The York Y Swimming Rambler

10 September 2007

By Coach Michael

How I love the smell of chlorine and the sound of splashing water!  To our returning veterans:  welcome back.  To the newcomers:  welcome to the club.  I’ve been very pleased with the way our early season training has been going, and very pleased with the several new faces in the pool.  Over the last year we saw ridiculous rates of improvement throughout the program, and I think that this season we are going to be much stronger still.

WHAT WE’RE DOING

Thanks to our relatively short vacation break after championships, our senior swimmers have been able to build up the training volume relatively quickly, though the intensity has been moderate thus far.  We have focused on fast kicking (and its foundation:  high expectations of fast kicking), holding goal stroke counts/distance per stroke no matter what, and good walls (and their foundation:  an attacking mentality).  We have also brought back “Widths” from the dead to enliven our Friday afternoons; seniors should note, of course, that we will continue to do widths only so long as I consider it time well spent:  the better you do, the more I will consider widths an important part of our weekly training program. 

In our dryland, we have been alternating between very hard abs/core work and listening step by step to sports psychologist Alan Goldberg’s 14 Steps to Mental Toughness.  Over the past year, introspective seniors have discovered, if they didn’t know this already, just how important the mind is to high performance.  Having a good “racing head” enables you to tap into the physical capacities you have built through daily training; having a poor one prevents access to what you’ve got:  you’ve got a bazooka but it’s locked in the closet and you’re left with a butterknife.  Your head can be your best friend or your worst enemy.  I think that by progressing through Goldberg’s course, our seniors can gain a mental edge by learning to get their minds on their sides.

With our junior swimmers, the emphasis is more simply put:  technique, and kicking.  We WILL look good and swim efficiently.  We WILL kick fast.  Our dryland alternates between “Coach Michael’s pep talks,” abs work and stretching, and extra swimming or diving.

Note that down in Shrewsbury, our new coach Tim Groth is building the program steadily.  I am looking forward to the near future, when our combined program is going to be unbeatable in the region.  Given Coach Tim’s enthusiasm and work ethic, this will happen.

**York YMCA Swimming – Getting Better Every Day!!!**

SUMMER KUDOS

Without getting into pages and pages of results and times and places and standards, I did want to give you a brief run-down of our end-of-summer championships highlights.

JUNIOR NATIONALS SCORERS

Julia Kucherich, 10^th 200 back, 10^th 400 IM (new Senior National cut)

Also:  Chris Kramer, new Senior National cut in 400 IM

FAR WESTERN CHAMPIONSHIP MEDALISTS

Sarah Dotzel, 1^st 100 fly (Senior National qualifier), 3^rd 200 fly

Ellie Eline, 6^th 400 free (new AAAA)

Chris Kramer, 2^nd 200 fly (new Junior cut), 1^st 200 IM (new Junior cut), 1^st 200 back, 2^nd 800 FR

Carly Munchel, 6^th 400 IM, 4^th 200 fly, 4^th 400 free, 2^nd 1500 free, 2^nd 800 free

Morgan Oberlander, 5^th 200 fly, 7^th 200 back

Danielle Schaefer, 2^nd 100 breast

Noah Stewart, 6^th 100 free, 4^th 50 fly, 5^th 200 IM, 3^rd 200 free, 2^nd 50 back, 5^th 400 free, 4^th 100 fly, 5^th 100 back

Sada Stewart, 5^th 100 fly, 8^th 400 free

Caleb Tuten, 4^th 400 IM, 5^th 200 breast

JUNIOR OLYMPIC MEDALISTS

Alyssa Bixler, 8^th 400 IM

Matthew Blumhard, 6^th 200 back

Taylor Brew, 8^th 200 breast

Hali Flickinger, 7^th 200 back

Hunter Kerestes, 8^th 400 free

Joe Koch, 5^th 50 breast

Chris Manning, 2^nd 400 IM, 4^th 100 breast, 5^th 400 free, 1^st 200 breast, 4^th 200 IM

Courtney Schaefer, 6^th 100 breast

Coleman Stewart, 7^th 400 free, 5^th 200 free, 8^th 200 IM, 7^th 100 back

Brad Strathmeyer, 7^th 200 fly

10 & U Boys’ relays [Coleman S., Hunter K, James S, Chase F, Joseph K]:  1^st 200 FR, 1^st 200 Medley, 1^st 400 FR

10 & U Girls’ relays [Taylor H, Kacey O, Lili S, Courtney S, Emily I]:  4^th 200 FR, 3^rd 200 Medley, 3^rd 400 FR

13-14 Girls’ relays [Taylor B, Sarah B, Allison J, Kelly D, Katherine T, Hali F]: 4^th 800 FR, 4^th 400 FR, 6^th 400 Medley

Also:  new Far Western qualifiers at JO’s:

Alyssa Bixler                Taylor Brew                 Chase Flickinger

Hunter Kerestes           Kacey Oberlander        Courtney Schaefer

Winter Senior Nationals qualifiers

Julia Kucherich

Chris Kramer

Sarah Dotzel

New Spring Y Nationals qualifiers (qualifying with long course standards, which is harder)

Caleb Tuten, 400 IM

Taylor Brew, 100 breast

** York YMCA Swimming – a place where excellence is valued, encouraged, supported, admired, nurtured, respected, protected, and emulated.**

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Here is a brief listing, with brief comments, on important upcoming events:

Week of 10 to 15 September             Team Registration

There are a lot of papers involved with registering:  these papers are arranged in manilla folders on our team table next to the bleachers.  Please take one of each.  The first pile is a cover letter explaining what is there, what needs filling out, what needs to be returned to whom, how much this and that costs, etc.  The cover letter should answer most of your questions.

If we could get the registration process done quickly, that would be helpful.  I need to know who is and who isn’t on the team, and we have entries for upcoming meets to do soon.  If your papers are not in, and hence you are not “officially” on the team, I will not be entering you in the meets.

Monday 17 September          Pool Draining ceremony at Farquhar Park pool – soon to be the YMCA—GRAHAM AQUATIC CENTER.

In lieu of a “ground breaking ceremony” for our upcoming NEW POOL, we are having a “current pool draining ceremony” at 6 p.m.  Note that this falls strangely into our regular training schedule that day, but we are going to work around it as best we can. 

            First session swimmers (Novice, Junior A, Junior B groups) will get out of the pool at 5:30 and head to Farquhar Park.

            Second session swimmers (Senior A, Senior B groups) will go to the ceremony first, and then head to the pool; practice will begin at around 6:30 p.m.  We will swim until 8:00 p.m.

Saturday 22 September         Shrewsbury Triathlon

This triathlon is not mandatory, but recommended.  Swimmers tend to be very fit, pretty good runners and cyclists, so give it a try.  In the past, my swimmers have pretty well dominated the age group divisions, so we have a reputation to uphold.  Be sure to wear your team t-shirts to the race – and parents, wear your team t-shirts while you race or watch your kids race.  Copies of the entry form are available at the front desk of the Y; I also have a few stray copies in the pool office.  If enough people sign up to do the triathlon, we will cancel practice this day.

Wednesday 26 September     Team equipment and apparel extravaganza

Tom from T&T Swimming in Lancaster will be at practice for equipment and apparel ordering and purchasing.  Size your new suits, warm-ups, parkas, etc. 

Friday & Saturday 5 & 6 October    USA Swimming meet at WSY (A/B/C meet)

The USA Swimming registered members of the team will participate in this kick-off meet at West Shore Y.  This is a good opportunity to make cuts for upcoming “A” meets and JO’s, as well as Y Districts and Nationals, etc.

Saturday 13 October  YMCA swimming officials clinic at WSY, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday 20 October     USA Swimming officials clinic at Lancaster Aquatic Club, 1 p.m. to ca. 5 p.m.

HUGELY IMPORTANT:  Regarding the two officials clinics above:  in order for our club to host meets – and hosting meets is an important part of generating the revenue that keeps the club going – we must have officials to help run them.  We cannot rely on our competitors to supply the officials for our meets (note that in many areas, teams are not even allowed to host meets until they have a sufficient number of officials).  If you have kids on the team (which you do or you would not be reading this), please find a way to help out.  If you are at a session of a meet anyway to watch your swimmers, you might as well be busy and have your mind occupied the whole time, rather than just for the few minutes when your child is racing.

Note that the two clinics are not identical:  completing the first qualifies you to officiate at YMCA meets (dual meets and invitationals); completing the second, and then “shadowing” certified officials for a certain number of sessions at meets, qualifies you to officiate at USA Swimming meets.  We obviously need officials who can do both, since we participate in both kinds and want to host both kinds of meets.

Also note that any clinic fees will be paid by the parents’ booster club.

This is a dire need.  Please help. (I was groveling right there.)

Saturday 20 October  Quad meet v. Eagles et al in Baltimore (13 & Overs, USA meet)

This is a “friendly” meet against a few Baltimore area clubs:  Eagles (EST, from Owings Mills), Green Terror (GTAC, from Westminster), and Monocacy (MAC, from Frederick).  A low key opportunity to race against some pretty fast kids.  Note that this is for 13 & Overs registered with USA Swimming only.

Signing out.  Coach Michael.