Scout Aquatics Newsletter– February 20

Scout web site: www.swimsct.org 

 

CURRENT EVENTS: 

Congratulations again on a fantastic season.  We are now in post season practice schedules for those that have qualified for Regionals, State, Sectionals and Nationals.  The updated February and March calendars can be found HERE .  Please note TONIGHT is earlier (4p start) and practice times change throughout the week. 

 

If you missed the AMAZING banquet last Monday, awards can be found in your mailboxes, as well as any time improvement ribbons from the season.  Come during the scheduled practice times to check your mailbox.  Special THANK YOU to Melanie Gruse (Mulford) and Jennifer Adams for all the extraordinary work to put on this amazing event. 

 

Congratulations to everyone that competed at the North Shore Swim Conference (NSSC) meet over the weekend.  The tope time drops came from Max Becirovic (16 second drop in the 100 free), Nathan Chiu (16 second drop in the 100 fly), Z. Donlan (10 second drop in the 500 free), and Jon Heintzelman (11 second drop in the 100 breast)! Special congrats to the swimmers of the meet:

8 and unders:  Maximilian Becirovic

9-10:  Anderson Mulford and Alex Tran

11-12: Jonathan Heintzelman

13 and over:  Giselle Koonce

 

Regional qualifiers have gotten a “please check” email about our team entries.  Last chance to check is this morning by 10a.  More information will be available by Wednesday.  Relay only swimmers only need to come to practice Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week.  Championship gear will be handed out on Wednesday and Thursday at practice.  The Regional and State time standards for the AGE GROUP and SENIOR events are linked here. 

The Spring/Summer Long Course season is coming SOON!  REGISTRATION INFORMATION is found on our website for the new season and our new and interested swimmers.  Registration information for CURRENT swimmers will be blasted out in March.  The preliminary April calendar is posted too!

 

Swim Meets: 

• February 24-26: ISI Regional Meet at Barrington High School. 
• March 2-5:  ISI Senior State Meet at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont, IL. 
• March 9-12: ISI Age Group State Meet in Hobart, IN AND the Speedo Sectional in Fargo, ND. 
• March 14-18: NCSA National Championships in Orlando, FL. 

 

BIRTHDAYS:  We have 2 birthdays this week.  Happy Birthday to:

Ryleigh Tanksley (18) and Nyah Watson (14)!

 

Contact us:

Head Coach, Carolyn Grevers (c) 224-436-3195                                                    Email: [email protected]

Head Age Group Coach (LTS, JS, JSP), Flo Burke                            Email: [email protected]

Club President (SABA): Jennifer Adams                                                                   Email: [email protected]

Officials Rep: Corey DeDolph                                                                                     Email: [email protected]
 

Additional information:

Notes from our OFFICIALS Rep:

My name is Corey DeDolph and I am one of the officials that we have on Scouts. I wanted to take a quick moment to let everyone know that Illinois swimming is about to have another round of training sessions for anyone interested in becoming an official. This is a rewarding way to contribute to the swim team that allows you to be on the deck and have great views of your kids' swims. The two positions that are open to new officials are; Stroke & Turn and Administrative Official. The training sessions will be via Zoom.

The Stroke & Turn judges are the people in the white shirts at both ends of the pool. They help certify the swims of the athletes and the training sessions are: March 25th, May 6th, and May 16th.

The Administrative Official is usually on the side of the deck and has two primary jobs; 1) seeding the meet and 2) taking the times from the touchpads and timers to establish the official times you see on the MeetMobile app.  The AO training sessions are: April 1st and April 30th.

Attached is a word document to walk you through the sign-up process. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at [email protected] or any of the other officials on the team.

 

Updates from SABA: Support Scout Aquatics – Our purpose is to promote swimming in the community and to provide a program to allow swimmers of any experience level to participate and achieve their maximum abilities. Consider investing in the development of young swimmers in our community with a tax-deductible donation. The Scout Aquatics Booster Association is organized as a not-for-profit organization under 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code. If you are interested in donating or if you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Adams at [email protected]. 

 

All swimmers need to have a yearly USA Swimming Registration.  If you have not done it yet, our team registration link is also here:  https://omr.usaswimming.org/omr/welcome/F36946D8C49D44

 

Equipment and apparel:  All swimmers will be required to have their own equipment.  Our account with the Swim Team Store lists all the equipment you need for the group you are in.  You can also buy any other apparel and equipment you may need from the site.  The recommended goggles for our team is the Speedo Vanquishers. Direct link:  https://theswimteamstore.net/scout-aquatics.html            User name:  scout    Password:  aquatics

5 Ways That Failure Can Be Used to Find Success

by Peter Martin

Any swimmer you meet, no matter what level, has a dream. Whether that dream lies within or out of the water doesn’t matter. The reality is that these dreams almost always come at a price. This price happens to be failure. No one wants to fall short of their goals, but it has to happen to everyone at some point. What must be noted, though, is that success comes with these failures. Below are five ways swimmers can turn their failures into pathways toward success.

Motivation for the Future

Although no one would or should ever seek failure purposefully, falling short on occasion can actually help swimmers reach their goals. If you disappoint yourself several times throughout your season and use that frustration productively, your disappointments can lead to better results and make them come faster.

For example, if you get touched out by another swimmer or maybe a rival, and your team ends up narrowly losing to that team, you might train with more intensity from that point onward to avoid feeling the weight of that loss again. Alternatively, you might make changes to your training routine, various aspects of technique, or even eating habits. Despite these shortcomings, you can become a more motivated person as a result, both in and out of the pool.

Do Not Expect Perfection

When a swimmer decides what they want to achieve in a set, a competition, season, etc., they probably have a high degree of dedication toward achieving it. It’s easy to think that if you put in “the work,” surely the outcome will be favorable. Unfortunately, not all goals are going to be met. If several swimmers in a given conference want to be conference champions in the 200 backstroke, obviously only one of them will be successful.

Coming up short is a harsh reality when it comes to athletics. Sometimes goals are simply too lofty, and other times we just can’t quite get it together for whatever reason. As hard as it can be to fail at something you wanted so badly and worked so hard to attain, impactful lessons can be learned. Reaching rock bottom can be a good experience for swimmers for future experiences and can even be used to help younger swimmers get through their shortcomings.

Find the Positives in Your Negatives

When it comes to facing adversity, there is a wide range of results that can come from it. It’s easy to get down on yourself when things don’t go the way you expected in the water, but making excuses or putting yourself under a great deal of pressure only leads you nowhere. 

Whether it’s an injury, a race day choke, a missed wall, or anything else, the best thing a swimmer can do is to transform failures into something positive. Listen to whatever it is the failure is telling you and go forward with a new perspective that will help you become a better swimmer.

Course Correction is Key

Working hard in the pool doesn’t necessarily mean putting in work with persistence alone. Having a routine as a swimmer that will provide you with optimal results is critical, but the hard part is figuring out what that routine is. If you do things in a persistent manner but can’t quite seem to provide what you want to your team or yourself, you need to figure out what you can do differently.

While coming back from failures and trying again is important, it’s critical to learn those lessons, capitalizing on what worked and making changes when necessary. As easy as it can be to move on quickly from failures due to the disappointment they can bring, moving on too quickly can typically lead to repeats of these mistakes.

Resilience Leads to Future Success

If you think about it, the top swimmers who achieved the most desired levels of success in swimming have experienced many failures along the way. With so many competitions and such heavy expectations, these failures can hit them even harder. 

The way these top notch swimmers are able to carry on and be successful regardless of their failures, however, is by valuing failure as a tool. It can be easy to view such shortcomings as crushing blows to your swimming career and to move on, but top athletes think differently. As with many endeavors in life, resilience is key in swimming.

The more you fail at something, the more opportunities you have to become better. If you take advantage of these chances, you can fear failure less and actually seek it out more as the emotional weight lessens. Figuring out more ways to improve is critical in athletic development, as is being able to realize that short term failures do not ruin potential for long term success.

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.