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Breeze · 12-21-2011, 09:20 AM

Swim Atlanta Fall Time Trials - 9/10/2011

The Short Course and Long Course seasons always kick off with a time trial. This meet is typically shorter due to the fact many of the longer events aren't offered, and the reason they aren't offered is because this meet is used to provide swimmers with a baseline time that they will look to improve upon throughout the season.

For my kids...we swim the 50 in all 4 strokes and that's all (at least at this point). Coming into this meet these were my expectations...

Bailey - I really felt she had a great chance to get her 50 back state cut. I also expected her to improve across the board as she had been swimming extremely well in practice.

Bear - I was more curious for Bear than anything. He was working hard in practice (always does) but his technique isn't really the best. I expected some improvement in Back and Free...his Fly was already fast so I wasn't sure he'd improve in this stroke. I was hoping he might get a state cut, but not expecting it. And his Breast has been poor, so I expected an improvement just because it wouldn't take much to get better.

Brett - This one I was apprehensive about. As I mentioned in his bio...he really has for almost 2 years mailed in his efforts on all stroke but Breast. His times (as you can see from the personal best post above) were unimpressive in the other strokes, so I felt he might get improvement just because he was stronger and older, but I don't expect big improvements. Plus I was eager to see if his Breast had improved much (I was hoping for about a 1 second drop).

Note:Normally, I'll try to post unofficial results as they happen in order...then follow up once official results are released (typically a few days later). But in the case of the first few posts on results, I'm just going to follow the order of the official release because I can't remember the order of events

Girls 10U 50 Yard Free
Bailey swam a great race finishing in 35.47 a drop of almost 2 full seconds. Interestingly, one of the girls from her group (the newest one as she just moved to town from Chicago during the Summer), beat her by .01 seconds.

Girls 10U 50 Yard Back
Bailey improved on her 50 back...but not enough to get her state cut. Her time dropped to 39.63, so she's right at 1 second. This race was frustrating because he was swimming against a couple of her friends and she had a lead on them, but she didn't charge into the wall. She was unsure on her count (number of strokes from the flags to the wall) and she ended up gliding into the wall. This easily cost her more than half a second, but a good swim nontheless...

Girls 10U 50 Breast
47.15 a drop of 1 full second...and her stroke looks very good. She has been watching Brett in the Breast for a while and she has started to use his style of Breaststroke...very technically sound...

Girls 10U 50 Fly
This was a very entertaining race because Bailey was swimming next to 5 of her friends. MK, Haley, Lexi, Maddie all side by side. Bailey finished 3rd out of the group, losing to Maddie and Haley but beating the other two. But more importantly she swam a 39.44...and improvement of 4 seconds and our first state cut.

Bailey Summary - a great meet for Bailey 4 for 4 in personal bests, 1 state cut and close on the 50 back, and within striking distance on the 50 Breast.

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Boys 10U 50 Free
Bear improves by a second in the 50 free to 38.87

Boys 10U 50 Back
Surprisingly, Bear didn't improve in his back, swimming a 43.91. The drop in time isn't significant, and the reason for the drop was a finish worse than Baileys. This time add isn't concerning in light of the finish. He probably would have finished in a 42 flat if he had trusted his count.

Boys 10U 50 Breast
Bear's breast is still poor...way to much up and down motion and not enough drive forward, but it is getting better as he drops 2+ seconds to 52.75

Boys 10U 50 Fly
My hope here was that Bear would drop enough time to really get into striking distance of a state cut. I didn't expect him to get the time in this race, but I wanted him to get down in the high 40s to low 41s...he didn't. He swam a personal best of 42.15, but that number really concerns me because there is still a bunch of time he has to cut to make the state meet and this stroke is his best chance.

Bear summary - all and all a good meet for Bear. Some modest improvement in Fly, a drop in Free, Breast is getting better and the rise in Back isn't concerning...

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Boys 11/12 50 Free
Brett doesn't improve in the 50 free...he made some fundamental mistakes - like breathing every stroke and not flip turning so he put on 1 second, finishing at 37.90. I told him that if he wants to get better he'll have to clean up his approach to the stroke...and that there was no excuse for not flip turning at this point in his swimming career, and that he shouldn't be breathing every stroke (I'm sure he wasn't listening because he doesn't really care about these "other" strokes - and he's stubborn)

Boys 11/12 50 Back
No improvement here either...for all intense and purposes he swam about the same as his personal best 45.95 (only .1 off), but still no improvement from the previous short course season.

Boys 11/12 50 Breast
In the one event that Brett does believe in, he improved by just over 1 second, dropping is personal best to a 45.03. This is a good sign, in that the improvement will hopefully motivate him to work hard.

Boys 11/12 50 Fly
Brett added time in his Fly race...swimming a 45.28. His stroke in this looked pretty good, but he decided to breathe every stroke again, which causes his chest to get too high in the water and his feet too low...thus the strokes are less productive in getting him down the pool...

Brett summary - Brett's meet was disappointing but not surprising. This type of performance isn't uncommon for him. I keep hoping that he'll get stronger and start showing some improvement in the other strokes, then start believeing he can swim them well and put more effort in at practice - which will create better results and maybe we can get a cycle of improvement / increased confidence / more effort / improvement going - but it hasn't happened yet.

12-21-2011, 09:20 AM	#13
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Swim Atlanta Fall Time Trials - 9/10/2011 The Short Course and Long Course seasons always kick off with a time trial. This meet is typically shorter due to the fact many of the longer events aren't offered, and the reason they aren't offered is because this meet is used to provide swimmers with a baseline time that they will look to improve upon throughout the season. For my kids...we swim the 50 in all 4 strokes and that's all (at least at this point). Coming into this meet these were my expectations... Bailey - I really felt she had a great chance to get her 50 back state cut. I also expected her to improve across the board as she had been swimming extremely well in practice. Bear - I was more curious for Bear than anything. He was working hard in practice (always does) but his technique isn't really the best. I expected some improvement in Back and Free...his Fly was already fast so I wasn't sure he'd improve in this stroke. I was hoping he might get a state cut, but not expecting it. And his Breast has been poor, so I expected an improvement just because it wouldn't take much to get better. Brett - This one I was apprehensive about. As I mentioned in his bio...he really has for almost 2 years mailed in his efforts on all stroke but Breast. His times (as you can see from the personal best post above) were unimpressive in the other strokes, so I felt he might get improvement just because he was stronger and older, but I don't expect big improvements. Plus I was eager to see if his Breast had improved much (I was hoping for about a 1 second drop). Note:Normally, I'll try to post unofficial results as they happen in order...then follow up once official results are released (typically a few days later). But in the case of the first few posts on results, I'm just going to follow the order of the official release because I can't remember the order of events Girls 10U 50 Yard Free Bailey swam a great race finishing in 35.47 a drop of almost 2 full seconds. Interestingly, one of the girls from her group (the newest one as she just moved to town from Chicago during the Summer), beat her by .01 seconds. Girls 10U 50 Yard Back Bailey improved on her 50 back...but not enough to get her state cut. Her time dropped to 39.63, so she's right at 1 second. This race was frustrating because he was swimming against a couple of her friends and she had a lead on them, but she didn't charge into the wall. She was unsure on her count (number of strokes from the flags to the wall) and she ended up gliding into the wall. This easily cost her more than half a second, but a good swim nontheless... Girls 10U 50 Breast 47.15 a drop of 1 full second...and her stroke looks very good. She has been watching Brett in the Breast for a while and she has started to use his style of Breaststroke...very technically sound... Girls 10U 50 Fly This was a very entertaining race because Bailey was swimming next to 5 of her friends. MK, Haley, Lexi, Maddie all side by side. Bailey finished 3rd out of the group, losing to Maddie and Haley but beating the other two. But more importantly she swam a 39.44...and improvement of 4 seconds and *our first state cut. Bailey Summary - a great meet for Bailey 4 for 4 in personal bests, 1 state cut and close on the 50 back, and within striking distance on the 50 Breast.* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boys 10U 50 Free Bear improves by a second in the 50 free to 38.87 Boys 10U 50 Back Surprisingly, Bear didn't improve in his back, swimming a 43.91. The drop in time isn't significant, and the reason for the drop was a finish worse than Baileys. This time add isn't concerning in light of the finish. He probably would have finished in a 42 flat if he had trusted his count. Boys 10U 50 Breast Bear's breast is still poor...way to much up and down motion and not enough drive forward, but it is getting better as he drops 2+ seconds to 52.75 Boys 10U 50 Fly My hope here was that Bear would drop enough time to really get into striking distance of a state cut. I didn't expect him to get the time in this race, but I wanted him to get down in the high 40s to low 41s...he didn't. He swam a personal best of 42.15, but that number really concerns me because there is still a bunch of time he has to cut to make the state meet and this stroke is his best chance. *Bear summary - all and all a good meet for Bear. Some modest improvement in Fly, a drop in Free, Breast is getting better and the rise in Back isn't concerning...* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Boys 11/12 50 Free Brett doesn't improve in the 50 free...he made some fundamental mistakes - like breathing every stroke and not flip turning so he put on 1 second, finishing at 37.90. I told him that if he wants to get better he'll have to clean up his approach to the stroke...and that there was no excuse for not flip turning at this point in his swimming career, and that he shouldn't be breathing every stroke (I'm sure he wasn't listening because he doesn't really care about these "other" strokes - and he's stubborn) Boys 11/12 50 Back No improvement here either...for all intense and purposes he swam about the same as his personal best 45.95 (only .1 off), but still no improvement from the previous short course season. Boys 11/12 50 Breast In the one event that Brett does believe in, he improved by just over 1 second, dropping is personal best to a 45.03. This is a good sign, in that the improvement will hopefully motivate him to work hard. Boys 11/12 50 Fly Brett added time in his Fly race...swimming a 45.28. His stroke in this looked pretty good, but he decided to breathe every stroke again, which causes his chest to get too high in the water and his feet too low...thus the strokes are less productive in getting him down the pool... Brett summary - Brett's meet was disappointing but not surprising. This type of performance isn't uncommon for him. I keep hoping that he'll get stronger and start showing some improvement in the other strokes, then start believeing he can swim them well and put more effort in at practice - which will create better results and maybe we can get a cycle of improvement / increased confidence / more effort / improvement going - but it hasn't happened yet. Last edited by Breeze : 12-21-2011 at 10:04 AM.