The time of year has come where I get a lot of questions from a lot of you about long course season and should I do it or not.  I will attempt to give my two cents worth on the subject here.

First off Makos does a very good job about offering different sessions that should meet the needs of every swimmer out there.  The first session is vital I believe due to the fact that Makos ends the short course season the first Friday in May, and the reason is simple after that long course meet over that first weekend in May George Mason University keeps the pool in the long course format for the remainder of the summer.  I think it is important for all swimmers to stay in the water until Memorial Day weekend when their summer teams start up.

The second session runs until school gets out for the summer, and the benefits of this session is that the summer teams normally have to share the pool with the membership often leading to overcrowded lanes and in cold weather.  The weather also could become an issue with your afternoon thunderstorms often canceling practices.

Now we are at the third and final session which goes through July, and this is where I believe that you need to sit down and have a serious talk with your swimmer.  What looks like a great opportunity in
April and May could very possibly be an ordeal once your swimmer is out of school and back at the pool with the pool rats.  Once the commitment is made it is important for you as a parent to see that your swimmer follows through or they have missed a life lesson.

Now what does long course offer?  The major advantage is that it allows them to really fix the little things in their strokes without the concern of a wall approaching all the time.  This can really help with stroke development and allowing the swimmer to gain strength.  There really are no
disadvantages to swimming long course except that it makes for a very long season.  Even now I can see that the swimmers are tired and spring break cannot arrive quickly enough.

As a coach the most important thing is that they show up in September with their batteries recharged
full of enthusiasm to start a new journey.  Will they be out of shape?  Simply put yes, but with
schools starting earlier and summer league ending late a lot of family time and vacations are affected.
The other consideration that you need to think about is cross training, which I believe helps the swimmers become better athletes in the pool.

The next thing I hear a lot of is our summer league coaches are young and only adequate, and this always rubs me the wrong way.  The reason it does is because that summer coach was hired by the pool to do a job.  That job is to develop a team and help the kids improve on their swimming abilities.    There focus is to not only help them become better swimmers, but to get them to swim either a 50 or a 25 as fast as they can and score points for the team, all the while being a cheerleader. PERIOD!  Their job is not to give your club swimmer an intense workout, even though you may feel otherwise.  Don’t confuse the two.

In closing and this is just one opinion, first session should be mandatory at least for the competitive
groups and the second session is great.  After that the bottom line is to have that talk with your swimmer about the responsibilities and commitment that will be involved, and be honest with each other.  Don’t set them up to fail.

That’s my two cents worth and I hope it helps a little in the decision.

YOU WERE QUIET

 This week we introduce the head sets to the Junior Blue/ Gold and Senior Prep groups.  You all need to let me know if you felt it help you more.  From my perspective all of you responded very well as we worked through drills during our sets.  When a correction was made I could see that you responded and made the adjustment.

During the 50’s, 100’s and 200 pace set I saw an immediate improvement and effort in the way you swam during these sets.  Especially during the 100’s there was more of an aggressive approach in the way these were done.  We talked through each 25 of the 100 and how you should attack the race.  We also discussed that the same approach can be used for the other events at that distance with a few minor tweaks, but the principle is to be on the offensive which is always attacking.  Let’s not sit back and be defensive and let the race come to us.  Clearly you play a game of chance if you approach a race with that mindset.  Everything is the same until it’s diferent.  Think about ittt!

2 DOWN 1 TO GO

I DID IT

With the conclusion of the Mako Spring Invitational Championship meet this past weekend, we have one  championship meet left, which is where we will have 27 of our Mako age groupers swimming  from April 10-13 in Saint Petersburg Florida.

This past weekend our swimmers who swam in the spring championship meet rocked the pool with both the effort that they put in and the results that they posted on the scoreboard.  It’s been a long season that started back in September, and the effort you have shown and the progress each of you have made has not gone unnoticed by the coaching staff.

The coaches were really thrilled and excited to see many of you trying some new events and a lot of new distances.  You all may not know this but by doing this you keep yourself mentally fresh and at the same time improve your swimming overall.  Some advantages of the longer distances are that it allows you to really work on the turns in a racing situation, which will help in your shorter signature events.  The resulting opportunities and confidence that you gain are limitless.

Top eight finishers in their events were;
Claire Anderson 25 free 3rd, 25 breast 2nd, 25 fly 5th
Petra Gruendel 25 free 4th, 50 breast 7th
Maddie Carroll 25 free 7th, 25 fly, 8th
Camryn Smith 25 breast 4 th, 25 fly 6 th
Gwynn Howard 25 breast 6th
Annalise Lucas 25 breast 8th, 25 fly 7 th
Shannon Stegmaier 25 back 7th, 50 fly 2nd
Johanna Carroll 100 back 4 th, 50 free 3rd, 50 fly 4 th
Isabell Leigne 100 breast 7th
Kate Fischer 100 fly 8th
Olivia Rocha 50 free 7th, 100 free 6 th
Ella Wallinger 50 breast 3rd
Calmly Codding 50 fly 1st
Lyla Devlin 50 fly 7th, 100 IM 2nd
Elena Dubet 200 breast 7th
Sarah Yoon 100 fly 5th
Kassi Nelson 100 back 7th
Sune Altenburg 50 free 8th
Delany Nelson 50 free 6th
Caitlin Goff 50 fly 2nd
Gabriella Mancusi 100 breast 6th
Charlotte Lim 50 breast 2nd
Emily Tao 50 back 2nd
Ashley Cruce 100 free 3rd, 50 back 4th, 100 back 6th, 100 fly 3rd

Great job by all of you during this championship season!

Most of us are now done with the short course racing for the season, and as we approach the next couple of weeks heading into spring break our workouts will revert back to less training and loaded with more stroke techniques and drills.  What you do now as we transition into this stage will be important as you move through the process.

GET IN THE POOL

What our senior prep group looked like at warmups today

Today little trouble getting in.  I should get with coach Carli and Elaina and figure it out. Think about ittt! 

Any way good work out today with the IM set.  Good racing at the end.  Why do it?  Never know when you have to step up.  I just thought of a different version for Thursday so be ready

Hope Jackie and Ricky start talking to you all again soon.  It was an interesting breaststroke race however.

JO WRAP UP

This past weekend the best of the best 14 and under swimmers in Potomac Valley gathered at the University of Maryland for some fun exciting swimming.  The Mako swim team was well represented with 54 swimmers representing all of our groups in the meet.  Our swimmers swam exceptionally well achieving many personal best throughout the meet.  We had a few swimmers who experienced rough weekends, some for the very first time, but we are so proud of the way you handled the situation.  You all did not let a bad swim keep you down, you responded each time by stepping onto that starting back and going after it time 
after time.  In this sport as in any other it is a lesson that has to be learned and all of you responded in a way that you can hold your heads high and be proud of your accomplishments.  The true mark of a good athlete are not the wins, but how they respond to the challenge after being knocked down.

It’s hard to see now but it is a lesson that will help you all through your lives.

As coaches we too struggle with every stroke you take when you are having a bad race, but at the same time we know that from time to time it’s a struggle we know you have to go through from time to time.  From this struggle we know you will emerge on the other side a stronger swimmer and more importantly a better person.  We get it the work and sacrifices are, well, hard.  To have gone through all of that and now you are faced with disappointment and self doubt and faced 
with moments where your efforts in the races feel unrewarded.  But it is exactly at these times where instead of hiding behind self imposed excuses, you open yourselves up to the struggles, and disappointments and surge forward.  We have talked all year about mental toughness, and how you have to find a way too move on from both the good swims and the disappointing swims that occur. I am so proud with all of you as you worked through this past weekend.

Mako Top 16 finishers were;

Emily Radcliffe 50 free (5th), 100 free (12th), 50 back (4th), 100 back (10th), 50 fly (10th), and 100 IM (13th). 

Rebecca Prunty 50 fly (12th), and 100 fly (11th)

Sadie Buckley 100 free (16th), 50 back (9th), 100 back (11th) and 100 IM (12th)

Riley Miller 50 back (16th), and 50 fly (12th)

Katherine Helms 50 free (4th), 100 and 200 free (3rd), 500 free (1st), 400 IM (would have been 10th but scratched final)

Sophia Cloutier 100 back (16)

Kendall Vess 100 fly (18th)

Adrian Coray 50 free (10th), 100 free (13th), 200 free (6th), 50 back (5th), 100 back (9th), 200 back (11th)

Blake Madsen 50 back(8th), 50 breast (8th), 200 IM (8th), 100 breast (10), 50 fly (11th), 100 IM (8th)

Ben Farello 50 Back (8th), 50 fly (5th), 100 fly (17), 100 IM (10th)

Brady Dasher 50 free (4th), 100 free (9th)

Ethan Birkholz 50 free (11th), 100 free (9th)

Jack Renner 200 breast (20th)

We want to thank all of the Mako relay swimmers who showed up and did an outstanding job.  A special shout out to the kids who came back and swam the Mix Gender Relays at night.  We hope it provided all of you with a different perspective and you had some fun with them.  Many of our lead off swimmers took advantage of their positions and posted personal best times in the relays.  Many of the relays had best times and placed in the top 10 during the meet.

Congratulations to all of our Mako JO qualifiers on a successful meet.

IT’s TIME

Time for what you may ask your coach.  If you need to ask than maybe you and I have a small communication problem and you have not been paying attention over the last few weeks.  It’s time to grab those caps and goggles, prepare your senses for that glorious smell of chlorine over the next few days, put away all of your demons in a box, get ready to race and have fun.  All of your other races have been little checkpoints along the way, it is now time to have fun, put the 
pedal to the medal and see where we will end up.

 Up to now your job in practice has been to prepare to be the best that you could be in order to go out at this moment in time and be the best that you can be at this
 moment and with the understanding that your best may not be good enough every time.  That does not mean your a failure or that you should stop putting 
your best effort out there every time you step onto that block.  Don’t forget to approach these next 2 weekends with a little attitude and make it a positive one because attitude is a little thing that will make a big difference and with a little attitude the possibilities are endless.  That is all you can ask of yourself.

A lot of your races are like the game Win, Lose. or Draw and that is you may win, 
you may lose or it mind end in a draw, but you have to choose to swim the race. 

 The senior prep group was asked to write down all the things that worry them at a swim meet on a index card yesterday after practice (Junior Gold/Blue will do it today) and place them in our demon box. Now you can relax because all of your demons are locked in a box and now you can let your coaches shoulder those 
worries for you.  All you need to do is Race!  No matter how you feel, “you are far tougher than you give yourself credit for.  Although you may feel like your body doesn’t want to perform, you’d be surprised at what you are capable of.” 
 What to do if you get overly excited, first thing is slow down kiddo, don’t forget our fall back slow down and breathe, “Right Foot, Left Foot, Breathe, keep it simple don’t over think it.

You should have your race day routine down by now.  Don't overthink this.  As 
coaches we have prepared your set warmup that you have been doing at practice for the last two weeks so you should be comfortable doing this on your own.  The coaches are there to help if needed, but our job is to keep you relaxed and not to be traffic cops.  As we discussed you may need to be somewhat aggressive (but 
be nice and polite) during warmup to get what you need to do done.

RACE DAY CHECKLIST

• Meals you are going to eat
• Time you go too bed
• Time you wake up
• Equipment checklist
• Warmup and warm down routines
• 
  
• Stretching 
• When you head over to blocks

Don’t forget that second warmup about 20 minutes before you swim to get those 
juices flowing again, get the heart pumping and then flip that “ON” switch!

For our parents out there, I would remind you that regardless of your swimmers 
results, remember that they are “physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted” so try to make that car ride home as enjoyable as possible. This comes from a parent who not only had twin girls that swim, but also had the unique opportunity to coach them until the age of 15.  With that said if I as a paren/coach could put 
the races behind us I know you all will do a great job.  Three keys to having a successful ride home;

1.  Let the child drive the conversation, let them lead
2.  Don’t force the conversation.  Remember they just finished a long day on the deck and are physically mentally and emotionally drained.  
3.  Always let them know you love them and are proud of them no matter the outcome of their races."

Let them come to terms with their performance and results from their races on 
their own.

DO IT FOR YOURSELF.

As we continue our preparation for your championship meet everything we do and talk about is to try and put you in the best position to succeed both physically and mentally.

The discussion that follows is all about how you approach this time of year, the goals you have and the results that you come out with.  That first question that I have for all of you is, How many of you tell yourself, “This is the championship meet, the biggest meet of the year.” The pressure starts to build, you have never swam in a more meaningful meet.  By the time your race arrives you feel an overwhelming pressure to swim a personal best, win a race or heat, to make finals.  A lot of unnecessary worrying and stress that will not help you as you step onto the block.

Throughout the meet you just seem like you can’t get into the flow, bad warmups, people in your head just an overall bad vibe running through your bones.

Why do we do this to ourselves at this time of the season.  I fully believe that besides all the garbage that we fill our heads with, we get wrapped up into that old saying of this being a championship event.

The first thing that we do to ourselves is that because of the meet name we try harder to have that perfect swim.  We change our mental approach to the event and this can affect our performance.  How I would like to see you approach this season, is to use the same approach as with any other meet.  That is it’s a meet like so many others that I have competed and race in.  Trust not only yourself but also your coaches and parents, and believe that you have put in the countless time and effort to get to this
moment.

Of course you will feel some degree of pressure, that’s normal but you have swam all season to get to this point, and when you feel like you’ve been there before you feel less pressure.  Now you can focus on the best part of swimming and we all know what that is from the time we first jumped into a pool an that’s WANNA RACE?

A lot of times when these big meets arrive the tendency is to shift from the process and more towards the outcomes.  The process if being with your friends and the little conversations, cheering for each other, the up beat atmosphere.  Focusing during your warmups and warm downs, techniques and above all the plan you have prepared well in advance.  In contrast outcome focus involves focusing on possible winning or losing, best times or adding times, who you might beat or lose to.  Let’s not kid ourselves this kind of focus is like the kiss of death.

Ask yourself this, When does the outcome occur in a swimming race?  It happens when that hand touches the pad and the clock 🕟stops, PERIOD!  But wait a minute what about the process that involves getting that hand to the wall.  the warmup, the warm downs, the start, the streamline, the underwater dolphins, that first turn, the breathing, in other words your plan.If you work through that process and enjoy that time, you’re in a better position to achieve the results your looking for.  Stick to your plan.

The only thing you should be focusing is yourself and the progress you’re making as a swimmer.  Everyone will always have ups and downs and they will come at different times, but the key is that you are headed in the right direction.

Being a Dallas Cowboy fan I will always remember from the 1972 Super Bowl when Duane Thomas the running back for the Cowboys was asked, “What was it like to play in the Super Bowl?  Without skipping a beat Thomas said; If it’s so Super, why are they playing it again next year.  The metaphor is that this will not be your last meet, there will be others.

In finishing swim these races not for your coaches, parents or even your team.  Swim these races for that little girl/boy👧👦 that is still inside of each of you and jumped into that first pool many summers ago to have fun and may have asked that age old question, “ Do you wanna race?"🏊
Swim these races for yourself and have fun.

Dr Seuss Green Eggs And Ham

So do you realize that today is Dr. Seuss's birthday?  Do you have a favorite story from your childhood which was not too long ago.  As for mine it has always been "GREEN EGGS AND HAM" which I just finished reading again this morning after practice.  In case you don't have it I left a short clip below for your enjoyment on this gloomy Saturday .




I know what you may be thinking, Coach Mike has finally lost his mind, here we are preparing for Championship season, and our coach is talking about green eggs and ham.  How in the world is that relevant to swimming.   We are in serious trouble now.  

All I ask is maybe you should take a few minutes and now that your a little older read it with an open mind.  Pretty much like a coach may start practice with a simple question, Sam starts out with the simple question of "Do you like green eggs and ham?  As you might in swimming immediately respond with "I can't do 20x25 without a breath!  You and the GRINCH must share the same brain because his immediate response to Sam is I don't like Green eggs and Ham.  Over the course of the story Sam tries to get the Grinch to try the eggs anywhere, but the more Sam pushes the more adamant the Grinch becomes with his disdain for the dish.

How many times in life or for our purposes have you been presented with an idea, whether it be an adjustment to your stroke, a new way to attack your walls,  or some other challenge during a set, and you immediately dismiss it without even trying it out.  How many times have you dismissed it, because it may be hard and take a lot of effort on your part.  You might dismiss it because of fear of failure, but the true failure might be in not trying.

So in closing this was the true meaning in the story as I read it.
"You do not like them so you say?  Try them!  Try them and you may!!  Try them and you may, I say!"

ALL POSITIVE

TAPERING and MORE

It’s that time of year as we are starting to get a lot of questions about like “Are we starting our taper yet?”  At our level I always find it a bit amusing when asked that.  First off it comes from  the mouth of an athlete all 90 pounds (if that) with little or no muscle on their bodies, and even though it’s amusing, I also know it is mentally important to all athletes.  So let’s dive into this topic a little bit.

First off  “tapering refers to the practice of reducing exercise in the days just before an important competition. In swimming the yardage has logged and standing before us is that two week period where you start to feel a little anxious and excited for what could be.  During this time it is important for you, the athlete to channel that anxiety and excitement in positive ways.  

The first way to do that is to make sure you are doing all the lonely things that a swimmer needs to do to place themselves in a good position to be successful.  What do I mean by the lonely things ?  It’s the things that you do away from the pool when your all alone, such as your nutritional meals, staying hydrated, getting extra rest (stay away from sleep overs).  

Regardless of the sport most championships take place over several days and swimming is no different.  Don’t think that because you only have one race that you will be fine.  Just being in that environment can be draining with all the warmup and warm downs, the races themselves and maybe relays, maybe finals. It is important that you spend the next couple of weeks catching up with schoolwork if you need to, maybe even getting ahead as much as you can so when the meet arrives you can get the rest you need away from the pool without the stress of school.

Your coaches will take care of you around the pool, but it is important to really focus in on the little things as you work through your sets.  These would include streamlines, underwater dolphins, fast feet to wall, deep arm no breath, all the things that will help get us to that GREAT SWIM.

For our purposes her is what I believe to be the essence of what most of your taper will involve and look like.

You see first off most of you only swim 3 to 4 days a week and your daily yardage ranges from 3200 to 5000 yards a day.  The amount of yardage is determined by what the focus of the day is.  Lots of freestyle will drive the number higher, where lots of kick will drive that number lower.  Stroke work and drills will drive that number lower and fin work will drive it higher, so as you see there are quite a few variables that dictate that number

That being said now we look at your bodies, not a lot of muscles on those bodies, so no need for a lot of recovery.  If and this is probably a big ask from some of you😎, but if you have been paying attention to our pattern of sets, they have become stroke oriented with quality and speed.  So what else can you do during this time to put yourself in the best position for success.

Along with what we just discussed one of the most important things that you can do is prepare mentally by always thinking positively and getting rid of all the garbage between your ears. We have talked before about how just doing something simple as making a word switch from negative to positive will change your confidence level immediately.  How many of you come into practice and the first thing out of your mouth is I'm tired and by saying that what kind of confidence are you going to start that practice or meet off with.  By saying that is it going to make you feel any better, I doubt it. Focus on positive thoughts and all those little things about your swimming at practice and you will find yourself in a better place.

It might even be good mentally to unplug from technology a little during this time, and no I'm not talking about information that is good, but from all the garbage and fake stuff we fill our heads with.  Come in fresh and with a clear mind.

And as we have said really try to enjoy your swimming over the next few weeks.