[Breeze]

Ralph Crocker Meet @ Auburn - 1/14/2012
Day 1

Back at the Auburn pool for the second time this season, but unlike the first time, this time the facility is over packed, and the meet organizers aren't nearly as prepared. Heat sheets (where we learn which event number, heat, and lane the kids are swimming in) are sold out and it takes 4 minutes a piece to print a new one. There are no seats available in the stands and we are forced to sit on the floor of the walkway, pressed up against the back wall (even though we arrived at the facility over an hour and a half before our warmup session). The whole experience was a little stressful, but we made do...

------------------------------------------
Bailey

Girls 10U - 100 Yard Breaststroke (Personal Best - 1:38.21)
Bailey's stroke her is a little off...I think it is mostly caused due to her being a little flat through the pull stage, which is causing her to be just a bit slower than she was at her peak. Time = 1:39.53

Girls 10U - 50 Yard Freestyle (Personal Best - 33.96)
Quick dive, but too deep. She has also developed a strange move with her left arn on the freestyle. She is pulling her arm out of the water with a cocked wrist (similar to what you might see someone do in butterfly), but because in freestyle you don't reach all the way above your head, but rather to in front of the shoulder, the hand isn't rotating flat and is entering the water thumb first. Her kick is still real strong though, so the poor arm work isn't killing her. She's just off a PB with a 34.15.

Girls 10U - 200 Yard Freestyle (NT)
In her first effort on the 200 Freestyle Bailey did a tremendous job. The funky left arm looked painful - but she was fast covering the distance in a very respectable 2:50.82 seconds. Only 1.73 seconds shy of a state cut on her first atttempt. In fact, for a good portion of the race she was on pace to get the state cut. She swam the opening 50 in 38.30 and opening 100 in 1:21.50. The back 100 was completed in (quick math here) 1:29.32. Not a bad slip for a first time. Here are all 4 50s in order...38.30 : 43.20 : 46.48 : 42.84. Nice strong finish in the last 50, which gives me hope she can put out a bit more effort in the middle 100 and get the time needed for the state cut.
-----------------------------------------------

Bear

Boys 10U - 100 Yard Breaststroke (NT)
With Bear's recent strong showing in the 50 Breast I decided to put him in the 100 Breast to see how he would fair. I expected his time in the 100 would not be as close to the state cut as his 50, but wanted to get a baseline time. As expected he wasn't as fast, swimming a 1:46.xx. His lack of comfort in the stroke caused a bit of a breakdown in form before the swim was over which cost him time. Unfortunately, because he is such a butterflyer he also over kicked during one of the pullout turns and was DQed for a double dolphin kick.

Boys 10U - 50 Yard Freestyle (Personal Best - 35.78)
Bear still looks strong with his turns and underwater work and his form is good. The dive was quick but a bit deep which hurt his time some, but he still posted a personal best of 35.65...it is a very marginal improvement, but I never undervalue a personal best swim.

Boys 10U - 50 Yard Butterfly (Personal Best - 39.76)
I believe I mentioned above somewhere that Bear had been really working on getting a more fundamentally sound stroke with the bigger "wiggle" through the stroke. This was the first time he actually attempted it in a race. His stroke looked much more sound (if a bit slow in execution). However, while he was slower through the stroke, the improved form was also more powerful and efficient as he posted a very respectable 40.01 - just fractions off his personal best. I expect this will position him for a big improvement in this stroke by this time next year.
-----------------------------------------------

Brett

Boys 11/12 - 100 Yard Breaststroke (Personal Best - 1:33.28)
Brett gets to start the meet with his 100 breast. I was really hopeful that he would get off to a good start. He looked great in warmups especially in the breast, where he was staying low and driving foward. His mom mentioned to him that he looked good doing his breast in warmup and if he swam like that he would do great. Unfortuntately he took the suggestion literally, and he attempted to swim his 100 like it was the 50 sprint. He went out hard and with quick strokes (rather than using his good glide phase of the stroke). It worked pretty well as his first 50 was a 44.31, but his fatigue in the back half killed him as he came home in a horible 52.70 to finish 1:37.01. He was very upset by this...and I was afraid it would impact the rest of his meet (as I've seen it do in past meets), and I encouraged him to forget it and rebound strong in the rest of his swims for the day.

Boys 11/12 - 50 Yard Freestyle (Personal Best - 36.32)
This was the write in event that took the place of the 200 Breast we were forced to drop. Brett got a great start and had a good dive, and he looked strong (though he still needs to kick better) through the race. He posted a personal best of 36.06. A nice rebound.

Boys 11/12 - 50 Yard Butterfly (Personal Best - 42.22)
Brett's fly looked good in this race. His kick is looking stronger. He did shorten up the arms of the stroke in order to relieve some of the stress on the kick, which unfortunately causes a reduced pull (which is where he is stronger in the stroke) and therefore a bit of a slower time 43.34, but still a good looking swim for him. Unfortunately, he was DQed in this race...the reason given was "Both arms not moving foward above water at same time". I have watched the video numerous times and didn't see the stroke that resulted in the DQ, and Brett's coach admitted to not seeing it during the race. But because this race didn't results in any points and wasn't a personal best there was no point in fighting the ruling. (if anyone is interested I'll post the video and you can look for the bad stroke).

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

Day 2

Day 2 started off a bit better, as we were able to find seats (albiet all the way down at the diving well). One of our group got good seats by the 10U pool which the whole group rotated the extra seats based on who's kid was swimming.

--------------------------------------------------
Bailey

Girls 10U - 100 Yard Freestyle (Personal Best - 1:15.89)
The left arm issue was still present in this race, but Bailey looked strong, beating her personal best and posting a 1:14.94. Putting her about 1/3rd of a second off of the state cut.

Girls 10U - 50 Yard Breaststroke (Personal Best - 45.48)
Bailey's flat stroke was still a problem here, and it caused her to be a full second slower than her personal best at 46.49.

Girls 10U - 50 Yard Backstroke - (Personal Best - 39.63)
Another shot at a cut in an event that she would have had the cut all the way back at the time trials (1st event of the season) had she simply pushed all the way to the wall rather than glide in. But the cut for this event still eludes us. She does manage to post her 3rd best time ever with a 40.14. Staying in striking distance, but not getting over the hump.
--------------------------------------------------

Bear

Boys 10U - 100 Yard Freestyle (Personal Best - 1:18.05)
Bear's stroke looked good in this race, but his speed wasn't there. It was very strange as he appeared to have good body position and consistent strokes, but the time states he wasn't going very fast. He was the slowest in his heat, and may have burned himself out early trying to keep up with the other swimmers, but he posted a poor time of 1:23.24...this is his worst swim in this event since the SCAT event at the beginning of the season. He was extremely upset following this race.

Boys 10U - 50 Yard Breaststroke (Personal Best - 46.70)
Bear came into this one really hoping to get a state cut, since he was just a second off of it. But unfortunately, he had another poor swim. I contribute this to 2 factors...First, it is partially my fault for putting him in the 100 Breast the day before. I believe the longer swim caused his form to breakdown a bit and when he attempted to swim it on Sunday he was out of rythem and very inefficient. In fact, his stroke looked very similar to the way it was in the beginning of the year - a lot of up and down with very little forward push. The second reason was a combination of wanting the state cut and wanting to redeem himself for his bad swim in the 100 free. In essence, he simply worked to hard, trying to power threw the water. He posted a 50.68 and was demoralized after the event.

Boys 10U - 50 Yard Backstroke (Personal Best - 40.48)
I was really pulling for Bear in this one. I wanted him to end on a good note, but it wasn't to be. He again tried way to hard, so much so that he was bouncing up and down in his stroke. He ended up finishing with a 41.57...
-------------------------------------------------------

Brett

Boys 11/12 100 Yard Freestyle (Personal Best - 1:18.35)
Brett was excited to swim again this morning, and decided to go down for his event a bit early. Unfortunately, while he was standing on the bulkhead waiting for his event/heat, he got shoved off and into the warm up pool by a girl who needed to get around him. He ended up hitting his knee and shin on the lane rope. He got out of the pool and was barely able to walk (typical initial pain from a bruise on a joint). He didn't recover in time to swim his event.

Boys 11/12 50 Yard Breastroke (Personal Best - 43.79)
Brett iced his knee for about a half an hour following his incident. Coming off of his bad 100 Breast, and his missed 100 Free, he was hoping to swim well here, but he was still walking gingerly heading down for the race. His strong breaststroke from warmups on Saturday and again on Sunday showed up in this race, as he stayed low and really pushed forward. In fact, he does a nice job in the race of closing on the swimmers around him (as he is often behind after the dive and turns due to being much smaller than the kids he swims against). He posts a personal best at 42.32.

Boys 11/12 50 Yard Backstroke (Personal Best - 43.10)
Brett's form in this race was even better than it was at the Gold Meet the previous month. Legs were up, body low in the water and arm rotation was quick (for him). I'm not sure how this wasn't a personal best swim, but regardless the form is coming around and if he keeps this form, we should see some improved times during long course. Posted 44.24.
---------------------------------------------------

Summary

Bailey
Immediately following the meet you'd have to say this was a disappointing one for Bailey. She was expecting to get another cut here and it didnt' happen. Several of her friends came away with additional cuts, and she is feeling like she isn't as good right now. She needs to clean a couple of minor things up in her strokes and she'll do fine. I also think she needs to relax and not put too much pressure on herself during the races. I think she's tightening up which is causing her to swim slower. A couple of days removed from the meet and she is showing some excitement about going for the 200 free cut in the last chance meet. I believe she will get at least 1 cut in that meet....just not sure which one it will be.


Bear
This ended up being a terrible meet for Bear. It was the dreaded fall back to Earth that I was afraid of. The constant drops in time just aren't normal and this meet was the official crash. On the positive side, his strokes still look very good and I don't feel these fall back times are going to be the norm...in fact, I expect he'll get back to around his personal bests at the last chance meet. His coach told him following the meet, not to be upset, that he's improved so much and been working extremely hard in practice for so long that he thinks Bear is worn out. He told Bear to take Monday off, and maybe miss a Saturday practice in the next couple of weeks to allow his body to recover. I can also add, that Bear has been eating like a horse, and in the past when he's done that he has grown shortly thereafter, so we may be looking at a growth spurt - and when growth spurts hit, times suffer as the kids energy level isn't as good and their form seems to suffer a bit....


Brett
Despite his bad performance (poor strategy) in the 100 Breast, he actually had a good meet. An improvement of 1.5 seconds in his best stroke and a 50 is a pretty big accomplishment. He got a second personal best in the 100 Free (though we still need to kick harder), and his fly and back looked pretty good. This is 2 good meets in a row and we still have the last chance at the 200 Breast coming up in a month.