Short Course Season Preview
The short course practices are now underway, and the kids are starting to get their goals together for the season. There have been quite a few changes this year, Brett and the twins are on different teams, new head coach, new practice times, and more. All the kids will now start having morning practice in addition to afternoon practice. The twins are currently scheduled to do it on Wednesday at 5:30 to 7 A.M., Brett is supposed to do morning practices Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (though there is no afternoon practice on Friday). In total, Brett is expected to have 80% attendance and he is scheduled to practice 16 hours a week. The twins are supposed to have 75% attendance and their schedule calls for 13.5 hours in the pool.
Here are few thoughts/items for this season…
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Bear
Bear has started a rapid growth spurt similar to the one Brett went through about 6 months ago. He is complaining about his legs hurting, specifically his knees and ankles, so most likely growing pains. While they aren’t terribly concerning, they are significant enough that the coach has requested we start giving him Advil before practice until it goes away. It is also preventing him from doing his extra work before and after practice, which had been his plan coming into the season. In fact, for a couple weeks leading up to the start of practice, Bear was spending about a half an hour on one of our exercise machines, and he was doing pushups, sit ups, and chin ups every day.
Bear is very serious about doing well at the short course meet again. He wants to medal like he did as an 11 year old. He’s also very focused on improving his sprints. He wants to be on the team relays at state, and he knows he’ll have to get faster in the sprints to get there. These are the main reasons that he’s willing to put in extra work after and before practice. I don’t believe he has focused on the Sectional Meet, but if he continues to improve on the distance swims, he could have a strong showing there as well.
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Bailey
Bailey is doing well health wise, only dealing with some acne issues, which, when your daughter is high drama and 12 years old, is a MAJOR issue. Actually, she’s been a trouper about it, and she’s starting to get it under control. Given that she was concerned about it, my wife convinced me to let her start wearing make-up. So she now wears a very discreet amount.
As far as swimming, she is doing well. In fact, she’s quite excited as she’s already announced that she thinks she’s figured out her freestyle issues. Her initial goal was to get all the state cuts possible, which I expect she will do. I know she desperately wants to win a medal, but I’m afraid the field in her age group just has way too many exceptional swimmers to get better than fifth in any event. She’s also setting her sights on swimming a large number of events at Sectionals (though she hasn’t told me how many or which ones). If she works hard, she could get top 12 at the sectional meet in some events. I’m also sure she’s looking to get another AAA time so she’ll be invited back to the All-Star banquet.
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Brett
With Brett’s new schedule our biggest concern is school work. Given that he’ll be getting up extremely early 3 days a week, mornings aren’t a possibility for homework. Also, he gets home from school with just enough time to throw on his bathing suit, grab his swim bags and a snack and head to the pool. So the only time left for homework is after practice, and that is problematic because of Brett’s ADHD issues. By the time he sits down to work, he’s off the walls, and completely unfocused (and this is before we start morning practices). I’m not sure how any of this will work itself out, but I think I’m headed for a level of fatigue and sleepiness I haven’t felt since the twins were babies…
As for swimming, Brett is hoping to build on the strong end to the Summer League season. The only problem is the new coach, while he has a strong resume, is very hands off. He works his swimmers really hard which leads to good times, but we’ve yet to see a lot of instruction, and that is what Brett needs more than anything. This is where losing Coach Neil hurts, as he would have gotten Brett straightened out. We are going to try and schedule a sit down with Coach Todd to go over Brett’s issues and needs to hopefully keep things moving forward. Brett’s goals are very similar to every other year…get the Breast cuts, close in on the other strokes, and start cleaning up the little things that can help moving forward. Brett has also set a goal to really start focusing on small things within the strokes that he needs to fix while practicing. So in Free, point the toes hard and kick harder, Back, keep the legs extended don’t bend the knee, Fly, swim it (Don’t cheat), Breast, streamline to streamline. All that stated, Brett does have a new goal. Now that he is in High School, Brett is planning to swim for the South Forsyth War Eagles. He won’t be a star on the team, as there are some very good swimmers at South, but it’s a great way to make friends and get into the whole high school scene. His goal for High School is to earn a varsity letter. To get the letter, he’ll have to meet one of the following times…
Code:
South Forsyth Lettering
Times: Boys Girls
200 Free 02:03.0 02:15.0
200 IM 02:20.0 02:31.0
50 Free 25 27
100 Fly 01:07.0 01:13.0
100 Free 01:00.0 01:05.0
500 Free 05:36.0 05:57.0
100 Back 01:08.0 01:15.0
100 Brst 01:16.0 01:24.0
I think he can possibly do it in a couple of areas. Unfortunately for him, the 200 Breast isn’t swum in High School Meets.