Last Week of Practice!

Aquadawgs!

It is our last week of our spring season. Our last practices will be Thursday May 14th and Friday May 15th (high school). These last practices will be topped off with a swim meet on Saturday May 16th. Please make sure you sign up for the swim meet the meet form is now available to fill out online. You can find the link here. The meet is at our Ahwatukee YMCA, gates open at 8:00 am, warm ups at 8:15 am, and start at 8:30 am. 

Don't forget to sign up for summer season. 

The summer schedule will be as follows:

Morning Swim Team-- Coach Alisha
(Mon, Tue, Wed, Thurs)

• High School 6:00-7:30 am
• Advanced 7:30-9:00 am
• Intermediate 9:00-10:00 am
• Beginner 10:00-11:00 am

Afternoon Swim Team-- Coach Emily

(Tue/Thurs)

• Beginner 4:00-5:00 pm
• Intermediate 5:00-6:00 pm
• Advanced 6:00-7:30 pm

A brief description of each group:

• Beginner: The first exposure to swim team for many swimmers. Swimmers are expected to be able to swim 50 yards and know freestyle. Swimmers will learn all of the strokes and work heavily on technique. This group is about teaching we learn the strokes, how to race, and some technical swimming terms. 
• Intermediate: Swimmers are expected to be able to swim 100 yards and have a basic knowledge of all 4 strokes (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle). Swimmers will learn all the strokes and focus on technique at the beginning of the season. Later, swimmers will also be exposed to learning how to workout in the pool focusing heavily on race paced workouts.
• Advanced: Swimmer are expected to be able to swim 200 yards and have an understanding of all the strokes. Technique will be mixed into harder workouts focusing on building strength and developing race strategy (smart swimming). Swimmers in this group will be challenged and pushed. Typically this group swims 2000-3000 yards each practice. 
• High School: Swimmers must be in high school or going into high school for the 2015-2016 school year. This groups purpose is to prepare swimmers for high school swim team. They will learn technical swimming terms and rules. Swimmers are expected to be able to swim 200 yards and have an understanding of all the strokes. Technique will be mixed into harder workouts focusing on building strength and developing race strategy (smart swimming). Swimmers in this group will be challenged and pushed. Typically this group swims 2000-3500 yards each practice. 

I have really loved working with the swimmers this season and I hope to see most of them continue into the summer. 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Coach Alisha

alisha.maxwell@vosymca.org

Weekly Update

Aquadwags!

Last week was a hard one for many swimmers. The practices were the hardest practices we have had all season. That being said, almost all of the swimmers handled it wonderfully!

Beginner group worked on stroke review. Tuesday was butterfly and breaststroke and Thursday was freestyle and backstroke.

Intermediate group worked on IM's with a tough set on Tuesday and put in some freestyle yardage on Thursday.

Advanced group did amazing last week! On Tuesday they swam 2 miles (3300 yards) in a freestyle/IM set and on Thursday they swam 2.5 miles (4000 yards) in a freestyle/IM set. That is a ton of yardage in one week! Even when practices were brutal almost every swimmer got out and said "thank you" at the end of practice. I was very proud as a coach.

High School group worked on IM and freestyle sets similar to advanced group swimming 3000-3500 yards each practice.

This week the yardage will decrease and the pace with increase focusing on more race-paced sets.

REMEMBER TO SIGN UP FOR SUMMER SEASON. GROUPS ARE FILLING UP AND SOME ARE ALREADY FULL!

Here are some fun articles for the week!

15 Ways Swimmers Do It Much Better

8 Michael Phelps Quotes To Get You Fired Up

6 Ways To Take Your Swimming To The Limit

Coach Alisha
alisha.maxwell@vosymca.org