Coach Jason: Senior Bronze Update October 14th - 20th

Good morning Senior Bronze Swimmers and Parents! 

It’s hard to believe we are mid-way through October already!  Below are some notes and thoughts as we are now 7 weeks into our 2024-2025 SCY swim season..   

1.  Leadership: 

• Leadership comes from the top down!  For you swimmers, it starts with you!  There are different ways to be a leader: 
  • 1st:  Lead by Example.  Be on time, be positive, know how to read the pace clock, listen when the coach is speaking/teaching (eyes on the coach), have perfect streamlines, be excellent in your execution of your flip/open turns 
  • 2nd: Lead with a voice.  Encourage your teammates with positivity i.e. - "Leaving on the :50, let’s get after it guys (or girls)!", "You’re doing great Jenny. I’ve noticed you’re sitting on the wall less and less. Keep it up, you’ve got this!", "That was a great effort!", "Congrats on your best time!", "Wow, 6 practices in 1 week, you’re on fire! Keep it up, I’m striving to be like you in regards to my own attendance!", "Thank you coach for the opportunity!", "Thank you mom/dad for the opportunity!" 
  • 3rd:  Lead with responsibility/ownership. Swim practice is your time, your opportunity.  There may not be an i in TEAM, but there is an i in WIN! You win by taking on the responsibility of your own success. Don’t blame others for your lack of success. Always look internal (at yourself) to what you could have done better. This will block out the noise of the blame game that will drag you down. 
  • 4th:  Choice is an illusion.  Everyone has a choice...or do they? Why did Nick Saban win 7 National Championships in NCAA Div 1 Football?  Why was Peyton Manning and Tom Brady so successful?  Why was MIchael Johnson (4x Olympic Gold Medalist and former WR holder in 200/400 m Sprints) so successful? They had one thing in common...Choice was an illusion. If you want to be exceptional, you have to do what others aren’t willing to do.  You have to make the decisions that will set you up for success.  Preparation for peak performance means hard work, discipline, eating healthy, getting proper amount of sleep, managing your time effectively to get homework and household chores completed, etc... 
  • "High achievers hate mediocrity and mediocrity hates high achievers." - Nick Saban, Kobe Bryant, and many others... 
• Senior Bronze swimmers, YOU are our TMEC leaders! Just because someone trains in a higher level training group does NOT make them a leader. I expect our Sr Bronze swimmers to not be defined by the training group you are in, but by your actions day in and day out. 
• Your leadership day-in and day-out will help take the future of TMEC to new heights! 

2.  Training Notes: 

• October training is highly aerobic in the bulk of the work we do, with varying degrees of intensity each day. For swimmers to have the finishing speed they need/want, it is imperative practice attendance is maximized to achieve the aerobic capacity needed for racing to a strong finish at the Eastern Committee Championships (Feb 1 & 2).  It takes the body anywhere 4-6 weeks to adapt to training, so the work we did in the beginning of September is now showing up in our training today. 
  • As a reminder, the Eastern Committee Championships Feb 1 & 2 is our TEAM goal to win (placed 3rd last year)!  There are not a lot of competitions remaining to get qualified to swim in the meet, so see below. 
    • Chino Hills A/B (in Diamond Bar) 10/19 - 10/20 (deadline expired) 
    • TMEC Blue/Black/White 10/26 (deadline expired) 
    • TCC (Claremont Club) 11/9 - 11/10 
    • TMEC A/B hosted meet 11/16 - 11/17 
    • Palm Desert A/B meet 12/7 - 12/8 
    • WAGS (Qualifying times required...doesn’t typically apply to Sr Bronze swimmers) 
    • B/C meet in January (TBD) 
• Swimmers have been asked to wear drag suits this time of year (leggings, old tattered swim suits on top of swim suits, drag suit by Speedo) 
• I’m seeing swimmers without their equipment.  Equipment is used every day, so swimmers should always have their equipment with them.  Equipment list reminder: 
  • Equipment list:   
    • Paddles (Strokemaker is my preference b/c it’s flat for one of our drills) 
    • Kickboard 
    • Finis Tempo trainer (cheapest with our team supplier) 
    • Front loaded snorkel (team supplier has them). The "smaller" pull buoy  is my preference. The TYR brand was my favorite when we were a TYR sponsored team, but Coach Jenn was working with our Team Supplier to get a generic version that’s the same style as TYR since I do not like or want swimmers using the Speedo design) 
    • Swim Caps.  Swim caps break and swimmers are required to wear TMEC caps Monday - Thursday.  I have a couple of swimmers wearing non-TMEC caps on Monday-Thursday. 
• Attendance and school/homework 
  • I mentioned in the swimmer parent/meeting that your kids are students first and swimmers 2nd.  While this holds true today, I am hearing a lot of swimmers say they have "a lot" of homework and can’t be at practice. This is a touchy subject for some, but let me provide some perspective on the issue. I’ve been coaching for 20 years and have had athletes from all walks of life and school commitments. In that time, I’ve seen swimmers with a full load of AP classes achieve Olympic Trials, Sr. National, Jr. National, and Sectional time standards while maintaining a rigourous AP load. This tells me it can be achieved with the right amount of planning/preparation (refer back to leadership section above and the Choice illusion). 
• Practice start time begins at 6:30pm. 
  • I expect swimmers to be ready to get in at 6:30pm, not getting ready at 6:30pm. I’ve been seeing this happen on a regular basis where swimmers are sitting against the wall, talking to teammates (which that part I love), but there is a big disconnect on the expectation of getting in at 6:30pm. I announced this at the parent meeting that I expect swimmers to get in on time. Parents, please talk to your teenager about the importance of punctuality (being on time).  Remember, early is on time and on time is late. 

3.  Chino Hills Swim Meet 19th & 20th.

• Please arrive 15 minutes prior to your scheduled warm up times.   
• Swimmers, cheer on your teammates and show your team spirit. Have Fun!  Be yourself!   
• Positive energy creates fast swimming. 
• Updates from the meet host will be sent out this week.  Once we receive updates, we will communicate them with you.   
• Race / Results.  Remember, we are in the early season of swim meets and our season plan. Swimmers should be comparing meet results from a year over year perspective, not compared to a best time that theoretically happened when they were at their peak. 
• One practice missed is 4 practices to get back to where you were.  Sr Bronze has an expectation of 75% attendance.  Those not attending 75%, don’t be surprised with your meet results. I can’t help you if you don’t help yourself. 
• However, Attitude and Efforts wins all the time! 
• Note:  I will not be at this meet. You can see Coach Tripp before/after races. 
• Towel recommendations:  1 towel for every race.  4 events = 4 towels. I know that is a lot of laundry, but it helps to keep swimmers dry and from wasting energy shivering if it’s a chilly day. 

4.  Goal Meetings 21st - 26th (Or beyond if your schedule doesn’t work).

• This week, I will be sending out a goal meeting sign up link for the week of 21st - 26th. 
• Parents are welcome to attend.   
• If you have not turned in your goal sheets, please turn them in this week.  Please respect my time with my family and my full-time job outside of TMEC by giving me time to evaluate your goal sheets in a timely manner before the goal meetings. If you have turned in your goal sheets, thank you (only 5 swimmers out of the 29 we had on roster at the time have turned in goal sheets.) 
• I have attached the Goal Sheets and "The Process" for you to print if you lost your copy or weren’t at the swimmer/parent meeting a few weeks ago. 

5.  Blue / Black / White Meet October 26th.

• Rosters have been sent out!   
• Your TMEC coaching staff had a great time working together drafting teams this past Sunday.  
  • On a personal level, putting together the rankings for my team selection process takes about 15 hrs of work. It’s "the grind" of preparation that makes a person successful and I want to be as successful as possible in this unique and fun meet format!  If you end up on my team, we’re gonna win again!  If you’re not on my team, it’s ok, I’m secretly pulling for you to swim fast and represent the Sr Bronze group with your positive leadership! The young ones will look at you like you’re a god, so be encouraging and helpful with them, especially the 10-Unders! 
• Thank you Coach Jenn for leading on the administrative side! 
• Please see the email Coach Jenn sent out about the Blue Black White meet yesterday. 

6.  Speedo Team Parka?  

• Wow! I got to wear the new Speedo team parka last night and it was amazing! I’ve worn a lot of parkas over the years and this is one of my favorites thus far!  We are hearing it has more exterior water resistance than the TYR brand we had, so if you’re a swimmer and in need of a parka, it keeps you warm and dry at the same time!  Temps got down to low 60’s at Murrieta Mesa High School. I was wearing only a t-shirt and jeans and my body was plenty warm in it!