What a tremendous championship season for our Age-Groupers. It still isn’t finished, yet, as Olivia Ross, Anne Tenser, and Stefan Wingen are set to represent the state at zones in Buffalo next week. We also have a few others who will trek to Woodberry Forest to swim in the BASS BB/B/C meet. Good luck, guys!
Just some reflections on the past championship season…not criticisms, but more perspective on how we can continue to improve on our preparation and focus during this time next season and following years.
For the first time ever at the Regional and Age-Group champs, our girls had more time drops than our boys. Our boys didn’t falter from their usual excellence at championship meets. Our girls are just learning to perform better under pressure. I think that this can be attributed to a few things, but what stands out the most is the level of learning that this group of girls has demonstrated. In dealing with the pressures of competition this group has shown excellence in coping with nerves, placing focus in the right area at the right time, bouncing back from temporary set backs, and (maybe most importantly) adopted a healthy competitive attitude. It has taken a few years for this group of girls to learn how to utilize their competitive streaks, but racing in practice makes everyone faster, it busts up the notorious “pecking order,” and most importantly, it makes practice a lot more fun! Learning these character skills will help these girls continue to improve their years at Poseidon, instead of doing their best swimming in their early teens. Thanks for listening, learning, and following through ladies!
Every swimmer in my groups needs to start living by the philosophy, “Practice how you play. Play how you practice.” We have an inordinate number of swimmers who do an excellent job practicing race paces and race strategies, but need to have more confidence in following through on these strategies when crunch time comes around. We also have an inordinate number of swimmers who wait until something they like comes up in practice, then concentrates a lot of effort on that set, and then basically blow off the rest of practice. These swimmers seem to compete well in the couple of events in which they are focused, but are very inconsistent all the others, because they do not have the training to back it up. This inconsistency is no surprise to me, but the swimmer needs to understand that 1,000’s of repetitions (DONE CORRECTLY) are necessary to make the body learn to work to its abilities. Remember that master pianists still play the scales dozens of times on a daily basis.
The space in between the flags and the wall is completely under-rated. I’ve said this a lot in the past few weeks, but there are many who still do not believe me, or do not care to improve this area of their swimming. I would say that in competition, most swimmers have average turns and average finishes at their championship meet. I watched two races last weekend at Age-Group Champs in which two swimmers in the Advanced group with possibly the worst turns in the group BEAT people off the wall because they put their BEST turns on every wall! Had they put their average turn on the wall, or average finish at the end, they would not have had the same results, time or place. Start using your BEST turns and finishes in practice ALL the time and your average turn will automatically be great…better yet, your best turns and finishes will be OUTSTANDING!
Be willing to change something to get better. Right now! If you change nothing, you will not improve. One thing that I am changing significantly about our training for the next season is the level of kicking that we are using in our practices. Those of you who “don’t kick,” need to embrace this change with open arms (or feet, I guess), or your practices will be a constant battle of trying to see how little you can kick and still meet minimum requirements of the training set. It’s not a battle that even needs to be fought…when you kick more, it’s a one sided battle, where you are always the victor!
I am very proud of the swimmers in my groups this year. I am inspired to look for areas in which we can immediately improve. I know that by changing the way you think about swimming, you will improve! When you improve, you will inspire your teammates to improve. When your teammates improve, the team improves! “The strength of the wolf is in the pack, and the strength of the pack is in the wolf.”
What a tremendous championship season for our Age-Groupers. It still isn’t finished, yet, as Olivia Ross, Anne Tenser, and Stefan Wingen are set to represent the state at zones in Buffalo next week. We also have a few others who will trek to Woodberry Forest to swim in the BASS BB/B/C meet. Good luck, guys!
Just some reflections on the past championship season…not criticisms, but more perspective on how we can continue to improve on our preparation and focus during this time next season and following years.
For the first time ever at the Regional and Age-Group champs, our girls had more time drops than our boys. Our boys didn’t falter from their usual excellence at championship meets. Our girls are just learning to perform better under pressure. I think that this can be attributed to a few things, but what stands out the most is the level of learning that this group of girls has demonstrated. In dealing with the pressures of competition this group has shown excellence in coping with nerves, placing focus in the right area at the right time, bouncing back from temporary set backs, and (maybe most importantly) adopted a healthy competitive attitude. It has taken a few years for this group of girls to learn how to utilize their competitive streaks, but racing in practice makes everyone faster, it busts up the notorious “pecking order,” and most importantly, it makes practice a lot more fun! Learning these character skills will help these girls continue to improve their years at Poseidon, instead of doing their best swimming in their early teens. Thanks for listening, learning, and following through ladies!
Every swimmer in my groups needs to start living by the philosophy, “Practice how you play. Play how you practice.” We have an inordinate number of swimmers who do an excellent job practicing race paces and race strategies, but need to have more confidence in following through on these strategies when crunch time comes around. We also have an inordinate number of swimmers who wait until something they like comes up in practice, then concentrates a lot of effort on that set, and then basically blow off the rest of practice. These swimmers seem to compete well in the couple of events in which they are focused, but are very inconsistent all the others, because they do not have the training to back it up. This inconsistency is no surprise to me, but the swimmer needs to understand that 1,000’s of repetitions (DONE CORRECTLY) are necessary to make the body learn to work to its abilities. Remember that master pianists still play the scales dozens of times on a daily basis.
The space in between the flags and the wall is completely under-rated. I’ve said this a lot in the past few weeks, but there are many who still do not believe me, or do not care to improve this area of their swimming. I would say that in competition, most swimmers have average turns and average finishes at their championship meet. I watched two races last weekend at Age-Group Champs in which two swimmers in the Advanced group with possibly the worst turns in the group BEAT people off the wall because they put their BEST turns on every wall! Had they put their average turn on the wall, or average finish at the end, they would not have had the same results, time or place. Start using your BEST turns and finishes in practice ALL the time and your average turn will automatically be great…better yet, your best turns and finishes will be OUTSTANDING!
Be willing to change something to get better. Right now! If you change nothing, you will not improve. One thing that I am changing significantly about our training for the next season is the level of kicking that we are using in our practices. Those of you who “don’t kick,” need to embrace this change with open arms (or feet, I guess), or your practices will be a constant battle of trying to see how little you can kick and still meet minimum requirements of the training set. It’s not a battle that even needs to be fought…when you kick more, it’s a one sided battle, where you are always the victor!
I am very proud of the swimmers in my groups this year. I am inspired to look for areas in which we can immediately improve. I know that by changing the way you think about swimming, you will improve! When you improve, you will inspire your teammates to improve. When your teammates improve, the team improves! “The strength of the wolf is in the pack, and the strength of the pack is in the wolf.”