“WIN”. What’s Important Now

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