“WIN”. What’s Important Now

 It has always amazed me to watch swimmers come in 5,10, or 15 minutes before practice flop down with their phones and do nothing that will help them have a good workout. If you take care of the front end of your practice, the rest of the workout will pretty much take care of itself.  Win your workout.  Elevate your swimming. I am sure a lot of you think that if practice starts at 5:00 am or 5:00 pm there is no harm just sitting around and just waiting until a minute before to start getting ready.  Tells coaches that you clearly are not focus on practice.  How many of you have ever seen your coaches show up late for practice?  Yes incidences do occur in every ones lives from time to time that cause us to be late, but when it happens all the time it becomes a pattern and not one you want to be judged on. I like to think of warmup as "victory warmup" where we get a bit of a long swim in to make sure we are in working order usually anywhere from 5-8 minutes.  We then go into a s

  We are now entering the final leg of our season.  We all now know which championship meet we will be competing in.  It could be JUNIOR/ SENIOR CHAMPS, 14 and under CHAMPS, MAKO SPRING FLING or the SAINT PETERSBURG CLASSICS.    Make no mistake, wherever you find yourself swimming this is YOUR CHAMPIONSHIP meet.  Your last races of our short course season, a time to embrace, a time to relax and a time to swim FAST.  If you have put in the time, the effort and worked hard it’s time to see it come to fruition. For the next few weeks take the time to work on the little things such as starts, breakouts, underwater’s, turns, finishes and race strategies so that as you step up onto the blocks to race that there is no doubt in your abilities.  This is not the time to go into panic mode with a lot of questions.  That time has passed, and all you can do now is work on the things that you can control.  The biggest thing that you can do right now is keep showing up, work hard and work on your pos

  I wanted to take the time and thank all the swimmer’s parents for your patience and perseverance this past weekend.  Thanks for working with your swimmer getting them back and forth to the pool.  If they haven’t said it yet I am sure that they appreciated your efforts as did the coaches. I would also like to thank you for all your volunteering efforts throughout the weekend.  We had parents who stepped up and helped with timing, stroke and turn, and marshaling.  We could not have done it without your efforts. Thanks also to all the swimmers who raced this past weekend.  You all came in focused and knew what you were there to do and that was to race as best you could at that moment. While we had many swimmers make their cuts we had some that came up a little short.  Which ever side of the pool you ended up on, take a moment and celebrate because all of you came with a lot of energy and put your best effort forward.  If you came up short you’re allowed to be upset, it’s hard and believ

 If you are only swimming the 500 free on Friday night please let me or heather know and I’ll check you in.  For 13 and overs arrive between 5:00-5:15.  For all 12 and under’s arrive 6:00-6:15.  Don’t forget to have a timer and be prepared to have a counter .

How do you finish?  Are you aggressive? Do you try and swim through the wall?  Do you pull up right before there touch?   You've had a great start, streamline and breakout.  Your turns were fast and crisp and your stroke and race strategy were right on setting you up for a great finish.  Why throw it all away by letting up on your way to that finish. There are four key elements that every swimmer needs on the way to a great finish: Finish with your head forward --pushing towards the wall. (not looking at the score board) Finish with your hips high and legs driving towards the wall. Finish on a full stroke . (arm or arms fully extended to the pad) Finish with your legs working at maximum speed. Now let’s get to the pool and find ways to find time !

  How do you approach your turns in a race?  Chances are that you approach them the same way you do in practice.  Yes the wall involves an obstacle, but only if you approach it like that. When approaching that wall, do you challenge all your energy to that target?  "Wall stands for We Accelerate Lazy Limbs"---turns are an opportunity to gain speed and "find time".  Other than your start there is no other time that your moving as fast as you are coming off that wall.  This is a great detail to work on in practice every day as it will translate to a great opportunity to gain momentum and speed in your races. Always go into your walls with a "Great Mindset", thinking power, aggression and speed.  When race ing free and back keep your turns simple and fast, with that last stroke chin on your chest and throw those legs over the shoulders and explode off the wall. During your breast and fly turns always hit the wall in full extension with your head down.  As soo

  So the other day we talked about exploding off the blocks on your starts but, what comes next is just as important.  It will determine how how you carry your speed off the start and transfer it into your race.  Yes we are talking about the streamline and depending on the event you may just have two or a few.  This means  you need to work on it every turn, every wall in practice. In their search for that "personal best" sometimes swimmers find ways to lose time in their races.  There are three ways that you can lose time after the start, even before you take that first stroke.   The first way is to have a great start only to follow by doing nothing and what I mean is that you just glide into that first stroke.  This kills what momentum you gained off the start.  let me repeat that.  This kills what momentum you gained off the start.  We should follow every start with a minimum of 3 fast, strong and explosive kicks into that first stroke.  Simply put if you don't YOU WIL

As we begin that final stretch into our championship season it's time to really buckle down and really focus in on the things that will give you that little edge heading into your races.  Any little thing that you can improve both in and out of the pool will give you that advantage as these meets roll around. It starts with your attitude and having that positive mindset and working on it every day.  Avoid the noise and drama that swirls around each of us in our daily lives.  If it does not involve you and most of all if it doesn't help you and where you are going stay away. It's time to put those finishing touches on your swimming and I challenge each of you to double down and focus in on every start, every breakout, every streamline, every stroke, every breathe and every turn that you execute during practice.  This is your movie, your not only the star, your the director, the editor.  I imagine that each of you are searching for that one thing which is to shave time off of

Do you show up on race day lacking self confidence or thinking 🤔 of all the excuses to fail?  If that’s the case why are you racing on that particular day?   You can have a fancy new tech suit, brand new goggles,  a state of the art venue to race in but what it really comes down to is what’s under the cap and between the ears that will determine your fate in any race. Walking into that state of the art venue without the proper mindset and understanding that your purpose is to race and win, that is your job, if you can’t do that your only wasting your time. Now I am not saying you will win every time out, but what I am saying is that you have to have a positive mindset as soon as you walk onto the deck and know that every heat is winnable.  Showing up on race day hoping to do well is not a good strategy to be successful.  If you have done the work and worked on your weakness you need to trust that process and have the confidence that you’re ready for it.  Don’t look for reasons to fail