PUNCTUALITY 

This is a very touchy subject, but one that I think needs to be addressed.   It was funny on Saturday morning watching Peter walk through the doors for practice, and then talking to him afterwards about this issue.   At what point did society come to accept that being late is acceptable?  Now. as I work through this I do understand that traffic and school have a direct effect on parent’s schedules,  so this is directed toward those AM swimmers (including Saturday) who arrive late and then have no urgency to get started, or the ones who are there but decide that since practice starts at 6:30, that is the time they should start to get ready.  As Peter said this morning when I said he was “GRUMPY”  ,

"I was not grumpy when I walked into the building, but swimmers who are sitting around in sweats when it is time to be in the water make me grumpy."

Peter hit it right on the nail  , because the last two examples of swimmers from above are the ones who drive me crazy every day. As coaches we look at these athletes, and the look that we get back is “What’s the problem? I’m getting in." or "He’s in a bad mood   today!"

I learned a long time ago that late is unacceptable, and as my dad taught me “Mike if you are late you are  making someone else late and that is not acceptable."  He taught me something that I use when teaching the Lifeguarding course and that is “ON TIME IS BEING A FEW MINUTES EARLY, BEING LATE IS SHOWING UP ON TIME, BEING SENT HOME IS SHOWING UP LATE.”   It always amazes me that when swimmers who are late walk right by us and sometimes even want to chat   like there’s no problem at all.  On those few occasions back when I was swimming and I showed up late (yes it will happen at some point)  I made sure that I was ready to get in the pool as soon as I walked through the doors.  Most of the time I would get in the nearest lane and work my way over to my proper lane without the coach noticing (he always knew).

As a coach I have designed workout   and I have it timed out to fit it all in, and while I don’t mind (and I do) making changes in it as we go, I DO MIND CHANGING   THE WORKOUT BECAUSE YOU, THE ATHLETES, ARE NOT READY.  That shows a lack of respect for the coach, your teammates, the sport and most of all yourself.   If your coach is late arriving or comes unprepared, at what point would you lose your respect for said coach?  I dare say that you as a swimmer would come to the conclusion that said coach really does not care about putting you the swimmer in the best possible situation to succeed.

I as your coach owe it to you to be prepared when I come through the   door. You on the other hand owe it to your teammates, yourself and ME to be prepared to get in on time.  That means having equipment, water bottle at the edge of the pool ready to go.  Don’t ask what equipment is needed, just have it ready to go.  I can’t even begin to tell you how upset I get when someone has to get out to get something especially a water bottle left in a bag.  What I take from that, is you’re not ready or prepared to get better with this practice.  All of this does affect results at meets one way or another.
BE ON TIME!   I WILL NOW GET OFF MY SOAP BOX 

MIKE

Last weekend was our first chance to see   where we are at this point in the season, and a lot of the swimmers from the Senior Prep, Junior 1, and Junior 2 groups turned in numerous personal best’s  .  I do know that some of you may not have been happy with your results, but we do need to keep it all in perspective.  What I mean by that is that since around December 20 and up until January 2 a lot of us have not been on a normal schedule (unless you kept a normal swimming schedule including the holidays), and that is larger than a lot of you think.  For the Senior prep and Junior 2 groups the workouts are set up so that you are not out of the water for more than 2 days straight, because there is a strong belief that after 48 hours an athlete starts losing some of their conditioning.  For myself I am normally in the pool   M-W-F and if I miss one of those days the next time I hit the water I feel very tired  , slow (no comments I know you think I am already slow) and just miserable, and have to really work to get through the workout. 

All that being this is what I was looking to get out of the meet, and if you notice it was one of the meets that I don’t pay too much attention to times for various reasons.  What I am looking for is that each of you are swimming each and every event with a lot of heart  and that heart is beating regardless of how you feel or the conditions.  Are you exploding off the starts and turns with a great breakout stroke?  Are you finishing   each race with great speed  ?  Are you breathing off the walls?  Are you swimming smart races?  How is your focus?  This is what I am looking for as we work through the month of January!  Yes I know that I was not at much of the meet, as I was at the distance meet (where the senior prep group should have been), but I have enough confidence in each of you that you know what I expect and you will rise to those expectations.  We also had a few DQ’s that were mentioned to me, and I think I have gone over most of them with the swimmers involved, and remember you’re not the first or last to be DQ, but use it as a learning experience.

UPCOMING MEETS:  January open (21 and 22), Snow meet (February 4) and the PM qualifier (February 11 and 12).  The meet that most of you will be going to will be the snow meet.  For the January open We are only taking Senior prep and Junior 2 athletes.  The reason for this is that I have included this meet as part of their training schedule.  Some exceptions were made for a few and as a coach I made that decision based on workout attendance, how they workout, and are they near cuts.   As for picking events you should be choosing events that you are near the cuts, and if you already have the cut, WE SHOULD NOT BE SWIMMING IT UNTIL CHAMPIONSHIP TIME.

SUITS:  I was asked before the last meet by a swimmer; Should I wear my fast suit Saturday?  This issue always amazes me and I know it comes from both peer pressure, and parent pressure because everyone else is doing it.  Take it from a parent who had twin girls   swim into their college years, ALL YOU NEED IS A TIGHT SUIT AT MOST MEETS (SIZE THE TEAM SUIT DOWN ONE FOR MEETS).  Save that SPECIAL suit for that one or two meets a year when you want to feel a little different.  If you wear it for every meet you have nothing to look forward to when that special meet arrives, and above all it will be worn and stretched out by that time. A SWIMMER WHO HAS PUT IN THE WORK AND HAS FOCUS MAKES A FAST SWIMMER.  BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND NOT ALL THE GIMMICKS.

WEEKLY TOPIC:  Mother Goose   and Swimming (a lot of this is from a article  from ASCA written by John Leonard)

“Good, Better, best, Never Rest Till Good is Better and Better is Best.” When we ourselves as swimmers, or we as a team or a group of swimmers  are “GOOD”    we tend to become complacent and we stop taking chances.  Examples of this may be practice where we know that a hard set is lurking around the corner so we pull back on effort at that time instead of pushing through the current set, and accepting the next challenge to see what might  happen (The safe choice).  In a race we may hold back or even be afraid   to try a new strategy because we are happy with our results.  We tend to stop taking chances, or trying new ideas because we are afraid of making a mistake.  On the other hand new swimmers or less talented swimmers make that big leap because they have nothing to lose.  The challenge for US as a group and you as individual swimmers  is to change on the fly and take a chance to move from being GOOD to being GREAT  .  We will get that chance as we move through the next few weeks of practice, race in the next few meets, as we move closer to CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON.  Let’s not let “being good” gert in the way of being GREAT  !

WEEKS PRACTICE:  This week we did a lot of work putting are IM’s together and a lot of work not breathing off the wall in free.  Some keys points from the week, Fly-pull all the way through recover position fast with press.  Back, good rotation with deep catch, press toward bottom.  Breast arm pull slow-medium fast forward.

·    SET Of THE WEEK:

·         4x500 free (all 50’s done fast)

·         1x400 cruise hold a steady but strong pace

·         2x50 @55

·         1x300 cruise hold a steady but faster pace than on the 400

·         4x50 @55/50/55/50

·         1x200 cruise hold a steady pace but faster than the 300

·         6x50 @55/50/45/55/50/45

·         1x100 faster pace than the 200

·         8x50@55/50/50/45/45/40/40/easy

Have a good weekend   MIKE

SWIMMING AND MOTHER GOOSE