The York Y Rambler, 27 November 2006

By Coach Michael

 

 

THIS IS OUR HOUSE!!

 

For the first time this season, we will be hosting a meet this Saturday, a dual meet against CVAC.  As usual, our home meets will be held at the Shrewsbury branch. York Y swimmers should be at the pool by 11:45 a.m. to warmup and prepare to race.  The meet proper begins at 1:00 p.m.

Several important notes about the meet.  First, we will still be having Saturday morning practice for the Juniors, Seniors, and selected Gold group swimmers.  Practice will run from 9:00 a.m. until 11:15 a.m., to allow time for swimmers to get to the meet.

Second, some of our more advanced swimmers will be attending the meet, but as runners, timers, cheerleaders, and 8 & Under organizers, rather than as competitors.

Third, we will need all hands on deck to help run this meet.  Hosting a meet demands many more people than simply attending someone else’s meet.  We want to look like we know what we’re doing, and we want to make other teams want to come to our meets.  Mrs. Vaughn will be posting a sign-up list for volunteers.  Please, every family (not just the 20% who usually do 90% of the work) volunteer in some capacity to ensure that our meet runs smoothly.

            And fourth, as noted in the last Rambler, at dual meets we are severely limited as to the number of entrants we are allowed in each event, and the number of events – both individual and relay – is severely limited to start with.  As a result, in age groups where we have many swimmers, each swimmer will only be swimming a couple of events, probably a combination of “real” and exhibition.  This should be expected.  And, by the by, it is one more argument for participating in more invitational meets (as opposed to dual meets):  there are more events offered, and swimmers can swim more events, since a team is not limited as to number of entrants.

 

 

WORDS OF WISDOM

 

"It's 5:30 am, and it's snowy.  It's Christmas Eve, but just think -- nobody will be at the rink, and you can train for five hours straight.  And it will all pay off someday."

Carol Heiss, Olympic champion figure skater

 

 

EVEN HAPPIER HOLIDAYS

 

Carol Heiss’ quotation is a good example of how champions think differently from everyone else.  It’s a good bet that most of her competitors regarded Christmas Eve morning as a good time to sleep late and enjoy a holiday.  She viewed it as a perfect time to enjoy the holiday by having the rink to herself, without having to share it with eight or ten others, for an extra long practice.  She loved skating and mastering the craft of skating.  She didn’t view practice as an evil to be avoided, but as a good to be enjoyed, just like we should view swimming practice as a wonderful opportunity to get better, and the pool as the place where we get to see how good we can become.

During “ordinary time,” swimmers get into a fairly steady training rhythm, whose consistency aids their improvement.  But during holidays, that long-cultivated rhythm can be destroyed, and it often takes weeks after the holidays to get it back.  We just had a mini-holidays with Thanksgiving, and we got some practice at combining training and family activities (and shopping).  But now the real thing is coming upon us quickly:  Christmas to New Years.  It represents a good opportunity to practice thinking and acting like champions.  There are ways to train every day as well as spend time with relatives, but swimming has to be important to you before you have the motivation to make your schedule work.  It can be done, but you’ve got to want to do it.

            Here in York, the Christmas Training Camp is a chance to take that eight or nine days and make a great leap forward – but only if you come to the practices.  If you are going out of town for a portion of the holidays, you also have an opportunity to train, but you need to be creative.  Swimmers and parents often say to me, as they take off for a vacation, “the hotel has a pool.”  Wonderful.  The pool is kidney shaped, there are no lane lines or lines on the bottom, there is no pace clock, the hours are bad, the water is hot, and usually there is a gang of teenagers flirting with each other.  “But we’ll train, really!  Can you give us a workout for us to do?”  When I was younger and more foolish, I relented and wrote out practices.  Not one every got done.  So, no, I won’t write you out a practice, and don’t try to swim at a hotel pool and think that it equates to our mega-practice.

Find a team to train with!!!  Get on the internet to the USA Swimming website (or ask me), find a club in the area, call the coach, explain your situation (along with your age, performance level, and training level, so he will know where in his training progression to put you), and ask to train with his club.  Coaches love visitors from out of town, so they will never ever say no.  And kids love training with visitors from out of town, so they will smother you with kindness.  This takes a little leg work, but (as always) it is a matter of priorities:  do you want your fitness levels to rocket backwards, or do you want to keep moving forward?  By making your schedule work, you get your holiday, and you get your practice.  Perfect happiness.

 

 

WORDS OF WISDOM

 

"Never yield ground.  It is cheaper to hold what you have than to retake what you have lost."

          Gen. George Patton, Jr.

 

 

A HOLIDAY TRIATHLON:  SWIMMING, RUNNING, FEASTING

 

            I was very pleased at the turnout both for our Thanksgiving morning practice, and for the Turkey Trot 5K run right afterwards.  It says a lot about the growing commitment level of the team for so many people to get up before five a.m. on a holiday to train, and even more to stick around and run in the cold rain.  And I hope more of you are discovering the joys of getting up early, getting the blood moving hours before most people even think about awaking, and simply spending a very productive couple of hours to jump-start the day.  While many of us looked out of our element during the run, I was impressed by the effort all around, and especially impressed by two speedsters:  Tessa Stewart and Emily Ilgenfritz.  These athletes (not girls) can run.  I think that a run around the lakes south of town could be a good way to finish up a Saturday morning practice – after deer hunting season, of course.  Anyone interested?

 

 

SUPER SMART SWIMMERS

 

            When I asked you recently to bring in your report cards, I had no idea I would be inundated by waves of 4.0’s, A’s, and A-‘s.  Swimmers have a reputation for being well-organized and smart, and you have justified that reputation.  It’s nice to know that some American kids are going home to study as opposed to playing Nintendo.  Very nicely done.

The following swimmers compiled averages of 3.5 or higher, and qualified for our York Y Academic Honor Roll:

 

Morgan Pfaff

Alex Mathews

Shannon Mulcahy

Daniel Blumhard

Matthew Blumhard

Sarah Thomas

Caroline Bixler

Alyssa Bixler

Jake Bixler

Taylor Hoover

Tami Bereznay

Brayden Bereznay

Hannah Wertz

Brian Strathmeyer

Bradley Strathmeyer

Paige Strathmeyer

Luke Stiffler

Sada Stewart

Julianna Fritzinger

Kelly Dvoryak

Tessa Stewart

Michelle Chu

Emma Vedder

Allison Jacobs

Helen Gunn

Michael Koch

Joseph Koch

John Koch

Jessica Hawk

Joann Sutyak

Diane Sutyak

Hali Flickinger