Winterfest

What a great weekend. I am a bit tired this morning, but doing pretty good overall. Standout performances...let's see I would have to put 2 swims within that category. 1. Anna Schmittle in the 100 free broke a 4 year-old record in the afternoon prelims and then bettered her time in the finals. She left MD walking home because she didn't break the minute barrier, which was the objective...2. Leah Gingrich in the 200 Butterfly...not only did Leah get a personal best with a 1:58.59, she broke her own meet record, she also broke the pool record. That is impressive...I had a great time bouncing ideas off the other coaches. It was watching the kids swim and turn to one of the other coaches and say "Did you see that, I wonder what happened there." The occasion that sticks out most in my mind is when Emily Weaner took off in the 100 fly on Saturday in prelims and just before she got to the 1st wall looked like she stopped in the water like she was grabbing for the wall and then continued on her way. Craig and I looked at each other and said I wonder if she was confused by all the lines at the bottom of the pool. After she got out of the pool Emily did tell us that she was a bit confused by all the lines at the bottom of the pool. She was bound that she would get it back at finals in the evening. Well the evening came and she was swimming in the same pool. Don't you know she did the same thing again.
This meet moves fast and the 2 day meet is over before we know it. I was excited about this meet because the younger kids don't get to go to many of these meets. I think they found by the end of the 2nd day, they were tired, not only physically but mentally as well. Although we expect to have a personal best time whenever we swim, it will not always happen. Weather we get a personal best or not, each swim is full of learning experiences. The swimmers needs to get out of every swim and be ready to learn at least something from their swim. They need to be able to tell what went well and what could change within the swim.
I am looking forward to getting back to practice and working out some of the issues I saw from the weekend. Thank you everyone for a great weekend. Although my feet are killing me this morning, I would not trade it for anything. Let's use this experience to help us grow as swimmers, coaches and parents but more importantly as individuals.
I would love to hear your favorate moment from the weekend, so please comment.