“WIN”. What’s Important Now

Hope you all are enjoying the holidays, and getting ready to usher in the New Year.  It has been good to see a lot of you make it in to workout over the last week and we hope to see more of you this week before you head back to school.  One of the big things we have been working on over the last week is that crossover turn from back to breast for your IM.  I’ve been ask if you have to use it and the answer to that is YOU need to figure out the turn first  and then decide if it is something that would help YOU.  Our job is to bring these things to you and from that point we can work out a plan The other day as I walked through the men’s room I ease dropped on a conversation where one of our 12 year old made the comment that workout was not that hard.  One of our seniors was explaining that he was exhausted 💤 and you would be if you did it correctly.  The whole goal of the workout was to get in a lot of fast racing and that meant all out.  Sometimes we listen to the messenger really wel

Thank you for all there  generosity that you all showed with the gift certificates, cookies, candy and yes the LARGE music box.  The warm cards from some of the kids meant a lot.  My version of the song Twelve swimmers kicking Eleven empty water bottles Ten bathroom breaks Nine lane line bruises Eight sets with Tempo Trainers Seven Loads of laundry Six best times Five HARD SETS. Four pairs of goggles  Three sets of kicking Two hand paddles One coach on deck HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY!  See you Wednesday

Today the senior prep group began their holiday training today by building and decorating a tree.  This was meant to be both a physical and mental challenge as we start off the next phase of our season.  All of you responded to this set with great enthusiasm and got through it.  Thank you for all your 😓, your sacrifices, and yes your sweat and 😭 tears.  All of you have and will grow to be great young adults.   Keep up the good work and remember we are setting are standards high and we know each of you have so much more in yourselves.  You just don’t realize it yet, but we will get you there!

What were we trying to accomplish today?  A lot of work with the legs and a lot of fast kicking off the wall.  You all have improved your walls so much over the last three months but we know and believe that you all have so much more to give, you just don’t know it.  We are here to get that out of you!  That little exercise at the end of practice worked on jumping off the wall with some explosive power, getting into that tight streamline, hitting the bottom and using those fast dolphin 🐬 kicks to drive you back to the surface and getting as high as you could before falling back into the pool. All of this is to try and help you use those walls as an advantage and not an obstacle.  I leave you with this in a short course pool your going to hit the wall just maybe your be lucky 🍀 and make that right turn and surprise yourself

I wanted to share with you all something that I read the other day.  The clock is the toughest critic that any swimmer 🏊‍♀️ will ever encounter throughout their career.  Some people read it as simply one ☝️ winner and seven losers.  I pose this question; Why can we not read it as eight winners.  There are more ways one can be a winner besides getting their fingers on the pad first.  So as you read this keep that in mind! The clock.  Doesn’t lie to me.  It doesn’t tell me I’m first when I’m not, doesn’t say “ Nice Swim” if it wasn’t.  It doesn’t care if I’m shaved.  Or tapered.  Or if I’m in an outside lane.  It is a worthy opponent day in, and day out.  It never lets me win, won’t go easy on me.  The clock doesn’t let me off the hook.  But I will beat it. I haven’t yet.  But I will. See yo tomorrow clock!  Just a thought!

With this past weekends Sport Fair Meet now ion our rear view mirror, the first part of our journey comes to a conclusion.  This week we will and have been putting in some different sets which have included games and relays.  It is important to understand that we do need to take this time to re-charge both physically and mentally as we enter into the second part of our journey which will take us through the championship meets in March and April.   This past weekend we arrived at the pool Thursday afternoon with a lot of energy.  The meet started that evening with our distance swimmers who swam some outstanding swims all posting best times to set the tone for the rest of the team entering Fridays events.  First off let us say that everyone did an outstanding job during warmups, arriving on time, getting our lanes, and going through your meet warmups with no help from your coaches.  This went a long ways in preparing you all to swim as fast as you did.  It kept you relaxed as you went

This past weekend we saw a lot of outstanding races from our Senior prep, Junior Gold and Junior Blue groups.  Some qualifying times were made for the Junior Olympic meet in March.   Medals 🥇 and ribbons 🎀 were won by many swimmers 🏊‍♀️ in the groups, but more importantly a lot of improvements were seen not only in that “ all important time” for that instantaneous feedback but for myself I saw some great turns with improving underwater work off those walls.  We saw a lot of you try some new events which is a very important part of this process “always leave a door open” and we saw a great mental approach to the way you raced.  Overall you all were awesome👏  and now we have one more weekend to get through for the rest of you before the first stage of our season ends. “Ke Nako”.  This is the title of a song from the 2010 World Cup 🏟 and the translation to English is simply, “IT’s TIME”. You might want to look it up and maybe listen to it before this weekend.  Time for what; I guess

We had a great meet two weeks ago at Swim and Rock and have spent the past two weeks correcting the areas that we had trouble with. We only had a couple of disqualifications due to technical things and have gone through them all. We know this is a quick turn around for most of you with the thanksgiving holiday squeeze in the middle.  But guess what this is where we find ourselves in “the process” , so take ownership of your races this weekend and you will come out the other end a better person and swimmer. Be aggressive in and out of the turns.  Don’t forget our fish/dolphin kicks off those walls are to carry your speed off the walls not to get more.  So when you feel like you’re slowing down it’s time to get up and race.   Do not sacrifice speed for distance .   Speed into walls means the finish also.  What’s the point in swimming fast only to slow 10 meters out.  Finish the race The only bad swim 🏊‍♀️ is the one you don’t show up for.   Have fun!!!

This past weekend we had an outstanding effort from the senior prep, gold and blue groups.  You all showed up to not only to swim but also to race and that’s what it’s all about.  From the moment the first one of you jumped in for warmups on Friday morning until the last one got out on Sunday evening our efforts were outstanding.   For the most part you ran through your warmups and cool downs with with focus and got it ✅.  There were a lot of you who learned how to swim a preliminary and final meet.  What do I mean?  When seeded high in the event you understood that it was not so important to swim fast in the morning, only fast enough to get a good seed coming back at night.  Some of us had to put out our best effort in the preliminaries just to get back to finals, and that’s 👌.  It’s part of this long process and you do what you have to!  The results really showed and I am guessing here but I believe MAKOS was better represented at final than any other team, and oh by the way you cam

How serious to you approach your warm ups at practice or meets?  Is it really that important? As with almost all issues in society everyone has an opinion. The first thing that you need to understand is that contrary to beliefs it is not just “MINDLESSLY SWIMMING “ in the 🏊‍♀️.  It should and will set the tone for the practice or meet that you are going to ask of your bodies and put you in a mindset to be successful.  It amazes me to sloppy swimming during this time at practice and that is because habits (good or bad) can be developed during this time.  It is up to you to CHOOSE whether they will be good or bad.    We do not just put a garbage warmup on the board for you to do.  Each of our warmups have a direct impact and is designed to prepare you for what we are trying to accomplish on any given day, thus our warmups are never the same.  You may ask, But the meet warmup is always the same. Good observation you rascals!  Yes it is and it is designed to get you ready to swim fast.  I

Just a quick reminder for your meet warmups this weekend 200 smooth and relax swim 4x50 descend swim@50 200 kick on back 3x50 descend kick @1:00 100 stroke swim drills 8x50 choice @1:00 (25easy 25 fast) @1:00 2x25 fast from dive Let’s come in focus and put in a great effort as we prepare to go in strong 💪 for the swim and rock meet.   We have spent a lot of time in the past few weeks with our work on the walls and our underwater.  Important to remember not to sacrifice speed for distance off those walls.   This is a great meet to try something new and step outside of your comfort zones as you prepare for the mid season championship meets. Some people say good luck but you don’t need luck. You all have worked hard so just swim 🏊‍♀️ your race and have fun racing.

Okay you all know that I am a Cowboy fan so today is a little gloomy 😞 as I stood in line to vote this morning, and no it’s not the ☔️ or the impending doom and gloom that will be reported from the media on this voting day.  It’s something that happened early in that football 🏈 game last night, that is a reflection on all athletes.  After the Titans intercepted a pass in the end zone and immediately ran to the middle of the field where the cowboy star ⭐️ is and began celebrating,  ow I know all you Redskin fans were on the floor laughing 😂 and giving ✋ to anyone in your vicinity.  Enjoy the moment but than tank a look at what these professional athletes are teaching our younger athletes, and that is SPORTSMANSHIP.    Now don’t get me wrong I am all for a little 🎉 celebration in the end zone with your teammates,  but to go to the middle of the field and make it about you and to disrespect your fellow athletes goes to far.  Have your little celebration but come on man your a professi

MARLIN INVITATIONAL  Friday Warm up 4:00-4:50. Meet starts at 5pm For Friday events please have a timer and lane counters for your events. You also must positive check in your events. I will check you in as long as you let me know before Friday. Saturday and Sunday Warm up 7:00-7:50. Meet starts at 8:00 am They will be using 2 pools for Saturday and Sunday sessions. One pool will be 13 and over girls and 12 and under boys.  The other pool will be 13 and over boys and 12 and under girls. On Sunday the 12 and under boys 200 free will move to the other pool to help with the time line. WE ARE NOT SUITING UP FOR THIS MEET!! Our groups finished off last week with a great EFFORT at practice on Friday and Saturday.  We spent a lot of time bringing the whole week together with a lot of IM work with great transitions and wall work.  Our underwater work is looking fantastic 👍 and now let’s see if we can carry it into our races the next two weekends. Yes it will tax you both physically and mental

Hope everyone in the Gold and Blue groups enjoy your day away from 🏊‍♀️ and you have your costumes ready for the evening.  You have probably heard this from Mom and Dad but stay with your group and be safe.  Please do your bodies a favor and watch that sugar intake over the next few days.  We all know it tastes good but the hours that follow a big increase in your sugar levels will not be kind, just ask Jackie. The next two weeks will be a busy time for all of us as we prepare for the Marlin Meet, and the all exciting Swim and Rock the following weekend.  As we get ready for this I thought I would spend a little time going over what we have been doing.  This serves as both a quick reminder to each of you and gives your parents some input so they know what you have been doing. One of the big things I have noticed in the first two weeks is our lack of aggressiveness with our walls.   We are always 👨🏻‍🏫👩🏻‍🏫talking to you and reminding you just how important your under water dolphin

It’s the season of ghosts, goblins, witches, and all kinds of other scary things.  In swimming have you ever thought about what scares you before a race?  Is it the possibility of failing, or is it the fear of pain (the good kind), maybe the thought of letting a coach or parent down.  Whatever it is everyone has come face to face with this fear from time to time. This may push some buttons with some, but I truly believe that society has become soft when dealing with failure especially when it comes to athletes and our youth.  Failure is inevitable, every athlete has to face coming up short of their goals sometime during their time in the sport.  You will miss that net in soccer, you will strike out, you will miss the basket, you will drop the ball and yes you will fall on the ice, and though you may not like it, I want you to understand that it is 👌.  It’s part of the journey through life and the ☀️ will rise the next day and everything in your world will be okay. If you do not come u

🏊As we start to get near our busy fall schedule of meets, we thought it useful to review your 📋warm ups and cool downs.  Remember that if you know what to do and are in control without coaches talking 🧟‍♂️“loudly” every time your at a wall it will go a long way to put you in a stress free situation.   The most important thing is to arrive on time.  It is unfair to your teammates and coaches to arrive late when we are in the middle of a planned warmup, and now you think I’ll just jump in, I don’t think so! Another item that came up this past weekend is the fact that we had “senior level swimmers”🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♀️ who did not know what they were swimming.  This makes it hard to do a positive check in not to mention that mentally you are not prepared to race and swim fast.  Again it comes back to the person in the mirror, so check it and take ownership.  MEET WARM UP: SENIOR PREP 400 swim (free and back) 4x50 free descending speed 200 kick 3x50 kick descending speed

I got to thinking after this weekends meet after hearing all the feedback given to swimmers after their races and started wondering how many of those swimmers go back to their training sessions and try to focus on that feedback.  A lot of the feed back I hear is on breakouts,breathing,turns, underwater dolphins, finishes, and being more aggressive.  With that said I would guess that coaches wonder if the athletes listened and truly heard what we were saying, because I venture to say the same mistakes are being made at the next practice. We all know what we should do as athletes to become better swimmers, but most of the time those only happen when it is convenient, when it’s comfortable or when it is going your way.  I would like to challenge all of the blue, gold and senior prep groups to turn those things we should do, into things that we MUST do and raise our standard as swimmers. When you go back to the pool raise your standards at every turn.  Yes you should have fast turns and lo

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦Whose job is it to be packing your swim bags 💼for practice and meets.  Mom’s, Dad’s brother or sisters,  I don’t like to answer with a question but the simple answer is “Who is doing the swimming?”  Again it is the person in the mirror and 😮 IT’s you.  Funny how it’s always you in the mirror!  Why even bring this subject up, simple we had some set backs this weekend at the meet ( no names will be mentioned).  Items to always have in your bag, 2 swim suits, 2 or more caps, ( they rip) 2 pairs of goggles (they break)2 shirts (they get wet) sweat shirt and paints (to stay warm)and a water bottle.  The old man ( not me ) said if it can go wrong it will so be prepared and it will avoid extra stress during the course of the meet.  Has to do with that thing called time management we have talked about. It’s your race nobody else’s and one of the first key to success is to take responsibility and own it, and it begins with being prepared to take the plunge, so pack those backpacks

We have worked for a couple of weeks now to prepare for this race, so what are we looking for?  The first thing is to relax and don’t stress over it and remember the ☀️ will rise from the east in the morning. REALLY it will! Let’s break it up into 4 races shall we! 🏊 The first leg is the fly and the big positive during this leg is that we start from a dive so we really won’t be doing a 100 fly.  The first thing We want you all to remember is to set that breathing patten immediately.  BREATHE-BREATHE-DON’T BEATHE !  It is very important to keep that flow of oxygen to your arms and especially your legs.  It’s a marathon in a way not a sprint.  The other key thing is We want to see your booty out of the water every time your arms enter forward and you press your chest, otherwise you are just dragging yourself through the water. That strong kick in fly takes the pressure off the shoulders saving them for the other legs in the race. 🏊🏻‍♂️🏊🏻‍♂️ The second leg is the backstroke and this

MEETS THIS WEEKEND OCTOBER OPEN HAS BEEN MOVED TO LEE DISTRICT POOL Friday night all the swimmers must have their own timers. Friday night all 400 IM and 200 Fly must positive check in by 6:00. If you are planning to arrive late and would like us to check you in PLEASE send Coach Wendy or myself a text by 12:00 noon and we will take care of it.  Also if you are going to scratch on Friday let us know so we are not looking for you. What happens to your mindset as you enter the 🏊🏻‍♂️water for practice and you come head to head with that cold chlorinated water, and that dreaded black tile line on the bottom of the pool that will guide you for the next 60-90 minutes of your life.  Do you stress🙀 on whether this training session will get you to your goals?  Are you stressed 😩with homework, what others think, or the weekend?  There are no guarantees that what you do today will take you to the place you want to be tomorrow, all we can do is to put you in the best position to get to that pl

 

Now that we have been in the water for four weeks it’s time to take a step back and see if we are on the same road for this journey.  We spent the first four weeks working on drills and techniques in all aspects of our swimming and as we move into the next part of our season, the training will increase for our Senior Prep group, and will increase slightly for the Gold and Blue groups.  The drills and technique work will continue but will be included more into the training sets.  Our performance at the first meet last weekend was outstanding, and I believe that we accomplished a lot of good things that we can build on throughout this journey.  As we talked about prior to the meet I wanted our focus to be not on our times but on the things that we had been working on in practice such as streamlines, our dolphin kicks off the walls, breathing patterns, and the way we executed our races especially in our longer events.  As we talked about in the weeks leading up to the meet our focus was t

  The group of 27 Mako swimmers have just finished a week of great swimming down in Saint Petersburg and should all be on their way home now.  I spent the day down here going through results and notes and will follow up this week.   The highlights of the meet were warming up and watching the sun rise over the bay each day with the wind blowing.  Saturday was the coldest morning out of the four and there was a little hesitation on getting in until I found a hose and turned it on.  Needless to say they moved like rabbits as I am sure the water from the hose was not heated as was the pool.   This group of kids and parents made the team proud with thier sportmanship and support for each other over a grueling four day meet.   BLAKE MADSEN WAON THE HIGH POINT FOR TEN YEAR OLDS AT THE MEET! Saturday night we finished the week off with a pizza party on the beach behind the pool.  The kids played volleyball and just hung out and tried to relax before heading back and getting ready to finis

The Mako 🏊🏽swimmers have just completed another very successful Junior Olympics championship meet at UMD this past week.  Our swimmers had many great swims during the meet producing countless personnal bests.  Did we have 100%? NO, but WE all raced and performed well so hold your heads up high and be proud for going through the process.  One of the big highlights of the weekend was Blake Madsen who won the HIGH POINT award for the 10 and under age group.  I read an article recently explaining this equation “E+R+O”  which represents the basic way of how life works.  “Events happen.  You choose how to respond and an outcome is produced.  The only thing you, I, or anyone has control over in that equation—in life—is how to respond”.  It is called the R factor, and separates the good swimmer from the great ones.   It is easy to respond after a successful swim, but it’s how you respond to those difficult swims where you display your true character.  Two swimmers who I was extremely proud

We are in the home stretch now. How are you going to finish?  We clawed our way through the middle part of the race, and now it’s time for that last turn.   “WIN, LOSE, OR DRAW”,  it’s “GO TIME”!   Might go well, might go bad, but you do have to race to find out.     Come off that last turn with the determination to decimate any competition that comes off that wall with you.  It’s time to engage those legs now just like we have in practice for the last two weeks. Push that last 12.5 yards into that wall with a “BIG GIRL/BOY finish.  Don’t forget bring those legs with you on that last 25!   OUR CUE WORDS: HAPPY LAND, BREATHE, EXPLODE, EASY SPEED, EXPLODE INTO THAT FIRST TURN, CLAW, GO TIME, SMASH THE MIDDLE, BIG LAST TURN, ENGAGE THE LEGS, DECIMATE, PUSH AND FINISH!   In closing I would wish you luck, but you don’t need it, and I don’t believe in it.  You all have made the sacrifices, put in the hard work and now all you have to do is look in the mirror and believe in that person

You’ve made it to the blocks, found that easy speed into that first turns.  We explode into and off of that first wall and are now going to build off that good feeling and speed into the middle part of your race.  In your mind you know the race is on and it’s go time , start setting up the race, claw if you must , but you need to go now!   Pain is inevitable, but the way you choose to suffer is optional, so push yourself towards that great finish!  SMASH this part of your race!   Tomorrow topic “THE FINISH"    

Some of you have talked to me about feeling a little stress, and nervous about this weekend.  So lets start with waking upthe morning of the race.   Let' s start the day with a good breakfast and being on time for warmup.  Start your warm up and stay under control, we are not trying to swim to fatigue.  Get some of our stretches in as a group, as this will go a long way to settle those nerves.   As your event nears try to remove yourself from all the distractions that are around you, go that happy place in your mind.   This would be a good time to go get that second warmup done, as this will also help settle those nerves and prepare your body for the race.  Get a little fluid in you and stay warm right until your ready to get on the blocks.   As you stand behind the blocks don't forget to breathe, and visualize yourself exploding off those blocks into that easy SPEED into that first turn, and now it's on!   Enjoy the moment, enjoy the atmosphere, enjoy being with your

🏊🏽On race day the number one rule is “don’t do anything different.  No new energy drink, no massage if it has not been part of your training, no new foods.  Stick to the plan!  It all boils down to your checklist that  if followed will set you up for a great meet!  Let’s go through your checklist;   Pack your bags  🛍(the night before) 2 pairs of goggles  2 or more MAKO caps Sweats and shirts 👕for on the deck 2 towels  Water 💧 Snacks (pasta, cereal bars, unsalted nuts, dry cereal (without the word frosted) bananas, apples prepared vegetables such as cucumbers, and celery Try to eat something small right after warm down.  It is important to keep your tanks at least 3/4 full.  If you let it get down near empty it takes longer to recover and this would not be good if it happens on the first day, could set up along weekend.   Race day presents other challenges because swimmers will have to warm up and down multiple times, the start of the session and before each event. You

It’s that time of the year when all your hard training is in the rear view mirror.  All the miles have been logged , dryland done, and sacrifices made by all.  Championship season is on the horizon, the time of the year when you can really enjoy what this sport has to offer.  Try and enjoy the shorter fast pace workouts, the races, hanging out with your teammates and the overall atmosphere of the season.   A look at what you should start to feel over the next two weeks. Increase energy as yardage goes down. Feeling more powerful Stroke feels longer Feel faster Mentally feel better  What can you do over the next couple of weeks to help?    Make sure you are eating properly! Stay on top of your school work!  Get ahead if possible!  Finish those projects! Get some extra sleep if possible! (Even 10 minutes help) Have a plan for race day!  Write your races down! Have cue words! (Don’t wait until race day to come up with a plan)   During this period you may catch yourself o

Talking to you all over the  last few months I have realized that a lot of you get very nervous at meets, and after a comment that was made last night I understand that the bigger the meet the higher the anxiety and stress you may feel.  The comment I heard was " after all the work I 've done all year I get nervous this time of year."  If it makes you feel any better I feel it also. A lot of this stress and anxiety comes from overthinking leading up to your event, and again the bigger the race the more you think. The result of all this overthinking is increase stress levels which results in weighing you down.  Think of it like a giant vacuum that just sucks the energy and fun out of you, at a time in the year that should produces the best memories and results.  A lot of times at meets like this I watch how you carry yourself as a clue to how I am going to talk to you.  One way I can tell that your stress levels are up is the way you are sitting and walking around the de

 During practice on Monday I was asked why we were doing open turns.  For the past couple of weeks we have work through sets that involved some open turns while doing 75's (50 free/ 25 back and 50 free/ 24 breast or fly). Why do we do them?  I have notice during the last few meets that some of us are losing momentum at the walls on our exchanges.  We our not getting our hips and legs into the walls fast enough which hurts our speed coming off of them.  I wanted to come up with something that would help our speed  into the walls with the hope of helping you all get your hips and legs into the walls.   I decided that if we swim in free which is faster and perform open turns the result might be faster exchanges for the breast and fly, and also for the IM events.   Think about it there are seven turns in swimming and two of them are flips (free and back) which we do all the time.  The other five turns involve the IM, breast and fly Oh,and by the way are open turns.  Alot of time when w

The very first step in this process you actually learned from your parents at a very young age and that is honesty.  Make no mistake about it everything begins with truth and that includes your swimming.  When you are ready to be honest with yourself it will require one very critical thing that swimmers often overlook, and that is “What do ?I really want?"   Over the years I have seen many swimmers just “Dive In” and start swimming without really understanding the process or why they are doing it.  Without understanding the process they have no roadmap to their final destination.  They develop habits that will carry them throughout their swimming years.  Some of these habits are GOOD, but some tend to be bad also.  Often swimmers will get sucked into just swimming laps and will forget to focus on the little things coaches are teaching within the set.  For instance the other day all three of our groups did a set that looked like this; 12 or 8 x75 (50 free-25 back) or 8x50 (25 fre

I have been asked a lot of questions about choosing Your JO events, and that is awesome that some of you are thinking about them.  First off JO’s is where our plan and all your hard work come together, and the time of the year you should be at your best both physically and mentally.  Use the next feel weeks to fine tune all the small details in your events, catch up and get ahead in your school work, get the proper rest and nutrition and above all stay healthy, so you place yourself in the best possible situation to swim fast.  For our 14 year olds this will b e your last JO’meet so enjoy it!   CHOOSING YOUR EVENTS   This is a 4 day trials and finals meet.  The first step is break the meet into 4 days and write ALL the events for the day in your age group on a piece of paper in the order they fell including relays.  Step two place an asterisk next to all there events that you have qualified for.  Step three place a second asterisk next to your very best events.  We would really lik