Potpourri Part II

Potpourri Part II

Going to Two-a Day Practices—Lets Make A Deal

Frida Flipturn worked really hard to be promoted into a higher training group, but now that she is in the new group she is not meeting the increased practice attendance expectation. When creating a new culture of excellence at BSC it is vital that athletes who are promoted continue to meet the expectations of that higher group. This applies to all areas: Attendance, Attitude, Work-Ethic, and Meet Performance. Two a Day practices are 100% the norm for good developmental swimming. Olympic Gold Medalist Brooke Bennett started two a days when she was 10. Training Group Integrity is also vitally important. When a training group as a whole is less than 80% attendance the team cannot get better as a whole. If our girl Frida is only coming 5 out of 8 practices per week you better believe that teammates are saying, “Why should I go to doubles if Frida Flipturn doesn't?” Don't waste a great opportunity to succeed in the sport of swimming and be a part of building our Team Culture of Excellence. Accept the honor of being different and get to practice in the mornings when they are scheduled for your group. You are helping yourself, your training group, and your Team to Improve!

Rewards for Meet Performance—The Price is Right?

Sheri Streamline is a pretty good swimmer. At one meet Sheri swims 100% best times and makes 3 times that put her in the State Top 10. Her coach congratulates her on a great meet and reminds her about how she has really worked hard for the past two months, Sheri says thank you and then excitedly says, “My parents owe me $300! $100 for each Top 10 Time.” Parental rewards for anything related to swimming is a slippery slope. As the young athlete becomes accustomed to reward they will require larger reward. What do we do when they make the Olympic Trials—a Ferrari? Keep the reward simple: a hug, a pat on the back, a Great Job Sheri!! Let the reward be the realization that months of dedication and hard work pay off in the end. Sheri needs to learn that the feeling of a job well done is enough on its own. The ice cream sundae of Success will always taste better with a no extra sugary sauce.

Why Should I Attend All Sessions of a Meet?

Robby Relaystart is a 10 and Under and really doing a good job as a young swimmer. Robby usually attends one day of a three day meet. BSC only attends meets about once per month during the Fall/Winter session, so targeted attendance at all sessions of meets is really important for the following reasons. One, attending all days allows athletes to swim through all of the events during a single season. This is vital for development and evaluation of training/talent. If Robby only attends on Saturdays then he will probably miss ½ of the events he needs to swim. Second, targeted attendance allows improvement in relay placement events. If Robby is not attending all sessions of meets there is a good chance that the Team may miss out on a Championship Relay opportunity. If a swimmer needs to swim a 50backstroke for a relay spot, but doesn't go on the day it is offered Robby not only hurts himself he hurts the Team as well. It is OK to only go to one session of a meet once a season, but families should plan to be at all sessions for BSC home meets and mid-season championship meets like the NIKE meet in Waukesha and the St. Charles meet.

The Eat, Sleep, Study, Swim—What does that Really Mean?

Training to be a good swimmer is a constant balancing act. Gary Goodgrades is no exception. Gary has an 8.56 GPA on a 4.0 scale and has 12 Advanced Classes. He gets up at 4:30AM twice a week, goes to practice, school, practice again, comes home, eats and goes to bed at 9:00PM. How does he get all his homework done and come to every practice? Time management is an important skill for swimmers because of the demands on their time. Most young people try to multi-task during homework with: facebook, music, tv, and it takes 5 times longer to complete homework. Use a study hall, advisory period, the bus ride, even the 30minutes from getting off the bus until you leave for practice. Being a Student/Athlete is the ability to excel at both, not one at the exception of the other. It is a mathematical fact that there have been more Swimmers winning Post-Graduate scholarships than any other sport. Why? Swimming teaches great Time Management- Be Disciplined and Be Awesome at Both!

Goals are Only Dreams with Deadlines—BSC Rio—2016