Michiana Marlins Weekly Announcements for Week of 12/01-12/07

John VanDriessche

Dear Marlin Families,

Practice Schedule

Penn High School

Splash 1 & 2: Monday & Wednesday 6:00-7:30

Splash 3: Monday 6:00-7:30, Tuesday, 5:30-7:30, and Wednesday 6:00-7:30

Fins Flex: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 5:30-7:30

Fins Compete: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 5:30-7:30

Fins Compete AM: Wednesday and *Friday 5:30-7:30

Elite: Next scheduled practice after high school season.

New Prairie High School

Splash: Monday & Wednesday 5:00-6:30 CST

Fins: Monday, Wednesday & Thursday 5:00-7:00 CST

Elite: Next scheduled practice after high school season.

Knollwood CC

Splash 1 and 2:

Monday and Wednesday 4:30-5:30 or 5:30-6:30

Tuesday and Thursday 3:30-4:30 or 4:30-5:30

Practice Notes:

New Prairie families continue to use door N18 to enter the building. Penn families use door D. If you arrive at Penn and the gallery door is locked, please feel free to get my attention on deck to let me know.

Here is the link for this week’s Fins practices. Please share these with your athletes.

No practice at New Prairie on Tuesday or Penn on Thursday due to high school meets. No practice on Friday evening due to the ELK Rudolph Romp.

*Athletes in the Fins Compete group should not attend the Friday AM practice if they are swimming Friday evening of the ELK Rudolph Romp.

Coaches Corner

I recently received an email from a parent asking me to explain my philosophy on event selection and the goals I have in mind when choosing events for our swimmers. I realize I should have addressed this sooner, so I want to take a moment to share my thoughts with all of you. Many of our families are new to me, and while some are new to swimming, the majority have several years of club experience. So, it’s possible my approach may be a little different from what some of you are used to.

First, I want to explain why I believe it's important for coaches to choose events for our swimmers. Our coaches are the professionals you’ve hired to help your athlete succeed. If parents or athletes were responsible for choosing events, there’s a risk swimmers could end up entering events they’re not ready for, or they might only swim events they “like.” While it might seem harmless to only swim favorite events, over time, this can limit an athlete’s growth. It’s a bit like eating ice cream for dinner: doing it once in a while might be fine, but if it becomes a regular habit, it can lead to problems down the road.

That said, when an athlete is capable, I want them to swim the maximum number of events available in each session—especially for athletes who are still in the younger age groups. This may sometimes feel challenging, but I see these moments as opportunities. I’m a fan of the book Do Hard Things by Steve Magness, which emphasizes how taking on and overcoming difficult tasks builds confidence. If we are able to handle difficult tasks, such as swimming the max events in a session for the first time, we are able to handle it with more ease the next time asked to do so. This not only applies directly to similar situations but all difficult tasks that are asked of us. Confidence is built by overcoming challenging situations one after the other.

Ultimately, my goal is to help build resilience in our swimmers—so that what once seemed difficult becomes second nature. We do hard things because we can.

Does this mean there might be some meets where we don’t go our best times? Yes, and that’s okay! There are a lot of variables that can be used to evaluate a race. The stopwatch is just one of the tools at our disposal. The beauty of experience is it is easier to see a swimmer’s career from a 30 thousand foot view. It is very unlikely any one age group meet will define a swimmer’s career. What may seem so important as a 10, 12, or 14 year old may not even be remembered as they grow in the sport.

This does not mean I do not want to swim fast, I want to swim fast at EVERY meet. I think every race should be viewed as something special. Every time an athlete steps on the blocks it is an opportunity and the more opportunities we are given the more chances we will have to succeed.

This is getting a little long winded so next week I will describe my process for how I choose specific events at each meet.

ELK Rudolph Romp/Elkhart Aquatic Center/Dec. 6-8

You can click here to see our entry. Here is the coach coverage plan for this weekend. If you are running late or will not be able to attend please call or text the appropriate coach

Friday: Kelly L (574-339-6076)

Saturday 11 and overs Kelly B (574-514-6593)

Saturday 10 and unders Kelly L (574-339-6076)

Sunday both sessions Coach V (574-276-6057)

Here are the pertinent times for this weekend’s meet.

Friday (Events #1-#12)

Pool Deck Access: 3:45 – our athletes should be on deck at this time

Warm up 4:00 - 5:00

Meet Starts 5:10

Saturday and Sunday AM Sessions (11 and Over Swimmers)

Warmups 7:30-8:15 – our athletes should be on deck by 7:15

Meet Starts 8:20

Saturday and Sunday PM Sessions (10 and Under Swimmers)

Warm-ups 12:00-12:50 – our athletes should be on deck by 11:45

Meet Starts 1:00

IA Tim Welsh Invite/Elkhart Aquatic Center/Jan.3-5

Here is our entry as of 11/25.

USA Memberships

We will need all of our athletes that have not done so already, to renew their USA Swimming memberships. Here is the link. From my experience with my own athletes just purchasing the membership will initiate the transfer process.

If you qualify for the Outreach Program email me and I will send you the link you will need to use for registrations.

If you have any questions about any registration issues you can reach out to me or our team/business manager Kelly Laneman ([email protected])

Fall and Winter Meet Schedule/Dates of Meet/Location/Deadline to commit

This is our tentative meet schedule for the fall and winter. We may add meets if we find ones that fit our club’s needs. There will be two different dates listed with each meet The first date listed is the day(s) of the meet and the second date is the deadline to commit.

Swimmers wanting to compete will need to commit to those meets. The deadlines will be based on deadlines that were set in previous years. They may change once the meet hosts posts the meet information. When committing to multiple day meets, if the option to select the days you want is not available, leave a message in the notes section stating the specific days you would like to attend.

Some meets will be marked with an * and those will require swimmers to meet minimum time standards. You can view all pool locations on our website under the "Pools" tab.

DUNE Sweater Weather Swim Spectacular/Our Results

CON Skypoint Transit Invite/Elkhart Aquatic Center/Nov. 1-3/Our Results

GSI Goshen Rays Veterans Day Meet/Goshen Aquatic Center/Nov. 9/Our Results

ELK Rudolph Romp/Elkhart Aquatic Center/Dec. 6-8/Our Entry

IA Tim Welsh Invite/Elkhart Aquatic Center/Jan. 3-5/Our Entry

CON IMXtreme Invite/Concord High School/Jan. 24-26/Dec.15

IA Jr. Superstar Invitational/Rolfs Aquatic Center/Feb. 15&16/Jan.12

CON Leisure Pools Last Chance Showdown/Concord HS/Feb. 28-Mar. 2/Jan.19

*IN Swimming Divisional Championships/TBD/Mar. 7-9/Feb.23

*IN Swimming Senior State/TBD/Mar. 13-16/Feb.23

*IN Swimming Age Group State/TBD/Mar. 21-23/Feb. 23

*USA Swimming Speedo Sectionals/IU Natatorium Indy/Mar. 27-30/Feb.23