Age Group One News and Swimmers of the Month

October Swimmer of the Month: Lillian Fernandes

Her consistency at practice was among the top 3 in our group for that month, only missing two practices. Not only is that great for the development of fitness, but it allowed her to truly learn how to build her way through swims and races. This is something that she has been working at so frequently, getting 1% better every day, but staying present in the task at hand. Virtually every practice, Lillian either asks or tells me what she can focus on. That, to me, screams accountability. We are seeing the fruits of that labor at meets, whether, in the 100s or 200s, the time spent on the task at practice is growing abilities in race. Great work Lillian!

November Swimmer of the Month: Stella Olson

Stella is becoming a leader through action. Leading the charge in sets by attacking the first and taking them one at a time. Leading through her passionate support of her teammates. Leading through curiosity and application of skills. Stella has had her share of struggles, but it did not stop her from showing up and outworking herself from the day before. All of this is developing your ability to be resilient, and I love seeing that skill at meets. While you feel the need to go best times every swim, that is often not a reality. Great work taking accountability with your swimming and mental approach!

Swim Meet Review

Very nice swimming at the Pumpkin Patch Splash! Something that stands out to me is that we did very similar event lineups in the meet before this, and we executed the detail-oriented improvements we needed to make at a very high level. Most improvements were in race strategy and the mental approach to each swim. In the past, after 100 races, kids have come back thinking I still had something more to give, which is ok, the challenge is to get them to think about a specific detail they want to do better, faster, more, or cleaner.

The two biggest improvements I saw were in fly and free. Butterfly for kids is very challenging for a few reasons,  primarily it requires a lot of strength to get arms in the proper recovery, unless you use your hips! When we use our hips to help us in fly, we recruit larger muscle groups to get us up and through the recovery. At practice, we have been experimenting with freestyle pulling, and the focus of that is learning how the rotation affects the length of the stroke. I hoped to create longer strokes (holding water longer from the top to bottom of the pull), and I saw some great long strokes in our freestyle events from the 50 to 1000. Because of the great focus on these details, our backstroke and breaststroke also improved for the same reasons as the fly and breast. We started using our bodies and hips in breaststroke, creating a more powerful drive forward. In backstroke, we were holding water longer through the pull. This concept is something I have been preaching for a long time: learn how to move through water in all modes and what YOU want to improve on will get better. All to say, when we diversify our movement through the water, we find and create skills that can apply to every stroke. Keep up the amazing focus!

We had a very strong meeting last weekend! Many of our group members are finding how much work it takes to change small things, not being deterred from failure or challenge but instead enjoying the process. Starting with a quote, it’s one that I have lived by since college (when I realized how much power it contained): You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret to your success is found in your daily routine. We have been so great about changing the daily routine of practice focus. Some of the best changes to how we are approaching the daily routine of practice are the takeaways from meets and asking me how things are looking following the meet, finding new lanes with people that challenge you and enhance focus, and (very importantly) asking questions and being curious about new ways to approach the same problems. 

Noteworthy achievements: 

-Blake’s 200 Fly and Back are new regionals cuts

-Audrey’s first 200 fly achieved a state cut, as well as first-time swims for the 200 Back and 200 Breast achieving regionals cuts. 8/8 best times!

-Enung was 8/8 on best times - first time under 58 in the 100 Free AND dropped his 200 free down 4 seconds

-Stella Daniels went a best time in the 100 Back by over 2 seconds, an event that has continuously challenged her ability to remain confident. 

-Lillian Fernandes did her first 200 Fly and went a best time in the 200 Back by sticking to HER race plan and outworking her own doubts every practice

-Ryan has beening trying out all new events and killing them, she is on her way to being a phenomenal 400 IMer! Way to believe in yourself

-Elise in both of her backstroke events told me the exact details/technique that will help her to be fast - snappy rotation and no bubbles in the pull, she went out and did just that

-Ashton went 8/8 on best times - dropped in both backstroke & fly events because of the your focus and intention with dolphin kicks, keep up the great work

-Leo, your resiliency is amazing, whether you have a good swim or disappointing swim, you come to me with something you know you did well and something you want to work 

-Stella Olson went 7/8 on best times - your confidence is growing exponentially and I saw it after the 200 fly, you came back and told me it was fun!

-Ellie’s 200 breast places her right around top 40 11-12 years olds IN THE COUNTRY

-Anya you are learning so much about how to keep yourself calm - in the face of fear, anxiety, or stress you remind yourself 3 thigs you WILL do in the coming race

-Rachel had a fantastic showing in her fly events, for a combined 17 seconds of time dropped between 100 and 200 - something you have ben very detail oriented about! 

-Lillian Tan in a single events dropped 33 seconds, great focus at practice 

-Truitt was roughly .05 seconds off his 1650 state cut heading into the meet and proceeded to drop a minute off that. I love the positive energy you bring to every practice 

-Nathan you are growing so fast - you had two massive drops in the 100 and 200 free because of your intent at practice, these were detail oriented time drops!

-Sophia was right on best times the whole meet, and in the past that would have meant no more good swims, not at this meet. Went and dropped 15 seconds in her 200 Fly, I could not be more proud of your new mindset on failure/challenge

-Riley you have been so great keeing your confidence up dealing with injury. Keep it up!

-Ella’s first individual state cut came in one of the most challenging events, the 1650, I hope you can see the power in that swim!

-Ander swam some of the smartest 200s of the meet, focusing in on the details that will make you fast

-Gavin went 7/8 on best times - great showing in your 200s