Swim Like A Champion (a real life journal) [Archive] - Page 4

Breeze

03-21-2016, 11:17 AM

Time Standards - Update

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Bear

<TABLE BORDER="2" WIDTH="50%" CELLPADDING="4" CELLSPACING="3">
<TR>
<TH>Freestyle</TH>
<TH>50</TH>
<TH>100</TH>
<TH>200</TH>
<TH>500</TH>
<TH>1000</TH>
<TH>1650</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Personal Best</TH>
<TH>25.50</TH>
<TH>53.72</TH>
<TH>1:52.15</TH>
<TH>4:59.71</TH>
<TH>10:09.27</TH>
<TH>17:12.44</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group State</TH>
<TH>24.49</TH>
<TH>52.09</TH>
<TH>1:54.19</TH>
<TH>5:11.89</TH>
<TH>10:59.89</TH>
<TH>18:35.89</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group Sectionals</TH>
<TH>24.59</TH>
<TH>53.19</TH>
<TH>1:54.69</TH>
<TH>5:12.09</TH>
<TH>10:48.49</TH>
<TH>18:26.99</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior State Cut</></TH>
<TH>23.39</TH>
<TH>51.19</TH>
<TH>1:52.89</TH>
<TH>5:05.09</TH>
<TH>10:42.49</TH>
<TH>17:50.29</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior Sectional Cut</TH>
<TH>22.49</TH>
<TH>49.19</TH>
<TH>1:48.29</TH>
<TH>4:52.59</TH>
<TH>10:14.29</TH>
<TH>17:03.89</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>High School State Cut</TH>
<TH>23.50</TH>
<TH>52.00</TH>
<TH>1:55.00</TH>
<TH>5:20.00</TH>
</TR>
</TABLE>

<TABLE BORDER="5" WIDTH="50%" CELLPADDING="4" CELLSPACING="3">
<TR>
<TH>Backstroke</TH>
<TH>100</TH>
<TH>200</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Personal Best</TH>
<TH>1:05.73</TH>
<TH>2:18.94</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group State</TH>
<TH>1:00.49</TH>
<TH>2:12.39</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group Sectionals</TH>
<TH>1:00.49</TH>
<TH>2:10.79</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior State Cut</></TH>
<TH>59.59</TH>
<TH>2:09.49</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior Sectional Cut</TH>
<TH>55:29</TH>
<TH>2:00.29</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>High School State Cut</TH>
<TH>1:00.00</TH>
<TH>N/A</TH>
</TR>
</TABLE>

<TABLE BORDER="5" WIDTH="50%" CELLPADDING="4" CELLSPACING="3">
<TR>
<TH>Butterfly</TH>
<TH>100</TH>
<TH>200</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Personal Best</TH>
<TH>1:00.07</TH>
<TH>2:08.23</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group State</TH>
<TH>59.59</TH>
<TH>2:14.89</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group Sectionals</TH>
<TH>59.69</TH>
<TH>2:16.09</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior State Cut</></TH>
<TH>58.93</TH>
<TH>2:10.39</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior Sectional Cut</TH>
<TH>54.39</TH>
<TH>2:01.29</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>High School State Cut</TH>
<TH>58.00</TH>
<TH>N/A</TH>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<TABLE BORDER="2" WIDTH="50%" CELLPADDING="4" CELLSPACING="3">
<TR>
<TH>Individual Medley</TH>
<TH>200</TH>
<TH>400</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Personal Best</TH>
<TH>2:10.22</TH>
<TH>4:28.79</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group State</TH>
<TH>2:11.99</TH>
<TH>4:43.09</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Age Group Sectionals</TH>
<TH>2:11.79</TH>
<TH>4:39.09</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior State Cut</></TH>
<TH>2:06.19</TH>
<TH>4:34.09</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>Senior Sectional Cut</TH>
<TH>2:00.99</TH>
<TH>4:19.09</TH>
</TR>
<TR ALIGN="CENTER">
<TH>High School State Cut</TH>
<TH>2:12.00</TH>
<TH>N/A</TH>
</TR>
</TABLE></html>

Breeze

03-23-2016, 03:15 PM

General Update

Bear has the flu so he'll be out of practice for several days. But if he had to get sick, this is probably the best time to do it. The team will be off during Spring Break anyway.

Not sure if coach will want the kids to practice at all during the Spring to try and stay in shape. I'll be finding that out soon. If so, we'll probalby be arranging time to practice with the Sarasota YMCA team (extremely strong group)...as we are heading down to Anna Maria Island for our vacation.

Breeze

03-24-2016, 03:10 PM

General Update

There are some interesting news items in swimming today that I thought I'd pass along.

First, and clearly the biggest news only months away from the Olympics is the announcement that WADA will be looking into systematic doping in the Russian and Chinese swim teams. (http://www.si.com/more-sports/2016/03/23/russia-china-swimming-doping-wada-investigation) The link takes you to the SI article, but there is a bunch more out there if you are interested.

The second item is related to the Georgia Tech Pool where we have many of our events. That facility played host to the NCAA Championships (women 3/16-3/19, men 3/23-3/36), and the women broke every single pool record over the 4 days they competed. (https://swimswam.com/georgia-tech-pool-record-update-women-take-swimming-marks/)

Breeze

03-28-2016, 09:04 AM

General Update

Bear will finally return to practice today, after being out of the water for 6 days. He's really going to struggle to keep up for a while.

Breeze

04-12-2016, 11:02 AM

General Update

Bailey and Bear will officially move up to the Gold Senior team this evening (4/12), joining Brett. This is a huge help as they will now practice on the same schedule...:D

Breeze

04-13-2016, 08:57 AM

Breeze

04-15-2016, 10:19 AM

Summer League - General Update

So we are really on the fence when it comes to Summer League right now. And when I say we, that includes the other Gold Families that we have been swimming with. Basically, Tommy wants to swim because he wants to break the county relay records, which if they all join is basically a forgone conclusion, but Tommy is the only one that really wants to do it. Bear is interested for the same reason as Tommy, only problem is if Skyler swims, he'll take Bear's spot in the relays, which makes Bear less enthusiastic about it. Seth’s family doesn’t really have the money but they are willing to sacrifice to allow him to swim with his friends, but ultimately they’d rather save the money. Brett just wants to hang out with his friends (at meets or somewhere else), and Bailey will only do it if everyone else does.

Have to make the decision before Friday – not sure where this will end up…

So we have elected to skip summer league this year. Part of me is disappointed that we will not swim. Unlike year round, summer is fun and laid back, plus watching the kids (especially the twins) dominate is also pretty cool. In addition, Brett was 5 or 6 years old the very first year CRC fielded a team...and the twins were pretty quick to jump on the team as little more than toddlers, so we've been involved with the team for a long time. Also, I've been personally invested in helping the team to maximize their points at the county meet, spending hours analyzing the time data from as many different points as I possibly can. It has been a part of our life every Thursday in late May and early June for around 10 years.

On the flip side, it will be very nice to save the $500+. It's really expensive for 3 kids to swim, when the kids don't go to practice and there are 7 meets (counting the intra-team time trial and county)...and we won't be able to participate in all of them. Plus the ability to relax on Thursdays and not hectically run around from pool to pool and not having to volunteer will be refreshing.

It will be interesting to see if the team reaches out to us once they realize we didn't sign up. I do know a couple of long time families that we are close to are aware that we aren't going to do it, and they have called to say they will miss having us and watching the Breeze kids swim. If the team leaders say anything to us I'll post it...

Breeze

04-19-2016, 09:43 AM

General Update

So just a quick update on practice now that the twins have moved up to the Senior team.

From day 1 Bear was put in the fastest interval lane, with the top swimmers on that team. Coach Andy indicated he was really sloppy following his time out of the water (sickness and spring break), and that disappointed Bear. However, he seems to be quickly turning that around.

With the move up of some very strong Sectional Advanced Swimmers (Bear, Tommy, Riley, Skyler, and more), Brett was affraid he was going to be moved way down. However, Coach Andy has kept him in a lane on the fastest interval (not Bear's but the one next to it). Andy also complemented Brett on his improved Freestyle kick.

Bailey was disappointed when she moved up because she was in a slower lane. Her goal was to get moved up by the end of the Month. Well...last night she completely destroyed the other girls in her lane, lapping them numerous times. So she was moved up - and then she proceeded to do the same thing in the next lane over. If this continues she'll be looking at swimming on the fastest interval soon (and she was really pumped up - more than I've seen her about swimming in years).

Breeze

05-03-2016, 12:07 PM

Brett – College Swimming

Brett is finishing up his sophomore year and he’s now realizing it’s time to start thinking about college, especially, if he wants to swim. In college recruiting, schools can begin contacting potential swimmers in September of their junior year. While Brett’s posted times and performances in the pool aren’t going to attract colleges on their own, it isn’t unusual for mediocre swimmers to find teams, especially if they let “targeted” schools know they are interested.

In Brett’s case, we have used some online tools to identify schools where, believe it or not, his current times fit in pretty well, even though he still has 2 more years of high school to improve. Having seen this, Brett has really increased his level of effort in practice and he has started an extra workout routine at the house doing chin ups and resistance band work in an effort to get stronger. He is planning to reach out (email) several schools in the next few weeks to let them know he’s interested in swimming there.

The biggest problem is going to be matching up a school in a location that fits what he needs and also matches up with his swimming, budget, and academic interests/performance. All of these items combine in one way or another to limit his options…

Obviously, Brett’s swimming ability limits the number of schools where he would fit in. However, it may surprise most of you to know that even with his marginal performances he has at least 1 event where his current time would place him around the top 3 performances for the 2015/2016 season at 135 schools. Given that he has 2 more years of swimming, I expect that number will climb some and his attractiveness to the 135 he is currently a fit for will increase.

The first ancillary limiting factor is going to be Brett’s personality. If you’ve been reading for any period of time you know about Brett’s ADHD and the issues with focus and organization that it causes. Given these weaknesses, he really needs to avoid big universities and schools in or around big cities. Which for the most part is fine, because even if he improves dramatically over the next 2 years; he’s unlikely to get to the point a Division 1 school would consider him, so that eliminates the big universities off the top. The location limitation then only impacts smaller schools in/around big cities. Ironically, there are a number of schools where Brett could compete that fall into this category. For instance, he would be a very solid contributor if he swam on some of the New York conference teams. In addition, it would probably be wise to keep him somewhere within a reasonable distance from home. Knowing that he could come home on short notice or we could be at his place within hours would probably be a comfort to him. I won’t insist that he remain in the Southeast, but I do believe he’ll perform better in school if he does.

The second limiting factor and probably the biggest is going to be budget. First off, I should probably explain the scholarship angle, just to get it out of the way. In college sports, only Div 1 and Div 2 schools offer scholarships (Junior College teams can, but there aren’t any in the Southeast so that means those teams are an unlikely fit). In Division 1 there are 9.9 men’s scholarships available and in Division 2 there are 8.1. However, unlike football and basketball that most of you are probably familiar with, in swimming the scholarships are carved up. Meaning, very few swimmers get a full ride, and Brett clearly isn’t going to be a candidate to receive an entire scholarship, if he even receives a scholarship (he could be asked to walk on). Moreover, most of the schools where Brett fits are Division 3, which don’t offer scholarships at all. Making matters worse, Division 3 schools are mostly private, which means they can get very expensive. I want to be able to allow Brett to go wherever he fits, but unfortunately, there is a high probability I won’t be able to afford it.

Finally, Brett will have a difficult time matching up his academic interests with some of the schools. Brett would like to be an engineer (though he isn’t likely to get into an engineering school directly out of high school, as his grades don’t support it). That means he will have to decide what he wants to focus on that might allow him to get into engineering later or potentially as a Master’s program. I suggested he consider Math or Physics, and with his interests typically falling in these areas, they are a possibility.

One more minor item that he is considering…he would like to play Ultimate Frisbee on a college’s club team. Ultimate Frisbee is one of the games the Gold Swim team plays when they are between seasons, and Brett is quite good. He can make all 3 of the forehand and backhand throws as well as the hammer throw both right and left handed. He can do the thumb throw and the chicken wing right handed as well. This probably isn’t going to be a significant factor, but it will be a nice to have…

I will fill you in with details when he finally contacts schools he’s interested in.

Breeze

05-13-2016, 11:52 AM

General Update

Brett got his first real paycheck every yesterday. He was paid for 10.5 hours of orientation training. We also found out after he works a total of 20 hours, he'll be reimbursed $100 for the lifeguard training classes he finished in the Spring.

Bailey and Bear will be having their 8th grade trip at the end of May, which would be ok, if they weren't leaving the very next weekend to go to Pensacola for their first long course meet of the season. Given they will be out of the water for several days leading up to the meet; combined with the fact it is a travel meet, I'm not expecting much from them...

Breeze

05-13-2016, 12:56 PM

General Upate - Olympic Warm Up Event

As we approach the Olympic Trials, there are several warm up meets taking place over the next several weeks. I thought I'd post some interesting stuff the occurs. One of the warm up meets is at GaTech, so several of the top swimmers in the state (the ones with qualifying times) are competing.

Atlanta Classic Swim Meet - Day 1

Lauren Case - a Gold swimmer (different pool then my kids) who had an Olympic cut at 14 and recently signed to swim at Texas. Made the B final in the 200 Free, and is the top qualifier in the 100 Fly.

Jackie Hill - a Gold swimmer (formerly from our pool, now a different one), qualified for the A final in the 100 Breast

Tristan Ulett - 13 year old swimmer in Bailey's age group - qualified 47th in the 200 Free, 26th in the 100 fly

Abby Grottle - 14 year old swimmer in Bailey's age group - qualified 68th in 200 free

Addie Rose Bullock - 14 year old swimmer in Bailey's age group - qualified 35th in the 100 fly

Some other names you may recognize from these write ups that are competing:

Liam Bell
Lanie Bell
Arion Solomon
Jack Dalmonin
Tiger Pilkington

Note: Keep in mind, this is an elite swim meet with some of the following top talent competing:

Katie Ledecky
Natalie Coughlin
Amanda Weir
Breeja Larson
Melanie Margalis
Maya DiRado
Shannon Vreeland

Nathan Adrian
Bruno Fratus
Gunter Bentz
Jack Conger
Ryan Murphy
Tom Shields
Josh Prenot
Wil Licon
Caleb Dressel

Some of these names may be unfamiliar to you, but with trials coming up you will probably recognize them soon.

Breeze

05-18-2016, 10:38 AM

2016 SE GPAC Tom Lalor Invitational - UWF Aquatic Center (Pensacola, FL) - 6/3 - 6/5

This is the first long course meet of the season for my kids, but for several reasons, I don't have high expectations on how they will do. Heres is why:

1. These next couple of weeks are finals at school, which will lead to missed practices in order to prepare

2. Bailey and Bear will be going to Savannah for their 8th grade trip Monday to Wednesday (5/23 - 5/25) and will miss 5 full practices right before the meet

3. It is a travel meet, which means they will stay up late, not eat great and probably not be as focused on their actual performance

4. An unfortunate problem with the pool pump has occurred at our facility forcing the kids to miss practice on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning (so far, the issue still isn't resolved), which is just more time out of the water...

Anyway - hopefully, they will get off to a good start despite all these items working against them. It will be hard to make any prediction/comment about what to expect given the items above, and the fact that being long course I don't have a point of reference yet, but I'll provide some thoughts and we'll see how intuitive I am. Here is what they will be competing in.

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Bailey

# 49 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Free (2:27.07L) - Given Baileys improvement in Freestyle at the end of short course, and the fact she's continuing to report improved performance in the stroke at practice I expect a drop here...maybe 2:23 range.
# 57 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Fly (2:39.32L) - says she's working on a deeper dig with this stroke, and she's not completely comfortable with it, also said it causes some discomfort in her lower back (because she's having to use those muscles more so there is soreness there)...given these, a slight improvement would be welcome, but before the end of the season, she could be looking at an 8 second drop or more if all the pieces fall together.
# 61 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Back (1:19.50L) - reports she's still struggling with her rotation on one side (can't remember which one). Don't expect much here, maybe a slight drop.
# 65B (d2/s3): G 13-14 400 Free (5:13.89L) - hasn't done any distance or mid-distance frees in a while. I expect a drop, just because it's been so long.
# 83 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Free (1:10.32L) - similar to the 200 free, but given workload at the meet, fatigue could start to become a factor here.
# 87 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Back (2:43.24L) - should drop just because it's been so long, but like the 100 back there is some technique work to be done in the stroke, and fatigue could again be an issue.
# 95 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Medley (2:45.66L) - don't expect much here...but improved breaststroke could lead to a pleasant surprise.
# 99C (d3/s5): G 13-14 800 Free (10:36.92L) - won't be thrilled about having to swim this, but she needs to start embracing the mid distance and longer swims, given she'll be too short to naturally compete in sprint events...

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Bear

# 50 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Free (2:18.25L) - Bear's dramatic improvement over the last year could be reflected here...he could actually drop close to 10 seconds and I wouldn't be surprised. Just don't know how hard the coaches will work them in practice headed into this event.
# 58 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Fly (2:34.45L) - similar situation to the 200 free...could be much better if he isn't overworked headed into the meet.
# 62 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Back (1:19.49L) - Haven't heard much about this stroke, so not sure what to expect...
# 66B (d2/s3): B 13-14 400 Free (4:43.05L) - again another big drop is possible. In fact, if he doesn't improve by about 10 seconds I'm sure he won't be happy.
# 84 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Free (1:03.33L) - Slight drop would be good...bet his goal is to go sub60 before the end of the season...
# 88 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Back (2:36.75L) - see 100 back...
# 96 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Medley (2:35.54L) - improved breast, even with the expected fatigue at this point, probably means a pretty decent drop.
# 100C (d3/s5): B 13-14 1500 Free (18:42.57L) - who knows...because fatigue is such an issue in this event he could do almost anything. Last year, he didn't do well in this event at this pool. He was ok, but not great. I expect more of the same this time around. A drop, but not a substantial one. Of course, based on his short course times, he could drop almost a minute if he's feeling right...

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Brett

# 52 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Free (2:26.94L) - could drop a few seconds here...hope he does so it gives him confidence moving forward.
# 56 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Breast (1:27.36L) - no idea what to expect. His form is all over the place and coach is working with him on something right now...just not sure what.
# 64 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Back (1:24.42L) - Should improve a bunch here, but he never seems to do it. If he'll attack this race and drop a good bit of time, it will help his college profile page a bunch.
# 66C (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 400 Free (5:28.07L) - should drop time here based on his improvement in the 500 free, and the fact he really should be faster than his recorded time in that event as well...hopefully, the extra strength work will pay off and he'll be able to maintain a harder pace.
# 86 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Free (1:09.03L) - another area where improved strength could pay off...
# 90 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Back (2:48.93L) - like the 100 back, but even more important for his college profile. He seems to fit better on most of the colleges he's eyeing in the 200 back...
# 94 (d3/s5): B Open 50 Breast (40.56L) - this could be a huge drop, because it isn't an event that swimmers older than 12 typically swim. I have to beleive he's in this event because the coach wants to work on Brett's pacing in the stroke...but the coach hasn't confirmed that with us.
# 98 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Medley (2:47.84L) - improved fly, back and free vs. fatigue...hopefully the strength and stroke improvement will prevail.
# 100D (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 1500 Free (20:25.23L) - I don't know what to expect here...my guess is he'll probably pack it in a bit due to last race, fatigue, and lack of comfort racing the event.

Breeze

05-18-2016, 12:43 PM

General Update - Olympic Swimming

Huge news in the sport - 31 Athletes Caught in Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Drug Re-Testing (https://swimswam.com/31-athletes-caught-in-beijing-2008-olympic-games-re-testing/)

Breeze

05-25-2016, 02:40 PM

General Update

Funny but poignant article about dating a swimmer. I figure with 3 teen swimmers these items are going to be issues moving forward...

1. The smell isn’t going anywhere. Get used to it. We might not be able to smell it, or notice, or frankly, care, but the smell of chlorine is our natural scent.

2. Free time is a rare commodity. Most weekends are off limits. Either there is a swim meet, or we are catching up on sleep, eating, and sleep. Weekdays aren’t much better either between unpacking and packing swim bags, homework, inhaling food and promptly passing out.

3. If you plan on buying, don’t take us out for dinner without a sizable brick of cash in your wallet. Suggestions: anywhere that has an all you can eat menu. We eat. A lot. (Here’s a tip: don’t make a face—whether you are impressed or disgusted—when we order seconds. This is what we do.)

4. If you don’t like muscles, move along. If you are a guy who isn’t into girls who have muscles, or a girl who isn’t into guys whose shoulders are as wide as doorways, than hit the bricks.

5. Movie theaters are a risky date choice. The combination of the darkness, full-backed, plush chairs and a double of distance workouts that day is a sure-fire recipe for a 2-hour pass out session.

6. If the teammates don’t like you, watch out. It’s hard enough dating someone who has the ever-judging parents and siblings, but swimmers take this to another level with teammates. They sweat, bleed and cry together. They swim up and down that black line for 15-20 hours a week, spend weekends traveling to compete, and see one another at their best and their worst.

7. The 1-2 punch to a swimmer’s affection. Ultimately, there are two keys to every swimmer’s heart: food, and excellent massage skills.

8. Don’t slag the sport. Swimmers can complain about the hours they put in, the lack of attention it gets compared to major sports, but you can’t hate on the sport. Yes, it’s bizarre that we complain about all the meters we have to swim, and then still do it anyway, but we earned it.

9. Your idea of “sleeping in” is different than a swimmers. A nice leisurely 7am wake-up call is a luxury for your little swimming crush.

10. Don’t be the bad influence. Don’t be the guy or gal that tells their swimmer, “Oh, it’s just one morning workout.” The routine of a competitive swimmer doesn’t leave a lot of time for extracurriculars. This is the sacrifice that they have chosen to make. If you put them in a place where they have to choose between the sport they love and you, odds are pretty good you won’t like the answer.

11. When we say we are too tired to hang out, we actually are. Sure, the “I’m so tired” excuse might come across as suspect when it comes from a non-swimmer, but when your prospective datee says, “I can’t feel my shoulders and can’t move from the couch” they mean it.

12. Have our back. We don’t need you to obsess over the sport we love, nor do we want you at every one of our practices and meets (it’s great to have a non-swimming element in our life to provide balance, after all). But we certainly do appreciate someone who is a positive influence and is supportive as we tumble along the journey of swimming competitively.

13. Shaving - Men shave, and we mean the entire body which sometimes even includes the head - relax it'll grow back. Women don't shave, until they do - get over it or go date a cheerleader. (added from reader comments - kids thought it was so perfect it should be added to the list)

Breeze

05-26-2016, 12:54 PM

General Update

So Bear gets home from Savannah yesterday around 7:15 and immediately has me run him to the pool so he can catch the last part of practice (actually the coach stayed late so he got about 2000 yards in). He really doesn't want the time out of the pool to impact his performance in Florida.

Bailey was angry with Bear, telling him that he was making her look bad for not going.

Brett has switched over to swede goggles. They are similar to the kind he's been wearing, only these don't have any padding at all. They go in the eye socket and utilize suction only. He seems to like them and is excited to have them.

Breeze

05-31-2016, 09:01 AM

General Update

The Cumming pool was converted to long course on the 27th so the kids are now swimming the 50 meters at practice. Good to get it converted about a week before heading to Pensacola for their first meet :rolleyes:

The first summer practice started today, and the kids will be getting up around 5:30 every morning to go to practice. Meaning they actually sleep in longer most days when school is in session.

Breeze

06-02-2016, 09:27 AM

2016 SE GPAC Tom Lalor Invitational - UWF Aquatic Center (Pensacola, FL) - 6/3 - 6/5

The psych sheet for this event is out. These times are old (last year), but figured I’d update where the kids are seeded (not that it matters much here, but it is a bit interesting). Seeds will be posted like this - seed/number of swimmers in the event

It also looks like Gold will be fielding relays. I don’t think the lineups will be determined until the day of the race, but the kids could end up swimming in those as well.

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Bailey

# 49 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Free (2:27.07L) – 11/43

# 57 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Fly (2:39.32L) – 1/13

# 61 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Back (1:19.50L) – 16/47

# 65B (d2/s3): G 13-14 400 Free (5:13.89L) – 31/64* (open event so 31st 18 and under)

# 83 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Free (1:10.32L) – 24/50

# 87 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Back (2:43.24L) – 9/42

# 95 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Medley (2:45.66L) – 10/44

# 99C (d3/s5): G 13-14 800 Free (10:36.92L) – 12/31* (open event, so Bailey is 12th out of 18 and unders)

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Bear – on Wednesday he came home with a strained hip flexor, which is really causing him a good deal of pain. Given his injury I expect he’ll struggle this weekend, and he may not even swim all the events.

# 50 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Free (2:18.25L) – 13/47

# 58 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Fly (2:34.45L) – 2/23 (behind his buddy Tommy)

# 62 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Back (1:19.49L) – 23/39

# 66B (d2/s3): B 13-14 400 Free (4:43.05L) – 14/61* (open event so 14th 18 and under)

# 84 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Free (1:03.33L) – 12/52

# 88 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Back (2:36.75L) – 10/40

# 96 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Medley (2:35.54L) – 9/45

# 100C (d3/s5): B 13-14 1500 Free (18:42.57L) – 6/24* (open event, so he is 6th out of 18 and unders)

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Brett – seeds here for 18 and under

# 52 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Free (2:26.94L) – 32/46

# 56 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Breast (1:27.36L) – 18/32

# 64 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Back (1:24.42L) – 22/33

# 66C (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 400 Free (5:28.07L) – 47/61

# 86 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Free (1:09.03L) – 38/48

# 90 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Back (2:48.93L) – 20/31

# 94 (d3/s5): B Open 50 Breast (40.56L) – 15/26
.
# 98 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Medley (2:47.84L) – 32/40

# 100D (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 1500 Free (20:25.23L) – 16/24

Breeze

06-06-2016, 09:40 AM

2016 SE GPAC Tom Lalor Invitational - RESULTS

Finally, some swimming results to report...

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Bailey - so, after rereading my initial thoughts on the races and seeing the actual outcomes, I think my expectations were a bit high. After she struggled so much in short course to even come close to her personal bests until a taper race, I should have realized that anything close to a personal best is a sign that she is doing very well, especially given it's a travel meet and she's in the middle of the ramp up period.

# 41 (d2/s3): G 13-14 400 Free Relay B Team - Bailey did end up on the "B" 400 Free Relay. According to the unofficial splits she swam a 1:08.96...and the team finished second behind only the "A" team.
# 49 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Free (2:27.07L) - First race and she was basically right on her personal best - 2:27.63
# 57 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Fly (2:39.32L) - again right on the PB seed time - 2:40.98
# 61 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Back (1:19.50L) - slight improvement here 1:19.05
# 65B (d2/s3): G 13-14 400 Free (5:13.89L) - another one almost dead on the seed time - 5:13.87
# 83 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Free (1:10.32L) - an improvement swimming 1:09.09, which is really pretty good when you consider she swam a 1:08 high with a rolling start in the relay.
# 87 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Back (2:43.24L) - 2:44.71 - as you can see she's right there again.
# 95 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Medley (2:45.66L) - another close swim - 2:46.23
# 99C (d3/s5): G 13-14 800 Free (10:36.92L) - here she added quite a bit of time, but the coach said he was pleased with her effort and swim here. She took it out fast and couldn't hold up, but given this isn't an event she's used to, the last race of a travel meet, I'm not surprised she couldn't maintain pace. Glad the to hear the coach was pleased with the time of 10:46.80

All in all, the coach was extremely pleased with Bailey's swims this weekend. I think the times indicate she could have a solid season by the end of the Summer. Especially, if she responds well to the taper.

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Bear

# 42 (d2/s3): B 13-14 400 Free Relay B Team -Bear also got on the "B" relay, and he opened the meet swimming a 1:04.84. Not a great swim for him, but close enough to his personal best for it not to be alarming.
# 50 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Free (2:18.25L) - 2:21.68, added a few seconds here. Not sure how much hip was aa factor...
# 58 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Fly (2:34.45L) - Almost dead on his personal best 2:34.55
# 62 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Back (1:19.49L) - a nice improvement here 1:17.46. This was huge for 2 reasons - first, he's really needed to start improving in back again. It's been a while. Second, other than breast,the back was the stroke that hurt his hip the most...so hopefully, this indicates it won't be a lingering issue.
# 66B (d2/s3): B 13-14 400 Free (4:43.05L) - Added about 1.7 seconds - 4:44.88
# 84 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Free (1:03.33L) - In his personal 100 free, he significantly improves on his time from the relay and his personal best 1:02.72
# 88 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Back (2:36.75L) - Couldn't carry over the improvement in the 100 to the 200...settles for a 2:38.08
# 96 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Medley (2:35.54L) - in this one he added several seconds, I believe the breast was the biggest issue but it's been so long since he swam breast long course, I don't really have a good reference point. Will know more later in the season - 2:39.22
# 100C (d3/s5): B 13-14 1500 Free (18:42.57L) - good news and bad news here...Good news he dropped time 18.37.89, Bad news - he was beaten by several kids that he normally beats bad. Coach indicated he appeared to be too concerned with his technique and he wasn't focused on swimming fast. Not really concerned right now, as he typically doesn't swim all the distance races well before state.

Overall, I believe the coach was pleased with Bear's efforts as well. Bear didn't say much after I picke him up, and he went straight to bed when he got home, so almost no feedback from him. If I find out something different I'll update the thread

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Brett - This meet for Brett was a complete debacle. Friday night Brett ended up catching a stomach bug, and he was up all night dealing with the effects. On Saturday, he felt so poorly, that he didn't even take his swim bag from the hotel to the meet, and he fell asleep in the stands. The coach didn't see him there, and ended up having to announce his name over the intercom to find him (this irritated the coach even though Brett hadn't done anything). The coach made him borrow a suit and goggles and swim, thinking that Brett had simply eaten too much junk the night before and made himself ill. Obviously, Brett didn't do well. Saturday night Brett still wasn't feeling well. He didn't eat dinner (though for some strange reason he ordered crab claws and spent $35 of my money :mad: ), and he was up again most of the night dealing with the bug. On Sunday, Brett was still dealing with the stomach issues, as well as a splitting headache from dehydration. After Riley who was rooming with Brett (yes the same Riley that occasionally is part of the spend the night crew) told the coach that Brett wasn't faking it, he relented and let Brett scratch all of his events.

(Note: Riley really stood up for Brett after he fell ill. On the way home, Brett fell asleep, and Tommy, another of the crew, was going to wake him up and video the reaction, then post it on Instagram, but Riley got in his face and told him to leave Brett alone, that he was sick.)

When I picked the kids up from the bus, the first thing I did was check Brett's temperature, and he was running a fever (still is on Monday morning as well). I'm quite irritated with the coach for not taking the time to check this, and for just assuming Brett was trying to avoid swimming the 400 and 1500 races. Also, making matters worse, the coach forgot to give Brett his ADHD medication on Saturday, which added the distracted, impulsive and unfocused behavior to the illness.

One of the points the coach was making to Brett, was the need to swim and work through obsticles when you aren't 100%. I can absolutely appreciate that, as I've mentioned to Brett on numerous occasions that he needs to figure out how to have a good practice when he's sore and to not simply mail it in; thinking soreness is an excuse to accept a poor practice. However, in this case, I'm not sure it was the time to make that point.

Not that it really matters, but here are his swim times...

# 52 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Free (2:26.94L) - 2:38.30
# 56 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Breast (1:27.36L) - 1:35.45
# 64 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Back (1:24.42L) - 1:26.40
# 66C (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 400 Free (5:28.07L) - No Show - coach let Brett skip this one on Saturday.
# 86 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Free (1:09.03L) - scratch
# 90 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Back (2:48.93L) - scratch
# 94 (d3/s5): B Open 50 Breast (40.56L) - scratch
# 98 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Medley (2:47.84L) - scratch
# 100D (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 1500 Free (20:25.23L) - scratch

Breeze

06-06-2016, 12:35 PM

2016 SE GPAC Tom Lalor Invitational - Quick Follow Up

Just heard, the coach is now sick...

Hopefully, it a bunch of other kids don't catch it too...

Breeze

06-07-2016, 08:02 AM

2016 SE GPAC Tom Lalor Invitational - Quick Follow Up

Just heard, the coach is now sick...

Hopefully, it a bunch of other kids don't catch it too...

Correction

So apparently I'm an idiot and I misread my wife's text. It isn't the coach that got sick, it is one of Brett's roommates in Pensacola.

Bear also came down with it yesterday at dinner. He was up dealing with episodes until 2 or so. Given how often and violently he was ill and assuming Brett was dealing with something similar, I really tip my cap to Brett. Bear even said, there is no way I could swim feeling like this, and yet, Brett did.

We also talked to Brett a bit last night, and he was very sad, to the point of almost tearing up. He said that the Pensacola meet is the best meet of the year. That he looks forward to it all year long and this time around he wasn't able to enjoy it. Also, making matters worse, several of the other kids were teasing him about being "sick". I believe this occurred because the coach set the tone with his mindset that Brett's problems were self-inflicted from not eating right.

Breeze

06-09-2016, 08:57 AM

Swim with Dad @ GaTech – 6/11-12

So this is a quick turnaround meet, given they just got back from Pensacola on Sunday (6/5). But the long course season is extremely compressed, and given they only have 1 meet after this one before state, we decided to sign them up. I don’t expect much from the kids here. Turnaround from last week is too quick and practices are still pretty brutal as they are ramping up effort right now.

However, I’d like to see the Bailey hang around her personal bests like she did last weekend. I was hoping Brett could rebound from feeling poorly to show some of the improvements that I’m seeing, in bursts, at practice, but Tuesday night (6/7) he started experiencing symptoms of the stomach bug again, that carried over into Wednesday. Not sure he’ll be in any shape to do much of anything physical by Saturday. Not sure what to expect from Bear…his sickness may work like a taper, allowing his muscles to rest and thus he’ll swim well if he’s feeling well. But, it is just as likely he’s still fatigued from the bug or even sore from having time off before jumping back into a hard practice on Friday (as he's been out of the pool since getting sick)

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Bailey

# 2 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:45.66L )
# 5 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 200 Fly (2:39.32L )
# 17 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 200 Back (2:43.24L )
# 20 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 400 Free (5:13.89L )
# 42 (d2/s3): G 13 & Over 200 Free (2:27.07L )
# 51 (d2/s3): G Open 100 Back (1:19.50L )
# 57 (d2/s3): G 13 & Over 100 Fly (1:11.69L )
# 63 (d2/s3): G 13 & Over 400 Medley (5:44.28L )

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Bear

# 3 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:35.54L )
# 6 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Fly (2:34.45L )
# 12 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 50 Free (30.24L )
# 21 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 400 Free (4:43.05L )
# 43 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Free (2:18.25L )
# 52 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Back (1:19.49L )
# 61 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 100 Free (1:03.33L )
# 64 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 400 Medley (5:28.62L )

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Brett

# 3 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:47.84L )
# 15 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Breast (1:27.36L )
# 18 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Back (2:48.93L )
# 21 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 400 Free (5:28.07L )
# 43 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Free (2:26.94L )
# 52 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Back (1:24.42L )
# 55 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Breast (3:08.53L )
# 64 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 400 Medley (6:06.58L )

Breeze

06-14-2016, 09:02 AM

Swim with Dad – RESULTS

It’s been so long since I’ve seen the kids race I was really looking forward to this meet. The illnesses running around the house really lowered my expectations, but I was still excited. Unfortunately, things didn’t go according to plan...

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Bailey

On Friday afternoon, Bailey went from – starving and begging the wife to stop and get something to eat on the way to meet a friend at the mall - to – throwing up. This transition was about 20 minutes apart. Obviously, she didn’t swim at the meet, but thankfully the illness apparently didn’t impact her as bad as it did the boys. She returned to practice Monday (6/13), but had a relapse of symptoms that night. She missed practice Tuesday morning, but hopefully, that will be the end of it.

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Bear

After having a couple of days without incident, Bear returned to the pool on Friday (6/10). However, despite his best efforts he was only able to swim 1000 meters before he gave out of gas. With this showing, the coach and we determined it was in Bear’s best interest to just rest through the weekend. Which turned out to be wise as he had a relapse of symptoms (similar to Brett’s relapse) that same evening. He did swim a little on Sunday (~900 meters) and he returned to practice Monday (6/13) morning.

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Brett – not a great meet for Brett, but given his limited practice time while recovering it wasn’t as bad as I expected, and the coach told him he thought he did pretty well overall.

# 3 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:47.84L ) – Brett’s fly looked significantly better, but overall he could only manage a time of 2:57.28. While this 10 seconds is poor, under the circumstances and after researching his swimming last Summer and finding out last year about this time he only managed 2:52… it really doesn’t seem that far off.

# 15 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 100 Breast (1:27.36L ) – started out pretty good and kept it reasonably close to his personal best 1:30.17. Coach said he was about 3/4s of the way back with his stroke after this race. Biggest issue is making the stroke repeatable every time.

# 18 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Back (2:48.93L ) – Way to deliberate for my taste, and he ended up adding 9 seconds - 2:57.28

# 21 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 400 Free (5:28.07L ) – Never challenged himself. I’m pretty sure he was concerned about being able to finish – so he was too conservative. Managed a 5:38.16

# 43 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Free (2:26.94L ) – Second day, Brett definitely seemed to push a bit more. Maybe he had more confidence after making it through the first day. Opened with a 2:35.05, which seems disappointing compared to his seed time, but again I looked up last year at this meet and he swam a 2:32. So only 3 seconds after being sick, not too shabby.

# 52 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Back (1:24.42L ) – Definitely went out harder in this back race. Form was a bit sloppy, and he has a lot of little items to clean up, but he almost popped a personal best 1:24.61

# 55 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Breast (3:08.53L ) – started out really well…posting a 1:32.31 to open. Which was only 1 second behind a teammate that has been just slightly faster than Brett recently. Unfortunately, in the back half he ran out of steam and he limped home in a 1:40.09 to finish at 3:12.40. To give a reference point, Chris (the teammate mentioned above), went 1:31 front and 1:35 low, for a 3:06. Had Brett stayed on his pace in the second 100, he’d have been close to a personal best. Hopefully, improved stamina will allow him to do that soon.

# 64 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 400 Medley (6:06.58L ) – The fly leg looked great early. For about the first 30 meters is was better than he had ever done…then his stroke started to come about little by little. Even with this the first 50 was solid, the second 50 was ugly, but he still managed to go 1:36.31, which is a personal best 100 fly – a good 2 seconds better than the 100 fly he swam to open a 400 IM last year at this time. The effort associated with that leg, really took its toll, and he struggled the rest of the race. He finished in 6:16.61 – which is honestly better than I thought he’d do. I was expecting something around 6:20…figuring the lack of stamina would eat him up.

Breeze

06-18-2016, 07:17 AM

General Update - Olympic Trials

Jack Dolan, one of Brett's first real friends on Gold who moved to St. Louis a couple years back, has qualified for Olympic Trials. He currently has 1 cut and will be going for a couple more over the weekend. I'll fill in details once his meet is over.

Breeze

06-21-2016, 10:21 AM

2016 Henry VIII Invite @ Cumming Aquatic Center – June 24-26

This is a prelim / finals meet all 3 days, so there will be a bunch of swimming (I'll miss the Friday prelims due to work, but should see most everything else). I don’t believe the coach is planning on doing much of a taper for any of the kids. In fact, I expect it to be a drop taper, where he backs off of the work on Thursday night only (maybe a slight decrease Wednesday). I have gotten good reports on all the kids efforts recently. Especially the twins…but I don’t know if it is going to translate into fast times yet.

Here are the events the kids are swimming:

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Bailey

# 1 Girl 13-14 200 Free 2:27.07L – Bailey is hoping to make a move here. One of her friends who used to be faster than her in the freestyle is seeded ahead of her by 3.5 seconds. Bailey is hoping to beat her and her time.

# 9 Girl 13-14 100 Fly 1:11.69L – One of the other 14 year old girls currently has a slightly faster time than Bailey…she wants to fix that this weekend.

# 13 Girl 13-14 400 Medley 5:44.28L – needs a strong breast to improve a bunch. Her improved stamina from working harder in practice might be enough to get a personal best.

# 43 Girl 13-14 200 Fly 2:39.32L – she is so much more comfortable with this race. Hoping she continues to improve her time

# 47 Girl 13-14 100 Back 1:19.05L – Would really like to see a drop in this one. She’s been flat in back for a while. Coach told her it has to do with her rotation, and she said she’s getting better at the technique. Fingers crossed.

# 51 Girl 13-14 400 Free 5:13.87L – As she embraces longer swims, she gets better at them. Could improve her just because she is more comfortable. She will probably try to beat the same girl mentioned in the 200 free here.

# 73 Girl 13-14 200 Back 2:43.24L – see 100 back…only improved practice efforts could help with time due to better stamina

# 81 Girl 13-14 200 Medley 2:45.66L – breast and back have to be better. I expect free at the end will be much improved over last year.

# 85 Girl 13-14 800 Free 10:36.92L – Coach wants her to get a state cut in this…that means she needs to be 10:17…that’s a big drop, but I honestly think she can do it.

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Bear

# 2 Boy 13-14 200 Free 2:18.25L – Bear was very disappointed in his 2:21 time in Pensacola in this event. And several of his friends have improved in this one. We haven’t discussed it, but I expect Bear will be pushing hard in this one.

# 10 Boy 13-14 100 Fly 1:14.32L – haven’t done this one in a while…in Pensacola it was swum on Friday before the Gold team arrived and he was sick during Swim with Dad, so this time is from last year. Given his 200 fly at Pensacola was right on his personal best, I expect this will be close too.

# 14 Boy 13-14 400 Medley 5:28.62L – really struggling with Breast, and the breaststroke really bothers his hip injury. He might end up scratching this one, but if he swims, I don’t expect much.

# 44 Boy 13-14 200 Fly 2:34.45L – I expect he’ll be close to his PB again.

# 48 Boy 13-14 100 Back 1:17.46L – Hoping for continued improvement here. He seems to have a better stroke in back right now, hopefully he doesn’t go back to over-reaching

# 52 Boy 13-14 400 Free 4:43.05L – Added a little in Pensacola…will want to fix that here…

# 78 Boy 13-14 100 Free 1:02.72L – Not sure how much dropping he’ll be able to do here. Having not seen him swim, I just don’t have a point of reference.

# 82 Boy 13-14 200 Medley 2:35.54L – Breast is the issue again…hopefully, he either scratches or he swims it without inflaming his hip strain.

# 86 Boy 13-14 800 Free 10:05.37L – I know he’s eyeing this one. The state cut here…though he already has the 1500 so it is really irrelevant because boys don’t swim the 800 at state – is 9:59.59…I expect he’ll get that easily. Not sure what he’ll shoot for, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he tried to go 9:45 or even faster.

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Brett

# 4 Boy 15 & Over 200 Free 2:26.94L – just hoping he can approach his personal bests. His sick swimming the last couple of times out really make it difficult to project. If he can come close he’ll show he’s ready to improve. If he is 5 or so seconds off, it will show he’s developed some issues he needs to overcome.

# 8 Boy 15 & Over 100 Breast 1:27.36L – even sick, Brett was only a few seconds off on this one. Hopefully, he can pull out a personal best. It would be really good for his self-confidence.

# 16 Boy 15 & Over 400 Medley 6:06.58L – should improve here with better fly and more stamina.

# 38 Boy 15 & Over 200 Breast 3:08.53L – even still recovering at Swim with Dad – in a 200 Breast he was only 3+ seconds off his personal best. Very hopefully, healthy he’ll drop some time.

# 50 Boy 15 & Over 100 Back 1:24.42L – was only +.2 at Swim with Dad…this should be a personal best, if it isn’t I’ll be disappointed.

# 54 Boy 15 & Over 400 Free 5:28.07L – Could do well here…or could settle into a practice pace and come out with a poor time. Depends on his mindset.

# 76 Boy 15 & Over 200 Back 2:48.93L – Added a bunch of time here at Swim with Dad…which was hopefully due to post sickness fatigue, especially considering how well he swam the 100. In fact, his 100 split at SwD was very similar to his 100 time…so all the added time was back half. Maybe this indicates he could do well in this one too…

# 84 Boy 15 & Over 200 Medley 2:47.84L – like the 400, the improved Fly and stamina could lead to a good swim…

# 88 Boy 15 & Over 800 Free 11:00.40L – like the 400 free it all depends on how hard he’s willing to push. Hopefully, he embraces this. Especially given that improving his distance frees will improve his chances of swimming in college.

Breeze

06-22-2016, 11:00 AM

Brett - College Swimming

Well this took a good bit longer than I anticipated, but Brett finally started reaching out to colleges about swimming...

Basically, after a long discussion it appears a good bit of the delay was due to the fact Brett is hesitant about leaving home and getting away from his friends. Not sure your perspective on this, I know when I was looking at colleges, I was excited about getting out on my own, but I'm sure it isn't terribly uncommon for kids to be anxious about college. Also if you remember, Brett REALLY struggled to make friends all through elementary school, and even in middle school. In fact, he will tell you he had no friends at all during those years. It wasn’t until Hunter and Jack started interacting with him, and Seth moved into town that Brett finally started building a friend group. Now he’s basically got an extended family. The kids that are over all the time are more like close cousins than just buddies, and it his hard for him to contemplate giving that up. Making matters worse, he’s the oldest, so he’ll be the first to walk away. However, after much discussion we finally got him to understand that he can maintain his friendships and still go to college. Especially now where it is so much easier to stay in touch with each other. Once he embraced the process he started to show some excitement.

The first schools Brett reached out to are:

King University

Warren Wilson College

In both cases he filled out the online “recruit me” form, and sent a follow up email with more details.

Now, it will probably be a while before we get any response, as coaches aren’t supposed to contact potential recruits until some time in September of their Junior year. Given this is entirely new to me, I’m not sure what information to supply at this point. However, if there is something you’d like to know about the schools, their swim team, or Brett’s interest, feel free to ask, and I will happily fill in what I can.

Breeze

06-22-2016, 11:33 AM

US Olympic Trials

Note: I posted this in a thread on the main board, but decided to post it here as well for posterity sake.

So the Psych Sheet for the Olympic Swimming Trials has been released. For those that don't know, the U.S. Trials is the fastest swim meet in the world. While the Olympics will have individuals that are faster than some U.S. Swimmers, the depth associated with the U.S. Trials is much better than at the Olympics.

You can find the Psych Sheet here:

https://swimswam.com/usa-olympic-tri...heet-released/

The actually Psych Sheet is a link at the top of the page.

Also, if you've been following along in this dynasty you may recognize a few names that are in the Trials...

Tristan Ulett
Liam Bell
Jack Dolan
Addie Farrington
Lauren Case (Gold)
Emma Cole (Gold)
Ari Lopez (Gold - signed with LSU last year)
Tan Dunn
Blake Atmore (a high school teammate of Brett's)

There are many others we swim at meets with on a regular basis, but most of them are older than my kids so I didn't include them in this list.

I suspect at the next trials 4 years from now, this list is going to be a lot longer.

Breeze

06-27-2016, 12:00 PM

2016 Henry VIII Invite – Day 1 Results

PRELIMS
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Bailey

# 1 Girl 13-14 200 Free 2:27.07L – All reports, from Bailey directly, and from others in the group are that Bailey’s freestyle has improved significantly, but her prelim time was 2:27.62. Now that is an interesting time because of several things that have to be considered. First, while not a personal best, it is only a fraction off of PB time, which given how she added significant amounts of time during short course, was pretty encouraging. However, if her freestyle is that much better, why didn’t she improve on a pretty mediocre seed time? Finally, this was just a prelim, and she was coming back for finals. Would she perform better during the evening session?

# 9 Girl 13-14 100 Fly 1:11.69L – Prelim time of 1:13.47 was pretty disappointing. In fact, the coach asked her if she was holding back, to which Bailey replied she was. She was seeded second, and knew she would make finals, so she said she swam it about 90%...so very interested to see her swim it at finals…

# 13 Girl 13-14 400 Medley 5:44.28L – There was no prelim in this one…the top seeds came back to swim finals only.

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Bear

# 2 Boy 13-14 200 Free 2:18.25L – Bear’s 200 free in prelims was extremely strong as he managed to drop 3.45 seconds and post a personal best 2:14.80.

# 10 Boy 13-14 100 Fly 1:14.32L – Bear again swam well posting another personal best in prelims with a time of 1:12.40

# 14 Boy 13-14 400 Medley 5:28.62L – again this was only swum at finals…

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Brett

# 4 Boy 15 & Over 200 Free 2:26.94L – so my biggest fears here were realized…Brett swam slower than he did when he wasn’t feeling well, only managing a 2:42.59. He’s clearly developed some bad habits, and he informed us that he’s having some shoulder issues (we’ll be taking him to a Dr. this week). Regardless, this one hurt him emotionally/psychologically. That afternoon between sessions, he was talking to us and he said teary eyed, that had this been short course and he and Bear were racing that Bear would have lapped him. I’m not sure that is accurate, but it probably isn’t far off. He was crushed by this performance and didn’t want to return to the pool at all.

# 8 Boy 15 & Over 100 Breast 1:27.36L – another poor swim of 1:33.09…similar to times he posted when sick. Not sure if this was stroke related or a mental hangover after the 200 free…but this result simply piled on the impact to self-confidence.

# 16 Boy 15 & Over 400 Medley 6:06.58L – Brett wasn’t seeded in the top heat for this event, so he did swim it at prelims, and the two poor results above, were only a precursor to this bad swim… Brett’s fly improved – in fact this leg was almost 2 full seconds faster than when he swam is personal best in the 400 IM…so he was ahead of his PB pace. However, he felt his fly was terrible – probably because the rest of his heat got way ahead of him. I believe he was so far behind early, combined with his other bad swims that he just collapsed and quit. He struggled home to finish in a time of 6:16.47. Again during the afternoon break, he pointed out he was the only swimmer to finish over 6 minutes as he continued to focus on his short comings.

This was an alarming occurrence…he’s never been a really good swimmer, but this is the first time it’s really impacted him like this. There are several things going on that make this tough. First, the group of friends that he is a part of are all extremely good swimmers with a few on track to potentially swim at good Division 1 programs. Obviously, he pales in comparison and the gap between him and his friends just continues to grow. Second, the coach feels that he is much more capable than he is is showing, so he continues to swim him in events like the 400 IM. Brett, is far from the worst swimmer on the Senior team. In fact, there is a swimmer who is graduating and will swim with Emmanuel College that Brett beats on a regular bases, but that swimmer basically only swims certain events where he is at least semi-competitive, where Brett still swims everything but Fly because the coach is hoping he’ll make the jump and start improving. Finally, we aren’t sure how seriously his shoulders hurt. Apparently, he’d mentioned it to the coaches some days ago, but it hadn’t really seemed to impact him. His description of the pain makes it sound like tendentious…which is good in that it hopefully isn’t rotator cuff, but is bad because it can be very difficult to heal when you are part of a repetitious sport like swimming.

We were able to convince Brett to return for finals in the 100 Breast….

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FINALS
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Bailey

# 1 Girl 13-14 200 Free – Prelim Time 2:27.62 / Personal Best 2:27.07L – The question about if she would perform better in the evening session was confirmed quickly…from the start she was out quickly and her stroke did look much stronger (as I actually got to see this race). She ended up not only posting a personal best, she killed her previous time 2:22.86. This is huge for her moving forward, as it finally appears that her free is now going to move more into a strength rather than a weakness.

# 9 Girl 13-14 100 Fly – Prelim Time 1:13.47 / Personal Best 1:11.69L – She admitted holding back a bit in the morning session, and she improved on her pedestrian 1:13 time significantly, but she was only able to slightly improve on her personal best finishing in a time of 1:11.00. Still any improvement non-taper is a good swim.

# 13 Girl 13-14 400 Medley 5:44.28L – After two strong swims was eager to see how she’d do here. She opened with a 1:14.88 fly…not bad, but with a personal best of 1:11, was hoping for a 1:13 high. Her back was clearly better than it had been as she actually opened up a lead on several swimmers. Her breast wasn’t bad, she lost some ground, but she didn’t get steamrolled which is what I’m used to seeing, and she came home in a very good 1:13.16 free leg to post another personal best time of 5:38.00 – a drop of 6.28 seconds.

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Bear

# 2 Boy 13-14 200 Free – Prelim Time 2:14.80 / Personal Best 2:14.80 – coming off of his strong swim in prelims, Bear laid an egg at finals. Adding back most of his improvement time from the morning only managing to post a time of 2:17.73. Not sure what happened, but it wasn’t pretty.

# 10 Boy 13-14 100 Fly – Prelim Time 1:12.40 / Personal Best 1:12.40 – After the poor swim in the 200 Free, I wasn’t sure what to expect here. He started out looking sluggish, but his speed must have been pretty good as he stayed right with the field. As is his typical MO, he came home strong and finished with a time of 1:10.78

# 14 Boy 13-14 400 Medley 5:28.62L – One good swim, one bad swim…what to expect in this one. Well – how about an exact tie of his personal best, down to the hundredth spot - 5:28.62

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Brett

# 8 Boy 15 & Over 100 Breast – Prelim Time – 1:33.09 / Personal Best 1:27.36 – He looked pretty good early. Had some sloppiness and seemed to tire a bit late, but did much better than the morning, posting a 1:31.89 – not great, but still enough to take the edge off of his self-doubt a bit, and hopefully, put him in a better frame of mind for Saturday.

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Breeze

06-30-2016, 09:31 AM

2016 Henry VIII Invite – Day 2 Results

PRELIMS
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Bailey

# 43 Girl 13-14 200 Fly 2:39.32L – Started out pretty good, but never seemed to hit high gear. Finished with a solid time of 2:40.40, which prompted coach to ask if she was holding back. She admitted she was and she told him she’ll get a PB during the evening session.

# 47 Girl 13-14 100 Back 1:19.05L – Another solid swim which put her close to her personal best 1:19.52, which made me very interested to see how this would play out at finals as well…

# 51 Girl 13-14 400 Free 5:13.87L – Only swum at finals.

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Bear

# 44 Boy 13-14 200 Fly 2:34.45L – Bear, unlike Bailey did not hold back at prelims…and in typical Bear fashion, he fell off the pace early, but rallied hard late to finish in a personal best time of 2:29.86

# 48 Boy 13-14 100 Back 1:17.46L – Bear’s back was a bit stiff, could have been fatigue from the 200 fly, as there wasn’t a bunch of time between the two races. In fact, I believe he said he only got about a 50 yard warm down before he had to get out and line back up. His time was 1:18.46

# 52 Boy 13-14 400 Free 4:43.05L – only swum at finals

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Brett

# 38 Boy 15 & Over 200 Breast 3:08.53L – DNS – due to shoulder pain

# 50 Boy 15 & Over 100 Back 1:24.42L – The backstroke doesn’t really bother Brett, which after taking him to the doctor makes sense (I’ll get into that later). He definitely went out harder than he typically does and he was pretty solid until late when his bad habits started slipping back into the stroke. He did end up posting a personal best 1:22.84. A nice occurrence following the terrible day on Friday.

# 54 Boy 15 & Over 400 Free 5:28.07L – DNS due to shoulder pain

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FINALS
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Bailey

# 43 Girl 13-14 200 Fly – Prelim Time 2:40.40 / Personal Best 2:39.32L – Obvious early she hadn’t tried hard in the morning. The opening 100 from the morning was a 1:16 mid, and her opening 100 at finals was a 1:13 low…She extended that 3 second opening split lead a little to finish with a personal best time of 2:36.53

# 47 Girl 13-14 100 Back – Prelim Time 1:19.52 / Personal Best 1:19.05L – apparently she did hold back on this in the morning as she swam a personal best in the finals posting a time of 1:16.63

# 51 Girl 13-14 400 Free 5:13.87L – The previous hints that her freestyle was much better technically and much faster was fully confirmed in this race. She had long arms (as long as a girl sub 5’ 3” can have) and an early grab, and she managed to drop 6.76 seconds finishing in 5:07.11

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Bear

# 44 Boy 13-14 200 Fly – Prelim Time 2:29.86 / Personal Best 2:29.86 – Wasn’t sure what Bear would have left after his strong swim in the morning, but his juices must have been flowing to race, as he worked hard to try and get top 3…he finished 4th, but did post another personal best 2:27.60

# 48 Boy 13-14 100 Back – Prelim time 1:18.46 / Personal Best 1:17.46L – A little more adrenalin, and slightly better turns resulted in a time of 1:17.21

# 52 Boy 13-14 400 Free 4:43.05L – And her is where the fatigue from the day hit Bear. This was a poor swim as he fell off the pace almost immediately, and never seemed to get into the flow. He was beaten by most of his friends and because this swim was so poor, and he views this as one of his mid to distance free events where he typically shines, he was extremely disappointed. So much so that for a long while overshadowed the improvements he put up in the earlier events. 4:49.43

Breeze

07-01-2016, 08:55 AM

2016 Henry VIII Invite – Day 3 Results

PRELIMS
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Bailey

# 73 Girl 13-14 200 Back 2:43.24L – out and out poor swim for Bailey, especially given her previous improvements, coasting in with a time of 2:47.38, but before I overreact she’s been swimming much better in the finals, which gives me hope for the night session, though this one isn’t as close to her personal best as others that she’s dropped time in during finals earlier in the meet.

# 81 Girl 13-14 200 Medley 2:45.66L – she was ok through most of this one, but finished in a 2:46.66, exactly 1 second above her seed. Again, maybe she’ll drop during the night session, but she looked tired getting out of the pool after this one.

# 85 Girl 13-14 800 Free 10:36.92L – Bailey was actually looking forward to this one with her improved freestyle. During the race it was obvious her strokes were better. However, it didn’t translate as she only managed a 10:41.56. Coach was scratching his head after this one – and I was too. Only thing we could figure is she was holding back a bit, and honestly, that’s not unusual for someone who hasn’t done a lot of distance stuff. Hoping that moving forward she’ll be able to push through and we will start to see time drops.

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Bear

# 78 Boy 13-14 100 Free 1:02.72L – Bear came into this event seeded 16th overall – but he blistered his prelim swim finishing 9th, and beating his buddy Seth. This was big for Bear after the poor showing in the 400 the day before. 1:01.54

# 82 Boy 13-14 200 Medley 2:35.54L – This swim was uneventful. Bear cruised to a 2:37.60…not sure if he was holding back or still tired from the 100 free, because this was a really quick turnaround. Or maybe he was saving energy for the 800 – which was a prelim not a final swim, and was coming up as the next event – so only about 20 minutes of rest between this one and the distance free.

# 86 Boy 13-14 800 Free 10:05.37L – after getting beat in the 400 badly it’s my opinion that there were a bunch of things going through Bear’s head. One, he was concerned his friends were going to continue to beat him (remember he lost to a couple of his friends in the 1500 in Pensacola just a few weeks ago). Second, he had to be thinking about that 400 and why it was bad. Finally, I’m sure he wanted to make a statement – All the kids in the group use Bear as a measuring stick in the distance frees, saying they are going to beat him. Kind of like being a defending champ in a team sport, all the other teams circle the game and you end up getting their best shot. Well, Bear started out ok, but most of his friends were right with him early – and his buddy Riley was leading him through the first 250…Then Bear started to take control. Coach had me goose the sign to get him to pick it up, realizing he had plenty left and from there it was all Bear. From the 400 split through the finish he only had 1 split over 1:11 (a 1:11.08), and his last 100 was a 1:06.46. He posted a personal best time of 9:21.86. Came into the event seeded 5th and finished 2nd. Closest friend was 10 seconds back…

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Brett

# 76 Boy 15 & Over 200 Back 2:48.93L – After him improvement in the 100 the previous day, I was hoping he would improve here too. However, he never really seemed to engage. His opening 100 was 7 seconds off his personal best from the previous day. If he were really driving to improve it should have been more like 2 seconds over. He closed pretty well, but after the slow opening he really never had a shot at a personal best – 2:52.25

# 84 Boy 15 & Over 200 Medley 2:47.84L – Gave this one a shot…but didn’t improve on his PB. Came in about 2.3 seconds slower, which given his situation isn’t terrible – 2:50.12

# 88 Boy 15 & Over 800 Free 11:00.40L – DNS due to shoulder

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FINALS
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Bailey

# 73 Girl 13-14 200 Back – Prelim Time 2:47.38 / Personal Best 2:43.24L – As this one started, Bailey looked like a totally different swimmer. Racing the girl to her inside (she was in lane 10) and ultimately beating her a several others in the heat. She posted a personal best 2:39.98. That isn’t just a huge drop from prelims, it’s a huge drop from her personal best…this gave me a bunch of hope for the 200 IM.

# 81 Girl 13-14 200 Medley – Prelim Time 2:46.66 / Personal Best 2:45.66L – Fly leg was much stronger this time around, followed by another strong back. Breast was a bit labored, but not terrible, and the free was much improved. She did post another personal best 2:41.86, another big drop from her previous personal best.

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Bear

# 78 Boy 13-14 100 Free – Prelim Time 1:01.54 / Personal Best 1:01.54 – Very reminiscent of the 400 free from yesterday. Bear disconnected from the group early, and seemed to have no energy to get back into it. He looked sluggish and tired as he limped home with a time of 1:03.59. This made me think he had left all he had in the pool during the 800 swim and his IM was going to be ugly as well…

# 82 Boy 13-14 200 Medley – Prelim Time 2:37.60 / Personal Best 2:35.54L – labored but solid fly leg still made him look worn out. Back was good though as he raced the kid next to him for first place in the heat. His breast, while far from great was pretty good as he raced it hard trying to keep up with the boy he was racing for first, who was slowing pulling out a lead on this stroke. Then as Bear turned to Free he really kicked it into gear, and he started eating into the lead, by middle of the pool he had closed 1.5 body lengths, and by the flags they were even, then Bear left his in the dust – winning by half a body length. This was an impressive effort and a personal best 2:32.61.

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Breeze

07-01-2016, 01:47 PM

Injury Update - Brett

We took Brett to the doctor following his announcement of shoulder pain, as that isn't an injury you mess around with as a swimmer. In fact, we have friends who's son pushed through shoulder pain for years, and when he finally went to the doctor, they told him that he had severe damage in the joint and they could repair it, but he would never approach his personal best times again, so ultimately he gave up the sport.

The doctor told Brett he had a rotator cuff impingement and a slight case of Scapular dyskinesis. This is good news because we caught the injury early before actual damage occurred, but bad news because he is going to have to go through some physical therapy, which means his season is basically over. In fact, he's been just kicking all this week and will continue to just kick the reason of this season.

The underlying problem behind Brett's injury is a typical one for the sport (and ironically it is the same underlying problem that caused Bailey's shoulder pain years ago), the front of his shoulder is too strong for the back of the shoulder and the upper back. So the physical therapy will be designed to teach Brett some exercises that will strengthen these areas to balance the joint's support.

Will keep you updated on how the recovery is going.

Breeze

07-06-2016, 08:29 AM

General Update

There are some very disturbing things taking place right now with the team. Earlier this year Maddie and her sister Carmen (two girls Bailey used to swim with at SwimAtlanta) moved over to Gold. Bailey wasn't happy about it because she said they were mean and manipulative. Also Maddie, who is actually a very good swimmer, isn't committed and her attitude rubs off on other girls. Let's fast forward several months to this Summer, and we are seeing the girls and boys starting to drift apart, as the girls are for some strange reason irritated with the boys (who by the way don't like hanging out with the girls because of Maddie and Carmen).

On July 3rd, one of the parents had a party that the team was invited to (including Coach Andy), and after the party 5 girls stayed over to spend the night (Bailey wasn't one of them, because she didn't know that spending the night was an option and she didn't have her stuff with her). On the 4th the team had a practice scheduled for 1 o'clock, because we are so close to the state meet and this is a really bad time to be out of the water. Only problem, the 5 girls that spent the night together (including Maddie and Carmen) decided they weren't going to practice, but they were going to go tubing all day on the lake, and they were going to attend the fireworks party that night. In fact, there were wanted to attend a get together of the parents at the coach's house while practice was taking place. These absences extremely irritated Andy to the point on the 5th he kicked them out of practice following warm up.

In a response to this being kicked out of practice, MK went to Dynamo to try out. The mother says she's just keeping her options open. Apparently Bailey's other friends Maryann and Ainsley are thinking about it as well.

This is a really sad situation, especially for Bailey, as a large number of her friend group could be gone by next season. Moreover, the parents are about to split up a really tight group of friends and a solid support system, and the logic to me is extremely confusing. Honestly, did the parents of the kids expect they could miss a specially called practice as a large group and there wouldn't be any repercussions? The irony of this situation is that Gold (and specifically Andy) has been much more lenient on the kids than other teams are. Maddie and Carmen were already kicked out of SwimAtlanta for lack of attendance, and Dynamo is as hard or harder on attendance. In fact, Dynamo is practicing 7 days a week right now. If MK and the others move, they are going to find themselves kicked off the team pretty quickly if they don't adjust their practice habits.

Hopefully, this will all just blow over during the break between seasons and things will be back to normal in August.

Breeze

07-08-2016, 06:22 AM

Injury Update - Brett

Brett had his first physical therapy session yesterday, and for the most part it was what we expected. The plan is to strengthen the upper middle back and the back of the shoulders. The interesting thing is they did acupuncture on him as well. Not sure if this will be a standard practice on every visit or just the first X number of visits, or if this was a 1 time thing. Ultimately, the therapist said that they expect Brett can be back to full swimming in 4 weeks, and in two weeks they will want him to swim some to make sure they are making progress. Of course the season is over in two weeks, but we can take him up to the pool to see how things are going.

Breeze

07-11-2016, 11:27 AM

Georgia Long Course Age Group State Championships @ GaTech – 7/14 – 7/17

This will be the last long course age group meet for the twins as next year they will be swimming in the 15 and over senior level. They were both hoping to do well here. In fact, I believe that Bear had outside hopes of getting on the Zone team. Unfortunately, both kids inherit numerous good swimmers that age up in the late summer or fall that they don’t compete against during short course championships.

This year, like the short course meet in March will not differentiate between 13 and 14 year olds (whereas in the past they did). Previously, I have noted in the seed portion where the kids were for their age only…now I’ll note there overall seed as well as their seed for their age; because It might be interesting to look back at some point and see how that seeding changed year over year.

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Bailey

#15 Girls 13-14 100 LC Meter Butterfly – 1:11.00 : 36/26 – Bailey’s 1:11 is a nice time, especially given that she hasn’t had a taper all season. She is hoping to get down into the 1:08 range for this one, and a 1:07.99 is the time she’ll need to swim senior state next season. I’m not sure a 1:08 is reachable (unless she really improves on her walls), but I do believe a 1:09 low is attainable.

#41 Girls 13-14 200 LC Meter Butterfly – 2:36.53 : 18/15 – Bailey’s hope coming into this event was to make finals. I don’t know if that is the A final or if she’ll be happy with the B final. I hope it is the later because there are only 10 places in each finals, and this event has 3 girls that swam at Olympic trials, and 2 others that nearly got cuts at 14 years of age. That’s half of the A final right there. In fact, the slowest of those 5 is still 4 full seconds faster than the 6th girl. To make the A final Bailey is going to have to swim in the 2:29 low range at worst, and that is a 7 second drop. Improved walls might get it done, but that level of drop is a tough ask, even with a taper. A 2:32 would be a great swim, and if she can drop just 1.2 seconds she’ll earn her senior cut.

#83 Girls 13-14 200 LC Meter Backstroke – (2:39.98) : 63/35 – Bailey is entered here based off of her short course time. She never actually swam the qualifying time during the long course season, but the carry over still makes her eligible to swim this event. This one is more about her having another event than anything else. She isn’t going to make a final, and she probably isn’t going to earn her senior cut time either. A personal best would be a nice bonus.

This meet breaks down nicely for Bailey. It’s the first time she will have 1 event each day. Meaning, hopefully, fatigue won’t be an issue. She’s also not likely to swim on a relay, giving her the ability to further focus on her personal swims. Given how good she’s looked this season and how hard she’s worked; combined with the fact this is her first taper. I’m expecting 3 very nice swims.

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Bear

#2 Boys 13-14 1500 LC Meter Freestyle – 18:37.89 : 19/15 – This is the big one for Bear. He’s not really happy with his seed as several of his friends are currently in front of him. However, he only swam this once during the season and it was in Pensacola, and when it comes to travel meets I always lower my expectations. Bear does have some momentum going into this race after his really strong 800 in the previous meet. He hasn’t actually vocalized what he wants to swim, and the coach hasn’t given any indication as well. However, I suspect Bear is going to shoot to cut at least a full minute – which will give him a shot at a top 10 finish. If he can cut 75 seconds, he’ll definitely be top 10 and probably top 8. If he can cut 90 seconds, he’ll be right on the team record. 90 seconds would take one hell of a swim, but Bear really wants a team record and he’d love to sneak in here and get a medal and a swim of 17:07 or so would probably accomplish that. The minimum goal is probably the senior cut at 17:39.99.

#8 Boys 13-14 200 LC Meter Freestyle – (2:14.80) : 44/24 – Like Bailey in the 200 back, Bear is entered here based on his short course time. The interesting thing is that only 23 fourteen year olds qualified during the season. That is an extremely small number for a 200 Free. No expectations here, but Bear could drop a good bit of time. He won’t even come close to the senior cut, but that isn’t surprising especially for Boys, given that there is 1 senior cut for ages 15 – 18…and they don’t want too many 15 year olds in the meet.

#24 Boys 13-14 400 LC Meter IM – (5:28.62) : 50/26 – Another entry off of short course results. Bear’s strokes are solid, but his sprinting hasn’t looked strong so far this season. Maybe a taper will have a huge impact. I could see him dropping a couple seconds, but anything more than that is probably wishful thinking.

#42 Boys 13-14 200 LC Meter Butterfly – 2:27.60 : 16/13 – This is an event where Bear might make it back to finals. B finals is probably the best he can hope for, given that to make the A final he’d need to swim somewhere in the neighborhood of 2:22 high, and that’s a huge drop. Things are pretty compressed here with times, and there are some strong swimmers right behind Bear so it will take a good swim to get into the top 20. However, Bear loves to race this one coming home, and his ability to gut it out and close hard will probably be on full display. I think that mental toughness will keep him pretty close to his seed position at worst.

#88 Boys 13-14 200 LC Meter IM – (2:32.61): 62/29 – Another short course time, and while I think he can get a personal best, I don’t expect a huge improvement here. Sprinting as I mentioned above has been a bit sluggish, and this one is short enough that his grind style won’t have time to really take ahold of the field.

#92 Boys 13-14 400 LC Meter Freestyle – 4:43.05 : 31/26 – This is a frustrating event for Bear. Like the 500 in short course it is long enough he does well, but it is also short enough some of the sprinters can still beat him. The key here is that he’ll have to take it out much harder than he typically does. He can’t afford to disconnect because there isn’t time to close back in. If he really pushes he could do well in this one, but it is going to hurt.

Bear's results might hinge on his first event. If he swims well in the 1500 which I expect he'll do, he could have an amazing meet. If he swims poorly, he will probably still do ok, but he puts so much stock in how he swims the distance freestyles it could put him off of his game if he doesn't swim it well.

Bear could be on a B relay, as his personal best time right now is 9th or 10th on the team...

Breeze

07-18-2016, 10:20 AM

Georgia Long Course Age Group State Championships – RESULTS – DAY 1

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Bear

#2 Boys 13-14 1500 LC Meter Freestyle – 18:37.89 : 19/15 – Bear really set some low expectation coming into this event. He was initially only concerned with breaking 18 minutes. The coach felt that was a little too easy so he gave him splits to try and swim 15 seconds faster than that, hoping that he’d kick it in on the back half and potentially get into the 17:37 or 17:35 range. Bear started out ok, for the first 200, then started to slip, which prompted a signal – which he responded too. Unfortunately, because it is long course and signaling is much less frequent combined with the fact my signals are based off of a spit that is a full 50 meters old he was often off pace for a full 150 at times before I could let him know. He was never terribly off pace, so these periods didn’t kill his time. He was able to battle through, but he didn’t have his typical back half charge in him. He did report his shoulder started to hurt a bit which made it difficult (thankfully, this didn’t occur again throughout the meet). All in all, he basically hit the mark the coach wanted clocking in with a time of 17:45.75. An impressive drop of 52 seconds. However, he was pleased but not thrilled with the result. His buddy Tommy beat him, and several of the kids he competes with for medals in short course beat him by 15 to 30 seconds. However, this happened last year as well, so I’m not sure there is anything to be concerned about. Ultimately, he finished 13th overall.

Breeze

07-19-2016, 08:40 AM

Georgia Long Course Age Group State Championships – RESULTS - DAY 2

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Bailey

#15 Girls 13-14 100 LC Meter Butterfly – 1:11.00 : 36/26 – As expected she improved, and her walls were better, even though they still need some work, and she needs to stop breathing off the wall. She couldn’t get her 1:08s…but she did get 1:09.73, which is a personal best and a drop of 1.27 seconds. She also moved up to 31st overall in this event.

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Bear

#8 Boys 13-14 200 LC Meter Freestyle – (2:14.80) : 44/24 – The drop was about what I expected it would be…he went out in a 1:02.8 and came home in a 1:09.00…the back half wasn’t as good as I was expecting given his propensity to really charge at the end. But regardless the time was a 2:11.80 which is exactly a 3 second drop.

#24 Boys 13-14 400 LC Meter IM – (5:28.62) : 50/26 – Bear really wanted to improve in this one. He was disappointed in his time coming in and he said before the start of this race he wanted to win his heat. Well the heat started and despite the fact that all swimmers in the heat came in with short course conversions, the fly leg was fast. Bear was fourth after the fly leg, but he swam his fly great. How well? His split was a 1:09.31 – his personal best in 100 fly long course was a 1:10.78…around a 1.5 second drop with 300 more meters to swim. In the back he passed everyone to take the lead with a 1:19.93 split (in hindsight he said he needs to have a better back split). Then came the breast, and I was expecting his typical stall, but as I prepared to watch the field reel him in and pass him, I realized that wasn’t going to happen. He was more than holding his own. In fact, only 2 swmmers in his heat had a faster split and 1 was well back and a non-factor. He split a 1:32.18. When he got to the wall, he was in a tight race to win his heat. But once the free leg started there was no doubt who was going to win. Bear charged home in a 1:07.01 opening a huge lead on the field. Overall his time was 5:08.43, a drop of over 20 seconds. My assumption that anything over a few seconds would be asking a lot was obviously wrong. With this swim he climbed all the way to 18th overall.

Breeze

07-19-2016, 03:05 PM

Georgia Long Course Age Group State Championships – RESULTS – DAY 3
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Bailey

#41 Girls 13-14 200 LC Meter Butterfly – 2:36.53 : 18/15 – Better dive than what we’ve been seeing recently. Still about 4 inches too deep, but that is significantly better than 14”. This allowed her to stay in contact with the rest of the field early. Her turns were much improved, but again they still need work, and she still breathed coming off of most of the walls. However she looked strong and finished with a time of 2:33.15. That was good enough for 14th overall, which got her into the B final. It also insured she’d be swimming this event at Senior State next year, and it was also just barely off of the 2:32 time I suggested was possible. She would get another shot to improve several hours later.

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Bear

#42 Boys 13-14 200 LC Meter Butterfly – 2:27.60 : 16/13 – Bear opened this 200 fly with a 100 time that again was better than his personal best in the 100 fly. This time he posted a 1:09.78. Back half was a solid effort and he finished with a personal best time of 2:25.62, a nice drop of almost 2 seconds. He also finished prelims in 16th place and would be returning for finals that night.

Breeze

07-20-2016, 09:56 AM

Georgia Long Course Age Group State Championships – RESULTS – DAY 3 FINALS
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Bailey

#41 Girls 13-14 200 LC Meter Butterfly – 2:33.15 – Bailey’s night time was interesting. She seemed to be off a bit as she fell behind early, but then she picked it up and her 100 split at the night session was only .05 slower than her swim from the morning. In the back half she started closing in the middle of the field to the point were coming off the wall for the final 50 she was in a tight race for 5th in the heat. She battled down the pool, but faded late and was passed by a couple of other swimmers. Regardless, she still managed to post another personal best time, improving on the morning swim by posting 2:32.27.

The finals of the State Meet were actually available to be streamed online. The video is currently available (don’t know for how long) in case you are interested in watching Bailey’s swim. You can find the video here:

http://atlantaswimming.azurewebsites.net/2016GASwimAGLCState2

Bailey’s race starts around the 27:15 mark. She’s in lane 8 (black knee suit, black cap). Also, coming into the finish there is a really neat underwater shot. You can see Bailey clearly coming into the finish around 30:00 minutes in.
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Bear

#42 Boys 13-14 200 LC Meter Butterfly – 2:25.62 – Bear’s form an effort in the night session looked good, but the speed wasn’t there. His opening 100 was a full second slower than it had been in the morning. That made it pretty obvious this wasn’t going to be a personal best. He ended up clocking in at a time of 2:27.37. Disappointing for him, but his improvement from the morning was still an excellent swim and something he was proud of.

Bear’s final swim is also on the video mentioned above in Bailey’s write up. In fact you can see a good bit of Bear early as he is on the edge of the screen that was focused on the leaders. Bear’s video stats at 37:20. Just like Bailey, Bear was in lane 8 (black cap, black jammer), and you see him finish underwater as well around the 39:45 minute mark.

Breeze

07-20-2016, 02:53 PM

Georgia Long Course Age Group State Championships – RESULTS – DAY 4

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Bailey

#83 Girls 13-14 200 LC Meter Backstroke – (2:39.98) : 63/35 – Bailey was very indifferent about this race, talking down her performance coming into it. Talking about how she was probably going to come in last. However, when the race started to nonchalance stopped. She clearly wanted to swim well, as her stroke looked good and the rotation was a bit quicker than normal. She opened with a 1:17 high, and her personal best in the 100 is a 1:16 high. Obviously, she was pushing. She ended up fading in the last 20 meters, but still managed to improve on her time. She finished in 2:38.21. She also managed to finish 48th, passing quite a few other swimmers in the standings.

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Bear

#88 Boys 13-14 200 LC Meter IM – (2:32.61): 62/29 – Originally in this write up I stated “I think he can get a personal best, I don’t expect a huge improvement here. Sprinting as I mentioned above has been a bit sluggish”. However, after his huge improvement in the 400 IM my expectations changed. I can’t sit here and admit I expected a huge improvement, the shorter distance makes that much tougher to accomplish, but given his improved Breast and solid remaining strokes, I thought a 2+ second drop could be achieved. Coming into this event, his opening 100 (fly and back legs) in his personal best swim was a 1:14.09…he opened here in a 1:10.81. Already a huge improvement. He finished the back half about half a second faster than his previous personal best swim to post a total time of 2:28.87

[I]#92 Boys 13-14 400 LC Meter Freestyle – 4:43.05 : 31/26 – Bear hadn’t improved on this even all year. The 4:43 time that he was seeded with was actually posted at the long course state meet in 2015. He wasn’t happy about that so he attacked this race with a vengeance. Ultimately he dropped 10.31 seconds and finished in a time of 4:32.74. This swim was so strong he ended up jumping a bunch of swimmers in the standings. In fact, had this been a prelim/final swim (the 400 was a final only swim so the kids didn’t have to swim it twice in 1 day), he would have qualified for the B final in 20th place.

Breeze

07-22-2016, 08:51 AM

General Update - Bailey

One of the parents in our swim group, owns a photography studio and she is in the process of starting a new type of picture - Sports Portraits. To create the marketing material for this new offering she took some pictures of the swim team, and Bailey was included. Here are a few shots...

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-v8Ojk_h5ta4/V5Ig3t7wEnI/AAAAAAAAAgs/LH93FG7NIBE8XbYK3n2VbAGwvOJKtUICQCL0B/w800-h533-no/Bailey%2BAnanchel%2Bphoto.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5ON1xxcmjrY/V5IhXxsMtfI/AAAAAAAAAhM/mSWbXkWQidEx6j9FUPmu7rGuxvMum3EBACL0B/w1000-h596-no/Bailey%2Bgroup%2Bpic%2BAnanchel.jpg

Pictured left to right - Daniel (green suit), Maddie P, Bailey, Brandon (he just came over from Dynamo), Sammy, and Tommy

there are a few more pictures, I'll try to get them posted soon

Breeze

07-25-2016, 10:43 AM

Long Course Wrap Up

Long course season is now over and the kids are enjoying a well-deserved break. I wanted to take a quick moment to look back on this season, how the kids did, and where the stand heading into short course.

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Bailey

After a terrible short course, which saw her go the entire season without a drop in time in any event until the state championship; she had a very successful long course. I believe getting moved up to the “senior” team and having a larger group of workout partners to pace off of help immensely. During short course she was stuck with only Mary Ann, who doesn’t practice hard (and honestly I don’t think she likes swimming, but she continues to do it so she can be around her friends and away from her parents).

Below is a breakdown of her times:

50 Free : 31.90, (-.36) – A Time – This is an event that Bailey didn’t swim often this season, and not at all tapered. She’s undoubtedly even faster than this shows, but sprint frees are not going to be her forte anyway, so the fact she didn’t get to swim it much is pretty irrelevant at this point in time (when she gets closer to recruiting age it will become an issue as sprint frees are a high point of interest for college coaches)

100 Free : 1:09.09, (-1.23) – A Time – Again another event she didn’t swim often and not at all tapered. However, the improvement here and in the 50 shows she’s starting to get her freestyle figured out. For too long she’s had an inefficiency that was holding her back. This could be big for her moving forward.

200 Free : 2:22.86, (-4.21) – AA Time – I can’t remember the last time Bailey had an AA time in a freestyle event. Another indication she could improve significantly in short course.

400 Free : 5:07.11, (-15,68) – A Time – Most of my comments here would simply be reinforcing what was mentioned above, with one exception. I believe if Bailey’s free continues to improve, this could end up be her sweet spot.

800 Free : 10:41.56, (-7.72) – A Time – Bailey has stated that she really wants to improve in her distance free swims. It’s an interesting reversal. I believe it is because she sees how the distance races enable swimmers to hold pace better in the back half of other events (like her 200 fly for instance).

100 Back : 1:16.63, (-3.4) – A Time – Decent improvement in this one, especially when not tapered and after the poor short course season. She needs to get this stroke going again in order improve her overall swim rating and it could drastically improve her IMs.

200 Back : 2:38.21, (-5.03) – AA Time – This is an event Bailey swam regularly, and it took some time to really start improving, but she put it together late and posted back to back strong swims at the end of the season, good enough to climb to a AA time.

100 Breast – Did Not Swim in 2016. If she can get this stroke to a BB time, she will take her IMs to a whole new level…

200 Breast – Did Not Swim in 2016

100 Fly : 1:09.73, (-1.94) – AA Time – Interestingly, Bailey only swam this event in two meets this season including state. I was initially surprised when I saw this, but then I remembered the 100 Fly at the travel meet was before the team arrived, then she got sick and missed a meet. The slight improvement isn’t a real surprise given her times are already really strong in this event so it is much harder to move the needle.

200 Fly : 2:32.27, (-7.05) – AA Time – This was a big improvement in a stroke where Bailey is already strong. In fact, she earned a AA time this season and last season she settled for an A Time. She’s really wanting to push this to a AAA next year.

200 IM : 2:41.86, (-5.25) – AA Time - Again managed to climb into the AA range from an A time the previous year. Her improved Breast and Free has a lot to do with this, but she still has some ways to go.

400 IM : 5:38.00, (-6.28) – AA Time – Only swam this event 1 time all season. I think with some more racing she probably would have gotten the state cut. Interested to see what she will do with this event during short course with her improved weaker strokes and better stamina.

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Bear

Bear continued his steady improvement during the long course season. However, like 2015, while he improved, he probably fell short of expectations. His long course swimming isn’t nearly as strong as his short course. Some of that has to do with the good swimmers he picks up when he ages up right before the long course season. Also, I believe that he has a harder time with pacing in the longer pool. I believe he will grow out of this as he gets older and continues to swim, but even if he doesn’t the strong short course is better for recruiting anyway.

50 Free – Did not swim in 2016 – This is a bit disappointing as Bear’s sprints have gotten a good bit better and I am curious how fast he would have gone.

100 Free : 1:01.54, (-1.79) – AA Time - Only swam with twice and never with a taper. Did climb into the AA time range, which he didn’t do last season. He needs to continue to improve in the sprint frees, not just for recruiting purposes, but because the improved speed does translate to the distance swims. Right now he’s competing with and even beating swimmers who’s 100 free time is 4 and 5 seconds faster than his. He needs to close that gap some and not rely entirely on effort and stamina.

200 Free : 2:11.80, (-6.45) – AA Time - This is a big drop in an event where Bear was already strong. His swim at state was very good and he is excited about where this might lead in short course.

400 Free : 4:32.74, (-11.30) – AAA Time – An all-star time for Bear in this one, and it comes in an event that he didn’t improve on at all during the season. He came into state with his personal best as his state swim in 2015, then managed to drop all of that time.

800 Free : 9:21.86, (-43.51) – AAA Time – A huge drop in this one, and it was a non-tapered drop (the 800 isn’t swum at the state meet). Another all-star time for Bear, and this one was a big morale booster, as he had struggled a bit before this swim. Also bodes well for his distance swims in short course.

1500 Free : 17:45.75, (-56.82) – AAA Time – A third all-star time, and a good, albeit a bit disappointing swim for Bear. Hard to believe he can be disappointed with a AAA time, but if it motivates him to work harder heading into short course (which is typically what happens), then good. This could really propel him to have a big distance portion of state and sectionals next season.

100 Back : 1:17.21, (-2.28) – BB Time – An area where Bear really needs to improve. He’s become far too stiff in this event for some reason. He needs to relax and go. Started to see a bit of an improvement in this during the IMs at State, but he has some work to do. If he can get this to an A time, his IMs will improve dramatically. I’d like to see him earn a state cut in this, and his underwaters might drive that, but he will have to learn how to manage his oxygen better. Right now when he stretches his underwaters he faids in the back half. If he gets that ironed out this will drop a bunch in short course.

200 Back : 2:38.08, (+1.33) – BB Time – This seems odd, Bear adding time over the entire season. But Bear only swam this event 1 time, in Pensacola during the travel meet. I’m not sure why he didn’t swim it more, but the lack of improvement here is understandable.

100 Breast – Did Not Swim in 2016 – His breast is improving, will be interested to see what his times are if he gets to swim it in short course

200 Breast – Did Not Swim in 2016

100 Fly : 1:10.78, (-3.55) – BB Time – This one is a bit disappointing. Bear needs to get his sprint fly up to at least an A time. He’s capable of an A time, not sure he has the stroke to drop to AA, especially in long course. He should really push to try and get a AA during short course…with strong walls he might be able to pull it off.

200 Fly : 2:25.62, (-8.83) – AA Time – If you ever wanted a perfect illustration of Bear’s stamina and drive, look no further than this. His 100 Fly time is a BB rating, his 200 Fly time is a AA. That has everything to do with heart and work ethic. His sprints in fly aren’t strong, but his effort is relentless. Improved 100 could lead to huge drops in the 200 during short course.

200 IM : 2:28.87, (-6.67) – AA Time – Improved breast helped Bear climb into the AA time range in this one. If that Breast continues to improve his time in short course could be very strong.

400 IM : 5:08.43, (-20.19) – AAA Time – A fourth all-star time and a big improvement from last year’s A time. This big drop again it can be highly attributed to his improved Breast…another even that looks to be a strong one in 2016/17 short course.

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Brett

Now a totally different review, as Brett didn’t even finish the long course season. He was really excited about swimming long course, as he’s usually better in the longer pool. But the season started off poorly with his sickness at the travel meet that he was unable to shake. It drained him badly as he eventually lost 15 lbs., and he’s still struggling to get that weight back. Then he had shoulder issues which shut him down the rest of the season. However, I must admit that I’m very proud of Brett. Once his season was basically over when he started physical therapy, it would have been easy for him to simply sleep in each morning and skip practice with the mindset of “my season is over anyway”. But that isn’t what he did – he went to practice almost every day, and just kicked, and kicked, and kicked. Hopefully, Brett used this problem as an opportunity to improve his kick technique, which if he did, it could carry over to an improved short course season.

Brett is still struggling with pain in the shoulder despite physical therapy twice a week for several weeks now. Hopefully, he gets it ironed out soon, so he’ll be prepared when the new season kicks off.

Breeze

08-10-2016, 08:39 AM

General Update - Brett

So Brett is still doing rehab and it is coming along slowly, but he's not half way through it yet so it's ok. The therapist said he's starting to show improved strength in his back and the back of the shoulder and that she's going to be increasing his workout. In addition, she's said that while he is extremely fit and lean, his abs are actually a little weak for a swimmer (this probably helps to explain Brett's lack of improvement in breast and his struggles in fly), so she's adding ab work to his routine.

Interestingly, during his most recent visit, the therapist moved away from the dry needling that they have been doing and instead performed cupping on him. So Brett has 3 of those round bruises (albeit smaller ones) that you see all over the US Swimmers at the Olympics.

Breeze

08-15-2016, 09:11 AM

General Update

Practice for the 2016-17 short course season starts today. The kids are pretty excited to get back in the water. Brett will still be limited in his efforts because of the shoulder rehab. He'll start doing only about 25% of the work before switching to just kicking, but he may get cleared to do backstroke soon (we will find out later this week).

Thankfully, we won't be doing morning or Saturday practice for a few more weeks...

Breeze

08-18-2016, 08:31 AM

General Update - Brett's PT

So found out something very interesting from Brett's PT. Apparently, Brett's back was very sore on Wednesday afternoon (following Tuesday's PT session). I was a bit surprised because he's been sore before, but this time the discomfort was much more pronounced. I asked him why he thought it was worse and the answer ended up being a long story.

Basically, during one of new exercises they were doing, Brett was struggling to complete the reps, and the PT had him change his stance and grip and he figured out that Brett was overcompensating for his back by using his trap. They had noticed it before, but never to this extent. So they did some more testing and realized that his overcompensation is much more pronounced than they expected. So from that point forward, during exercises they would physically force him to keep his shoulder down (rather than allowing him to shrug them up so he could use his trap), this forces him to isolate the muscles in his back, and that isolation means the back muscles were worked harder than they have been before and more soreness set it.

Hopefully, they can break him of this habit, because by using the trap, lat, shoulder and back together his overall strength will improve significantly, and his swimming could improve as a result.

Breeze

08-28-2016, 10:09 AM

General Update

So a big wet blanket was thrown on this upcoming season, only this one will impact the kids indirectly, we just don't know to what extent.

Background: I'm not going to go into the gory details, but suffice it to say I was treating a cough, shortness of breath, and side/back pain for about a week. After an ultrasound showed some fluid on my lung, I went back to get an x-ray which indicated I had a collapsed lung. I went to the emergency room and ended up spending 3 days in the hospital with a drain in my left lung. All that would be bad enough, but the big problem is that the fluid drained from my lung tested positive for cancer. So as a 47 year old, non-smoker, I am now entering cancer therapy.

We told the kids and they took it hard. We will have to see if it adversely impacts their practices and performances.

jct32

08-28-2016, 06:41 PM

That must be quite a shocker to the whole family.

I'm hoping the best in your therapy Breeze. I'll be thinking of you and your family.

thealmighty

08-28-2016, 08:49 PM

Thoughts and prayers to you and the family, especially your trio of young fish.

Breeze

09-01-2016, 10:34 AM

General Update

So Brett's PT has been very interesting. He is learning a great deal about why he's struggled so much with swimming. To begin, when he has to do certain motions his natural tendency is to adjust his joint position (like shrug/raise his shoulders on a pull) in order to compensate with muscles he more comfortable using. He does this a great deal which has caused his trap and lat to become very strong while his back and shoulders are much weaker. This is what triggered the impingement. Also, his ankle flexibility isn't good because his knees and feet don't line up. His feet are very duck footed and his knees are inside of the line, which puts a huge strain on the ligaments and tendons that need to loose for the ankle to flex correctly.

Brett, realizing that he has been using the wrong muscle groups with his stroke, has very maturely moved himself down a couple of lanes in practice and he is working on fixing his stroke. Tough to do at this stage in his swimming, but necessary. The coaches are proud and I'm extremely proud to see him address this the right way. It won't be easy, as his muscle memory for hundreds of thousands of yards is incorrect, and when racing it is easy to revert back to bad habits. Fingers crossed for him.

Quick Note: Bailey had some discomfort in her shoulder last night. We will be watching that closely.

Breeze

09-01-2016, 02:05 PM

That must be quite a shocker to the whole family.

I'm hoping the best in your therapy Breeze. I'll be thinking of you and your family.

Thoughts and prayers to you and the family, especially your trio of young fish.

Thanks guys...appreciate the well wishes.

Breeze

09-06-2016, 11:28 AM

Brett - College Swimming

We took Brett down to Lagrange University this weekend to look at the campus. I wasn't totally familiar with this school so I was surprised to see how nice it was. Very quaint with classic old brick architecture and numerous courtyards throughout the property. A nice baseball stadium and a football stadium that is about the size of a high schools but with concrete bleachers not aluminium. Unfortunately, we couldn't get into the natatorium, but we could see in and it appeared to be a pretty nice facility.

Brett can probably go to Lagrange and swim, but for him to be able to contribute he'll need to improve a good bit as Lagrange has some very strong swimmers and a rather large team.

This trip was more about introducing him to campuses and letting him see what is out there. We are planning to go to King University this weekend to look around there.

law90026

09-06-2016, 05:34 PM

Wow really sorry to hear the news. All the best with therapy

Breeze

09-08-2016, 09:45 AM

General Update

First morning practice of the season was Wednesday (9/7) and I'm really feeling the effects. Not being able to drink coffee isn't helping any...

Breeze

09-12-2016, 10:34 AM

Brett - College Swimming

We visited Emmanuel College on Sunday. We were planning to go up to King University, but it is close to Bristol and they had that UT/VaTech game and we didn't want to deal with that Zoo.

Again the campus was nice classic Georgia brick architecture. The housing area seemed like a new and very nice complex with 4 buildings all surrounding a building that appeared to be a common area for hanging out together.

We did get to walk through the athletic center, and it was very nice. The pool is 10 lanes (though it looked like only 6 were set up for racing), and very nice. The room was a bit hot for my liking, but when you are swimming it probably isn't as noticeable. The basketball and volleyball areas were across the hall and in immaculate condition. They also had an 8 lane bowling alley in the facility and the cafeteria was a Pappa Johns.

It was also interesting...we watched a bit of the soccer team playing a match against someone. We couldn't tell who they were, but later when we went through the athletic facility we saw about 8 girls wearing King University T-Shirts and we figured that had to be who the men were playing in soccer, and that the women had played earlier in the day and were waiting for the men to finish so they could head back to school.

We are planning to go to King this Saturday.

Breeze

09-14-2016, 12:13 PM

General Update

So, I've been trying to help Brett coordinate some of these campus visits, and in the process I uncovered some of his writings. Below is something he was writing to a friend (I believe Mary Kate), and I think this gives you pretty good insight into who Brett is:

Ok...so i just read your rant on Instagram. And believe me I know how you feel, it sucks your life away. It becomes your life. you pour your heart and soul into it, and sometimes get nothing in return. It's so incredibly frustrating to watch all my Friends make all this amazing progress, while I seem to be sitting still. And sometimes I hate it, I just wanna quit. But I can't...it's the only thing I've ever known, it's where all of my friends are. Sure, I have Friends at school, but nothing like the ones at swim. And even though swim sucks sometimes, and it's hard and time consuming, think about all that It gives back to you. I'm not 100% certain, but I'm guessing that your much closer to your swim friends than school friends, seeing as how you hate Brittany. U and I have been swimming about the same amount of time...10..freaking...years. Think about all the memories that equals. It's insane...too many to think about. All of the laughs, funny stories , hard practices, embarrassing moments. It's uncountable. So instead of telling your kids you swam for 3 hours and could never do anything you wanted. Tell them that u got the opportunity to grow up around an amazing group, made up of people with good morals, who care about you. witch is why I'm sending you this. Because pretty soon, not tomorrow, next week, or even next year, I'm going to have to come to practice, only I wont have my bag with me, or a suit, or goggles. And instead of drylands, all the graduating seniors including me, will have to look at the best group of friends they could ask for, and say "see Ya later" for the last time. That's probably going to be the hardest thing I'll ever have to do...to look down at everything I had ever wanted sense 3rd grade, a group of the best friends imaginable, and throw it away. And now I'm afraid, that your going to choose to quit, and I'm going to have to say goodbye to a person I never wanted to say goodbye to, much earlier than I thought I would have to.

Breeze

09-30-2016, 10:31 AM

General Update - Brett

If you've been reading along you are aware that Brett has been dealing with shoulder issues and has been in PT. While he reports his right shoulder is better but the left is still bothering him. In fact, he basically can only swim for about 1 hour of practice on average. During his last PT the therapist did some needling but was unable to leave them in for the whole time because the shoulder was so red and angry. He instructed Brett to take some time off...so Brett sat our Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday...

Hoping this will calm things down...will keep you updated.

Breeze

10-10-2016, 09:25 AM

General Update

Just some quick notes about some of the kid's teammates...

Jack Dalmolin, who is an extremely well liked kid will be heading out to Arizona State to swim for Bob Bowman and Michael Phelps

Jackie Hill committed to University of Kentucky

Emma Cole committed to UNC

Breeze

10-11-2016, 10:31 AM

Gold Invite @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 10/14-16

Finally, I have a swim meet to write about. It seems so long since I last updated this journal with any swimming information...again, as I've said numerous times during the start of the season, it is difficult to know how well the kids are going to do in the first meet and in the middle of ramping up their practices (and the coach is really working them hard right now), but regardless here is what they are swimming:

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Bailey

# 1 (d1/s1): G Open 200 Medley (2:24.70Y ) - improved free and breast, but her back is currently a work in progress as she's changing her stroke a bit. I figure she'll be right around her PB
# 3 (d1/s1): G Open 50 Free (27.86Y ) - could improve here as she's continued to work on her freestyle
# 7 (d1/s1): G Open 500 Free (5:49.07Y ) - should improve here because her freestyle is better and she doesn't fear the mid-distance events like she used to
# 41 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Free (2:05.69Y ) - Don't think she can get close to 120 seconds...so not sure she'll drop much but a 2:03 wouldn't surprise me.
# 47 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Back (1:05.15Y ) - as I mentioned in the IM above, this is a work in progress, hopefully she'll dial it in and we'll see a good swim.
# 53 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Breast (2:51.55Y ) - should improve just because there is room for it...hopefully she continues to slowly improve this stroke
# 59 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:01.25Y ) - she want's sub60...don't think it happens at this meet, but it is a good goal regardless
# 95 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Fly (2:13.79Y ) - not sure the goal here, but it wouldn't surprise me to see her beat this time.
# 101 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Back (2:17.77Y ) - see 100 back
# 107 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Breast (1:22.00Y ) - see 200 breast
# 113 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Free (1:00.50Y ) - sub60 or bust!!! actually she'll probably be too tired being the last swim and after the 200 fly and back...but she'll get it this season I'm sure.

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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Medley (2:10.22Y ) - I've seen Bear swimming some breast at practice when I pick him up and it looks much better. Fly he said is better, but he says his early grab in the free is off right now and he's trying to clean it up...figure that means a time around his seed.
# 4 (d1/s1): B Open 50 Free (25.50Y ) - If he can get into his good form, could drop...maybe 23+
# 8 (d1/s1): B Open 500 Free (4:59.71Y ) - He's going to want to do well here, but if his form is off, this is a tough race to swim. We should know early based on his splits.
# 42 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Free (1:52.15Y ) - similar to the 500...I don't see him beating this time as it is a very strong PB
# 48 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Back (1:05.73Y ) - haven't really heard about his backstroke...so no idea
# 60 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:00.07Y ) - he's going to be pretty upset if he isn't sub60
# 96 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Fly (2:08.75Y ) - after seeing his 100, I'll have a better idea on this one
# 102 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Back (2:18.94Y ) - see 100 back
# 108 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:17.09Y ) - not sure why Bailey is doing the 200 breast, but Bear isn't...anyway, I think Bear will drop here if he isn't too tired from the 200 fly and back.
# 114 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Free (53.72Y ) - all about form...if he's on, he could drop

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Brett - because of his shoulder injury, Brett was supposed to scratch this meet, but he requested being allowed to do some sprints...

# 50 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Back (1:11.44Y ) - with his lack of swimming I don't expect any personal bests, but he could get close here if he races it.
# 106 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Breast (1:12.60Y ) - this stroke will hurt him more than the other two, because of the way he has to grab the water, so I don't think he'll get close...probably 1:15
# 112 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Free (58.56Y ) - maybe all the kicking he's done will power him in this one, but I suspect somewhere around a 1:01...

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Note: After seeing some of the times from friends that swim for different teams, I'm thinking that staying within a couple of seconds of personal bests will be quite an achievement.

Breeze

10-18-2016, 12:43 PM

Gold Invite - RESULTS

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

# 1 (d1/s1): G Open 200 Medley (2:24.70Y ) – she was disappointed with her fly leg at 30.48…but back was typical time, breast was about a second faster than normal and free was where it has been for a while now, which combined for a time of 2:24.63 a personal best by a whisker.
# 3 (d1/s1): G Open 50 Free (27.86Y ) - form looked better, but time was off by about a half a second 28.45
# 7 (d1/s1): G Open 500 Free (5:49.07Y ) – started our really good. Long arms, high elbows, really appeared to be on target with the stroke. Unfortunately, at about 300 yards fatigue really kicked in and her stroke fell apart. She was able to drop a significant amount of time though, swimming the race in 5:41.91
# 41 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Free (2:05.69Y ) - After a good first day I had high hopes here, only it wasn’t to be. Bailey only managed a 2:09.66, later on the way home she reminded me she dropped a bunch of time in this event at the last short course meet of the season when she was tapered. So expecting another drop this quickly was probably asking too much.
# 47 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Back (1:05.15Y ) – not a good swim 1:08.35
# 53 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Breast (2:51.55Y ) - started out looking ok, had spurts where she was really moving and closing on other swimmers, but there were to many periods of the race were she didn’t seem to move forward enough. 2:53.07
# 59 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:01.25Y ) – This one irritated Bailey…though coach liked her deeper dig on the pull phase of the stroke – 1:04.76
# 95 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Fly (2:13.79Y ) – Added 5 seconds – 2:18.06 – in this one she ended up winning the event by over half a lap, so there was no one for her to actually race. However, I’m starting to think her 2 fly races will be strokes she won’t drop time in anymore unless she is tapered
# 101 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Back (2:17.77Y ) – typical add of around 5 seconds – 2:23.76
# 107 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Breast (1:22.00Y ) – The better stroke that we saw in phases in the 200 showed up enough in this one to get a personal best 1:21.27
# 113 (d3/s5): G 13-14 100 Free (1:00.50Y ) – Got a drop…but not sub60 - 1:00.33

All in all, not a great meet, but not a terrible one either. She feels once she is more familiar with the 500, and gets in shape to do more mid-distance swims that she can get in the low 5:30s. She’s still confident that she’ll go sub60 in the 100 free and fly…Got to get that backstroke figured out before state though.

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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Medley (2:10.22Y ) – fly leg was a good sub 28…back was weak at 35+, breast at 40 was good, and in free only managed a 28+…combined he added a couple seconds, 2:12.52…not great, but the fly and breast look much better and when he’s tapered that free will be much faster than a 28+
# 4 (d1/s1): B Open 50 Free (25.50Y ) - was really hoping for a drop here…mostly because this event isn’t typically on his list so he doesn’t get to swim it often, and it is directly related to who swims on the team relays at state/sectionals. Added a blink of an eye 25.53
# 8 (d1/s1): B Open 500 Free (4:59.71Y ) – was off his pace almost immediately. Coach told him right before this race that he probably wasn’t going to do well because he had been killing the distance group in practice leading into this meet. 5:16.26
# 42 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Free (1:52.15Y ) - similar to the 500...is exactly right…same basic problems for Bear here as he had the night before, just too worn out to maintain the effort needed to drop time 1:56.91
# 48 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Back (1:05.73Y ) - managed to drop time, probably from the excellent turns he was doing. 1:05.35. Coach told him he has to work on his shoulder flexibility in order to get better in this event, so he’s now on a stretching regimen.
# 60 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:00.07Y ) – amazingly he dropped time but didn’t go sub60…1:00.06
# 96 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Fly (2:08.75Y ) – Like Bailey, he dominated this event, winning by 17 seconds. Unlike Bailey he did manage to improve on his personal best 2:08.56
# 102 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Back (2:18.94Y ) – couldn’t duplicate the drop in the 100…actually his long underwater turns probably hurt his time a bit, because it really puts him into oxygen deprivation quickly, especially in a 200 yard race – 2:23.25
# 108 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Breast (1:17.09Y ) – actually looked good in this one. Held the second part of the pull out a little too long which probably cost him a second or so…1:15.59
# 114 (d3/s5): B 13-14 100 Free (53.72Y ) – couldn’t quite pull another drop 54.73

The 500 was disappointing for him, but it could provide a serious motivator for him to work even harder at practice. Hopefully, the shoulder stretches will help with the back. The breast and fly look a lot better. Given he got several personal bests, and came pretty close on others during a meet that the coach admitted to overworking him coming in, it looks like he might be poised to do really well when he is tapered.

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Brett - because of his shoulder injury, Brett was supposed to scratch this meet, but he requested being allowed to do some sprints...

# 50 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Back (1:11.44Y ) - I told Brett to believe he could drop time even though he’s been out of the pool a bunch, and he agreed…and he did drop time in this one, 2 seconds to be exact 1:09.43. This drop also included a really bad third turn and an obvious fatigued stroke for the last 30 or so yards. He was very excited about this and feels he can drop another 2 or 3 seconds if he gets in shape.
# 106 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Breast (1:12.60Y ) – opened with a pace for a 1:07, but closed with a pace for a 1:30. Clearly fatigue was a problem. However, he just missed his personal best time by a hair 1:12.73
# 112 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Free (58.56Y ) – he really tried to kick through this one, but the kicking hurt his knees and he had to back off after the first 25. Couldn’t get close to his personal best here, but he wasn’t too far off given his status 1:00.26

Given his time out of the water, this was an excellent outcome for Brett. He’s excited about trying to get healthy and back in the pool fulltime, and honestly, he hasn’t always been that focused on getting well. Moreover, his shoulder didn’t hurt him after the meet, which is huge. Hopefully, he can get everything ironed out over the next couple of weeks, and then we’ll have to figure out how to work him back in the pool when the current swimmers are already fully ramped up.

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Breeze

10-18-2016, 03:44 PM

College Swimming - Brett

Brett received his first recruiting letter (email) this past week. It was from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN.

Breeze

10-20-2016, 09:38 AM

High School Swimming

This year all 3 of my kids will be swimming for South Forsyth. After last year's team roster swelled to 80 kids, this year the coach has implemented a cut time to qualify for the team. The tryouts start today for new swimmers and tomorrow for returning swimmers and club swimmers. To make the team a student must beat one of the following minimum standards:

Girls

50 Free : 32.05
100 Free: 1:10.80
100 Fly : 1:18.65
100 Back : 1:19.85
100 Breast : 1:30.95

Boys

50 Free : 28.45
100 Free: 1:12.90
100 Fly : 1:10.20
100 Back : 1:12.60
100 Breast : 1:22.99

Obviously, based on the times my kids swam last weekend, we should make the team without issue. My biggest concern is with the timing. I'm assuming the timing will be done manually with stopwatches, and I've seen how bad some people are at getting accurate times.

Breeze

10-21-2016, 07:51 AM

High School Swimming - Try Out Results

As expected all 3 of the kids made the team, and all 3 made it on the 50 freestyle.

All in all, the team ended up with 28 boys and 53 girls - 81 total - good thing they had tryouts or there might have been around 100 on the team...

thealmighty

10-22-2016, 12:08 AM

What is the outlook for the twins on the high school team (top performer, situational swims, etc...)?

Breeze

10-24-2016, 10:36 AM

What is the outlook for the twins on the high school team (top performer, situational swims, etc...)?

Hey TA,

The twins should both qualify for the High School State meet, and potentially earn points for the team in that meet even as freshmen. So they will be some of the top performers. I'm not sure who is on the team yet to really know how things will breakdown overall. I do know the girls team will be quite strong, maybe as high as top 5 in the state. The boys will trail that by a good bit, so Bear may be more impactful because there aren't as many good boy swimmers.

Breeze

10-28-2016, 08:36 AM

So we signed all 3 kids up for the high school team, at $350/kid. That adds up really fast even before you have serious medical bills to deal with. We juggled around some money and bills and found the $1050 needed.

Today (10/28), we just got a call from the team treasurer (who is a CRC Summer League team parent). She told us that she explained our situation to the coach and they are going to refund us $350. They said they wanted to do something to help out and they had enough money to more than cover expenses. They also said we are the only family to have 3 kids on the team so they felt that the cost was pretty high when you have to pay for 3 at 1 time.

I'm completely blown away by this. I'd love to put into words how this feels, but the range of emotions is so broad I'm not sure it's possible. Obviously, there is gratitude, but it goes so much farther. I'm honored that they care enough to do this, but there is also a bit of, if not guilt or a feeling of being unworthy, something close to it. I've never been one to ask for help and it feels odd to have people just give it without solicitation.

Breeze

11-08-2016, 10:45 AM

Beach Bash - Westside Park & Aquatic Complex (Greenville, SC), November 11, 2016 - November 13, 2016

This weekend will be the second year round meet of the season. It also marks the start of the high school season, but the Gold meet is out of town so we can't swim both. In fact, we weren't going to swim in this meet due to our current financial situation, but several other parents chipped in so our kids could go.

The wife and I are debating making a day trip over to Greenville to watch the kids swim, but we haven't made a final decision yet. The kids won't probably swim very well as the coach has already stated he won't be tapering the twins, and Brett is still trying to work himself back into a full-time role. I am hopeful that we might get a few personal bests.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

# 35 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Free (1:00.33Y )
# 39 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Back (2:17.77Y )
# 43 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:01.25Y )
# 51 (d2/s3): G 13 & Over 400 Medley (4:55.19Y )
# 81 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Free (2:05.69Y )
# 89 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Fly (2:13.79Y )
# 93 (d3/s5): G 13-14 50 Free (27.86Y )
# 101 (d3/s5): G Open 500 Free (5:41.91Y )

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear

# 36 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Free (53.72Y )
# 40 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Back (2:18.94Y )
# 44 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:00.06Y )
# 52 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 400 Medley (4:28.79Y )
# 82 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Free (1:52.15Y )
# 90 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Fly (2:08.56Y )
# 94 (d3/s5): B 13-14 50 Free (25.50Y )
# 102 (d3/s5): B Open 500 Free (4:59.71Y )

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brett

# 38 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 100 Free (58.56Y )
# 42 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 200 Back (2:23.76Y )
# 50 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 200 Breast (2:34.31Y )
# 88 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 100 Breast (1:12.60Y )
# 96 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 50 Free (27.07Y )
# 100 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 100 Back (1:09.43Y )

Breeze

11-09-2016, 08:26 AM

General Update - Brett

A new one to report. Apparently, on Saturday Brett got hit in the nose while swimming at practice. Initially, it was a bit sore, but nothing more than that. ?On Monday, he started to complain about his nose saying it felt like he had a sore in it. Last night we took him to Children's Health Care, and he has an abscess. He's on antibiotics and he's to do heat compresses for the next 48 hours. If it doesn't drain we'll have to go to an ENT to get it drained.

Yea! More doctors...

Breeze

11-15-2016, 12:03 PM

Beach Bash - Results

We didn't go watch the meet, so I don't have any comments based on my impressions. All these are based on the times, comments from kids, and attitudes

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

# 35 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Free (1:00.33Y ) - Managed to swim a personal best 1:00.20. Thought that this might be a good sign for the meet...

# 39 (d2/s3): G 13-14 200 Back (2:17.77Y ) - added quite a bit - 2:22.48

# 43 (d2/s3): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:01.25Y ) - She swam a 1:04.66...this was a terrible swim for Bailey. Part of it is from the coach changing her stroke, but she swims 1:04s when she's doing 400 IMs. This also indicated the meet wasn't going to be a good one after all.

# 51 (d2/s3): G 13 & Over 400 Medley (4:55.19Y ) - 5:01.63 - starting to look a lot like last season when she consistantly added 5 seconds a race.

# 81 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Free (2:05.69Y ) - 2:11.48 - see above

# 89 (d3/s5): G 13-14 200 Fly (2:13.79Y ) - 2:22.14 - she was really disappointed with this one. Said she was almost in tears after the race, and that isn't like Bailey at all.

# 93 (d3/s5): G 13-14 50 Free (27.86Y ) - 28.32

# 101 (d3/s5): G Open 500 Free (5:41.91Y ) - 5:45.55, given the rest of her swims, this was actually a bit better than I expected it would be.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear

# 36 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Free (53.72Y ) - Like Bailey, Bear managed a slight drop here - 53.62

# 40 (d2/s3): B 13-14 200 Back (2:18.94Y ) - Added a little 2:20.20

# 44 (d2/s3): B 13-14 100 Fly (1:00.06Y ) - FINALLY - Sub60 59.61

# 52 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 400 Medley (4:28.79Y ) - Not a good swim here 4:36.77

# 82 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Free (1:52.15Y ) - Another poor swim 1:57.52 - Air quality was bad, Bear had to use his inhaler, not sure how that impacted anything (if at all)

# 90 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Fly (2:08.56Y ) - 2:06.56 - huge swim here...dropped 2 full seconds with out a taper!

# 94 (d3/s5): B 13-14 50 Free (25.50Y ) managed another personal best 25.12 - still not where his time needs to be though...needs to get to 24 low at least...

# 102 (d3/s5): B Open 500 Free (4:59.71Y ) - much better than last month, but still not a great swim 5:05.73

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brett

# 38 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 100 Free (58.56Y ) - Got another personal best 58.22- that makes 3 out of 4 swims this season without being in shape.

# 96 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 50 Free (27.07Y ) - about a half second off his best - 27.53

Brett didn't swim the rest of his events either because he wasn't ready (200s), didn't know he was entered in the event (backstrokes) or just missed it (100 Breast)...

Breeze

11-16-2016, 08:52 AM

General Update - Brett

Brett will be starting to ramp up now that he's been given the go ahead by an orthopedic. He's going to start charting his distances at each practice and work to slowly build up to the point he can make it through the whole thing with the rest of the team.

Breeze

11-17-2016, 12:12 PM

High School Meet v. Central @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 11/17

First high school meet for my kids this season and the first one ever for the twins. Here is what they will be swimming...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

# 4 Girl Open 200 Free NT
# 12 Girl Open 100 Fly NT
# 2 Girl Open 200 Medley Relay B 2:01.44Y (fly)
# 24 Girl Open 400 Free Relay C 3:57.65Y

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear

# 3 Boy Open 200 Free NT
# 15 Boy Open 500 Free NT
# 1 Boy Open 200 Medley Relay A 1:43.87Y (backstroke)
# 17 Boy Open 200 Free Relay A 1:37.22Y

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brett

# 3 Boy Open 200 Free 2:07.14Y
# 21 Boy Open 100 Breast 1:12.50Y
# 23 Boy Open 400 Free Relay B 4:00.68Y

Breeze

11-21-2016, 11:16 AM

High School Meet v. Central - RESULTS

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

# 4 Girl Open 200 Free NT - Bailey swam well in this one, especially if you consider she swam about 6500 yards in a hard practice about an hour before the meet, and she swam a fly relay leg about 5 minutes before this race. She finished with a 2:08.35, which is only about a second off the state cut, and it's faster than she's swum this race at both of the year round meets this season.

# 12 Girl Open 100 Fly NT - A disappointing 1:04.91, and 3rd place finish...this goes back to Coach Andy adjusting her stroke for a stronger pull.

# 2 Girl Open 200 Medley Relay B 2:01.44Y (fly) - Bailey's relay did really well here. In fact, the B team was pretty much tied with the A team until the very end of the breast. Bailey dove in about half a second behind the A flyer. I really wish Bailey hadn't practiced right before this meet and she was in top form because she would have closed the gap. As it was she swam well, but lost about half a body length. The good news is the B relay got the State Qualifying time (I think the A team is the only one that gets to swim at State, but it is still a nice accomplishment)

# 24 Girl Open 400 Free Relay C 3:57.65Y - this one was interesting. Bailey was on the C relay, with her good friend Maddie (who's earned a spot on the Gold National team). When the wife saw who was on the B and the C relays on Thursday night, she said, I'll be the C beats the B team. And it didn't just beat the B team, it destroyed the B team. Bailey crew swam a 3:55.95 (good enough for a state cut) and they beat the B relay by 8 seconds. In fact, all 4 C relay swimmers beat the fastest B relay girl's split.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear

# 3 Boy Open 200 Free NT - Bear finished second to a teammate that will be a rival for him at short course state in the mid and distance freestyles. He did manage to swim a 1:53.13, which is really good under the circumstances. It was also a state cut time.

# 15 Boy Open 500 Free NT - Bear lapped everyone in the pool at least 1 time finishing in a respectable 5:03.10. He actually had to sit on the wall for 2.26 minutes waiting for the last swimmer to finish before he could exit the pool. This swim was also good enough for a state cut.

# 1 Boy Open 200 Medley Relay A 1:43.87Y (backstroke) - opened with a really good back stroke split of 28 low. Much better than he's been doing it. And it might be good enough for him to stay on the stroke through the season. We'll have to wait and see once all the swimmers are with the team. Combined the relay won by 4 seconds and earned a state cut with a time of 1:47.17

# 17 Boy Open 200 Free Relay A 1:37.22Y - Another strong swim by Bear and his relay won by 9 seconds over the B team from South. The team's 1:36.59 was another state cut.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brett

# 3 Boy Open 200 Free 2:07.14Y - Given Brett's injury and his lack of practice, especially distance practices, the fact he managed to swim a 2:10.88 was remarkable. He swam basically this same time several meets last year when he wasn't injured.

# 21 Boy Open 100 Breast 1:12.50Y - Brett again managed what I consider to be a remarkable swim posting a 1:12.53 just .03 off his best from last year when he was healthy. Actually shocking and it makes me hopeful that once in shape we'll see some time drops.

# 23 Boy Open 400 Free Relay B 4:00.68Y - not a good swim here. He almost missed the race because the meet went much faster than expected. He also wasn't sure when he dove in if it was time for the exchange or if the swimmer coming into the wall was going to flip so he slow to dive in and he dove way too deep. He did swim well once he surfaced. 4:05.96

thealmighty

11-22-2016, 01:04 AM

Breeze

11-23-2016, 08:27 AM

Does it mean anything for a high school relay to get a state cut. I would think the swimmers would be swimming on club teams at the state meet.

Or is the high school state meet based on time qualifications and not on winning or qualifying at a regional meet of district/area winners (which it is in Texas)?

Hey TA,

Good questions...especially due to the fact different states handle swimming differently. In Georgia, the entire high school season is independent of the year round season. The kids making the state meet compete against the same kids they swim against in the year round state meet, but this time they are earning points for their high school.

As for qualifying for relays. Each high school has to earn the right to swim relays by having a team meet the high school cut time, just like an individual event. The interesting thing with relays (as I understand it anyway) is, obviously only 4 kids can swim on a relay, but you can have multiple combinations of swimmers meet the cut time. Each kid must be on one of the relay teams that qualify to be eligible to swim the relay at the state meet. With 3 relays and kids only being allowed to swim in 2, then at least 8 kids will swim relays.

As for how this impacts my kids...it is very likely Bear swims on at least 1 relay at State. There are a few older kids that will be the main relay power - Cooper, Jack, Harrison, and his buddy Riley - after that you could argue Bear is the 5th or 6th best swimmer and he should certainly be in the top 8. Bailey on the other hand will have a problem getting on a relay. She's likely to be one of the two alternates. There are just too many girls that are slightly better than her who will get the nod. Her best bet is the fly leg on the medley relay, but she's probably 3rd best and about 1 second off of getting on the relay (and with no taper she probably isn't going to leapfrog that other swimmer).

Breeze

11-29-2016, 01:26 PM

Lawrence of Arabia Meet @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 12/2 - 12/4

We are at a very interesting time of the season, and it is a new experience for our family. We have this year round meet running Friday through Sunday, but there is a high school meet on Saturday. Complicating matters is the Senior State Championship Meet next weekend (that's the State meet for 15 and Up). This is new to us because this is the twins first high school season and both of the twins have Senior cuts so they will swim next weekend. Unfortunately though, they only have a couple of senior cuts and this will be the only taper time of the season leading up to the Age Group State Championships in February. It is a lot to work in during this 10 day or so window. Plus the twins still have state cuts for Age Group that they need to get, especially Bailey.

Here is what's on the schedule for this weekend (we are swimming only Friday and Sunday, allowing kids to swim Saturday for the High School Team).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

# 1 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:24.63Y ) - Surprisingly, Bailey needs a big drop of about 7 seconds to get this cut, which I don't think is going to happen but she should close the gap a bit if she takes the taper well.
# 5 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 50 Free (27.86Y ) - Needs a 26.19, could get it, but I'm betting she's around a 26 high.
# 9 (d1/s1): G 11 & Over 500 Free (5:41.91Y ) - Needs to drop a good bit of time here...needs a 5:26, which even though she's started to push in this event more, isn't likely.
# 81 (d3/s4): G 13-14 100 Free (1:00.20Y ) - She needs about a 4 second drop in this one as well, and I expect more like a 58 middle.
# 87 (d3/s4): G 13-14 200 Back (2:17.77Y ) - This one she's only a fraction of a second off...needs about a .7 drop...I expect she gets this one.

She could surprise us in some of the other events. It's been so long since I've seen her race with a taper I just don't have a good feel for how much she might drop.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:10.22Y ) - Bear has the AG Cut, would need to drop 5 seconds for the Senior Cut.
# 6 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 50 Free (25.12Y ) - Needs a 24.29 - all depends on if he's cleaned up his turn enough.
# 10 (d1/s1): B 11 & Over 500 Free (4:59.71Y ) - Needs a 4:54.59 for a senior cut, again turns are probably key.
# 82 (d3/s4): B 13-14 100 Free (53.62Y ) - 52.09 is the Age Group Cut, he's fast enough to get this, but again Turns are key.
# 100 (d3/s4): B 13-14 100 Fly (59.61Y ) - 58.99 is the cut, he's looked good in fly this season, hopefully this carries over.
# 106 (d3/s4): B 11 & Over 1000 Free (10:09.27Y ) - Not sure Bear will swim this one, they may save his taper for the Senior State meet as this is his one event next weekend.

Bear being a more of a distance guy and because he has more cuts than Bailey won't get as big a taper coming into this meet.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: Due to the fact he's still recovering from his injury Brett will not swim this meet.

Breeze

12-01-2016, 06:08 AM

General Update - Brett

So Brett's run of bad luck continues. Ever since he got really sick on the travel meet over the summer Brett has had to deal with one thing after another. This time he came into our bedroom about 4 A.M. yesterday morning (Wednesday) complaining about pain in his stomach. He said initially his whole stomach hurt but now it was just the one side.

I asked, "Which side"

"Right"

"Is it right above your hip?"

"Yes"

"Ok, time to go to the emergency room."

Sure enough it was his appendix, which he had removed at about 11:30. The good news, it hadn't ruptured so it was a pretty textbook operation according to the surgeon. He spent the night at the hospital (had a reaction to the contrast for the CT Scan which was a big reason he didn't go home the first night), but he's doing ok. Not sure yet how long he'll be out of the pool.

BYU 14

12-01-2016, 07:00 AM

Man that stinks, it has been a tough run for him. Here is to a speedy recovery!

Breeze

12-02-2016, 08:41 AM

High School Meet - Trojan Open @ Frances Meadows Center - Dec 3

This is a travel meet. Kids will take the bus over to Gainesville and compete against several other schools.

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Bailey

#17 Girls Open 100 Fly - 1:04.91 - Obviously not her real best time, but what she swam in her one meet last week. She should do better in this one because she's on a partial taper.

#21 Girls Open 100 Free - 1:00.33 - I'd love to see her go sub60 in this one...she should as her free continues to improve.

No relays for Bailey this week...

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Bear

#7 Boys Open 200 Medley - 2:08.82 - he is racing this on Friday at the year round meet, we'll see if he can beat his time the very next day in the same event.

#23 Boys Open 500 Free - 5:03.10 - he is racing this on Friday at the year round meet, we'll see if he can beat his time the very next day in the same event. His year round coach has told him to really focus on his turns...he wants him to ingrain this new turn prior to next weekends 1000 where he'll make his first run at the team record.

#25 Boys Open 200 Free Relay A - 1:36.59- A relay again for Bear, hopefully they do well because it would improve his chances of swimming on the relay at State. This race does come almost immediately after the 500 free so a quick turn around for Bear here.

#37 Boys Open 400 Free Relay A - 3:41.04 - Like the 200 Free Relay, Bear is basically auditioning for a spot on the state relay team...

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Brett

Still recovering from surgery, but was scheduled to swim the 100 Breast and the 50 Free...

Breeze

12-05-2016, 03:55 PM

High School Meet - Trojan Open - RESULTS

The Fraces Meadows pool is only a short course pool, so it lacks the extra lanes that a long course pool has for warm up / cool down. This was a major factor at this meet, as all the kids (not just mine and our team, but kids we know from other teams as well) complained about being unable to get their laps in to cool down and loosen up after a race.

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Bailey

#17 Girls Open 100 Fly - 1:04.91 - This race took place about 2 hours after the initial warm up, which was also woefully short. She wanted to warm back up before racing but there wasn't room. Still managed to finish third and post a 1:04.86

#21 Girls Open 100 Free - 1:00.33 - Got sub60 for the first time ever...59.91, needs to drop another second to get a state cut for high school.

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Bear

#7 Boys Open 200 Medley - 2:08.82 - was really unhappy with this swim. Liked his fly leg better than Friday's at the year round meet, but overall this swim was just a bit off - 2:11.30, but it was good enough for a state cut.

#23 Boys Open 500 Free - 5:03.10 - tried to keep up with one of the best swimmers in the state, wore himself out early, but still finished second - 5:04.03

#25 Boys Open 200 Free Relay A - 1:36.59 - for some reason the coach had one really poor swimmer in this relay and it force the team to settle for second place. Bear managed a 25.5 split, which isn't really good, but after the quick turnaround it's not bad.

#37 Boys Open 400 Free Relay A - 3:41.04 - This one was a better put together team, and they won the event. Bear swam a 52.05 leg. Overall the team managed a 3:26.46 a huge drop over the seed time.

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Breeze

12-06-2016, 12:07 PM

Lawrence of Arabia Meet - RESULTS

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Bailey

# 1 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:24.63Y ) – I didn’t get to see this race, but she definitely improved, posting a 2:18.42 – a drop of over 6 seconds. She just missed the cut by about .6 seconds. Her fly was a solid 29, and her back improved a bunch coming in at only a 35.25 (typically it’s been in the 38s). The breast was 42.99, not great but a hair better than it has been, and the free was a 31.33, again a nice drop from her typical 33 second closing time. She was upset she missed the cut, but she was so close she might be able to get it non-taper with a good effort, and she’s put herself in striking distance for this cut moving forward.

# 5 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 50 Free (27.86Y ) – I thought 26 high was doable, she only managed a 27 low…27.25 to be exact.

# 9 (d1/s1): G 11 & Over 500 Free (5:41.91Y ) – a good drop of over 7 seconds to finish at 5:34.85, but she wasn’t happy. Says there is more time she can drop, which is a good mindset, because being 5’2.5” she isn’t going to be a sprinter, so the better she can do in the 200 Free, 500 Free, 1000 Free to go with her flys and IMs the better she’ll look to colleges.

# 81 (d3/s4): G 13-14 100 Free (1:00.20Y ) – She broke 60 seconds the day before this swim with a 59 low at the high school meet. Here she not only bettered that time, she crushed it…Finishing with a 57.56. Again, not good enough for a state cut, but it closed her in on the time and set her up to possibly get it as she ages up.

# 87 (d3/s4): G 13-14 200 Back (2:17.77Y ) – The one swim where she had a real legitimate shot at a cut, and it was the one race over the weekend where she added time…2:18.53. Not sure what happened here, but she never seemed to get in a good rhythm. She didn’t seem too upset when talking with the coach after the race, so that was good. Again, this is a cut I expect to see her get again at some point before she graduates.

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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:10.22Y ) – Swam a 2:11 at the high school meet the day after this swim. In this race he managed to go 2:09.57. It’s a personal best, but he wasn’t terribly happy with it. Especially the 30 second opening fly leg ( a good 2+ seconds off his normal opening time). On the good side, his breast leg was sub 40 – and that is a huge improvement.

# 6 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 50 Free (25.12Y ) – Didn’t get the 24.29, did get a 24.95. Not much of an improvement, but a PB is a PB…he needs to get this quicker…not sure he’ll get another opportunity before state though.

# 10 (d1/s1): B 11 & Over 500 Free (4:59.71Y ) – He practiced early in the morning before this race and the two listed above, so he wasn’t exceptionally fresh, but he did still manage to swim a 5:01.55. Coach was very pleased with this effort. Says he’s right where he needs to be.

# 82 (d3/s4): B 13-14 100 Free (53.62Y ) – like the 50 he just missed the cut posting a 52.75. It isn’t a great swim, but it might just be good enough to get him on the A 400 Free Relay at State in February. It was the second fastest Gold swimmer at this meet.

# 100 (d3/s4): B 13-14 100 Fly (59.61Y ) – another drop that wasn’t good enough to get the cut. It’s like splitting hairs here – finished in 59.29

# 106 (d3/s4): B 11 & Over 1000 Free (10:09.27Y ) – Bear did swim it, coach said it was a good workout that he’d probably have had him do at practice this weekend anyway. He was unable to threaten his best time, but the coach wasn’t surprised saying, “I worked him hard this week, I didn’t expect him to really challenge his best time.” He finished with a 10:26.47. Honestly, I’d have liked to see him sub 10:20, but it coach is happy then I’m happy.

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Breeze

12-08-2016, 11:58 AM

Georgia Short Course Senior State Championships @ Georgia Tech - 12/9 - 12/11

The Senior State Championships are this weekend, and while the meet is designed for 15 and overs, because Bailey and Bear are the only Senior level swimmers on the Cumming Chattahoochee Gold team, they will be swimming in this event (it was too difficult to separate them from the rest of the tapered swimmers). Here is what they are swimming:

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Bailey

#9 Womens 100 Yard Butterfly - 1:01.27 (Seeded 84th) - Bailey has really struggled to grasp Coach Andy's changes to her stroke. Hopefully, the rest will allow the light to come on so she can post a personal best here. She'd say she'd like to go sub60, but anything in the 60s second range would be good from my perspective

#17 Womens 200 Yard Butterfly - 2:13.79 (Seeded 44th) - In finals at this event they swim an A, B, C, and D final, so 40 kids return each year. Bailey's goal here is to get into the top 40. I will probably have a good idea about her chances based on what she does in the 100. If she drops there, she could get in the top 40, maybe to 30. However, if she adds, I wouldn't expect her to improve here.

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Bear

#38 Mens 1000 Yard Freestyle - 10:09.27 (Seeded T28th) - Interestingly, Bear's time is no longer good enough to swim at the state meet. It now takes a 10.09.19...however his time is good enough to swim at the Southeastern Sectional meet. He's able to swim here because his 1650 time (which they don't swim at the Georgia State Championships) does meet the cut requirement. Bear is going for the team record in this one, and he'll have to be a 9:58.31...that's a big drop, but big drops are possible in this event. This will be his one shot to break it before the Age Group State Meet (and Age Group Sectionals), because he will not taper again until those meets come up in February and March. That's a tough ask, he basically has to hold 60 second laps for 10 consecutive 100s without stopping. Fingers crossed, I'd love to see him accomplish it. And in case you are wondering, if he were to tie the team record, he'd likely finish in the top 15.

Breeze

12-15-2016, 02:38 PM

Georgia Short Course Senior State Championships - RESULTS

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Bailey

#9 Womens 100 Yard Butterfly - 1:01.27 (Seeded 84th) - Not a greats swim but posted a 1:01.39...so just an eye blink off of her personal best. This gave me some hope she'd do better than her personal best in the 200 because she has been practicing harder than she did last year, and I felt she'd have more endurance for the longer race.

#17 Womens 200 Yard Butterfly - 2:13.79 (Seeded 44th) - Unfortunately, my prediction didn't come true...she had a poor race in the 200 adding 3 seconds to finish in a 2:16.31. Coach said she didn't take it out hard enough...I also think the double taper (last weekend and then again for this week) was too much.

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Bear

#38 Mens 1000 Yard Freestyle - 10:09.27 (Seeded T28th) - Pretty early it was obvious this wasn't going to be a good swim for Bear. I was having to shake the numbers early and often as he quickly fell off of his 60 second / 100 pacing. He finished with a pedestrian 10:22.69. The coach was very disappointed in this swim, stating that Bear had been doing really well in practice, and he was definitely tapered (maybe too tapered...coach is going to reevaluate how much rest to give Bear). He also said Bear appeared to be thinking too much, trying to use perfect technique when he should have been racing. In hindsight, I should have expected this result. In order to go sub 10 minutes in this race he needs to be going sub 5 in the 500 and he's not. He's going 5:03 range. He's going to need to start attacking more in the 500s and get his confidence up. It has now been a while since Bear had a good distance swim. The long course season was ok, but nowhere near what he wanted to accomplish. It'll be interesting to he what he does to refocus his efforts.

Breeze

12-20-2016, 08:02 AM

General Update

Bear has come down with a pretty nasty bug. He was throwing up all day, including about every 15 minutes for 4 hours when it first started. Was still throwing up on occasion right before bed. This is really going to set him back and it comes at a bad time, right off of taper. Which means he'll be way behind when he hits the water again. While he'll still have a month or so to prepare, this may kill any shot he has at the team record in the 1000.

Breeze

12-30-2016, 12:56 PM

General Update - Brett

Brett tried to get back in the water the other day. He actually managed to swim over 1000 yards, but he reported his abdomen hurt every time he pulled. He will need to take a few more days to heal, and then he'll try it again.

Breeze

01-05-2017, 08:57 AM

General Update

We got back from the UT camp yesterday and I must say I have mixed feelings about the clinic. The first day was fly, and I was really hoping the coaches would tweak the kid's strokes just a bit to make them more efficient. Unfortunately, the this was the very first camp of the week and it really appeared like the coaches forgot they had it scheduled. Last year when we went to the breaststroke camp there were 10 or 12 coaches divided between 3 groups, but during the fly there were 3 coaches and all the kids were in the same group. Making matters worse, there were kids as young as 7 and an adult that was definitely in his 60s (and not a good swimmer). It was so crowded that the kids got NO advice or suggestions, they just went through the drills.

The second day was much better. For Bailey's Backstroke, and Bear's turns clinic, the kids were split into smaller groups and more instruction was given. I wish they had more time in the clinics (and I wish I had the money to send them to a week long all day swim camp like the ones offered in the Summer), but I do think they had fun, which is the most important part.

We did use the opportunity of being in Tennessee to run over to Bristol and allow Brett to check out King University. The campus was nice, but the surrounding area isn't what I expected. The pictures of the university make it appear isolated, but it is actually surrounded my homes and only a few blocks from retail and warehouse zones. It definitely wasn't as pretty as I had anticipated. We also stopped at Carson-Newman on the way home. That was a very pretty campus. Again, not isolated, but the campus is the largest of the schools Brett has visited (not counting ones we've been to for swim meets). The campus is laid out on a well defined streets/avenues type grid, which makes it seem bigger and sort of self contained.

Brett will also get back in the pool again today to see if he's ready to start swimming again.

Breeze

01-11-2017, 12:28 PM

High School Swimming v. Lambert @ Cumming Aquatic Center - Jan 13

It has been a long time since we have had a high school swim meet. The one right before the Christmas break was cancelled because the coach found out it was going to be a 16 team affair with middle school kids competing as well and would take close to 12 hours. The one last weekend was cancelled because of weather. Finally, we have another meet, and it is basically our last one before the county championships and then the high school state meet.

Here is what the kids are scheduled to swim:

Bailey

8 Girl Open 50 Free 26.88Y
12 Girl Open 100 Fly 1:04.86Y
2 Girl Open 200 Medley Relay B 2:00.44Y
24 Girl Open 400 Free Relay B 3:55.51Y

Bear

3 Boy Open 200 Free 1:53.13Y
7 Boy Open 50 Free 25.03Y
17 Boy Open 200 Free Relay A 1:36.55Y
23 Boy Open 400 Free Relay A 3:44.22Y

Brett

7 Boy Open 50 Free 28.34Y
13 Boy Open 100 Free 1:00.99Y

Note: Brett just started swimming again. He hit the water last week, but got sick so he wasn't able to maintain his practicing. He started over this week. These 2 freestyles will be his first races back since the appendectomy. I don't expect much...but I hope he comes close to his personal bests.

Breeze

01-12-2017, 02:23 PM

High School Swimming Update

It looks like Brett's chances of being a 4 year letterman in swimming are gone. His shoulder injury early followed by the appendectomy has all but killed any chance he had. It is sad really - he was able to get his breaststroke lettering time the one time he swam, but because (at that time) he was out of shape from the shoulder issue, he didn't get the second required time in the 200 free (he got it last year). Then the surgery and healing that kept him out of the water. Now he has 2 more meets to swim, the one Friday and then the county championship next week, and he's just gotten back in the water. So it isn't likely he'll get his cut time in the 200 or 500 without more practice and getting in better shape. Plus, he is supposed to attend 5 practices with the high school, and there are only 4 left.

I hate it for him. He's really had it rough for the last 9 months, and he's always in the shadow of his siblings when it comes to swimming. I know he wanted to letter all 4 years - it's a pretty small thing, but it meant something to him. Maybe the coach will make an exception for him because of the surgery, but I doubt it.

Breeze

01-23-2017, 11:44 AM

High School Swimming v. Lambert - RESULTS

Bailey

8 Girl Open 50 Free 26.88Y - only managed a 27.79...
12 Girl Open 100 Fly 1:04.86Y - saw a 1:05.68 and was beaten by a couple of teammates. This puts her in a precarious spot, as only 4 kids can swim the 100 Fly at state. She'll need a good swim next week at county to improve her chances.
2 Girl Open 200 Medley Relay B 2:00.44Y - though she was on the B relay...they beat the A South Relay and won the event.
24 Girl Open 400 Free Relay B 3:55.51Y - Solid 3rd place finish in the event. Bailey swam a 1:00 split...

Bear

3 Boy Open 200 Free 1:53.13Y - fatigue from practice really hindered Bear as well, as he managed just a 1:57.27 in this one.
7 Boy Open 50 Free 25.03Y - Did manage a marginal improvement here - 24.93
17 Boy Open 200 Free Relay A 1:36.55Y - only got 3rd in the relay but Bear went a 24.51.
23 Boy Open 400 Free Relay A 3:44.22Y - In the 4x100 Bear swam a 53.8, but they finished 4th, mostly because the coach put one swimmer on the relay who only managed to go 58.22...

Brett

7 Boy Open 50 Free 28.34Y - amazingly, Brett managed to get a personal best here with a time of 26.69. This not only improves on his time with high school, but is his best for year round as well. Not bad considering his lack of practice.
13 Boy Open 100 Free 1:00.99Y - Managed a 59.38, which is an improvement for high school, but initially it looked like he might get an improvement on his personal best for year round as well but he clearly ran out of gas in the last 30 or so yards.

Breeze

01-24-2017, 11:27 AM

High School Swimming - Forsyth County Championships @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 1/21

Bailey

#6 Girls 200 IM NT
#12 Girls 100 Fly 1:04.86
#18 Girls 200 Free Relay (2) 1:50.00
#24 Girls 400 Free Relay (3) 3:57.03

Bear

#15 Boys 500 Free 5:03.10
#17 Boys 200 Free Relay (4) 1:40.92
#19 Boys 100 Back 1:04.93
#23 Boys 400 Free Relay (2) 3:39.44

Brett

#7 Boys 50 Free 26.69
#17 Boys 200 Free Relay (1) 1:46.27
#21 Boys 100 Breast 1:12.50
#23 Boys 400 Free Relay (4) 3:58.96

Breeze

01-24-2017, 12:46 PM

High School Swimming - Forsyth County Championships - RESULTS

Bailey

#6 Girls 200 IM NT - coming into this race Bailey needed to swim a 2:21 to be in the top 4 and aligned to swim the event at State...her real personal best is a 2:18, so it was possible even without the taper. However, her fly leg came in at about 31 seconds and her chances were basically dead. When she is on, her fly leg is in the 28s. She managed a 2:24.00, which is the cut for state, but there are too many other girls with faster times that will end up swimming at state.
#12 Girls 100 Fly 1:04.86 - Bailey needed a drop here to insure she'd swim this at state as well...she got a drop 1:04.24, but that wasn't good enough...she'll end up watching here as well...
#18 Girls 200 Free Relay (2) 1:50.00 - swam the second fastest split of the 4 girls with a 27.42...
#24 Girls 400 Free Relay (3) 3:57.03 - split a 59.89...

Bear

#15 Boys 500 Free 5:03.10 - Bear was hoping to go under 5 minutes, even not tapered as a sign that his distance swimming is coming around. He went the opposite direction only managing a 5:14.31. He was extremely upset by this performance.
#17 Boys 200 Free Relay (4) 1:40.92 - Bear split a 24.33, which was faster than every South swimmer (including the A relay) except the anchor on the A...
#19 Boys 100 Back 1:04.93 - Not sure why he was in the back, but he managed a personal best swim, including year round - 1:04.58. This was right after going back to back with the 500 and the relay (see event numbers)
#23 Boys 400 Free Relay (2) 3:39.44 - Split 53.77, which was pretty strong...unfortunately, the 4th member of the team was a 56 high which dropped them to 4th.

Brett

#7 Boys 50 Free 26.69 - Managed another personal best 26.34. Amazing with as little practice as he's had.
#17 Boys 200 Free Relay (1) 1:46.27 - went 26.51 in the opening leg, so with a cold start, and still posted a time better than his 50 free seed time coming in...
#21 Boys 100 Breast 1:12.50 - faded in the last 30 yards had to settle for a 1:14.12
#23 Boys 400 Free Relay (4) 3:58.96 - even with fatigue and swimming a 100 he managed to go 58.60, and he beat two teams in the last leg. A nice effort on his part.

Breeze

01-26-2017, 10:51 AM

SCAT Winter Kickoff @ GaTech - 1/22/2017

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Bailey

#39 Girls 100 Yard Fly
#41 Girls 200 Yard IM
#45 Girls 200 Yard Back
#75 Mixed 1000 Yard Free

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Bear

#40 Boys 100 Yard Fly
#42 Boys 200 Yard IM
#44 Boys 100 Yard Free
#75 Mixed 1000 Yard Free

Breeze

01-27-2017, 11:06 AM

SCAT Winter Kickoff - RESULTS

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Bailey

#39 Girls 100 Yard Fly - terrible swim 1:06.16. I personally feel she is too up and down right now, rather than driving forward. Not sure where this will lead...possibly another stroke adjustment. I guess we won't know until she has a full taper swim at Age Group State.
#41 Girls 200 Yard IM - Another bad swim 2:26.90
#45 Girls 200 Yard Back - Added a bunch of time here as well - 2:26.67
#75 Mixed 1000 Yard Free - Was hoping to get the state cut here...needed an 11:30, swam an 11:37.84...which was a personal best, but she needs to do better.

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Bear

#40 Boys 100 Yard Fly - managed a personal best swim of 58.39
#42 Boys 200 Yard IM - swam 2:10.91, which is about a second off his personal best...
#44 Boys 100 Yard Free - Terrible swim here - 57.08, and it looked so much worse because he was in a heat where all the swimmers were posting times like his personal best of 54s...he was trailing badly and he was alone well off the heats pace.
#75 Mixed 1000 Yard Free - was looking for him to return to his form in the distance swim and not get so caught up in technique. He accomplished that, but he added a good bit of time, which is too be expected given he isn't on taper. Unfortunately though, it doesn't bode well for his chances of breaking the team record...10:27.95

thealmighty

01-29-2017, 06:01 PM

Is the 1000 an overall team record or the time-limited age group record?

Breeze

01-30-2017, 08:59 AM

Is the 1000 an overall team record or the time-limited age group record?

Good question, should have specified. The record he is going for is the 13/14 age group 1000 yard time. He missed the 11/12 time by .04 seconds and he's been gunning for this one for a while.

Breeze

02-01-2017, 11:14 AM

Georgia High School Athletic 6-7 A State Championships @ GaTech - 2/2 - 2/4

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Bailey

Will not be swimming at State, barring something odd happening. She is the first alternate in a couple of relays...

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Bear

#3 Boys 200 Yard Freestyle : 1:53.13 - 50/62
#15 Boys 500 Yard Freestyle : 5:03.10 - 32/61
#23 Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay : 3:36.44 - 39/53

The seed times, unlike year round which are almost always personal bests, these are the best swum at a high school meet. So they are several seconds off what Bear is capable of. However, it won't matter, even with personal best swims, he's not going to be in range to make finals. Which is ok, as a freshman, there aren't many that are going to be in the top spots of the state competing against much older boys that are more physically developed.

Breeze

02-06-2017, 12:57 PM

Georgia High School Athletic 6-7 A State Championships - RESULTS

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Bear

#3 Boys 200 Yard Freestyle : 1:53.13 - 50/62 - This ended up being a bad swim for Bear...according to his year round coach (who was there watching) he apparently took it out really fast, keeping up with the rest of the swimmers, but his lack of a full taper caused him to tire down the stretch. He posted a 1:57.48

#15 Boys 500 Yard Freestyle : 5:03.10 - 32/61 - Here Bear took it out quick again, then he started falling off the pace. Only this time he kicked it back into gear. His opening 100 was a 57.77, then he posted 1:01.95 and 1:01.59...followed by 59.81 and 58.60...to post a 4:59.72. As I mentioned in the pre-race write up, the seed times aren't personal bests, just fastest time in a high school meet...well in this case he just missed his personal best time of 4:59.71...

#23 Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay : 3:36.44 - 39/53 - In the relay Bear had a nice split of 52.98...

Breeze

02-14-2017, 10:14 AM

Georgia Age Group State Championships @ GaTech - 2/17 - 2/19

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Bailey

#15 Girls 100 Yard Butterfly – 1:01.25 : 20th Seed – The coach is working with Bailey on trying to get her to move more forward with her stroke rather than the drastic up and down she’s recently developed. Actually, I think she developed this up and down on the coaches urging to grab more water by pressing the chest down driving the hips up but keeping the elbows high in order to grab more water. Think about pressing your chest down and pushing your arms behind your torso with the elbows bent and arms raise above your head. This position allows for more water grab cause the arms travel further through the water. The only problem is - it's a hard position to get into, and Bailey tends to collapse her arms creating a later grab and thus less propulsion and speed. Hopefully, she nails this correction for this meet. She’s already at a disadvantage because of her small size. She’s literally 4 to 6 inches shorter than most of the girls swimming her time or faster in this event. Looking to go sub60…

#47 Girls 400 Yard IM – 4:55.19 : 34th Seed – This is the one event where Bailey has the state cut, but not the sectionals cut. She should be shooting for a 4:49.49 in order to earn that cut time (even though she’s probably going to skip the Sectionals meet). She needs to get back to her quick fly, power through the back and then be solid in the back half. I’ll probably know pretty quickly after the fly is she’s going to make a charge. If her time is under 1:03, she could do well, but if she’s in the 1:04s where she’s been most of this season, we are looking at a time somewhere around 5 minutes. The breast leg will also be a key. She was getting it down into the 42 high/ 50 yard range, but recently she’s been back at her time just below 45 seconds, which isn’t going to cut it.

#77 Girls 200 Yard Butterfly – 2:13.79 : 13th Seed – Same issues as the 100, but the lack of height is less of a factor in this grueling race. I’m proud of Bailey that she still finds herself in the top 20, with a shot at top 10 and an “A” final appearance if she can nail this stroke adjustment. If she can get down to a 2:11.59, she’ll earn her senior sectional time and be moved up to the National Team with Gold.

RELAYS

#25 Girls 13-14, 400 Yard Free : B Relay – Being the B Relay the team won’t do much, but I’ll be interested to see how quickly Bailey swims her leg. It may give me some insight into what to expect next month at her other taper meet.

#63 Girls 13-14, 400 Yard Medley : A Relay – Bailey will obviously swim the fly leg, assuming she beats the girls swimming on the B relay in with 100 Fly earlier in the meet. The team will be pretty pedestrian in the overall standings. Probably finishing fifth or sixth in the state.

#69 Girls 13-14, 200 Yard Medley : A Relay – same basic set up as the 400 outlined above.

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Bear

#4 Boys 200 Yard IM – 2:09.57 : 27th Seed – This will basically be a warm up for Bear. As a 27th seed, Bear doesn’t expect much. He also knows that often his first swim isn’t all that great, so this will get that first swim out of the way. I do think he could improve a great deal, especially if his breaststroke is strong. I’m pretty sure he did a 2:08 in a high school meet with no taper in an environment that didn’t allow a good warm up or down. He should shoot for a 2:05 in order to get his senior cut for next season.

#16 Boys 100 Yard Butterfly – 58.39 : 19th Seed – 55.99 is the cut time for next season. I don’t think he’s getting there, but he could get into the 56s, which would set him up nicely for next season.

#20 Boys 1000 Yard Freestyle – 10:09.27 : 1st Seed – Bear is seeded first but there are 2 other guys within 2 seconds of his time. And one is his high school teammate that has been shedding time all season. Plus with this event, people can drop 30 seconds at a drop of a hat. So Bear will be in for a battle, which might be good. Maybe it will push him to race and not worry so much about stroke mechanics. Also maybe it will drive him to a great time (win or lose). This could be one very exciting distance race.

#36 Boys 200 Yard Free – 1:52.15 : 9th Seed – The senior state cut is a 1:49.49. That’s a good goal time for Bear. If he swims well the first day, this goal time is something he could legitimately hit. If he swims only ok, I don’t think he’ll be able to drop 3 full seconds…

#48 Boys 400 Yard IM – 4:28.79 : 8th Seed – For Bear this will come down to Back and endurance. He needs a good back leg followed by a strong back half (including his improved breast) in order to drop time. He could drop several seconds, but I don’t think he will get to the senior cut time of 4:23. However, not getting a senior cut when you are 14/15 isn’t terrible, considering the time is in place for 18 and unders. It really isn’t intended for 14 and 15 year olds to reach those speeds.

#78 Boys 200 Yard Butterfly – 2:06.56 : 5th Seed – This is one Bear should be able to get the senior cut in. He only needs to drop 1 second to get the senior cut, and he can do that without even swimming well. The shave/taper could really drive him to a 2:05 by itself.

#88 Boys 500 Yard Freestyle – 4:59.71 : 6th Seed – Bear needs to cut 5 seconds to get the senior cut in this one. The 1000 will probably be a good indicator on his chances. If he goes sub 10 minutes, then going 4:54 seems reasonable.

RELAYS

#26 Boys 13-14, 400 Free : A Relay – Bear slips onto the A relay for the boys 400 Free. Bear doesn’t have the state cut for the 100 Free, so I don’t expect this relay will compete for a top 3 spot, but if Bear takes his taper well he could post a 51 mid or low split, which might give them an outside shot.

#32 Boys 13-14, 200 Free : B Relay – Bear not being on a A relay isn’t really a surprise here. Bear gets better the further he swims, and he doesn’t get to do the 50 Free very often, which hinders his chances of posting a good time, as well as limits his knowledge of the best way to attack the race.

#64 Boys 13-14, 400 Medley : B Relay – Bear gets the free leg on the B Relay. He actually did pretty well just to get on this relay at all. He wasn’t going to get the Breast leg for sure. His back is pretty stagnate right now, and there is a 13 year old pounding out 56 second flys…so that only left free and as I mentioned above Bear gets better the longer the race, so just getting on this team is an accomplishment.

#70 Boys 13-14, 200 Medley : B Relay – same group as the 400 Medley, and again I think Bear did well just to get on this relay.

Breeze

02-21-2017, 11:11 AM

Georgia Age Group State Championships - RESULTS

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Bailey

#15 Girls 100 Yard Butterfly – 1:01.25 : 20th Seed – After diving in it became pretty obvious pretty early that Bailey hadn't figured out what the problem with the stroke was...after about 5 strokes she was already off the pace of the field. She struggled home with a time of 1:03.62. This swim was basically what she had been swimming non-tapered, and it was so bad we expected her to be pulled from the relay.

#47 Girls 400 Yard IM – 4:55.19 : 34th Seed – Fly leg here hurt her again, this time only managing a 1:06.85, over 2 seconds off her time in this leg during her personal best swim. He backstroke was better, and her freestyle was better as well...it allowed her to at least come close to her personal best, finishing with a time of 4:56.64

#77 Girls 200 Yard Butterfly – 2:13.79 : 13th Seed – The last day of the meet, and the coach really worked with her one on one during warm ups to try and figure out what was going on. He thought at the time it might be related to pressure and tightening up, so he had her work on relaxing through the stroke, especially early in the race. All this led to was a slow swim...she ultimately finished with a time of 2:20.45

RELAYS

#25 Girls 13-14, 400 Yard Free : B Relay – Managed a 57 mid split, which means she was on pace for a personal best even if you remove the rolling start.

#63 Girls 13-14, 400 Yard Medley : A Relay – demoted to the B relay...basically duplicated her 100 fly swim as an individual 1:03.40

#69 Girls 13-14, 200 Yard Medley : A Relay – removed entirely from this relay.

Note: This is an extremely hard time for Bailey right now. She basically didn't improve at all in 2015-16 except during the state meet. This year was not different during the regular season, only this time she also didn't improve at the state meet. She's now gone almost 2 years without an improvement, and she's struggling with her best stroke. It is a very delicate situation. Her personal best times could be expiring which means she may not even have a single senior state cut for next year if she can't get this worked out. The coach is very frustrated because he knows how hard she's been working and he feels there is no reason for her swimming as slowly as she is. He worked with her, including video, on Monday at practice trying to determine what is going wrong. Hopefully he finds the solution soon...

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Bear

#4 Boys 200 Yard IM – 2:09.57 : 27th Seed – Right out of the gate it was obvious Bear was feeling good. His fly leg registered in under a 27 and his back, which has been hovering around 34 seconds came in under 32. Then the breaststroke - and he put down a very strong 37 low. His free was solid and he posted a personal best time of 2:04.88. Good enough for the senior cut, good enough to finish 13th and make the B final that night.

#16 Boys 100 Yard Butterfly – 58.39 : 19th Seed – SCRATCHED - Bear was disappointed to scratch this race. He really felt he could go a 56 low...but given he was going to shoot for the team record in the 1000 and the turnaround from the 100 fly to the 1000 was really short, the coach felt this was the right move.

#20 Boys 1000 Yard Freestyle – 10:09.27 : 1st Seed – Bear was shooting to go below a 9:58.31. That has been his goal for 2 years, when he missed the team record in the 1000 by .04 seconds as a 12 year old in this event. The race started out fast, as the other 2 boys with times similar to Bear's attacked early. Bear also took it out abnormally fast posting an opening 100 in 55.54...that bought him a few seconds to play with in going for the record. He followed that up with:

1:00.10
1:00.36
1:00.55
1:00.41 (signaled to pick it up a little)
59:83
59.74
1:00.17
1:00.42
58:53

Total time: 9:55.65 good for 3rd, a senior sectional cut, AND A NEW TEAM RECORD!!!

#4 Boys 200 Yard IM FINAL – 2:04.88 : 13th Seed – in finals he opened with a faster fly by a couple of tenths. Then his back stroke was basically the same. The breast was a couple of tenths slower so when he started on the freestyle he was actually .03 slower than the morning swim. His freestyle however was almost exactly a full second faster, giving him another personal best time of 2:03.83

#36 Boys 200 Yard Free – 1:52.15 : 9th Seed – After the strong Friday the goal of 1:49.49 became a real possibility. And he nearly hit it in the prelims, posting a 1:50.20. Good enough for 12th and a spot in the B finals.

#48 Boys 400 Yard IM – 4:28.79 : 8th Seed – Bear felt really good going into this one...and it showed. He had a really strong heat, which helped to push him. He posted a 58.59 fly (which is fractions of a second from a personal best), the he followed it up with a 1:06.27 back. Again, like the 200 much better than he had been doing during the regular season. His breast was unbelievably strong, as he managed to go a 1:16.77 split, and he finished up with a 57.35 free, after 300 grueling previous yards. Overall he posted a 4:18.99, which was good enough for 6th overall, and it is a senior sectional cut.

#36 Boys 200 Yard Free FINAL – 1:50.20 : 12th Seed - The race started and Bear pretty quickly lost contact with the leaders...his first split was right on his first 50 from the morning, but the rest of the splits started showing his fatigue. He slowly slipped back and only managed a 1:53.42

#78 Boys 200 Yard Butterfly – 2:06.56 : 5th Seed – Bear had two goals here...get under 2 minutes and to finish in the top 3 to earn another medal. Both are very tough asks given the field, the amount of swimming he had already done and the amount of time he needed to drop. His fly looked really good though from the start of this race. He went out in a 59.2 and came home in a 1:02.8 to post a 2:02.13... it placed him 6th going into finals But before that, Bear had another swim...

#88 Boys 500 Yard Freestyle – 4:59.71 : 6th Seed – Bear went under 10 minutes in the 1000, so he was hoping he might be able to go 4:50 in this. Again a tough goal, but a good one. Opened with a 55.54, Exactly what he opened the 1000 in...Then he followed that with 59.73, 59.46, 59.71, and 58.31. A total time of 4:52.75. A great swim that placed him 4th overall, and just off of the senior sectional cut...undoubtedly his next goal when he swims the 500 again.

#78 Boys 200 Yard Butterfly FINAL – 2:02.13 : 6th Seed - This was an extremely fast race...and Bear did an excellent job from the start staying with the leaders in the middle of the pool. He road the hip of the swimmer to his inside, who took it out really fast. That kept Bear within striking distance. His opening 100 was a 57.83 (that would be a personal best). He had one bad turn. Right after chasing down the swimmer to his inside and placing himself in a 3 way battle for 3rd, he had a poor breakout after the turn and found himself back about an arms length again. He once again swim down the swimmer to his inside, and this time he passed him. Driving hard for the wall in a race for 3rd with a swimmer on the other end of the pool. Bear posted a time of 2:00.22, another 2 second drop. Unfortunately, he missed 3rd by .19 seconds. However, he did earn a senior sectional cut with this swim. To give you an idea of how fast this race was. Bear's buddy Tommy finished 2nd last year with a time of 2:01.6...Bear's 2:00.2 earned him 4th...

RELAYS

#26 Boys 13-14, 400 Free : A Relay – Bear swam the anchor on the free relay. They rearranged the order to get their fast 2 out front. The third swimmer posted a slow 52.43 split that caused them to slide back into 5th with 6th closing. Bear hit the water and began to eat up space on the 4th and 3rd place teams. He managed to catch the 4th place swimmer in the last 25 and out touched him. Bear's spit was a 51.16...

#32 Boys 13-14, 200 Free : B Relay – swam this to start the night session...right before the 200 freestyle final. Bear managed to swim really well posting the fastest time of the 4 in his relay with a 23.67...he also posted a faster time than one of the boys on the A relay. However...it cost him some (see 200 Free Final)

#64 Boys 13-14, 400 Medley : B Relay – Bear was pulled from this relay. Another boy was forced to do a swim off in the 100 fly. During the swim off that boy posted a 55 low, which moved him into the fly leg on the medley relay. Then the flyer was moved to the free leg, knocking Bear off...no big deal. It was probably better for Bear because he didn't expend that energy.

#70 Boys 13-14, 200 Medley : B Relay – Just like the 400 medley, Bear was pulled on this one as well.

Breeze

02-23-2017, 03:23 PM

General Update

Brett has had a really tough year. He started with a shoulder injury, followed by sickness, appendicitis, and then sickness again. Every time between the incidents getting back in the pool to try and restart his swimming. Something that is extremely hard to do given that the rest of the team is churning our yards, while Brett is trying to get back in shape.

Brett's tough year isn't limited to just swimming though. He's been hit really hard with the news of my cancer. It's really caused him to lose motivation in school, as well as getting with friends. Moreover, he has had to watch as Bear's swimming (the sport he loves and is the only reason Bear swims at all) reached extreme highs, that he knows he'll never reach.

All this is really weighing on him, and I'm not sure how to handle it. It breaks my heart to see him struggle so. He had such a tough time during elementary school because of his ADHD, and now he's got all this hanging over his head. I've tried to let him know that he doesn't have to swim like Bear to be successful, and that I'm as proud of his accomplishments as I am of his siblings, but he doesn't really believe it. He still views things from the teenage vantage point of - is what you accomplished worthy of recognition...not from a more adult perspective of - how hard to did work and in the case of swimming - how much did you improve (regardless of what the improved time is).

I wish I could make things better for him, but because wishing won't fix anything, I really hope I can make him understand!

Breeze

02-27-2017, 01:57 PM

General Update

Tonight is the South Forsyth Swim Banquet, so the twins will be getting their varsity letter. A pretty big deal for a high schooler and one that will force me to purchase 2 letterman jackets at about $350 each...but it's worth it.

Also, I'm very proud about the twins dedication to getting better. They are actually going to go to practice for an hour (Bear will probably swim for more like an hour and a half), then get out, get ready at the pool, then go straight to the banquet. The coach didn't want them to miss practice, so they are going to attend.

Breeze

03-06-2017, 02:10 PM

Water Polo

So yes...we don't have enough going on in our lives so we decided to add a whole new sport to our schedule. The boys are now playing water polo. They are new to the game, so there is a lot of indecision, especially on the offensive end, but overall they are playing pretty well. It will be interesting to see what happens with them going forward. The spring season that we are in, is very informal compared to the Summer League, and the boys are using this as a way to become familiar with the sport so they can compete better in the Summer.

They both swim better than most of the team, and despite the fact they are extremely new to the skills involved, they play great defense and they catch and throw pretty well. There are quite a few kids that are returning from last Summer, so I'm not sure how the teams will be split up when matches start. If I were to guess, I think they will both start out on the B team, so they can get more playing time, rather than be a rotational player on the A team.

Matches start on Sunday, but Bear probably will miss that game due to tapering for the Age Group Sectional Meet that is coming up at the end of the following week.

Breeze

03-07-2017, 11:21 AM

Brett - College Swimming

Amazingly, despite all of his issues this season, and his inability to actually swim, Brett got his first interest from a college. He received a notice on his swim profile that Lawrence University is Appleton, Wisconsin is interested.

Breeze

03-07-2017, 01:23 PM

General Update - Bear

So Bear, who's continued his hard training with an eye towards potentially breaking the team record in the 500 Free and the 1650 Free...was just diagnosed with walking pneumonia. This is a total shock because he has been according to his reports and his coaches comments - killing practice. Hopefully, the antibiotics will work quickly and he can still make a run at the records in 10 or so days.

Breeze

03-10-2017, 11:19 AM

March Madness Meet @ GaTech – 3/11-12

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Bailey – not sure what to expect from Bailey this weekend. She’s still struggling with her fly timing, so I don’t expect a good swim in that event, but the rest could be time drops given how hard she’s been working at practice.

# 11 (d1/s1): G 13-14 200 Back (2:17.77Y) – Bailey only swam this once during the season in January right in the middle of intense training. She only managed a 2:26…which is obviously way off her personal best. The PB time is just over a year old, so not sure what she’ll do with this one tapered. I think she’ll easily beat the 2:26, but I don’t think we see a PB swim.

# 15 (d1/s1): G 13-14 100 Free (57.56Y) – She went a 57 low in a relay during state. I think that’s a good potential number for her. I hope she gets into the 56s.

# 23 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 500 Free (5:34.85Y) – This time is from her most recent swim…but it was all the way back in December. She has the ability to further drop time in this one. I expect she’ll drop a little.

# 65 (d2/s4): G 13-14 100 Back (1:05.15Y) – Hasn’t raced this since October- and that was a really bad swim…She’s better than a 1:05…

# 73 (d2/s4): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:01.25Y) – I won’t venture a guess here, but I will state if she can get close to her PB it will be a huge lift to her self-esteem and her motivation

# 75 (d2/s4): G 13 & Over 400 Medley (4:55.19Y) – At state she was only a second off of her personal best. If her fly is improved at all from her recent struggles she might be able to get a PB here.

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Brett – This season Brett has only competed in 5 total swims for year-round meets. Moreover, with all his issues he hasn’t had a single swim this season when he was actually even close to being in shape. He still isn’t in peak shape, but he is making it through practices right now. Hopefully, this translates to good swims.

# 2 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 50 Free (27.07Y) – Brett was able to improve on this time during his few high school swims. His real personal best is a 26.34…and I think he can beat that this weekend.

# 10 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 200 Breast (2:34.31Y) – Ironically, Brett is nervous about this one. He feels he isn’t in shape to race a 200 breast and maintain his form and speed. (I know it sounds crazy, because when we swim breast it is more of a restful stroke…however, it is worth noting in a recent poll of elite swimmers the 200 breast was voted the toughest race to swim) He’s probably right, he isn’t really in shape to do this one…but he’s so much stronger now than he was last year, he could still challenge his PB.

# 22 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 100 Medley (1:25.99Y) – It’s been forever since he did this one. It’s only recently been added as a championship swim for senior aged competitors, so no idea what to expect – I’d guess a 1:06 to 1:08.

# 56 (d2/s4): B 15 & Over 200 Medley (2:23.02Y) – This will be interesting. It’s his improved strength and fly (which is much better) vs his lack of stamina. I still think he could drop time.

# 60 (d2/s4): B 15 & Over 100 Breast (1:12.60Y) – I’d love to see him get under 1:10…he typically starts out strong enough to do it, but fades badly in the back half. Stamina may not be up to it, but he was close to this time during high school before he was even making it through practice…now that he’s swimming more yardage every day (and practicing water polo for a couple of hours three times a week), I’m hopeful to see a drop.

# 68 (d2/s4): B 15 & Over 100 Free (58.22Y) – With his 26 low personal best in the 50, that could easily be a 25 and change this meet, he’s on pace to do better than a 58 second 100. If you figure double the 50 time +4 seconds as a guide, he might be able to pull off a 56 and change.

Breeze

03-16-2017, 07:08 AM

March Madness Meet - RESULTS

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Bailey

Day 1

# 11 (d1/s1): G 13-14 200 Back (2:17.77Y) - PRELIMS – Awesome turns in this race really helped her times. She was getting so much further underwater than the rest of the heat. In fact, she finished second in the heat overall, and every turn she closed on the leader only to fall back slightly in the middle of the pool. Managed a personal best time of 2:16.09 - and a nice start to the meet.

# 15 (d1/s1): G 13-14 100 Free (57.56Y) - PRELIMS – This swim was disappointing...didn't pick up on any specific reason for the mediocre time, but she only managed a 58.13. It wasn't a good time, but it was good enough for her to come back for finals...

# 23 (d1/s1): G 13 & Over 500 Free (5:34.85Y) – After the poor 100 wasn't sure what to expect here...however, it was obvious early she was going to drop time. She opened with a 1:01...then she was solid with three 1:05 splits...only the 1:07 mid split in the 400 turn was poor. Overall she dropped over 8 seconds and posted a time of 5:26.82

# 11 (d1/s1): G 13-14 200 Back (2:16.09Y) - FINALS – Turns were still really good, except for the last one. She popped up pretty quickly on that one (said she needed to breathe). Did manage to improve her time and post her second personal best on the day with a 2:15.42

# 15 (d1/s1): G 13-14 100 Free (57.56Y) - FINALS - This swim was very different from the morning - and she reached the time range I was hoping she would - 56.91

Day 2

# 65 (d2/s4): G 13-14 100 Back (1:05.15Y) - PRELIMS – After her drop in the 200 back expected one here. She improved by over a second 1:04.07

# 73 (d2/s4): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:01.25Y)– PRELIMS - Another terrible swim dropping back once again over 5 seconds off of her personal best...it appears things continue to get worse with this stroke - 1:06.02

# 75 (d2/s4): G 13 & Over 400 Medley (4:55.19Y) – This was a ridiculous situation. She finished her 100 fly, then swam the 400 IM less than 2 minutes later. Yes you read that right...she got out of the even pool in the last heat of the 100 fly...ran the length of the long course pool to the odd starting blocks and was in the first heat there. So we didn't expect much. Did manage to post a 5:00.95, which under the circumstances I thought was great.

# 65 (d2/s4): G 13-14 100 Back (1:04.07Y) - FINALS - back looked good again, but she didn't improve...in fact she almost matched her time exactly - 1:04.08

# 73 (d2/s4): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:01.25Y)– FINALS - For stretches here, she appeared to be closing on the field rather than the field leaving her behind. She didn't maintain that, but she did improve back to a 1:04.37...not good, but maybe she's starting to get the new stroke timing down a bit.

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Brett – So my thinking that by being able to make it through practice Brett would be in better shape and that would translate to improved time wasn't very sound. Yes, Brett is making it through practice, but that also means he isn't tapering. He's having to work hard in make it through practice. I'm proud of him for sticking with it, because I've seen several kids quit when the issues start piling up. However, expecting good swims was probably wishful thinking. I do believe they are coming, just not yet...

# 2 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 50 Free (27.07Y) – A little sluggish off the start..and the dive lacks some of his explosion from earlier in the season...but still managed a 26.97

# 10 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 200 Breast (2:34.31Y) – streaky race...periods of solid strokes followed by some up and down and choppy ones. Plus fatigued bad in the back half. 2:39.17

# 22 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 100 Medley (1:25.99Y) – My guess was close...he did get in the 1:08s...1:08.69. Fly was much better. Needs to relax more when he swims it, but the form is miles improved over the stroke last year. Back was too deliberate, breast was fine, but obviously fatigued. Free was a grind to finish. He'll go much faster here when he's in shape and tapered in the future (if he ever swims it again)

# 56 (d2/s4): B 15 & Over 200 Medley (2:23.02Y) – See the 100 IM above, and magnify the fatigue factor - 2:28.84

# 60 (d2/s4): B 15 & Over 100 Breast (1:12.60Y) – A little better form than the 200 Breast, but working hard in practice coming in really took it's toll. Didn't even match his 1:14s he had been swimming at high school. 1:15.97

# 68 (d2/s4): B 15 & Over 100 Free (58.22Y) – At this point, he was really dragging...but he managed to pull out a 59.44...just over a second off his best...so not bad under the circumstances.

Breeze

03-16-2017, 11:24 AM

ESSZ Age Group Sectionals @ Greensboro Aquatic Center - 3/16-19

Time for the Eastern Section of the Southern Zone, regional swim meet. Bailey actually has qualifying times for this meet, but chose not to swim due to the fact she is struggling with her fly (the 2 cuts she has) and she wanted to swim some of her off strokes to improve her times and potentially set her up for additional cuts in the future. Therefore, Bear and I will be heading up to Greensboro tonight and he will swim tomorrow. We are missing the first day of competition, but the decision was made to skip the 1000 free (which is being swum today) because he already has the team record in that event, and by skipping it the hope is his he will have more left for his other races, especially the 500 Free and the 1650 Free.

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Bear - tough to have any sort of expectation on how Bear will do, given his improvement at State just a few weeks back...

# 10 (d2/s2): B 13-14 200 Free (1:50.20) : Seeded 24 - Wants to get under 1:50

# 18 (d2/s2): B 13-14 100 Fly (58.39) : Seeded 71 - Scratched this at State, so looking for an improvement here

# 22 (d2/s2): B 13-14 400 Medley (4:18.88) : Seeded 12 - Would like to get into the A final and earn a medal (means top 10)

# 40 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Fly (2:00.22) : Seeded 6 - Wants to go under 2 minutes

# 56 (d3/s5): B 13-14 500 Free (4:52.75) : Seeded 11 - Wants a top 10 medal, also wants to get under 4:50...

# 74 (d4/s8): B 13-14 100 Free (52.75) : Seeded 65 - Another one he didn't swim at State...hoping for a 51 and change.

# 88B (d4/s8): B 13-14 1650 Free (17:12.44) : Seeded 12 - Bear hasn't swum this all year...so no idea what to expect, but he should drop a good bit of time. He's hoping to be under 16:50.

Relay (Entered by Admin)

# 26 (d2/s2): B 13-14 400 Free Relay (Team A) - Will be swimming 1 relay...probably would have been in two if we were going to swim on day 1...

Breeze

03-23-2017, 11:10 AM

ESSZ Age Group Sectionals - RESULTS

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Bear - For a few days prior to heading up to the meet, Bear developed a pretty bad cough, which only seemed to get worse as the weekend progressed. It was so bad on Sunday that I took him to a doc in the box to see if his pneumonia was back (it wasn't, but that almost certainly meant his asthma was acting up).

# 10 (d2/s2): B 13-14 200 Free (1:50.20) : Seeded 24 - He was off pace early and struggled home in 1:53.87. This was concerning given he was sick just 10 days earlier and he was coughing a good bit. I was hopeful it was just a bad first swim.

# 18 (d2/s2): B 13-14 100 Fly (58.39) : Seeded 71 - Added time to an old personal best - 59.44 - at this point it was pretty obvious it wasn't going to be a good meet.

# 22 (d2/s2): B 13-14 400 Medley (4:18.88) : Seeded 12 - Added 9 seconds...4:27.91

# 40 (d3/s5): B 13-14 200 Fly (2:00.22) : Seeded 6 - Another poor swim - 2:05.81 - At this point I was feeling bad for him. He's worked so hard for this meet and he's been undone by a virus/bacteria.

# 56 (d3/s5): B 13-14 500 Free (4:52.75) : Seeded 11 - Figured this one was going to be painful...longer swim with his poor previous showings, I expected an add of over 10 seconds. Instead I got a personal best swim of 4:52.63 - just fractionally better but still a personal best. Also qualified for finals...

# 74 (d4/s8): B 13-14 100 Free (52.75) : Seeded 65 - Scratched - he didn't really have this cut, and with him struggling we didn't want to pay the fine if he failed to reach the cut time in the race.

# 88B (d4/s8): B 13-14 1650 Free (17:12.44) : Seeded 12 - Wasn't sure what to expect in this...after his solid 500 free swim I thought maybe he might be able to challenge 17 minutes. He started off strong...he was hitting his splits dead on, then all of a sudden he dropped off by more than a full second. He said his arms were dead and he couldn't get them to turn and pull they way he wanted. He did manage a slight improvement and a personal best swim, but he's capable of going faster so next season should be interesting. - 17:08.10

# 56 (d3/s5): B 13-14 500 Free (4:52.63) : FINALS- Almost an identical swim to the morning. Slightly off pace and he finished with a 4:53.24.

Relay (Entered by Admin)

# 26 (d2/s2): B 13-14 400 Free Relay (Team A) - scratched himself. He didn't want to hold back the relay so he begged off...

Breeze

03-24-2017, 11:34 AM

Gold Cup Grand Prix @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 3/25

This meet is basically an intramural competition designed to be more like a team building exercise. The Gold team divided up the swimmers from all the locations into 4 color teams (Purple, Orange, Blue, Green). The idea was to force swimmers from different pools to interact and root for each other. The way the teams were determined and the events the kids will swim was put together in a haphazard way...so no telling how this will ultimately play out.

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Bailey - PURPLE

# 11 (d1/s1): G 13-14 50 Free (27.25Y Approved)
# 53 (d1/s1): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:01.25Y Approved)
# 63 (d1/s1): G 13-14 200 Free (2:05.69Y Approved)

Bear - BLUE

# 12 (d1/s1): B 13-14 50 Free (24.95Y Approved)
# 34 (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Free (52.75Y Approved)
# 54 (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Fly (58.39Y Approved)

Brett- BLUE

# 10 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 50 Free (27.07Y Approved)
# 20 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 100 Breast (1:12.60Y Approved)
# 62 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 200 Free (2:05.30Y Approved)

Breeze

04-05-2017, 11:21 AM

Gold Cup Grand Prix @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 3/25

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey - PURPLE

# 11 (d1/s1): G 13-14 50 Free (27.25Y Approved) - not really interested in this event - 28.66
# 53 (d1/s1): G 13-14 100 Fly (1:01.25Y Approved) - went through the motions to post a 1:08.70
# 63 (d1/s1): G 13-14 200 Free (2:05.69Y Approved) - no stamina at the end due to very little practicing leading into this meet results in a 2:15.21

Bear - BLUE

# 12 (d1/s1): B 13-14 50 Free (24.95Y Approved) - Bear managed to swim a personal best despite not really having just come off taper for Sectionals and not training the week before this meet - 24.48
# 34 (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Free (52.75Y Approved) - He got yet another personal best - 52.60 - at this point the coach was really lamenting the fact that Bear wasn't healthy for Sectionals...
# 54 (d1/s1): B 13-14 100 Fly (58.39Y Approved) - Didn't have the stamina to go 3 for 3...58.71

Brett- BLUE

# 10 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 50 Free (27.07Y Approved) - managed a 28.43...but had to withdraw afterwards with a strange sore on his inner thigh - ends up it was a staff infection, which has kept him out of the water this past week.
# 20 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 100 Breast (1:12.60Y Approved) - WD
# 62 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 200 Free (2:05.30Y Approved) - WD

Izulde

04-06-2017, 10:17 AM

Breeze

04-06-2017, 11:40 AM

Man, Brett just can't catch a break.

I've visited Lawrence - small, private college. Excellent academic reputation and rigorous. Also noted for its music conservatory. I liked it, but not enough to apply there (tuition is obscene).

Yeah, I noticed the tuition issue when I investigated the school. I doubt, even with financial aid for being an athlete at the school that I'd be able to afford to send him there.

Brett has really struggled this year. It would be almost comical if some of the problems weren't so serious. His staff infection is much better and he should return to water polo practice tonight. He's really enjoying the team sport - so much so I believe he might even give up swimming year round in the near future.

Breeze

04-25-2017, 02:32 PM

JonInMiddleGA

04-25-2017, 02:49 PM

Brett - College Swimming

Brett received his 3rd recruiting letter. This one from Emory & Henry in Southwest Virginia. Another expensive D3 school, that I probably can't afford, but we may go check it out and see what sort of financial aid package they can put together. It appears from photos to be a really pretty campus...I'll let you know if we set a date to head up that way.

I've observed the D3 process, albeit secondhand, a fair bit with a couple of Will's friends. FWIW, based on what I learned from that, I'd definitely at least explore if Brett is interested.

Will's best friend is at a similar school (same conference) and what happened in his case was a series of slowly improving offers when the family made it clear that finances were so far apart that the school simply wasn't a realistic option. It was still a pretty narrow run thing (and required considerable effort
to piece together a number of private scholarship & such) but as the family narrowed the gap the school incrementally improved their offer at least a couple of times and eventually they made it work.

IF he investigates and remains interested then my (unsolicited) advice would be to be pretty candid with the coach/AD after you see their initial offer. If their interest level is high enough then that seemed to be what kept the process moving, though it was definitely incremental & stretched out over several stressful months.

Breeze

05-01-2017, 12:22 PM

I've observed the D3 process, albeit secondhand, a fair bit with a couple of Will's friends. FWIW, based on what I learned from that, I'd definitely at least explore if Brett is interested.

Will's best friend is at a similar school (same conference) and what happened in his case was a series of slowly improving offers when the family made it clear that finances were so far apart that the school simply wasn't a realistic option. It was still a pretty narrow run thing (and required considerable effort
to piece together a number of private scholarship & such) but as the family narrowed the gap the school incrementally improved their offer at least a couple of times and eventually they made it work.

IF he investigates and remains interested then my (unsolicited) advice would be to be pretty candid with the coach/AD after you see their initial offer. If their interest level is high enough then that seemed to be what kept the process moving, though it was definitely incremental & stretched out over several stressful months.

Thanks for the advice Jon, I'll keep updating the college recruiting stuff as updated as I can.

Breeze

05-01-2017, 12:28 PM

General Update - Bear

So we just found out the Gold Awards Banquet is on the 7th. Which is a very disappointing because Bear will be unable to attend. Bear, who is planning to work at the Cumming Aquatic Center this summer as a lifeguard, will be doing his training this weekend to get certified. We wanted to get him in earlier but, he wasn't allowed to take the course until he turned 15 (which was just a few weeks back). Also, this is the last class offered until after the Summer.

What makes this so disappointing is that Bear broke the team's 1000 Free record during the season, and he's supposed to be recognized by the team for his effort. So because of the conflict he will be unable to stand on the stage in front of his peers and be recognized for being the fastest 13/14 1000 yard freestyler in the history of Gold swimming. After how hard he worked to get this achievement I really wanted him to have his moment of glory.

Breeze

05-30-2017, 12:17 PM

General Update - Bailey

I believe that I've mentioned in this thread as some point, that Bailey has had episodes where she passes out. Typically the incident lasts about a minute or so, and then she's back to normal. It's been a while since it has occurred, and generally the thought was that it was related to low blood sugar, because it almost always happened when she didn't eat well, (which is why we are so insistent that she eat a good breakfast before a meet or practice).

This morning Bailey had one of her episodes. She had been swimming warm ups, got out of the pool for instruction. Then she felt the dizziness, tried to grab one of the other swimmers to steady herself, then she fell back into the pool. The girl who was her targeted anchor, immediately jumped in after her, and as is the norm, she was ok after about a minute. However, this time she informed us that when she's about to have an episode that not only does she get dizzy and her vision starts to tunnel, but apparently her heart races too. That's the first we've heard about the heart part of the equation. She is not scheduled to see a cardiologist tomorrow, and she's not allowed to swim again until the cardiologist clears her.

Breeze

06-01-2017, 10:05 AM

2017 SE GPAC Tom Lalor Invitational @ UWF Aquatic Center - June 3-4

First long course meet of the season and it is also a travel meet. Because this is the first long course race, because it has been so long since they raced at all, because it is a travel meet (and they alway are difficult to gage performance), I' have no idea what to expect.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

# 47 (d2/s3): G Open 50 Fly (32.65L Approved)
# 51 (d2/s3): G Open 200 Free (2:22.86L Approved)
# 59 (d2/s3): G Open 200 Fly (2:32.27L Approved)
# 65C (d2/s3): G 15 & Over 400 Free (5:07.11L Approved)
# 85 (d3/s5): G Open 100 Free (1:09.09L Approved)
# 89 (d3/s5): G Open 200 Back (2:38.21L Approved)
# 97 (d3/s5): G Open 200 Medley (2:41.86L Approved)
# 99D (d3/s5): G 15 & Over 800 Free (10:36.92L Approved)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear

# 52 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Free (2:11.80L Approved)
# 60 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Fly (2:25.62L Approved)
# 64 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Back (1:17.21L Approved)
# 66C (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 400 Free (4:32.74L Approved)
# 86 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Free (1:01.54L Approved)
# 90 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Back (2:36.75L Approved)
# 98 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Medley (2:28.87L Approved)
# 100D (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 1500 Free (17:45.75L Approved)

Breeze

06-01-2017, 10:10 AM

General Update - Bailey

Initial reports on Bailey's passing out is that it appears to be a classic fainting spell. The doctor will do a stress test on her soon, but he said it's ok for her to swim. In fact, he typically tells people that have this issue that they should swim. So he doesn't expect that she's going to pass out while swimming. He also told her to drink a lot more water and eat more salt.

Breeze

06-12-2017, 11:25 AM

2017 SE GPAC Tom Lalor Invitational- RESULTS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey - typical in season, no taper adds for Bailey

# 47 (d2/s3): G Open 50 Fly (32.65L Approved) - 35.13 - this was a bit of a surprise. I thought she'd have been closer here.
# 51 (d2/s3): G Open 200 Free (2:22.86L Approved) - 2:31.47 - again, her improved freestyle over the short course season, I felt would lead to times closer to here PB.
# 59 (d2/s3): G Open 200 Fly (2:32.27L Approved) - 2:46.03 - This is a painful result and it is starting to become worrisome. She needs to get this fly figured out soon or it will significantly hurt her college prospects.
# 65C (d2/s3): G 15 & Over 400 Free (5:07.11L Approved) - 5:09.61 - this was a pretty good effort giving her other results
# 85 (d3/s5): G Open 100 Free (1:09.09L Approved) - 1:09.52 - explain this one to me after her poor swims in the 50 and 200 how can she come so close to her personal best in the 100???
# 89 (d3/s5): G Open 200 Back (2:38.21L Approved) - 2:45.65 - this one is about what I would have guessed.
# 97 (d3/s5): G Open 200 Medley (2:41.86L Approved) - 2:48.26 - no splits available...would have been interesting to see how her swim broke down.
# 99D (d3/s5): G 15 & Over 800 Free (10:36.92L Approved) - 10:35.85 - one personal best on the last swim of the meet.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear

# 52 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Free (2:11.80L Approved) - 2:07.62 - a nice drop in his first swim.
# 60 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Fly (2:25.62L Approved) - 2:24.56 - another improvement, and good enough to finish 6th in the meet (as a 15 year old in the 15 and over age group)
# 64 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Back (1:17.21L Approved) - 1:17.61 - just missed a PB.
# 66C (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 400 Free (4:32.74L Approved) - 4:35.28 - not a great swim but for a travel meet and during intense training, it isn't terrible either.
# 86 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Free (1:01.54L Approved) - 1:00.40 - good swim, but I'm sure he's disappointed he didn't go sub60.
# 90 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Back (2:36.75L Approved) - 2:37.01 - again close in the back, but can't get a PB
# 98 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Medley (2:28.87L Approved) - 2:31.15 - again would have like to have seen splits...I'm especially interested to see if Bear's breast improvements are holding up.
# 100D (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 1500 Free (17:45.75L Approved) - 18:07.64 - he wasn't all that pleased with this distance swim either.

Breeze

06-15-2017, 02:48 PM

SCAT Sizzlin Summer Invite @ GaTech - 6/16 - 6/18

This is a huge prelim/finals meet, that has already created numerous changes in the scheduling to accommodate all the swimmers. This meet is so close to the previous one I don't expect much in the way of improvements. Maybe Bailey can go a little bit faster in her races because she should be more well rested. Bear had several improvements so I don't know that he'll drop any time (note the seed times may not be personal bests because the previous meets results may not have been loaded into the national database yet). Regardless, it will be nice to see the kids race again. It's been a long time since we've watched them.

Here is what the twins are competing in:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

# 3B (d1/s1): G 15-16 200 Medley (2:41.86L)
# 19B (d1/s1): G 15-16 100 Fly (1:09.73L)
# 21 (d1/s1): X 11 & Over 400 Medley (5:38.00L)
# 44B (d2/s4): G 15-16 50 Fly (32.65L)
# 48B (d2/s4): G 15-16 100 Back (1:16.63L)
# 52B (d2/s4): G 15-16 200 Free (2:22.86L)
# 65 (d3/s7): G 11 & Over 200 Fly (2:32.27L)
# 67 (d3/s7): G 11 & Over 200 Back (2:38.21L)
# 70 (d3/s7): X 11 & Over 400 Free (5:07.11L)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear

# 4B (d1/s1): B 15-16 200 Medley (2:28.87L)
# 20B (d1/s1): B 15-16 100 Fly (1:10.78L)
# 21 (d1/s1): X 11 & Over 400 Medley (5:08.43L)
# 41B (d2/s4): B 15-16 50 Free (30.24L)
# 45B (d2/s4): B 15-16 50 Fly (38.65L)
# 53B (d2/s4): B 15-16 200 Free (2:07.62L)
# 64 (d3/s7): B 11 & Over 200 Fly (2:24.56L)
# 70 (d3/s7): X 11 & Over 400 Free (4:32.74L)

Breeze

06-30-2017, 12:46 PM

SCAT Sizzlin Summer Invite - RESULTS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

# 3B (d1/s1): G 15-16 200 Medley (2:41.86L) - 2:48.50...almost identical time to the meet a few weeks earlier.
# 19B (d1/s1): G 15-16 100 Fly (1:09.73L) - 1:13.15 - given how much time she's added in other events, this one was closer than I expected by about a second or two.
# 21 (d1/s1): X 11 & Over 400 Medley (5:38.00L) - 5:53.75 - not a good swim, given she has room to improve at the longer events.
# 44B (d2/s4): G 15-16 50 Fly (32.65L) - 33.52, which means she isn't as fast at this stroke as she was as a 12 year old...given her seed time was from 3 years ago. Pretty sure this one broke her heart and was probably the biggest reason she didn't go back on Sunday.
# 48B (d2/s4): G 15-16 100 Back (1:16.63L) - She had a pretty good swim here only adding around 1.2 seconds - 1:17.88
# 52B (d2/s4): G 15-16 200 Free (2:22.86L) -NS
# 65 (d3/s7): G 11 & Over 200 Fly (2:32.27L) - NS
# 67 (d3/s7): G 11 & Over 200 Back (2:38.21L) - NS
# 70 (d3/s7): X 11 & Over 400 Free (5:07.11L) - NS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear

# 4B (d1/s1): B 15-16 200 Medley (2:28.87L) - 2:29.41 - 2 seconds better than the meet a few weeks earlier
# 20B (d1/s1): B 15-16 100 Fly (1:10.78L) - 1:07.06 - this personal best isn't surprising, it's the first time he swam this race all season, and he had quite a few drops in his last meet.
# 21 (d1/s1): X 11 & Over 400 Medley (5:08.43L) - terrible swim - 5:20.17 - not sure what the problem was and the splits didn't register so I can't see the raw data. It's probably breaststroke again. He doesn't practice it enough so he's probably lost his technique a bit.
# 41B (d2/s4): B 15-16 50 Free (30.24L) - 28.23 - good swim and another personal best
# 45B (d2/s4): B 15-16 50 Fly (38.65L) - like Bailey the seed time was from 3 years ago, so I expected a huge drop - 30.89
# 53B (d2/s4): B 15-16 200 Free (2:07.62L) - He wasn't happy about this one - but the PB seed time was from just a few weeks ago so not being able to drop again isn't all that surprising - 2:09.13
# 64 (d3/s7): B 11 & Over 200 Fly (2:24.56L) - in this one he does manage to drop a fraction of a second over his previous personal best from a few weeks ago - 2:24.28
# 70 (d3/s7): X 11 & Over 400 Free (4:32.74L) - huge improvement here over his swim a few weeks ago, and his personal best - 4:28.39

Breeze

07-06-2017, 08:07 AM

Kevin Bacon Invite @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 7/7 - 7/9

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey - due to her recent struggles and the fact that as a 15 year old she doesn't have many cuts for the state meet, Bailey is going to skip that event in a few weeks and instead focus on this meet. Bailey will be tapered coming into this, so I'm hopeful that she'll be able to post some personal bests. She really needs to, as this lack of improvement is really starting to take a toll on her self confidence.

# 1C (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 200 Medley (2:41.86L Approved)
# 5C (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 800 Free (10:35.85L Approved)
# 7C (d2/s2): G 15 & Over 200 Free (2:22.86L Approved)
# 19C (d2/s2): G 15 & Over 200 Fly (2:32.27L Approved)
# 23C (d2/s2): G 15 & Over 400 Medley (5:38.00L Approved)
# 57C (d3/s4): G 15 & Over 200 Back (2:38.21L Approved)
# 63C (d3/s4): G 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:09.73L Approved)
# 69C (d3/s4): G 15 & Over 400 Free (5:07.11L Approved)

Bear - will not taper for this event, thus the reduced schedule. He's just getting a few swims in prior to state.

# 8B (d2/s2): B 15 & Over 200 Free (2:07.62L Approved)
# 64B (d3/s4): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:07.06L Approved)
# 70B (d3/s4): B 15 & Over 400 Free (4:28.39L Approved)

Breeze

07-18-2017, 12:23 PM

Kevin Bacon Invite - RESULTS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bailey

# 1C (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 200 Medley (2:41.86L Approved) - I missed this race, so I don't have any specifics, but I'm happy to report a personal best and a drop of over 3 seconds - 2:38.71
# 5C (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 800 Free (10:35.85L Approved) - She was a little dizzy heading into this one, which was a concern, and she definitely held back (from her own comments), but still posted a personal best 10:33.38
# 7C (d2/s2): G 15 & Over 200 Free (2:22.86L Approved) - A nice swim, but couldn't quite get a personal best - 2:23.83, this one was much closer than her non-taper swims and that was a huge improvement.
# 19C (d2/s2): G 15 & Over 200 Fly (2:32.27L Approved) - this was a big one, I was really hoping for a drop, but she didn't pull it off - 2:33.30. Another slight add and a huge improvement over her typical non-taper times. This one was good enough to be a AA time, which earns her another all-star designation. This was important because her personal best time is about to expire. Had this swim been before the 200 free, she might have managed a drop.
# 23C (d2/s2): G 15 & Over 400 Medley (5:38.00L Approved) - This wasn't a good swim - 5:42.03, which had me concerned about Sunday...
# 57C (d3/s4): G 15 & Over 200 Back (2:38.21L Approved) - Almost! 2:38.58...an add of only .37...
# 63C (d3/s4): G 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:09.73L Approved) - another huge one I was hoping for a pb in, but again, just short - 1:10.62
# 69C (d3/s4): G 15 & Over 400 Free (5:07.11L Approved) - She closed out the meet with a big improvement in the 400 free - 5:02.16

All in all, this was a great meet for Bailey, with 3 personal bests and 4 swims around 1 second off out of 8 total is a real improvement.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear

# 8B (d2/s2): B 15 & Over 200 Free (2:07.62L Approved) - managed a personal best 2:07.37 even without the taper.
# 64B (d3/s4): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:07.06L Approved) - Sunday was a fun day for Bear. Both of his events came down to races against his buddies. In this one he raced Alex, who just a couple of years ago really figured out how to swim fly, so much so that he's been able to beat Bear in the 100 fly several times. In this one, the two of them ended up running away with the event. They were dueling it all the way to the wall, but Bear ended up winning the heat and beating Alex to the wall by .2 seconds. He posted a personal best time of 1:05.30
# 70B (d3/s4): B 15 & Over 400 Free (4:28.39L Approved) - In this event, Bear was in a 3 way race. Initially an older boy named Haddon took it out extremely fast. In fact, he opened with a 1:02 first 100. Bear was a couple of seconds back, slightly trailing his good friend Seth. Seth and Bear battle the entire pool, and Haddon, suffering from the early effort fell off the pace and out of contention. In the final 50, Bear really started to press his lead and he won the event by about 1.5 seconds, with a time just off of his personal best - 4:28.59

Breeze

07-19-2017, 12:03 PM

Bailey - General Update

Earlier this summer I mentioned that Bailey had passed out at practice. She has passed out a few times throughout her life (I may have mentioned that before too, but this thread goes way back and I can't remember), and we've never really known why. As part of the investigation into the cause she had a stress test yesterday, and here is basically how it went.

- initial vitals showed blood pressure elevated, somewhere in the neighborhood of 140/95...

- the testing started, and after about a half hour of running, Bailey's blood pressure was 190/???

- then they had her stop and stand perfectly still. Her heart beat was around 190 initially. After about 20 seconds it dropped to 90. It was at this point that she admitted that she wasn't feeling good.

- about 2 minutes later her heart beat was 47, and she said she felt nauseous and she was seeing spots.

- they had her lay down and put her feet up and her heart beat returned to 80 almost immediately.

Basically, what the doctor told her is that her blood pressure and heart don't work in conjunction very well. That she needs to be aware of her issues, and when she exercises to never immediately just stop. It is important to continue walking around, not to stand still, so her blood pressure and heart beat can come down slowly. He also told her to drink more water and consume more salt.

We will have a follow up with her specialist soon to go over the results in more detail, and I'm sure we will discuss all of our treatment options at that point.

Breeze

07-20-2017, 09:25 AM

General Update - College Swimming

The collegeswimming.com website has come out with their rankings of the 2020 swimmers. In Georgia Bailey is currently 52nd and Bear is currently 15th.

There is a bunch of time for these rankings to change before they graduate so I won't put too much effort into explaining or investigating the standings at this point. In fact, it won't be until September of 2019 when colleges can contact the twins, so these rankings are at most just interesting at this point.

I will be happy to answer in questions about the rankings if you have any though.

Breeze

07-24-2017, 12:13 PM

2017 Georgia Senior Long Course State Championships @ UGA Gabrielsen Natatorium - 7/28 - 7/30

The senior state meet will take place later this week. Bailey will not be swimming this one, as I touched on in the write up for the previous meet. Bear will be participating, but not in everything he's qualified for. He will only do the 200 fly on Saturday and the 200 IM and 1500 Free on Sunday. The reason for the limited schedule is because we are going on vacation tomorrow. We always schedule our vacation during this week, because typically all the major swim meets are finished by now. Unfortunately, the Georgia Swim Organization elected to move the senior meet back a week this year. So I'll be getting up early during my vacation to take Bear to a pool where he can get a workout in. The problem is, the pool will almost certainly be a short course one, but that's better than nothing.

Honestly, I don't expect that he will swim all that well. We are going to a lake in the mountains and he'll be doing quite a bit of skiing. Combine that with the lack of a long course pool for practice and I just don't see him doing all that well. At least this is just his 15 year old season, so his first of many senior state meets.

I don't know where he is seed wise because the Psych Sheet hasn't been published yet. Given that I'm going on vacation, I doubt I'll be here to publish that information prior to the event, but I did want to make sure to announce the upcoming meet.

Breeze

08-08-2017, 08:28 AM

2017 Georgia Senior Long Course State Championships - RESULTS

#18 Mens 200 LC Meter Butterfly - 2:24.28 - Bear came into this one as one of the last swimmers seeded, as his personal best time listed above really wasn't a cut time for this event, however, he qualified with his short course time. Because he competed all season without any benefit of a taper, his personal best in this event was only about 1.4 seconds faster than his time a Long Course State in 2016. This meant he had a good chance to drop quite a bit of time. He was hoping for a 2:!5, but that was a little ambitious. He ended up swimming a 2:18.82. Obviously, this is a huge drop in time and an excellent swim. He wasn't satisfied though. In fact, he was upset with his results. We pushed him to do a 200 Free time trial, in an effort to add the cut time to his resume, but he wasn't feeling it and refused. This is a huge departure from Bear's normal attitude and it illustrates his frustration with the swim. The coach, who was irritated with Bear for not doing the 200 Free, felt this goal was a bit too strong, but did admit that Bear probably could have gone in the 2:!6s...but he didn't have anyone to race in his heat (he won that going away) and he had to train for a few days in a short course pool while we were on vacation.

#38 Mens 200 LC Meter IM - 2:28.87 - Another event where Bear qualified for the swim based on his short course performances. His seed time above was from the state meet last year, therefore another race in which he could drop a bunch of time. In this race, he was seeded right next to one of his buddies Brandon (he's the boy with the Asian features in the sports demo pictures I posted back a few pages with Bailey in the center). The two of them had one heck of a race.

Here is how it went:

Fly Leg - Bear opened with a 30.15, while Brandon swam a 29.93 - Brandon with a slight lead at the turn

Back Leg - Brandon who is a very good sprint backstroker swam 37.13 and Bear countered with a 36.33 - Bear is leading at the turn by about half a second, but next up is Breast, Bear's weakest stroke

Breast Leg - Bear started out good, keeping pace with Brandon, but as the leg approached the wall, Brandon began to open his lead - Brandon 41.98, Bear 43.63 - Bear was just over 1 full second back heading into the 50 Free

Free Leg - Bear came off the wall hot...charging after Brandon, and it was apparent he was faster, but only just...it was going to come down to - is there enough pool for him to close the gap. Bear finished in 31.86 while Brandon came home in 32.96...

Overall, Bear out-touched him 2:21.79 to 2:22.00. It was pretty exciting to watch. Bear won the shootout and dropped 7 seconds in the process. He admitted that the race was funny, because if he were to race Brandon in 4 sprint 50s, 1 of each stroke, he'd lose all 4, but when you put them together without rest he was able to beat him.

#42 Mens 1500 LC Meter Freestyle - 17:45.75 - Again, the seed time ends up being last years time in this event. Bear set a strong pace, but unfortunately there was no one in his heat to help push/pace him. He ended up winning his heat by almost 1 full lap over the second place finisher, and he nearly lapped the 3rd swimmer in the heat. He finished with a respectable 17:17.92 - another huge drop in time.

Breeze

08-17-2017, 07:00 AM

General Update - Bailey

Bailey met with the doctor to go over the results of her stress test, and here is what he said:

"Your heart is in great shape, in fact you are currently operating on a physical level even with professional cyclists and marathon runners. The typical person scores around a 52 on the test we put you through, you scored 146, which is the best I've ever personally seen in all my years of doing this."

He went on to tell her she really should wear compression socks, drink lots of water, and he urged her to take salt tablets 3 times a day. After Bailey did some research, and the salt tablets were almost a problem, she read somewhere that they can cause you to again weight (water weight obviously), and she was convinced they would make her fat. After talking her off the ledge, she's been taking the pills regularly and she's pushing close to 4 liters of water a day. The results, at least initially, appear to indicate this treatment might help. In the 3 days she's been doing this, she's appeared to have more energy, she hasn't complained about headaches (which was common and according to our research potentially related to her circulation issues), and she seems happier. Fingers crossed this continues and maybe it will carry over to the pool and she can get back to dropping time.

Breeze

08-21-2017, 05:13 PM

General Update

The 2017-2018 season kicked off today with their first practice.

Breeze

09-08-2017, 06:08 AM

Brett - College Swimming

It's funny...as I mentioned earlier in this thread, Brett has stopped swimming. He is still planning to swim his senior year for the high school team, and he might even rejoin Gold for a couple of months to get in shape for the season, but that is hardly in the same ballpark with the time and effort he used to put into the sport. Moreover, he hasn't competed in a meet in 6 months or more. What's so funny is that despite the fact that he isn't swimming currently, and that his times are decent but hardly spectacular, he's continued to receive interest from colleges. Here is a list of colleges that have contacted him:

- Lawrence University - Appleton, WI
- Emory & Henry College - Emory, VA
- St. Norbert College - De Pere, WI
- Warren Wilson College - Asheville, NC
- Barton College - Wilson, NC
- Grinnell College - Grinnell, IA
- William Paterson University of New Jersey - Wayne, NJ

Even though he isn't swimming, I think he's taking some pride in the fact there are numerous colleges that were interested in bringing him in.

Breeze

10-09-2017, 08:52 AM

Gold Invite @ Cumming Aquatic Center - October 13-15

First meet of the new season. I haven't watched any of the kids practices and I don't really have a feel for how they will do, but here is what they will be swimming:

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Bailey

# 1 (d1/s1): G Open 200 Medley (2:18.42)
# 3 (d1/s1): G Open 50 Free (27.25)
# 7 (d1/s1): G Open 500 Free (5:26.82)
# 41 (d2/s3): G Open 200 Free (2:05.69)
# 45 (d2/s3): G Open 100 Back (1:04.07)
# 53 (d2/s3): G Open 100 Fly (1:01.25)
# 83 (d3/s5): G Open 200 Fly (2:13.79)
# 87 (d3/s5): G Open 200 Back (2:15.42)
# 95 (d3/s5): G Open 100 Free (56.91)

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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Medley (2:03.83)
# 4 (d1/s1): B Open 50 Free (24.48)
# 8 (d1/s1): B Open 500 Free (4:52.63)
# 42 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Free (1:50.20)
# 46 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Back (1:05.35)
# 54 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Fly (58.39)
# 84 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Fly (2:00.22)
# 92 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Breast (1:15.59)
# 96 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Free (52.60)

Breeze

10-19-2017, 02:10 PM

Gold Invite - RESULTS

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Bailey - she really struggled again during this meet. In fact, the coach was extremely frustrated because he sees no reason for the poor times. He says her form looks good, her practice habits are good, and her attendance is excellent, so she shouldn't be struggling like this. He even stated to me that he thinks she's swimming faster during interval sets at practice then she is in meets. We'll have to see what he comes up with to get her going. One thing to note...most of the girls were well off of their personal best times. Time submitted for the most part without comment:

# 1 (d1/s1): G Open 200 Medley (2:18.42) - 2:25.83
# 3 (d1/s1): G Open 50 Free (27.25) - 28.72
# 7 (d1/s1): G Open 500 Free (5:26.82) - 5:44.55
# 41 (d2/s3): G Open 200 Free (2:05.69) - 2:10.84
# 45 (d2/s3): G Open 100 Back (1:04.07) - 1:08.25 - this one wasn't too bad. Her start was excellent and she really took it out better than she normally does. She just didn't bring it home well.
# 53 (d2/s3): G Open 100 Fly (1:01.25) - 1:06.29
# 83 (d3/s5): G Open 200 Fly (2:13.79) - 2:22.62
# 87 (d3/s5): G Open 200 Back (2:15.42) - 2:23.30
# 95 (d3/s5): G Open 100 Free (56.91) - 1:00.64

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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): B Open 200 Medley (2:03.83) - An ok swim - 2:07.42 - all the splits were good - no single stroke killed him this time, he just needs to go a little faster in general
# 4 (d1/s1): B Open 50 Free (24.48) - PB swim 24.44 - untapered and early in the season this is exciting, much more so than .04 would lead you to believe
# 8 (d1/s1): B Open 500 Free (4:52.63) - 4:58.56 - got under 5 minutes early in the season, not bad.
# 42 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Free (1:50.20)- 1:51.08 - good swim, just off his personal best for early season is a good sign.
# 46 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Back (1:05.35) - Fantastic start and strong underwater and turns led to a personal best swim of 1:00.13. This swim was good enough to put the state cut in his sights. It's been a long time coming but it appears Bear's backstroke might be solid again.
# 54 (d2/s3): B Open 100 Fly (58.39) - A great swim and another personal best 56.73
# 84 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Fly (2:00.22) - faded late 2:03.04
# 92 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Breast (1:15.59) - Not sure the last time he swam this one...plus his breast has looked good at times in IMs so I expected a drop - I didn't expect a 1:11.25
# 96 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Free (52.60)- Another Personal Best swim 52.30 - hoping he'll get to 51 low or 50 high by the end of the season.

Breeze

10-20-2017, 07:11 AM

High School Swimming - Try Outs

The kids tried out for high school swimming earlier this week. Obviously, I didn't have any concern about the twins, but there was a bit of concern about Brett. Having not swum for months, I was concerned that he might struggle to make the cut times. However, he swam the 50 free in 27.02 and was easily under the time. The interesting thing is the 27.02 is the second fastest 50 free for Brett ever...it's too bad he won't get back into swimming, with his new strength if he'd just get back in the water even if just on the year round high school level team that practices 3x a week, I think he'd see some dramatic improvements.

JAG

10-20-2017, 10:45 AM

thealmighty

10-20-2017, 08:57 PM

On a different note, has there been any growth spurt worth mentioning?

Izulde

10-20-2017, 09:08 PM

Great to hear Brett is getting interest from a number of D3 schools - albeit private ones. Will be very curious to hear of financial offers, etc.

Breeze

10-23-2017, 06:56 AM

On a different note, has there been any growth spurt worth mentioning?

Great question - I hadn't really thought about that.

Bailey at last check had grown fractionally taller and actually reached 5' 3", but that's probably going to do it for her. I was hoping early on she might get to 5' 5", but it became pretty obvious over the last couple of years that wasn't going to happen. Her short stature is hurting her swimming as many girls that she was competing with have grown much bigger and they are pulling away from her. It will hurt her recruiting as well. Coaches will often take a flyer on a tall girl assuming she'll develop, but short girls better be fast before they get recruited.

Brett went to the doctor for his annual check up last year and the doctor told him he was just under 5' 8" and was done growing. However, he's now 5' 9", so he wasn't done. I suspect he probably is finished now. I could be wrong, my side of the family has had some late growth, but even if he grows more, I'd be surprised if it was a full inch.

Bear has grown a little over an inch in the last year. That puts him right at 5' 8". At one point it looked like Bear would be much taller than Brett. He wears a 10.5 shoe to Brett's 8.5. He was taller at the same age pretty much every year, but that has slowed. I don't think he's finished growing, but I'm starting to think there won't be any dramatic leaps for him either. It's looking like 5' 9" might be his final height as well. This will hurt Bear's recruiting too. If he could get to 5' 11" or 6' it would be a huge help. Hopefully, his distance focus will reduce the amount of focus placed on height.

Breeze

10-24-2017, 04:52 AM

Great to hear Brett is getting interest from a number of D3 schools - albeit private ones. Will be very curious to hear of financial offers, etc.

Izulde,

I doubt we ever get to that point. After his rough season last year Brett stopped swimming year round. In fact, it's been months since he last had a swimming work out. He keeps hedging on going back to Gold's year round high school level training group, which is 3 days a week, but so far no commitment. Today is his first day of practice for the high school. He'll be doing that every morning 5 days a week if he doesn't sign up for the Gold team again. I guess there is an outside shot that once he starts practicing he enjoys it and sees enough improvement to start thinking about doing it for 4 more years in college. Any information that comes up on that front I'll make sure to post. I'll even try to remember to post any and all of Brett's comments/thoughts around this topic.

JonInMiddleGA

10-25-2017, 04:31 AM

I'll even try to remember to post any and all of Brett's comments/thoughts around this topic.

I think that's an interesting aspect of this (fwiw I guess). I've known one kid who had a chance to continue his sport in college but opted not to. Great kid, he'd basically just had enough of it & wanted to move on with the rest of his life instead of putting in four more years.

He was near his ceiling with it -- probably an eventual DIII football starter for a year or two if he'd opted to stay with it but that was realistically as far as it might have gotten -- and just seemed to feel like it was time to let it go. Having known so many who would have pretty much literally killed for the same opportunity it was interesting to see his choice.

Breeze

10-25-2017, 05:47 AM

I think that's an interesting aspect of this (fwiw I guess). I've known one kid who had a chance to continue his sport in college but opted not to. Great kid, he'd basically just had enough of it & wanted to move on with the rest of his life instead of putting in four more years.

He was near his ceiling with it -- probably an eventual DIII football starter for a year or two if he'd opted to stay with it but that was realistically as far as it might have gotten -- and just seemed to feel like it was time to let it go. Having known so many who would have pretty much literally killed for the same opportunity it was interesting to see his choice.

I had a few friends in high school that were the same...could have played some small college ball but elected not to. There were a number of reasons, some just didn't want to think about having to do practice for 4 more years, some decided if they weren't D1 they didn't want to play, and others just wanted to go to a big school and party (most of them failed out pretty quickly).

For swimming, unfortunately, this isn't uncommon at all. And if you think about the sport - starting at a young age, getting up extremely early several days a week, the hours of training, and the monotonousness of the training (staring at a black line for hours at a time), it really takes an extreme level of dedication to even take up the sport much less take it through college. Interestingly, a large number of kids that I've mentioned in this thread through the years have quit...

Lexi - Bailey's friend that moved to Arizona quit last year
Ryan - Lexi's brother quit 3 years ago
Carmen - quit this year
Ainsley - quit over the Summer
Sammy - quit last summer
Haley - Bailey's friend at SwimAtlanta just quit this season
Rayley - quit last year
Caroline - quit last year
Haylee - quit 2 years before graduating high school

I'm sure there are more...but these are just the ones off the top of my head.

Breeze

10-25-2017, 06:07 AM

General Update - Brett

So Brett's conflicted nature with swimming continues. His first practice with the high school was yesterday. However, the practice was dry land training. He got up early and went to practice without complaint, but he called me to check him out said he had hurt his hip. He apparently tweaked it early in practice but pushed through to finish it. I pulled him out of school and he took some advil, iced his hip and took a nap (which I believe it what he really needed).

Later that night when we were fixing dinner he volunteered out of the blue that he might use high school swimming to get back in shape and then he'd join Gold again, but he wasn't talking about the Gold high school level team, he was talking about rejoining the Senior team that he was on prior to the break. I was totally shocked. I knew he still has an interest in the sport, but something or more likely several somethings are holding him back. I suggested that he should swim high school for a couple of weeks, if he likes it, we can put him on the Gold high school team, and if likes that and wants to swim more, then on the days when Gold doesn't practice he can do the South Forsyth team practice. That will keep him in the water 5 days a week and with his increased strength he could see some significant time improvements even though he won't be practicing as hard as he did with the Gold senior team. The enthusiasm was definitely present and that's something we hadn't seen in months.

Fast forward to this morning. I go to wake him up and he's wanting to skip practice. He eventually got up, and he did go. Not sure if he practiced or hid in the bathroom and slept. Hopefully, he'll decide what he wants to do soon, rather than end up with a decision due to indecision. I'll keep you updated on which way he's leaning moving forward.

Breeze

10-27-2017, 05:23 AM

General Update - Brett

The conflict within Brett about swimming continued yesterday. He once again complained about having to get up early to go to practice, and he even tried to convince me that he shouldn't have to go. However, he ended up going and he admitted that he enjoyed the practice.

One major issue, in addition to the desire to sleep, is that Brett is sore, and truth be told he's probably as sore as he's ever been. I told him that he was going to have to gut it out and work through the soreness, that missing a day because of it would simply make it take longer to get over. I also noted that he was out of shape for the first time in his life. Up until the last several months, Brett never went 3 weeks without a swim workout, and he's now be out of the pool for over 6 months. This is a new experience for him and I'm interested to see how he handles it.

Breeze

11-02-2017, 06:21 AM

2017 Beach Bash - Greenville County Aquatic Complex - Nov 3-5

It's the short course travel meet, so again no idea what to expect. I hope the kids take this seriously, eat well, and get the rest they need.

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Bailey - is tapering for this meet. She really needs to swim well. It would be a huge confidence boost if she can get a couple more cuts and swim her fly close to or better than her PB.

# 37 (d2/s3): G 15 & Over 100 Free (56.91Y) - seeded 29th. Needs to get 56.09 for the cut...
# 41 (d2/s3): G 15 & Over 200 Back (2:15.42Y) - seeded 24th. - Needs a 2:13.99 for the cut.
# 45 (d2/s3): G 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:01.25Y) - seeded 13th. She has this cut.
# 51 (d2/s3): G 13 & Over 400 Medley (4:55.19Y) - seeded 26th. She needs a 4:47.89.
# 83 (d3/s5): G 15 & Over 200 Free (2:05.69Y) - seeded 47th - needs to drop 5 seconds here, so not likely.
# 91 (d3/s5): G 15 & Over 200 Fly (2:13.79Y) - seeded 12th - She has this cut by almost 10 seconds.
# 101 (d3/s5): G Open 500 Free (5:26.82Y) - seeded 27th - Needs to drop 7 seconds, not impossible in a 500 free. I wish she'd embrace this more because this is an event I believe she could do well in.

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Bear - will get just a short drop taper for this event. Coach wants him to get more state cuts (State is in December so this is the last chance to get them), but he doesn't want to mess up his training for state in his strong events. It's a very delicate balance.

# 38 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 100 Free (52.30Y) - seeded 28th, needs to drop 2 seconds for the cut, which isn't likely. But as a 15 year old in a 15 and over age group a non-sprint specialist probably isn't supposed to get this cut this early.
# 42 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 200 Back (2:18.94Y) - seeded 35th. Cut is likely not in reach here either, but a good drop could be. He managed to almost go under 60 seconds in the 100 at the last meet. I'll be very interested to see what happens here.
# 46 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (56.73Y) - seeded 18th. Needs a 55.99 to earn the cut - this one is definitely one he's targeted.
# 52 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 400 Medley (4:18.88Y) - seeded 7th, he has this cut.
# 84 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 200 Free (1:50.20Y) - seeded 13th, needs a 1:49.49 - another one that is in the bullseye...
# 92 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 200 Fly (2:00.22Y) - seeded 7th, he has this cut.
# 96 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 50 Free (24.44Y) - seeded 38th, needs a 23.19...that's a huge drop in a 50, but...maybe.
# 102 (d3/s5): B Open 500 Free (4:52.63Y) - seeded 8th. According to the latest sheet he has this cut, but he seems to think he doesn't. Regardless, he's looking to swim a PB here.

Breeze

11-08-2017, 11:36 AM

2017 Beach Bash - RESULTS

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Bailey

# 37 (d2/s3): G 15 & Over 100 Free (56.91Y) - 57.47 - not great, but much better than she had been doing. The taper shows that she can still get close to personal bests - disappointed she didn't actually get one.
# 41 (d2/s3): G 15 & Over 200 Back (2:15.42Y) - 2:16.85 - another one that is better than the typical 7 second add she was getting when she wasn't tapered but again I'd really like to see some PBs
# 45 (d2/s3): G 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:01.25Y) - 1:02.07 - again disappointing but it is good enough to renew her state cut in this event for another year.
# 51 (d2/s3): G 13 & Over 400 Medley (4:55.19Y) - 4:50.18 - a huge improvement - not sure how she drops 5 seconds here but none in the individual strokes swum earlier.
# 83 (d3/s5): G 15 & Over 200 Free (2:05.69Y) - 2:03.01 - another personal best, but not good enough for a state cut...
# 91 (d3/s5): G 15 & Over 200 Fly (2:13.79Y) - 2:20.29 - terrible swim...this one is much more like her untapered times, but she told us she wasn't feeling well before this race. Back was hurting and a bit nauseous. The back we believe is due to wearing the super tight competition suits and the shoulder straps pulling down hard. She typically has a bikini top she puts on between events to relieve this stress but she forgot to pack it on the trip.
# 101 (d3/s5): G Open 500 Free (5:26.82Y) - 5:31.03 - started off real good, but the not feeling well and fatigue got her in the last 200 and she fell off her pace.

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Bear

# 38 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 100 Free (52.30Y) - 51.56 - Nice swim and drop into the 51 second range.
# 42 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 200 Back (2:18.94Y) - Huge drop down to 2:08.07. As good as this is, with his 100 around 60 seconds he should be closer to a 2:05 mid...In other words, I expect he could drop more here soon.
# 46 (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (56.73Y) - 56.48 - he was very disappointed that he didn't get the state cut.
# 52 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 400 Medley (4:18.88Y) - 4:28.55 - bad swim in this one...
# 84 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 200 Free (1:50.20Y) - 1:48.87 - another personal best and well under the cut time.
# 92 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 200 Fly (2:00.22Y) - 2:10.67 - a surprising...no ALARMING result here. Especially when we looked at the splits that saw him swim a 1:14.48 in the back half. I initially started wondering if he had hurt himself or experienced an asthma attack...then I realized, he already has the 200 fly cut, but not the 100 fly, I bet he tried to get the 100 fly cut to open this race. In looking at the splits he opened with a 56.19, which is a personal best in the 100 fly, but still an eye blink from a state cut.
# 96 (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 50 Free (24.44Y) - No show - rested following the 200 fly and before the 500 free.
# 102 (d3/s5): B Open 500 Free (4:52.63Y) - Disappointing swim here at 4:57.95

Breeze

11-09-2017, 06:25 AM

High School Swim - Tri-Meet @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 11/10/17

Bailey

200 Free - 2:08.35 - this isn't her personal best but the best she swam this event last year for the high school team, as the coach only takes times for the team to slot her swimmers (more on this later). Keep in mind that the kids often practice right before swimming for the school, so they are not only not rested but worn out. She is coming off of a taper, so maybe she can go 2:05...

100 Fly - 1:04.24 - Hopefully, she can approach this number again, so she'll knock the state cut out right away. Especially given when she's not tapered she's swimming 1:05s or worse.

400 Free Relay B - 3rd Leg - she's only got 1 relay, and with the strength of the girls on the team and the fact she's been struggling this is probably correct.

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Bear

200 IM - 2:11.30 - I suspect Bear will beat this time, even tired.

500 Free - 5:03.10 - He should probably go under 5 minutes...though it probably won't be necessary for him to win (unless his teammate Jake is also swimming it, in which case he'll end up second as Jack is one of the 3 fastest 500 swimmers in the nation for his age group)

200 Free Relay B - Anchor - You need 6 swimmers to field your 3 A teams (each swimmer can swim only 2 of the 3 relays). Bear is absolutely one of the top 6 on the team. In fact, there are 2 kids on the 400 Free A relay that will race at a time that Bear practices at. But because Bear doesn't get to swim the 100 and 50 frees because they need him in other events, he doesn't get to post times to move up on the relays. It's lazy coaching and it hurts the team.

200 Medley Relay B - Breast leg - you read that correctly, they have Bear doing the Breast??? And he's on the B team again which also stupid.

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Brett

Brett is currently ineligible to swim. Because he is a senior he's only taking 5 classes, and in Georgia HS sports you have to be passing 5 classes to be eligible, and the doh-doh failed to turn in several assignments in his...get this...office assistant class. Yep, the kids that help in the office have to do stupid little assignments to get a grade and my son decided they weren't necessary. So until those assignments are made up he'll be unable to swim (he's apparently turned them in now, but the lineup was already set so he can't participate - serves him right...:rolleyes:)

Breeze

11-14-2017, 12:01 PM

High School Swim - Tri-Meet - RESULTS

This meet ended up being against West and North...

Bailey

200 Free - 2:08.35 - Bailey swam a 2:07.83, which is better than she did last year and she finished 3rd for the team in the heat...

100 Fly - 1:04.24 - 1:04.46 - not quite her best even for high school, but good enough for a high school state cut.

400 Free Relay B - 3rd Leg - Bailey's relay finished 2nd, only losing to the South A team. Bailey swam a 1:00.36 leg and the team went a 3:59.80 which is good enough for a high school state cut as well.
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Bear

200 IM - 2:11.30 - Bear swam a 2:06.39, which is a high school cut. He also finished 3rd in the event.

500 Free - 5:03.10 - Bear wasn't expecting to do well in this one, but as the race progressed he found himself right on Jake's hip, and he remained there for the first 300, then he realized he might be able to beat Jake so he picked it up for the final 200 and he close about half a second on Jake, but still lost by .29. He finished in a personal best 4:51.40, and yes that is a personal best for year round as well, and yes it was after he had completed 2 practices that day and swim approximately 12 to 13,000 yards...I was blow away by this result. He and Jake were so far ahead that 3rd place was making the turn for his last 25 yards when they finished, and every other swimmer was lapped.

200 Free Relay B - Anchor - the 200 free relay is literally the next event after the 500 free so Bear had almost no rest coming into this one, but he still managed to go 24.11...not bad.

200 Medley Relay B - Breast leg - no idea how Bear did here because the splits didn't save in the system...but he said he had his worst relay start ever, so his split probably wasn't that great anyway.

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Breeze

11-17-2017, 10:30 AM

High School Swim vs Lambert @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 11/17

The kids have high school meets tonight and again on Monday. I know the individual events for the kids but not relays. I'll post the relay stuff with the results (assuming the official results include who swam what in the relay)

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Bailey

#6 - Girls 200 IM - 2:24.00
#12 - Girls 100 Fly - 1:04.24

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Bear

#5 - Boys 200 IM - 2:06.39
#15 - Boys 500 Free - 4:51.40

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Brett - not sure if Brett is going to be allowed to swim. He turned in his missing assignments, but the teacher hasn't graded them and he's stated he's not sure he will grade them (in other words he's being an asshole. Not sure why you'd choose not to take a late assignment in an office assistant class. However, until those grades are entered he's still ineligible. If he swims this is what he's scheduled for:

#7 - 50 Free - 26.34
#21 - 100 Breast - 1:12.53

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Breeze

11-20-2017, 06:57 AM

High School Swim vs Lambert- RESULTS

So this was one exciting meet. With about 3 events to go, I said to the group I was with, "This is going to be a close meet." And as it turned out, it came down to the very last event. Lambert ended up winning by 8 points.

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Bailey

#6 - Girls 200 IM - 2:24.00 - 2:21.44 - this is a high school best for Bailey and a good note her fly leg was under 30 seconds...she hasn't been there in a while. Her breast is still killing her at almost 45 seconds...
#12 - Girls 100 Fly - 1:04.24 - 1:04.91 - a pretty good swim considering she just finished practice about 90 minutes before. And considering she was swimming this time or worse in year round meets most of last season.
Girls 400 Free Relay - B team - 1st Leg - Bailey led off the relay with a respectable 59.72...
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Bear

#5 - Boys 200 IM - 2:06.39 - 2:06.81 - didn't quite equal his time from last week, but he had a nice swim regardless. He managed to beat a couple of other year rounders pretty bad...
#15 - Boys 500 Free - 4:51.40 - 4:54.56 - also not as quick as last week, but Bear had no one to race. A Gold teammate that is on Lambert swam against him, but Bear had a 2 second lead after the first 100 and before the race was over he led by 12 seconds or 2/3rds of a lap.
Boys 200 Medley Relay - B Team - Fly Leg - Bear's relay beat the Lambert B relay and Bear had a nice split on his leg going a 25.84...
Boys 200 Free Relay - B Team - leadoff - Again the South B relay beat Lambert's B team, this time by .01 seconds. Bear opened in 24.15 the fastest split of all 4 swimmers on his relay despite the cold start.

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Brett - he was able to swim...

#7 - 50 Free - 26.34 - 26.19 - And yes this is a personal best. Not just a high school best but an outright personal best.
#21 - 100 Breast - 1:12.53 - 1:11.92 - Also a personal best and again this is regardless of team.

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Breeze

11-20-2017, 07:14 AM

High School Swim - Tri Meet vs Central, Cambridge and Pinecrest @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 11/20

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Bailey

#6 Girls 200 Yard IM - 2:21.44
#12 Girls 100 Fly - 1:04.28
#24 Girls 400 Free Relay - B Team - 3rd Leg

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Bear

#1 Boys 200 Medley Relay - B Team - Fly leg
#5 Boys 200 IM - 2:06.39
#13 Boys 100 Free - 54.88 - This is an important swim for Bear, this might be his 1 shot to show he's faster than some of the kids currently swimming on the A relays. He really needs to go 52 low in this one.
#17 Boys 200 Free Relay - B Team - anchor
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Brett

#7 Boys 50 Free - 26.19
#21 Boys 100 Breast - 1:11.92

Breeze

11-21-2017, 01:55 PM

High School Swim Tri Meet -RESULTS

South won the meet going away...

Men

South - 682
Cambridge - 481.5
Central - 472.5
Pinecrest - 320

Women

South - 710
Cambridge - 567
Central - 495
Pinecrest - 230

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Bailey

#6 Girls 200 Yard IM - 2:21.44 - 2:22.94
#12 Girls 100 Fly - 1:04.28 - 1:05.75
#24 Girls 400 Free Relay - B Team - 3rd Leg - team finished 4th and her split was 1:00.17

Not a good day for Bailey, but most of the kids added several seconds to their swim during this meet.

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Bear

#1 Boys 200 Medley Relay - B Team - Fly leg - Team finished 4th - Bear's leg was a 26.36 and a clear sign he wasn't going to have a great day either.
#5 Boys 200 IM - 2:06.39 - 2:10.18
#13 Boys 100 Free - 54.88 - Didn't manage to swim what I was hoping for...finished in 53.01. We'll have to see if that is good enough to get him on an A relay.
#17 Boys 200 Free Relay - B Team - anchor - The relay finished 3rd and Bear managed a 24.29
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Brett

#7 Boys 50 Free - 26.19 - 27.05 - disappointing to see him add a full second after his good swim on Friday.
#21 Boys 100 Breast - 1:11.92 - 1:11.54 - another personal best for Brett...

JonInMiddleGA

11-21-2017, 04:44 PM

Breeze

11-22-2017, 06:15 AM

Interesting to see Pinecrest fielding a team. (cause I know the gap in school sizes between them and the others)

edit to add (for those who are unfamiliar): I dare say that the senior class at the other schools is larger than the gr 9-12 population at Pinecrest.

Jon, you're absolutely right with regards to Pinecrest. Actually, to be honest you are understating the small size of the school. In fact, the entire PreK to 12th grade population is about the same as South's graduating class. Pinecrest has about 250 high school students, so at times when they have good swimmers that are in middle school they allow them to swim varsity. In all there were 27 swimmers on their team (for comparison purposes South is fielding 80+ after cuts), which is a pretty good number but a large majority of those are just there because the team doesn't cut swimmers. They pop up in quite a few county meets for convenience purposes I'm sure.

Breeze

12-04-2017, 08:42 AM

Brett - College Swimming

This season has rejuvenated some of Brett's love of swimming. I believe there are several reasons for this:

1. He really does love swimming even if he isn't especially gifted
2. He is just swimming high school practices 3 times a week not 20 hours a week with Gold...and he is much happier with a bit a free time and more time to get homework finished
3. Because he's not on Gold he's not comparing himself to his friends (who are much better swimmers) and that allows him to simply enjoy the sport a not feel self conscious about his ability.

Brett is enjoying swimming so much that he emailed the coach from Emory and Henry College trying to set up a visit. I don't know that he'd go to school there, but he's interested enough to investigate it.

Breeze

12-05-2017, 01:33 PM

Georgia Senior Short Course Championships @ GaTech - Dec 8-10

Bailey

# 9 (d1/s1): W Open 100 Fly (1:01.25Y Approved) - despite swimming poorly leading into state last year, Bailey just missed a personal best in this event. She's been stronger heading into State in 2017, I hope that translates into a PB swim. She could really use one!
# 17 (d2/s4): W Open 200 Fly (2:13.79Y Approved) - she hasn't been as close on this one in a while. If she can get within a second it'll probably be good, though she won't be happy with it.

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Bear

# 8 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Free (1:48.87Y Approved) - just dropped a couple of seconds in this one last month, so I don't expect a big drop here. If he can get in the 1:47s he will be doing good.
# 12 (d1/s1): M Open 400 Medley (4:18.88Y Approved) - this event has been very poor this year. Not sure why but his times in the 2 times he swam it were 10 full seconds off his personal best. He'll have to really be on to drop time in this event.
# 18 (d2/s4): M Open 200 Fly (2:00.22Y Approved) - another event that has been difficult for Bear this season so far. He's added several seconds over his personal best from Age Group state in February...I'd like to see him get under 2 minutes but I'm not expecting it.
# 26 (d2/s4): M Open 500 Free (4:52.63Y Approved) - He already swam a 4:51 at a high school meet untapered and coming directly out of his second practice of the day. He should drop here, if he doesn't he's going to be very upset.
# 36 (d3/s7): M Open 200 Medley (2:03.83Y Approved) - only swam this 1 time this season, so no idea what to expect. If his 400 is any indication though he might struggle to drop time.
# 38 (d3/s7): M Open 1000 Free (9:55.65Y Approved) - - hasn't swum this since he broke the team record, and he hasn't done the 1650 either. However, his 4:51 swim at the high school meet should be a sign that he's ready to drop time in the distance freestyles. I'd like to see him approach 9:50...but any drop will be good.

Breeze

12-11-2017, 10:04 AM

Georgia Senior Short Course Championships - RESULTS

This was one of the strangest meets we've ever had. It ranks right up there with the Summer Long Course Championships in Savannah when the HazMat team was called out. Snow started falling early during the event, and continued coming down most of the day. This caused the meet organizers to move finals the first day up an hour, and to eventually move the start times for Saturday and Sunday back until about 1 PM and eliminate the prelim/finals aspect of the last 2 days of competition due to time constraints and concerns about the roads.

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Bailey

# 9 (d1/s1): W Open 100 Fly (1:01.25Y Approved) - Bailey was able to get a personal best, but it wasn't as much of a drop as she would have liked. She only managed to drop .16 seconds to a 1:01.09. I tried telling her that it was good get a best time regardless of how small the improvement, but she only begrudgingly agreed I was right...

# 17 (d2/s4): W Open 200 Fly (2:13.79Y Approved) - after only a slight increase in the 100, I didn't expect much here and while she swam better than she has been in this event for quite a while, she only managed a 2:15.03, which is about 1.25 seconds off her personal best...

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Bear - let me start by saying that my preview write ups were my honest assessment of what I expected Bear to do and let me admit that I grossly underestimated the impact of his taper...

# 8 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Free (1:48.87Y Approved) - Bear opens his meet by swimming a personal best 1:45.91...and he goes from 67th seed to 36th place and qualifies for the D final...

# 12 (d1/s1): M Open 400 Medley (4:18.88Y Approved) - In the 400 IM he opened with a 57 second fly, followed by a 1:04.58 second back a pretty solid leg only 4 seconds off his personal best in the second leg. The breast leg was also about 4 seconds off his personal best at 1:15.34, and he finished strong in 54.56. Combined he swam a 4:11.59 and moved from 33 seed to 16th and earned a spot in the B final.

Finals was not a good one for Bear. Due to the weather he was late getting something to eat, and he didn't get a good warm up in. All this resulted in a 200 Free time of 1:48.62 and a 400 IM time of 4:20.93. I can't really tell you how he felt about that evening, because we didn't even stay for the 400 IM swim. We left him with the coach and headed home because it was dark, still snowing and we were concerned about the roads.

# 18 (d2/s4): M Open 200 Fly (2:00.22Y Approved) - After his bad swims at finals there was a moments hesitation that he might not be as sharp on the second day but he started by going 1:57.01 here for a nice 3 second drop.

# 26 (d2/s4): M Open 500 Free (4:52.63Y Approved) - This was probably the event I was most interested in seeing after his shocking personal best in a high school meet after two practices the same day and no taper. I originally thought under 4:50 would be good. After his early meet I felt 4:45 was probably a better goal and that is what he was hoping for, but in this event he had a teammate that had a better 500 time than he did and he was wanting to just race. So we let him race with understanding that he'd get signaled if he fell below a 4:45 pacing. I never moved the counter. He was out strong at his coaches suggestion, opening with a 53.11 (basically the same sprint time he had a high school meet a few week earlier). Then he road 57 mids and closed with a 56.3 to finish in 4:41.77. That swim took him from 39th seed to 12th place. And if you were wondering his friend swam a 4:41.63.

# 36 (d3/s7): M Open 200 Medley (2:03.83Y Approved) - Just like the 100 fly last year that preceded the 1000 free, Bear scratched the event...

# 38 (d3/s7): M Open 1000 Free (9:55.65Y Approved) - - After the strong 500 free the coach was very excited about this one. Again we were going to signal if he fell below 9:45 pacing and again I didn't move the counter until the last 100 when I shook it urging him to give it his all not because he was off pace...he opened this time in a 54, then stayed between 58 lows and and 59 lows the rest of the way. At the 500 mark he was sitting on a 4:48.88, which was faster than he had ever swum a 500 prior to the previous day. He finished the race in 9:41.74, almost exactly 5 minutes above his 500 time...this time his swim moved him from 10th to 5th overall. He also beat one of Gold's top distance swimmers Parker, who was the one on social media that dubbed Bear the future of Gold distance swimming 3 years ago...

Gold A 800 Free Relay - coming off of his strong 200 Free on the first day, Bear was moved into the A team relay. He swam a very similar time to his PB 1:45.97...only this time it was with a rolling start. He admits he took it out too fast and it cost him a bit. However, the swimmer after him went a 1:46.16 and they quickly faded from contention.

This was a significant meet for Bear because he has improved so much that he's only a couple of seconds off NCSA cuts (a first level national cut) in a number of events (I'll outline that information shortly), and his improvements will drop his college ranking score (the lower the better) from 34.2 to somewhere around 25 or 26...

Izulde

12-11-2017, 01:20 PM

:eek: If he makes a national cut, that'll blow up his recruiting, right?

Breeze

12-11-2017, 01:28 PM

:eek: If he makes a national cut, that'll blow up his recruiting, right?

Absolutely it will. If he can get to Jr. Nationals it'll go even higher. As it is, he's starting to see some big D1 schools (not necessarily good swim schools) pop up on his page in the comparison website. I'll post NCSA and Jr. Nat cut times shortly.

Breeze

12-12-2017, 06:57 AM

Brett - College Swimming

Brett had a conversation with the coach from Emory & Henry on Sunday. They discussed a number of things and Brett was very excited when we returned home to go over all he learned.

According to Brett:

- His GPA and ACT Scores are good enough to get in...
- The school practices in the afternoons (which is good because he won't have to get up early to go to practice), and the only time they do doubles is during Winter Break
- They swim around 5000 yards a day (this is also good because it is more like his sectional advanced swimming with Gold and less like the 7500 yards he was doing on Seniors)
- The coach hosts a tutoring session after every practice (this is excellent because with Brett ADHD he'll need some structure to insure he's staying on top of his studies)
- Practice is specialized by discipline. In Brett's case he'll be doing mostly Breaststroke and drills associated with that stroke. (also good because he really hates doing a lot of butterfly)
- The Dorm is a general population facility, but the Coach typically requests the swimmers room together and he puts them on the end of the facility which basically places them right across the street from the pool.

The coach did a nice job of making Brett feel wanted. He mentioned that he wanted Brett to come in and set records for the school (more on this later). He mentioned that the rest of the team was excited to meet him and were already talking about how much he'd help the team. He told him he'd get him lifting weights which would help make him much faster. He also mentioned that he has a breaststroke only coach that will help him with his technique, which is huge because Brett has never really had anyone that really focused on the details of the breaststroke.

A little background on E&H. They have fielded a women's team for years, and the women are pretty good. I think the best way to explain how good they are is to say that Bailey would be a good fit there...her fly and 400 IM would be the best on the team, but in most other strokes where Bailey is pretty good she's a distant 3rd or 2nd. However, this is the first year for the men's team. There are currently 4 swimmers on the team, and Brett would arguably be the best when he arrives. His breaststroke is a full 9 seconds better than the best currently swum and they don't currently even compete in the 200 breast. In addition, his freestyle will be the second best on the team day 1, so he'll be on all the freestyle relays as well. This team could really provide for Brett what I believe he's been longing for; a team that is fun to be a part of, and one where he is respected and one of the better swimmers. Also, in case you are wondering, Brett will not only be one of the best swimmers on the team, but he'll be very competitive in conference. Yes, he will run into meets where there are other swimmers that will beat him by 10 or more seconds, but for the most part his times will hold up well. In fact, last year his times would have been good enough to make the B final in the conference championship. So again, a nice fit for Brett.

Brett is currently working on setting up a visit with the coach. It looks like we will be heading up to Virginia on 1/5 or 1/26...I'll update the thread when the date is actually scheduled.

JAG

12-13-2017, 06:57 AM

Exciting news. :)

Breeze

12-13-2017, 07:45 AM

Wright's First Flight @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 12/15 - 12/17

This is a meet that is generally set up for swimmers that failed to make a state cut, however, the coach has Bailey and Bear swimming in this meet. The idea is that he's going to try and extend their taper and give them an opportunity to swim some event with a taper they don't normally get to do.

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Bailey - this is actually a very important meet for Bailey. She really wants to get her recruiting score down (the lower the better) and to accomplish this she needs to improve some of her swims outside of the Fly. Currently, her score consists of the 200 Fly, 500 Free, 400 IM, and 100 Fly, so personal bests in any of those races will drop her score and a good swim in a different race can only help. She is starting to understand this and has even expressed some interest/excitement at swimming the 500...which is odd, but necessary if she wants to get the improved ranking

# 15 (d2/s2): G 15 & Over 200 Free (2:03.01Y)
# 41 (d2/s2): G 11 & Over 400 Medley (4:50.18Y)
# 79 (d3/s4): G 15 & Over 100 Free (56.91Y)
# 105 (d3/s4): G 11 & Over 500 Free (5:26.82)

She is also apparently going to deck enter the 200 fly and the 200 IM...

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Bear - I'm not sure how this extended taper is going to work for Bear, but expect we'll see some improvements regardless. Bear's recruiting score dropped a bunch after the state meet, and this one could help his score by providing a bonus if he does well in the 50 and 100 Frees. The bonus comes from the ability to use the swimmer in relays, so hoping to see a nice drop in those events. Also, I'm interested in the 200 IM, after he scratched it last weekend.

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:03.83Y)
# 6 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 50 Free (24.44Y)
# 24 (d2/s2): B 15 & Over 100 Back (1:00.13Y)
# 80 (d3/s4): B 15 & Over 100 Free (51.58Y)
# 98 (d3/s4): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (56.48Y)

FrogMan

12-14-2017, 09:19 AM

Hey there, long time no see :)

Just wanted to tell you I started reading your kids' story, probably around mid-Summer. I don't often comment because I usually read on the go and don't really like posting on my cell, but I really enjoy reading it. My son Matthew still swims, 6 times a week in fact. He will turn 14 in January and has become our tiny fly beast... Just adore watching him swim.

FM

Breeze

12-14-2017, 11:50 AM

Bear - Cut Times Update

Event Bear’s Time NCSA

500 Fr 4:41.77 4:39.59
1000 Fr 9:41.74 9:39.79
1650 Fr (old time) 16:13.69

200 Fly 1:57.01 1:54.79

400 IM 4:11.59 4:08.09

Breeze

12-14-2017, 11:50 AM

Izulde

12-14-2017, 05:31 PM

Wow, Bear is *really* close on those distance swim times.

Breeze

12-18-2017, 08:03 AM

Bear - College Swimming

The recruiting scores have been updated following the Georgia State Meet and Bear climbed from 16th to 7th in the state. Which is nice, but more importantly his recruiting score is now a 23.27, with a year and a half to improve it before early signing day his senior year. For a point of reference a teammate of his currently in his senior year with a score of 22.38 signed with Alabama. 2 other swimmers with similar scores signed to swim at smaller colleges.

Also in case you are wondering, Bear is currently 247th in the nation for the class of 2020. Not that it really matters because very few schools recruit on a national level.

Breeze

12-21-2017, 01:40 PM

Wright's First Flight - RESULTS

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Bailey

G 15 & Over 200 IM (2:18.42) - Bailey deck entered this one and I'm glad she did...her fly was SO much better on this one, she swam a 29.13 and she literally almost broke her nose on the wall. She was so much faster going in she misjudged her speed and timing and extremely short armed the turn. She followed that up with a 33.23 back which is about a second and a half better than usual, and a breast in the 42.3 range followed by an acceptable 31.9 free for a personal best 2:16.63 which is a short course state cut!!!

# 15 (d2/s2): G 15 & Over 200 Free (2:03.01Y) - she looked good but only managed a 2:03.09 - was hoping for a personal best and she was agonizingly close to it.

# 37 G 15 & Over 200 Fly (2:13.79) - another deck enter and this one I wasn't thrilled about. I really wanted her to stay away from the flys for a while so she could relax and race other events, and this event goes back to back with the 400 IM, which after the 200 from yesterday looked like a personal best was easily attainable...but her fly leg in the 200 IM really excited her and her coach so she raced it...she swam better than she has for about 21 months...with a time of 2:14.91, but still not close to a personal best. Coach said her new stroke didn't hold up for the entire 200 and it cost her some time, but that's really to be expected at this point.

# 41 (d2/s2): G 11 & Over 400 Medley (4:50.18Y) - the back to back was too much as she clearly was tired in this one, but she still put up a good fight finishing in 4:51.42, which is the second best time she's ever posted and a good 4 seconds faster than her next best swim in this event.

# 79 (d3/s4): G 15 & Over 100 Free (56.91Y) - Swam a 57.71, again better than she's been doing by a decent amount but still not at the PB level.

# 105 (d3/s4): G 11 & Over 500 Free (5:26.82) - This was her one disappointing swim - she only managed a 5:32.02...

These time leave me very hopeful that during the March meet when she is in full taper we'll see some new PB times.

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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:03.83Y) - coach warned me that he had to start ramping Bear back up so he was coming into this event with a semi-drop taper so not to be too concerned with how he compares to other swimmers, because the sprinters were much more tapered for this meet - in this event he squeaked out a personal best time of 2:03.39

# 6 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 50 Free (24.44Y) - Dropped about 3/4s of a second down to 23.83

# 24 (d2/s2): B 15 & Over 100 Back (1:00.13Y) - got sub60 with a 58.01

# 80 (d3/s4): B 15 & Over 100 Free (51.58Y) - another half second drop 51.04

# 98 (d3/s4): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (56.48Y) - finished with another personal best 56.40

Breeze

01-04-2018, 12:01 PM

High School Swimming vs Chattahoochee High School @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 12/28

There was 1 meet during the holiday. This meet comes at a bad time because the high school team doesn't practice for most of the break and the year round team is in the middle of strenuous holiday training so all the kids are worn out...

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Bailey

#4 Girls 200 Free (2:07.83) - only managed a 2:09.62

#12 Girls 100 Fly (1:04.24) - only managed a 1:08.12

#18 Girls 200 Free Relay - swam the anchor on the C relay and posted a 27.65 time, by far the fastest of the 4 on the C relay, and faster than 3 of he 4 girls on the B relay...

#24 Girls 400 Free Relay - again was the anchor - posting a 1:03.47...

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Bear

#3 Boys 200 Free (1:53.13) - Bear was lined up next to his buddy Jake and they basically swam side by side the entire race. Actually, Bear got out a bit faster, Jake made it up and took a bit of a lead, then Bear charged and finished in 1:51.72 a high school best time, but not surprising given his previous best was from last year. He was out-touched by Jake by .4 seconds

#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) - a sluggish swim to a 5:02.18 - still won the event by over a half a lap.

#17 Boys 200 Free Relay - on the A team - got out of the 500 free and immediately steps into his relay that started just seconds after completion. Still managed to go a 25.41

#23 Boys 400 Free Relay - again on the A team, swam a 53.56 split and was second on the team to Jake's 53.25...

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Brett

#7 Boys 50 Free (26.19) - swam a 26.97 despite the fact he really hasn't been swimming for weeks.

#21 Boys 100 Breast (1:11.54) - his lack of training really showed up back half here as he posted a 1:14.65

#23 Boys 400 Free Relay - Brett was on the B relay and he lead off the race and even with the cold start posted the fastest time of the 4 swimmers.

Breeze

01-04-2018, 12:03 PM

General Update - Bear

Bear is currently sick. He's been dealing with a high fever and nausea for 4 days now. Was hoping he would be able to get back into the water today, but looks like it'll be another day or two.

Breeze

01-09-2018, 12:43 PM

High School Meet - Winter Invitational @ Ruby Fulbright Natatorium in Clarksville, Ga. - 1/11

I'm not sure what other schools will be competing in this meet, but I'll try to remember to note the scores in the results.

This is a limited meet, meaning the team can only bring it's top 19 boys and girls.

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Bailey

#6 Girls 200 IM (2:21.44) - this is an important swim for Bailey. This is one of the events she has a state cut in, but only 4 swimmers from each high school get to swim at state in each event, and this event has more than 4 qualifiers. Last year Bailey had 2 cuts, but didn't get to swim at state, and she's potentially facing the same situation this year. A drop in time here might jump her up in the pecking order.
#12 Girls 100 Free (59.72) - I think this is her 1 shot to try and get on a better relay. Her personal best time is much better than this 59+ one listed, but without rest she'll probably post a 58 high and that won't be good enough.
#22 Girls 400 B Free Relay (2nd) - nice to see her get on a B relay, hopefully she can stay here.

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Bear

#3 Boys 200 Free (1:51.72) - Bear's buddy Jake is out for this meet so he'll be looked on to carry the 200 and 500 Frees. Coming off his sickness though, I don't expect good times at all
#13 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) - see above
#15 Boys 200 A Free Relay (2nd) - Glad to see him again on both A relays. Hopefully when Jake returns it isn't Bear that gets dropped down to B, as he should be only swimming A relays.
#21 Boys 400 A Free Relay (2nd) - see above

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Brett

#1 Boys 200 B Medley Relay (Breast) - still the B breaststroker, not bad considering his lack of swimming.
#7 Boys 50 Free (26.19) - He's still been out of the water too much to improve on his time here. Hoping for an improvement at the county championship
#19 Boys 100 Breast (1:11.54) - see above.

Breeze

01-12-2018, 07:58 AM

High School Meet - South vs Centennial @ Dynamo Aquatic Alpharetta - 1/13

Bailey

#2 Girls 200 Medley Relay - B Team (Fly)
#4 Girls 200 Free (2:07.83) - if Bailey can just manage a slight drop here she'd get her state cut and a chance to swim at the state meet. Unfortunately, given she'll have practice right before the meet and she's still tired from the increased work of holiday training I expect more like a 2:10.
#8 Girls 50 Free (27.79) - a chance to see if she belongs on the A 200 Free Relay. She won't do well here either for the reasons above, but honestly she's not one of the 4 fastest sprinters on the team anyway.
#24 Girls 400 Free Rleay A (3) - she's moved into the A relay. Not sure if some of the kids are out for a year round meet or not (haven't checked the roster for this meet that closely yet), but that would be my guess.

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Bear

#5 Boys 200 IM (2:06.39) - based on his reported times from last night, I don't expect much here. He's still not back in shape from his 5 or so days when he was sick.
#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) - see above
#17 Boys 200 Free Relay
#23 Boys 400 Free Relay

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Brett

Brett won't be competing in this one. He ended up scheduled to work and he couldn't get it dropped so he could compete. Plus he's had to request quite a few days off recently for the meet on the 11th, the county meet coming up next weekend, the senior dinner on the 16th, and his recruiting trip on the 25, so he didn't want to potentially upset the pool director by requesting another day off.

Breeze

01-12-2018, 11:24 AM

High School Meet - Winter Invitational - RESULTS

South girls won and the boys finished second but overall South finished 2nd in total points. They were severely hampered with Jake out and John Ryan injured. Those are 2 of the top 4 swimmers on the boys team. Alone those 2 swimmer probably cost South 30 points not counting how they impact relays and the trickle down of scoring for those that finished higher than they otherwise would have.

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Bailey

#6 Girls 200 IM (2:21.44) - 2:25.40 - and a good indication of how holiday training really drains the kids.
#12 Girls 100 Free (59.72) - 1:01.49 - I miss spoke in my pre-race write up. I intended to state that without rest the best she could possibly swim was a 58 high...indicating that it wasn't going to be good enough regardless. The 1:01 mid time she swam was a little off what I expected but not a ton. I figured she'd be a 1:00 high...
#22 Girls 400 B Free Relay (2nd) - assuming she swam the leg the results has her listed as swimming she posted what appears to be a 1:03 spit in the relay - this is extremely poor and I'm guessing the order got shuffled and she's the one that swam the 1:01.53, but I don't know for sure.
Regardless it doesn't really matter. This was the first B relay to finish and they were 4th overall, so not terrible from that standpoint.
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Bear

#3 Boys 200 Free (1:51.72) - started out with a bit of a lead and he was cruising a bit, but quickly discovered his competition, who was listed with a 1:57 time was a much better swimmer than he anticipated. He ended up having to pick it up a bunch to out-touch him in a time of 1:53.80
#13 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) - Bear's competition here had Jr. National cuts...so he watched him pull away early, and in response he put it in cruise control to make sure he finished 2nd. 5:16.65
#15 Boys 200 A Free Relay (2nd) - The boys relays were all screwed up due to John Ryan's injury. So I don't know which leg Bear ended up swimming. I believe he posted a 24.5 right out of the 500 so not terrible. The relay finished 2nd (to the team with the Jr. Nat swimmer and his brother - the boy Bear raced in the 200 free)
#21 Boys 400 A Free Relay (2nd) - same situation as above. In this one I believe Bear anchored and swam a 53.57...again they finished 2nd and again to the same team. I wish they had had their best boys in this event, the relays would have been really exciting.

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Brett

#1 Boys 200 B Medley Relay (Breast) - Brett swam a 34.4 split in his breast...just off what he typically swims. They finished 6th
#7 Boys 50 Free (26.19) - Brett was DQed in the 50 free for unsportsman like conduct. I'm assuming he was late onto the blocks...
#19 Boys 100 Breast (1:11.54) - opened strong for him with a 33.89...but faded badly in the back half, which isn't surprising given his lack of practice. finished in a time of 1:14.57

Ok...Found out what happened on Brett's DQ. In the heat before his, one of the boys on the team swam his event in a onesie to be funny. They DQed him. Unfortunately, when they went to record the swimmer they chose the wrong heat. Will (the guilty party) was in Brett's lane, 1 heat in front of him. So Brett was mistakenly DQed. Not that it matters. His swim wasn't a personal best anyway and he didn't score any points in the event for the team. But nice to know what happened.

Breeze

01-19-2018, 01:51 PM

High School Meet - South vs Centennial - RESULTS

Bailey

#2 Girls 200 Medley Relay - B Team (Fly) - team swam a 2:09.82 and finished second thanks the the A team being DQed
#4 Girls 200 Free (2:07.83) - 2:11.90 - still worn out from the increased training levels
#8 Girls 50 Free - Not sure what her seed time was but she swam a 28.01 - not a great swim but she did manage to finish 2nd overall and was the fastest South swimmer.
#24 Girls 400 Free Rleay A (3) - again I don't now splits because the pool used for this meet isn't really equipped to host - there is no scoreboard and no touch pads. Everything was handled with watches...the team swam a 4:06.94

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Bear

#5 Boys 200 IM (2:06.39) - 2:11.73
#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) - a very similar time to the swim a couple of days earlier 5:16.47 - and again like the swim from earlier in the week Bear got to race another Jr. National swimmer...
#17 Boys 200 Free Relay - the team went 1:36.56 and they were out touched losing by .05
#23 Boys 400 Free Relay - this time there 3:42.11 was good enough to win the event.

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Breeze

01-19-2018, 02:07 PM

High School Meet - County Championships @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 1/20/18

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Bailey - This is her last chance to try and get into the top 4 qualifiers in her events so she can swim at state. Otherwise she'll get her state patch but not swim again this year. Unfortunately, she is dealing with serious back pain and she'll have practice the morning before this event.

#6 Girls 200 IM (2:21.44) - - Given her aches and pains and her poor showings in recent races I don't expect a good swim here...
#12 Girls 100 Fly (1:04.46) - - see above
#18 Girls 200 Free Relay C
#24 Girls 400 Free Relay B

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Bear - I would love to say the Bear is in a prime spot to do well here, but he's been slow to get back up to speed after his sickness. I do think he'll do better than he did the last couple of meets, but I believe he's still going to struggle.

#5 Boys 200 IM (2:06.39) - I expect he'll be around a 2:08...
#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) - I think he's going to struggle to break 5 minutes which is a shame because he'll probably lose to a couple of kids that he's much better than in this event...
#17 Boys 200 Free Relay A -
#23 Boys 400 Free Relay A - unfortunately John Ryan is out for this meet which means the relays will all suffer...not sure if he would have been in this one or the 200 but typically it would be this one...His absence will add about 5 seconds to the relays total time...that's a HUGE difference.

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Brett

#1 Boys 200 Medley Relay (breast) - - I love the fact he's finishing out his swimming career on the B relay. He was never going to be on the A but no shame being on the B when the A breaststroker swims under a 58 second 100...
#7 Boys 50 Free (26.19) - I wish he kept himself in better shape during the holiday...I'd have loved to see him post a 25 high here. He won't...he'll be somewhere around 27 low.
#21 Boys 100 Breast (1:11.54) - see ablove. His breast looks much better than it has in years, but he is too out of shape to bring it home. Last meet he swam he came home in a 40 second back half...that's terrible. Because he's out of shape expect another 1:!4 high time...
#23 Boys 400 Free Relay C -

Breeze

01-24-2018, 08:17 AM

High School Meet - County Championships - RESULTS

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Bailey -

#6 Girls 200 IM (2:21.44) - - to the best of our knowledge Bailey's seed time placed her 5th in this event for South swimmers, and she needs to be top 4 to swim at the state meet. As the race started Bailey looked better than she has most of the season as her fly kept her in upper middle of the pack. Her backstroke also held up well, as usually the breast was a struggle and she finished her freestyle and posted a high school best time of 2:19.23 . The interesting part of the race was that she was battling the girls that are currently 3rd and 4th for South coming into the wall...Abby the 3rd place girl posted a 2:19.02, and Mary Gray the 4th place girl posted a 2:22. So Bailey's time beat Mary Gray and beat her seed time, which we think will allow her a spot in the state event in a couple of weeks.

#12 Girls 100 Fly (1:04.46) - - The situation here was basically the same as the 200 IM. Bailey was most likely the 5th South girl on the roster in this event. Bailey's dive and break out were exceptional and she got an early lead on the other South girls, and her turns helped her to hold that lead for most of the race, but in the last 10 or so yards she was passed by Mary Gray. Bailey posted a high school best 1:03.46, and Mary Gray finished in 1:03.08. We believe Bailey remains 5th in this event. She could still swim it at state depending on what events other kids swim but right now it looks like she'll be a spectator here (which is probably a good thing - more on that later).

#18 Girls 200 Free Relay C - The fastest C relay in the field and good enough to beat West Forsyth's A team. Bailey split a 28.01

#24 Girls 400 Free Relay B - The fastest B relay in the field and Bailey split a 1:01.43

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Bear

#5 Boys 200 IM (2:06.39) - Not the 2:08 I expected - 2:09.99

#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) - as I expected he struggled and he didn't get below 5 minutes recording a time of 5:03.29

#17 Boys 200 Free Relay A - Bear swim a 24.27 split...not a great swim, but not surprising - Team finished a disappointing 4th

#23 Boys 400 Free Relay A - Bear's split was a 53.29, a little better in this one, but the team again finished 4th. This time it was more expected rather than disappointing given the breakdown from the previous post.

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Brett

#1 Boys 200 Medley Relay (breast) - - Brett swam a 32.79 split which is a solid swim for him... The team was the second B team to finish so not bad at all.

#7 Boys 50 Free (26.19) - he beat my projection and posted a 26.8...not far from his personal best.

#21 Boys 100 Breast (1:11.54) - with his strong swims in the first two events I was eager to see what he'd do here. Things actually worked out great. He was the top seed in the second heat rather than the last seed in the fastest heat, which allowed him to go out fast and win his race. He opened with a 33.24, which is very good for him, but recently it's been the back half that killed his time, so when he posted a 1:11.64 I was ecstatic and he had a huge grin on his face. The only thing that would have made this better would have been a personal best time - and he only missed that by .1

#23 Boys 400 Free Relay C - - Brett anchored the relay and swam a 59.17...

Breeze

01-25-2018, 10:42 AM

General Update - Bailey

Bailey has been dealing on and off with back pain, but recently the pain has been just on, and getting progressively worse. So much so that it has hindered her ability to have good and productive practices. She's a tough little girl as she never missed practice because of pain, and I'm proud of her for that, but it had gotten to the point that we needed to get it looked at.

I have to admit to having some concerns about this pain, especially given the fact that swimming can cause some pretty serious back injuries. For instance a boy that swims for a rival county high school just found out he has a fracture in the L5 vertebrae and it's all from the torque created when he swims, and there was a girl recently that swam for Indiana University that had to have surgery because her spine was basically only attached to her hips by scar tissue again all the damage was swimming related. Thankfully, it looks like Bailey is dealing with strains that are causing muscle spasms. She has currently been assigned PT and she can only swim freestyle easy for the next 4 days.

After going to PT the therapist is going to work on massaging out her back, while strengthening her core to offset her extremely strong back muscles. He says that by strengthening her core she'll feel better and she'll get faster in the pool. She's pretty excited about this. I hope he's right because seeing her drop time again after such a long layoff would be fantastic, and having her not hurt anymore when she swims would be even better.

Breeze

01-25-2018, 10:50 AM

Brett - College Swimming

Brett and I will be heading up to Emory & Henry this evening for his college visit. We were hoping to get up there early enough for him to stay with the team tonight but unfortunately he has to work. His agenda for the weekend looks like this:

1/26
9:00 - Arrive on campus
9:30 - Meet with Admissions
10:00 - Tour the campus
11:30 - Meet strength and conditioning coach
12:00 - Lunch with team and coaches
Sit in on an afternoon class
3:00 - Hang out with team for the remainder of the night

1/27
8:00 - 10:00 - watch practice
10:30 - brunch with team
12:00 - depart

He seems pretty excited about this. Regardless of his decision to swim here or not, I hope he has a good time and understands that not only is there an opportunity to swim in college - but that this team would really like him to.

Breeze

01-30-2018, 08:15 AM

Brett - College Swimming

The trip to Virginia was surprisingly easy...almost all limited access highway and with us leaving at night I was able to just set the cruise control for most of the trip. Even crossing over the mountains was pretty easy. On our way up Brett did receive a text from the coach letting him know that he had a family emergency that he had to leave for and would it be possible for us to arrive a little early on the 26th so he could spend more time with us. With that news, I made the full drive arriving in Abigdon around 12:30. We got up early to go to practice and arrived on campus around 6:30.

Brett has mentioned that he greatly enjoyed the trip and really like the school a lot. He's gone so far as to say if he swims in college he will definitely go to Emory & Henry, he just not sure if he wants to swim. Personally, I believe his girlfriend is holding him back more than he's willing to admit, but we will see how things play out. Here are a few bullet points from what we learned:

- Coach is young guy, who is very laid back and funny with the best interest of his swimmers at heart. Brett really liked him a lot.
- The men's team currently has only 3 swimmers (the 4th dropped out to focus on his academics) and they have a ways to go to be competitive in conference.
- The conference added 5 men's teams over the last 2 years so swimming is growing in the area
- About 100 kids will show up to watch at least part of the swim meets. (This is a huge number, many large schools won't get 100 kids to watch)
- About 40% of the student population at E&H compete on a school sports team
- There is a 9 hole golf course on campus that is free for the students to play
- They do have an ultimate frisbee team
- The pool has 3 garage doors next to it, so the coach will open the doors to let in fresh air as often as he can (in fact, during our morning visit he opened the doors and created a huge fog over the pool, so thick you couldn't see the middle of the pool from the end)
- The team requires 2 hours/week of study hall outside the coaches office
- Almost every class has a student instructor it in to assist if you are having problems
- The average class size is 11 (the largest is around 25, and the class Brett sat in on was 6 - and he thoroughly enjoyed the lecture and the teacher)
- Professors typically request personal contact information for all students so they can reach out to students who are struggling to make sure they get the assistance they need (the coach said that a person really has to try hard to fail out at E&H)
- The coach hires the lifeguards so Brett will be able to work an earn money on campus (the coach was also excited because Brett has his WSI certification so he can team swim lessons, and E&H often gets asked to provide this service to kids in the area)
- The dorms are in pretty good shape and they come in a number of different configurations (2/room community bath for each wing, Hotel style 2/room with a bathroom in the room, single occupancy with toilet in room but shower community, and town house with multiple bed rooms and bathrooms)
- The campus is gorgeous with the classic Virginia architecture - brick, columns, domes, etc.
- It is also very expensive, but they have a large amount of money to be distributed.

Brett has applied and we will see if we can afford it. Also, as mentioned above, he needs to determine if he wants to swim or not.

Breeze

01-31-2018, 08:36 AM

2017 Georgia High School Association 6-7A State Swimming Championships @ GaTech Aquatic Center - 2/2 - 2/3

This season the high school swim association has made some changes to their championship meets. Previously, the winner of this meet regardless of school size was considered the winner of the state championship. This year all the event will be run exactly like they were run previous year, but the scoring will be split between 6A and 7A so you'll have a state champion for both class sizes. In an effort to accommodate the increase in the number of swimmers that will score points (the top 20 swimmers score points), the finals meet on Saturday will add a C final (so 30 kids will swim at the finals). This won't have a huge impact on South, as they are one of the largest schools in the State so they will continue to compete against most of the best teams at the event. Last year the girls finished 11th and the boys finished 37th. It will be interesting to see how the split does impact the ranking overall.

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Bailey - has continued going to PT, and it is helping but with the pain and practices missed due to the therapy I don't expect her to even come close to even her high school best, much less her personal best.

#6 Girls 200 IM (2:19.23) : Seeded 36 - Bailey's biggest fear is that her injury is going to cause her to come in a distant last. I don't expect that to happen, but I also expect her to finish more like 50th rather than 36th...

#12 Girls 100 Fly (1:03.46) : Seeded 53 - - originally it looked like Bailey wasn't going to be able to swim this event because she had the 5th fastest time on the team, but one of the girls in front of her elected to compete in the breaststroke instead so Bailey moved into the top 4, then another girl in front of her broke her hand so Bailey is actually coming in with the 3rd best time on the team. Unfortunately, like I mentioned above, I don't expect her to do much in this. If she can stay in the 1:04s she should be fine. I just don't want her to go 1:06 and feel embarrassed

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Bear

#3 Boys 200 Free (1:51.72) : Seeded 42 - According to Bear is still not 100% back to where he was prior to getting sick (and he's judging this based on his times during test sets in practice), which is a shame because his personal best time of 1:45 would give him a shot at the A final and almost certainly get him in the B final. As it stands he'll need to swim around a 1:48 to make the C final. He's set his mind to make the finals in this event, hopefully he can pull it off.

#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) : Seeded 17 - If you are wondering Bear's PB of 4:41 would place him 8th according to the heat sheet, but of course all times in the event were swum at a high school meet so the other kids probably all have faster times than the ones list by there names as well. Bear hasn't looked good in a 500 since he got sick, so I'm concerned he'll be able to even match his seed time. If he can match the seed time he should be looking at a B final appearance.

#17 Boys 200 Free Relay : Seeded 24 - Unfortunately here the anchor on this relay has been removed and replaced with a non-year round swimmer. The anchor missed a mandatory relay practice, so the team will remove a 22 high swimmer for a 24 high swimmer. Those 2 seconds are going to hurt the team badly in this event.

#23 Boys 400 Free Relay : Seeded 27 - the injured swimmer from the county meet is back and swimming in this race, so this relay will probably post a season best because she finally has the 4 correct swimmers going.

Breeze

02-01-2018, 01:04 PM

General Update - State Meet

Bear's 400 Free Relay at state is looking like it will be operating from a handicap after all. The swimmer with the bad shoulder that was returning to swim for the state meet came down with the flu yesterday so he will most likely miss the event. Combine that with one of the other members of the relay that just got over the flu 3 days ago and I don't think South is going to perform well in this event at all.

Breeze

02-07-2018, 09:29 AM

2017 Georgia High School Association 6-7A State Swimming Championships - PRELIM RESULTS

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Bailey

#6 Girls 200 IM (2:19.23) : Seeded 36 - - I didn't expect much coming into this meet with Bailey's time out of the water and her back hurting, she opened the 200 IM with a fly leg of 28.88 which is very good...so good in fact it puts her more in line with her personal best swims, but unfortunately the time out of the pool created a situation where she was out of shape and her back half was poor. She finished in 2:21.63. Not great but she was far from the slowest.

#12 Girls 100 Fly (1:03.46) : Seeded 53 - - Her fly swim was similar to what she's been doing during the season untapered with a time of 1:04.45 - again not great, but she didn't embarrass herself which was her fear.

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Bear

#3 Boys 200 Free (1:51.72) : Seeded 42 - managed to post a time of 1:48.01, which is good and a high school best, but far from his personal best of 1:45 (though I didn't expect he'd get close to that time). He ended up tied for 31st, which made him the first alternate for finals, and he really wanted to get into the C final.

#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) : Seeded 17 - again a good but not great swim posting a time a 4:51.17, this is another high school best time and it put him 21st, which is the top seed of the C final, and he really wanted to be in the B final. Another close call disappointment for Bear.

#17 Boys 200 Free Relay : Seeded 24 - Bear led off the relay and that was a good thing because he posted a 23.69 which was a personal best time. The relay team also made it back for C finals despite the anchor being pulled from the team.

#23 Boys 400 Free Relay : Seeded 27 - The 400 Free relay looked good as the climbed all the way to 19th...Bear swam a 51.37 split...

Breeze

02-12-2018, 06:23 AM

2017 Georgia High School Association 6-7A State Swimming Championships - FINALS RESULTS

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Bear

#15 Boys 500 Free (4:51.40) : Seeded 17 - Bear was the top seed in the C finals, and he ended up winning the heat going away. He posted another high school best time of 4:49.58 and probably would have been even faster if he had someone to race against. This time was good enough for him to finish 19th overall, so this swim was more of what he was hoping for the day earlier.

#17 Boys 200 Free Relay : Seeded 24 - not quite a good as prelims as Bear managed a 23:91 to lead off the relay.

#23 Boys 400 Free Relay : Seeded 27 - This relay took a hit before the race ever started. The swimmer with the shoulder trouble ended up getting sick during the meet and had to leave. This forced South to substitute in a swimmer who was over 5 seconds slower, which dropped them to last in the event. Bear did manage to swim a 50.71 split.

Breeze

02-12-2018, 07:17 AM

Brett - College Swimming

We had a discussion yesterday with Brett about his college options. He admitted the Emory & Henry situation was a really good one, and the school would be good for him with their support system and teammates being a built in friend group (which is good because making friends has never been easy for him). However, he also admitted that he just isn't sure he's up for dedicating himself to swimming anymore, and he doesn't want to get up there and decide he doesn't like it or doesn't have it in him. So he's elected to go to Reinhardt University, which marks the end of his competitive swimming.

This is the outcome I expected. Once he didn't go back to swimming year round as a senior and also didn't want to join the Gold High School Team, I felt pretty certain he was going to give up the sport. The Emory & Henry offer was tempting to him, and it really was the perfect fit. The team was just starting up, and in the conference E&H was 1 of 5 teams that had started to field a men's team in the last 2 year, so he would have been a strong swimmer on the team and good at the conference level as well. In fact, the conference championship just finished and Brett's 200 Breast would have finished 14th and made the B final. This before any strength training or practice adjustments to take advantage of his strength.

I have to admit I'm disappointed, I was hopeful he would choose to go to E&H, as I believe the experience on the college team would have been what he has been missing from the sport for years. I was also excited about the thought of going to watch him swim again. However, swimming is too hard of a sport to do if your heart isn't in it, and apparently his isn't. I do believe there are some other items influencing his decision to stay closer to home that probably shouldn't but he hasn't been that open in his discussions and I doubt he ever will be.

Breeze

02-15-2018, 08:08 AM

High School - End of Year Banquet

The end of year banquet was held Tuesday night. It was a bit sad, but Brett was unable to attend for his senior year. He was scheduled to teach swim lessons at the aquatic center, and unlike lifeguard work that can easily be covered by someone else - lessons are much less flexible. The team had their senior presentations including pictures of Brett as a toddler, elementary school student, his graduation picture (the casual one) and a swim picture. Plus all the seniors spoke about their time on the team (Brett was probably ok he missed this part). I wish he could have been there, but he did the mature thing and took responsibility for his work schedule.

Bear and Bailey both received their 2nd year chevron as well as a state patch (Bear's was a State Finalist Patch). Also, Bear and Bailey applied to be team captains. Going into this I felt Bear had a good shot, mostly because the coach typically selected a year round swimming captain and a non-year round swim captain, and on the boys side there is basically Jake and Bear - the other year rounders have no interest in being a captain. Bailey on the other hand has quite a few girls who also applied, and of course politics being what they are - I don't expect Bailey and Bear will both be named captain in the same year.

Typically the captains are announced at the swim banquet, but the coach is leaving South to head over to a new county school (Denmark High School), and because she won't be in charge of the team she decided to let the new coach select her captains at a later date.

The new coach, also happens to be the first coach the kids ever had at CRC, Coach Kate. She was the coach when they started swimming before moving overseas with her husband for a few years. She returned 3 years ago and has take back over as the CRC coach (in addition to being a high school teacher). We like her and she should be fine in the role. The most important thing for a high school swim coach is to put the year rounders in the correct events each week - the rest is basically window dressing. Looking forward to seeing how she'll do.

Breeze

02-20-2018, 10:22 AM

General Update

So Bear's record in the 1000 Free didn't stand for very long. Actually, we knew it wasn't going to. Earlier in the year we saw Grant Davis (one of the Grants mentioned way back in thread - I'm not sure how he was addressed Grant D, Grant 1 or Grant 2...) make a charge at Bear's record untapered and come close so we expected during his shave/taper for age group state he'd beat the time. We didn't expect he'd swim a 9:40.90...breaking Bear's record by 15 seconds. At the end of this short course season I believe Grant will hold the 13/14 team record in the 100 Free, 200 Free, 500 Free, 1000 Free, 1650 Free, and the 200 Fly.

Breeze

02-22-2018, 08:57 AM

General Update - Bailey

I read back through my recent posts and I don't believe I updated the information about Bailey's back pain and the underlying problem. Apparently, in her fly Bailey doesn't bend her knees, instead she accomplishes her kick by lifting her hips high, swaying her back hard and lifting her straight legs. This is what causes the severe torque on her lower back and leads to the pain. The coach is working on getting her to bend her knees as part of the stroke, but at this point it is foreign to her and it's completely messed up her timing. I really believe if she can get it worked out we might see some pretty significant time drops. Figures are crossed...

Also Bailey is currently sick, and the timing couldn't be worse. The twins are in their final stages before taper and they really can't afford to be out of the pool right now. We are hoping this will pass quickly (appears to be strep throat like based on symptoms - should know for sure today when we go to the doctor), and we are hoping Bear doesn't catch it.

Breeze

02-22-2018, 09:10 AM

General Update - Brett

Since Brett informed us that he won't be swimming in college, I grabbed a copy of this thread, removed the Bailey and Bear specific information, printed it, put it in a binder, and gave it to him last night. He was completely blown away, in fact he appeared to initially get choked up. I gave it to him a little before 10...I went to bed around 11, and he was still reading with more than half still to go. He was completely engrossed in the memories this journal brought back. In fact, he was so focused on the information that he failed to watch a couple of Olympic events he had expressed interest in seeing (even after we told him they were on).

I was pleased to see how much he appreciated the effort. Honestly, he liked it so much that the wife is considering getting it bound in a book and adding some pictures that correspond to the timelines being discussed.

Breeze

02-22-2018, 09:45 AM

Brett - College Swimming

While Brett has told us that he isn't going to swim in college, he hasn't yet told the coach at Emory & Henry. Part of that is because I've asked him to really think about it before making a final decision, and part of it is because he understands how great of a fit the school would be for him and he's conflicted.

The coaches from E&H have sent him a hand written letter, as well as an email letting him know they are eager to hear from him. Moreover, the girl, Taylor, who showed him around the campus and hung out with him and the other guys on the team texted him the other day to find out what he was planning on doing (he told her he was still thinking about it). So E&H is still pursuing him. I believe a phone call from the coach would go a long way, but so far that hasn't happened.

I'll let you know if anything changes.

rjolley

02-22-2018, 12:59 PM

Good luck to everyone.

I hope Brett takes the time to really decide what's best for him. It's a tough choice, but that's life. Glad you're allowing him to make it with minimal input and will support whatever he decides. My mom did the same for me out of high school when I chose my college and I appreciate that to this day. I've done the same with my kids.

Breeze

02-26-2018, 10:32 AM

General Update

Bailey is still sick. In fact, we had to take her back to the doctor on Sunday because she had so much pain in her ears that she was crying. The ears are obviously infected, and the doctor was shocked to see how infected given they just looked at them 4 days earlier.

So far Bear has avoided getting really sick, but we are taking him to the doctor to get his sinuses looked at as well. He's been complaining about sinus pressure for a few days and it isn't getting any better.

JAG

02-26-2018, 05:05 PM

Izulde

02-27-2018, 02:35 AM

Personally, I hope Brett chooses E&H, and to swim there. IMO, I feel like a lot of his fatigue with the sport is because of the sense that Bear & Bailey are better, and I think getting in a situation where he's one of the top dogs will re-ignite his passion and make swimming fun again.

It also seems like he'd have a strong support system in place, which in my experience in collegiate teaching is the single biggest factor in whether a student will succeed at the undergraduate level - especially for students who don't fit the neurotypical mold.

Breeze

02-28-2018, 09:22 AM

General Update - Bailey

Bailey went back to practice on Tuesday night. She wore earplugs and only kicked to keep water out of her ears. Unfortunately, this morning when I woke her up for practice she said her throat was hurting again. She's been on Augmentin for 4 days and we aren't seeing much in the way of improvement. Typically, with this medication things start to turn quickly. I feel bad for Bailey, she's was excited about her backstroke heading into the upcoming meet, but now she's been out of the water for a week and the meet is in 10 days. She's going to struggle for sure.

Breeze

02-28-2018, 09:41 AM

Brett - College Swimming

A quick update on where things stand for Brett. On Monday, I asked him if he had thought anymore about what he wants to do about college and he responded, "Yeah, and I'm thinking I might want to swim." At which point you could've knocked me over with a feather. He said he was thinking about swimming after work on Tuesday to see how it felt.

On Tuesday, we received mail from the E&H athletic departing which invited Brett to the recruiting open house where he should have an opportunity to not only interact with the returning team members but meet the additional recruits and swim with the team in a team run practice. This got him very excited, he ran upstairs found a suit and his goggles and headed out to work with the plan to swim laps. When he got home he informed us he swam about 1100 yards in about a half a hour (he may be overstating the distance, but that's really irrelevant, the fact he got back into the water to practice is the important detail).

He is currently planning to swim again tomorrow before work (his shift is later in the day so he can get much more time in). He has indicated he'll think about going up to E&H for the open house, and I'm almost positive the hesitation here is because, if he's going to practice with them, he wants to make sure he's in good enough shape he doesn't embarrass himself. He's clearly intrigued by the possibility of going...we'll see where this ends up.

JonInMiddleGA

02-28-2018, 01:51 PM

Ditto to the posts noting the awesome nature of Brett's response to the journaling.

Breeze

03-05-2018, 07:08 AM

General Update - Bailey

Bailey is feeling much better and in a last ditch effort to try and get back in shape before her meet this weekend she's been spending a bunch of time in the pool practicing. She swam on Friday, which she normally wouldn't do because that is typically just a Nationals level practice. She did the normal practice on Saturday, she swam on her own on Sunday and she swam this morning as well, which is normal but everyone else in her group is on taper so they weren't required to go. Fingers are crossed that this extra time was enough to get her back in shape but not wear her out so she can have some good swims this weekend.

Breeze

03-05-2018, 07:22 AM

March Madness @ GaTech - 3/10 - 3/11

With Bailey being sick and missing a full week of practice less than 2 week ago, I have no idea what to expect in this meet.

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Bailey

# 5 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:01.09) - she's working on retooling the stroke again to start incorporating the bending of her knees. She said her timing is really off because of the change so i don't expect she'll come close to her seed time. But if she can come close to her 1:04s that was a good untapered time for her earlier this season it's probably a very good sign.

# 13 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 100 Back (1:04.07) - She was very excited about her backstrokes right before she got sick. Her interval training was indicating she could drop several seconds here. I'm hoping that she'll at least be able to drop some time, and we'll see the bigger drops through long course and into next season.

# 29 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 400 Medley (4:50.18) - too many variables to know what to expect...the biggest issue is probably going to be the distance of the swim. I think she'll be strong enough in the 100s and maybe the 200s, but I'm afraid that week off is going to cause her to run out gas in this one.

# 69 (d2/s4): G 15 & Over 200 Medley (2:16.63) - again too many variables - reworked fly, breast is still a concern and fatigue, counter acted by improved back and freestyles.

# 77 (d2/s4): G 15 & Over 200 Back (2:15.42) - like the 100 back, but because she had been doing more distance stuff in practice I really felt this one might improve a good bit. As it is, I just hope she can get a personal best.

# 93 (d2/s4): G 15 & Over 500 Free (5:26.82) - Like the 400 IM, I don't think she's recovered from her time out of the pool sufficiently to do well in this one.

Breeze

03-05-2018, 01:05 PM

Brett - College Swimming

I mentioned earlier that Brett was very intrigued by E&H's offer to swim with the team during an open house event they have coming up in a few weeks. To follow up on that, he's been so interested that he's been swimming regularly. In fact, he's actually been in the pool 4 of the last 5 days. Now he's not swimming for a long period of time, but he's in the water for around 45 minutes and he's interested enough to go to the trouble. He's also said he might want to go, and the might is almost certainly a code word for "if I can get in shape so I don't embarrass myself then I'm interested". We have started working on getting the trip lined up - I'll update you when I know more.

Breeze

03-07-2018, 08:09 AM

2018 ESSZ Senior Short Course Sectional - Triangle Aquatic Center, Cary, NC - March 8 - 11

Bear and I will head out this afternoon on our way up to Cary, N.C. I want to get him as far north as I can so he isn't cramped up in the car prior to his first race of the meet late Thursday afternoon. The lead up to this meet has been a bit odd. Bear is much more reserved and a bit grumpy. Not sure if this is just a teen thing or if he's up tight about the meet. I hope he isn't putting to much pressure on himself because that will likely be counter productive. I was hoping to wait on the psych sheet before doing to write up to get an idea of where Bear stands, but it hasn't been published yet. It's not really all that important because he's swimming in open events now and he'll be competing against all sort of swimmers from around the region. In long course last year there were several college swimmers competing. That could be the case again this weekend, especially for swimmers that didn't qualify for the NCAA Championships in their division.

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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): M Open 1000 Free (9:41.74) - He only swam this even 1 time this season and that was at Senior State - where he dropped about 15 seconds. Any improvement here would be a big deal for Bear, but I'm sure he's targeting the national cut time.

# 6 (d2/s2): M Open 200 Free (1:45.91) - time is again from Senior State, and since there he swam a 1:48.01 at the high school meet with a slight drop taper. So only a couple seconds off his best time. With a full taper he could drop a bit more.

# 12 (d2/s2): M Open 400 Medley (4:11.59) - hasn't competed in this event since Senior State in December. I have no idea how his breaststroke looks because he almost never competes in that event. The breast leg will likely be the key to his time.

# 16 (d3/s4): M Open 200 Fly (1:57.01) - another event he hasn't raced since Senior State.

# 24 (d3/s4): M Open 500 Free (4:41.77) - Here's one he's done a bunch off, given that he swam it almost every high school meet. Unfortunately those high school swims were untapered and some came after his bought with the virus that really adversely impacted his training. At High School State in February he only managed to go a 4:49 with a drop taper. A time he wasn't completely thrilled with even through he still wasn't back to full speed following the cold he had. I'm hoping he can drop time and maybe challenge the national cut time.

# 30 (d4/s7): M Open 1650 Free (17:08.10) - the last time Bear swam this event was at this very same meet in 2017 and at that time he was dealing with walking pneumonia. He managed to slightly improve his personal best that day from his 2016 swim at this event, but he was really in a position where he could have challenged for the team record and he was disappointed that his health didn't allow him to make a run at it. He could drop a good bit of time here, and if he does it would certainly help his recruiting profile. He's actually seeded with a different time than the one listed above, I'm not sure where it came from - but I changed the seed to match his real personal best.

Breeze

03-07-2018, 01:07 PM

2018 ESSZ Senior Short Course Sectional - Triangle Aquatic Center, Cary, NC - March 8 - 11

The psych sheet was released. Here is where Bear stands:

# 2 (d1/s1): M Open 1000 Free (9:41.74) - 11th

# 6 (d2/s2): M Open 200 Free (1:45.91) - 64th

# 12 (d2/s2): M Open 400 Medley (4:11.59) - 32nd

# 16 (d3/s4): M Open 200 Fly (1:57.01) - 39th

# 24 (d3/s4): M Open 500 Free (4:41.77) - 25th

# 30 (d4/s7): M Open 1650 Free (17:08.10) - seed time here is a long course conversion but it puts him 29th, I expect he'll finish much better than that.

Breeze

03-19-2018, 08:41 AM

March Madness - RESULTS

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Bailey

# 5 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:01.09) - swam a 1:02.46, which under the circumstances was really pretty good. She opened with a slow 29.76, but her back half was stronger than normal posting a 32.7.

# 13 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 100 Back (1:04.07) - got a drop in this one...not nearly to the level we were hoping or that I expect she's capable of, but it leaves some meat on the bone for next season. 1:03.88

# 29 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 400 Medley (4:50.18) - SCRATCHED...given her sickness coach scratched this as he felt she wouldn't have the stamina to do well...

#21 G 15 & Over 100 Medley - Not sure her seed time in this one because she doesn't swim it often anymore, mostly because it wasn't really offered as an official event once swimmers get into 11 and over area. However, changes in the rules at USA Swimming last year created this as an official event so we may see this more often. Bailey swam a 1:06.38 which is not only a personal best but a state cut.

# 69 (d2/s4): G 15 & Over 200 Medley (2:16.63) - after 3 good swims on day 1 I was hoping Bailey would continue to do well...but she opened with a 2:22.43 and it looked like her lack of stamina due to being sick was taking it's toll.

# 77 (d2/s4): G 15 & Over 200 Back (2:15.42) - the back was very similar to the 200 IM - 2:19.24

# 93 (d2/s4): G 15 & Over 500 Free (5:26.82) - SCRATCHED - just like the 400 IM

#81 G 15 & Over 100 Free - I believe her personal best is a 56 low...she was no where close with a 59.29

Bailey also competed in the 200 Medley Relay and she was very instrumental in their winning. Bailey was on the A team swimming the fly leg...however when the relay go to her...the B team was beating the A team by about .1 second. When Bailey finished her split they were winning by .2...they went on to win by .2...

I was really disappointed that Bailey got sick. I believe she was positioned for a good end of year meet. Under the circumstances I believe she did really well, especially given the sickness and some issues with the taper.

Breeze

03-20-2018, 10:36 AM

2018 ESSZ Senior Short Course Sectional - RESULTS

This was a terrible meet for Bear. There were a lot of contributing factors that have been discussed but the outcome here was difficult to watch. I'm not going to go into a lot of description because there really isn't much to say. He's just gotta shrug this one off and move on (which he's done a marvelous job of already).

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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): M Open 1000 Free (9:41.74) - 9:56.41

# 6 (d2/s2): M Open 200 Free (1:45.91) - 1:50.22

# 12 (d2/s2): M Open 400 Medley (4:11.59) - 4:24.28

# 16 (d3/s4): M Open 200 Fly (1:57.01) - 2:01.32

# 24 (d3/s4): M Open 500 Free (4:41.77) - 4:54.87

# 30 (d4/s7): M Open 1650 Free (17:08.10) - 16:47.81 - this a personal best time, but it is no where close to what he's capable of. He only gets to swim this once a year...last year it was when he had pneumonia this year it was when he was dealing with a bad taper...he's informed me trains at 16:15 pace in practice. Hopefully, next year the stars will align and he'll actually get to swim this one the way he's capable.

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Now to explain the underlying reasons behind Bear's bad swim. To begin, it is important to note that no one from the Cumming facility had a great meet. There were a couple of good swims, but no one really dropped a bunch of time across the board. This would indicate a problem with the taper. However, Bear's adds were abnormally high even for a bad taper. The coach later explained to Bear that when he came back from his flu like sickness at the beginning of the year he was so far off of his swimming prior to the illness that the coach started working him hard. The coach knew he only had about 2 months to get him back into shape, and he wanted to give Bear every shot to succeed. He worked Bear hard and continually monitored the test sets to see how he was progressing. It took a while but Bear started to get back into range when all of a sudden his times started slipping. The coach pushed harder to get him back to his previous levels, which he was on the cusp of prior to the meet. However, in hindsight the coach stated that the slip in time was probably an indication that Bear was exhausted and needed some recovery time, and that he probably pushed him too hard coming into the event. So much so that the taper didn't allow him to sufficiently recover.

In addition, Bear was pretty stressed out with school at the time, which probably didn't help from a mental preparation perspective. He also took several naps while we were there...that could be a result of resting after the coaches overworking him or it could mean he's going to grow (oh, I hope he's going to grow).

It's a shame that he didn't get a chance to show what he's capable of, but hopefully, this means that there will be some nice drops during the season next year.

Breeze

03-21-2018, 08:19 AM

Brett - College Swimming

I mentioned previously that Brett had been invited to an open house with Emory & Henry where he'll be able to practice with the team. I'm happy to report he's going to participate in the event and spend the night with the team again. He's very excited about it. In fact, he's so excited he's gotten back in the water regularly including swimming twice yesterday (before and after work). Moreover, he's recently bought some new goggles (albeit way too many pair - like 5 of them...and he still had his pair he used for high school - I have no idea why he would buy so many pair), and now he's asking to be put back on the Gold high school level team with the purpose of getting in shape so he can join the senior team.

In our discussions about college he now admits that he wants to go to E&H, but he is still guarded about fully committing. He's now hedging his bets by suggesting that he should get his AA at a more affordable college in town then go up to E&H and join the swim team, and in the interim he'd swim with Gold. Honestly, it isn't a bad suggestion, but I don't think he needs to plan on swimming with Gold for 2 more years, I'm afraid he'd be subjected to more of the same pressures that he felt before he quit, and Coach Andy and Brett don't click either. They get along well enough for a few months of swimming to get in shape prior to going off to college, but I'm not sure they can co-exist for 2 more years. If E&H doesn't give us enough money from our hardship request, then we may have to investigate this plan further, but I'm saying my prayers that we can afford to get him in right away.

rjolley

03-21-2018, 03:44 PM

Great news. Hope everything falls into place so that he's able to get in right away.

Breeze

03-23-2018, 09:03 AM

Chattahoochee Gold Cup II @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 3/24

This is the intramural type meet where the Gold team is divided into 4 separate teams and they compete against each other. It isn't a serious meet at all, and given that Coach Andy has been pushing them pretty hard recently, I don't expect much...

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Bailey

# 1 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 100 Medley (1:09.28) - Just dropped in this one last week, I expect an add of about a second on this one...her personal best is actually 1:06.38...

# 41 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 100 Back (1:04.07) - if there is a hope of a drop, I'd guess this is the best bet...her best is actually 1:03.88 but that is such a slight drop over her previous best that he may have a little room for more improvement.

# 51 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:01.09) - I kind of wish she wasn't swimming this. I expect she might add several seconds this time around. Fingers are crossed that she can keep it in the 1:02 range.

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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 100 Medley (1:06.44) - Hasn't done this one in a while, could drop here...

# 32 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 100 Free (51.04) - I'd love to see him ease closer to sub 50, but I don't expect it.

# 52 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (56.40) - again I don't see him dropping here...but I didn't expect drops last year in this event, and Bear had a few...

Breeze

03-27-2018, 09:05 AM

Chattahoochee Gold Cup II - RESULTS

The kids took this meet so nonchalant that they didn't even bother to truly warm up, and times reflect that. Because of the lack of effort, I'm not going to bother to post comments, just the times for posterity's sake.

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Bailey

# 1 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 100 Medley (1:09.28) - 1:10.28

# 41 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 100 Back (1:04.07) - 1:06.72

# 51 (d1/s1): G 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:01.09) - 1:08.23

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Bear

# 2 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 100 Medley (1:06.44) - 1:00.37

# 32 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 100 Free (51.04) - 53.61

# 52 (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (56.40) - 57.89

Breeze

04-10-2018, 07:52 AM

General Update - Brett

Brett returned to Gold practice last night (4/9) for the first time in about a year. He's currently on the high school level team, which will swim around 5000 yards rather than the 7500 or so that the senior team puts in, and it only meets 3 days a week. This is a huge step for Brett to get back in the pool and it was completely at his request. He took ownership and approached Coach Andy about rejoining the team, even volunteering the fact that he'd be happy to start on the high school team and try to work his way back to seniors.

He seemed to enjoy it, but he admitted that he was way out of shape. In fact, he implied that after 75 yards his strokes started to fall apart, and anything 200 or longer was practically torture. Hopefully, he's not too sore for practice today...

As for college swimming, we are still waiting to hear back on our petition for additional money due to my cancer. So no update on that yet. However, Brett is very nervous about getting away from home, which isn't surprising because he's not real good with change and going off to college will be the biggest change he's ever experienced thus far.

Breeze

04-11-2018, 07:00 AM

Brett - College Swimming

After providing E&H with 2 years of tax returns, filling out numerous forms, and writing out a petition explaining how my cancer treatments are impacting our financial situation we finally heard back from the school on our petition for additional funds. We were granted an additional $1000, which is nice but far short of what I hoped we would get. This leaves us with a pretty significant gap. We are examining everything trying to find a way to make it work, but I'm not sure we will be able to justify the cost. I don't think I can express my level of disappointment right now.

JAG

04-11-2018, 06:46 PM

Very sorry for the news, but hopeful that it will work out one way or another.

Breeze

04-13-2018, 08:50 AM

General Update

I may have mentioned it previously, but Bear was applying to be a team captain for the South Forsyth Swimming next year. Unfortunately, the new coach is only looking for senior captains. It's disappointing, but knowing Bear, it won't phase him.

Breeze

04-16-2018, 01:32 PM

Brett - College Swimming

Brett committed to attend Emory & Henry last night! He has for years said the ideal college for him would be: small, Christian (but not overbearingly so), in a small town, beautiful campus, good reputation academically, and one that he could swim on. E&H checks all those boxes. Despite that it wasn't an easy decision for him, as he really questioned whether he was ready to go off on his own (and for good reason given his track record at school). He felt going to a local college for the first 2 years might be a better idea, but ultimately we told him that staying home wouldn't change any of the concerns about being ready to go off on his own, it would simply delay them. We convinced him that the nervousness he was feeling was normal, that we would be available for him if he needed anything, and that being timid doesn't lead to big things. We told him not to be afraid of failing but to be afraid of not taking a chance when an opportunity presents itself.

Finally after much deliberation he paid the fee for enrollment and he's currently planning to go to orientation and registration on May 11th.

Coach Skinner at E&H was trilled to hear he was coming and he sent him a letter to sign for a ceremony, and he asked Brett for a picture of him swimming or in E&H gear that he can put up on the team's Facebook site.

Coach Andy was also happy for Brett. He has asked if Brett would like to attend the senior dinner for Gold swimmers, where he will announce his college swimming plans to the rest of the team. He also offered to put an announcement on the Gold Facebook site as well.

After initially being a bit apprehensive about going off to E&H, after making the decision his energy and excitement at the prospect has risen considerably. It's as if a weight was lifted off of his shoulders and he seems ready to roll. I expect we will run into a few more cold feet moments, but I doubt they will meet the level of the ones prior to signing, especially after the momentum and excitement the decision seems to have created with the family, teammates and coaches at Gold, and teammates and coaches at E&H.

JonInMiddleGA

04-16-2018, 01:36 PM

That's great news, very happy for you one & all.

(And, yes, the sense of relief on the other side of a decision is great stuff)

rjolley

04-16-2018, 01:43 PM

Congratulations, Brett! Very glad to hear that he decided to take that step into the unknown. I've been having similar conversations with my oldest daughters. Being afraid of growing up and being on your own is natural, but you can't let that stop you from living your life and going after what you want.

Please keep us up on how he's doing.

Breeze

04-19-2018, 07:40 AM

General Update - Bailey

Found out recently that Bailey will be able to graduate next year if she wanted to. She is going to dual enroll (take some college courses next year) and in doing so she will meet her 4 year/credit requirement in English. Because she took high school credit classes in 8th grade for Math and Science she'll also meet the 4 year/credit requirements for those as a junior as well. Currently, she's not planning to graduate, she's going to stay for her senior year, partially to give herself as much time to improve in swimming as possible and to continue to take college courses for free. She'll take 1 class in high school and 4 more dual enrolled. By the time she graduates high school she will have 36 college credit hours.

rjolley

04-19-2018, 02:20 PM

Congratulations to Bailey.

Breeze

04-25-2018, 11:13 AM

General Update - Bear

An interesting situation is developing for Bear. If you've been reading for a while you may recall several write ups where I mention Zones. When the kids were in age group swimming zones came down to a point total based on performances in the state meet. At the senior level the zones score is determined based on the regular season outcomes and senior participation is also limited to kids that don't have Summer National times. This season the senior men haven't been as interested in competing, leaving a couple of spots open, and they are very interested in getting Bear to fill one of those places.

At home we discussed this possibility (as well as Open Water Zones but that's another story) earlier in the season, but Bear wasn't that intrigued because none of his friends were planning to go. However, with him being actively recruited he might be inclined to change his mind. The event would take place July 31st to August 4 in Midland, TX. It's a great opportunity I'd love to see Bear be a part of, but it will cost close to $1000, which means he'd have to help pay for it and it would cut into his car budget significantly. It'll be interesting to see what he decides to do.

Breeze

04-26-2018, 06:55 AM

General Update

In this thread I've mentioned a kid, Jack Dolan, several times. He swam against Brett is summer league, he swam with Brett on the Forsyth County All-Star team, he later joined Gold and his ability really took off. He left for St. Louis, and quickly developed into an elite national level swimmer, including breaking Michael Phelps' 15 year old National Age Group Record in the 50 freestyle. He is currently the #1 recruit in the nation for 2019, and he's verbally committed to swim for Bob Bowman and Michael Phelps at Arizona State.

Also, Jada Foelske, who I believe I've mentioned in some of Bailey's write ups when I talk about the strength of her age group, she's the #1 female recruit in Georgia and the #48th recruit in the nation for 2019, she's also committed to swim for Arizona State.

Keep an eye out on these 2 swimmers. Jack should be in line to compete for a spot on the Olympic Team in 2020, and Jada will be looking to get on the German Olympic Team as well.

Breeze

04-30-2018, 09:14 AM

General Update - Bear

Bear elected to pass on swimming for Georgia at Zones. Probably a smart decision as it would have put him on a different taper schedule from the rest of the team, and really doesn't want to miss his taper after have the bad experience in Cary just a few months ago...

Breeze

05-02-2018, 08:20 AM

Brett - College Swimming

This is just a quick note to record that fact that Brett got a late offer from another school. Ashland College in Ohio offered. Brett has no interest in pursuing anything, but figured it was worth reporting.

Also, while Brett has rejoined the Gold team, his time in the water the last 2 weeks has been very limited, due to the fact he was promoted to a manager at the pool. He's currently being trained on the manager's responsibilities which unfortunately, coincides with practice times. While he's out of the water, the $5/hour raise will help him save a lot more money to help pay for Emory & Henry.

Breeze

05-17-2018, 07:19 AM

Brett - Emory & Henry

Brett received his off season work out packet from the E&H strength and conditioning coach. At first blush it looked like he was expected to do a pretty extreme workout, however, after getting into it yesterday, it became obvious the long list of conditioning workouts are rotated through the weeks rather than all done each day.

This work out puts us in a bit of a bind, because to do all the workouts correctly, he really needs to join a gym. In the interim we will use his 10 lb dumbbells and 12 lb medicine ball as his weights.

There is a pretty extensive warm up routine. There are about 15 different items that he'll do to get blood flowing and to stretch prior to his workout. The second phase of the warm up is a yoga stretch of the shoulder joints and then a session of ankle flex and strength building.

The lifts are next, and I use the term lifts loosely, because there are other items mixed into the workout like - squat jumps, broad jumps, ab work, etc. Currently, most of the items are dumbbell lifts, so it is possible for him to get most of the work done at home for now. The lifts are pretty basic - shoulder press, bent rows, dead lifts, dumbbell steps, dumbbell calf lifts, dumbbell press, etc. He is currently expected to do 1 set of 20...with increases in weight when it becomes too easy. (some of the exercises are more than 20...)

The conditioning portion of the workout comes after the lifting...here the exercises alternate significantly from week to week. There is speed training, sprint training, and agility training sets...but typically Brett will do just 1 of the different types each day.

The workouts are initially designed to be done Mon, Wed, Fri, then after the 8th week, he should move to Mon, Tues, Thur, Fri. Given that the workout was actually sent about 10 days ago, that initial 8 weeks for the 3 day a week workout will probably have to be shortened to 6 weeks.

Given Brett's work schedule and swimming he will have to really work to get this strength training in. It will be interesting to see how dedicated he is. If he will do this work diligently, I suspect he'll be much stronger by the time he starts college at the end of August.

Breeze

05-24-2018, 09:01 AM

General Update - Bailey

Last night, for the first time ever, Bailey mentioned she probably wasn't going to swim in college. I have to admit I'm disappointed to hear this but not just because I want her to swim, but because she's clearly frustrated with the past few years.

She stated during her talk that she really hadn't improved in years and she didn't feel she was good enough to swim in college, and while she has struggled recently, the thought that she wasn't good enough to swim in college is crazy. There are a number of teams where she would be the best butterflier the moment she steps on campus. However, I believe there is more to the "I haven't improved in years" part of the statement. I think she is frustrated with her results and given how hard the sport is, I think she's feeling like it might not be worth the effort going forward. She said she'd wait to see if she gets any improvements but right now she's leaning toward giving it up after graduation.

She could really use a good year...I hope all of her hard work starts paying off soon.

JAG

05-24-2018, 10:09 AM

Hopefully a year where she isn't as snakebit with injuries and illnesses too. Tough to hear that frustration from your daughter.

Breeze

05-29-2018, 09:56 AM

2018 SE GPAC Tom Lalor Invitational @ UWF Aquatic Center, Pensacola, FL - 6/1-6/3

It seems like forever since the kids have had a race...unfortunately, the first long course meet will be before the kids are truly acclimated to a long course pool (the practice pool just changed to long course on 5/29), and it will be a travel meet. I really don't have any feel for how the kids will do in this less than ideal situation, plus it's been so long since they last swam long course the times aren't even familiar to me yet.

Here is what they will be swimming:

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Bailey

# 47 (d2/s3): G Open 50 Fly (32.65L)
# 51 (d2/s3): G Open 200 Free (2:22.86L)
# 59 (d2/s3): G Open 200 Fly (2:32.27L)
# 65C (d2/s3): G 15 & Over 400 Free (5:02.16L)
# 85 (d3/s5): G Open 100 Free (1:09.09L)
# 89 (d3/s5): G Open 200 Back (2:38.21L)
# 97 (d3/s5): G Open 200 Medley (2:38.71L)
# 99D (d3/s5): G 15 & Over 800 Free (10:33.38L)

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Bear

# 48 (d2/s3): B Open 50 Fly (30.89L)
# 52 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Free (2:07.37L)
# 60 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Fly (2:18.82L)
# 66C (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 400 Free (4:28.39L)
# 86 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Free (1:00.40L)
# 98 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Medley (2:21.79L)
# 100D (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 1500 Free (17:17.92L)

Breeze

06-06-2018, 10:42 AM

2018 SE GPAC Tom Lalor Invitational - RESULTS

It wasn't a great meet, but it never seems to be...
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Bailey

# 47 (d2/s3): G Open 50 Fly (32.65L) - NS - didn't swim it because her back was bothering her and fly makes it much worse

# 51 (d2/s3): G Open 200 Free (2:22.86L) - 2:30.60 - an 8 second add, but most of her teammates added a similar amount of time

# 59 (d2/s3): G Open 200 Fly (2:32.27L) - NS - like the 50 she elected not to swim fly

# 65C (d2/s3): G 15 & Over 400 Free (5:02.16L) - 5:12.38 - started out strong, but faded to 1:20 splits late...warm water pool probably has something to do with that...

# 85 (d3/s5): G Open 100 Free (1:09.09L) - 1:10.25 - very encouraging here - non-tapered she is only about a second off her personal best...that hopefully indicates she could drop at the end of the season.

# 89 (d3/s5): G Open 200 Back (2:38.21L) - 2:43.61 - again an add, but 5 seconds in a 200 isn't all that alarming. She was adding 8 or more non-tapered in short course...

# 97 (d3/s5): G Open 200 Medley (2:38.71L) - 2:49.91 - this was a poor swim and I'm not sure why. The splits aren't broken down by 50 so I can't tell if breast is a problem again or if her back pain made the fly really slow or a little of both.

# 99D (d3/s5): G 15 & Over 800 Free (10:33.38L) - 10:42.81 - this was a really ugly swim for most of the girls...other teammates added 21.4, 33.6, 24.7,1:01, 32.7 - so feeling pretty good about the 9.49 Bailey added...

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Bear

400 Medley Relay - - Bear swam fly leg on the Gold B relay team - he swam a 1:06.46 - this was over a second off his personal best and with a rolling start so not a good sign...

# 48 (d2/s3): B Open 50 Fly (30.89L) - 30:84 - a personal best swim, but not all that impressive...50s in the off strokes aren't typically competed in once a swimmer leaves the 12 and under age group...so this was an old time that he just beat by an eye blink

# 52 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Free (2:07.37L) - 2:08.09 - this on the other hand was a nice swim. Untapered and heavily trained coming in to come within a second of a personal best is strong.

# 60 (d2/s3): B Open 200 Fly (2:18.82L) - 2:22.27 - under the circumstances this seems like an ok swim. I doubt he was pleased but its still in striking distance of a PB.

# 66C (d2/s3): B 15 & Over 400 Free (4:28.39L) - after doing a 200 free and a 200 fly trying to do a 400 free is a tall order...but Bear managed to do it in style - 4:27.64 - not even remotely sure how he had the energy to drop that swim, but it was a nice one.

# 86 (d3/s5): B Open 100 Free (1:00.40L) - 58.75 - so a personal best in the 100 and the 400 free - seems like the freestyle form is pretty good...

# 98 (d3/s5): B Open 200 Medley (2:21.79L) - 2:31.37 - this was a bad swim...Bear had mentioned he was really struggling with his backstroke so that might be the issue here...no way to tell because the splits were just on the 100s.

# 100D (d3/s5): B 15 & Over 1500 Free (17:17.92L) - was hoping for a good one here after the other strong freestyles, but it didn't happen. 17:41.18 - his splits were all over the place - and he does struggle to maintain his speed a bit in the long course pool...it was good for him to get a long course distance free event in, unfortunately I don't think he'll get another one before state.

Breeze

06-19-2018, 06:42 AM

General Update - Bailey

Bailey's back pain has returned and is severe enough that we took her to the doctor the day before we left for vacation. After her exam the doctor had us schedule an MRI so he can get a better look at what's going on. I'll update when I know more, but I do know a teammate who was having back pain (and went to the same doctor) was forced to sit out 6 weeks...so I expect Bailey will at a minimum receive similar instructions.

Breeze

06-26-2018, 06:21 AM

General Update - Bailey

We got the results from Bailey's MRI yesterday. The good news is there is no structural damage. There is some compression between the L4 and L5, but it isn't pinching anything and it isn't severe so it shouldn't be causing the pain she's currently experiencing. The bad news is, the doctor has no idea what is causing the problem. She's has a steroid pack and some non-steroid anti-inflammatory pills to take over the next several weeks, and she's been pulled from the pool for the remainder of the long course season. The doctor hopes time off and the pills will get any inflammation out of the joints and allow her to resume swimming pain free in the late summer. She does have ab strengthening exercises that she'll need to do as well to counteract the overly strong back muscles.

Bailey is a little upset about having to get out of the pool, because it is basically the central point of her social life. However, honestly, this is probably the best news we could have received. No structural damage is huge, and she wasn't planning to swim at the long course state meet anyway, so sitting out right now, while not ideal, couldn't have come at a better time. Saying my prayers this works and she can start swimming pain free. She indicated her back has bothered her on and off for a couple of years. Maybe if she can get the back healthy she can start dropping time again.

Breeze

07-02-2018, 09:27 AM

Bear - College Swimming

The NCAA has recently updated their recruiting rules regarding swimming, and I'm not exactly sure what the new guidelines are regarding times and methods of acceptable contact but, as Bear is entering the summer before his junior year, he is starting to get some interest. He has recently received emails from:

U.S. Military Academy, Army - (D1) - Army was pretty quick to highlight their interest in Bear on the website with his recruiting profile, and they emailed him last night to further express their interest and outline all they have to offer. I'm not sure what the current military commitment is for a West Point graduate, but if Bear pursues this further I'll provide whatever details we learn.

Queens University - (D2) - Queens just won their 4th straight men's and women's D2 National Championship. They contacted him and asked him to fill out their recruiting profile. I'm assuming this is a way of narrowing down their contact lists, while making sure the recruit meets all the requirements to get into the school.

Breeze

07-02-2018, 09:48 AM

Bailey - College Swimming

Seems a little odd to talk about Bailey and college swimming while she is currently on the shelf resting an injury, but given that we are approaching her junior year it seems appropriate to mention schools she's heard from:

University of the Cumberlands (NAIA)

Asbury University (NAIA)

Grinnell College (D3)

Berry College (D3)

These 4 schools have done more than simply send out the generic form letter stating their interest. All have contacted her on multiple occasions and all are pushing her to set up a visit. Currently, there is much to report about Bailey's interest, right now she is focused on getting better and getting her driver's license. Will update things when I know more.

JonInMiddleGA

07-02-2018, 11:08 AM

Bailey - College Swimming

University of the Cumberlands (NAIA)

Asbury University (NAIA)

Grinnell College (D3)

Berry College (D3)

Of those, the one I actually know fairly well is (of course) Berry. It's not an environment that suits everybody but one thing that's pretty undeniable is that they've got a really pretty campus.

Breeze

07-02-2018, 12:02 PM

Of those, the one I actually know fairly well is (of course) Berry. It's not an environment that suits everybody but one thing that's pretty undeniable is that they've got a really pretty campus.

Yeah, I've driven over there several times and it is one amazing campus...I actually think it would be a great fit for Bailey, but right now she doesn't seem too interested, in fact, she seems more inclined to look out of state (assuming she gets enough money that she'll be able to afford it).

Izulde

07-02-2018, 12:45 PM

Breeze

07-02-2018, 01:17 PM

I've heard great things about Grinnell, having grown up in the Midwest. One of the Hidden Ivies, and of course they're most known nationally for their crazy basketball system.

Good to know...I'll do some more digging into that school...

JonInMiddleGA

07-02-2018, 01:56 PM

Yeah, I've driven over there several times and it is one amazing campus...I actually think it would be a great fit for Bailey, but right now she doesn't seem too interested, in fact, she seems more inclined to look out of state (assuming she gets enough money that she'll be able to afford it).

I can completely relate to that honestly. Their mandatory campus work thing was a strike for me even way back in the day, as was the lack of distance (Dad is from Rome and I had relatives all over town at that point in the 80s). I will say that, best I can tell, the heavily rural/agrarian feel the school had back in the 80s & into the 90s seems to be less of a thing today.

I will also note -- since I looked it up in conjunction with this topic -- that I'm surprised to discover that neither Shorter nor Reinhardt have swimming programs yet. (for those outside the geography, those are probably the two closest colleges to Berry, one in the same town & the other maybe 30 mins away)

Breeze

07-03-2018, 12:40 PM

I can completely relate to that honestly. Their mandatory campus work thing was a strike for me even way back in the day, as was the lack of distance (Dad is from Rome and I had relatives all over town at that point in the 80s). I will say that, best I can tell, the heavily rural/agrarian feel the school had back in the 80s & into the 90s seems to be less of a thing today.

I will also note -- since I looked it up in conjunction with this topic -- that I'm surprised to discover that neither Shorter nor Reinhardt have swimming programs yet. (for those outside the geography, those are probably the two closest colleges to Berry, one in the same town & the other maybe 30 mins away)

Between Reinhardt, Shorter, and UNG, I'm disappointed that none have stepped up to field a swim team. I realize swimming is an expensive sport if you have an on campus pool you have to take care of, but UNG already has a pool that they are making available to the students (at least they used to) and it could be used for practices and meets could be run at the Cumming Aquatic Center (right across the parking lot from one of their satellite campuses). Not sure if Reinhardt or Shorter have a SCY pool on premises, but there are a number of pools in the area that could be used as Georgia is a big swim state. These schools could have pretty good teams overnight if they decided to get into the sport.

thealmighty

07-03-2018, 09:27 PM

Does Bear being a good distance swimmer entice more schools to maybe be interested? I would think there are far fewer kids who excel at longer races?

Breeze

07-05-2018, 06:17 AM

Does Bear being a good distance swimmer entice more schools to maybe be interested? I would think there are far fewer kids who excel at longer races?

Interesting question...to a certain extent your assessment is accurate, the number of sprinters far exceeds the number of mid distance swimmers which far exceeds the number of full distance swimmers, so the pool of people colleges have to choose from is much smaller. However, there are less events a distance swimmer can score in, usually it's just the 1000 or 1650 free (whichever that conference uses for their championship meet - both events aren't typically swum at a conference championship), and the 500 free (which mid-distancers also swim). Making matters worse a typical distance swimmer won't help in any of the 5 relays, which creates a situation in many colleges where distance swimmers aren't recruited as hard do to the limited return.

There are some exceptions to that rule, like the distance swimmer that is good enough in another event that they can score. Typically, for distance freestylers that's the 200 Free, which also means that the swimmer can be part of the 800 free relay, but that additional slot where a distance swimmer can score could be anything. The distance swimmers that have the ability to score in 3 events become extremely valuable, and they are ones that colleges fight over. Obviously, what it takes to score varies depending on Division and Conference, so that's where the research into teams, conference final results, etc. comes into play.

As we get deeper into recruiting, I'll post information on where Bear fits on the team and in conference to provide you with some perspective. I'll do the same for Bailey as well, if she decides to continue to pursue college swimming.

Breeze

07-05-2018, 07:22 AM

2018 Georgia Open @ GaTech - 7/6 - 7/8

Finally, a swim meet that I'll be able to watch. I'm pretty sure the last one I saw was in March...I'm going through withdrawal. Unfortunately, I won't get to see the Friday swims, as I have to work, but it'll be good to watch Bear race again. The only thing that would make it better is if Bailey were swimming too.

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Bear

# 2B (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 200 Medley (2:21.79L)
# 6B (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:05.30L)
# 22B (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 100 Free (58.76L)
# 44B (d2/s4): B 15 & Over 50 Free (28.23L)
# 48B (d2/s4): B 15 & Over 50 Fly (30.84L)
# 56B (d2/s4): B 15 & Over 200 Free (2:07.37L)
# 71 (d3/s7): X 11 & Over 400 Medley (5:08.43L)

It is interesting Bear has no real distance stuff in this meet. Plus he's also not doing the 200 Fly, or any backstroke, instead he has a couple of 50s. I believe this is an effort on the coaches part not to overwork him in a non-taper meet. The swims where a drop in time could make the most impact for Bear in his recruiting score are the 400 IM and 200 Free. The 50 Free is a wild card because a good swim in that event could demonstrate his ability to swim sprint free relays on some of the smaller schools that he might have interest in. Given this isn't a taper meet I don't expect any significant drops.

Breeze

07-10-2018, 06:42 AM

General Update

Just a quick note to inform you that 3 swimmers that my kids have competed against are currently in a position to represent the US at the upcoming Jr. Pan Pac games. The team is comprised of the top 2 finishers in each event and if the total of 20 swimmers isn't met by taking those automatic qualifiers additional swimmers will be added based on need (unlike many other international meets in the Pan Pacs the top 6 100 and 200 freestylers are not given higher priority)

Jack Dolan, who I've mentioned several times previously in this thread, is currently T3rd in the 100 free, and 5th in the 100 back. A good swim and he'll get an automatic spot, but regardless I believe he'll be representing the US at this event, even if he just swims relays.

Jake Magahey, who is the top Georgia swimmer for the class of 2020, is currently seeded 3rd in the 200 Free, 2nd in the 400 Free, and 3rd in the 800 Free...he's not seeded in the 1500 Free, but that has more to do with the fact Georgia doesn't offer the full 1500 very often during the year. He will almost certainly make the team as well.

Ian Grum, who is the top Georgia swimmer for the class of 2019 (and already committed to UGA), is 3rd in the 200 back. A good swim gets him an automatic bit, but given he's not one of the top 100 backstrokers, if he doesn't get the automatic it will be much tougher for him to get one of the at large spots.

Breeze

07-10-2018, 12:06 PM

General Update

The ODAC Conference where Emory & Henry competes is getting its 11th men's team and 12th women's team for the upcoming season. University of Lynchburg will be converting their club team to a full D3 squad.

Edit: I reading differing reports on when the team will officially convert to D3...it could be the 2019-20 season...

Breeze

07-12-2018, 07:51 AM

2018 Georgia Open @ GaTech - 7/6 - 7/8

Well...didn't get to watch as much of this as I had hoped (ended up helping Bailey paint her room Saturday instead)...but it was nice to get back to a meet anyway...

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Bear

# 2B (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 200 Medley (2:21.79L) - Bear has commented numerous times that his backstroke is a real problem right now and, apparently is breaststroke is a bit rusty too because he added almost 8.5 seconds in this one. He mentioned he was sore and felt stiff throughout the race, but even with that, he wouldn't add that much time unless some strokes need work. 2:30.25. At this point, it's debatable if he'll even swim this event at state in a few weeks.

# 6B (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 100 Fly (1:05.30L) - got an eye blink drop to 1:05.12...he doesn't have the state cut for this swim, but he could time trial this one. Given he dropped untapered I'd expect a decent drop when he's shaved and tapered.

# 22B (d1/s1): B 15 & Over 100 Free (58.76L) - slight add...59.37 - but another one he might be in a decent position to time trail at state.

# 44B (d2/s4): B 15 & Over 50 Free (28.23L) - dropped down to a 28.03, which is a personal best, but this is one personal best he wasn't happy with, stating that he routinely breaks 28 flat in practice and he should have gone 27 mid even untapered.

# 48B (d2/s4): B 15 & Over 50 Fly (30.84L) - drop of over a second, but pretty sure this is an old time, because the 50 fly isn't swum in competition at the state meets, so it is a race that Bear doesn't do often. 29.80

# 56B (d2/s4): B 15 & Over 200 Free (2:07.37L) - a nice swim in prelims of 2:05.64, was a personal best and earned Bear a spot in the finals that same night, where he managed to go slightly faster by posting a second personal best in the event of 2:05.41...almost a 2 second drop from his seed time when all was said and done.

# 71 (d3/s7): X 11 & Over 400 Medley (5:08.43L) - Scratched - due to his struggles in the 200 IM, and his good swim in the 200 Free he was going to approach his coach about scratching this swim and replacing it with the 400 free, but before he could make the suggestion, the coach told him he wanted him to do exactly that....

# 73 X 11 & Over 400 Free - - Bear entered this event on Standby, which means he stands by the official and waits for an empty lane. Usually, this isn't a big deal, but Bear had to wait until the 9th heat before he got an open spot, which did 2 things...first, he warmed up in preparation for this race then he had to try and stay warm for about 45 minutes before his turn came up. That's a lot of hopping around. Second, he was forced to swim in a heat where there was no one he could race, as he was way out in front of the field by the first 25 meters. However, he did still manage to drop time posting a 4:26.77, which is around a 2 second drop - I think he'll positioned to swim this one really well at state.

Breeze

07-13-2018, 08:49 AM

Emory & Henry Update

Brett has orientation tomorrow 7/14, so we will be heading up to Virginia this afternoon. This will be the wife's first visit to the school, and she's very excited to see it.

Breeze

07-17-2018, 09:35 AM

General Update

Brett is still swimming with Gold 3 days a week, but his schedule has limited his availability, and the Gold season will be ending next week. So in an effort to get in better shape prior to going off to college, he is starting to swim 5 or 6 days a week, mixing in some of his coaches workouts with the ones Gold runs. After next week when Gold is off, he'll continue to swim 5 to 6 days a week doing just his E&H coach's workouts.

Bailey swam today for the first time since shutting it down with back pain. She ended up joining Brett who swam one of the workouts his coach emailed him prior to the Summer. She reported no pain...she did mention she was really out of shape, but otherwise fine.

Bear apparently strained his back a bit doing dry land exercises yesterday. This comes at a very bad time with State just over a week away. He laid on an acupressure mat for a while yesterday and did some stretching which seemed to help, and he reported no real issues today in practice. Fingers crossed that the tweak doesn't act up.

Breeze

07-25-2018, 07:41 AM

Emory & Henry Update

Should have updated this a while back, but the trip up to the school was great. Brett was super excited and actually asked us to go by the school on the Friday when we arrived. He wanted to show Cathy around, and during his "tour" he was highly animated. The actual orientation was interesting. For the most part Brett was split off from us. We basically only sat together for opening remarks and 1 session on what it take so to be successful at the school.

The session on being successful was very interesting. The professor talked about a bunch of topics, but throughout the discussion he would use examples of former students and their experiences. Interestingly, each of the stories seemed to coincide with one of the students sitting in the class. For instance, with Brett he discussed a kid with a pretty low GPA, but decent test scores who came from a big high school with over 700 in his graduating class, that just didn't click in high school. He felt lost and overlooked and never seemed to connect with teachers, but when he arrived at E&H he took the time to develop a relationship with his professors, and he made friends with other good students and 4 years later he was walking across the stage getting his diploma. The discussion was much more involved, but you get the idea, and I'm not naive enough to believe that he didn't look at Brett's transcript prior to identifying the student used in the discussion. Hopefully, this talk registered with him and he uses the resources available to him to stay on top of his studies once school starts.

His next big date is August 25th, which is move in day.

Breeze

07-26-2018, 11:36 AM

2018 Georgia Senior State Championships @ UGA Natatorium - 7/27 - 7/30

Bear's one true taper meet of the season. He took the week off from work so he could rest and not risk messing up the taper. He's apparently feeling good and he mentioned have a good practice early this week, so hopefully we will see some good results.

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Bear

# 6 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Free (1:45.91Y) - The entry time here is a short course time, as his long course personal best didn't meet the qualification standard. His time in a long course pool is 2:05.41. I hope he drops time here to help him have a good mindset for the meet. After his struggles at Sectionals, I really want to see him succeed.

# 12 (d1/s1): M Open 400 Medley (4:11.59Y) - Again the seed time is short course... I don't know what to expect here...he's really struggling with backstroke and while his breast has never been strong, I get the impression it is also off right now, which could lead to a very slow time...but with the taper it is possible I'm wrong.

# 18 (d2/s3): M Open 200 Fly (2:18.82L) - This is his time from last year at this event, so I expect at least a small drop in time.

# 28 (d2/s3): M Open 400 Free (4:41.77Y) - another short course seed time - his best long course is actually a 4:26.77 from early this month. He wasn't particularly pleased with that time so I think he expects to do much better here.

# 38 (d3/s5): M Open 200 Medley (2:21.79L) - My bet right now would be that he doesn't swim this race at all. If he does well in the 400 IM, it's possible the coach will have him swim it, but given his IM struggles so far this season, and the fact the 1500 is later in the day, the coach might have him rest up for a race where he could potentially drop a bunch of time.

# 42 (d3/s5): M Open 1500 Free (17:17.92L) - seed time here from last year and given he only gets to swim this once a season with a taper that isn't all that surprising. With a good swim in this event Bear can significantly impact his recruiting score for college. Not sure how much time he should drop, and he typically is slightly slower long course (I think because he doesn't get feedback as consistently in the bigger pool and he has a tendency to come off his pace a little) but I think somewhere around 16:45 would be a good swim.

There is a probability that Bear will time trial a few events. It's likely he'll add the 100 Free and 100 Fly. He has a shot with a good swim of getting state cuts in both of these events. He might also swim the 50 Free - I don't think he can get the cut in this one, but a good time even if it isn't a state cut could benefit him in recruiting.

Breeze

08-01-2018, 09:25 AM

2018 Georgia Senior State Championships - RESULTS

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Bear

# 6 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Free (1:45.91Y) - Bear opened the meet with a strong swim posting a personal best time of 2:01.03 this was a 4.5 second drop from his previous personal best...it was also good enough to get him into finals on night 1, which is a big deal considering there were a large number of college swimmers competing in this meet...

# 12 (d1/s1): M Open 400 Medley (4:11.59Y) - The fly leg looked good and Bear was second to the wall after the opening 100...the back was painfully bad, as he fell from second to second to last in the second 100. His breast was ok, not as good as it was last year, but ok, and he finished strong in freestyle. He posted a personal best time of 4:57.93, which was about an 11 second drop, but some of that improvement was due to the fact his previous best was almost 2 years old because he never swam this event tapered in 2017.

# 6 (d1/s1): M Open 200 Free FINALS (2:01.03) - He wasn't able to match his swim from the morning going a solid 2:02.70....

#14 M Open 800 Free Relay - Bear was one of the 4 swimmers in the 800 Free Relay...he did ok swimming in the neighborhood of a 2:03 split. The team finished their typical 5th...

# 18 (d2/s3): M Open 200 Fly (2:18.82L) - A strong swim to start day 2, as Bear drops another 4.5 seconds in a 200 swim to post a personal best time of 2:14.39. Bear also made finals in this event...

# 28 (d2/s3): M Open 400 Free (4:41.77Y) - Bear managed to drop 11 seconds in this 400, just like the 400 IM...posting a personal best time of 4:15.95. This time to make finals he needed to be in the top 16 swimmers because the long events only swim 2 finals at night, and he managed to get in.

# 18 (d2/s3): M Open 200 Fly FINALS (2:14.39L) - Bear swam hard, but he came up just short of his morning swim posting a 2:14.85

# 28 (d2/s3): M Open 400 Free FINALS (4:15.95Y) - As with his other finals swims, Bear failed to improve again...this time he added a just over a second posting a 4:17.25. I wasn't surprised by the lack of improvement, in fact, I expected he would add time this evening...the 200 fly, 400 free double is a tough one and doing it twice in one day really takes it's toll...

# 38 (d3/s5): M Open 200 Medley (2:21.79L) - As expected Bear scratched this event.

# 42 (d3/s5): M Open 1500 Free (17:17.92L) - remember I mentioned that the double double from Saturday really takes a toll...well I believe the results here are a direct result of his difficult schedule. He swam a very disappointing 7:18.53...he added just over half a second. He really wanted to do well in this one and this is the one that could have positively impacted his recruiting score. Unfortunate that he wasn't able to draw on the swimming he had the first couple of days for this one.