Weekly Update: Meet Recap (PICTURES), Staying Warm, & Coach Alisha's Email

Thanks for a great week last week Aquadawgs!

Last week the swimmers worked on some starts, turns and fast swimming in preparation for our swim meet.

I was very impressed with all of the swimmers who went to the swim meet. I held the swimmers responsible for knowing warm up before the swim meet and I think that helped warm up go very smoothly. I also saw a lot of good racing happening especially in our older age groups. It always helps us push ourselves if we have someone to race. I also saw a lot of swimmers drop times and also inform me that they dropped times. Focusing on our times is a wonderful habit we are developing as individuals and as a team.

MEET RESULTS

A few things to improve on for the next meet are swimmers need to come more prepared for the weather, especially the little ones. I saw too many cold swimmers. It is a good idea to bring a sweat shirts, sweat pants, several towels and shoes to the swim meet. Also kids love hot chocolate in a thermos after getting out of the pool.

For the next swim meet I would prefer that swimmers walk up to their race with a towel or sweatshirt and shoes. They should take them off before their race and leave them on the timers chair. Then after the race they can pick them up and put them on. For those swimming 25's wear a towel or sweatshirt and shoes to the starting end of the pool and have your parents meet you at the finish with a warm dry towel. And then you can go get your stuff you left at the start.

Lets please stay warm.

And please prepare for the weather at practice the same way with sweatshirts, sweatpants, shoes, and warm dry towels.

Reminders & Important Information:

• Tuesday there is practice even though it is Veterans Day
• Coach Alisha has a YMCA email! If you have her personal email please start using this one for all YMCA related questions: alisha.maxwell@vosymca.org
• Please get your ribbons from the meet at practice
• Follow our Aquadawg Instagram @ymcaaquadawgs

Thanks!

Coach Alisha

Weekly Update: First Swim Meet

Aquadawgs!

Thanks for another great week!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween.

This week the groups experienced more challenging sets. For some swimmers it was a tough week but I saw a lot of good efforts at practice. We also had some fun at the end of the week with the pumpkin swim.

This week the temperatures are really starting to cool off. The pool is heated but please have the swimmers bring something warm to put on after practice.  

This Saturday (November 8th) is our first swim meet! It is at 7 am at our YMCA. Typically these meets are short and usually done by 10 am or earlier. If you are planning on attending the swim meet please turn in the meet form and $10 to me (Coach Alisha) by Thursday November 6th. The meet form can be found on the Aquadawg website, on the top bar of this blog, or here. I look forward to seeing all the swimmers race and show off what they have been working on.

PARENTS, We will need volunteers for timers so come prepared and willing to help. 

At swim meets swimmers are always trying to work on beating our personal times. Personal times or personal records (sometimes referred to as PR’s) are the fastest times a swimmer has ever gone in each race. These times should be kept track of somehow. I suggest writing them down in a swimming notebook or posting them up on the fridge. My older swimmers should have these times memorized. This way when I say let do a 50 sprint at practice, swimmers know an approximate goal of how fast they should be going. Written down times should also be accompanied with written down goals. Swimmers’ goals should always be to improve their times or get faster.

For example:

Event	Best Time	Time Goal	Technique Goal
50 Butterfly	38.67	36.99	Arms out of the water Two-hand-touch Keep feet together
50 Backstroke	35.23	34.00	Flip-turn Tight streamline Underwater dolphin kicks
50 Breaststroke	40.20	39.99	Tempo Gliding Two-hand touch
50 Freestyle	31.03	Break 30 seconds (29.99)	Good start Flip-turn Don’t breathe from flags to wall

At swim meets the swimmers in the lanes next to you are there to push you. Beating each other should not mean much unless you beat your personal time. And then you should actually thank the people next to you for pushing you to accomplish this personal goal. By putting the focus on the times and not the place swimming becomes a very individualized sport.

Improved times always are successes no matter what place the swimmer came in.

At most swim meets the times will be posted and/or given to the swimmer. But just in case, it is always good practice for a swimmer to ask the timer after they finish what their time was. After the swimmer receives their time they should write it down and compare to previous meets.
I believe that if swimmers and parents encourage the goal of improving times, swimmers will feel successful and gain a sense of personal pride for their accomplishments. I also believe that this helps strengthen our team because swimmers are working toward personal goals and not beating each other. We are a team and we always should want our teammates to do well.

For more info and inspiration about swimming fast see these previous posts:

• Watch these four videos
• Info on how swim meets work