Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Swim Like A Champion (a real life journal)

Breeze · 10-17-2012, 11:42 AM

Gold Invite @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 10/19-21

Brett

The coaches have told us several times that they have been extremely impressed with Brett's efforts recently. They are seeing huge improvements in his form and they expect that his times will start dropping significantly soon. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be this weekend...

100 Free - Seed Time 1:17.50 - his kick here has definately improved, but I don't think he's capable of doing the flutter kick at a hard pace for a full 100. He just doesn't have the stamina yet with those muscles. I could however invision a personal best here.

50 Back - Seed Time 41.94 - again a huge improvement in form. Still needs to work on not overreaching with the arms to the point his hands reach above his head, thus lengthening the stroke and slowing it down. If he picks up the rotation of the arms, and attacks the walls he could drop a good bit of time. Even if he just swims the same way he's been doing it recently he could get a personal best. Ideally, if he could break 40.00 he'd be thrilled...

100 Breast - Seed Time 1:29.77 - not sure what to expect here. He dropped time at his last meet, just a few weeks ago, so not sure he'll better it this time around. If he isn't faster, he'll be upset, but honestly he has a long way to go in this one to get the state cut, so in the long run, it won't matter as long as he doesn't get upset if he posts a slower time.

100 IM - Seed Time 1:31.68 - Actually, Brett has swum this event faster than the seed time. In fact, his personal best coming in for year round meets is 1:28.53, and his best if you count Summer League is 1:26.35. This is where the coaches are expecting to see improvement first. Because his "other" strokes have gotten so much better, they expect to see this one drop due to improvements in the Back and Fly legs in particular. We'll see, I think Brett holds back a bit in this race to conserve energy, and until he starts racing from the gun, he'll continue to post similar times, even if he is doing it more efficiently. I do expect he should be the seed time, and there is a decent probability if he isn't too fatigued from the earlier races that he could also beat his year-round personal best, I don't however expect him to beat his Summer League time.

100 Fly - Seed Time NT - Brett like Bear in the last meet will be facing this race for the first time, and I can tell you he'll be stressed about it. He really isn't comfortable trying new races, especially in his weaker strokes. He swims 100 flys in practice regularly now and he does pretty well with it, but I expect he'll get DQed. There are 2 reasons for this...in practice when he swims fly, if things get crowded he'll switch to breast arms so he doesn't collide with anyone else...but this quick transition and the easy in which he makes it, leads me to believe he'll do it when he gets tired in the race at least once. Also like the last meet when he was DQed in the IM on the fly leg...we learned that the error occurred right at the wall when he did a short stroke and didn't get his arms above the water going into the wall. Also a bad habit that he could easily repeat. I'm not really concerned about these issues. When he gets bigger and stronger he'll be able to work through the first, and the more he swims fly the better he'll get at the second.

100 Back - Seed Time NT - another first time swim for Brett, and another one he'll be stress about. However, he swims a good bit of back in practice and other than being sloppy on the walls he's doing it pretty well, even if it isn't terribly fast. I don't expect a great time, as he'll probably go conservative in the race, but he should do fine. I am concerned he'll get sloppy on the walls and get DQed because he is too cavalier with them at practice, but if he does he does and hopefully he'll learn to tighten up his focus at practice as a result.

50 Breast - Seed Time 39.82 - interesting and important one here for Brett. He didn't beat his personal best at the last meet, and he will be racing the best of the Gold team. He need to be the top finishers for kids that will be 12 as of the end of February (when the State Meet falls) to help improve his chances of being on the relay team. It will be tight. Hopefully, we get a good dive and strong pull outs...

200 Free - Seed Time 2:47.61 - This is an event that Brett could improve on. He'll have to figure out how to best use his legs to get through a 200 and still provide some momentum, because he clearly won't be able to kick hard for all 8 laps. But his improved kick, strong upper body and better form still lead me to believe a personal best is well within reach.

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Bear

I tried to talk Bear into swimming the 500 free again at this meet. This time it would have been on Friday and it would have been the only thing he would have competed in for the day. I expect he would have done much better since he would not have been as fatigued going into the race, but he wasn't interested...

100 Free - Seeded 3rd (1:15.96) - Bear is seeded 3rd going into this race, behing 2 kids he practices with everyday. He'll want badly to beat them and he typically does well in his first few events (often to the detrement of the ones that come later in the day), so I could see a personal best here, though my guess is he still finishes no better than 3rd.

50 Back - Seeded 3rd (39.90) - Bear's back is coming along. He's still a little bit deliberate with the stroke, but the body position is better, and he's starting to pivot rather than sway, which is helping. Not sure what to expect here, because if he puts it together and really races it he could improve by a couple of seconds if he's still thinking to much, I'd expect only a slight improvement (assuming he has a good turn and stays out of the ropes).

50 Fly - Seeded 3rd (39.66) - very much like back it will all depend on if Bear trusts the new stroke and races it, or if he thinks about it too much...he's within half a second of 2nd place in this one. He could improve by a bunch or come in with a very similar time. My bet is a slight improvement.

100 IM - Seeded 4th (1:13.18) - like Brett, this really isn't his personal best. In year round swimming I have his best time as a 1:26.94 and for Summer League it is a 1:23.53. I don't think we'll touch that 1:23 time, though if he did he'd probably finish 2nd in this race. I do think something around his year round personal best is certainly possible. However, the key is his Breaststroke, which has slowed down considerably since long course/summer season, due to some technical changes in the way he swims it. He's still working through those...for him to get a PB he'll need to to swim the back half much better than the 48.29 from a few weeks ago (with most of that time being the Breaststroke leg).

50 Free - Seeded 3rd (34.31) - This is a key race for Bear as it has relay implications moving forward. He needs a strong swim here to create some cushion for the State Relay team. There are a bunch of kids crowded around Bear's time so this will be close. Hopefully, he gets his good start, because I know he'll work like the devil until he gets to the wall. I'm really hoping to start to see a drop in this time, just not sure if we'll see it yet or not. If practice is any indication he should, because Bear gives it all he's got everyday he's there...

100 Back - Seeded 3rd (1:27.71) - See the 50 back...same issues apply here. Really eager to see how this goes. Hoping he'll increase his stroke rate without sacrificing form or stroke length. If he does could be a big improvement, I don't think we are quite ready for this yet, so I'll guess a small increase.

50 Breast - Seeded 8th (49.46) - the seed time isn't actually a personal best...his best was in December of last year when he posted a 46.70. This slower time is from the Gold team...and it indicates the slower speed due to the change in technique. This is about 3 seconds off his best time from almost a year earlier. Increased size and strength should have created speed so the slower time is disappointing. Hopefully, he'll start to turn the corner and we'll see a drop...but I'm not convinced he's ready for that yet...

200 Free - Seeded 1st (2:40.98) - Bear is seeded 1st in this, which is exicting, but this is his last event of the weekend, and typically he's usual spent by this point in time, so I'd be surprised if he actually posts a personal best in this and wins the event.

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Bailey

Bailey's event this time around could be quite funny...which is not something you typically think about when it comes to a swim meet. Here is the situation, in many of Bailey's events, the coach entered her with a seed time about 10 seconds slower than her personal best. This was done to hopefully prevent her from trying to race too hard and destroying her new form that she's been working on. Bailey is super competitive so I'm not sure how well this philosophy is going to work...but add to that the order, from the coach, that she is not to win any of her heats or else she'll have to sit out of practice for a week, and this could get down right comical. Even with Bailey's slow deliberate stroke to concentrate on form, she's passing many of the other slower swimmers at practice. I don't believe with this new stroke that she is 10 seconds slower than her best time, but she'll be racing people that are that slow. Not sure how she's going to lose these races...maybe she'll just hang on the walls during turns for an extended period of time. I can't wait to see how this plays out.

50 Back - Seed Time 40.38 - This time isn't far off her best...but because it is backstroke, as long as the form is good it shouldn't hurt her shoulder...this will be a key race. If her form is bad here, her weekend might be over. The coach isn't going to take any chances, and a bad form on the first race would be a red flag...

100 Breast - Seed Time 1:47.52 - This is 10 seconds slower...breast doesn't seem to bother the shoulder as bad, so she might have a hard time not racing this one. I'm also not sure that the coach would care on this stroke, as her form here is pretty good (Brett has a lot to do with that...)

50 Free - Seed Time 44.19 - This is also about 10 seconds slower than her best time. This is the other key race as it is the one stroke that she is really working to rebuild the fundamental on it. She has to focus on form, or I'm sure the coach will make her No Show for the rest of the meet...

100 Back - Seed Time 1:36.59 - 10+ seconds off her best time. I can see this one working out for her as she lazily strokes and glides through the race...

50 Breast - Seed Time 55.44 - 10 seconds...we'll see what happens here. As I said in the 100 Breast...coach might not be so strick with this stroke...

10-17-2012, 11:42 AM	#169
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Gold Invite @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 10/19-21 Brett The coaches have told us several times that they have been extremely impressed with Brett's efforts recently. They are seeing huge improvements in his form and they expect that his times will start dropping significantly soon. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be this weekend... 100 Free - *Seed Time 1:17.50* - his kick here has definately improved, but I don't think he's capable of doing the flutter kick at a hard pace for a full 100. He just doesn't have the stamina yet with those muscles. I could however invision a personal best here. 50 Back - Seed Time 41.94 - again a huge improvement in form. Still needs to work on not overreaching with the arms to the point his hands reach above his head, thus lengthening the stroke and slowing it down. If he picks up the rotation of the arms, and attacks the walls he could drop a good bit of time. Even if he just swims the same way he's been doing it recently he could get a personal best. Ideally, if he could break 40.00 he'd be thrilled... 100 Breast - Seed Time 1:29.77 - not sure what to expect here. He dropped time at his last meet, just a few weeks ago, so not sure he'll better it this time around. If he isn't faster, he'll be upset, but honestly he has a long way to go in this one to get the state cut, so in the long run, it won't matter as long as he doesn't get upset if he posts a slower time. 100 IM - Seed Time 1:31.68 - Actually, Brett has swum this event faster than the seed time. In fact, his personal best coming in for year round meets is 1:28.53, and his best if you count Summer League is 1:26.35. This is where the coaches are expecting to see improvement first. Because his "other" strokes have gotten so much better, they expect to see this one drop due to improvements in the Back and Fly legs in particular. We'll see, I think Brett holds back a bit in this race to conserve energy, and until he starts racing from the gun, he'll continue to post similar times, even if he is doing it more efficiently. I do expect he should be the seed time, and there is a decent probability if he isn't too fatigued from the earlier races that he could also beat his year-round personal best, I don't however expect him to beat his Summer League time. 100 Fly - Seed Time NT - Brett like Bear in the last meet will be facing this race for the first time, and I can tell you he'll be stressed about it. He really isn't comfortable trying new races, especially in his weaker strokes. He swims 100 flys in practice regularly now and he does pretty well with it, but I expect he'll get DQed. There are 2 reasons for this...in practice when he swims fly, if things get crowded he'll switch to breast arms so he doesn't collide with anyone else...but this quick transition and the easy in which he makes it, leads me to believe he'll do it when he gets tired in the race at least once. Also like the last meet when he was DQed in the IM on the fly leg...we learned that the error occurred right at the wall when he did a short stroke and didn't get his arms above the water going into the wall. Also a bad habit that he could easily repeat. I'm not really concerned about these issues. When he gets bigger and stronger he'll be able to work through the first, and the more he swims fly the better he'll get at the second. 100 Back - Seed Time NT - another first time swim for Brett, and another one he'll be stress about. However, he swims a good bit of back in practice and other than being sloppy on the walls he's doing it pretty well, even if it isn't terribly fast. I don't expect a great time, as he'll probably go conservative in the race, but he should do fine. I am concerned he'll get sloppy on the walls and get DQed because he is too cavalier with them at practice, but if he does he does and hopefully he'll learn to tighten up his focus at practice as a result. 50 Breast - Seed Time 39.82 - interesting and important one here for Brett. He didn't beat his personal best at the last meet, and he will be racing the best of the Gold team. He need to be the top finishers for kids that will be 12 as of the end of February (when the State Meet falls) to help improve his chances of being on the relay team. It will be tight. Hopefully, we get a good dive and strong pull outs... 200 Free - Seed Time 2:47.61 - This is an event that Brett could improve on. He'll have to figure out how to best use his legs to get through a 200 and still provide some momentum, because he clearly won't be able to kick hard for all 8 laps. But his improved kick, strong upper body and better form still lead me to believe a personal best is well within reach. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bear I tried to talk Bear into swimming the 500 free again at this meet. This time it would have been on Friday and it would have been the only thing he would have competed in for the day. I expect he would have done much better since he would not have been as fatigued going into the race, but he wasn't interested... 100 Free - Seeded 3rd (1:15.96) - Bear is seeded 3rd going into this race, behing 2 kids he practices with everyday. He'll want badly to beat them and he typically does well in his first few events (often to the detrement of the ones that come later in the day), so I could see a personal best here, though my guess is he still finishes no better than 3rd. 50 Back - Seeded 3rd (39.90) - Bear's back is coming along. He's still a little bit deliberate with the stroke, but the body position is better, and he's starting to pivot rather than sway, which is helping. Not sure what to expect here, because if he puts it together and really races it he could improve by a couple of seconds if he's still thinking to much, I'd expect only a slight improvement (assuming he has a good turn and stays out of the ropes). 50 Fly - Seeded 3rd (39.66) - very much like back it will all depend on if Bear trusts the new stroke and races it, or if he thinks about it too much...he's within half a second of 2nd place in this one. He could improve by a bunch or come in with a very similar time. My bet is a slight improvement. 100 IM - Seeded 4th (1:13.18) - like Brett, this really isn't his personal best. In year round swimming I have his best time as a 1:26.94 and for Summer League it is a 1:23.53. I don't think we'll touch that 1:23 time, though if he did he'd probably finish 2nd in this race. I do think something around his year round personal best is certainly possible. However, the key is his Breaststroke, which has slowed down considerably since long course/summer season, due to some technical changes in the way he swims it. He's still working through those...for him to get a PB he'll need to to swim the back half much better than the 48.29 from a few weeks ago (with most of that time being the Breaststroke leg). 50 Free - Seeded 3rd (34.31) - This is a key race for Bear as it has relay implications moving forward. He needs a strong swim here to create some cushion for the State Relay team. There are a bunch of kids crowded around Bear's time so this will be close. Hopefully, he gets his good start, because I know he'll work like the devil until he gets to the wall. I'm really hoping to start to see a drop in this time, just not sure if we'll see it yet or not. If practice is any indication he should, because Bear gives it all he's got everyday he's there... 100 Back - Seeded 3rd (1:27.71) - See the 50 back...same issues apply here. Really eager to see how this goes. Hoping he'll increase his stroke rate without sacrificing form or stroke length. If he does could be a big improvement, I don't think we are quite ready for this yet, so I'll guess a small increase. 50 Breast - Seeded 8th (49.46) - the seed time isn't actually a personal best...his best was in December of last year when he posted a 46.70. This slower time is from the Gold team...and it indicates the slower speed due to the change in technique. This is about 3 seconds off his best time from almost a year earlier. Increased size and strength should have created speed so the slower time is disappointing. Hopefully, he'll start to turn the corner and we'll see a drop...but I'm not convinced he's ready for that yet... 200 Free - Seeded 1st (2:40.98) - Bear is seeded 1st in this, which is exicting, but this is his last event of the weekend, and typically he's usual spent by this point in time, so I'd be surprised if he actually posts a personal best in this and wins the event. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bailey Bailey's event this time around could be quite funny...which is not something you typically think about when it comes to a swim meet. Here is the situation, in many of Bailey's events, the coach entered her with a seed time about 10 seconds slower than her personal best. This was done to hopefully prevent her from trying to race too hard and destroying her new form that she's been working on. Bailey is super competitive so I'm not sure how well this philosophy is going to work...but add to that the order, from the coach, that she is not to win any of her heats or else she'll have to sit out of practice for a week, and this could get down right comical. Even with Bailey's slow deliberate stroke to concentrate on form, she's passing many of the other slower swimmers at practice. I don't believe with this new stroke that she is 10 seconds slower than her best time, but she'll be racing people that are that slow. Not sure how she's going to lose these races...maybe she'll just hang on the walls during turns for an extended period of time. I can't wait to see how this plays out. 50 Back - Seed Time 40.38 - This time isn't far off her best...but because it is backstroke, as long as the form is good it shouldn't hurt her shoulder...this will be a key race. If her form is bad here, her weekend might be over. The coach isn't going to take any chances, and a bad form on the first race would be a red flag... 100 Breast - Seed Time 1:47.52 - This is 10 seconds slower...breast doesn't seem to bother the shoulder as bad, so she might have a hard time not racing this one. I'm also not sure that the coach would care on this stroke, as her form here is pretty good (Brett has a lot to do with that...) 50 Free - Seed Time 44.19 - This is also about 10 seconds slower than her best time. This is the other key race as it is the one stroke that she is really working to rebuild the fundamental on it. She has to focus on form, or I'm sure the coach will make her No Show for the rest of the meet... 100 Back - Seed Time 1:36.59 - 10+ seconds off her best time. I can see this one working out for her as she lazily strokes and glides through the race... 50 Breast - Seed Time 55.44 - 10 seconds...we'll see what happens here. As I said in the 100 Breast...coach might not be so strick with this stroke... Last edited by Breeze : 10-17-2012 at 11:45 AM.