BEING GOOD

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 and reflecting on what a lot of you had to say about your races I came away with four areas that you had trouble with that little man between your ears and leaving you with this “What just happened.”  The four areas were,

1. Bad start off block
2. Missing a turn
3. Staying challenged during the race
4. Being tired at the end of a race

Maybe this sounds all too familiar with some of you, but not to worry especially if you have been filling your buckets with tools that will help you plug those leaks and that is all they are, leaks that can be filled.  As we have been talking about all season it goes back to that positive mindset that will set you up mentally as you prepare to race.  It’s as as important as anything else you do with your swimming or in life.

How can you use your tool kit to help you in the four areas above.  The start, as we talked about in practice we n to be ready to explode and be ahead or even with everyone else off the blocks and really unless it’s a 50 you basically have to tell yourself that you can get back into it, and let’s go.  Pretty simple stuff don’t overthink it and stay positive.

What about missing a turn, first think is go to your tool box and don’t panic.  The longer the race the more turns you will encounter and you may miss one and slow your 
momentum.  Again you cannot go negative at this point, don’t let it bother you.  Keep going and keep pushing.

What if your challenged during one of your races, after all it is an athletic event and if the challenge was not there what fun would it be.  Again this is the time your positive side should kick in with thoughts of “ I’ve got this in me” or “Come on I’m better than this” “It’s go time” and now it’s up to you to stay in the fight.

All swimmers tire near the end of a race.  It’s the point where your legs start to burn and the arms get heavy.  You have reached the wall where physical exhaustion is starting to creep in, but no panic you have this under control with your positive mindset with this one thought, Don’t give up, I can overcome this feeling.  No matter what athletic event I found myself, it always seemed that the more tired I got and the more pain I encountered the better I was. 


Always give your best effort, or you will never know, what might have been.  Let yourself be good through the next two weekends.  Don’t overthink the situation you find yourself in.  “Keep it simple and you can see if it works, make it complicated and if it doesn’t work you have no idea why not.”