
The teams participating are:
1. Buckeye Swim Club
2. Dayton Raiders Swim Club
3. Delaware YMCA
4. Dublin Community Swim Team
5. Greater Columbus Swim Team of Ohio
6. Lancaster YMCA
7. Liberty Twp-Powell YMCA
8. New Albany Aquatics Club
9. Oak Hills Youth Athletics
10. Pau Hana Swim Team
11. Springfield Family YMCA
12. United Swim Association
13. Upper Arlington Swim Club
14. Westerville Aquatic Club
15. Worthington Swim Club
16. Wsy Swimming
The event is held in the honor of Jill Griesse, highlighting her numerous contributions of complete unselfishness to swimming – with the countless lives she touched throughout her coaching career and life.
Jill Harms Griesse had a deep love for the sport of swimming. She was responsible for instilling a sense of dedication and commitment into all of the athletes she coached. At the age of 30, Jill was one of the youngest and only female head coaches in the country coaching an AAU swim team. She was also a member of the Olympic Competition Committee responsible for deciding how the Olympic swim camps were conducted and what international competition the teams would participate in.
Jill’s parents were both Olympic officials. She learned her sense of dedication and commitment early in life. She was a competitive swimmer by the age of 9 in her home state of New Jersey. Her parents quickly realized better training would benefit their daughter and sent her to Hawaii to train with Soichi Sakamoto, the best swimming coach in the country at that time. Jill spent two years in Hawaii with the Sakamoto family. When she returned home, she included synchronized swimming into her busy schedule which she continued throughout her high school and college career.
Following her graduation from Washington State University and her marriage to Paul Griesse, the couple moved back to Hawaii where Jill began her coaching career as an AAU swim coach at Hickam Air Force Base for the next four years.
After Jill returned to the mainland and moved to Licking County, she began coaching at the local YWCA. There she founded the Pau Hana Swim Team. Jill wanted her team to be known as something different. The name Pau Hana means “your work is finished”. It is a Hawaiian phrase that her coaches would often use at the end of each practice. During her time as head coach for Pau Hana, Jill’s swimmers shared impressive success. Many of her athletes were nationally ranked in AAU swimming including number one rankings in the United States, Top finishes in Europe and multiple top 10 rankings in the world. Her swimmers were State High School champions and multiple record holders throughout the United States. Many of her swimmers went on to swim in college and compete at the junior and senior national level.
Jill was the recipient of innumerable awards, including her 1994 election to the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame, the 2007 Licking County Foundation Everett D. Reese Award, the 2011 Granville Good Scout Award, the 2013 Robbins Hunter Women’s Board Victoria Woodhull Woman of Distinction and the 2013 Central Ohio Technical College Legends of Loyalty Award.
Jill brought joy while enhancing the lives of everyone she came upon, inspiring each to try a little harder to fulfill their purpose. Considered by many a force of nature, she dreamed up inventive ways to entertain, often fund raising for her favorite causes while sharing pure fun with her friends and family. She left the world a better and more beautiful place, and she was afforded the tremendous opportunity to live her goodbyes with everyone she loved.
This is the 2nd annual event for a wondrous cause. If you are local, or nearby to Denison University (with the above mentioned times) go have some fun for something that is right. In lieu of an admission fee, a $5 minimum donation to the National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation (NPCF) is requested. Again, it’s this Saturday and Sunday, May 21-22. The three sessions will start at 8:15 a.m., at 12:15 p.m. and at 6:00 p.m.
If you are unable to attend donations can be made at The National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation in her honor. T-shirts of the event (all purchases go for the cause as well) are available too.
Last year’s event raised over $6,500. As Buckeyes we can make this a better year.
Teresa Fightmaster, one of those kids that benefited from the coaching prowess of Jill fondly recalls: Jill had a unique way of making all of us feel special … she was a great motivator… and instilled in us a belief that we could do anything. She knew exactly what to do to get the most out of each of us. Looking back now at some of her workouts…I wonder how I survived … but it was all worth it because it has made me a better person and coach.
I want my kids (swimmers) to feel that special. I am proud to have the name Pau Hana swimming back!!
We can do this Buckeye Nation.
The post 2nd Annual Jill Griesse Memorial Invitational Is This Weekend appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...