Coach Derrick’s Blog

Well, I suppose since my name keeps popping up on Coach Mike and Coach Guy’s Blog entries that it is high time I enter the virtual world of the WSY Blog Page. I know Coach Guy wants to hear all about the Snowflake Splash and the success we had at CV on Sunday. WOW!!! WSY Swimmers were dropping times all over the place! A few names stand out- Jesse Margraf was the high point trophy winner for 8 & U girls to win the 25 Back and 25 Free with personal best times in both and coming in second with strong finishes in her two other races; Olivia Sinclair dropped a record 14 seconds in her 100 IM, although she said she hadn’t swum it in while. Ryan Kidd was swimming out of his mind with big drops in all but one of his swims. And if we could just get Grace Kent to practice a little harder- WOW- she had some great swims with best times in almost all her events yesterday too- as did her sister Carley (who I might add helped take some of the pictures from yesterday’s meet that you may see on the website photo gallery- yes I was very trusting and let Carley, Olivia and Grace take my camera to take some fun, candid team shots that came out very well! Carley you may have found your calling with a career in photography). Our ten and under boys had a stellar day too with Zack Snyder and Alex Apa dominating as 9 year olds winning the high point and first runner-up trophies (although the figure on the top of both their trophies was that of a FEMALE swimmer- go figure!) Ben Johnson was the overall high point trophy winner for 10 year-old boys with first places in all his events. Our ten and under girls dominated also with Schmittle and Summer taking first and second place in high point trophy award for their age group. I guess all that private instruction on turns with Coach Henry paid off for Anna! Pre-senior swimmers Seth Wenner, Jack Brenneman, Mason Tate and Jeremy Lake all took home trophies for high-point awards and runner up in their respective age-groups. I think the sporty new jammer Mason got at Winterfest had something to do with his fast times- 31.83 in backstroke- Great Swim! Emily Schmittle was pleasantly surprised with a strong runner-up finish in her age group grabbing a few personal best times of her own for the day.

I could go on and on with all the great swims we had yesterday. In addition to all the high point winners mentioned above, there were many other swimmers who had record setting days as far as hitting personal best times. Jake “the snake” Jenkins for one had personal bests in all his swims; as did Sabrina Mortelli (she is making a strong case for herself to get a little practice time with AGC). Samantha Blaney had a really fast 50 freestyle yesterday, and other swimmers such as Heather Furlong, Danielle Owen, and Peighton Wright from AGB all hit personal best times in at least one or more of their events. Emma Keene also had some of her best times even though she had to swim as a ten-year-old in all twelve and under events- sorry Emma. As I said the list goes on and on. Please don’t be upset if I didn’t mention you by name in this blog. You will make the next entry. I will say that from our youngest swimmers, such as Sarah Bixler and Erin Johnston, to some of our WSY seasoned veterans, such as Alexis Anderson, all and all we had a great day. Everyone had fun cheering on their teammates and helping the coaches make sure all the swimmers made it to their events. I would like to remind swimmers and parents that sometimes the coaches can only do so much to get swimmers behind their blocks before their events. Please send your swimmers back to the pool deck if they come to see you up in the bleachers or out in the concession area- we (coaches) have no way of keeping track of swimmers unless we know where they are or at least where they are supposed to be- thanks!

Speaking of coaches- we were very happy to have many of our age-group coaches on deck to work with our young swimmers- thanks to all the coaches- Coach Nellie, Coach Alyson, Coach Gillian and Coach Louise. We could not have been happier with the overall performance of all WSY swimmers!!! Especially since the coaches on deck yesterday did not include Coach Mike, Coach Guy or Coach Kim!!! Yes, we survived without you- we missed all of you greatly! But it really goes to show that “the strength of our whole program depends greatly on the strength of all its many parts.” (a Coach Derrick original). We are blessed at WSY with great coaching on all levels of our program. I know that the swimmers and parents are aware of this, but we as coaches sometimes take each other for granted. I for one am very proud to be part of West Shore YMCA swimming and I feel fortunate to work with the best group of coaches in Central PA!

As we move into the HEART of our season, I am really excited to see what our swimmers are capable of doing in all the “big” meets coming up over the next two months. All the coaches have worked very hard to be consistent and work on improving all aspects of swimming from stroke technique, to conditioning, and yes even mechanically correct starts and turns. We still have a great deal of work to do in the water, but I think we have great base from which to build because we have worked so hard up to this point. We all need to keep our focus so we don’t lose track of our goals. I look forward to seeing all of you and working with you in the water. Have a great week of practice getting ready for our big dual meet against Hershey this Saturday! See you on the pool deck!!!

Coach Derrick