Swim Like A Champion (a real life journal)

[Breeze]

College Update - Bear

Here is Bear's list:

Arcadia University
Babson College
Bard College
Bates College
Binghamton University
Brandeis University
Bucknell University
Carson Newman College
Centre College
College of William & Mary
Colorado College
Davidson College
DePauw University
Drew University
Eastern Connecticut State University
Florida Southern University
Georgia Tech
Greensboro College
Grinnell College
Grove City College
Hamilton University
Hartwick College
Henderson State University
Juniata College
Lake Forest College
Lawrence University
Lewis and Clark College
Macalester College
Oberlin College
Piedmont College
Randolph College
Queens University
Saint Leo University
Stevens Institute
Swarthmore College
Trinity College
Trinity University
University of Connecticut
University of Lynchburg
University of Mount Union
University of the Cumberlands
University of the South
US Merchant Marine Academy
US Military Academy
Vassar College
Washington & Lee University
Westminster College
Youngstown State



Originally, when schools started contacting the twins there was very little crossover, but over the last few months it seems the coaches/recruiters have figured out they are related and they are now cross recruiting.

[Breeze]

General Update - Brett

Figured I'd take a minute to provide this update since it is related to swimming.

Brett has been working at the Cumming Aquatic Center since he was 15. He started a just a lifeguard, but then at 16, he got is Water Safety Instructor license and started giving swim lessons. He was very good at giving lessons, and was the most requested instructor the pool has ever had. Recently, he'd gotten frustrated with the pool because they changed several policies which limited his ability to get enough hours, and he was too often scheduled to be just a lifeguard (which he hates doing). So he applied to be a coach with Gold.

Originally, we didn't think he'd be able to take the job because there is an agreement in place between Gold and the pool to prevent the team from taking employees from the facility. In fact, Coach Andy, when he heard that Brett was interested in coaching mentioned that he would have jumped at the opportunity to add Brett if he had been allowed to do so. However, Brett was hired, in fact, the owner of the team paid a fee to the pool to release Brett so he could be a Gold coach. He's currently working with the pre-competition kids, but he's being groomed to take over the entry level competition team and the Sectional and Sectional Advanced (typically middle schoolers) team.

[Breeze]

Bear College Update - Berry College

Bear will go on his first visit this Friday. We will be headed over to Berry College, an in state private school about 1:45 hours west. This isn't his first choice but it is a good opportunity to get a visit in, to see what it is like, and because Berry is in-state it keeps the option open for him to receive some of the lottery funded scholarship money that is available. Given these factors this might end up being the most affordable option when all is said and done. Plus it is a good academic school and an absolutely gorgeous campus. I'll provide details about the trip next week (assuming Bear communicates his thoughts about the school to me).

He's also currently working to set up a visits to Centre College and Carson Newman. He's also in discussion with several other schools.

[JAG]

Originally Posted by Breeze

General Update - Brett

Figured I'd take a minute to provide this update since it is related to swimming.

Brett has been working at the Cumming Aquatic Center since he was 15. He started a just a lifeguard, but then at 16, he got is Water Safety Instructor license and started giving swim lessons. He was very good at giving lessons, and was the most requested instructor the pool has ever had. Recently, he'd gotten frustrated with the pool because they changed several policies which limited his ability to get enough hours, and he was too often scheduled to be just a lifeguard (which he hates doing). So he applied to be a coach with Gold.

Originally, we didn't think he'd be able to take the job because there is an agreement in place between Gold and the pool to prevent the team from taking employees from the facility. In fact, Coach Andy, when he heard that Brett was interested in coaching mentioned that he would have jumped at the opportunity to add Brett if he had been allowed to do so. However, Brett was hired, in fact, the owner of the team paid a fee to the pool to release Brett so he could be a Gold coach. He's currently working with the pre-competition kids, but he's being groomed to take over the entry level competition team and the Sectional and Sectional Advanced (typically middle schoolers) team.

Late getting to this, but that’s really cool, big congrats to him. From the way it sounds like the kids like him, this should be a fun opportunity.

[rjolley]

Does swimming have the same visit restrictions that basketball and football have? Is there any reimbursement for travel or is it all on the dime of the recruit?

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by rjolley

Does swimming have the same visit restrictions that basketball and football have? Is there any reimbursement for travel or is it all on the dime of the recruit?

I know with the big schools the situation is just like other sports. 5 official visits that are paid for by the schools. But in our case, I honestly don't know. Brett was never recruited hard enough or by schools far enough away that it might become an issue. With Bear it might, as he has some schools that are over 10 hours by car that are recruiting him. Depending on where he elects to visit, I'd assume that he'll have some visits paid for. In this case, we'll drive over so it's not a factor. Will let you know more when I know more.

[Breeze]

Fall Kick Off @ GaTech Aquatic Center - 9/21-22

Bear

Bear has is first meet of the season on Saturday and Sunday. It’s difficult to get a read on where he is right now. He says he’s still not in shape from taking it easy over the summer to address his overwork injury in his lats and traps. However, he also says that the kids at SwimAtlanta work much harder than he did when he was at Gold. In addition, Bear is having some tenderness in his lat/trap area again, so he’s going in for treatment today (9/19), and I don’t know how that will impact his ability to race. It’s going to be interesting to see how this shakes out.

# 3 (d1/s1): 50 Free (23.83) – Because of the way SA runs practice, Bear is doing at lot more sprint work than he did with Gold. He might be in a position to do well here, even if it is early, untappered, and he’s not in shape yet.

# 6 (d1/s1): 100 Fly (56.40) – Coach Landon has indicated he wants to work on Bear’s fly, not sure if they’ve started or not…so no idea what to expect.

# 7 (d1/s1): 200 Free (1:45.91) – This is one of the events where fatigue from practice, and not being in peak shape will probably hinder his results.

# 17 (d2/s5): 200 Medley (2:03.39) – breast and back are both probably still an issue, because he hasn’t focused on fixing them yet, so I don’t expect much.

# 21 (d2/s5): 100 Free (51.04) – 50 free will be a good indication of what to expect here.

# 22 (d2/s5): 200 Fly (1:57.01) – I don’t expect much in this grueling race with Bear being worn out and out of shape.

# 24 (d2/s5): 500 Free (4:41.77) – see the 200 fly

[Breeze]

Bear College Update - Berry College

The visit went well, but it was more of just a standard college visit with a little one on one time with the coach. Bear will be going back in a few weeks for an overnight visit. Once he returns from that, I'll provide more insight into his thoughts.

(Bear would have stayed overnight during the visit, but he had the ACT on Saturday morning)

[Breeze]

Fall Kick Off - RESULTS

Bear

The results were pretty poor, and I’m not going to go into the gory details. Bear did manage to beat his 50 free seed time, but he reminded me that the time listed wasn’t really his personal best; he’s beaten that time in high school meets numerous times. The results did sort of track my predictions, in that the shorter races would be his best. The longer the races the worse he did, and given that he’s still struggling to back into shape it isn’t all that surprising. He wasn’t the only one in his group that added a bunch of time. Hopefully, he’ll feel good and do well when he’s on taper.

Bear is still struggling with soreness and recovery. We are looking into options of things we can do/get that will aid the recovery process. We will be going over options tonight (9/26).

[Breeze]

Bear College Update - Carson-Newman University

Bear will go on his first official visit this Friday (9/27) when we head up to Carson-Newman. The school is in Jefferson City, Tennessee, which is about a 4 hour drive. We will once again head up immediately after Bear's dual enrolled class at 9 A.M. Here is a look at Bear's itinerary for the trip:

Friday
- Arrive at 1 P.M.
- meet the coaching staff & weekend hosts
- 1:30 lunch
- 2:00 campus tour & meeting with admissions office
- 3:30 watch inter-squad meet
- 7:30 dinner
- socialize with team for the remainder of the evening

Saturday
- watch morning practice
- breakfast following practice
- wrap up discussion (which I'm invited to attend)

Carson-Newman is part of the Bluegrass Conference in swimming. This is the same conference that Queens University swims in, and originally Queens was probably Bear's first choice for school. They are the 4 time Division 2 National Champions, but they are so fast at this point that they aren't concerned with conference level swimmers (which Bear would be the moment he steps on campus, but he'll need to improve to challenge the national level time cuts).

Bear's academics far exceed what the school is looking for. In fact, that is one of the draw backs, considering Bear is ideally looking for a high academic institution.

As far as swimming, it looks like there are 2 distance freestylers currently on the roster that are faster than Bear, but 1 is a senior, so he'll graduate before Bear would arrive on campus (plus 2 of the 3 remaining distance swimmers on the roster that are behind Bear are also seniors and the other is a junior) . The remaining distance swimmer is currently a sophomore, and his best time beats Bear by about 10 seconds, but remember Bear's best 1650 time was the race where he had to fix his goggles, which probably cost him somewhere between 15 and 30 seconds. They do have a mid-distance Freshman, who is quite good and would be ahead of Bear in the 500. In conference, Bear's time is right on the edge of scoring in the 1650 and the 1000. He's also on the edge of scoring in the 500, but from the order of events it looks like the 500 and the 1000 are swum on the same day, so it's not likely someone would do both. I'm not sure what Bear's 3rd event would be, but it would probably be the 200 fly or the 400 IM, both of which he could potentially score in.

Carson-Newman is part of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, so it will be interesting to see what sort of religious requirements might be in place. We aren't Baptist, and we've seen with Brett's recruiting were the Baptist schools can require some pretty strict adherence to doctrine.

[Izulde]

Ugh. Jefferson City is an awful place. I was there a couple times as a kid visiting a brother. Never will set foot in it again.

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Ugh. Jefferson City is an awful place. I was there a couple times as a kid visiting a brother. Never will set foot in it again.

Interesting...what up with Jefferson City? We've only driven through it previously. What didn't you like? The more I know the better, so I can be on the lookout.

[Breeze]

Bear College Update - Carson-Newman University

Bear said the trip was terribly disorganized. We got there about a half hour late (which we knew we would, and we told the coach ahead of time), but by being late, Bear ended up not having a host initially and ended up sitting with the coaches for lunch. Then he did the tour, which he said was fine. The facilities were pretty nice and the campus is pretty compact.

Then they watched the team's inter-squad meet. Which Bear said was odd, because there was no familiarity with the teams, so there was at best casual interest. Making matters worse, the recruits were placed in the stands a hour and a half before the start of the meet, which itself ran a couple of hours.

Then the recruits hung out with the team. They did some gaming, and then played a bunch of made up stuff around pool or table tennis. Interestingly, Bear's host ended up being a former Gold swimmer, who Bear roomed with during one of the travel meets in Pensacola.

The next day the recruits got up early to watch another practice before eating breakfast.

Overall, Bear wasn't terribly impressed. He has basically eliminated them from consideration, unless he finds that they are significantly more affordable than his other options, which is possible. They expect he'll max out the academic money and they were willing to give him athletic money as well, albeit less than I anticipated. However, they did mention that they didn't lose much from last years team, so they don't have a lot of money to work with. Plus, with him maxing out the academic side of things, I expect they low balled him a bit knowing the academic was going to make up the difference. They did admit that if he's making A finals or if he gets National Championship cuts that they would increase his scholarship.

Visit Score: 73

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Breeze

Interesting...what up with Jefferson City? We've only driven through it previously. What didn't you like? The more I know the better, so I can be on the lookout.

Granted, this was in the '80s-'90s, but...

Very high poverty, low education place. Nothing to do at all there (White Castle was one of the best food options). Despite Carson-Newman and 2,500 students making up a sizable portion of the 8,000 population (not sure if pop number includes students or not). High crime rate, abysmal jobs situation, a lot of old, decaying housing.

Just an utter blight of a place.

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Granted, this was in the '80s-'90s, but...

Very high poverty, low education place. Nothing to do at all there (White Castle was one of the best food options). Despite Carson-Newman and 2,500 students making up a sizable portion of the 8,000 population (not sure if pop number includes students or not). High crime rate, abysmal jobs situation, a lot of old, decaying housing.

Just an utter blight of a place.

I can certainly see where you are coming from. One of the first things I said to my wife when she asked me about the school was - "It's not a quaint little town that you are going to want to visit. It's much more a classic, poor southern town. I did drive around the town a good bit, because I didn't have much else to do...and the area around the school is ok. Some new coffee shops and restaurants, but even those are retrofitted into older buildings. I wasn't around long enough and I didn't interact with enough people to get a sense of the other items you pointed out, but given what I saw - I expect those things are still present.

[Breeze]

General Update - Bailey

Bailey is really struggling to get back in shape after missing most of 2019 with concussion symptoms and mono. She's talked frequently about how much she's struggling with the sets. I really believe given her level of fatigue and struggles meeting the demands of practice that she'll be extremely fortunate if she can get into any reasonable shape by the state meet in December. She has a meet next weekend, so we should get a picture of just how bad it is soon.

[Breeze]

General Update - Bear

Bear has been unhappy with his practices so far this season. So unhappy in fact that he had a long talk with the coach. Bear expected to struggle a bit to hit his stride following a summer where he was only doing about 60% of the workout to allow his lat/trap overwork injury to heal, but he said his stroke feels awkward and he's far from the interval times he's looking to hit. Coach Landon told him not to worry about it. That for him the primary thing is to get into shape and to get his body use to the types of practices that he runs. He said he felt that would take probably 3 months. After that, they'll start to fine-tune his strokes a bit.

[Breeze]

Gold Invite @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 10/11-10/13

Bailey

Bailey is definitely not back in shape yet after missing practically all of 2019 up to this point. She is regularly telling the wife and I how out of shape she is, and how hard sets that used to be pretty simple actually are now. However, she's also reported swimming some pretty good times in a few test sets, so maybe she can at least get close to her seed times. I certainly don't expect any personal bests. Those are hard to do untapered regardless, but close would be a huge win. You will notice almost everything on her schedule for the weekend is short...which is why I'm hopeful that she can do pretty well. I know she'd struggle with anything over a 100.

# 1 (d1/s1): G 11 & Over 200 Medley (2:16.63)
# 3 (d1/s1): G 11 & Over 50 Free (27.25)
# 45 (d2/s3): G Open 100 Back (1:03.88)
# 53 (d2/s3): G Open 100 Fly (1:00.21)
# 97 (d3/s5): G Open 100 Free (56.91)
# 101 (d3/s5): G Open 100 Medley (1:03.89)

[Breeze]

Bear College Update - Berry College

Bear is visiting Berry College today and tomorrow. We did visit the school a few weeks back, but as I mentioned, it ended up being more of a standard college visit with a chance to meet the coach, rather than an "official visit" where Bear would get to interact with the team.

Here is his itinerary:

Friday

8:00 - Arrival
8:45 - Breakfast with a team member (host probably)
10:00 - 11:50 - Class with a team member (Bear will probably sit in on a science class)
12:00 - Lunch with team
1 - 3:30 - Another class or hanging out with the team (may try to get into the pool at open swim to get his own practice in)
4 - 5 - Watch swim practice
5 - 6 - Meet with Admissions Counselor
6:30 - Dinner with team
7:30 - Hang out with the team

Saturday

7:30 - 8:30 - Breakfast
10 - Inter-squad meet
1 - Family Luncheon
2 - Football game (optional)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Good vibes for both this weekend

[Breeze]

Gold Invite - RESULTS

Bailey

Bailey probably did better than anyone expected. She clearly isn't in shape...but her times in these races were pretty much on par with a non-taper meet, and actually better than the times she had last year in this event. Which is a very positive outcome given her time out of the pool.

# 1 (d1/s1): G 11 & Over 200 Medley (2:16.63) - Not surprisingly, this is the one event that her time was a good bit slower than last year, but it was also the only 200 she competed in. She started out fine, posting a 31 second fly leg, which is typical for a non-tapered meet. She then was slightly slower through the other 3 legs and finished in a 2:27.73, which is about 3 seconds off her normal time in the event.

# 3 (d1/s1): G 11 & Over 50 Free (27.25) - she finished in 28.42, but last year she was 28.6. The coach also mentioned her form on freestyle is rough right now, so maybe there is more time to be gained before the season is up.

# 45 (d2/s3): G Open 100 Back (1:03.88) - manged to swim a 1:06.35, which also beat last year's effort of 1:07.38.

# 53 (d2/s3): G Open 100 Fly (1:00.21) - 1:04.83 again better than her 1:05.36 from last year.

# 97 (d3/s5): G Open 100 Free (56.91) - Bailey didn't even want to swim this one...she seriously considered skipping it, because her free is so rough right now, but she clocked in at 1:01.23 (she didn't swim the 100 free last year in this event)

# 101 (d3/s5): G Open 100 Medley (1:03.89) - in her final swim of the day she finished the 100 IM in 1:07.89, which was good enough to beat a teammate, Mary Gray, who has very similar times in pretty much all the events, and it bettered her time from last year of 1:09.57 by a lot

[rjolley]

Congrats to Bailey. Hope she sees this as a positive and builds off of it.

[Breeze]

Bear College Update - Berry College

Bear seemed to really enjoy his time at Berry College. He felt more comfortable around and like he had more in common with the other swimmers. He really liked the fact that they spent a lot of time playing frisbee and throwing the football around. I'm sure it was very similar to what he's enjoyed for years about swimming with his buddies at Gold. They would often go play another sport after practice or on the weekends. The team also told him that they field an intramural football and softball team each year, and that if he were to go to Berry, he's already on those teams (apparently they aren't very good, which isn't all that surprising as not many swimmers are good all around athletes).

He also loves the facilities and the campus. His only reservation is the coach, who he's a bit unsure about. I don't think Bear dislikes the coach, but he is very different from any coach Bear has had previously, and therefore the comfort level isn't as high.

Visit Score: 90

[Breeze]

General Update - College Swimming

You may have noticed in Bear's visit updates there is now a visit score at the bottom. That score is determined by breaking down the different aspects of the school, coach, team, facilities, surrounding area, etc., and applying an importance weight to each. As it turns out, after configuring everything the maximum score ended up being 100 (that wasn't planned). The score is being used as a simple measuring stick, not the be-all end-all. The highest score won't necessarily be where Bear ends up, but a low score will almost certainly eliminate a school from consideration.

Not sure if Bailey will use the same scale, create her own, or not use one at all. My guess is the later, because I still think she's going into these visits with no intention of actually swimming.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Breeze

He also loves the facilities and the campus.

It IS a pretty campus, for sure.

Question: how do they handle the campus work requirements (I assume that's still a thing there, was a cornerstone afaik) for athletes? Any dispensation / relief for them?

Otherwise, I'd think that's just an extra time commitment that has to factor in somewhere.

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

It IS a pretty campus, for sure.

Question: how do they handle the campus work requirements (I assume that's still a thing there, was a cornerstone afaik) for athletes? Any dispensation / relief for them?

Otherwise, I'd think that's just an extra time commitment that has to factor in somewhere.

So the work plan at Berry is no longer a requirement, however, 98% of the students still do it. The set up for the work is extremely well defined with multiple levels of responsibility depending on the role you select. These roles start out at a very basic level, maintenance, grounds-keeping, etc., but they evolve to allow students to potentially gain experience in the field they are studying; like research assistant, accounts payable/receivable, trainer/physical therapist assistant, etc. Kids are also paid for their work. On average they work between 5 and 8 hours a week, and typically earn around $2000 a semester (which can be applied directly to your tuition or pocketed for spending money).

Bear and Bailey are both working this semester and are aware that they will probably need to work regardless of where they go to help offset some of the costs, so I don't expect this will end up being a factor in the decision, but it is a good question, and we will make sure they keep it mind before they ultimately decide where they want to go.

[Breeze]

The Twins College Update - Roanoke College

Bailey and Bear will be visiting Roanoke College this weekend. The school has been trying to get both of them up there for a while, and when things fell through with Centre College (due to their visit being Sun-Mon), the twins decided to go on this trip. Roanoke, you may recall from some of the write ups on Brett, is part of the ODAC conference. The wife and I noticed during the ODAC Championships how energetic the coaches were. They were jumping up and down and running all over the place encouraging their swimmers. And the team seemed to have a blast at the meet. Brett even commented, before the twins even decided to make this trip, that the Roanoke coaches looked like they'd be fun to swim for, and that the Roanoke team definitely had the most fun of all the teams.

Both the kids fit in nicely on the team and in conference. We'll see how this shakes out.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Breeze

So the work plan at Berry is no longer a requirement

Ah, I had no idea it had been changed. Was just a thing that had stuck with me about Berry since my own visit back in '83.

[Breeze]

The Twins College Update - Roanoke College


Bear

Bear seemed to really enjoy Roanoke. The school is actually in Salem, VA not Roanoke, and it sits on the edge of the downtown strip. The campus is all brick and meticulously maintained, so it's an extremely nice campus. The team, though it started only a couple of years ago, is rather large, with currently around 18 boys and 22 girls. Bear really liked the coaches a lot. Said they were very easy to talk with and really related well to the team. In fact, he gave the coaches a perfect score. He also really enjoyed the food from the cafeteria. All in all, Roanoke ranks very high in his weighted scale, coming in with an 88 (Note: the previous 2 scores were redone, due to the information not saving properly, and have been adjusted in the above write ups). In fact, if not for a lower score due to distance Roanoke probably ends up with a higher total score than Berry's 90.

Visit Score: 88


Bailey

Bailey seemed to enjoy herself, and she admitted that she felt the coaches really wanted her to join the team, but that was about the extent of her feedback. She's still hesitant about the whole swimming in college plan, and I don't think she wanted to express to much excitement, because she didn't want to get my hopes up. However, following this visit she does seem a bit more interested in going to Berry and Rhodes.

[Breeze]

War Eagle Invitational @ Auburn University - 10/25 - 10/27

Bear

Bear is staring to round into shape, as he's reported having a few good practices recently. Not sure if he's ready to challenge a personal best time yet, but hopefully, he shows some serious progress towards being ready for a big meet at state in December.

# 14 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:03.39)
# 28 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 100 Free (51.04)
# 30 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Fly (1:57.01)
# 38 (d2/s2): B 13 & Over 500 Free (4:41.77)
# 52 (d3/s5): B 13 & Over 200 Free (1:45.91)
# 54 (d3/s5): B 13 & Over 100 Fly (56.40)
# 62 (d3/s4): B 13 & Over 400 Medley (4:11.59)

[Breeze]

Bailey College Update - Berry College

This weekend it's Bailey's turn to visit Berry College. Unlike Bear, who visited during a recruiting weekend, Bailey will be the only recruit on campus. In some ways this is flattering, in that the coach wanted to get her on campus so badly that he arranged to have her visit solo. However, it is also a little disappointing in that there will be a decided lack of energy associated with a recruiting weekend. When Bear went there were 8 or so other recruits on campus with him, and the team played Ultimate, threw the football around, went to the football game on Saturday, and more. For Bailey, I'm not sure what they have planned, but it almost certainly won't be that extensive. For one, there is no home football game this weekend. Making matter worse, it's supposed to rain all day today (10/25) and tomorrow, which will further limit entertainment options. Fingers crossed that she has fun.

As for fit, Bailey would be the second 100 and 200 flyer, and in both cases she would be competing for A finals at the conference championship meet. Her 3rd event would be up in the air, but whatever it ends up being, she should be in a position to score at the conference meet.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Breeze

However, following this visit she does seem a bit more interested in going to Berry and Rhodes.

Random Rhodes story: back in the college visit days here, kid figured he might as well take a look at Rhodes while doing his western swing, being in the vicinity already & all.

Wife is driving and as it happened, they entered/approached campus near the football stadium. Kid turns to wife and says "keep driving".

Wife: "Huh"
Kid: "That's their stadium ... it's smaller than Slaughter Field" (his HS venue)
Kid: "Drive on"

And that was the story of his Rhodes 'visit'

(solid academically, no slight to Rhodes as an institution ... but for him coming from a very small HS a college that small wasn't on his list.)

[Breeze]

Bailey College Update - Berry College

Bailey's college visit to Berry was rather odd. To begin, she was the only recruit on campus, and while that might be in some ways flattering given the coach's desire to get the recruit to the school as quickly as possible regardless of the situation, it also creates a strange dynamic where the recruit feels a bit isolated given there is no one else to interact with other than the team (who has their typical routines to go through). Making matters worse, her host completely ditched her, pawning her off on another teammate. We believe that the host was chosen because she was a Gold swimmer (albeit, not a good one), and the coach probably felt they might have something in common, but it was a bad decision. Bailey did like the girl she was pawned off on.

Bailey also like the campus, and the nutrition class she attended (which contained one of her lab partners from her Anatomy class at South). She had fun at an on campus party, which they apparently do every Friday before a Saturday football game. She also saw how well she would fit in from a swimming perspective. In fact, she commented on the team's best flyer, a girl that is close to 6' tall. Bailey laughed and said it would be funny if she decided to go to Berry, because when the fly came up, the two Berry swimmers would be complete opposites - a big 6' girl and a petite barely 5' 3" swimmer racing at almost the exact same speeds.

I think she liked the school, and I think she was comfortable enough there that if she wants to swim in college, I believe Berry will get some consideration...

No comment yet from Bailey on how it compares to Roanoke...

[Breeze]

War Eagle Invitational - RESULTS

Bear

Interesting results for Bear...probably not ideally where he would like to be, but definitely better than the meet last month...

# 14 (d1/s1): B 13 & Over 200 Medley (2:03.39) - Breast leg was painful, over 40 seconds, he hasn't been that slow in breast in a while...he also coasted into the wall which cost him a couple of seconds...only posted a 2:11.13, which isn't as good as last year, but much better than the 2:14 posted last month.

# 28 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 100 Free (51.04) - This was a good swim for being untappered (drop tappered) - he posted a 51.64, a good 2 seconds faster than last month.

# 30 (d2/s3): B 13 & Over 200 Fly (1:57.01) - A pedestrian 2:10.37.

# 38 (d2/s2): B 13 & Over 500 Free (4:41.77) - came in just over 5 minutes at 5:04.39, not great, but it's an 11 second improvement from last month.

# 52 (d3/s5): B 13 & Over 200 Free (1:45.91) - 1:52.35, a good 5.5 seconds faster than last month.

# 54 (d3/s5): B 13 & Over 100 Fly (56.40) - this was the lone event where Bear didn't improve from earlier in the year, but this swim was a pretty quick turnaround from the 200 free...so it was quite probably a fatigue/recovery issue. He finished in 58.22.

# 62 (d3/s4): B 13 & Over 400 Medley (4:11.59) - based on the poor 200 IM swim, and the fact that they wanted to get home earlier in the evening, Bear scratched this event.

[Breeze]

Bailey College Update - Berry College

So Bailey admitted last night, that her experience with Berry was a real turn off. That she felt not wanted by her host and felt like a burden to the swimmer that was nice enough to take her in. I think we can pretty much shut the door on this school. It's sad that 1 disinterested person can have that much of an impact, because Bailey seemed to enjoy the other aspects of the team. Shame on the coach for not being better prepared and for not assigning a more personable teammate to host Bailey, especially given how good Bailey would be for his team.

[Breeze]

Bailey College Update - Rhodes College

Bailey and I will be headed over to Memphis tonight, so she can be on campus around lunch-time tomorrow. Of all the schools that have contacted her about swimming, I believe this one has intrigued her the most. There are 3 reasons for this:

1. The school has been much more aggressive about communicating with her, and making her feel wanted from a swimming perspective

2. The school has a good academic reputation

3. Most importantly - the school apparently has a tight relationship with St. Jude's Hospital, which allows all Bio, Med, & Public Health students to get jobs/internships that allow them to build experience. This is important because Bailey really wants to major in Public Health.

Bailey got her itinerary for the trip earlier this week, and it is a perfect example of how they are trying to make her feel wanted, and it's the first example we've seen (Bailey or Bear) of a coach getting a little creative with recruiting. Here is her schedule:

Friday, November 1, 2019
1:00pm - Arrive and attend Campus Tour at Admissions office
2:00pm - Information Session
3:15pm - Watch Practice and meet with host
4:45pm - Meet with Coach Webb at the pool
5:30pm - Eat Dinner with the team

Saturday, November 2, 2019
8:00am - Watch Practice
10:00am - Eat Breakfast with the team
10:30am - Meet with Coach Webb
11:00am - Depart

Saturday, February 20 2021
6:15pm - Earn All Conference in the 200 fly at the SAA Championships

That last line is a nice touch...

[Izulde]

And a prestige name there with St. Jude's. Impressive start by Rhodes there.

[rjolley]

Originally Posted by Breeze

Bailey College Update - Berry College

So Bailey admitted last night, that her experience with Berry was a real turn off. That she felt not wanted by her host and felt like a burden to the swimmer that was nice enough to take her in. I think we can pretty much shut the door on this school. It's sad that 1 disinterested person can have that much of an impact, because Bailey seemed to enjoy the other aspects of the team. Shame on the coach for not being better prepared and for not assigning a more personable teammate to host Bailey, especially given how good Bailey would be for his team.

I was listening to ESPN radio yesterday to their recruiting show and this exact thing came up. The guy talked about how important the host is to the process. The gist of his point was, no matter what happens on the field, a good coach can talk up the positive points ("Yes, we lost, but here's why and once you're here, here's how you'll be able to help us win!"). However, if the recruit's host is not personable and makes the recruit feel alienated or not wanted, you might as well write that recruit off.

[Breeze]

Bailey College Update - Rhodes College

Rhodes College was a very interesting place. The campus is fully fenced in, with security guards at the entrances, which is comforting in some ways and bit unnerving in others. The buildings have an old style feel and all the buildings are made of a beautiful sand colored stone. When you walk on campus there is a feeling of stepping back in time a bit. Bailey talked about all that they did on the visit, but I can best sum up her experience by quoting one thing she said..."This was definitely more my speed."

Mostly, I believe this was because the team was much more accommodating, the coach was very interested to have her on campus, and during the visit they went to downtown Memphis. They were unable to get to Beale Street because ESPN Game Day had the area closed down, but even without going there, she enjoyed the area and activities available to them. Plus she enjoys country music, so that aspect is present as well.

I asked how this compared to Roanoke, and she said she wasn't sure...but my belief is - if she swims in college, it's going to be here.

[Breeze]

Bill Behrens Veterans Invite @ GaTech - 11/9-10

Bear

Bear has another meet, which is a bit surprising because it is a pretty quick turnaround. He has indicated he's doing better in practice, and this time around he's doing both the 500 and the 1000, so hopefully, he can do well enough to gain confidence before the state meet next month.

# 8 (d1/s2): M Open 200 Fly (1:57.01)
# 14 (d1/s2): M Open 100 Back (58.01)
# 18 (d1/s2): M Open 1000 Free (9:41.74)
# 22 (d2/s4): M Open 100 Free (51.04)
# 24 (d2/s4): M Open 100 Fly (56.40)
# 34 (d2/s4): M Open 500 Free (4:41.77)

[Breeze]

High School Swimming - General Update

Just a quick update. High School Swimming started last weeked (11/2), but Bailey was on her trip to Rhodes and Bear had to work. This weekend Bailey is out of town again, and Bear has his own year round meet so we will miss this meet too.

[Breeze]

Bailey College Update - University of Cumberlands

Bailey has another trip this weekend, and this one will probably be her last. Especially since she reiterated to the wife yesterday (11/6) that she was probably not going to swim in college.

Cumberlands isn't really in Bailey's sweet spot. While the enrollment is a bit higher than the rest of the schools she's visited; it is also more remote. It sits in Williamsburg, Kentucky, which is a town of about 5000, but that's it. The next closest city is Knoxville over an hour south, with Lexington just under 2 hours north. The school is also affiliated with the Baptist Church, which we are not, and that potentially could be an issue depending on the religious requirements. The primary reason why we are even bothering to check it out is - cost. Last year Cumberlands cut their tuition costs considerably, then this year they have eliminated the cost of books. Given the low costs, plus academic money and swim money it could be extremely affordable. We'll see...

[Breeze]

Bailey College Update - University of Cumberlands

We ended up punting on this trip. Given that the school didn't really match up with what Bailey is looking for, and the primary reason for going was cost, we elected to forgo travelling to Williamsburg, KY this past weekend (11/8-9). Basically, we asked Bailey if there was any number they could throw out from a cost perspective that would make her say yes to attending, and her response was, "I don't know yet." Given that, we suggested she determine the cost of attending the schools she's more interested in, and then, armed with the knowledge of what schools going to cost, asking herself that same question again - if ultimately there is a dollar figure that could sway her, then we will reschedule the trip to see what the cost would be.

[Breeze]

Bill Behrens Veterans Invite - RESULTS

Bear

Still inching in the right direction...my only concern is that the improvement is minimal and the time to state is short.

# 8 (d1/s2): M Open 200 Fly (1:57.01) - 2:07.76 - not great, but 3 seconds better than the previous meet just a couple weeks ago.

# 14 (d1/s2): M Open 100 Back (58.01) - strong turns helped here, 59.82. If he were to swim this tapered I'm sure we'd be looking at a PB.

# 18 (d1/s2): M Open 1000 Free (9:41.74) - disappointing 10:37.46 - the longer the swims the more he struggled in this meet.

# 22 (d2/s4): M Open 100 Free (51.04) - improved over 2 weeks ago by a fraction - 51.48

# 24 (d2/s4): M Open 100 Fly (56.40) - another improvement over 2 weeks ago, this time by about half a second - 57.86

# 34 (d2/s4): M Open 500 Free (4:41.77) - another longer swim and a disappointing 5:08.37

[Breeze]

Bear College Update - Berry College

Bear has been accepted into Berry College. In fact, in his acceptance letter the school requested/suggested he apply for the honors college (which we will need to research to determine the requirements and benefits).

In total the package they put together for him was really good. I believe getting this information and realizing that the school will be affordable was a huge relief for Bear (I know it was a relief for me).

Being accepted into Berry is great, but Bear hasn't committed yet. Unfortunately, the application was required to determine the financial requirements for attendance, and committing is a completely different. He's still waiting to see what Roanoke puts together, and all indications are he still wants to visit Centre College but he's planning to wait until after the state meet. However, the package at Berry was good enough to eliminate Carson-Newman from consideration.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Breeze

[b][color="Red"]Bill Behrens Veterans Invite -

In doing my research - after this name caught my eye - I know that the Behrens mentioned here was a nationally renowned swim coach.

That said though, any idea whether he's related to the long-time indy wrestling promoter (of the same name) in some way? The age of this Behrens and the age I suspect for the wrestling Behrens make father/son kind of marginal I think but it definitely wasn't a name I expected to have jump off the page at me in this thread.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Breeze

Bear has been accepted into Berry College. In fact, in his acceptance letter the school requested/suggested he apply for the honors college (which we will need to research to determine the requirements and benefits).

That's great. Whether it's a fit for Bear or not, it's still darned nice to be asked.

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

In doing my research - after this name caught my eye - I know that the Behrens mentioned here was a nationally renowned swim coach.

That said though, any idea whether he's related to the long-time indy wrestling promoter (of the same name) in some way? The age of this Behrens and the age I suspect for the wrestling Behrens make father/son kind of marginal I think but it definitely wasn't a name I expected to have jump off the page at me in this thread.

I don't know of any connection, and some initial searching didn't turn up any...

[Breeze]

General Update

Years ago, Bear lost a State Gold medal in the 1000 Free by .08 seconds (if memory serves), to Brendan Hausdorf. For the next few years, these two battled in distance events with Brendan winning all but 1, when Bear was 13 (however, that year the State changed the medal presentation rules and combined 13 & 14 year olds, so Bear didn't get anything for that win).

Anyway...Hausdorf just signed to swim for LSU.

[Breeze]

Bear College Update - Roanoke College

Bear got his financial package from Roanoke and it was far short of the offer from Berry. However, the coach said that he'll talk with the administration and get back to Bear with an updated offer. So now the negotiation begins....will be interested to see what he comes back with.