Some Impressive swims in New Jersey

We had some more great swims today here at the Middle Atlantic Elite meet in New Jersey. This post is going to be short as I just drove back to Mechanicsburg from New Jersey so I can see all the smiling faces on the pool deck at the Y on Sunday. We had 3 new WSY Team Records broken today. Carrigan had a great 1000 free going 11:01.96 (out at 5:30), breaking Leah's Team Record of 11:07.01 (she set this at the same meet back in 2003). Ryan Turner broke the 13-14 boys 1000 free record going 10:43.32. Garrett Treaster actually had the old record of 11:25.00 which he recently in one of our times swims at practice last week. Prior to that, Ryan Turner had the 1000 record at 11:28.42. Perhaps these two boys will battle it out to see how low we can take this 1000 record. The final team broken so far in this meet was Steven's 400 IM (Friday evening), where he went 4:08.55 (breaking Alex Goldsmith's record of 4:12.28 set at Y Nationals in 2003. Full Results of the meet so far are here

Great swimming here in New Jersey

Madi, Anna, Jess, and Pud along with the men's team representatives Steven and Ryan (who were warming up during this photo shoot) had some awesome swims tonight here at GCIT in New Jersey where the Middle Atlantic Elite Meet is being held.

Some Highlights: Ryan almost went under 5:00 in his 500 free (5:03.74), and now Ryan will be working on kicking hard into every turn at practice. Steven was within a second of making his first US Junior National cut in the 400 IM (4:08.55). Madi had a great 500 free (5:24....a 10 second improvement), and Carrigan after being sick all week had a awesome 500 free as well (5:30.19). Jess was looking forward to her 400 IM, and she ended up going 4:57.31 (her freestyle was 6 seconds faster than her fly....which is what we like to see), overall Jess had a 40 second improvement from the last time she swam it. Anna swam the sprinter version of the IM (200) posting a great time of 2:25.39 (a 5 second improvement). We will continue with some fine swimming in the AM......more later

OK Meg....here is your picture

Well....ever since we started this Blog, avid reader Meg S, has been asking me to blog about her. I open the Carlisle Sentinel today and I see her picture. I figured I better give Meg a shout out as she and Ali were in fact the leaders of their high school team (Mechanicsburg Wildcats) who gave Trinity a good beating a few weeks ago (first Trinity Girls Division loss in 5 years), and we all know that when anyone beats Trinity, it brings smiles to the opposing teams face. So Meg.......here you have it. A Blog post about you. Now keep up the good work at practice, and I am glad you like my story during Pre-senior about swimming like a pinball

Clean Deck??? I am impressed AGC!!!!

Over the last two weeks Coach Kim and I have been begging Coach Guy and Derrick about how the deck looks after AGC is done with workout, and WOW!!!!! this is how the deck looked within 2 minutes of AGC concluding workout tonight!! Very impressive. Swimmers are taking responsibility for all of their equipment, water bottles, etc. Not only are the swimmers in AGC being responsible for their training in the water, they are being responsible for their clean-up out of the water.

If only Ben J and Henry T would clean up at home like this!!!! So there you have it. Big KUDOS to AGC for the perfectly clean deck!!

6000 yards, just swim 6 laps of the pool

After our pre-senior practice this evening, where we had a great talk about setting daily goals, and challenging yourself and not being "pin balls in the pool" (you will have to ask someone in pre-senior about that one, as I am not quite sure how I got to talking about pinball machine's), I was doing my evening browsing on the net, about found this pool. It is more than 1,000 yards long, covers 20 acres, had a 115ft deep end and holds 66 million gallons of water. Yesterday the Guinness Book of Records named the vast pool beside the sea in Chile as the biggest in the world. Here are some more pictures of this monster (20 times the size of the Y outdoor pool). Imagine having a 6,000 yard workout and only having to swim 6 lengths of this pool. I think I may send Coach Guy to check out this pool.

Good luck this weekend to those swimming in The Middle Atlantic meet in New Jersey, and many of you will venture down to Chambersburg to swim in the Y dual meet (remember that pool is meters).

Messiah College pool is back open again on Monday, so we will be able to see some less crowded lanes at the Y.

Keep up the great work at practice!!

Timed 500

AGC did the Timed 500 in practice on Monday night. We have been working really hard in practice and the time drops are a great indicator of how well the kids have been working in practice. Sam S. was our first AGC swimmer to go under 6 minutes (5:59.28). Our top time drops were: Carley V 30 sec drop, Natalie 29 sec, Michael Z 26 sec, Allison B 18 sec, Sam S 16 sec, Summer 14 sec and Henry 12 sec drop. We also had a first timer, Zach S did the 500 for the first time and finished with a time of 7:34.03. Nice job to all the kids.

We use these times in practice to know what a good pace time is for each swimmer. If I want them to go at an easy pace I will tell them to swim their pace time and they should all know it. I post these time on a regular basis at practice to remind them. But they should get to know their pace time and try to better it. We also use this time to put them into practice groups, I mentioned this in an earlier post and the Timed 500 helps the coaches put kids in the correct groups.

It has been nice posting these comments about practice and meets. I enjoy reading your comments so keep them coming. That is our way of knowing the message is getting out there.

BTW, nice post by Coach Mike on goggles. It goes along with Coach Guy's definition of practice: Work on the things you are going to do in a meet. If don't plan to fix your goggles during a competitive swim, don't do it during a swim within practice.

If it happens to Michael, it can happen to you

I was reading an on-line version of Sports Illustrated, and found a very interesting quote from Michael Phelps as he was talking about his most recent performance at the Southern California Grand Prix [results]. After finishing his 400 IM at finals, Michael was quoted as saying "It was all right,I would've liked to have gone a little faster." The six-time Olympic gold medalist had an impediment, though. His goggles filled with water after he dived in. "I was struggling to see the walls. You have to deal with trying things that come your way," he said. Michael Phelps's goggles falling off? Can this really happen to a guy that almost won 7 gold medals at an Olympic Games?? A guy who is the most well known swimmer in the entire world?? Well it did. If it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.

How many times have you been in a swimming race, weather it me at a local level dual meet, a high school state championship, or a national level meet?? Have you prepared yourself for when it does happen. What will you do?? Will you stop (ummmm...I have seen that done), or will you continue to remain focused on your race, because one day at practice your goggles filled up with water, and instead of standing on the bottom to fix them, you swam the set, and then made the adjustment AFTER the set was complete.

We have less than 8 weeks until many of you have finished your short course (Fall/Winter) swimming, and in that 8 weeks, how will you be preparing yourself for the championship season?? Will you be rehearsing every race every day at practice?? Will you make every streamline count as you were in your final race of the year. It is all up to you, but when it is race time, there should be no suprises, IF you have rehearsed it ahead of time.........OK now go be sure your goggle straps are tight!!!

Keep them moving

Knowing that the water was cold before practice, I wanted to make sure the kids keep moving. I didn't want them stopping alot, as a result the kids put in the most yardage of the season. This is not a bad thing. We had a very good practice. We worked on 200 pacing. I was pleased with the attention to details the kids were showing. I gave them a certain breathing pattern they had to keep during the 200s and they did a good job of keeping that pattern. I think the worst part of practice for them was the 25s we did at the end of practice. I originally had them with too much rest and they wanted to do with less rest so they could keep swimming. Standouts from practice yesterday was Izzi, Sam S, Caroline, Carly K and Brett. Michael, I hope your hand is feeling better today. Like Mike, I am looking forward to a good meet against Hershey tomorrow. Talk to you all later.

snow outside, and WSY swimmers indoors

As it was snowing outside, a brave AGB jumped in the pool this evening after we dumped and re-filled 40,000 gallons of water at the pool. Turns out the temperature only got down to 79 degrees, but the effect of new water was noticed. We were glad to get an influx of new water to the pool, but we know we would have to deal with a day of "cooler than normal" water. AGB swimmers braved it out and had some great times in the Timed 200. Top time went to Sabrina at 2:39 (previous time 2:41). Great improvements to all AGB swimmers.

We are also taking up a collection for Coach Kim who dropped her phone in the water this evening. My contribution was a towel to help dry off the phone.

Looking forward to seeing some great racing at our dual meet on Saturday with Hershey (at Northern)

We love the Timed 1000

Today I went car shopping for some fast cars as I felt there was going to be some very fast swimming going on at this evenings practice, can't say I purchased this Ferrari, BUT there was some very fast swimming in the WSY pool this evening. Pre-Seniors had their Timed 1000 this evening. Our last Pre-Senior timed 1000 was the end of November, so we were looking for some serious time drops, and we did indeed get some great improvements. Top time for the evening was Jess with a 11:10.00 (out at 5:33), followed closely by a very motivated "G" who went 11:25 (out at 5:39). It was great to see the motivation (Thanks Josh for your continued cheering and motivation of all the swimmers in the group). We even had Anna and Turtle join us for an evening, so they got to swim their thousand. All results will be in the Top Times database later this week. It is always great to see practice groups go out after an event like the 1000. Most likely we will have two more attempts at the 1000 prior to the end of the year, so be ready Pre-Seniors.

As I mentioned in my email to everyone today, we are going to dump and fill about 40,000 gallons of water on Thursday in our efforts to keep great air and water quality, so it may seem a bit cooler (about 4-5 degrees) on Thursday evening, which will be fine for all practice levels.

Keep up the great work (sorry I am not as long winded as Coach Guy and Derrick)

Let's get this right

For those of you that don't know how I work, which should not be many of you by now, I don't believe you should do something just to do it and if you're going to do it you better do it to the best of your ability. I gave them the warm-up to do. Now the purpose of the warm-up is to get the muscles warm and ready to swim fast. This part of practice is as important as any other part of the practice, however, this is always the part of practice that is done the worst. Because last nights was so bad I had them do it again. Even the second time around they were still stopping to fix goggles and stretch. As a result, I had them do it a third time, but before I had them all get out and explained to them the reason for the warm-up. I explained to them that their parents drop them off a little early for practice to give them time to get ready for practice, which includes: suit, goggles, cap, adjust goggles in the water (I did explain we have 3 other pools they can use to make sure their goggles are adjusted correctly), and stretch. We used yesterday's practice as a learning experience for the kids. I hope the message hit home. I tell the kids, we are not only training them to be swimmers we are also preparing them to be positive contributors to society. We are teaching them life lessons, ie: Don't do a job 1/2 right do it 100% correct, to the best of your ability.

AGC and Dryland

Last night at practice we gave AGC an introduction to some dryland exercises. And as you know I don't believe you should do something unless you do it right. Well, before I gave them the set that they were to do, which incorporated dryland exercises, I took them in another pool area and gave them a lesson. The lesson consisted of the proper form for a sit-up, push-up and lunge. I wanted to make sure we spent plenty of time on this teaching because they will become very familiar ;) with these exercises. I am hoping by this time, your swimmer will start to feel the hurt in their stomach, back and thighs. I know that Mike likes to do some active recovery within his workouts, sometimes he will throw in bobs, wall kicking or get them out for some medicine ball work. I also like to do the same. When I was coaching a different team, back 7 years ago, pool space was limited. I would have some 60 kids in the pool with only 6 lanes to work with. I started to use active recovery to help me utilize the space/time that was given to me. I would have one group in the water doing some kind of swimming set while the other group was doing some sort of dryland exercise and then they would switch. Ever since I have tried to incorporate it into my workouts. I don't like to do it the whole year, but usually do it during the heavy training months.

Don't forget to sign up for the meet again Hershey this Saturday. Entries are due tomorrow. See you on deck.

Coach Guy

Bonus Blog from Coach Derrick

In the haste of trying to get my last blog on the website as quickly as I could, of course I forgot a few things and/or overlooked a few others, but that also gives me a chance to make an important point about coaching swimming. I mentioned in my last blog how many great swims we had from individual swimmers yesterday. I also mentioned a few swimmers in particular for their individual accomplishments. Coaches always take a chance forgetting someone or something when talking about their athletes- whatever sport. You never want to forget someones accomplishment or fail to acknowledge an athlete's individual success- but, it happens.


So let me first assure all swimmers at WSY- the coaches know who you are and we notice when you have good swims- even if they don't say anything. Coaches also notice when swimmers have bad swims- even if they don't say anything . . . right away. Most of the time, you can count on some kind of immediate feedback- negative or positive IF you come to see the coaches after your race. Sometimes you may not get direct feedback until the next day in practice- suddenly your coach remembers and says "Hey- I wanted to talk to you about your freestyle yesterday."


The point is that as your coaches, we are always watching- even in practice- We do talk to each other and communicate on and off the pool deck about swimmers on all levels . We are always assessing each groups progress as well as individual swimmers progress in practice and in meets, and we try to give constructive feedback to individuals as well as the group(s).


Yesterday was especially difficult for the coaches because we had so many swimmers- many times we had 4-5 WSY swimmers in the same heat- it was great seeing all those yellow caps everywhere! Unfortunately, even with all the coaches, sometimes it's hard to keep track of all those swimmers on deck and what they are doing in the water- watching races, writing down times, getting kids to their events, giving swimmers feedback, etc., etc., etc., all gives the coaches very little time for anything else. So, please, swimmers- make a point to come and see us after your race(s), but don't be too disappointed or take it personally if by some chance your coach missed part of or all your race- it happens.


So having said all that, I forgot in my earlier blog to mention Mr. Jarod Anderson for his runner up trophy as the third highest scoring 8 year old with a win in the breaststroke and two thirds in the IM and 25 Free- he also placed fifth in the 50 Free- Sorry Jarod Great Job! Alexis was a close fourth keeping up pretty well with her brother in the point category. And again, sorry if I didn't mention you by name- it doesn't mean I wasn't watching your swims- we had lots of GREAT swims yesterday and everyone swam well- hopefully we can take some of that momentum into this weekend for our meet with Hershey.


One final note- I also forgot to mention the NYAC swimmers for their great success yesterday. I'm sure Coach Scott was excited to see the results- many NYAC swimmers had personal bests times and a few won trophies for high point awards. Coach Anna and Coach Chrissy were there to cheer them on and congratulate them on their success- Great Job NYAC- see you all soon!


Well, Coach Guy said my first blog was tooooooooo long- he's gonna love this one!


See you on the pool deck!


Coach Derrick

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

Accomplishing a Goal

I feel so good as I have posted two entries to this Blog, and Coach Guy has not.....and Coach Derrick says that Coach Guy takes up all of the space here. Being here in New Jersey for the last three days, I have seen many swims that made me think . Last evening at the finals session, a 16 year old boy (he is from this local area, and had a big crowd in the bleachers), well he made his Olympic Trial qualifying time (this meet is being swum long course, which is the only way to make a trials cut) in the 100 backstroke by .02 of a second. The crowd went wild (his cheering section), but was even better for me to watch was the expression on this boy's face. He just wanted to run and hug someone. He found his coach on the side of the pool, and ran to hug him. The coach was ecstatic as well. This swimmer had been preparing for many days/weeks/months/years to make this accomplishment, and now it happened. What sacrifices did he have to make to achieve this accomplishment, I bet he did not miss to many practices, and in the end, he accomplished his goal.....I knew that by the look on his face. I do not know this swimmer, actually can not even remember his name, but those 30 seconds that I watched after the race ended, told a story of a lifetime.

So the next time you are at practice, are you practicing to achieve your goals?? What sacrifices do you make to achieve your goals. Do you think "long term" about your goals?? When you miss practice, do you think about your goals, and how will you achieve them by sitting at home?? When you forget to streamline, or when you do not kick in workout.....do you ever think about your goals??

Aim high with what you want to achieve, but more importantly there is a process to achieve these goals.

And because I promised Leah I would post this.......she hates when I take video of her (as most of you do)....so here is Leah being annoyed with me taking video

Swim Meet or Dog Show

Have you ever gone to a swim meet, and directly beside the swim meet in the gym, there is a dog show?? Well....today was a first for me. Between Steph's and Leah's swims here at Rutgers, I thought I would wonder around the facility, and guess what....I found a dog show. Now...most of you know about my wonderful dog Kobe, and he is a "very active dog"....guess he takes after me. These dogs at this show here in New Jersey were so well-trained. In the one demonstration the dogs had to go and sort through 10

objects and bring back the object that had the "scent of their owner", and then the other demonstration the dogs had to jump over fences.......I was absolutely amazed.

After going back to the swim meet, I thought if you can train a dog to do all of this stuff, training swimmers should be easy. The dog's knew if they did well, they would get a biscuit, and I am sure this was practiced at home as well. As for swimmers, if you perform well at practice, your "treat" would be great performances at swim meets. At times I see some of us that like to think that great performances at competitions will happen by "magic". You have to be honest with yourself at practice. Just like the dogs......the more you practice a certain skill CORRECT, the more "treats" (or great performances) you will have when everyone is watching.

So yes, I guess you can indeed learn alot from a dog.

Good Luck at the SnowFlake Splash at CV on Sunday. WSY has many swimmers entered in this meet, and let us see what kind of performances will happen in the water on Sunday

Slow down and pay attention

Boy, the Y was the place to be last night. There was a Trinity swim meet going on when I arrived at 4:45. AGC and AGA had practice right after that finished until 7:30, then Pre-Senior and Senior practice came in after that. When the meet was going on it was hard to move around the deck. But while practice was going on, it was hard to move in the pool. I love to see all this action in the Y.

We did not do much yardage at AGC practice. When the kids are at practice they have to put out physical energy, mental energy or both. As a result of recent meets and practices, Coach Derrick and I figured it was time to do a practice that focused on mental energy. This involves making the kids think more about a particular skill than going fast. For some of our swimmers then is a sad occasion, some of our kids don't like to slow and think about what their body is doing in the water (right Anna). For others this is a welcomed change, these are the kids that only like to go fast for a VERY short amount of time (right Henry). In either case, it is an important part of a swimmers life.

Last night we took the time to talk about our breakout stroke and when to breath with it. Talked at length about which arm should pull first out of a streamline. This is a difficult concept to get across to some of the swimmers. I believe it is very critical that the swimmers first pull out of streamline should be the arm that is closest to the bottom of the pool. This will rotate the body in the direction of the pull, if we pull with the arm that is closest to the surface of the water, it is a wasted stroke, because we don't get the rotation from the pull. This is a fundamental concept in competitive swimming but one that I don't think has enough attention drawn to it. Don't want to 'beat a dead horse,' so I will stop here.

The important thing to take out of last night's practice is, sometimes you need to slow down to make sure you are doing a skill correctly, and that is OK.

Crowded pool...good to see

27 swimmers at practice last night, makes for tight quarters. It was great to see, Bretty even made an appearance, nice to see her back at practice. Whenever Brett gets into the water, no matter how out-of-shape she is in, you know you are going to get the best effort she can give. I think the others in the group could take a lesson from her. She is tough and won't back down from any challenge. It was also nice to see Sam Apa taking his first significant strokes of the year. He has been rehabbing from an elbow injury all year. I know it has been tough on him to have to kick all year so far, but it has been no secret that Sam needed the kick work. It is amazing how God works in mysterious ways. We are going to start putting the kids into more defined mini-practice groups. I want to give the kids the best opportunity to swim fast in practice without having to dodge other swimmers. With the 27 we had at practice and only 4 lanes to start with, it is important that everyone have the opportunity to swim without trying to avoid others in their lane.

One of my last entries?

Hello, is anyone out there? I am having a great time posting these blogs and hoping that everyone is enjoying my insightful writings. However, I may not get to write anymore, Mike has told me my job is in jeopardy. You see because Coach Mike has put this blog site together he has made me a salesman. If I don't get any comments to my blog entries, I don't get to keep my job. So I need your help, if you are reading my blog I need you to comment. I just need to show CM that people are reading what I put here. Don't let Coach Guy get fired... Now on to the serious stuff...It was good to be back at practice yesterday. I saw an intensity in some of the swimmers I have not seen in quite some time. I believe this was a direct result of their swims this past weekend. Some of the kids know they did well and want to continue down that path and others knew they could have done better and know the only way they will see the results they want is if they put the time in the pool. Last night was a very good practice. We were able to get in IM work, drills for every stroke and even had time to get a birthday swim in there. It was nice to see some of the AGB swimmers stick around to get into the action. Happy Birthday Jon. See you on the deck.

Winterfest/Sickness/Time for focus!!

What a great meet last weekend at the University of Maryland. There were over 1400 swimmers at this meet, and I know WSY was represented well (overall Team Champ for the 4th year in a row) at the meet. As Coach Guy mentioned below, many WSY swimmers had their first experience with a double ended prelim/final type of meet, and this is great experience. As many parents/swimmers are finding out, long days such these tend to lead to sickness, if the swimmers are not taking care of themselves. This is the 2nd "Travel Meet" we took this year (Swim International was the first), and after both meets I am hearing reports of our swimmers being sick. I talk all the time to the High School athletes about taking care of themselves (as they have 12 plus more meets representing their high school). It is very easy to get sick when your body is "run down" after long weekend meets. Parents need to be monitoring their swimmers eating habits (why are we still allowing the kids to eat junk/drink soda etc), parents need to be monitoring how much sleep the kids are getting. I know that when we are at a meet that requires a hotel stay it is great to socialize in the hotel lobby, and stay up late. The younger swimmers do not swim until 12 noon, so "lets allow our kids to stay up late", but what this does is take them from their normal routine, and then they get tired the next day..........As you all know I am not a parents (unless it is to my 4 legged dog Kobe), but over 18 years I have learned alot, especially when it has to do with swim meets. If your kids came home from the meet, and they are now sick, take some time to think back on what we can do at the next meet to perhaps prevent the sickness......as we all know it is not fun to be sick.

It will not be long, and those 9-12 year olds will be on the WSY National team going to 4-day meets, where it is even more important to remain healthy!!

I can not say enough about how every WSY swimmer "stepped up" at the meet at Maryland. We had almost 50% lifetime best times. We had several meet records broken, 3 new team records set, and one University of Maryland pool record set as well. We came together to swim some very fast relays, and the best part is how much fun swim meets can be with lots of WSY swimmers at the meet. Many of the kids do not go to school together, so the only time they get to see one another is at swim practice and swim meets, and I really like to see how they socialize as well as swim fast.

I know swim meets like this do take their toll on parents as well, and I did get to look up in the stands frequently to see some tired parents. Thanks for always being there for your swimmers. I tell them all the time to "be sure to thank your parents"

Now it is back to work with a few meets in January, a good number of WSY Hosted Meets in February, and them we will again come together in March and April to defend out titles at the Y District and State meets, as well as swim very fast at Y Nationals.

Thanks for the continued support......it was great to see so many WSY parents this weekend, and hopefully everyone enjoys the coaches new WSY Blog!!!

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.

Swimming fast as a Turtle by MG

After practice this evening it was off to the University of Maryland. Got to the hotel no problem . The hotel is right across from an IHOP, as some of you know.....a MG favorite....anyone looking for me, try the IHOP. As I was checking in, I see coach Kim and Carrigan, and yes.....they arrived Camp Tanguay.....the entire family in the Tanguay Truckster.....this hotel will never be the same. I got to my room as fast as I could

Worked on some relays this evening.....WSY has almost 90 swimmers at this fun meet, so relays are BIG POINTS. It is always an honor to swim on one of the WSY relays. Some of the events, we have 3 relays. This meet will have about 1,000 swimmers, and it is in a 50 meter pool (swum on 2 courses). The meet moves very fast, and we usually see some very fast times. The afternoon session is for the 9-10's and 11-12's and those kids not only swim fast, but have fun socializing. Actually come to think of it, the 13-14's and Seniors have a great time socializing as well. This meet also allows WSY and NYAC swimmers to come together as one group and compete together, similar to what we do at Districts, States, and Nationals at the end of the year.

I will update the website at the end of each day with full results, as their are no real-time results at this meet. I am really looking forward to seeing some fast swimming as everyone has been working very hard over the holidays, and now it is time to pay off.......I will be in touch tomorrow, and I am sure Coach Guy will write something as well.....It is now 11:15pm, and I see Starbucks is open until 11:30pm here, so I am now off for my late night java......then up and out the door on Saturday at 5:30am. More later

Learning how to Fly

We had a good number of kids at practice tonight, 29 swimmers...everyone is trying to work off all that holiday cooking...I know I have been working a little harder this week after eating all those cookies that were give to me for Christmas. I have been enjoying them...I am hoping the good turnout at practice is not just a New Years Resolution that will be around for a week or 2 and then dropped like so many other resolutions...

Got to practice today ready to give the kids a really cool butterfly workout. We started along that path, but had to get away from the plan. I was all ready to go with this workout, had some of the kids excited about the fly workout that they were getting. Went through a pretty good warmup and I thought they were ready. We started doing some fly kicking after the warmup. I gave them a small kick set to make sure that they had good rythum within their kick. Not too bad, I thought. We then put the fins on. We had to remind them where to initiate the kick. This seems to be a common problem with the kids, we throw fins on them and what they did without the fins tends to go out the window. We spent some time talking about how the kick should be initiated from the ribcage and not the fins. Being this is the first year with the fins, we are trying to get them to use the fins correctly. They put the fins on and they think the fins are going to do the work for them. The fins should just help them feel the snap with their feet. So after a brief time of instruction, we sent them off to do some kicking with the fins. Still really excited about the practice I had put together for them. We then moved onto the main set. This was it...I was ready...they looked like they were ready. After the first 3 fifties of the set, Coach Derrick and I realized this set would need to change. Their strokes were already falling apart, those who had a stroke that is. We switched the drill that we were doing and sent them on their way....well...that was not working because what we had talked about when we were kicking did not get brought over from the kicking set to the main set...Well, that is not something I can live with. I don't see the purpose with doing something...So Coach Derrick and I decided to go back to the basics of Butterfly and make sure they could FEEL where to initiate the movement of fly...We spent the last part of the practice going step by step what they should be feeling...and doing drills to make sure they were getting the message. Well, I think it worked...however, we only did a few laps of fly at the end of practice, those few laps looked good.
Now what comes next, tomorrows practice I will try to run a similar set to what I wanted to run tonight, and then we are going to finish practice with some starts. I did let them know that even though we were only doing 25s today, they should stop after each lap and think about how that felt and what they could do differently the next time to make it better or to put into practice what Coach Derrick and I had to say after that lap. I told them, this will help them with their starts, how you ask, well if they can picture themselves doing the drill we were working on correctly, they should be doing the same thing behind the block before their start. They should picture themselves going through their race from start to finish...Boy, I am looking foward to seeing these kids swim this weekend. They have been working hard in practice. Camp Tanguay will venture down to the hotel tomorrow night, after practice. See you all on the deck real soon.

TRY NEW SKILLS

I always looked at each new year as a time to try "new things", so here I am after I jumped on a jet, flew to Hawaii on New Years Day and attempted to surf......lots of practice, no short cuts, and hey I was surfing.......ok, so perhaps I was just dreaming, bur the reality of it is that everyone needs to take a look at the New Year, and "TRY NEW THINGS".

How many times when we are at swim practice do we wall into the same habits, now is the time to make those changes....tighten up the streamlines, no breathing off turns, make sure you are getting your times on each interval.......don't waste time at practice. Use every minute to "TRY NEW THINGS (SKILLS)"

Last night (Wednesday), it was great watching all of the practice levels in the pool. One of the advantages of not being able to use Messiah College this month is that I can see all of the practice levels in the pool. Coach Derrick and Gillian were busy teaching the AGB swimmers about breathing patterns, and I saw some great 75's being swum. It amazes me how these 8-11 year old swimmers have such great attention to detail.......

Then came Coach Nellie's 8 & Unders (AGA). I got to see these 11 swimmers work on some kicking on their side and work on some roll kicking.....the entire time they had a smile on their face. After 15 years coaching (as a volunteer) with WSY, Coach Nellie still has that love of coaching these younger swimmers!!!!

At the pre-senior practice I had to get a little tough on "G" as he continues to pull on the lane ropes.....I was thinking of using the same dog coll er I use on Kobe my dog when he crosses the underground fence, but I thought that may be a bit too much for "G" to handle, so we will have to come up with other methods......any advice on this?? Anyway, Pre-Senior had some great descending 400's as well as doing some of our red-line flip drills.......we are continuing our aggressive flutter kicking, and I know by March we are going to be the fastest kickers in the pool!!!!

Keep up the great work everyone. TRY NEW SKILLS every day!!
Mike

Out with the old and in with the new

OK so here we are in 2008 and Coach Mike has another new and cool tool for us to communicate with the team. Actually, I am excited about this tool. The only problem, I am having a hard time getting started. I didn't have a hard time getting my account set up for this blog, but I'm having a hard time getting started with what to put in the blog. I feel like I am back in college trying to start a 10-15 page paper on Western Civilization. It is lunch time for me at work, and I wanted to get my first entry before Coach Mike sends another email telling me we have this new way to tell everyone what is going on in practice. I am spending more time backspacing, at this point, than actual typing, just trying to find the right words to say, I don't want to sound too dumb (no comments on that Coach Derrick).

I am really excited, the next 3 months of the season is what everyone has been working the past 3 months for. Starting with Winterfest. This weekend is going to be full of fast swims but more important a travel trip for the team. I know that we had the Canada trip, but this one will have more of our athletes participating. Personally, I am looking forward to the pizza party that Coach Mike promised on Saturday night. This will be my first time going down to the U of M, so I am very excited. And yes, Camp Tanguay will be in full force this weekend, as Stephanie and all 4 Tanguay boys will be making the trip.

Over the next few weeks we will continue to push our technique in the water, and continue to increase the yardage. We are starting to focus on being able to finish strong at the end of a 100 and longer swims.

Will keep you posted so stay tuned. Please add your comments where you see fit, that way we know you are reading our insightful blogging.

Coach Guy