Orcas Month in Review | June 2021

P1 has been focusing on the fundamental movements of swimming. Each day a small section of warm-up or a transition set has been devoted to targeting the fundamental movements through various drills and skill sets. At the start of June most of the time was spent on these drills with longer warm ups and the meters were low. Swimming low meters with a heavy emphasis on stroke quality at the start of the season helps mitigate the break down of the stroke later on in heavier training. As the month progressed the meters have increased to an average 2-2.5km a day and a set weekly cycle has been established which is as follows: Mon = Aerobic, Tues = Power, Wed = Lactic Acid, Thur = Aerobic, Fri = Power/Over speed. As we progress through the month of July the cycle will still be relatively the same but the workload and workout intensity will increase. 

 

This month's swimmer of the month is Jake Ordorski. Jake has a relatively high attendance and is not shy to work hard in a set. His calm demeanor and ability to tackle a set without complaining makes him a joy to coach!

 

P2 - Owen

Hello Orcas Families! June has been a fantastic month for the P2 group, with a mixture of outdoor workouts early on in the month, and starting our pool workouts for the first time in 2 years. Our focus has been on developing our kick and body position, while also developing our skills in each of the four strokes. We practice different drills every day to work on perfecting our stroke-making, and have done our fair share of tough practices to challenge the athletes as well. The improvements I've seen over the month of June in the pool have been unreal, which is a testament to the hard work of the athletes so far this summer. Now that we are in July, we are going to build into some more challenging workouts, as we have built up a strong aerobic base for the kids to work off of! I'm really excited to see how much more we can improve as a group over this month. Congratulations to the swimmer of the month for June, Walter Figueroa! Walter has had nearly perfect attendance throughout June, and has pushed himself through every practice, even with the occasional cramp. He is always ready to put forth his best effort, and his attention to detail in his stroke has resulted in some huge improvements this month! 

 

Gold - Josh

Gold for June has spent most of the month focusing on body position and the body rotation in Free/Back. We have touched on all the skills required to swim in races encompassing dives, flip turns, touch turns, and pull outs. The practice is typically split into 15 min blocks where the first 15 is used for warm ups, the second a skill such as turns or dives, the third is used for drills targeting a specific stroke, and the 4th is used for a small set. As we enter into July the sets will be  larger and consume 15 - 30 minutes of practice. 

 

The Gold groups swimmer of the month is Elyse. Elyse has the highest attendance rate in Gold, she is always willing to learn and advance her strokes and as a result her free and breast stroke have seen some great progress; Good Job Elyse!

 

Silver - Devlan

The Silver group has had a great second month this summer. Since we’ve been back in the pool the main focus has been technique and body position. We have also gotten the chance to do some basic sets and timed swims, with everyone having already thrown down some speedy swims I’m excited to see everyone’s progress and where this season will take them. Great job silver!

Silver’s swimmer of the month is Zada Mclean Borggard. Zada has had near perfect attendance for the month of June, she always shows up with a great attitude and is ready to work. With her great improvement in technique and great work ethic she has set herself up for success. Congrats Zada!

 

Bronze - Charlotte/Owen

Bronze had a great month in the pool! We had great attendance every day and worked lots on drills and technique. One specific thing we worked on was body position and being longer in the water. In July we will focus on building up to swimming some longer distances and building the skills we've learned so far!

 

Bronze whales - Madilene

The month of June had been a very exciting month for the Bronze Whales.  We started the month in the field doing dryland exercises getting ready to get into the pool and then actually being able to get into the pool and swim. In the pool we have been working lots on building good foundations in kicking and technique for freestyle and backstroke. The kicks have improved a lot with their flutter kick and getting it to a consistent and powerful kick that’s ready to support the arms in our strokes. We have also worked on dive progression and getting the kids ready drive off the blocks.

The swimmer of the month for June is Brandon. He always comes to practice with a positive attitude and is ready to work hard. Brandon has improved a lot with his flutter kick on his back and is able to keep good baby position which has set him up great for backstroke.

We look forward to the month of July and introducing breaststroke and flip turns.

 

Minis - Charlotte

The mini group had a great month back in the pool. We've had a big focus on kick and body position while kicking. We will continue to work on it throughout the next month and introduce freestyle more.