“WIN”. What’s Important Now

Hope everyone had a great spring break and enjoyed the time away from school and the pool.  We now have two short weeks left of swimming in a short course pool, as the pool will be switched over to the long course format the first Friday in May. We will spend these next two weeks going back and looking at our foundations in your swimming, and try to repair any cracks that show up in that foundation.  Everything in your life including friendships, family, houses, and yes, swimming are built on a strong foundation.  To have that strong foundation a lot of attention needs to focus on details.  The next two weeks details are what our practices will center around. With every new phase of our swimming season it’s a chance to take stock and recommit to building a solid foundation that will carry us to our goals.  With this there will always be new challenges to meet head on as we try to move past the past season. As we look back on our short course season ask yourself this question,

Our journey for the 2018-2019 short course season concluded as the last relays touched the wall this past weekend in Saint Petersburg Florida at the TYR Elite Classic.  As you head out for spring break for a much needed break from school and swimming it is also a good time to reflect on both your success and your shortcomings as I will also be doing from a coaches perspective. It’s a time where you close the book on the past season, all the characters have been identified and the storyline has been revealed.  Maybe the story ended up with a happy ending and maybe not.  Either way another book will be written alas with a new storeline, or are you going to allow the storyline to be the same.  If there is a particular way you want the story to end then you need to become the author and take ownership of your own story.  We, the coaches are like editors who provide the criticism, and yes this can be both positive and negative but either way it should be viewed as constructive criti

The Mako swimmers wrapped up their four days of competition in Saint Petersburg last evening with several of our swimmers donning their suits, caps and goggles for one last race in the pool.  The atmosphere was charged as the music played on while the kids were racing in the longer events. For our swimmers it would be one more warmup to get through before the races.  Feeling the fatigue that was now setting in, we took a different approach this evening, and kept the kids in the pool until a few heats before theirs was to take to the blocks.  All the Mako swimmers responded well to this approach with a great effort in the pool posting some best times along the way. Mako finalists were Blake 50 fly (2nd) and 10 minutes late taking another 2nd in 100 breast.  Blake would finish as the runner up for his age group in points.  In the 13-14 50 fly Kendall and Sophia Cloutier would be seeded in lanes 1and 2 respectively.  Both girls got out fast and arrived at the turn wall simultaneousl

Day number 4 in Saint Petersburg started off a little cooler than it’s been so warmups were a little chiller than the previous mornings, but after the initial shock the kids got to work and got through in grand fashion.  We even managed to get Brady out of the pool and brought him back for a team chat and watch the sun rise. Waiting out the 400 IM. Great event wish we had some of you in it  Will the sun rise today for the Mako swimmers YES IT DID AND YES WE CAN! This mornings sessions turned out to be very successful for our Mako swimmers  with many best  times  posted  by our swimmers.  We had quite a few of the swimmers race and win their heat along with a few placing second. Swimming their way into finals for tonight’s final session are, Blake (50 fly, and 100 breast),Kendall and  (50 fly and 100 breast), Sophia (50 fly), Brady (50 fly), Emerson (100 breast), and Katherine (200 free). Since finals move up an hour could not elaborate much more but wi

 Day three of the meet would start with another early wake up call for the swimmers.  After grabbing breakfast in the lobby we would all hop in our chariots for the short ride to the aquatic center, and another early morning swim.  Best line was from Brady who informed me that the reason he can’t stay on the right side of the lane was because it’s dark outside. Brady think about itttt!  Sorry Catherine just push him to the side of the lane. After our early morning swim we headed to the back deck to do some stretching.  Minor problem occurred when Brady disappeared again only to cause great stress for Ethan. Now I’ll have you know that the rumor going around was that Brady was still in the pool warming up with Fish because of a certain girl.  We quickly put that rumor to rest after locating Brady. Adrian working the tables with the group.  Always looking for a photo opportunity are these three. The girls holding court. This mornings session began under a cloudl

The alarms sounded and it was off for a quick breakfast and an early ride to the pool for our morning warmup.  Today’s warmup went much better than the previous days.  Yes we know it was early but we were able to spread out into 4 lanes and get some easy stretch out swimming in before the hordes of other swimmers arrived.  In fact it work out so well that we made an executive decision and will arrive early the next two days also.  Yes my lovelies that means we will be in the pool by 6:30, and by the time we are finished you may head over to the back for some light stretching and enjoy the sunrise over the bay.  This is what we mean by doing things that will help us be successful and swim fast in our races.  Get a good night sleep everyone. Unlike yesterday this morning both courses would start off with the 100 IM for our 10 and unders and the 200 IM for everyone else.  Sadie started off the morning gaining valuable experience in the 100 IM, and swimming herself right into finals

The MAKO swimmers began their meet this morning at the North Shore Aquatic in Saint Petersburg Florida.   Arriving at the pool early the swimmers immediately got into the pool to begin their meet warmups.  As they worked through the warmup they were treated to a gorgeous sunrise over the bay. Upon finishing warmups the kids took care of any last minute items and the meet began pretty much on time.  The meet was swam on two 8 lane courses.  The 10 and under and the 11 and 12 year old girls along with the 13-14 boys swam on the course named as the locker room course.  The 10 and under boys, the 11-12 year old boys and the 13-14 year old girls swam in the bay side course. Sadie Buckley was the first Mako to swim and after figuring out we were not going to mess with the stroke count jumped in and finished pretty much on her JO time with a great turn.  Next up was Emily Radcliffe who had two really good walls and finished right around her best time. Over in the other course Adrian Co

A while back we talked about how we needed to move our races from Good to Best and finally having that Great race.  What we have staring right at us is our last short course meet of the year in a unique outdoor setting.  This is the time to leave all those previous races behind, you have a new mountain to conquer. All of you have worked really hard this season to get yourselves to this meet and now there is nothing else to do.  Is there room for one more meet, one more week filled with GREAT races?  Yes there is if you can hold on!!! It will take all of us working together to get us to that GREAT race.  Support each other throughout this week of racing and most importantly if you notice a teammate struggling, reach out with just one word of encouragement.  It may be just what they need to get them to the top of that mountain.  One of the easiest things you can do is cheer for them behind their lanes.  Think of yourself when you are on the blocks only to see your teammates at the e

SEE YOU AT THE MEET Thursday 4/4/19 Warm up 4x100 free@1:40 1x100 IM@2:00 3x100 free@1:30 1x100 IM @2:00 2x100 Free@1:20 1x100 IM@2:00 Pre set 3x 4x50 stroke @1:10 #1 drill #2 kick #3 build to fast turn #4 fast race put it together Main set 6x 3x50 free fast @45 fast feet on turns deep arm no breath 1x50 easy back @1:15 3x25 fast stroke @30 1x25 easy back @1:00 Warm down 200 easy 3800 yards SATURDAY 4/6/19 Warm up 200 free quiet/ 200 pull buoys/200 kick 200 back quiet/ 200 pull/200 kick no boards Pre set 4x 2x25 fast kick @30 boards 1x50 kick easy on back @1:00 Main set 3x 4x50 build to fast turn@1:10 4x25 @40 odds fast breakouts to 15 meters evens build to fast finish 4x25 @50 fast RACE PUT IT TOGETHER 1x100 easy free @2:00 Round 1 stroke. Round 2 choice no free. Round 3 free Warm down 200 3300 yards