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

Weekly Update: Swim Meet Recap

Aquadawgs!

Awesome job this weekend at the swim meet! I saw a ton of of best times. I enjoyed watching the swimmers have fun, trust the work that we have put in and RACE. The meet results can be found here. 

Big swimming news was announced last week. Bob Bowman the coach of Michael Phelps and many other world class swimmers has committed to be the head coach of ASU starting in the fall. Phelps will follow Bowman to train here in Arizona for the 2016 Olympics and many other swimmers may follow as well. The ASU program has not been impressive the last few years but having Bowman as a coach will really change Arizona swimming. 

Last week swimmer prepared for our meet working on stroke technique, flip-turns/open turns, dives, and speed.

This week will start off with longer easier practices putting in some yardage and we will work some harder practices to prepare for our final meet. 

Our final meet is May 16th. This is the last day of spring season.  

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. 

Let me know if you have any questions.

Coach Alisha

alisha.maxwell@vosymca.org

MEET FORMS DUE TODAY!

Aquadawgs!

Don't forget that meet forms are due today! You can print out the meet form here. Please bring it to practice filled out.

We have been working extremely hard and I am expecting this to be a big meet for improvement, especially for the older groups. Please try your hardest to be at the meet. It is a great time to see progress and have fun! Our last meet was only 1 hour long and I promise to keep this one short as well. Come ready to swim FAST!

Coach Alisha
alisha.maxwell@vosymca.org

Weekly Update: Arena Pro Series Information/ Swim Meet Form

Aquadawgs!

Thanks for another great week.

This weekend the Area Pro Series is going on in Mesa (Skyline Pool). This meet is full of Olympic swimmers. I desperately tried to get some tickets but they sold out fast. The meet is being streamed online here:

*I couldn't get a link to work for some reason...but just search Arena Pro Series Mesa and click on usaswimming.org link.

Prelims are at 9:00 am everyday and finals at 6:00 pm everyday. Tune in at those times to watch some fast swimming! (If you watch prelims there are swimmers as young at 14 years old!) The events are as follows:

Thursday Prelims: Start at 9:00 am (predicted timeline)

• 200 Free (W)---9:00 am
• 200 Free (M)---9:19 am
• 100 Breast (W)---9:45 am
• 100 Breast (M)---9:57 am
• 100 Fly (W)---10:06 am
• 100 Fly (M)---10:16 am 
• 400 IM (W)---10:31 am
• 400 IM (M)---11:03 am

Thursday Finals: Start at 6:00 pm

• 200 Free (W)
• 200 Free (M)
• 100 Breast (W)
• 100 Breast (M)
• 100 Fly (W)
• 100 Fly (M)
• 400 IM (W)
• 400 IM (M)

Friday Prelims: Start at 9:00 am (predicted timeline)

• 200 Fly (W)---9:00 am
• 200 Fly (M)---9:13 am
• 50 Free (W)---9:28 am
• 50 Free (M)---9:36 am
• 100 Back (W)---9:46 am
• 100 Back (M)---9:58 am
• 200 Breast (W)---10:12 am
• 200 Breast (M)---10:34 am
• 400 Free (W)---10:53 am
• 400 Free (M)---11:22 am

Friday Finals: Start at 6:00 pm

• 200 Fly (W)
• 200 Fly (M)
• 50 Free (W)
• 50 Free (M)
• 100 Back (W)
• 100 Back (M)
• 200 Breast (W)
• 200 Breast (M)
• 400 Free (W)
• 400 Free (M)

Saturday Prelims: Start at 9:00 am (predicted timeline)

• 200 IM (W)---9:00 am
• 200 IM (M)---9:24 am
• 200 Back (W)---9:48 am
• 200 Back (M)---10:03 am
• 100 Free (W)---10:20 am
• 100 Free (M)---10:34 am
• 800 Free (W)---11:00 am
• 1500 Free (M)---

Saturday Finals: Start 6:00 pm

• 200 IM (W)
• 200 IM (M)
• 200 Back (W)
• 200 Back (M)
• 100 Free (W)
• 100 Free (M)
• 800 Free (W)
• 1500 Free (M)

I will be watching! I hope some of my swimmers will be too!

This week swimmers worked hard!

• Beginner group worked on learning swimming rules on Tuesday with a group trivia game. They also worked on flip-turns Thursday.
• Intimidate group worked on swimming fast (all strokes), dives, and flip turns.
• Advanced group worked on some fast paced interval training on Tuesday (swimming 3300 yards or 2 miles!) and flip turns on Thursday. 

Our next swim meet is SATURDAY APRIL 25th at the Ahwatukee/Foothills YMCA. Gates open at 8:00 am meet starts at 8:30 am. 

The meet form is due THURSDAY APRIL 23rd to Coach Alisha. Find and print the meet form here. 

Thanks!

Alisha

alisha.maxwell@vosymca.org