“WIN”. What’s Important Now

It’s that magical time of the year again, and with it all the bright lights, decorations, good friends and families.  It’s also the season of giving and what better gift could you give    yourself than keeping up with your training this holiday season.  This gift that is yours to open if you choose is so much more than a material gift.  This is a gift that will keep giving throughout your lifetime, it will keep you true to your goals and dreams for later in the year.   A gift that will keep you healthy both physically and mentally throughout the holidays.  Yes there will always be obstacles that will present themselves and yes that little man that lives between your ears will have to make a choice.  You can always make excuses for yourself, but that is just what they are an attempt to lessen the blame and justify yourself.  What choice will you make? Don’t be that person who let’s all the hard work that you have been doing since September who throws it out the window, only have

MEET WRAP UPS With the Winter Classic and Mako Invitation meets now behind us we can look forward to a few weeks of hard training, but before we do let’s take a look at things learned, and also things to work on as we move forward over the next few weeks. Let’s start by giving the parents a big thank you for all the help and support over the last few weekends.  Thanks for having the kids where they were supposed to be.  The coaches really appreciate this as it one less thing on our plates that we need to worry about. When looking over all the swims over the last two weekends, I like to evaluate the group as a whole to see if what we are doing is working and what needs to be added or deleted to help us move forward.  After that I look at individual swims to see areas that we can work on during practice.  When looking at the groups as a whole there was a lot of success throughout the weekend.  Certainly there were some individual swims that some of you might want back, but all

A Look Ahead  Now that we are through the first part of the season with the championship meets behind us, it this time to tire our focus towards the qualifying meets.  We have talked about how important it is to start preparing for this part of the season from day 1.  As you are preparing for this part of the season it is important to take a look at the meets on the horizon and make a plan for yourself.  Below I will try to share my thoughts with you as you make your plan. The first thing that we need to understand is that any events that you have made your qualifying times for (JO, Senior Junior Champs, NASA ) should not be swam until those meets.  Try new events.  Please be smart. HOLIDAYS I f you are going to be away for the holidays, I will post some “Go TO WORKOUTS” for you if you can find a pool.   It is important to stay in the pool during this period or the work you have done so far will go into the trash bin.  You will end up starting over again and put yourself in

Hope your Thanksgiving was quiet, peaceful and you feel recharged and ready for the busy two weeks that we all have in front of us.  We have two meets over the next week to wrap up our fall season, and no matter which meet you find yourself in this is a time to gauge where you stand with your swimming as we head into the heart of our season.  We would like to congratulate all the swimmers who are on the team that we are taking to the Winter Classic Championship meet this weekend.  The coaches had to make some tough decisions and choice as we put this team together.  All the teams participating are limited to a set number of swimmers that they can bring with the hopes of making this a true championship meet with the same criteria for all the teams.  This is not much different than your High school District meets or your summer divisional meets.  Regardless of the meet you are in over the next two weeks, make no mistake about it, this is your time to shine. After the Swim and Rock meet

As we sit around our tables this thanksgiving with our families and closet friends to give thanks, we are also teaching the youth another valuable lesson and that is gratitude. This is a great time to be thankful for the past sports year we had.  It doesn’t matter whether we had a great or a poor swimming year, this is a time we can teach our swimmers to be thankful for being able to participate in this great life sport.  Good and bad swims come and go but there are always lessons to be learned from every one of them.   This is time that all of you need to take a little extra time to be thankful to your parents for all the sacrifices they make so that you may participate.  Their sacrifices are many financial, emotional, time to get you where you need to be and above all that encouragement regardless of the result.  So today put down your devices and see if you can help with something.  A simple thank you without your phone goes a long way in filling your parents tank emotionally and he

As we get ready for our first big test of the season this weekend, Do you ever ask yourself this simple question, Have I done all I can to succeed?  A very legitimate question to ask yourself but NOT NOW. Think about the process involved with your swimming and not what you could have done or could do.  It doesn’t matter.  The time you want to get or the cut you want to make doesn’t really matter this weekend.  The only thing that matters is the race right in front of you and how you are going to perform that race and execute the things necessary to be successful.  That’s it. In order to do that it is vital for you to have presence of mind.  In other words let each race come to you and focus on each individual race as it presents itself to you.  Nothing else in your world matters at that moment in time.  That race is the only thing that exists and all your focus and energy is devoted to it.  You and your body deserves that and the chance to shine.  Stay in the present!

This weekend our groups will be attending the annual swim and rock meet Friday, Saturday, Sunday at Oak Marr recreation center.  This will be a championship format meet and so there are a few things you need to know before you walk on deck.  We will try and cover them here to make you as comfortable as we can. Prelims and Finals format :  The top 8 11-12 and the top 16 13 and overs from the morning session will return at night for a final swim on Friday and Saturday.  You need to check before you leave in the morning to see if you make it back to finals. (Table is set up in front of guard room).  If you intend to scratch you MUST talk to a coach before you scratch.  Be prepared with a legitimate argument.   If you fail to show up for finals you will be scratched from your next event.  It is also not fair to other swimmers who could have swam in that open lane. Two Pools: They will be using two pools during the meet and the coaches will let you know which pool you are swimmi

MARLIN MEET WRAP UP This past weekend we traveled over to UMD for a tune up meet to see where we stand as we head into our mid-season meets.   We had 8 swimmers on Friday night swimming the distance events (500 1000 free and 400 IM).  All eight of these swimmers put in a great effort working turns, streamlines, dolphins, and pacing.  Along the way as a bonus they all dropped a lot of time.   Saturday after we figured out which group was going to warmup in what pool, we settled down and got to business.  It’s kind of funny watching you all just running back and forth to try and figure which pool to warmup in, but that was on the coaches because we must have had a brain freeze.   All of you especially the 12 and under’s did a great  job getting to your events.  This was a great experience for the kids because the older girls and younger boys were swimming in one pool while the older boys and younger girls were swimming in the other one.  Other than two hiccups and one miss

As we head into the meets over the next few weeks we thought it would be a good time to review our warmups.  The first most important thing to remember is that warmups are designed not only to prepare your bodies for what you are going to ask them to do in your races, but also to keep you relaxed before those races.   We know that sometimes your events are not until later and sometimes it is decided by yourself or your parents that it is ok to sleep in and arrive later.  As coaches we all believe it is important to arrive on time for warmups.  That means for a 6:30 warmup we have caps and goggles on and are ready to go at 6:30 not 6:31.  If you arrive late don’t expect coaches to drop everything they are doing to help you get settled, we tend to be busy once the meet starts.  The other thing to take into account is positive check in’s, this is your responsibility not the coaches.   It is important that you have a general idea of what is going on in warmup so that you are not lost.  Bel

Past Week We just finished off a good week of practice as we head into our November meets.  The first meet coming up is the Marlin meet at the University of Maryland next weekend and will serve as a tune up for our first championship format meet this year at swim and rock.   BLUE GROUP. You all are doing well and we are seeing a big improvement with those streamlines off the walls.  The underwater dolphins look great 👍 and as we have said before it’s something that needs your constant focus and hard work. The objective is to make them tighter, longer, and faster.   We spent a good amount of time working on our butterfly stroke and both Wendy and I saw  great strides being made this week. GOLD GROUP. Our walls are improving with each practice and as we charge forward let’s move to the next level where we are more aggressive around those walls.  We don’t want to get stuck in those turns, nothing good will happen.  We worked our open turns early in the week and today I saw a

This week brings about the end to a few things that have happened in the last nine weeks or so.  The first thing is that as that school 🔔 rings on Friday it will mark the end of your first grading period. A lot of you have already shared your school endeavors with us so we are sure that when those grades come out there will be some great marks.   Always remember that the title you carry is that of being a student/athlete and notice which noun appears first in that phrase. I have finally finished reading all of your letters containing your goals and dreams for this season and it made for an interesting read with myself and. Henry.  As we read through them it dawned on me that setting that goal is not necessarily the main thing.  The important thing we would like you to consider is how you go about achieving it and staying with that plan. We have already discussed the internal battle in your head between what we called “the force” versus the “dark side”. It is a constant battl

OCTOBER OPEN MEET WRAP UP We were very encouraged with the effort that was put out by all of our Junior Blue, Junior Gold and Senior Prep groups in the meet this past weekend.  The hard work that each of you are putting in shows in the way you raced over the weekend.  The way you approached those blocks and the way all of you exploded off into your starts showed us you came to race.  Great Effort. We saw a big improvement with your underwater dolphins and streamlines, and make no mistake about it this is an area that needs your focus and constant attention during practice.  The coaches can not watch every single turn and it is easy for you to fall into the trap of taking a wall off.  I would say to you that if this is you, the old saying applies “You are only cheating yourself” and it will show up when you least expect it.  Take ownership these are your races to win or lose, no one else’s.  Perfect those streamlines and dolphin kicks.  The next natural progression now is to p

Do you go into a meet or more specifically your races with a checklist, or do you just wing it and hope for the best results, and if good your confidence is high.  The only problem is that sometimes the results don’t meet your expectations.  Now what?  Do you fall apart and let it create negative feelings about yourself as a swimmer 🏊. In the book “The Swimmers Mind” it talks about having a checklist ✅ with five performance priorities.  They are “ Process, Presence, Enjoyment, Standards, and Control.”   Let’s look at these further.   We have always talked about how it is important to trust your training and the process that has gotten you to that exact moment you step onto the block. We don’t focus on the outcome of the race, or that Jo or NASA cut.  Now I’m not saying that those things aren’t important to you, but when your whole mindset is on those things you forget to race and perform the specific things during your race that you have been working on.  The Process! The next ✅ mark

It’s 5 o’clock in the morning, time to goggle up and dive into the old watering hole for practice.  First words to coach are not hello but more like “I’m tired” and is it going to be hard today?  Not a great mindset to start a workout that is meant to get you to your goals, right.  The way you talk to yourself is as important as what you do in the pool, and what you eat.  If you say something enough subconsciously you start believing it and acting it out.   All the hard work you put in, the talent that you have and the physical ability you possess won’t help you in a race if you have a negative mindset, sure you may get lucky and have a good race once in a while but in the long run you will always come up short.  The attitude and overall outlook with which you approach your workouts, your swims, your meets, your warmups, your races and the sport as a whole will determine your success in the long run.  What you think on a daily basis the attitude that you portray your swimming both at

PLUG THE LEAKS ! Now that we have our first meet of this young season in our bags, it’s time to look forward and see where we go from here.  That meet is done and we saw some great things from you all with the areas that we have been working on. One area that I really wanted to see you buy into is that of becoming more of a process oriented swimmers as oppose to a results only swimmer.  We had talked about taking more of an approach of looking at the place you came in as opposed to your time in the race.  This was the first step in trying to change your mindset to help you become a better swimmer.  In the coming days and weeks we will delve further into this area. In the first step I want you to think of your swimming as a bucket that contains everything that contains everything you need to be successful in your swimming endeavors.  The fuller you can keep your bucket the more you are able to draw from during your races.  The things that you should be filling your buckets wi

With the first meet of the young season it’s time take what we’ve learned and move on.  As I be already told you I’m not a big fan of watching the score board this early in the season and although it can be a good read at times it doesn’t always give the entire story.  At this time of the year I take more enjoyment in watching you do the things well that we have been working on in practice, that is true progress no matter how the scoreboard reads.   Two of the things we have tried to hammer the first few weeks of practice are the way we work our streamlines and underwater dolphins off the wall and the way we finish our races.  I saw a lot of great effort being put forth in these areas and believe are making some real progress that will carry us to some amazing results in March and April. An area that I see we all have to work on and be better at is the way we talk to ourselves.  We need to have a lot more positive self talk and less negative self talk.  We talk about this all the time

So our first meet of our journey this season has arrived, AKUMA MATATA.   No problems, no worries this weekend.  We understand that all swimmers are looking for a best time, a lofty goal indeed.  Let’ s look at that a little closer.  Depending on your age and the level you are at, the last Big meet you were in, we may need to manage our expectations a bit.   For a lot of our 12 and under’s those fast swim seem like they will never end, like the energizer  bunny🐰 they just keep coming. For the  Senior Prep group we know what’s around the corner just waiting for us.  All I am saying is that remember the “process” that is the 🔐 key to unlocking those goals and dreams. The things I will be watching for at this meet are  How you approach and handle warmup and warm down How you handle that second warmup How well you keep warm waiting for your race Do you know your events, or do you have to ask Can you find your name, heat and lane on meet sheet, do you know your name (you’d be surprised ki

This past week as we were working through our workouts in the pool in both the Gold and the Prep group I heard this language come out of some of you, WHAT IF I CAN’T?  Think about that for a second.  I read and article recently by Oliver Leroy and so what I will attempt to do here is paraphrase what he was trying to get across for our purposes.  Think about this You are asked by a group of friends to go hang out but immediately you respond by saying, I can’t I have to go to practice.  Instead of looking at this situation in the concept of “I Have To” and understanding  that you don’t have to go to practice and work hard and that this is something that “You Get To Do”, your training will not only get better but you will also have more fun doing it.     Whatever you’re doing daily the language that you use can have a direct impact on your mindset in all your activities.  When you use the phrase I have to it, it has the connotation that a bit of effort will be involved that is going to