MANAGING EXPECTATIONS

 As we approach our first meet this weekend it might be a good time to talk about expectations.  What are yours?  What are mine?  Are they similar, probably not so let’s dive into them.

When you go into a meet is it "beneficial to expect for you to achieve a specific outcome or to let go of expectations altogether."  Quite a dilemma young athletes are faced with especially swimmers because we all look at that stopwatch to measure our success or failure.  Don't get me wrong either, a personal best is important and it's an awesome feeling when you see that time posted.

Are your expectations a personal record, win your heat, win the event or maybe just survive the event.  Whatever it is I know it's important to you but I am going to dispense some of my advice from my meandering experiences from coaching.  The important question to ask and worth trying to figure out is how to manage expectations and handle the results positive or negative because that will ultimately impact how you swim in the present and allow you to move forward in workout and prepare for that next race.

When you start thinking about the expectations that you set there are some things to consider such as;

•  type of meet (is it  a training meet or championship meet
• time of year (are we just getting back into swimming shape/ is this meet in the middle of a heavy training cycle)
• your training. (have you made all of your workouts/. are you doing things RIGHT in workouts.
• events you've entered

You cannot have expectations without considering all of the above.  As a athlete you definitely should expect to do well, the more confident you are in yourself and your abilities the better you can perform in your races.  However I also believe that if you make the moment bigger than it is you now enter into a "DO or DIE" moment t and this is not where you want to be when you race.  Regardless of the outcome when you don't meet your expectations you walk away with this, "I have failed". I had a conversation about this with a swimmer in the Prep group this weekend.  We talked about this swimmer and the race in Divisionals where she had a "melt down" when she did not meet her expectations or didn't get what she deserved.   She was so blinded by that expectation that she couldn't see that she actually had a great swim, that last swim at a championship meet where she had a personal best.

Everyone has a bad day now and then.  Even the very best swimmers can have an off day if they get caught up in negative thoughts and anxiety 😟.  Every once in a while it will even happen too me and it's not because of you all it's just I need a break.  Sit down ask your parents if it has ever happen to them, they may call it a "Mental Health Day".  Swimming like all sports is 90% mental and assuming you've done the work 10% physical.  Learn to master your mind, it could mean the difference between success and failure.  It's all part of life.

Maybe you'll have a great start, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have a great turn, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have a personal best and maybe you won't.  Before any of these good things happen, YOU need  to visualize yourself accomplishing them.  Take 5 minutes every few days and use those journals you have and write a few thoughts or emotions.  It just might surprise you to see things written down where you can visit them once in a while.

Now what's really important to "YOU".  Should I have expectations or not coach?  The simple answer is yes.  Here is a quote that I have come to embrace as a coach, " Having an expectation for a result is meaningless.  It can only work against you."  We have always talked about controlling the things that you can control, guess what you can't control that stop watch, but you can only control YOUR effort.  You can't do any more than YOUR best effort, expecting anything greater or less is pointless.  You should aim for a specific result every time out , YOUR BEST EFFORT.   I expect your BEST EFFORT every time out regardless of the results, that's all I am asking.  That's all you can ask of YOURSELF!

Have a great week at school.  Stay on top of your assignments and don't put off that homework.  

See you at workouts.

SENIOR PREP AND JUNIOR GOLD CHALLENGE COINS

This week we started handing out our group challenge coin.  What are these challenge coin and why are you getting them.  First off they are a way to award accomplishments and a commitment to our group and excellence.  

 

They offer a story for this swim season, a group that you identify with and train with to achieve whatever goals you have.  They will remind us that we are in this together and that if we work hard  and pull for each other there is nothing that we can’t achieve.  It will remind us that we are doing something that we enjoy.

I decided to hand these out individually as we work through the season.  I have given three out so far that have all been based on practice and the effort and sportsmanship that I see displayed.  Once you have one realized that I now am going to hold you to that standard that you displayed.  Don’t make me ask for it back.  

Unlike tee shirts you will never out grow them so treasure them and understand the commitment you have made to yourself and the group.

PACING 200 FREE

 We had good week and got a lot of things accomplished last week.  We ended the week on Friday with a set that looked like this;  3 rounds of the following; 4x50 2x100 free,1x200free.  As we talked about our first meet is 2 weeks out and it's time that we start working on some race strategies.  Your 50's don't need a lot of strategies because it's all about "TAKE YOUR MARK, BEEP" and you go and get your fingers to the pad first. Simple right?  It is with the right attitude.

These are the things to write in your journals.  Here is the wrap up from that little set, figure out your pace during the 200.  The first 50 is the hardest one to figure out because you can't go out to fast and at the same time you can't go out too slow.  So, coach what do I do? We will focus on it during practice and work through it together.

Now for all of you who enjoy Math and working with formulas here is one for you.

As we talked about it let your start (you need a great one) carry you through that first 50 as you find that easy speed.  Fast explosive turns are vital as you go into that next leg of the race.  The other thing we emphasized was you need to figure out your breathing pattern, the longer your event the more oxygen and blood you need to get to your muscles so they will be there when you need them.  It may hurt a little but if you get the air you need, you will live to race another day.

I would like to remind you this is for your 200 free.  The 200 back, breast, and fly are entirely different events and we will go through each of them over the next few weeks.

So, did you have a favorite set from last week?  Now that I have had a chance to see all of you in the water I have our routine for warmup set and here is my favorite warmup set from Thursday.

400 swim kick mixer (100 free/100 kick brd/ 100 back/ 100 back kick)

4x100 free @1:50 WHITE/1:40 PINK/1:30 PINK/1:20 RED. 

4x50 @1:00 IMO WHITE /FREE RED

We had some teammates suffer through that awful feeling of the dreaded calf cramp this past week.  We all know that feeling when the muscle tightens up and there is that instant pain and feeling that your leg is going to fall up.  Word of advice, DON'T PANIC, take a deep breath, find a wall or lane line and stop swimming. It will go away and you will be perfectly fine and will be able to continue on.   Begin to massage the muscle immediately to loosen the muscle.  Don't just sit there, solve the issue.  There is a "U" in swimming.  After you massage the cramp find a wall and press your hands against the wall until you feel your calf muscles stretch.  Hold for 3 seconds, stand up straight and repeat about 5 times.  How can you try and prevent these muscle spasms?  Most importantly stay hydrated.  This is hard for swimmers because they don't feel themselves sweating in the water.  Drink before you feel thirsty.  Another way is to make sure your eating enough food with these nutrients: potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium.  They are called electrolytes.  Ever heard of bananas?  Under that yellow peel you will find 3 of these nutrients ready to enter your body and help with those cramps.  Word of caution Lyla stay away from the rotten ones.

The Hall of Fame Pool opened back up this past week in Ft. Lauderdale after a long renovation.  Our girls and us visited this pool and swam in it years ago when they were your ages.  I am hoping to get down there this fall check it out and do a little swimming in it.  I'll try some of your workouts minus the fly and breaststroke because I don't have any races to worry about in the future., so don't ask.

Here are some interesting facts about the new facility.

WEST POOL  built in 2022

50 meters (10 lanes) x 25 yards (20 lanes)

DEPTH-  6.5 10 feet

976,340 gallons

EAST POOL built in 1991

50 meters (10 lanes) x25 yards (20 lanes)

DEPRTH 4-12.5 feet

749,348 gallons

DIVE WELL

25 meters x 25 yards

8 25 meter lanes

926,578 gallons

SPRING BOARDS- 1 meter(-2). 3 meter (3)

PLATFORMS 1 meter, 3 meter, 5 meter, 7.5 meter, 10 meter, 20 meter, 24 meter, and 27 meter\

And to think back you thought our 3 meter board was too high.

Let's have a good week. Keep up sigh your school work.  Stay focus during workouts.

WEEK AHEAD

Hey kiddos we had a good start to the season last week so lets focus and continue that effort into our second full week of workouts.  My favorite kick set from last week;

• 4x25 kick build boards
• 4x50 back kick focus keep hips up tight core throw water off toes (bad habit using arms off walls. should only use arms flags into turns)
• 4x25 kick BLAST PURPLE no boards
• 100 back swim (focus good rotation minimum 3 good underwater dolphins off turns)

This will be one of our staple kick sets throughout our journey.  We spent a lot of time with our long axis drills (right and left hand lead) in a attempt to engage your hips and get you to think about swimming taller which can be a difficult concept for sprinters.  Notice how we are on our sides, nose down, top arm relaxed on side and out of water.  We are looking for "Good Body Position".  This week we will continue our work with our long axis drills (free and back), our turns (fast feet to wall) and get into our one of our short axis stroke (breast).  We will start using our in line boards with breaststroke while we work on our body position and kicking.  

This week again our main focus is focusing on body awareness and body position, holding those streamlines as tight as we can to reduce drag and increase our efficiency. Have you written down the word that best describes you and the major thing you would like to accomplish by May.  

• A number of years ago I attended a coaches conference at the Olympic training facility and one of our sessions was “What are the motivating factors for an age group swimmer”.   Often it is recognized that 12 and under’s are considered as age group swimmers when really USA swimming considers 14 and under’s age group swimmers.  The coaches all threw out what they assumed a young swimmer considered to be the fun side of swimming.  A study of swimmers came up with an entirely different look to this issue.  Here is a list of the top 10 things the swimmers said when they were talking of fun;
• Being with friends
• Winning races
• Varied workouts 
• Being know as a good swimmer
• Trying to improve my times/  Being on a team
• Cheering for each other
• Relays
• Compliments and encouragement from the coach
• Getting in shape
• Feeling of accomplishment 

Take a look at these.  Did any of yours make the list?  Just for fun rank these 10 in order of importance to each of you.  Next add any of yours to the list in ranking order.  Good thing to put in your journals so we can discuss them.

Let's have a good week in the classroom and in the pool.  If things don't go as planned today get a good night sleep and do better tomorrow.

NOTE to PARENTS

 We’re back in the water and our first few workouts went really well.  All of your kids were awesome as we worked through what we were trying to get accomplished with the first few workouts.  Parents if you were upstairs watching did you ever ask yourself this, what exactly is going on and what are they trying to accomplish.  

Believe it or not sometimes it will look like chaos but it is an organized chaos with a lot of working parts.  Sometimes it may look like the swimmers are just swimming back and forth along that black line but your children are given sets and what we are focusing on during the sets.  Talk to your swimmers about this because this is key to becoming a better swimmer and seeing good results at meets.

All coaches incorporate drills within the sets given to the swimmers.  The sets will include any number of repeats designed to create muscle memory so that at a meet all your swimmer needs to do is race.  Over the years this is one area that I see a lot of younger swimmers struggle with because to them it's all about speed and being first.  They believe that swimming like that will produce the results that they hope to achieve. Often this is true in the younger age group but you really start to see the deficiencies between swimmers around 12 continuing in their later years.  Some of this gap that you see between swimmers from 12 and up is due to the growth between individual swimmers, the number of workouts they choose to do but I believe that if you have great technique and work on the little things during workouts and develop some endurance before you hit your growth spurt you can remain competitive and good through high school.

So parents next time you ask your swimmer how was practice and you get the typical okay, ask them for just one of our goals in a set was and if they can answer this they had a good workout and were focused.

If at any time during the year you have questions please feel free to reach out.  Good days for the Prep group are any Tuesday or Thursday after practice.  Gold group Friday is best as there are no workouts when we are done.  Junior Blue any Monday or Wednesday is good at the end of workout.  For myself phone or in person is good as we don't have to go back and forth.

coach mike

BACK TO WORKOUTS

 Welcome back.  Take a deep breath as that first day can make some of you a little anxious, but no worries.  Your teammates and coaches have you.  It's true that all of you have been around a pool and know what to expect, but the new season will see groups with new faces as we welcome new members to our team and see old veterans switching groups.  Needless to say this first week will have many moving parts and will be very fluid.

So how can you best be prepared as you show up on the pool deck for that first practice, first be on time and ready to go.  It's already been said that if practice starts at 5 that means we are ready to go and not putting on our caps and goggles or looking for our equipment.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.  I think a lot of swimmers lose sight of how important it is to stay hydrated during workout after all you are surrounded by water.  The problem is that swimmers like all athletes sweat and yes that occurs even in the pool you just don't feel it.  So people stay hydrated at all times.

Can you read decipher through a posted workout, let's review some simple terms that you may see throughout our journeys. READY SET GO! 

THINGS YOU MAY NOTICE ON THE WORKOUTS.

• ON TOP- leaving at top of pace clock
• ON BOTTOM- leaving at bottom of pace clock
• SANDBAGGING- swimmers goes easy on hard set but sprints last one or swimmer skips repeats only to run everyone down on last couple ones.
• 5/10 - leaving 5 or 10 sec odds apart not on top of each other.

• DK-dolphin kick
• DESCENDING- each repeat requires more effort from you.
• DEEP ARM NO BREATH- depart off turns no breath first stroke.
• IM- individual medley
• RIMO- reverse IM order
• IM 50 stroke. IM taking out free and putting in  50 of your best stroke
• K- kick
• BRD- boards
• NB- kick no boards
• P- pull only no kicking
• LIFO- last in first out

Do you know our color wheel if you happen to see a color next to a set?  Let's look at it;

WHITE= 60-70% SMOOTH CASUAL MOST OF OUR WARMUPS AND COOL DOWNS

PINK= 60-70% HARD EFFORT YOUR 2ND GEAR

RED= 70-80% FAST PACE YOUR 3RD GEAR

BLUE= 80-90% SPRINTS MAX SPEED 4TH GEAR

PURPLE= 100% PACE PACE WE ARE MOVING DURING THIS 5TH GERAR

Don't forget for the first leg of our journey we will be building our base starting with our leg.  we are going to also work on 2 go to drills for our technique.  These should be drills that you can always fall back on in those anxious stressful times.  If you have some favorite drills c moment and let use know so we can incorporate them.

SEE YOU ALL SOON.

OUR JOURNEY BEGINS

 

Our journey into this brand new season starts in 4 days. Have you sat down and envisioned how you would like it to end in late April. It all starts with a good attitude that first practice. This journey will be like a roller coaster ride with all the highs and lows and the key to having a successful journey is to stay balanced.  By all means celebrate your highs but don’t get too high because the lows are going to smack you in the face at any moment. Just like the highs don’t dwell too long on the lows, understand that it happens and move on to the next race, the next workout, or the next day. Let’s challenge ourselves to navigate those peaks and valleys in a healthy and productive way so that you can reap the rewards of your hard work and sacrifices. Every experience regardless of the outcome has value and it will be up to you to find that value, learn from it and move on to our next destination. What you do in practice TODAY will show up in a week, a month, six months, a year in a swim meet.  Sometimes swimmers need to learn that "things take time" to develop.

We will also have to find balance in our lives. We talk a lot about our core and balance to make us better swimmers but you need to find that balance in your daily lives which will also make us a better person, teammates and in the end a better swimmer. Some things that you need to be able to balance are first and foremost family time followed by school work. This is a great sport and your parents and maybe your entire family will make sacrifices that allow you to participate   Thank them often and never take it for granted. As for you school work please stay on top of it, turn your assignments in on time   Don’t put off until tomorrow what can be accomplished today. Remember you are a student and then a athlete. Make sure you are getting your proper rest and your eating healthy and don’t forget to hydrate. 

As you make your way on this journey remember that sportsmanship is important both in success and maybe even a little more in defeat. This all starts in workout and how you interact and treat your teammates. From an early age when you congratulate someone look them in the 👀 and be sincere about it. It really bothers me as a coach to see youths do the old brush off move and storm off. You will be treated the way you treat others. Here is a question I would like you to answer, have you ever thanked a timer for getting you your time?  

Show a little passion and courage during your travels this year. Challenge yourself to new events at those non championship meets especially early in the year. We all know if it was up to you that you would swim your best events in that first meet. Bad move. If you are looking for a best time in those events before your in shape you may be sorely disappointed especially for older swimmers, young age groupers can get away with this sometimes as they are still growing.

We are all human and we make mistakes along the way but the true mistakes are the ones we don’t learn from and try to correct. A good example of this is that you know how important it is to do fast turns and Dolphins off the walls but if you refuse to do them or do them only when you want to, Who are you really hurting at each of those walls?  When do you think those mistakes are going to smack you in the face?  Probably at a meet.  Swimmers who are smart and focused during workout are fast 🏊‍♀️ .  Be your HERO during workout. Look inside of yourself this season and remember this, "the easy road travel is not necessarily the best one to get you to your final destination.

In closing this one out I want you to take a moment this Labor Day weekend and appreciate the opportunity that you have to take this journey with us.  Appreciate your teammate, "your workout buddies" for they are the ones who are in the pool grinding it out with you set after set.  They will suffer the same highs and lows, they will be the ones celebrating with you and they will be the ones with you during the lows when you need that moment of encouragement to swim on. Don't fail each other in that moment.  In about 20 years you won't remember your time in that 400 IM (oh and we will swim the 400IM) when you set the world on fire but you will remember your teammates that were cheering for you with every stroke of the race.  It takes hard work to be a good teammate but the lessons you learn will serve you for a lifetime.

Have a Great Holiday Weekend!

Leave a comment if you wish. Maybe some workouts you like to see first few weeks.  Remember drilling and kicking