THE ROAD TRIP

So I know that Heather documented the very long drive back to Virginia but believe it or not I have my own version of how the trip unfolded.  It's funny how two people in the same car have such different perspectives on how things unfold. 

By now I'm sure that everyone knows how this trip was to begin.  With Heather working on the computer in the lobby I ventured out to bring the car around but as I was placing things in the back I dropped the keys, shut the door to get in the front, but the door magically locked (on it's own).  There were my keys on the

back seat and my very first thought was that this was a SIGN from above and in my mind the sign I read was, Tell her we can';t get in until Monday so you better get a ride to the airport.  Went back into the hotel and just informed her there is no hurry just keep doing your work.  Two hours
later and $260 poorer (I got a receipt to turn into someone😜)we finally got on the road.  The first disagreement went like this; Heather I don't need your phones GPS I'm going North and east and in case your not sure that means the sun is on our right and later it will be on our left.  Turn it off.

 No longer are we on the road when Heather spots a sign on the side road in involving horses and baby alligators and somehow Virginia seem to be getting further and further away.  Heather all of a sudden sees a sign "Horse Riding" what do you think.  So Heather I think it might be more important to see what the horses think when we show up.  After traveling around this small town we finally found the horse show who were in the middle of competition and I mentioned to Heather how if we started a horse team we would have a lot less drama.  On the way back to the car I told her to be careful walking because if you step in anything "your walking".   We did also find the baby gators but not for sale, thankfully I am sure we would have had one.

After that little side trip we finally get back onto the road and I’m thinking 🤔 wow we are moving now and we may make it out of Florida sometime today.  About an hour down the road Heather spots the chair and thinks that would make for a great photo shoot so of course we had to make that U-Turn  which is impossible on 275.  We travel 15 minutes to the next exit make our turn and head south (wrong direction) for about 20 minutes past the chair to the next exit, turn and head north again and while Heather looks for the chair I’m thinking this is going to be a long trip.  Of course when she spots the chair I become the villain again, and I can only imagine what all those people traveling on 275 that day were thinking.

As evening was falling the clouds started to gather and the temperature started to drop we finally exited Florida and enter Georgia and the Atlantic Ocean with real waves kids.  Our first stop was Jekyll Island and this is where we would meet the pelican and of course I wanted to see if I could go up to it.  Our conversation went on for a few minutes until Coach Heather approached when all of a sudden he took to flight without even saying

goodbye.  Apparently this pelican had better sense than I did he flew away as I got back into the car with Heather.  Our next islands were Sea Island and Little Simons Island and this is were we stated to get  turned around going over the same causeway more than once and going down one way streets the wrong way (I really am a good driver, It's Heather). We finally were able to get our sense of direction and get the car headed down into the right direction on the road  and we were on the way to Sapelo Island and than inland toward Savannah for the evening and finally Easter dinner.

The morning was spent walking the around Savannah along the river (the river walk) and checking out the quaint little shops.  I would say that the shops were like any shop you would find in any tourist town on the water, although I did find a puzzle game that I will share with you all this week.  Later we would take an adventure on the  Georgia Queen.  It was now on to South Carolina and Heather's quest to find Buc-ee's.  

 Huh, was that a question?  As we were meandering up the road I found myself in that awkward conversation were the other person just talks and you are just going along with it. a nod here and there.  The problem is that all of a sudden Heather pauses and stops talking and knowing I'm in trouble I ask, Was that a Question?  At that moment in time all I could say was "works for me", she could have been asking me anything. I had to ask her if she talks to herself a lot and explaned that sometimes I'm not sure when she is talking to meet or just thinking out loud.  I guess we all do it, but you better be ready for that question.

We finally reached But-ee's and let's just say this place was crazy.  It was Cosco on steroids, people everywhere and as Heather found out they even had a person in the restroom directing traffic.  Laid back job fore any retired swim coaches I guess.  We could use our stop watches and give out intervals.  We had our photo opportunity with the mascot got lunch which was excellent and now it was on to Pedro and South of the Border.  It was sad to see how South of the Border has declined over the decades.  For those  of us old enough this place used to be an icon but as Heather and I both said we can see this place being torn down and Buc-ee's taking it's place in the near future, sorry Pedro.

With Pedro and South of the Border in the rear view mirror it was on to North 

Carolina and shortly back towards the coast and the Atlantic Ocean on our way to Sandbridge.  We finally made it to our destination and would you believe it we both headed to the dining room table with our computers there was work to be done and the tour would have to wait.

We headed out early to explore and see the are and yes Charlotte we checked out your place which was nice.  WE  found this chair and I now have a sense of how our 10 and under’s see me that first day walking onto the pool deck.  Getting in and out out of that chair was pretty easy, but it made the whole trip worth it to see Coach Heather as she struggled. The thought did cross my mind to leave her in that chair and head home now, but her husband Chris would have made me go back to retrieve her.  Eventually she got down and we headed out on our final leg and eventually home.

It’s a wrap

 We had 44 Mako swimmers travel down to St. Petersburg Florida last week for 4 days of some super fast and exciting races wrapping up Saturday night with a pizza/pool party at our hotel before we headed back to Virginia.  We were very fortunate to get 4 days of sunny  😎 weather for our stay in St. Pete’s.  Throughout the 4 days of the meet the heat was as sizzling 🌅 as the races in the pool.

We started off the week with 3 great practices on Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning and Tuesday evening.  It was a great way to adjust to swimming outdoors, get stretched out and get used to the facility.  Our Tuesday morning practice was awesome as we had the whole pool to ourselves.

During the prelims session on all 4 days our Mako swimmers arrived at the pool with a lot of enthusiasm and got right to work with their warmups after which they went back to our team area to enjoy the sunrise each morning.  We had a lot of awesome swims during our prelim session. 

WEDNESDAY FINALS; Lyla Devlin 200 br, Sadie Buckley 50 back and 50 free, Jaxon Chan 100 br, Tyler Harris, 50 back, Anna and Laura Roth 200 br.

RELAYS at finals 200 medley-- 10 and under Serena, Tyler, Gina, Jaxon. 11 and 12 Dude, Laura, Anna Rizzardi, Andrew,  Maddie, Anna Roth, Darren, Alex.  13-14 Sadie, Lyla, Conor, Jacob.

THURSDAY FINALS: Sadie3 200 IM, Lyla 50 br, Tyler 50 fly and 200 free, 

RELAYS--400 medley--10 and under Hannah, Jaxon, Serena, Tyler.   11 and 12 Dude, Laura, Anna Rizzardi, Andrew.  Darren, Anna Roth, Claire Andresen, Sam.  13-14 Sadie, Lyla, Tony, Jacob.

FRIDAY FINALS: Sadie Buckley 200 back and a new meet record and 100 free.  Lyla Devlin 100 br.  Molly 50 br.  Evan 50 br.  Tyler 100 free and 100 back.  Anna and Laura Roth 100 br.

RELAYS--200 free--10 and under Hannah, Jaxon, Gina, Tyler.  11 and 12 Maddie,  Dude, Alex, Lucy.  Claire Anderson, Anna Rizzardi, Darren, Andrew.  13-14. Tony Sadie, Anna Helms, Conor.

SATURDAY FINALS:  Sadie 400 IM and 100 back.  Tyler 100 fly and 50 free.  

We choose to swim all our relays in the prelim session so our swimmers could get back for a pizza/ pool party.

TEAM SCORES: Mako finished in the top 10 out of 129 teams. Individual Sadie Buckley finished 4th and Tyler Harris finished 3rd in the scoring.

Great job by all our Mako swimmers!

RIGHT VAN WRONG VAN. THE TRUE STORY

 

 Okay I am here to set the story straight about the van at least the way the story plays out in my head.  

Upon walking back to the hotel in the sweltering heat🥵 running low on water from the 10 and under session on Saturday I am informed by a source who will remain anonymous that I had picked up the wrong van in the morning that belonged to another team who had to Uber over to the meet. Sorry that happened to them but I found it somewhat fascinating 🤨 and amusing at the same time.

Here is why I felt like that I honestly had been driving the same van since Thursday when I picked it up for the final session at 4:00 pm and headed out with the kiddos.  I know it was the same van from that point because I never returned it back to the hotel valet, so I had the same key from then on until coach Heather took my key from my bag on Saturday afternoon to return the van.

For those of you who are doubting as to am I senile or not let’s look at the time line here; 

Thursday

 5:30 am—  Coach Mike picks up a key from hotel valet after showing him a ticket.

3:00 pm—Coach mike returns to the hotel with 10 and under’s. Gives key to valet.  Gets van returns to pool at 4:30pm.

7:45 pm returns to hotel and drops off swimmers and park van on street because it’s free until 8:00 am

Friday 

5:30 am using same key he has had in his room picks up van from exact spot he left it the previous night.  Returns swimmers to pool for 6:30 warmup

3:00 pm leaves pool with swimmers in the same van after we all got out ice cream. Holds onto 🔑 

4:15 pm takes swimmers back to pool for finals in same van.

7:45 pm return swimmers to side of hotel for team dinner and parks van on street next to that spot. Keeps keys

Saturday 

6:30 am picks up swimmers using same van from the previous night using same key.

6:40 am drops swimmers in front of pool parks van puts key in bag and never sees it again

Questions to ask yourself 

When was the last time coach mike handed the key to valet?  Thursday at 3:00 pm

When was the last time did the valet hand the key to Coach Mike?  Thursday at 4:30 pm

If  Coach Mike had the same key from Thursday on could he have switched vans after that?

How could he have been driving the wrong van on Saturday only?

I submit to all that Coach Mike was probably in the wrong van but this mix up started on Thursday at 4:30 because of the hotel valet, thus if you are charging him with possession of the wrong van on Saturday only he has to be found innocent of that charge because Coach Mike had the van since Thursday afternoon.

That is the story that exists in my world inside my head and I stick to it regardless of what that woman says.  Bottom line is I got the swimmers to the pool on time.

As for the plaintiff who made the accusation what were you and your swimmers using Thursday afternoon and all day Friday.  Seems awfully odd.

The moral of the story is that if given the opportunity you should always upgrade which is what I did when I went from the 12 passenger to the 15 passenger van.  I thought we were getting more swimmers in the van but the swimmers welcomed the extra space and no one said anything. 

NOW YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY.

THE WIZARD OF OZ

 

So what does swimming and the Wizard of Oz have in common you might be wondering other than we the coaches are surrounded by all these little swimmers.

Dorthy first meets the Scarecrow in her travels and unlike the scarecrow, you all are not very scary at all.  Unlike the scarecrow who is seeking a brain all of you were born with one.  Swimmers all crave the smell of chlorine and the feel of sliding through the water with ease.  As a sportscaster once said " thrill of victory and the agony of defeat", whatever the results you always come back for more.  Why? It's called endorphins, the hormone that makes you feel happy and is nature's high and is the reason why swimming is so addictive.  These endorphins are especially released during your races.  Be smart let your brain take you to that mountain top.

As Dorthy and the Scarecrow travel down the yellow brick road they come upon this old rusty Tin Man who only wants one thing, a ♥️.   Again how lucky each of you are to have been born with a healthy heart.  Obviously the heart controls the blood flow to your muscles throughout practices and races.  Swimming is a aerobic sport and each time you swim your heart gets stronger by helping it grow and become larger which makes in more efficient in pumping the blood throughout your body.  This comes in handy during those long races.  The better condition you can get your heart in the better you are able to finish those races.  To be a good swimmer you need to have a big ♥️

The last person that Dorthy meets on the road is my favorite in the story, yes the Cowardly Lion who when we first meet him is afraid of his own shadow probably the way a lot of you felt when you first saw me on the pool deck.  The lion like all of you has to find his courage.  When did you start building your courage in swimming?  It was probably that first time you entered the "baby pool" and then graduated and jumped into the "BIG POOL'  with Mom and Dad, and then on to that first swim instructor, your first venture into the deep end of the pool.  Then came this first races across the pool with your friends and then that first day of "swim team".  The first meet, the first race, the first relay.  All of these things help develop your skills and build confidence and courage in the swimmer you are today. It takes a lot of courage to get up on those blocks and look down that lane especially when things don't go your way.  But you always come back and step up again, and why. Because your brain is addicted, you have a big heart and you are courageous.

 That courage that you have been building all your life will allow you to take risks in your races.  It will allow you to be fearless in your races.

For this of you swimming this week in St. Petersburg, Be Smart, swim with a Big Heart, and Be Courageous.