Swim Like A Champion (a real life journal) - Page 7

Breeze · 06-19-2013, 09:33 AM

Swim with Dad @ GaTech 6/15-6/16

Bailey

200 Free - 2:55.43 - Not a good swim...added several seconds 2:59.19

50 Fly - 38.31 - Basically swam the same time...up just .3 38.62

200 IM - 3:16.56 - Breaststroke looked much better as she was able to maintain her position in relation to the leaders. This improvement was the biggest factor in a signficant improvement...3:09.45

100 Back - 1:31.73 - Basically the same time, only this time with a slight improvement 1:31.48

200 Back - NT - Pretty good swim for a first go round...if she can drop a decent amount of time due to a comfort level in this race the second time she swims (which often happens), she might earn a state cut...3:13.82

100 Free - 1:17.37 - Looked very good here (hopefully that bodes well for her sprint in the county meet in a couple of weeks), 1:16.14

50 Back - 40.67 - was hoping for a state cut, but similar to a few years ago when she was so close to the back cut but never got it, she seemed to want it too badly and she actually added time. She's also going to work with the coach on her backstroke starts as she slipped on the start of both backstroke races which cost her time...41.72

100 Fly - 1:26.02 - no improvement added about a half a second, too many consecutive breaths...if she gets that worked out, she'll probably improve on her personal best by about a second or more...1:26.65

Breeze · 06-19-2013, 11:44 AM

Swim with Dad @ GaTech 6/15-6/16

Bear

200 Free - 2:55.40 - Went out hard...knowing that based on his performances in the 400 and 800 that he should be able to post a much better time here. He ended up with an improvement of over 8 seconds...2:46.97...he also put himself into striking distance of a cut...he'll need a great swim to cut more time here, but with him moving up to Region practice (now 3 times a week)...he might be able to pull it off...

200 IM - NT - Didn't screw up the turn this time, and he posted a very good time of 3:16.95

100 Breast - 1:56.79 - The seed time here isn't actually his personal best...that would be a 1:52.82 that he swam at Long Course State last year...he did beat his seed time by a bunch but didn't get his personal best - 1:53.74

400 Free - 5:50.95 - - after a 200 Free, 200 IM, and a 100 Breast (which is very taxing for Bear), he really had nothing left, posting a 5:57.00 - he was very disappointed with this...

50 Breast - 55.67 - again the seed time isn't a personal best, that would be a SA time of 54.24...but it is irrelevant, because he did post a personal best this time with a 53.59

100 Free - 1:19.90 - Swam against Brett in this one. They were on opposite sides of the pool, but in the same heat nevertheless...it's interesting to watch them race, because they are so opposite in their approaches...Bear works hard...exerts a lot of energy and pounds the water, Brett is very diliberate but efficient and seems to glide when he swims. Bear posted a personal best, but barely...1:19.76

50 Back - 45.21 - Bear's back looked better than it had in months during the IM on Saturday, so I expected a good time here. He actually slipped on the start which hurt, but he was very good in the middle of the pool, and even with the slip start he improved with a time of 44.68, with a good start he could drop another second and he might even be able to slip under a state cut with a good swim, but we are running out of opportunities...

200 Breast - 4:03.53 - Breast was much stronger again, in fact it was so good he got fussed at. Based on his splits the coaches told him he should have done better in the 50 and the 100...in this one he seemed to hold his efficient stroke together longer. He has a tendency to get to up and down and when he does, he really doesn't go anywhere. The personal best time of 3:59.95 was a nice improvement...

Breeze · 06-19-2013, 12:30 PM

Swim with Dad @ GaTech 6/15-6/16

Brett

50 Fly - 47.64 - been working on this stroke, but he's still in the form focus stage, not the racing stage...so I didn't expect him to break his seed time, or his actual personal best of 46.96, and he didn't. He did look much better. Very solid stroke, with feet together and good body position with high hips and shoulders low even when breathing. Now he needs to get comfortable with it so he can reproduce the stroke without thinking about it and then race it...49.27

200 IM - 3:26.92 - only the second time he's raced this to my memory, and because of that and the improvement that usu, and the fact his strokes are getting better, I expected a big improvement over the last time. The fly was slow, but actually better than the 50 from earlier in the morning by almost a full second. The back was solid...but when he got to the wall Brett was 5th at the turn and going into the Breat the leader was a third of the pool ahead. However, Brett was moving on this stroke and it became obvious pretty quickly into the 3rd leg that he might have a chance to catch the leader before the Breast ended...and amazingly he did...he was first to the wall after the Breast. He even held off the previous leader for most of the freestyle but finally lost with about 15 meters to go...HUGE improvement 3:15.14

50 Free - 38.68 - After the great 200 IM, I was hopeful for a good improvement here...and he pulled it off...36.54

400 Free - 6:23.58 - second time swimming, and going to practice 8 times in 6 days, I felt he'd hold up better and improve a bunch...but I didn't expect an improvement of 30 seconds...5:55.32

50 Breast - 43.49 - Start of day 2, with the 100 fly looming at the end of the day. Brett was very uptight about that, and it showed in this race. He was stiff and sluggish...he finished with a poor time of 44.51

100 Free - 1:18.39 - see Bear's write up...Brett improved slightly too - 1:18.20

50 Back - 47.45 - been swimming this better so I expected an improvement...he executed here as well 45.91

100 Fly - NT - the dreaded event. Brett was still very uptight about this one, but he managed to get all the way through without breaking stroke, swollowing water, hanging on the wall, or slipping into a breaststroke. Finished and that was the goal 1:53.08

Breeze · 06-19-2013, 04:07 PM

Summer League - Aberdeen vs CRC

Swimming against Aberdeen again. The last couple of years we've battle with this team on Thursday nights and at county. They beat us a couple years ago by 12 or so points, and we beat them last year by like 6...but they keep beating us at County for the 3rd place trophy. I suspect they will beat us bad tomorrow (6/20), due to a much larger and better older age group...

Here is what the kids will be swimming

Bailey

B Medley Relay - Fly Leg
100 IM
50 Fly
B Free Relay - leadoff Leg

Bear

A Medley Relay - Fly Leg
100 IM
50 Fly
A Free Relay - Leadoff Leg

Brett

A Medley Relay - Breast Leg
50 Free
50 Breast
A Free Relay - 3rd Leg

Breeze · 06-21-2013, 11:25 AM

Summer League – Aberdeen vs CRC

For the third year in a row, the CRC/Aberdeen matchup was extremely close. In fact, I thought we were going to lose due to the lack of older swimmers and because we were out touched in 3 consecutive fly races…losing by less than .5 seconds each time. However, we somehow won the meet 403 to 393…

Here’s how the kids did…

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

200 Medley Relay - Didn’t get to see the Medley Relay, but they didn’t do particularly well. The coach screwed around with the lineup to get a different girl in and she moved some strong swimmers to weaker strokes and the team ended up being much slower…they finished third anyway – so it didn’t matter.

100 IM – A loaded heat, Bailey, Rayley, MK, along with Haley and Emily from Aberdeen. All year-round swimmers. MK Won going away – breaststroke proved to be the big difference, Rayley pulled away from Bailey and Haley in the free to take second and Bailey took third beating Haley by a full second. She posted a 1:17.31

50 Fly – Again a strong field…Kate and Caroline from CRC and Meg (another year rounder from Aberdeen). Kate won by a couple seconds, Meg finished second and Caroline just out touched Bailey. Bailey’s big issue is she’s underwater too long. Technically it is the right play, but in these races she needs to get to the surface a bit quicker. If she does at county I’m guessing at least a .5 second improvement.

200 Free Relay – Led off, and stayed with both the A relay swimmers from CRC and Aberdeen. Was less than half a body length behind. Team still finished third. Bailey had the same issue here at Fly…too long underwater. She’s just not strong enough underwater to keep up yet…

------------------------------------------------------
Bear

200 Medley Relay – wasn’t there to see it…but my understanding from talking with people who were, Bear was able to open up the lead slightly from the one handed to him by Brett, but the typical Freestyler was out and the boy that filled in wasn’t very good and gave up the lead by the 25 yard turn. They ended up losing by 3 seconds.

100 IM – Bear had no shot to win…the Aberdeen swimmer who did win could win at county too…Bear did do very well though posting 1:21.65, a full second improvement over two weeks ago…Finished a second overall and a full 4 seconds ahead of third.

50 Fly – Bear’s fly looks so much better. He was the first of the 3 straight fly swimmers out touched at the wall mentioned above. His biggest downfall was his turn, much slower than his opponent and it cost him. He was able to close on the back half but lost by .2. Did swim a 36.75…

200 Free Relay – Led off and opened a 2 body length lead, but the same kid that anchored the Medley relay was passed in the second leg and Brett and Riley came up .6 seconds short of catching Aberdeen…

-------------------------------------------------
Brett

200 Medley Relay – from what I was told, Brett was half a body length behind at the dive, and was 2 body lengths up at the wall…

50 Free – Mediocre swim for Brett, was hoping for more…but 32.6 area is what he posted. I’m sure fatigue from practice a couple of hours before plays a part here.

50 Breast – Brett got in trouble for screwing around prior to this race, and he was moping a bit. In fact, he said he wasn’t going to swim, but I told him that wasn’t an option….he did swim and won going away. Again a mediocre time, he finished in 39.83…I was hoping for a 37 level swim.

200 Free – Brett was 3 to 4 body lengths behind when he dove in. He cut it some, but not enough….

Izulde · 06-21-2013, 04:15 PM

Hell of a meet for Brett at the Swim with Dad. Hopefully that'll give him more confidence heading into the rest of summer (I see another meet was posted since then with not spectacular results due to fatigue) and the fall.

Breeze · 06-23-2013, 08:24 AM

Hey Izulde

Yeah, Brett had an amazing Saturday in the meet last weekend. Sunday was good, but he was really dreading the 100 Fly and I believe it kept him from relaxing and swimming well early. He's really committed right now. He's shooting for 100% attendance in practice for June...and it is paying off in a big way...

As for the Thursday night swims, they are very tough on Brett. The 2 hour practice only 2 hours before the meets makes it hard, and there is so much going on, there is a lot of down time, and it can get quite late before he swims that he loses focus (kids without ADHD lose focus so you can image how hard it is on one that has it).

The County Meet is Saturday, I'll be writing up some stuff on that. I'm not sure I can convey all the items that run through my head, because they are so dynamic based on who swims what, who's going to State, if/then scenarios...etc...but I'll try to explain as best I can...

Breeze · 06-24-2013, 11:36 AM

This weekend is a big one for us...we have 2 swim meets, the Summer League County Championship & The Stu Hixon meet for year round, which is a prelim/finals meet. We are going to be very busy and there is a bunch riding on several of these swims...I'll start detailing below...

Breeze · 06-24-2013, 12:19 PM

Summer League County Championships

The county meet is always a fun one, and the one that got the family started down the path of being year-round swimmers. The CRC team, has done well the past couple of years including a most improved 3 years ago and back to back fourth place finishes (in case you are wondering there are about 20 teams in the county). The team has been trying hard to earn a team trophy by getting into the top 3, and last year we came up about 20 points short. This year, the county meet has been rolled under a different organization and the scoring has changed significantly so I don’t have a feel for how the team will ultimately do. Moreover, SwimAtlanta like Gold has a year-round meet this weekend as well, and their meet is in Auburn, because of this CRCs two best swimmers won’t be participating at county. Due to the lack of older swimmers, and the absence of CRCs two best, if the event was scored like it had been in past, CRC would be hard pressed to hang on to fourth.

The big goal individually at the county meet is to earn a medal (top 3 places, not counting anyone exhibitioning the event) and to earn a spot on the County’s State Team (top 3 finishers that have agreed to swim at the State Meet), which is like a County All-Star team.

I’ll detail my kids chances below…

Breeze · 06-24-2013, 03:52 PM

Summer League County Championships

For the County Meet, each swimmer can pick 3 races, 2 to swim for points, and 1 to exhibition (in order to get a time and be considered for the State relay teams). On our team the kids initially pick the events they want to swim, but then some adjustments are made to maximize points, under the previous scoring rules only 2 kids could score per team per event, so no use in putting 3 good swimmers in the same event and wasting points (the new system apparently doesn’t limit a team to just 2 kids scoring per event). Thus we try to project what events the county heavyweights are going to choose and determine where our best chance to be successful might be.

There are only 6 races…

Short Free
Long Free
Back
IM
Breast
Fly

And most all of the heavyweights pick the short free to exhibition for the Free Relay. That leaves just 5 races with the IM and long free being standalone (no possibility of getting on a relay in those events), the options of what to swim start to get really small…

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

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears repeating here…there are a lot more female swimmers, especially under 14 years old, which makes it much tougher for Bailey to do well when she’s on the younger end of the age group. The female swimmers are also typically more dedicated so if they swim at County, they are likely to swim at State, thus reducing the likelihood that she might slip into the Meet through the backdoor.

50 Free - Bailey knew up front she was going to swim the short free for exhibition in hopes of getting on 1 of the 3 free relays. Her personal best is a 30 low and she’s been there all summer even after having a swim practice just hours before the meet. So I’m hopeful that this will mean she can go a bit faster. Obviously with 3 Free Relay teams, 12 girls make up the lineup, but typically there are quite a few that don’t elect to go. This season there are only 2 currently seeded higher than Bailey that aren’t going…and Bailey is seeded – 13, which sounds good right. Only problem is there are 3 very good year rounders at least that are listed with NTs and could beat Bailey. It is going to VERY close…it could all come down to how quickly she gets off the blocks. If Bailey can get under 30 she has a chance, if she can get under 29.75 she should make it…

50 Fly – Bailey’s best stroke right now is the fly, and there was no doubt she was going to swim it at County. Problem is there are 7 twelve year old year rounders ahead of her. IT’s really tight…fourth place is less than a second faster than Bailey, and the girl seeded second isn’t going to state, so a good swim could get her in the top three, but it is a bit like golf. It isn’t as much about how many strokes or in this case seconds you are behind, it about the number of people between you and the lead. She’ll have to beat a lot of really good swimmers to get top 3. This is probably the deepest field of all the events in the girls 11/12 age group.

100 IM – Bailey ended up here as part of the juggle to make sure we had only 2 of our best swimmers in each event, but she was fine with it and she’s good at the IM anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. Bailey is seeded seventh, and everyone in front of here is a year round swimmer. Even a personal best here by over a second and the best she can probably get is sixth…

11/12 Girl Relays – Bailey will be on the B relay for both the Medley and the Free and that means she won’t get a medal. The A team will almost definitely be in the top 3 of both (and could win outright actually). The B team with the four best girls in both the Free and Medley would be very strong and would beat many A teams, but Caroline from CRC isn’t going, and she’d be a big part of the B group. As it is, Bailey’s relay will probably finish 6 or 7…

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

Bear

50 Free – Bear is also exhibitioning the short free. Bear is seeded fourteenth (Brett is fifteenth), but there are four boys seeded higher that aren’t going to state, but there are also 3 good swimmers entered with NT. Like Bailey this will be very close…If Bear can get under 31 he should make it…my guess he’ll have to be at least a half a second faster than his personal best of 32.08 to have a shot.

IM – Bear is seeded fourth in IM, with 1 kid in front not going. So he has a legitimate shot to make it here, which is a surprise given how many horses there are in this age group. There are three kids right behind Bear that could pass him, so he’ll have to swim well, but we stumbled into a pretty weak event this time around (last year I screwed Bear up by having him skip the IM and it cost him an event at State).

Fly – remember I said there weren’t a lot of options on what events to choose, and remember I mentioned the IM didn’t have many horses at all…well the Fly is the exact opposite. In fact, I flat out state the Fly has 6 of the top 7 boys in the age group racing. Bear is seeded eighth and he’ll do well to hold that spot. This is undoubted the most loaded event I've ever seen in our 6 years of coming to County...and I can't wait to watch it...

Relays – I’ll cover them in Brett’s write up since they are in the same relay…

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

Brett

50 Free – See Bear’s write up the information is the same. Brett’s seed time is .01 second slower than Bear…going to be interesting to see who is faster on Saturday…

100 Free – Brett is seeded fifth, with one kid in front of him not going, but there is one NT that is clearly faster than Brett and another one that is right there with him. It will be interesting to see how he does, but I’m not expecting him to even finish as high as his seed, but he could post a personal best

50 Breast – Brett comes in with the top seed. His time on record is 37.75, which I think is a bad time. I timed him in that race and had him at a 38.08 and another mother timed him at 38.18…both good times, but the kid that beat Brett by .04 seconds 2 years ago is right behind him with a 38.03, and there are 3 other boys all under 40 seconds. I’m going to get ill before this race, I can tell…Brett will have to have good pullouts, a quick turn and a long finish to win this (he’s short armed his finish the last couple of races).

A win here would be huge for Brett for a couple of reasons…Brett didn’t win a medal in county last year and hasn’t won the Breaststroke for summer league the last 2 years. This would be huge for his confidence and self-esteem. Also, Brett’s buddy Jack is shoe-in to be the butterflyer or backstroker on the A medley relay at county, and his other buddy Hunter looks like the odds on favorite to be the A freestyler…if Brett can win the breast he’ll be on the relay with them, and they’ll have a shot to earn a top 3 medal at state.

Relays – the boys are currently seeded third in the medley relay, but the team seeded fourth is Aberdeen who beat them on Thursday (6/20). Just not sure how much of a difference the freestyler at the end will make (the normal freestyler was out against Aberdeen). In the free relay, the boys are again seeded third, but there are a bunch of big names in relays behind them in the sheet, and I doubt they end up third. However, they obviously have a couple shots at team relay medals, hopefully it pays off for them

thealmighty · 06-25-2013, 12:21 AM

Could you explain all the "not going to state" kids. What's the deal, putting in so much practice time to qualify and then not going (or did I miss some other explanation on another page)?

Breeze · 06-25-2013, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thealmighty

Could you explain all the "not going to state" kids. What's the deal, putting in so much practice time to qualify and then not going (or did I miss some other explanation on another page)?

Nope you didn't miss anything, and you are right I probably should have explained better.

Basically, when we are dealing with Summer League you have both year round and non year round swimmers and there are a number of reasons why a kid/family might choose to skip the State Meet.

1. Family vacation is scheduled at or around the time of the State Meet...(this actually happens a lot)

2. Non-year round swimmers don't want to practice swimming for an additional month leading up to State

3. Boys have Summer Football practice (I believe summer practices start right before the State Meet, but I'm not positive)

4. Year round swimmers elect to miss this meet to prepare for the Year-Round state championship

5. Families don't want to spend the money on a hotel room for the State Meet (this isn't an issue for our county this year as the meet was moved to a neighboring county, but it has been a consideration in the past)

6. Summer State is a long, drawn out meet, that is very hot (as there are thousands of swimmers and teams have to sit outside in the heat between events), and many that have done it in the past determined that it wasn't worth it...

I'm sure there are other reasons, these are just he ones I hear most often. Remember Summer League is like Rec League in another sport. The kids that are on All-Star or traveling teams in other sports will play for those teams before the Rec Team...and swimming is no different.

Breeze · 06-25-2013, 10:42 AM

By the way...after thinking about my post above, thought I should clarify something. While Summer League is a Rec League, the level of competition is signficant. There are several medal winners not only at the year round state meet, but at the sectional level (Southeast) that swim in our county. In fact, the 11/12 boys relays for our county will mostly likely be faster than the 11/12 boys for Chattahoochee Gold at the State Meet...

Breeze · 06-25-2013, 01:41 PM

Stu Hixon Swim Meet @ Mt View Aquatic Center 6/29-30

The second half of the swim equation for this weekend is the Stu Hixon meet. The decisions between summer league county championships and the year round meet are tough. We are running out of year round meets to swim before the state meet, and Bailey and Bear have a couple of decent shots at getting a cut, and Brett is barely hanging on to his spot on the A relay. There is only 1 more meet after this one and it is so close to the state meet that the coaches really don’t want the kids swimming in it unless they are going for a cut. To make matters worse, some of the events we need to swim are on Saturday…meaning we miss that opportunity.

The Stu Hixon meet is also a prelim/final meet, that will be handing out medals for top 3 finishers. Remember one of Brett’s biggest goals is to get a year round medal…well he’s seeded fourth in the 200 free, and he would be fourth in the 100 free to, but it is on Saturday. We are really wrestling with the idea of trying to get him over to the meet on Saturday so he can swim the 100 Breast, we just aren’t sure we can get there on time, and we aren’t sure he’ll have the energy to swim well anyway. It would take a huge improvement, a DQ by a top 3 swimmer, or a scratch by a top 3 swimmer in the breaststrokes for Brett to get a metal, but it isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

Just trying to do what’s in the kids best interest…we’ll see how this plays out…

Here are what the kids are swimming…

Bailey

50 Fly – 38.31
50 Breast – 50.42
400 Free – 6:16.92

Bear

50 Fly – 43.29
50 Free – 36.35
50 Breast – 53.58

Brett

50 Fly – 47.64
50 Free – 36.54
200 Breast - 3:24.17

We may try to deck enter the kids on Friday afternoon in the 200 back…as it seems like a good shot for the twins to get a cut…

Breeze · 06-28-2013, 08:03 AM

Summer League – County Championships

The meet starts tomorrow morning early, and things have gotten quite tight for Brett in the breaststroke. We skipped the meet last night (thankfully, as it was impacted by the weather, and sitting around with a bunch of kids waiting to see if the meet is going to continue is no fun, whatsoever), so the last time we have from Brett was 2 weeks ago, and he wasn’t in a good frame of mind when he swam it…but it was also over 40 seconds. If he swims over 40 tomorrow he probably doesn’t even make the state team at all. Also while he has the fastest seed time coming in with a 37.75 (though again I felt it was probably closer to a 38.10 based on mine and another parents timing), another boy posted a 37.76 last night…so I’m going to be very anxious about this race all day today and tomorrow until it goes off…

Breeze · 07-02-2013, 09:57 AM

Summer League County Championships

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

I’m not sure what happened with Bailey during this meet. I don’t know if she was tired from getting up so early, she didn’t have energy because she didn’t eat well (she rarely does when she gets up early), or she just wasn’t in the right frame of mind, but she didn’t have a good meet. My opinion is that she went into this meet knowing it was a long shot for her to make the State Team, and so she swam poorly because she wasn’t as motivated…

200 Medley Relay – Bailey swam the fly leg, but before she ever hit the water the team was DQed, as the Breaststroker 1 hand touched the turn. Had they not been DQed they would have ended up ninth. The A relay team came from behind in the freestyle leg to win. Bailey friend Rayley swam awesome to get the gold for the team…

200 Free Relay – Bailey was the anchor on the B Free Relay…they were missing Caroline (at a year round meet in Auburn), who would have made about a 5 second difference in the final time…and so they settled for eighth, Bailey swam a 30.33 leg, which is slow for her in a relay. In the short course state championship meet and the northern divisionals she was swimming spits in the 29s. The A free relay also won the event…but, and this is where I get a bit irritated with summer league and hand timed events, the second swimmer (slowest time of the 4) swam a spit of 31.72. I’ve known all year that Bailey was faster than Cameron, but didn’t want to cause any problems…and this just supports my opinion. We like Cameron a lot, but Bailey belonged on the A relay and would have gotten a gold medal if she were on it, as it is, she gets nothing for the event.

50 Free – Bailey needed to get in the 29s to be assured of a stop on the Free Relays for state…and she posted a time of 30.33. No that isn’t a mistyping and yes I’m looking at the correct event…Bailey’s 50 free time matched her 50 free split from the relay exactly. Interestingly Cameron’s split in the 50 free was a 31.81…only .1 second slower than her split in the relay, and further illustrating the fact Bailey should have been on the relay. So I estimated Bailey needed to be a 29 high to make the relay…as it turns out, for the kids going to state Bailey ended up 13, 1 away from the relay…she actually needed to beat a 30.22 to get in…

100 IM – Bailey’s IM seemed sluggish. She wasn’t crisp with any part of it, including the fly as she was sixth to the wall in the opening turn. She finished eighth overall and added a couple of seconds to her time.

50 Fly – Bailey’s fly was also sluggish. She didn’t seem to have the drive she typically does in this event. She finished eighth and added about a second and a half to her time…

Breeze · 07-02-2013, 10:24 AM

Summer League County Championships

-----------------------------------------------------------
Bear

Bear started off the meet well, swimming good in both the Free and Medley relays (which I will cover in Brett’s write up)…but then he was going to the bathroom before his IM and he slipped. He fell flat on his butt, bruised his tailbone, jarred his back and was in real pain…

50 Free – Bear and Brett were in the same heat for this event, and they were entered with seed times of 32.08 (Bear), 32.09 (Brett)…when the race started Bear got out real good …he was running third in the heat and was ahead of Brett, but he screwed up the turn REALLY BAD, and it cost him. He finished with a 32.7 time…before the turn he was on pace to go under 32 seconds. As it turns out – of the kids going to State Bear’s 50 free time put him 14…

IM – This is the event right after the fall. Bear got on the blocks and was grimacing in pain and he was getting prepared to dive. His fly was clearly hindered by the back, and the breast was as well, but when he turned from breast to free he was still in fourth, and he closed hard in the free, but was out-touched by less than half a second. He finished with a 1:21.88, but without falling I’m sure he would have gotten third, which gives him a medal and puts him on the state team…but as is this kids luck, he ends up just outside the medals...

Fly – After the IM Bear went to the first aid clinic and they iced his back…it was hurting too bad at this point, and he scratched.

Breeze · 07-02-2013, 11:26 AM

Summer League County Championships

-----------------------------------------------------------
Brett

200 Medley Relay – The relay started out with Riley doing the back, and while Riley is a good backstroker, there are a bunch of really good ones in the county. When Riley finished the opening leg, things were tight but CRC was in third/fourth place. Brett dove in and his dive was terrible, in fact it was so bad, that if I can figure out where to get the video posted so you can watch you’ll probably here me say something to the effect of “What the hell kind of dive was that, Brett?”…however, after he surfaced, Brett started reeling in the other swimmers…and he actually was second to the wall with another swimmer right on his should. Despite the bad dive Brett’s split was just over 40 seconds. So Bear dove in for the fly, but the swimmer on Brett’s shoulder at the touch was GCs and they handed off to Brett’s buddy Jack…and Jack is only about 10 seconds faster than Bear in a 50 fly, so Bear had no shot. Bear swam a strong leg posting a split of 36+ seconds…and he handed off the Alex. Alex is a year round swimmer, but mostly a breaststroker. His free is very reminiscent of Brett’s a few years ago, with a sloppy kick…but he was handed a pretty big lead. In fact, he was a good third of a lap or more ahead of the team in fourth…but he needed that much space because another swimmer closed on him hard. CRC held on for Bronze by 1.3 seconds…If you are wondering, Brett’s poor dive wouldn’t have had any impact on second, as they were a full 10 seconds behind the second place team…

200 Free Relay – Bear started off with an extremely strong swim…posting a split of 31.17, and because he was the first to go, that is a legitimate time and a personal best (it also would have been good enough to get him on a free relay at state had he done it again in the 50 free race about 20 minutes later, but he screwed up that turn)…Alex’s leg was a poor 36 second time, and Brett didn’t do his best either posting a 33.44 with a rolling start. When Brett handed off to Riley they were in fourth place and Riley was at least a third of a lap down. However, Riley is a strong freestyler and he was a hero here as he caught and passed the other team inside the flags at the finish and captured third place by .13 seconds. So another Bronze for the boys.

Note: At this point I was very concerned about Brett’s focus. His dive in the medley was terrible, his split in the free relay was poor…I was really afraid he was going to have an off day…

50 Free – Brett was behind Bear at the turn for the 50 free, but Bear’s poor turn allowed Brett to get to the wall first, as he finished with a 32.2 time and overall he was 13 out of the kids going to state for the free relay. So like Bailey he just missed too.

100 Free – Brett was seeded fifth, but there were two no-times that had I paid attention to, I would have told you they were faster freestylers than Brett. As it turns out he finished seventh, but posted a personal best time of 1:10.71, and now I was feeling better about his chances in the big breaststroke race coming up…

50 Breast – This race started and JB (the kid that beat Brett by .04 seconds for the county championship 2 years ago) got a great dive and an early lead. Brett and the rest of the pack was about half a body length back. At the turn Brett had to have a strong pullout or he would run out of room to catch JB. The turn appeared from my vantage point to be the best I’ve ever seen him make. He closed ground and put himself in position to make a charge. And charge he did…cutting into the lead with each stroke, but it was pretty clear he was going to run out of room. That is until JB got inside the flags, then he seemed to have a few poor strokes. Not sure if it was fatigue or nervousness, but he didn’t seem to get the same explosion in those strokes, and Brett pulled alongside. The both reached the wall and it was too close for me to tell…I looked up at the scoreboard and…

Spoiler

Breeze · 07-02-2013, 03:25 PM

I really would like to publish some of the videos and pictures from the races, but I used to accomplish this by using dropbox and taking the public link created and posting it, but now that appears to be restricted to specific email addresses...

So I'm open to suggestions (outside of Facebook) for easy image/video storage with Internet access...

Breeze · 07-03-2013, 09:25 AM

Summer League State Meet Update

As it turns out, one of the boys that initially stated they would swim at State has begged out...opening a slot for Brett to swim on the C Free Relay. This relay won't make finals, but it does give him another race and a sense of accomplishment...

Breeze · 07-03-2013, 03:04 PM

Stu Hixon Meet @ Mt View Aquatic Center

This pool isn’t a very good one when it comes to improving times. It was built more for training than hosting so some of the engineering done to improve speeds by limiting waves weren’t done. Moreover, this pool is kept way to warm (80+ degrees), which also typically results in slower times. Most of the swimmer parents that participated on Saturday, while we were at the county meet, reported their kids were consistently coming in 2 or more seconds over their personal best.

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

Bailey

50 Fly – 38.31 : Bailey was again hoping to get the state cut here, but she was about a half a second slower than her personal best. She finished with a 38.82. She seemed a little high to me on the first several strokes so that might have been the cause of the slowdown…but it is so close to her personal best that it isn’t really a big deal…

50 Breast – 50.42 : I’ve noted before that her breast is starting to show some improvement…it still has a way to go, but it’s getting better. She improved here with a time of 50.16

400 Free – 6:16.92 : For the first time ever, Bailey headed into a mid-distance freestyle with a positive attitude. She said she was looking for to this, and she felt she had figured out how to race this event. She was pretty much right about that, as she dropped 26 seconds to post a 5:50.33, and even more so, one of the team coaches said she swam the event perfectly. She opened with a 1:25.65 first one hundred, then the next two 100s were almost identical 1:29.10s , then she closed only 1 second slower than her opening 100…that is exactly how they like to see the splits breakdown…

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

Bear

50 Fly – 43:29 : Bear was feeling much better on Sunday than Saturday, and he mentioned that he wanted to swim, so we let him, with the instructions that if it started to hurt that he needed to stop. He, like Bailey, was about a half a second slow in the fly…43.97

50 Free – 36.35 : Bear improved on this one. He still overworks a bit and moves his head to much but he dropped .69 seconds to 35.66. As long as he doesn’t have to flip turn he’s doing pretty well…

50 Breast – 53:53 : Bear’s breast is also coming around…it still needs work, but he’s going through longer stretches where he is driving forward. He improved to a 52.07 and finished eleventh, but one of the kids in front of him scratched, so Bear swam the 50 Breast finals later than night…

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

Brett

50 Fly – 47.64 : Still working hard to get this stroke, and he’s still very deliberate swimming it. He didn’t come close to a personal best, which I didn’t expect him to do. I was hopeful he’d improve on the time from his previous attempt at this race, but he basically posted a similar time of 54.27. He is embarrassed about this, but he can’t get better unless he races it, so he’s working through his issues.

50 Free – 36.54 : Brett tried hard to reduce his breathing in this race, in hopes of dropping time, but it didn’t work for him. He actually added three quarters of a second to 37.29

200 Breast – 3:24.17 : Brett was hoping to get into the top 3 here, but the top 3 all came in with seed times of 3:12 or better…so then he set his sights on fourth. He went out hard, trying to keep up with the leaders, which to a certain extent he was able to do for the first 75 or so…then he started to lose some ground. However, he was still in contact with the leaders as the 150 mark. Trailing and not in striking distance, but not left so far behind that he appeared to be in a different race. Coming down the home stretch a kid to his outside swam him down and out touched him for fourth, which irritated Brett. He posted a huge improvement and personal best time of 3:19.36. We knew he was going to make finals in this event, because there were only 8 kids swimming. Initially Brett was instructed to scratch the event, but after that finish, his coach told him he wanted him to do it again that night, and focus on the pullouts, because “Brett you are a much better breaststroker than the kid that out touched you. If you improve your pullouts you’ll kill him…”

200 Medley Relay – There were relays at this meet, and Brett got on the Gold A relay. He wasn’t with any of his buddies, but he was happy to be swimming the relay. This race started immediately after the 200 Breast with Brett not having any time to even do the cool down swim. The backstroker was third or fourth at the wall when Brett dove in, but Brett was first on the other end, swimming down and passing the other breaststrokers that were in front of him. The flyer opened the lead, and the freestyler maintained it…so Brett’s relay won the event….

Breeze · 07-03-2013, 03:30 PM

Stu Hixon Meet @ Mt View Aquatic Center – FINALS

The finals started about an hour after the prelims finished, but because both boys qualified in the Breast, which were the last races of the event, we had closer to two hours in between. We really struggled to keep the kids rested, and to get them refueled. We’ve had issues not swimming as well in finals because of fatigue due to exertion or not eating well…so we wanted to try and change that.

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

Bear

50 Breast – Seed Time 53.58, Prelim Time 52.07 : Bear wasn’t thrilled about having to swim this. He was saying things like, just because I made it doesn’t mean I like it, but we explained that he didn’t scratch (and actually he didn’t scratch because it didn’t dawn on us that he needed to, we didn’t think he was anywhere close to making this race), which means that if he elected not to swim that he would be taking the place of another kid that did want to race in the event. After that he shut up and set his mind to racing. Bear looked even better to me in this race than in the prelims, and the times proved my assessment was accurate as he posted another personal best of 51.18…in all dropping 2.4 seconds from the seed time earlier in the day…

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

Brett

200 Breast – Seed time 3:24.17, Prelim Time 3:19.36 – Secretly I think Brett was hoping one of the top 3 kids would elect not to come back to the finals, so he could fight for a spot in the top 3 and a medal with the kid that out-touched him at the wall, but everyone that beat him agreed to swim finals. The race started and Brett was positioned this time next to the kid that finished third in prelims. He was faster than Brett but not nearly as fast as the first two, and Brett, like in prelims was working extremely hard to keep up with him. In this case he never seemed to completely lose contact either. He stayed within about 2 body lengths the entire way. In fact, with about 150 to go , Brett was only a body length back, but then the swimmer to his inside started to pick up the pace. As it turns out Brett did beat the kid that out touched him in prelims – and he beat him by about 10 seconds. He also posted another personal best and another huge drop in time, this time finishing at 3:14.57.

Brett was so tired at the conclusion of this race, he could barely lift himself up and out of the pool. This is the most effort I’ve ever seen him give in a race, and obviously it’s the most tired he’s ever been as well. But he felt great about this swim, and in put him in striking distance of a 13 year old cut in this event…

Breeze · 07-05-2013, 10:50 AM

Tara Classic (Last Chance Meet) @ Steve Lundquist Aquatic Center, July 5-7

The last chance qualifier for Long Course State is this weekend. We will only be participating on Saturday as Bear and Bailey will each swim 2 events that they could earn a cut in. Brett won’t be swimming in this one. His coach wants him heading into the State meet with the last experience in the pool being his huge improvement in the 200 Breast.

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

Bailey

50 Fly – Seed Time 38.31 : Cut Time 37.39 – Bailey needs to cut a second to get her time, but honestly it’s probably more like a second and a half. She’s been slightly off with her stroke recently (probably due to growth, as she’s now only 1” shorter than Brett), and it is costing her on average about a half a second in the Fly, as recently she seems to be coming in around 38.8…in this pool, which like last week is really more of a training facility not one designed for speed, I really don’t think she’ll get the cut, and in fact, I doubt she even swims a personal best.

100 Back – We are scratching this event, as Bailey isn’t really close to this cut…

100 Freestyle – Seed Time 1:16.14 – Bailey doesn’t really have a chance at this one either, but we’ll have her swim it anyway to see if she can notch a personal best. I’m not sure she can, because her times in the free, like the fly have been off just a little.

200 Backstroke – DECK ENTERED – Seed Time 3:13.83 : Cut Time 3:09.59 - we will swap in this event after scratching in the 100 Back. Bailey has an outside shot at this one, it will be tough, but given this will be the second time swimming this event she could cut 4 seconds….

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

Bear

200 Free – Seed Time 2:46.97 : Cut Time 2:44.29 – This might completely come down to Bear’s turns. He is close to this cut, and him improvement in the 50 free just last weekend leads me to believe he’s in a good form and could challenge this time, but if he screws up just 1 turn, he won’t make it…

100 Back – We will scratch this as Bear has no shot to make the cut this time around

100 Free – Seed Time 1:19.76 – Not shot to get the cut, but we’ll let him swim this one anyway…I do believe he’ll get a personal best as long as he doesn’t screw up the turn…

200 Back – DECK ENTERED - Seed Time NT : Cut Time 3:19.29 – This is a swap out, just like Bailey. Bear has never done this race, which is my only reservation with predicting him to get the cut…but based on times I’m seeing for kids that Bear practices with and is much better than, that have done this race a couple of times and have come close to a cut, I have to believe Bear can get it, even the first time out…

Breeze · 07-08-2013, 01:51 PM

Tara Classic (Last Chance Meet) @ Steve Lundquist Aquatic Center, July 5-7

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

Bailey

50 Fly – Seed Time 38.31 : Cut Time 37.39 – Bailey started out this race looking better than she has all summer. She was low and strong, opening up a half a body length lead on the girl to her inside lane (so a faster seed time). He was cruising along until about a third of the pool left when her breathing was starting to occur too frequently. In fact, in my filming, you can hear me saying…stop breathing so much as I knew this was going to be close. The Bailey gets to the flags and breathes, then breathes again, but she was close to the wall, and I figured she’d finish strong – but NO…she takes a third breath as she’s reaching for the wall – finishing with her head still up, as she didn’t even have time to get it back in the water before she touched the wall. I thought that little trick had killed her chances…Her time

Spoiler

200 Backstroke – DECK ENTERED – Seed Time 3:13.83 : Cut Time 3:09.59 - Started out with a very strong kick in this one, and she and one other girl really opened a lead on the field. They pulled away, and it was pretty obvious early, that unless she got into the ropes or tightened up she was well under the cut pace. She faded at the end, and she admitted her legs were burning bad, but she posted a 3:01.64…and her fourth cut…

100 Freestyle – Seed Time 1:16.14 – Little to swim for, emotionally exhausted, and tired and hungry as this was the last event of the session, Bailey swam an uninspired 1:17.87

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

Bear

200 Free – Seed Time 2:46.97 : Cut Time 2:44.29 – It was pretty obvious right from the start Bear wasn’t going to get this one. He fell way off the pace quickly. Initially, I thought he might be saving himself to have a strong kick, but he informed me that he just couldn’t get comfortable with his stroke. He couldn’t get his body into the good power position and because of that he never really got going. He ended up with a mediocre 2:53.70

200 Back – DECK ENTERED - Seed Time NT : Cut Time 3:19.29 – From the start Bear’s backstroke was UGLY. He’s really working to change his arm rotation to match the coaches’ instructions, because he’s had some shoulder tenderness and he wants to make sure he doesn’t injure himself. But he was so deliberate and so over exaggerated with keeping his are up straight, that he overreached across his head on every stroke, He also pulled very badly to his left and was swimming most of the race hugging a lane line. All that said, I could tell from watching the other kids and knowing their times in this event, that Bear still had a shot at the cut. Then coming down the last 15 to 20 meters, Bear seemed to relax some (probably due to fatigue) and he began to glide better and get a better grab, which sped him up considerably. He finished with a time of 3:14.17. So a third cut for Bear…

100 Free – Seed Time 1:19.76 – I knew Bear wasn’t going to get this cut, but after his 200 free I was afraid he might do poorly here. Initially, he looked very similar to his 200 free, but this time he did find his body position, with about 35 percent of the race left to go, and he closed quickly on the kids in his neighboring lanes. He finished with a personal best time of 1:18.65

Breeze · 07-10-2013, 08:51 AM

General Update

You may recall this update from a couple weeks ago...

Quote:

200 Medley Relay – There were relays at this meet, and Brett got on the Gold A relay. He wasn’t with any of his buddies, but he was happy to be swimming the relay. This race started immediately after the 200 Breast with Brett not having any time to even do the cool down swim. The backstroker was third or fourth at the wall when Brett dove in, but Brett was first on the other end, swimming down and passing the other breaststrokers that were in front of him. The flyer opened the lead, and the freestyler maintained it…so Brett’s relay won the event….

The reason I'm bringing this up is that the win in this event earned Brett is first year round medal...This was a huge goal for him coming into the season, as he's seen his siblings win year round medals several times. He was very pumped up after receiving this, and I'm hoping this continues to motivate him to work hard (though I have no complaints about his work over the summer. He hasn't missed a single practice, including 2 a days on Monday's and Wednesdays...)

Breeze · 07-17-2013, 07:50 AM

Long Course State Championships @ Savannah 7/18 - 7/21

We had the Gold Long Course dinner last night, and Brett is currently scheduled to be on both A relays at state. He'll be swimming with Jack and Hunter, plus Parker (who swam fly on the relay back at Stu Hixon that won Brett his first medal). There is an outside possibility that he loses his spot if he swims poorly at State and someone else on the team beats his personal best time, but Brett is swimming well so I don't expect that to happen.

We will be heading down to Savannah today. We have to get there early, because Bear doesn't do well on long car rides and he'll be swimming the 1500

on Thursday. This will be the first time he's ever swum the 1500, which of course begs the question, how did he qualify. Well, when Bear got the qualifying time in the 800, it gave him the qualifying time in the 1500. The 800, when kids are grown is only a girls event, whereas the 1500 is only a boys event - so at the state level the 800 isn't offered for boys even as young as 11, but they give them the ability to swim up in the 1500, which makes perfect sense...if I can swim an 800 why not almost double it...Anyway, Bear is excited to give this a go, we'll see how it works out for him. Warm ups will be at 3:00, but he probably won't actually race until closer to 9, due to the long races and the fact he'll be in the very last heat. Bear is one of only 4 kids 11 years old that will do this event, so at worst he'll finish 4th in state and earn the team a good bit of points.

Here is the remainder of the schedule:

Friday

Brett - 100 Breast
Bailey - 50 Fly
Bailey - 400 IM

Saturday

Bailey - 100 Fly
Brett - 50 Breast
Bailey - 200 Back
Bear - 200 Back

Sunday

Bear - 400 Free
Brett - 200 Breast

Breeze · 07-23-2013, 09:21 AM

Long Course State Championships @ Savannah

THURSDAY NIGHT

1500 Meters - Bear came into this event never having swum the 1500. He qualified for it by getting a state cut in the 800 (which isn't offered at State for boys). I thought he'd be a bit uptight about it, but he really was suprisingly calm. Even when he was presented with the fact that he would be sharing a lane with another swimmer, it didn't phase him (the funny thing...Bear and the other boy in his lane, actually brushed hands at one point in the race. It was so minor it didn't bother either of them, but an inch more and it could have been ugly)...

Having never done this event before, the coaches decided the best bet was to try and keep Bear on a pace to be under the state cut time of 22:29.00, so in essence they wanted him to be 1:30/100 Meters. The coach told me to watch him for signals that I could let Bear know how he was doing when I put the lap counter in the water for him. The race started and Bear was good. The second 100, I had to give him the signal to pick it up. From there he was solid until about 500 meters to go, when I had to give him the go faster sign again. The in the last 300 Bear closed with a 1:26, 1:24, and 1:22. If you are wondering, he opened with a 1:24. His final time was a 22:02.37 and he not only earned the cut, but he got the cut for next year too, so he'll be swimming the 1650 at short course state for sure and he'll get this one again at next years long course meet.

The coaches were thoroughly impressed with his finish, and even indicated if they had known he was going to handle this race that well, they would have set a harder/faster split for him to maintain. As it turns out he was only 15 seconds from getting the bronze metal...

Breeze · 07-23-2013, 05:28 PM

Long Course State Championships @ Savannah

FRIDAY

100 Breast - The day started with Brett's 100 Breast. He started out a bit off, his dive/pullout though not as bad as it was early in the year, wasn't as good as it had been recently. Plus, because he was next to two kids that were easily 5'7" or bigger and 120 lbs or more, he lacked the power they had. He trailed early, but after the turn, started to close. He couldn't catch the two leaders, but he did manage to finish third in his heat and improve by 2 seconds posting a 1:33.55

50 Fly - Bailey started this race, with quite possibly the worst dive I've ever seen her make. She was so deep she was the last to surface and was two whole body lengths behind the rest of the girls in her heat (of which there were only 2 others). Before the race was over she had caught one and almost caught the other, but the dive was so poor she was almost a second off of her personal best. However, it didn't matter as she was DQed for a false start...however the false start was actually her turning her head from looking at the starter to looking at the water after the starter had given the set command. Pretty ticky-tack, but it didn't matter...Bailey was actually more disappointed with her swim than her DQ...

400 IM - I was afraid Bailey wasn't going to do well here after her DQ, but she opened with a great dive and her 100 fly was a 1:27.97, only just over a second above her personal best in the event, and she was first in her heat, even though she came into the race with the slowest seed time of the 8 kids. Her backstroke was also strong at 1:40.31...and she was second at the midway point. However, her breaststroke issues came back in full force. In fact, it was the worst she's ever looked swimming it. She swam the 100 in 2:12 and fell way back (probably because of fatigue from working the first 2 legs of the race so hard). She finished with a personal best of 6:48.11, an improvement of 8 seconds.

Thanfully, Bear didn't have to swim and he got to recoop from the 1500 the night before.

Also, the air quality in the facility was horrible. From the moment I walked in my eyes were burning, and before the day was over all my kids were coughing and hacking. Also several of the kids we were with had the same issues...

Breeze · 07-24-2013, 01:44 PM

Long Course State Championships @ Savannah

SATURDAY

Saturday started off terribly. Bailey woke up feeling poorly and she couldn't really choke down her breakfast before the warm up. We've had this problem with Bailey in the past, especially when she would have early Tennis matches, so we figured it would pass. We'll it didn't. She threw up (which she's done before when she had to eat really early)...only this time it wasn't a 1 time thing. She threw up 4 times throughout the morning, was coughing bad, and was running a fever of almot 100. So she ended up scratching her events...

50 Breast - Brett over worked this one. He really tried hard to go fast, and with swimming and breaststoke especially, overworking can actually create drag and reduce the glide portion of the stroke. As it turns out his time was not far off from what he was typically swimming 43.6, but given his huge improvement in the 200 just weeks earlier, and a 2 second drop in the 100, I was expecting an improvement here...he was disappointed.

200 Back - Bear started this one way too conservatively, he fell back a good ways, and he was well off the pace. In the last 50 he passed 3 people to have a respectible finish, but he added 4 seconds to his qualifying time. 3:18.83

As I mentioned the air in the factility on Friday was bad, it wasn't any better on Sunday. Several kids finished up there swims and had to go outside to catch their breath because they were coughing from the chlorine smell. This led to quite a bit of concern, and in fact, one of the big swim teams (Dynamo) decided they would not be swimming relays in order to keep the kids out of the pool area. This greatly improved Brett's chances of getting a year round metal at the state meet for his relay. It was too the point the relays were lining up...and the police, firemen, and hazmat team stopped the meet to do an air quality check. This check took over an hour and while the air quality test came back fine (and that is debatable for a bunch of reasons) the session was cancled due to time constraints, leaving the relays and the 400 free unfinished. The relay was completely cancelled and the 400 free was moved to Sunday in the spot for the 400 Medley Relay which was also cancelled. So the poor air quality cost Brett both of his relay swims with his friends...

In case you were wondering, Bailey was fine by about 2 PM. No side-effects from the sickness at all. Pretty sure this was related to the chlorinated air...in fact, the symptoms for chlorine sickness match Bailey's perfectly.

Breeze · 07-24-2013, 03:55 PM

Long Course State Championships @ Savannah

SUNDAY

200 Breast - Brett came into this event, just missing out on the finals. In fact, had this event been at GaTech, he would have made the B final, as he was seeded 18th. He just dropped 10 seconds in the event a few weeks back, so I was hopeful he might drop a bit more and get real close to that 13 year old cut, but I wasn't expecting it. When the race went off, he took it out very conservatively (I think this was a concern about the air quality)...But on the second 50 he kicked it into gear and his split was 1:35.27...his split from his personal best was a 1:35.21. In the next 50 he was still gaining on the field, but coming home he seemed to tire a bit and he fell off the pace. I believe he had to work too hard in the middle 100 to overcome the conservative start, and I do believe he was having a hard time breathing as he was coughing when he finished...final time 3:16.08

400 Free My goal for Bear coming into this one was to get his 12 year old cut. Based on how he finished the 1500 I felt pretty confident he'd get the 5:45.99 time he needed. He started off good, and was moving through the water well. He was sharing a lane with a kid that was much larger than he was, and he was slightly ahead of that kids pace (that kid was 150 meters into the race when Bear started). However, Bear's great pace came to a screeching halt. In the last 130 or so, when he would typically start sprinting, he seemed to hit a wall. His pace fell way off and it was starting to look like he might not get that cut. He gutted it out and finished in 5:45.17, but he was having breathing difficulty when he got out. The bad air had gotten to him and with his asthma symptoms it was causing him to wease a great deal. I had to race to get his inhaler...he was fine and proud of what he accomplished. He's also really looking forward to the 500 and 1650 at short course. He thinks he might be able to medal...

Breeze · 07-25-2013, 12:16 PM

GRPA State Championship - July 27th @ Lanier Aquatics

This will be the last meet of the Summer Season and as soon as this meet is over we'll have several weeks away from the pool.

Brett is the only one swimming in this event, as he was the only one to qualify at County. However, Bailey should have made it on the C Free Relay. 12 Girls make up the 3 relay teams, and Bailey was 13th in time of the girls that had stated they wanted to participate in this event. However, 1 of the girls that was marked as wanting to go, actually didn't want to. The coach marked it, and then the coach never bothered to check or ask, until the roster for the team was already submitted to the state and couldn't be changed. Bailey isn't too disappointed, just knowing she could have been there made her feel good...

200 Yard Medley Relay - Brett is on the B team with 3 other very good swimmers, and they are currently seeded 2nd in this event behind the county's A team.

50 Breast - Brett's 37.53 time is seeded 10th. If he can beat 2 people, he could get into the final 8 and earn an individual medal. This is very possible as 2 swimmers are .05 seconds faster or less...and several more are only tenths of a second faster.

200 Yard Free Relay - Brett is on the C Relay, so they won't be going to the finals here, but it's good for him to swim something at this meet that isn't Breaststroke...

Breeze · 08-21-2013, 08:43 AM

GRPA State Championship - July 27th @ Lanier Aquatics

Let me get this thread caught up a bit...

At the state meet, Brett didn't do exceptionally well. But honestly, I didn't expect him to. His practices were geared for him to peak the previous week, and he missed a couple of practices leading up to the GRPA State Meet, because of logistical issues. Here's how things went...

200 Yard Medley Relay - The team came in seeded 2nd, but there were several teams with sandbagged times. In their prelim heat, the backstroker was 6th out of 10 teams to the wall, Brett caught 1 of the swimmers in front of him to put them in 5th. The flyer passed all but the lead team (which was way out in front), but the freestyler lost a spot and the team was 3rd. With 4 heats and only 8 teams making the finals this was not a comfortable place to be...but as it turns out the team was seeded 6th headed into the finals...Brett's split in the relay was a 38.8 (while the pool was very slow this wasn't a good swim at all).

50 Breast - Brett was hoping to make the finals, but he'd have to do much better than his split in the relay...and he didn't. He went a 38.3. Unfortunately, had he matched his seed time, he would have made the finals...As it was he finished 11th (I think).

200 Yard Free Relay - This was an also ran event from the beginning. They had no shot at finals...Brett's split was pretty pedestrian, but in line with the other 3 swimmers. In fact, I don't think he had the slowest split of the four.

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

200 Yard Medley Relay Finals - The backstroker again finished 6th. Brett swam a much better split, 37.8, but he was unable to make up ground. The flyer got the team to 4th, and was close to third, but the freestyler slipped back to 6th.

Breeze · 08-21-2013, 10:04 AM

Long Course and Summer Season Review

When I look back on the long course and the summer seasons, it is pretty obvious that the kids did very well. When we look at the kids goals for the season that fact becomes pretty obvious....

Brett

For Long Course, Brett wanted to earn state cuts in all 3 breaststroke races, wanted to be on one of the Gold Team Relays at state (preferably the A relay), wanted to earn a medal in a year round meet, and wanted to get a cut outside of breast for state.

Well, Brett got all 3 breaststroke cuts, was on both A relays (though he didn't get to swim them due to the air quality issues in Savannah), he got a medal in the relay at the tune up event a couple weeks before state. The only goal he didn't reach was an outside cut, but I knew before the season started he wouldn't get that one.

For the Summer Season Brett wanted to win breast at county, earn an individual medal at the GRPA State Meet, and get on the podium with his relay at GRPA State.

Well he lost the Breast at county by .05 seconds - so he just missed, which also cost him his goal for making the podium at GRPA with the relay because the A county team won state (and Brett actually outswam the kid that beat him at county in every breast split, relay prelims, breaststroke event, relay finals - so Brett would have actually improved the teams overall times had he been on the A team). He did miss getting the individual medal.

Bear

In Long Course, Bear wanted to get a state cut, and he got 2, both long freestyles. It is looking more and more like this might be his niche in the sport. I was very concerned that he wouldn't get a cut so his accomplishment here and results at state were extremely satisfying for me, and it was easy to see how proud he was of himself.

In Summer, he was hoping to get on the GRPA state team, at least in the free relay....and as it turns out, he was 1 swimmer from getting on the relay team. Moreover, had he not screwed up his turn, he would have made the team.

Bailey

Bailey wanted to get state cuts for long course, and I was comfident she would. She did an excellent job in her flys and backs and she appears headed to a nice short course season for 11 year olds. I think she was a bit disappointed with her results at State, but that is a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things.

For Summer, Bailey wanted to get on the GRPA team as well, at least in Free Relay, just like Bear, and actually, had the Polo Fields coach not screwed up, she would have made the team.

Breeze · 08-21-2013, 10:20 AM

2013 - 2014 Short Course Season

The Short Course Season started yesterday. The kids have all been moved up. The Gold Team has redefined the levels and Brett is swimming on the Sectional Advanced team, while the twins are on the Sectional team. Thankfully, they all practice at the same time. Also, the practices are later at night, so it makes getting homework done a little easier. On the flip side, it makes dinner a challenge. The kids practice from 6:30 to 8:30, meaning we don't get home until 9 or so.

We haven't discussed goals for the season, but we will soon, and once we do I'll post them...

Breeze · 09-12-2013, 04:14 PM

Gold Time Trials @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 9/14

The season kicks off this weekend, and because this is just the time trials the meet will only be 1 day and sprint events...here is what the kids will be swimming...

Brett

100 Back - 1:23.17
100 Breast - 1:25.06
100 Free - 1.11.85

Bear

50 Fly - 38.44
50 Back - 38.72
50 Free - 32.46

Bailey

50 Fly - 33.44
50 Breast - 44.34
50 Free - 30.19

Breeze · 09-24-2013, 11:39 AM

Gold Time Trials @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 9/14

Brett - Brett's perfect attendance at Summer practices and through the early part of the season, combined with some improved confidence has really started to pay off. While he's certainly not challenging for state cuts or to win any event, he is dropping a considerable about of time...

100 Back - 1:23.17 - A huge improvement, as his long deliberate strokes came in at 1:18.67, a drop of 4.5 seconds. He still needs to increase his stroke rate...(coaches comments to him too), and if he does he could drop another 3 or 4 seconds easy.

100 Breast - 1:25.06 - Big improvement here. I felt he would post a best time, because of his improvements during long course...but I didn't expect a 4.62 second drop. 1:20.44. Unfortunately, he still has a long way to go to get the state cut (at 13 the drop in time is significant, mostly because the average boy starts hitting puberty and gets bigger and stronger). Coach wants him to hold the glide a bit longer...says he's too quick out of the stroke and is wasting some of his speed.

100 Free - 1.11.85 - Another improvement...1:09.04, would have liked to see a bit more honestly, and he still needs to kick better, but this is a huge step in the right direction.

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

Bear - Did ok, his stroke form is improving a bit, and I think we'll see some drops from him mid -season, but he's still working to iron out kinks...especially in the short races...

50 Fly - 38.44 - Rythem got off for him and he ended up adding just a touch of time 38.54

50 Back - 38.72 - Backstroke was still stiff, but form was better and he dropped time to a 37.94, and I could see him dropping another couple seconds in this once he relaxes a bit and really starts to race, rather than thinking about what he was doing.

50 Free - 32.46 - Coach has really been working on getting Bear to stretch out his reach in the frees, and it seemed to help, he posted a personal best 31.46, and I could see him dropping more time in this one as the season goes on.

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

Bailey - Didn't have a great meet. She was very disappointed with her times, but I think this goes back to the fact she had such dramatic increases last season, I'm not sure she'll have the big drops this season, at least not until we get much further into it.

50 Fly - 33.44 - Did improve here, by about a quarter of a second. Would have been another half second faster if her dive wasn't sooooo deep. 33.18

50 Breast - 44.34 - started out ok, but faded late. Ended up with a 45.14...also had a deep dive here...

50 Free - 30.19 - again deep dive killed her time. Not sure she would have improved but it would have been close with a good dive. 30.99

Breeze · 10-03-2013, 01:55 PM

2013 SCAT Fall Invitational @ GaTech 10/5 -10/6

Brett

200 IM – 2:56.92 – this one will be interesting as Brett is doing much better and his stamina is better, but his fly is still a work in progress (read slow).

100 FR – 1:09.04 – been doing good in free at practice during the interval training (even Bailey has said so…then it has to be true, because Bailey hates to complement Brett)

50 FL – 38.41 – see the 200 IM…also there is no 50 Fly at state anymore for Brett’s age group, so I’m guessing he’s in this race because he’s really not capable of swimming/racing longer Fly events and this one is a way to get his strength up.

50 BR – 38.38 – Brett isn’t doing the 100 Breast, because he just swam it last weekend. Not sure why he’s doing the 50 over the 200…

200 FR – 2:29.65 – Again, Brett’s free has been better at practice so he could improve here.

50 FR – 32.88 – Brett will set a goal to get under 30 seconds in this, but he won’t improve that much. Much of his improvement in the free mentioned above is stamina based and the ability to stay near top speed for longer periods of time, not the fact that his sprints are actually considerably faster. I’m guessing he’ll improve, but only by about a second.

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

Bear

200 IM – 2:52.71 - Bear’s fly is starting to come together. Rhythm and timing is better, but the problem is he doesn’t have the stamina to maintain it for longer races. Not sure it will hold up here. Breast looks better and the back kick is much stronger (saw him at practice doing SLOB (Stream Line On Back). And he was passing a bunch of people.

100 Breast – 1:37.02 – Breast looks better, is it faster?

200 Back – NT – entered with a no time, but I’m pretty sure he has an old time in this one. His back looks pretty good, I expect a decent time here as long as he doesn’t revert back to his fishtail motion in this race.

200 Free – 2:30.79 – Bear has been working really hard in practice, and especially on the longer sprints. He’s still in that pudgy growing stage, but he’s pumped about the longer frees. He’s already said he’ll sprint the entire thing. We’ll see if he can hold up.

100 Fly – 1:26.59 – My bet…if he’s not too worn out at the start is he’ll have a nice opening 25…a good first half of the second 25, then things will slowly start falling apart. Actually wouldn’t surprise me if he got DQed…the new fly is much shorter/quicker moves and I don’t think he can do it for a 100…

500 Free - 6:36.38 – Bear says he’s going to sprint this the whole way. He’s already told me he did a 6:18 at the end of practice during interval training early this week…I’m not sure how much energy he’ll have left at the end of a 2 day meet with some tough events on the second day, but it will be interesting to watch.

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

Bailey

200 IM – 2:49.98 – Bailey has tried to convince herself that she likes the longer / tougher swims. So she states she’s looking forward to this one. I think she’ll do well and as has been the case for a couple of years it will come down to Breaststroke. If it improves she’ll post a really good time.

100 Breast – 1:34.77 – don’t know what to expect. Her Breast kick sets are pretty fast, but when she swims the stroke something gets lost in translation and her speed disappears. I know it is a timing issue, but I don’t think she has it resolved yet.

200 Back – NT – Like Bear, I think she has a time, but I don’t know what it is off the top of my head. If her turns and starts are good, I expect a significant improvement here.

200 Free – 2:31.13 – she’s done ok in her intervals in practice, so she should improve here

100 Fly 1:15.17 – She’s really looking forward to this one, she is hoping to go under 1:10, I think 1:12 would be a pretty good goal.

100 IM – 1:17.43 – with a good start and turns she could drop a good bit of time here, if she isn’t too tired.

Breeze · 10-04-2013, 10:56 AM

2013 SCAT Fall Invitational @ GaTech 10/5 -10/6

General Update

This event is going to be really long as all of Swim Atlanta has been invited in addition to all of Gold (2 of the 3 largest teams in the state). So from that aspect I'm really dreading this, as it will be a long day. That stated...I am very excited to see how the kids do. Now that kids practice all at the same time and they are in the pool for 2+ hours a day, I don't normally watch practice anymore. I did however see a bit of it on Tuesday, and all three were looking strong at the end of practice. I believe Bear is finally starting to get used to his increased size (though I wouldn't be surprised to see him grow again and soon), Bailey has always been talented, but she seems to be working harder in practice and seems to be more inclined to try the longer events, and Brett's dedication (hasn't missed a pracitce since May, a run over over 50+ practices) has really made him stronger...

Hoping for good things...

Breeze · 10-09-2013, 11:53 AM

2013 SCAT Fall Invitational - Results

Brett

200 IM – 2:56.92 – So this race started with the 50 fly leg, and Brett's fly is still very stiff and painful to watch, but despite all that he is starting to understand the form, he just needs to get stronger with it and relax and race rather than focus on the form. He was last a way behind the field after the fly, but by the end of the back, he had caught the trailing swimmers, and by the end of the breast he was middle of the pack. He held on to his spot in free and posted a personal best of 2:46.58, an improvement of 10+ seconds...and still with the slow fly leg...

100 FR – 1:09.04 – Given this race was just 2 weeks removed from time trials I didn't expect a huge improvement here, but I was wrong...1:06.24, dropped 2.8 seconds in 2 weeks...

50 FL – 38.41 – After watching Brett swim this race, I take back what I said, I do think he is capable of swimming the 100 fly (maybe even the 200), but it would be painfully slow and potentially embarass him...so I'm glad he didn't have to do it. Finished with a 42.55...this is the one stroke that is still way below average

50 BR – 38.38 – Brett enjoyed this one, and he looked very smooth. Seemed to find a nice compromise between, stroke and glide. Dropped 1.5 seconds and posted a personal best 36.88 - he also finished 3rd overall for 13 year olds in this event.

200 FR – 2:29.65 – The improvements in this stroke in the 100 over the last two meets, carried over in this one, as he dropped 8.44 seconds from his personal best and finished with a 2:21.21 (some very interesting split information on this event that I'll post later at the bottom).

50 FR – 32.88 – Brett's sprints still need some work. Unlike the good sprinters with their powerful kicks creating a white froth in the water, Brett's feet barely break the surface...however, he is still improving with a drop of 1.81 seconds fora time of 31.07

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

Bear

200 IM – 2:52.71 - Bear’s fly looked like Brett's...in was errie how similar they were. So obviously Bear has some work to do. As it turns out, he posted an almost identical time to his seed...2:52.74. His improvements in breast weren't apparent here, and his back was stiff. His free looked good, but his fly is worse than it used to be...for now...

100 Breast – 1:37.02 – After the fly leg in the IM I didn't expect much here, but he surprised me with a 1:35.73

200 Back – NT – Did pretty well here with a 2:45.26...only 3 seconds from a state cut...I still think that Bear has done this event in the past, but it appears that SwimAtlanta purged all the times he posted while swimming for them from the USASwimming site. I have an old spreadsheet somewhere with most of that data on it...I'll see if I can dig it up...

200 Free – 2:30.79 – This is one of the two events that Bear was looking forward to...and he did a very nice job with a 2:23.73...only 2 seconds from a state cut.

100 Fly – 1:26.59 – Painful...1:30.60...

500 Free - 6:36.38 – This was the one Bear was most excited about. He really felt he could sprint the entire thing. His coach however didn't want him to overwork at the start of the season, and told him to go out controlled. Of course that concept was lost on Bear and he isn't sophisticated enough right now to understand controlled vs. slow...and he took it out way to conservatively. We finally got his attention and he posted a strong tail end of the race to end up with a huge negative split and an excellent time of 6:20.64, and our first state cut of the season (not counting carryovers from long course). Here are his splits...with coaches comments...

Code:


50    -     36.80
100    -     41.51 (1:18.31) - what the heck was that...tell him to go faster
150    -     39.58 (1:57.89) - shakes his head, still needs to pick it up a little
200    -     38.79 (2:36.68) - That's better...
250    -     39.20 (3:15.88) - 
300    -     38.17 (3:54.05) - Now he's gotten into a better rythem.
350    -     36.44 (4:30.49) - Holy crap...he has so much left it's ridiculous...tell him to go harder
400    -     36.35 (5:06.84) - keep pushing him to go hard...he's doing great
450    -     37.19 (5:44.03) - 
500    -     36.61 (6:20.64) - Wow...what a finish...last two 100s...1:12.79, and 1:13.80...Opening 100 was 1:18.31, followed by 1:18.37 and 1:17.37

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

Bailey

200 IM – 2:49.98 – didn't look great...bad dive, rested WAY to much on the back leg, and breast is still a challenge for her. Dropped 1.45 seconds 2:48.53

100 Breast – 1:34.77 – still needs work. A bit better than the end of the year last year, but way off when she was swimming the stroke well... 1:40.35

200 Back – NT – Good swim 2:43.82, but could have used a bit more effort here....

200 Free – 2:31.13 – All her talk about being excited to do the longer races appears to be more about convencing herself she can do it...as she actually added time here...2:31.54 - way behind the boys' times...which is surprising...

100 Fly 1:15.17 – Form is still good...arms appear to be getting a bit to wide so she isn't getting a deep strong, efficient pull, but she did manage to drop some time 1:14.84

100 IM – 1:17.43 – should have been DQed, started out with a quick Free stroke, but all the officials (and there were 3 that were right there looking at the race and any one of them could have seen it)...she said her goggles came off a bit and she panicked when it did, and she forgot what she was doing. She also figured she was DQed so she sort of coasted to a 1:21.91

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

Here are the 200 Free Splits for Brett and Bear...

Code:


          Brett    Bear
50        33.57    33.43
100       35.44    37.48
150       36.68    36.54
200       35.52    36.28

other than the second 50 for Bear they were almost identical...
by the way...coach wasn't happy with that second 50...
told Bear he coasted too much...

Breeze · 11-01-2013, 10:11 AM

General Update

We have our out of town event next weekend, in Spartenburg, SC. I'll post the events the kids are swimming shortly, but right now I have a couple of notes to pass along.

1. We received an email at the beginning of the week informing us that Bailey earned an all-star towel for swimming a AAA time in the 50 fly last short course season.

2. We are still waiting for confirmation, but right now it looks like Bear's swim at Long Course State in the 1500 was not only good enough to go to Short Course State this year, but to also qualify for Short Course Sectionals...

Breeze · 11-05-2013, 11:25 AM

YSSC Thanksgiving Invitational – Nov 8 – 10, Spartanburg, SC

Bailey (better dives/starts/turns are one of the primary focuses of this meet)

200 IM – 2:48.53 – Breast is coming around, and coach has told her to push hard through the back portion…I think we’ll see an improvement here.

500 Free – Not thrilled about swimming this one…we’ll see if she pushes hard on it or not. If she does, she’ll improve, if she pouts she won’t.

400 IM – Entered but won’t swim it…This is an open event (everybody from all age groups swim the same race). They are only allowing 48 swimmers in the event, and she’s seeded lower than that because she is coming in with a NT…

200 Free Relay – Bailey will swim the third leg on the C relay team.

200 Back – NT – Bailey has this state cut, because of long course last season, but her coach wants her to earn the short course cut time. She thinks she can do it in this race.

50 Fly – 33.18 – Thinks she can get the cut here as well

100 Free – 1:07.57 – Working on getting higher elbows in this stroke and it is taking a while for her to get the benefit from the change. Not sure if it will show up in this race or not

200 Free – 2:31.12 – see the 100 above

50 Back – 35.20 – she thinks she’s primed to do well here – and I think she will as long as she doesn’t go too deep on the start and turn.

100 Fly – 1:14.84 – expect a similar time to her seed here (unless she is worn out from all the other events above)

Note: Because Bailey won’t be swimming the 400 IM, the coach is considering having her deck enter the 200 fly. She is again intimidated by that…we’ll see how it plays out.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear (needs to work on racing all these new changes to his strokes…stop being so deliberate)

200 IM - 2:52.71 – If he attacks the race, should drop his time some. Fly is better, but it wears him out so the back half of that 50 may tell the tail on his results.

500 Free - 6:20.64 – Top seeded 11 year old, and he has more speed in him. When he swam this earlier this season he coasted too much. We’ll see how much he drops this time around.

400 IM – like Bailey, won’t be swimming it for exactly the same reason

200 Free Relay – Bear will lead off the C relay with 3 of his buddies from the team…

200 Breast – NT – I know he’s done this event before…but doesn’t matter his time coming in isn’t great. I expect he’ll do ok here. If he could somehow keep a steady rhythm, he might actually do good.

100 IM – 1:22.29 – could improve significantly here. Not saying he will, but if he pushes hard, he could drop several seconds.

100 Free - 1:10.83 – His free has looked good lately, hopefully it will translate to improved times.

1000 Free – Bear will not be swimming this event for the same reason he isn’t swimming the 400 IM…AND HE IS VERY BUMMED ABOUT IT….

200 Medley Relay – Bear has the fly leg on the C relay…

100 Fly – 1:26.59 – Bear’s fly is technically better, but I’m not sure it is faster than his Personal Best from the past. I do think we are approaching that number, and he’s certainly faster than he has been during the stroke transformation and growth spurt, hopefully he’ll get a new PB in this one. It would be very helpful for his self esteem

50 Free – 31.46 – Hoping he can get sub 31…

200 Back – 2:45.26 – If he can stay straight…and he goes hard, he should improve his time.

Note: Coach is looking for additional events for Bear to deck enter given the events that he didn’t qualify for…and 200 fly isn’t out of play…
-----------------------------------------------------------

Brett

200 IM - 2:46.58 - It's all on the fly. A good opening leg and he'll get a personal best.

500 Free – 6:52.84 – I expect a HUGE improvement here. 30 seconds would not surprise me.

100 Breast – 1:20.44 – had a big improvement earlier this season, not sure we are ready for another one

200 Back – 2:58.13 – Brett’s been improvement significantly this season, hopefully, he continue here

400 IM – NT – Brett will be swimming this…and he’s not thrilled. If his improved fly will hold up for a 100, he could post a decent time

200 Free – 2:21.21 – he’s improved here already this season thanks to improved stamina…

200 Breast - 2:59.00 – Could see a drop coming in this one.

100 Fly - 1:29.94 – like Bear, his stroke is much better than it has been, but it hasn’t completely translated to speed. I hope that he gets a personal best here…it would be big for him

1000 Free – Like Bear he won’t be swimming this event.

Note: Coach is also looking for additional events for Brett…

Breeze · 11-07-2013, 10:02 AM

YSSC Thanksgiving Invitational - General Update

Unfortunately, this update has nothing to do with swimming but rather the joys of traveling and hotels. On Tuesday night we received a call letting us know that the hotel the reserved our rooms with (the team hotel) is overbooked and they have relocated us to another hotel in the area. This is extremely infuriating for a ton of reasons...

1. We booked the hotel on Sept 6th and they failed to let us know about the overbooking until 3 days before we were supposed to be there, leaving us no time to find an alternative hotel.

2. We booked a 2 room suite for the 5 of us, and we've been placed in a regular room at the other hotel and it only saves us $10/night

3. We were told that they determined who needed to be moved based on date the reservations were made. Meaning that the "team rate" rooms were filled up before our booking on Sept 6th...however we've talked to 2 team members who are getting the team rate and booked a couple of days after we did.

4. The only response we are getting from the hotel is "Sorry, we overbooked"...no concessions of any kind...

This is going to place us in a different hotel away from the kids friends, we are going to be much more crowded and based on the hotel ratings we are going from a 4+ start to a hotel just barely over 3...

Breeze · 11-07-2013, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Breeze

YSSC Thanksgiving Invitational - General Update

Unfortunately, this update has nothing to do with swimming but rather the joys of traveling and hotels. On Tuesday night we received a call letting us know that the hotel the reserved our rooms with (the team hotel) is overbooked and they have relocated us to another hotel in the area. This is extremely infuriating for a ton of reasons...

1. We booked the hotel on Sept 6th and they failed to let us know about the overbooking until 3 days before we were supposed to be there, leaving us no time to find an alternative hotel.

2. We booked a 2 room suite for the 5 of us, and we've been placed in a regular room at the other hotel and it only saves us $10/night

3. We were told that they determined who needed to be moved based on date the reservations were made. Meaning that the "team rate" rooms were filled up before our booking on Sept 6th...however we've talked to 2 team members who are getting the team rate and booked a couple of days after we did.

4. The only response we are getting from the hotel is "Sorry, we overbooked"...no concessions of any kind...

This is going to place us in a different hotel away from the kids friends, we are going to be much more crowded and based on the hotel ratings we are going from a 4+ start to a hotel just barely over 3...

Finally got a response from the general manager...they are going to give us two regular rooms for the price of a suite. Unfortunately, they don't have any rooms that have the adjoining door...but we will be next to each other, we'll have plenty of room, and the kids will be with their friends.

Breeze · 11-19-2013, 03:39 PM

YSSC Thanksgiving Invitational - Results

Brett

200 IM - 2:46.58 – Did ok in the opening fly leg and posted a personal best 2:43.52

500 Free – 6:52.84 – Strong swim from Brett and his improvements even exceeded my expectations. He finished with a 6:09.02. A drop of 43 seconds, and the coach feels he can do even better now that he is learning how to swim this event.

100 Breast – 1:20.44 – overworked this swim…trying to work on undulating more in the stroke…but he forced it rather than allowing the rhythm to work for him…1:23.74

200 Back – 2:58.13 – The better kick, longer stroke and a bit faster arm rotation resulted in an improved time of 2:38.71

400 IM – NT – wasn’t thrilled about swimming it, but never complained, and never hesitated. He didn’t do great, but did ok…5:46.86

200 Free – 2:21.21 – Took this one a little to nonchalant…don’t know if the pace from the 500 threw him off, but he added a couple of seconds 2:23.76

200 Breast - 2:59.00 – After the poor swim in the 100 on Saturday, I didn’t hold much hope of an improvement in the 200…but this time Brett got in a nice rhythm, and really worked to keep up with the swimmer to his inside shoulder. He ended up not only improving, but dropping almost 8 seconds. 2:51.60

100 Fly - 1:29.94 – Form is better, but speed is lacking…1:40.59

1000 Free – He actually got into this event…and the improvement in the 500 carried over to this event. Turned most of his 50s in low 38s..and on the back half dropped the final few 50s to mid 37s. Finished with a 12:30.73...that is a drop of about 1 minute 40 seconds…Coach was thrilled with this swim and Brett has already requested to swim teh 1650 at the next meet.

Breeze · 11-21-2013, 11:56 AM

YSSC Thanksgiving Invitational - Results

Bear

200 IM - 2:52.71 – DQed…Bear came into this event feeling bad. He’d struggled with a sore throat for days, including missing 2 practices (once to go to doctor to get a swap for strep, and once because he was just feeling too bad to swim). He wasn’t swimming great when he made an illegal flip turn going from back to breast. Clearly a lack of focus, and when he got out, he told us his throat was killing him and he ended up pulling a NS for the 500 Free.

500 Free - 6:20.64 – NS – see above.

400 IM – Didn’t make the cut of the top 48 swimmers.

200 Free Relay – By Saturday Bear was feeling much better. He ended up starting off the B relay and surprisingly…he swam the fastest split even with a cold start, posting a personal best 30.11

200 Breast – NT – Was doing extremely well in this race, but for some reason after swimming 175 yards, he saw me cheering and thought I told him to stop…so he did (ugh)…He still finished in a time that almost earned a state cut 3:18.36. (and yes I told him for at least the tenth time, after you’ve gone that far in a race, there is absolutely no reason to stop until you hit the final wall).

100 IM – 1:22.29 – Another good swim, bolstered by his improved breast 1:20.65.

100 Free - 1:10.83 – Huge improvement here. I think the strong swim in the relay really got his confidence up. Cut over 4 seconds. 1:06.52

1000 Free – as expected he didn’t swim.

200 Medley Relay – Ended up swimming back on the B relay and did a nice job swimming in the low 37s…

100 Fly – 1:26.59 – Another drop in time, and the form is getting better 1:24.14

50 Free – 31.46 – Didn’t get sub 31 in this race, fatigue most likely, but came close and his time in the relay is still a recognized personal best 31.19

200 Back – 2:45.26 –Not a good swim…very deliberate, and turns, while technically good, lacked explosion. Last race of the weekend so not completely unexpected (and he swam a bunch of races on Sunday with the deck adds listed below)…2:52.03

200 Free – 2:23.73 – Deck Entered - A good swim, but Bear didn’t like it…2:25.75

100 Back – 1:24.88 - Deck Entered – Awesome effort here. His turns were extremely strong (as commented by one of the assistant coaches I was standing with while the race was going)…really improved his time as well 1:19.79

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

Breeze · 11-26-2013, 10:25 AM

YSSC Thanksgiving Invitational – Results

Bailey

200 IM – 2:48.53 – Much better turns and her breaststroke was improved as well, leading to a big improvement 2:42.17.

500 Free – Bailey’s seed time coming in was a 6:47.13…I knew she had a time, just wasn’t sure what it was. Her increased endurance paid off here in a big way with a time of 6:21.40. That is a personal best, she is still behind her brothers here, but at least she is now in the same ballpark.

400 IM – DNP – no spot available as expected

200 Free Relay – Bailey was moved up to the B Free…her team finished fifth, but there was a timing error in her lane, so not sure about her split.

200 Breast – NT – Getting some better…it is a long haul yet…3:20.06

50 Fly – 33.18 – dropped about a quarter of a second 32.99, still needs to cut about half a second to get her cut.

100 Free – 1:07.57 –…had a solid swim in the 100 Free 1:07.83. Consistent, but I’m betting we see a drop here the next time she swims it.

200 Free – 2:31.12 – wasn’t feeling well on Sunday, had a bad headache…so didn’t swim

200 Medley Relay – Got into the B Medley swimming the fly. Was still dealing with a sick headache, but didn’t want to let the team down…so she swam it, and did an awesome job! I was thoroughly impressed. Her backstroker and breaststroker both swam poorly in the relay. The B team was trailing everyone around her, including the C team from Gold 2 lanes over. But by the time Bailey was finished with her leg, they had passed all 3 lanes on her end of the pool. It was a very strong swim, especially, with her not feeling well…

50 Back – 35.20 – still dealing with a bad headache, managed a 35.47…

100 Fly – 1:14.84 – Had a long break after the 50 back and her headache was gone by the time this event started. She was hoping to get a state cut, and she started strong. Turns were better, until the last one, and she managed a personal best 1:12.63, which is not only a state cut, but is 1.5 seconds under the needed time.

Breeze · 11-27-2013, 07:41 AM

General Update

So a couple of things to report...

The Good News
Bailey has been doing extremely well in practice. So well in fact, she has been moved into the Sectional Advanced lanes. Currently, she is still considered a Sectionals swimmer, but while she is at practice she is swimming the harder sets. This is a trial period for her, and if she continues to do well over the next couple of weeks she'll be promoted to the Sectionals Advanced team.

The Bad News
Brett has developed some shoulder issues. It has been bothering him for a couple of weeks, causing him to have to shut down all upper body work in practice several days a week. We are icing the shoulder every night, and giving him Advil before practice. If the pain continues the coach is going to force him to just kick for 2 weeks and we'll be heading to a doctor to get it examined.

Breeze · 12-10-2013, 11:54 AM

2013 Gold Esperanto Invite - @ Cumming Aquatic Center, Dec 13-15

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Brett

200 Medley : 2:43.52 - just started testing his bad shoulder with some limited two arm fly. This will be the only fly he swims during the meet

50 Free : 31:07 – Wants to get sub 31…

200 Free : 2:21.21 – Don’t think he can drop time in this one again…not yet.

100 Back : 1:18.67 – Arm rotation count is the key…

100 Breast : 1:20.44 – Coming off a bad time at the last meet in this one.

100 Free : 1:06.24 – He thinks that he can improve here based on some interval times he’s hit in practice

200 Back : 2:38.71 – See 100 Back

200 Breast : 2:51.60 – Big drop in the last meet, not sure he can improve on that, especially late in the weekend

1650 Free : NT – He’s in the mile, and honestly I think he’s a reserved excited. After his good swim in the 1000 last meet, he immediately asked his coach to do this one …he could do pretty well.

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

Bear

200 Medley : 2:52.71 – with improved strokes all around, I expect a drop here

50 Free : 30.11 – One of the coaches tweaked the way Bear breathes on the Free and his times in intervals have been dropping. If he can do it in a race, might go sub 30…

1000 Free : 12:59.00 – This is a made up time, to ensure Bear got to swim this event…Coach thinks the improved breathing technique might by itself lead to a 15 second drop in this event

400 Medley : 5:59.00 – This is a made up time, not sure what to expect, I doubt his form will hold through this entire event.

200 Free : 2:23.73 – Went 2:18 in an interval at the end of a 2 hour practice, then followed it up with a 2:24 after an 18 second rest.

200 Back : 2:45.26 – All about body position for Bear. If his legs are in the right spot he’ll drop time

50 Breast : 45.82 – His Breast has improved a bunch, should drop time here.

200 Breast: 3:18.36 – This time included a stop on the last 50 in the middle of the pool. If he swims through should drop time and maybe get a state cut

100 Free : 1:06.52 – Another area where Breathing changes could make a big impact.

100 Breast : 1:35.73 – End of the meet swim, not sure how much he’ll have left.

200 Fly : NT – This could be torture at the end of the meet…

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

Bailey

200 Medley : 2:42.17 – She expects a drop here

50 Free : 30.19 – Doesn’t talk about her Free much right now, so not sure where she stands on this one.

1000 Free : NT – currently two swimmers from getting into this event. I think she’ll have to swim it though, she’s apprehensive…

200 Free : 2:31.13 – See the 50 Free, but her increased practice reps, should result in an improvement here.

200 Back : 2:43.82 – Says her back is getting better…

200 Fly : NT – Anxious about swimming this one, but Coach told her that if she swims it the way he expects, she could challenge the sectional cut…he expects her to get the state cut. Did work with her on Breathing every other stroke on fly for this race in particular.

400 Medley : NT – swam it in long course, and has been chomping at the bit to do it short course. For a girl that doesn’t like long swims, she is pumped for this one.

100 Free : 1:07.57 – Don’t know what to expect, but a guess would be about a full second drop.

100 Back : 1:16.96 – see 200 Back

100 Breast : 1:34.77 – she might be finally ready to break her really old Personal Best here…

50 Fly : 32.99 – Even at the end of the meet, I think she’ll drop time here.

Breeze · 12-12-2013, 09:26 AM

General Update

There are quite a few funny things that happen at swimming. I don't report many because they are situational and wouldn't probably translate on the board. But yesterday one occurred that you'll probably find funny...

At 5:30 the kids were getting ready for practice. Brett was having a hard time finding a suit to wear (probably because he was distracted not because he doesn't have like 5 to choose from). He finally went upstairs to get dressed, started talked with Bear then a little while later came down and had his snack. The family got to the pool early, and the kids started visiting with their friends. About 3 minutes before practice the kids start to strip down and line up. Well...

Brett took off his warm up pants, and noticed that the bottom of his suit was pretty high on his thigh, which isn't uncommon as it can roll up. So he started to pull it down, only to find the waist started to come down too. Then he realized - IT WASN'T A SUIT AT ALL - IT WAS HIS UNDERWEAR. He had completely failed to put a bathing suit on...as his ADHD obviously was working overtime and he got distracted when he was getting dressed.

The wife was watching the whole thing from the stands...and she started laughing and shaking her head. One of the coaches walked by and said, "Brett?", and she responded..."Yep, he's the most intelligent, idiot you've ever met..."

Had a nice laugh about this when I got home. Brett was pretty sheepish about his boneheaded move.

Breeze · 12-17-2013, 04:26 PM

2013 Gold Esperanto Invite - RESULTS

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Brett

200 Medley : 2:43.52 - just started testing his bad shoulder with some limited two arm fly. This will be the only fly he swims during the meet
RESULT: opened with a 40.23 fly leg…obviously not great, but given he hasn’t been practicing it and given his problems with the stroke as recently as the Summer, this is a great time. This improvement led to a personal best 2:40.70.

50 Free : 31:07 – Wants to get sub 31…
RESULT: Terrible dive ended chances of sub-31…but result was pretty much the same as personal best, so I think he’ll get sub 31 next time…31.25

200 Free : 2:21.21 – Don’t think he can drop time in this one again…not yet.
RESULT: I was wrong…dropped half a second…honestly, his kick was sloppy (feet bumping into each other), and he didn’t do any underwater work coming off the walls, he can drop more time in this – 2:20.68

100 Back : 1:18.67 – Arm rotation count is the key…
RESULT: Another terrible start, deep without good form on underwater streamline, but didn’t matter, swam a personal best by almost 1.5 seconds – 1:17.21

100 Breast : 1:20.44 – Coming off a bad time at the last meet in this one.
RESULT: This was an interesting one, Brett, who currently weighs about 85 lbs. was next to a kid that was easily 6’2” and 240…The huge kid had dynamic pullouts, but Brett was much faster in the middle of the pool. In long course this is no contest, Brett kills him. Here, every time Brett caught up, they’d get to the wall, and he’d be over a body length back. Brett has to improve the dolphin kick portion of the pull-out. He did get a personal best 1:20.01.

100 Free : 1:06.24 – He thinks that he can improve here based on some interval times he’s hit in practice
RESULT: Still sloppy kicks and poor effort coming off walls, but did drop 1.41 seconds…1:04.83

200 Back : 2:38.71 – See 100 Back
RESULT: So Brett was doing great for the first 145…but right before the turn for the 150 he starting looking back over his head to the wall…what he was actually doing was looking to see if anyone was finished. He had managed to lose count of his laps and wasn’t sure if he was finished. This cost him some time, then he did it again at the 200 point…in fact, he did it so much he turned to his belly to flip thinking he had another 50 to go, then figured out he didn’t and finished the heat on his stomach – which is completely illegal and he should have been DQed, but somehow all 800 or so people in the stands saw it, but the 4 officials on deck missed it. Personal Best (sort of) 2:37.54 (also Coach made him re-swim it for time at practice Monday and he got a 2:36 low…)

200 Breast : 2:51.60 – Big drop in the last meet, not sure he can improve on that, especially late in the weekend
RESULT: Looked really strong in this one. Blew away the field in his heat, and in fact, beat 2 kids from the faster heat. Posted a big time improvement at 2:45.48

1650 Free : NT – He’s in the mile, and honestly I think he’s a reserved excited. After his good swim in the 1000 last meet, he immediately asked his coach to do this one …he could do pretty well.
RESULT: Did extremely well. Coach was hoping for under 1:20 splits and thought something in the 1:15s, where he kept his 1000 last month would be awesome…
1:11.99
1:18.54
1:17.13
1:18.08
1:15.31
1:16.00
1:16.19
1:15.49
1:15.07
1:15.87
1:15.53
1:15.86
1:15.54
1:15.88
1:15.14
1:14.83

Total 20:40.00

06-19-2013, 11:44 AM	#302
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Swim with Dad @ GaTech 6/15-6/16 Bear *200 Free - 2:55.40* - Went out hard...knowing that based on his performances in the 400 and 800 that he should be able to post a much better time here. He ended up with an improvement of over 8 seconds...2:46.97...he also put himself into striking distance of a cut...he'll need a great swim to cut more time here, but with him moving up to Region practice (now 3 times a week)...he might be able to pull it off... *200 IM - NT* - Didn't screw up the turn this time, and he posted a very good time of 3:16.95 *100 Breast - 1:56.79* - The seed time here isn't actually his personal best...that would be a 1:52.82 that he swam at Long Course State last year...he did beat his seed time by a bunch but didn't get his personal best - 1:53.74 *400 Free - 5:50.95 -* - after a 200 Free, 200 IM, and a 100 Breast (which is very taxing for Bear), he really had nothing left, posting a 5:57.00 - he was very disappointed with this... *50 Breast - 55.67* - again the seed time isn't a personal best, that would be a SA time of 54.24...but it is irrelevant, because he did post a personal best this time with a 53.59 *100 Free - 1:19.90* - Swam against Brett in this one. They were on opposite sides of the pool, but in the same heat nevertheless...it's interesting to watch them race, because they are so opposite in their approaches...Bear works hard...exerts a lot of energy and pounds the water, Brett is very diliberate but efficient and seems to glide when he swims. Bear posted a personal best, but barely...1:19.76 *50 Back - 45.21* - Bear's back looked better than it had in months during the IM on Saturday, so I expected a good time here. He actually slipped on the start which hurt, but he was very good in the middle of the pool, and even with the slip start he improved with a time of 44.68, with a good start he could drop another second and he might even be able to slip under a state cut with a good swim, but we are running out of opportunities... *200 Breast - 4:03.53* - Breast was much stronger again, in fact it was so good he got fussed at. Based on his splits the coaches told him he should have done better in the 50 and the 100...in this one he seemed to hold his efficient stroke together longer. He has a tendency to get to up and down and when he does, he really doesn't go anywhere. The personal best time of 3:59.95 was a nice improvement... Last edited by Breeze : 06-23-2013 at 12:01 AM.

06-19-2013, 12:30 PM	#303
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Swim with Dad @ GaTech 6/15-6/16 Brett *50 Fly - 47.64* - been working on this stroke, but he's still in the form focus stage, not the racing stage...so I didn't expect him to break his seed time, or his actual personal best of 46.96, and he didn't. He did look much better. Very solid stroke, with feet together and good body position with high hips and shoulders low even when breathing. Now he needs to get comfortable with it so he can reproduce the stroke without thinking about it and then race it...49.27 *200 IM - 3:26.92* - only the second time he's raced this to my memory, and because of that and the improvement that usu, and the fact his strokes are getting better, I expected a big improvement over the last time. The fly was slow, but actually better than the 50 from earlier in the morning by almost a full second. The back was solid...but when he got to the wall Brett was 5th at the turn and going into the Breat the leader was a third of the pool ahead. However, Brett was moving on this stroke and it became obvious pretty quickly into the 3rd leg that he might have a chance to catch the leader before the Breast ended...and amazingly he did...he was first to the wall after the Breast. He even held off the previous leader for most of the freestyle but finally lost with about 15 meters to go...HUGE improvement 3:15.14 *50 Free - 38.68* - After the great 200 IM, I was hopeful for a good improvement here...and he pulled it off...36.54 *400 Free - 6:23.58* - second time swimming, and going to practice 8 times in 6 days, I felt he'd hold up better and improve a bunch...but I didn't expect an improvement of 30 seconds...5:55.32 50 Breast - 43.49 - Start of day 2, with the 100 fly looming at the end of the day. Brett was very uptight about that, and it showed in this race. He was stiff and sluggish...he finished with a poor time of 44.51 *100 Free - 1:18.39* - see Bear's write up...Brett improved slightly too - 1:18.20 *50 Back - 47.45* - been swimming this better so I expected an improvement...he executed here as well 45.91 *100 Fly - NT* - the dreaded event. Brett was still very uptight about this one, but he managed to get all the way through without breaking stroke, swollowing water, hanging on the wall, or slipping into a breaststroke. Finished and that was the goal 1:53.08 Last edited by Breeze : 06-19-2013 at 12:30 PM.

06-21-2013, 04:15 PM	#306
Izulde Head Coach Join Date: Sep 2004	Hell of a meet for Brett at the Swim with Dad. Hopefully that'll give him more confidence heading into the rest of summer (I see another meet was posted since then with not spectacular results due to fatigue) and the fall. __________________ 2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty)

06-23-2013, 08:24 AM	#307
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Hey Izulde Yeah, Brett had an amazing Saturday in the meet last weekend. Sunday was good, but he was really dreading the 100 Fly and I believe it kept him from relaxing and swimming well early. He's really committed right now. He's shooting for 100% attendance in practice for June...and it is paying off in a big way... As for the Thursday night swims, they are very tough on Brett. The 2 hour practice only 2 hours before the meets makes it hard, and there is so much going on, there is a lot of down time, and it can get quite late before he swims that he loses focus (kids without ADHD lose focus so you can image how hard it is on one that has it). The County Meet is Saturday, I'll be writing up some stuff on that. I'm not sure I can convey all the items that run through my head, because they are so dynamic based on who swims what, who's going to State, if/then scenarios...etc...but I'll try to explain as best I can... Last edited by Breeze : 06-23-2013 at 08:25 AM.

06-25-2013, 12:21 AM	#311
thealmighty Pro Starter Join Date: May 2003 Location: heaven	Could you explain all the "not going to state" kids. What's the deal, putting in so much practice time to qualify and then not going (or did I miss some other explanation on another page)? __________________ Check out The Unofficial FOFC Movie Guide Here

06-19-2013, 09:33 AM	#301
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Swim with Dad @ GaTech 6/15-6/16 Bailey *200 Free - 2:55.43* - Not a good swim...added several seconds 2:59.19 *50 Fly - 38.31* - Basically swam the same time...up just .3 38.62 *200 IM - 3:16.56* - Breaststroke looked much better as she was able to maintain her position in relation to the leaders. This improvement was the biggest factor in a signficant improvement...3:09.45 *100 Back - 1:31.73* - Basically the same time, only this time with a slight improvement 1:31.48 *200 Back - NT* - Pretty good swim for a first go round...if she can drop a decent amount of time due to a comfort level in this race the second time she swims (which often happens), she might earn a state cut...3:13.82 *100 Free - 1:17.37* - Looked very good here (hopefully that bodes well for her sprint in the county meet in a couple of weeks), 1:16.14 *50 Back - 40.67* - was hoping for a state cut, but similar to a few years ago when she was so close to the back cut but never got it, she seemed to want it too badly and she actually added time. She's also going to work with the coach on her backstroke starts as she slipped on the start of both backstroke races which cost her time...41.72 *100 Fly - 1:26.02* - no improvement added about a half a second, too many consecutive breaths...if she gets that worked out, she'll probably improve on her personal best by about a second or more...1:26.65

06-19-2013, 04:07 PM	#304
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Summer League - Aberdeen vs CRC Swimming against Aberdeen again. The last couple of years we've battle with this team on Thursday nights and at county. They beat us a couple years ago by 12 or so points, and we beat them last year by like 6...but they keep beating us at County for the 3rd place trophy. I suspect they will beat us bad tomorrow (6/20), due to a much larger and better older age group... Here is what the kids will be swimming Bailey B Medley Relay - Fly Leg 100 IM 50 Fly B Free Relay - leadoff Leg Bear A Medley Relay - Fly Leg 100 IM 50 Fly A Free Relay - Leadoff Leg Brett A Medley Relay - Breast Leg 50 Free 50 Breast A Free Relay - 3rd Leg

06-21-2013, 11:25 AM	#305
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Summer League – Aberdeen vs CRC For the third year in a row, the CRC/Aberdeen matchup was extremely close. In fact, I thought we were going to lose due to the lack of older swimmers and because we were out touched in 3 consecutive fly races…losing by less than .5 seconds each time. However, we somehow won the meet 403 to 393… Here’s how the kids did… ------------------------------------------------------------ Bailey *200 Medley Relay* - Didn’t get to see the Medley Relay, but they didn’t do particularly well. The coach screwed around with the lineup to get a different girl in and she moved some strong swimmers to weaker strokes and the team ended up being much slower…they finished third anyway – so it didn’t matter. *100 IM* – A loaded heat, Bailey, Rayley, MK, along with Haley and Emily from Aberdeen. All year-round swimmers. MK Won going away – breaststroke proved to be the big difference, Rayley pulled away from Bailey and Haley in the free to take second and Bailey took third beating Haley by a full second. She posted a 1:17.31 *50 Fly* – Again a strong field…Kate and Caroline from CRC and Meg (another year rounder from Aberdeen). Kate won by a couple seconds, Meg finished second and Caroline just out touched Bailey. Bailey’s big issue is she’s underwater too long. Technically it is the right play, but in these races she needs to get to the surface a bit quicker. If she does at county I’m guessing at least a .5 second improvement. *200 Free Relay* – Led off, and stayed with both the A relay swimmers from CRC and Aberdeen. Was less than half a body length behind. Team still finished third. Bailey had the same issue here at Fly…too long underwater. She’s just not strong enough underwater to keep up yet… ------------------------------------------------------ Bear *200 Medley Relay* – wasn’t there to see it…but my understanding from talking with people who were, Bear was able to open up the lead slightly from the one handed to him by Brett, but the typical Freestyler was out and the boy that filled in wasn’t very good and gave up the lead by the 25 yard turn. They ended up losing by 3 seconds. *100 IM* – Bear had no shot to win…the Aberdeen swimmer who did win could win at county too…Bear did do very well though posting 1:21.65, a full second improvement over two weeks ago…Finished a second overall and a full 4 seconds ahead of third. *50 Fly* – Bear’s fly looks so much better. He was the first of the 3 straight fly swimmers out touched at the wall mentioned above. His biggest downfall was his turn, much slower than his opponent and it cost him. He was able to close on the back half but lost by .2. Did swim a 36.75… *200 Free Relay* – Led off and opened a 2 body length lead, but the same kid that anchored the Medley relay was passed in the second leg and Brett and Riley came up .6 seconds short of catching Aberdeen… ------------------------------------------------- Brett *200 Medley Relay* – from what I was told, Brett was half a body length behind at the dive, and was 2 body lengths up at the wall… *50 Free* – Mediocre swim for Brett, was hoping for more…but 32.6 area is what he posted. I’m sure fatigue from practice a couple of hours before plays a part here. *50 Breast* – Brett got in trouble for screwing around prior to this race, and he was moping a bit. In fact, he said he wasn’t going to swim, but I told him that wasn’t an option….he did swim and won going away. Again a mediocre time, he finished in 39.83…I was hoping for a 37 level swim. *200 Free* – Brett was 3 to 4 body lengths behind when he dove in. He cut it some, but not enough….

06-24-2013, 11:36 AM	#308
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	This weekend is a big one for us...we have 2 swim meets, the Summer League County Championship & The Stu Hixon meet for year round, which is a prelim/finals meet. We are going to be very busy and there is a bunch riding on several of these swims...I'll start detailing below...

06-24-2013, 12:19 PM	#309
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Summer League County Championships The county meet is always a fun one, and the one that got the family started down the path of being year-round swimmers. The CRC team, has done well the past couple of years including a most improved 3 years ago and back to back fourth place finishes (in case you are wondering there are about 20 teams in the county). The team has been trying hard to earn a team trophy by getting into the top 3, and last year we came up about 20 points short. This year, the county meet has been rolled under a different organization and the scoring has changed significantly so I don’t have a feel for how the team will ultimately do. Moreover, SwimAtlanta like Gold has a year-round meet this weekend as well, and their meet is in Auburn, because of this CRCs two best swimmers won’t be participating at county. Due to the lack of older swimmers, and the absence of CRCs two best, if the event was scored like it had been in past, CRC would be hard pressed to hang on to fourth. The big goal individually at the county meet is to earn a medal (top 3 places, not counting anyone exhibitioning the event) and to earn a spot on the County’s State Team (top 3 finishers that have agreed to swim at the State Meet), which is like a County All-Star team. I’ll detail my kids chances below…

06-24-2013, 03:52 PM	#310
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Summer League County Championships For the County Meet, each swimmer can pick 3 races, 2 to swim for points, and 1 to exhibition (in order to get a time and be considered for the State relay teams). On our team the kids initially pick the events they want to swim, but then some adjustments are made to maximize points, under the previous scoring rules only 2 kids could score per team per event, so no use in putting 3 good swimmers in the same event and wasting points (the new system apparently doesn’t limit a team to just 2 kids scoring per event). Thus we try to project what events the county heavyweights are going to choose and determine where our best chance to be successful might be. There are only 6 races… Short Free Long Free Back IM Breast Fly And most all of the heavyweights pick the short free to exhibition for the Free Relay. That leaves just 5 races with the IM and long free being standalone (no possibility of getting on a relay in those events), the options of what to swim start to get really small… ----------------------------------------------------------- Bailey I know I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears repeating here…there are a lot more female swimmers, especially under 14 years old, which makes it much tougher for Bailey to do well when she’s on the younger end of the age group. The female swimmers are also typically more dedicated so if they swim at County, they are likely to swim at State, thus reducing the likelihood that she might slip into the Meet through the backdoor. *50 Free* - Bailey knew up front she was going to swim the short free for exhibition in hopes of getting on 1 of the 3 free relays. Her personal best is a 30 low and she’s been there all summer even after having a swim practice just hours before the meet. So I’m hopeful that this will mean she can go a bit faster. Obviously with 3 Free Relay teams, 12 girls make up the lineup, but typically there are quite a few that don’t elect to go. This season there are only 2 currently seeded higher than Bailey that aren’t going…and Bailey is seeded – 13, which sounds good right. Only problem is there are 3 very good year rounders at least that are listed with NTs and could beat Bailey. It is going to VERY close…it could all come down to how quickly she gets off the blocks. If Bailey can get under 30 she has a chance, if she can get under 29.75 she should make it… *50 Fly* – Bailey’s best stroke right now is the fly, and there was no doubt she was going to swim it at County. Problem is there are 7 twelve year old year rounders ahead of her. IT’s really tight…fourth place is less than a second faster than Bailey, and the girl seeded second isn’t going to state, so a good swim could get her in the top three, but it is a bit like golf. It isn’t as much about how many strokes or in this case seconds you are behind, it about the number of people between you and the lead. She’ll have to beat a lot of really good swimmers to get top 3. This is probably the deepest field of all the events in the girls 11/12 age group. *100 IM* – Bailey ended up here as part of the juggle to make sure we had only 2 of our best swimmers in each event, but she was fine with it and she’s good at the IM anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. Bailey is seeded seventh, and everyone in front of here is a year round swimmer. Even a personal best here by over a second and the best she can probably get is sixth… *11/12 Girl Relays* – Bailey will be on the B relay for both the Medley and the Free and that means she won’t get a medal. The A team will almost definitely be in the top 3 of both (and could win outright actually). The B team with the four best girls in both the Free and Medley would be very strong and would beat many A teams, but Caroline from CRC isn’t going, and she’d be a big part of the B group. As it is, Bailey’s relay will probably finish 6 or 7… ----------------------------------------------------------- Bear *50 Free* – Bear is also exhibitioning the short free. Bear is seeded fourteenth (Brett is fifteenth), but there are four boys seeded higher that aren’t going to state, but there are also 3 good swimmers entered with NT. Like Bailey this will be very close…If Bear can get under 31 he should make it…my guess he’ll have to be at least a half a second faster than his personal best of 32.08 to have a shot. IM – Bear is seeded fourth in IM, with 1 kid in front not going. So he has a legitimate shot to make it here, which is a surprise given how many horses there are in this age group. There are three kids right behind Bear that could pass him, so he’ll have to swim well, but we stumbled into a pretty weak event this time around (last year I screwed Bear up by having him skip the IM and it cost him an event at State). *Fly* – remember I said there weren’t a lot of options on what events to choose, and remember I mentioned the IM didn’t have many horses at all…well the Fly is the exact opposite. In fact, I flat out state the Fly has 6 of the top 7 boys in the age group racing. Bear is seeded eighth and he’ll do well to hold that spot. This is undoubted the most loaded event I've ever seen in our 6 years of coming to County...and I can't wait to watch it... *Relays* – I’ll cover them in Brett’s write up since they are in the same relay… --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brett *50 Free* – See Bear’s write up the information is the same. Brett’s seed time is .01 second slower than Bear…going to be interesting to see who is faster on Saturday… *100 Free* – Brett is seeded fifth, with one kid in front of him not going, but there is one NT that is clearly faster than Brett and another one that is right there with him. It will be interesting to see how he does, but I’m not expecting him to even finish as high as his seed, but he could post a personal best *50 Breast* – Brett comes in with the top seed. His time on record is 37.75, which I think is a bad time. I timed him in that race and had him at a 38.08 and another mother timed him at 38.18…both good times, but the kid that beat Brett by .04 seconds 2 years ago is right behind him with a 38.03, and there are 3 other boys all under 40 seconds. I’m going to get ill before this race, I can tell…Brett will have to have good pullouts, a quick turn and a long finish to win this (he’s short armed his finish the last couple of races). A win here would be huge for Brett for a couple of reasons…Brett didn’t win a medal in county last year and hasn’t won the Breaststroke for summer league the last 2 years. This would be huge for his confidence and self-esteem. Also, Brett’s buddy Jack is shoe-in to be the butterflyer or backstroker on the A medley relay at county, and his other buddy Hunter looks like the odds on favorite to be the A freestyler…if Brett can win the breast he’ll be on the relay with them, and they’ll have a shot to earn a top 3 medal at state. *Relays* – the boys are currently seeded third in the medley relay, but the team seeded fourth is Aberdeen who beat them on Thursday (6/20). Just not sure how much of a difference the freestyler at the end will make (the normal freestyler was out against Aberdeen). In the free relay, the boys are again seeded third, but there are a bunch of big names in relays behind them in the sheet, and I doubt they end up third. However, they obviously have a couple shots at team relay medals, hopefully it pays off for them

06-25-2013, 10:42 AM	#313
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	By the way...after thinking about my post above, thought I should clarify something. While Summer League is a Rec League, the level of competition is signficant. There are several medal winners not only at the year round state meet, but at the sectional level (Southeast) that swim in our county. In fact, the 11/12 boys relays for our county will mostly likely be faster than the 11/12 boys for Chattahoochee Gold at the State Meet...

06-25-2013, 01:41 PM	#314
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Stu Hixon Swim Meet @ Mt View Aquatic Center 6/29-30 The second half of the swim equation for this weekend is the Stu Hixon meet. The decisions between summer league county championships and the year round meet are tough. We are running out of year round meets to swim before the state meet, and Bailey and Bear have a couple of decent shots at getting a cut, and Brett is barely hanging on to his spot on the A relay. There is only 1 more meet after this one and it is so close to the state meet that the coaches really don’t want the kids swimming in it unless they are going for a cut. To make matters worse, some of the events we need to swim are on Saturday…meaning we miss that opportunity. The Stu Hixon meet is also a prelim/final meet, that will be handing out medals for top 3 finishers. Remember one of Brett’s biggest goals is to get a year round medal…well he’s seeded fourth in the 200 free, and he would be fourth in the 100 free to, but it is on Saturday. We are really wrestling with the idea of trying to get him over to the meet on Saturday so he can swim the 100 Breast, we just aren’t sure we can get there on time, and we aren’t sure he’ll have the energy to swim well anyway. It would take a huge improvement, a DQ by a top 3 swimmer, or a scratch by a top 3 swimmer in the breaststrokes for Brett to get a metal, but it isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Just trying to do what’s in the kids best interest…we’ll see how this plays out… Here are what the kids are swimming… Bailey *50 Fly* – 38.31 *50 Breast* – 50.42 *400 Free* – 6:16.92 Bear *50 Fly* – 43.29 *50 Free* – 36.35 *50 Breast* – 53.58 Brett *50 Fly* – 47.64 *50 Free* – 36.54 *200 Breast* - 3:24.17 We may try to deck enter the kids on Friday afternoon in the 200 back…as it seems like a good shot for the twins to get a cut… Last edited by Breeze : 06-25-2013 at 05:29 PM.

06-28-2013, 08:03 AM	#315
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Summer League – County Championships The meet starts tomorrow morning early, and things have gotten quite tight for Brett in the breaststroke. We skipped the meet last night (thankfully, as it was impacted by the weather, and sitting around with a bunch of kids waiting to see if the meet is going to continue is no fun, whatsoever), so the last time we have from Brett was 2 weeks ago, and he wasn’t in a good frame of mind when he swam it…but it was also over 40 seconds. If he swims over 40 tomorrow he probably doesn’t even make the state team at all. Also while he has the fastest seed time coming in with a 37.75 (though again I felt it was probably closer to a 38.10 based on mine and another parents timing), another boy posted a 37.76 last night…so I’m going to be very anxious about this race all day today and tomorrow until it goes off… Last edited by Breeze : 06-28-2013 at 09:38 AM.

07-02-2013, 09:57 AM	#316
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Summer League County Championships ----------------------------------------------------------- Bailey I’m not sure what happened with Bailey during this meet. I don’t know if she was tired from getting up so early, she didn’t have energy because she didn’t eat well (she rarely does when she gets up early), or she just wasn’t in the right frame of mind, but she didn’t have a good meet. My opinion is that she went into this meet knowing it was a long shot for her to make the State Team, and so she swam poorly because she wasn’t as motivated… *200 Medley Relay* – Bailey swam the fly leg, but before she ever hit the water the team was DQed, as the Breaststroker 1 hand touched the turn. Had they not been DQed they would have ended up ninth. The A relay team came from behind in the freestyle leg to win. Bailey friend Rayley swam awesome to get the gold for the team… *200 Free Relay* – Bailey was the anchor on the B Free Relay…they were missing Caroline (at a year round meet in Auburn), who would have made about a 5 second difference in the final time…and so they settled for eighth, Bailey swam a 30.33 leg, which is slow for her in a relay. In the short course state championship meet and the northern divisionals she was swimming spits in the 29s. The A free relay also won the event…but, and this is where I get a bit irritated with summer league and hand timed events, the second swimmer (slowest time of the 4) swam a spit of 31.72. I’ve known all year that Bailey was faster than Cameron, but didn’t want to cause any problems…and this just supports my opinion. We like Cameron a lot, but Bailey belonged on the A relay and would have gotten a gold medal if she were on it, as it is, she gets nothing for the event. *50 Free* – Bailey needed to get in the 29s to be assured of a stop on the Free Relays for state…and she posted a time of 30.33. No that isn’t a mistyping and yes I’m looking at the correct event…Bailey’s 50 free time matched her 50 free split from the relay exactly. Interestingly Cameron’s split in the 50 free was a 31.81…only .1 second slower than her split in the relay, and further illustrating the fact Bailey should have been on the relay. So I estimated Bailey needed to be a 29 high to make the relay…as it turns out, for the kids going to state Bailey ended up 13, 1 away from the relay…she actually needed to beat a 30.22 to get in… *100 IM* – Bailey’s IM seemed sluggish. She wasn’t crisp with any part of it, including the fly as she was sixth to the wall in the opening turn. She finished eighth overall and added a couple of seconds to her time. *50 Fly* – Bailey’s fly was also sluggish. She didn’t seem to have the drive she typically does in this event. She finished eighth and added about a second and a half to her time…

07-02-2013, 10:24 AM	#317
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Summer League County Championships ----------------------------------------------------------- Bear Bear started off the meet well, swimming good in both the Free and Medley relays (which I will cover in Brett’s write up)…but then he was going to the bathroom before his IM and he slipped. He fell flat on his butt, bruised his tailbone, jarred his back and was in real pain… *50 Free* – Bear and Brett were in the same heat for this event, and they were entered with seed times of 32.08 (Bear), 32.09 (Brett)…when the race started Bear got out real good …he was running third in the heat and was ahead of Brett, but he screwed up the turn REALLY BAD, and it cost him. He finished with a 32.7 time…before the turn he was on pace to go under 32 seconds. As it turns out – of the kids going to State Bear’s 50 free time put him 14… IM – This is the event right after the fall. Bear got on the blocks and was grimacing in pain and he was getting prepared to dive. His fly was clearly hindered by the back, and the breast was as well, but when he turned from breast to free he was still in fourth, and he closed hard in the free, but was out-touched by less than half a second. He finished with a 1:21.88, but without falling I’m sure he would have gotten third, which gives him a medal and puts him on the state team…but as is this kids luck, he ends up just outside the medals... *Fly* – After the IM Bear went to the first aid clinic and they iced his back…it was hurting too bad at this point, and he scratched. Last edited by Breeze : 07-02-2013 at 10:26 AM.

07-02-2013, 11:26 AM	#318
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Summer League County Championships ----------------------------------------------------------- Brett *200 Medley Relay* – The relay started out with Riley doing the back, and while Riley is a good backstroker, there are a bunch of really good ones in the county. When Riley finished the opening leg, things were tight but CRC was in third/fourth place. Brett dove in and his dive was terrible, in fact it was so bad, that if I can figure out where to get the video posted so you can watch you’ll probably here me say something to the effect of “What the hell kind of dive was that, Brett?”…however, after he surfaced, Brett started reeling in the other swimmers…and he actually was second to the wall with another swimmer right on his should. Despite the bad dive Brett’s split was just over 40 seconds. So Bear dove in for the fly, but the swimmer on Brett’s shoulder at the touch was GCs and they handed off to Brett’s buddy Jack…and Jack is only about 10 seconds faster than Bear in a 50 fly, so Bear had no shot. Bear swam a strong leg posting a split of 36+ seconds…and he handed off the Alex. Alex is a year round swimmer, but mostly a breaststroker. His free is very reminiscent of Brett’s a few years ago, with a sloppy kick…but he was handed a pretty big lead. In fact, he was a good third of a lap or more ahead of the team in fourth…but he needed that much space because another swimmer closed on him hard. CRC held on for Bronze by 1.3 seconds…If you are wondering, Brett’s poor dive wouldn’t have had any impact on second, as they were a full 10 seconds behind the second place team… *200 Free Relay* – Bear started off with an extremely strong swim…posting a split of 31.17, and because he was the first to go, that is a legitimate time and a personal best (it also would have been good enough to get him on a free relay at state had he done it again in the 50 free race about 20 minutes later, but he screwed up that turn)…Alex’s leg was a poor 36 second time, and Brett didn’t do his best either posting a 33.44 with a rolling start. When Brett handed off to Riley they were in fourth place and Riley was at least a third of a lap down. However, Riley is a strong freestyler and he was a hero here as he caught and passed the other team inside the flags at the finish and captured third place by .13 seconds. So another Bronze for the boys. Note: At this point I was very concerned about Brett’s focus. His dive in the medley was terrible, his split in the free relay was poor…I was really afraid he was going to have an off day… *50 Free* – Brett was behind Bear at the turn for the 50 free, but Bear’s poor turn allowed Brett to get to the wall first, as he finished with a 32.2 time and overall he was 13 out of the kids going to state for the free relay. So like Bailey he just missed too. *100 Free* – Brett was seeded fifth, but there were two no-times that had I paid attention to, I would have told you they were faster freestylers than Brett. As it turns out he finished seventh, but posted a personal best time of 1:10.71, and now I was feeling better about his chances in the big breaststroke race coming up… *50 Breast* – This race started and JB (the kid that beat Brett by .04 seconds for the county championship 2 years ago) got a great dive and an early lead. Brett and the rest of the pack was about half a body length back. At the turn Brett had to have a strong pullout or he would run out of room to catch JB. The turn appeared from my vantage point to be the best I’ve ever seen him make. He closed ground and put himself in position to make a charge. And charge he did…cutting into the lead with each stroke, but it was pretty clear he was going to run out of room. That is until JB got inside the flags, then he seemed to have a few poor strokes. Not sure if it was fatigue or nervousness, but he didn’t seem to get the same explosion in those strokes, and Brett pulled alongside. The both reached the wall and it was too close for me to tell…I looked up at the scoreboard and… Spoiler Brett lost by .05 seconds…(same kid that beat him by .04 seconds 2 years ago) this is really unfortunate, because his buddy Jack dominated the event and will be on the A relay for the County swimming Fly, Hunter will be on the A relay swimming Free, and Leyton another buddy of Brett’s will be doing the back, but Brett will be on the B relay. Also making matters worse, the A relay will almost certainly be the top seed going into state and could walk away with a gold medal… Brett did swim a personal best time of 37.52 (legit as this was electronically timed)... I was heartbroken for him…he was a bit depressed initially, but he recovered nicely. He has set a goal to beat JB at state, and to help his relay team get in the top 3 and earn a colored medal… Last edited by Breeze : 07-02-2013 at 02:45 PM. Reason: To add in Brett's time in the breaststroke...

07-02-2013, 03:25 PM	#319
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	I really would like to publish some of the videos and pictures from the races, but I used to accomplish this by using dropbox and taking the public link created and posting it, but now that appears to be restricted to specific email addresses... So I'm open to suggestions (outside of Facebook) for easy image/video storage with Internet access...

07-03-2013, 09:25 AM	#320
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Summer League State Meet Update As it turns out, one of the boys that initially stated they would swim at State has begged out...opening a slot for Brett to swim on the C Free Relay. This relay won't make finals, but it does give him another race and a sense of accomplishment...

07-03-2013, 03:04 PM	#321
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Stu Hixon Meet @ Mt View Aquatic Center This pool isn’t a very good one when it comes to improving times. It was built more for training than hosting so some of the engineering done to improve speeds by limiting waves weren’t done. Moreover, this pool is kept way to warm (80+ degrees), which also typically results in slower times. Most of the swimmer parents that participated on Saturday, while we were at the county meet, reported their kids were consistently coming in 2 or more seconds over their personal best. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bailey *50 Fly – 38.31* : Bailey was again hoping to get the state cut here, but she was about a half a second slower than her personal best. She finished with a 38.82. She seemed a little high to me on the first several strokes so that might have been the cause of the slowdown…but it is so close to her personal best that it isn’t really a big deal… *50 Breast – 50.42* : I’ve noted before that her breast is starting to show some improvement…it still has a way to go, but it’s getting better. She improved here with a time of 50.16 *400 Free – 6:16.92* : For the first time ever, Bailey headed into a mid-distance freestyle with a positive attitude. She said she was looking for to this, and she felt she had figured out how to race this event. She was pretty much right about that, as she dropped 26 seconds to post a 5:50.33, and even more so, one of the team coaches said she swam the event perfectly. She opened with a 1:25.65 first one hundred, then the next two 100s were almost identical 1:29.10s , then she closed only 1 second slower than her opening 100…that is exactly how they like to see the splits breakdown… -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bear *50 Fly – 43:29* : Bear was feeling much better on Sunday than Saturday, and he mentioned that he wanted to swim, so we let him, with the instructions that if it started to hurt that he needed to stop. He, like Bailey, was about a half a second slow in the fly…43.97 *50 Free – 36.35* : Bear improved on this one. He still overworks a bit and moves his head to much but he dropped .69 seconds to 35.66. As long as he doesn’t have to flip turn he’s doing pretty well… *50 Breast – 53:53* : Bear’s breast is also coming around…it still needs work, but he’s going through longer stretches where he is driving forward. He improved to a 52.07 and finished eleventh, but one of the kids in front of him scratched, so Bear swam the 50 Breast finals later than night… -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brett *50 Fly – 47.64* : Still working hard to get this stroke, and he’s still very deliberate swimming it. He didn’t come close to a personal best, which I didn’t expect him to do. I was hopeful he’d improve on the time from his previous attempt at this race, but he basically posted a similar time of 54.27. He is embarrassed about this, but he can’t get better unless he races it, so he’s working through his issues. *50 Free – 36.54* : Brett tried hard to reduce his breathing in this race, in hopes of dropping time, but it didn’t work for him. He actually added three quarters of a second to 37.29 *200 Breast – 3:24.17* : Brett was hoping to get into the top 3 here, but the top 3 all came in with seed times of 3:12 or better…so then he set his sights on fourth. He went out hard, trying to keep up with the leaders, which to a certain extent he was able to do for the first 75 or so…then he started to lose some ground. However, he was still in contact with the leaders as the 150 mark. Trailing and not in striking distance, but not left so far behind that he appeared to be in a different race. Coming down the home stretch a kid to his outside swam him down and out touched him for fourth, which irritated Brett. He posted a huge improvement and personal best time of 3:19.36. We knew he was going to make finals in this event, because there were only 8 kids swimming. Initially Brett was instructed to scratch the event, but after that finish, his coach told him he wanted him to do it again that night, and focus on the pullouts, because “Brett you are a much better breaststroker than the kid that out touched you. If you improve your pullouts you’ll kill him…” *200 Medley Relay* – There were relays at this meet, and Brett got on the Gold A relay. He wasn’t with any of his buddies, but he was happy to be swimming the relay. This race started immediately after the 200 Breast with Brett not having any time to even do the cool down swim. The backstroker was third or fourth at the wall when Brett dove in, but Brett was first on the other end, swimming down and passing the other breaststrokers that were in front of him. The flyer opened the lead, and the freestyler maintained it…so Brett’s relay won the event….

07-03-2013, 03:30 PM	#322
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Stu Hixon Meet @ Mt View Aquatic Center – FINALS The finals started about an hour after the prelims finished, but because both boys qualified in the Breast, which were the last races of the event, we had closer to two hours in between. We really struggled to keep the kids rested, and to get them refueled. We’ve had issues not swimming as well in finals because of fatigue due to exertion or not eating well…so we wanted to try and change that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bear *50 Breast – Seed Time 53.58, Prelim Time 52.07* : Bear wasn’t thrilled about having to swim this. He was saying things like, just because I made it doesn’t mean I like it, but we explained that he didn’t scratch (and actually he didn’t scratch because it didn’t dawn on us that he needed to, we didn’t think he was anywhere close to making this race), which means that if he elected not to swim that he would be taking the place of another kid that did want to race in the event. After that he shut up and set his mind to racing. Bear looked even better to me in this race than in the prelims, and the times proved my assessment was accurate as he posted another personal best of 51.18…in all dropping 2.4 seconds from the seed time earlier in the day… -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brett *200 Breast – Seed time 3:24.17, Prelim Time 3:19.36* – Secretly I think Brett was hoping one of the top 3 kids would elect not to come back to the finals, so he could fight for a spot in the top 3 and a medal with the kid that out-touched him at the wall, but everyone that beat him agreed to swim finals. The race started and Brett was positioned this time next to the kid that finished third in prelims. He was faster than Brett but not nearly as fast as the first two, and Brett, like in prelims was working extremely hard to keep up with him. In this case he never seemed to completely lose contact either. He stayed within about 2 body lengths the entire way. In fact, with about 150 to go , Brett was only a body length back, but then the swimmer to his inside started to pick up the pace. As it turns out Brett did beat the kid that out touched him in prelims – and he beat him by about 10 seconds. He also posted another personal best and another huge drop in time, this time finishing at 3:14.57. Brett was so tired at the conclusion of this race, he could barely lift himself up and out of the pool. This is the most effort I’ve ever seen him give in a race, and obviously it’s the most tired he’s ever been as well. But he felt great about this swim, and in put him in striking distance of a 13 year old cut in this event… Last edited by Breeze : 07-03-2013 at 03:30 PM.

07-05-2013, 10:50 AM	#323
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Tara Classic (Last Chance Meet) @ Steve Lundquist Aquatic Center, July 5-7 The last chance qualifier for Long Course State is this weekend. We will only be participating on Saturday as Bear and Bailey will each swim 2 events that they could earn a cut in. Brett won’t be swimming in this one. His coach wants him heading into the State meet with the last experience in the pool being his huge improvement in the 200 Breast. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bailey *50 Fly – Seed Time 38.31 : Cut Time 37.39* – Bailey needs to cut a second to get her time, but honestly it’s probably more like a second and a half. She’s been slightly off with her stroke recently (probably due to growth, as she’s now only 1” shorter than Brett), and it is costing her on average about a half a second in the Fly, as recently she seems to be coming in around 38.8…in this pool, which like last week is really more of a training facility not one designed for speed, I really don’t think she’ll get the cut, and in fact, I doubt she even swims a personal best. *100 Back* – We are scratching this event, as Bailey isn’t really close to this cut… *100 Freestyle – Seed Time 1:16.14* – Bailey doesn’t really have a chance at this one either, but we’ll have her swim it anyway to see if she can notch a personal best. I’m not sure she can, because her times in the free, like the fly have been off just a little. *200 Backstroke – DECK ENTERED – Seed Time 3:13.83 : Cut Time 3:09.59 -* we will swap in this event after scratching in the 100 Back. Bailey has an outside shot at this one, it will be tough, but given this will be the second time swimming this event she could cut 4 seconds…. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bear *200 Free – Seed Time 2:46.97 : Cut Time 2:44.29* – This might completely come down to Bear’s turns. He is close to this cut, and him improvement in the 50 free just last weekend leads me to believe he’s in a good form and could challenge this time, but if he screws up just 1 turn, he won’t make it… *100 Back* – We will scratch this as Bear has no shot to make the cut this time around *100 Free – Seed Time 1:19.76* – Not shot to get the cut, but we’ll let him swim this one anyway…I do believe he’ll get a personal best as long as he doesn’t screw up the turn… *200 Back – DECK ENTERED - Seed Time NT : Cut Time 3:19.29* – This is a swap out, just like Bailey. Bear has never done this race, which is my only reservation with predicting him to get the cut…but based on times I’m seeing for kids that Bear practices with and is much better than, that have done this race a couple of times and have come close to a cut, I have to believe Bear can get it, even the first time out…

07-08-2013, 01:51 PM	#324
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Tara Classic (Last Chance Meet) @ Steve Lundquist Aquatic Center, July 5-7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bailey *50 Fly – Seed Time 38.31 : Cut Time 37.39* – Bailey started out this race looking better than she has all summer. She was low and strong, opening up a half a body length lead on the girl to her inside lane (so a faster seed time). He was cruising along until about a third of the pool left when her breathing was starting to occur too frequently. In fact, in my filming, you can hear me saying…stop breathing so much as I knew this was going to be close. The Bailey gets to the flags and breathes, then breathes again, but she was close to the wall, and I figured she’d finish strong – but NO…she takes a third breath as she’s reaching for the wall – finishing with her head still up, as she didn’t even have time to get it back in the water before she touched the wall. I thought that little trick had killed her chances…Her time Spoiler 37.37 – so a third state cut for Bailey *200 Backstroke – DECK ENTERED – Seed Time 3:13.83 : Cut Time 3:09.59 -* Started out with a very strong kick in this one, and she and one other girl really opened a lead on the field. They pulled away, and it was pretty obvious early, that unless she got into the ropes or tightened up she was well under the cut pace. She faded at the end, and she admitted her legs were burning bad, but she posted a 3:01.64…and her fourth cut… *100 Freestyle – Seed Time 1:16.14* – Little to swim for, emotionally exhausted, and tired and hungry as this was the last event of the session, Bailey swam an uninspired 1:17.87 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bear *200 Free – Seed Time 2:46.97 : Cut Time 2:44.29* – It was pretty obvious right from the start Bear wasn’t going to get this one. He fell way off the pace quickly. Initially, I thought he might be saving himself to have a strong kick, but he informed me that he just couldn’t get comfortable with his stroke. He couldn’t get his body into the good power position and because of that he never really got going. He ended up with a mediocre 2:53.70 *200 Back – DECK ENTERED - Seed Time NT : Cut Time 3:19.29* – From the start Bear’s backstroke was UGLY. He’s really working to change his arm rotation to match the coaches’ instructions, because he’s had some shoulder tenderness and he wants to make sure he doesn’t injure himself. But he was so deliberate and so over exaggerated with keeping his are up straight, that he overreached across his head on every stroke, He also pulled very badly to his left and was swimming most of the race hugging a lane line. All that said, I could tell from watching the other kids and knowing their times in this event, that Bear still had a shot at the cut. Then coming down the last 15 to 20 meters, Bear seemed to relax some (probably due to fatigue) and he began to glide better and get a better grab, which sped him up considerably. He finished with a time of 3:14.17. So a third cut for Bear… *100 Free – Seed Time 1:19.76* – I knew Bear wasn’t going to get this cut, but after his 200 free I was afraid he might do poorly here. Initially, he looked very similar to his 200 free, but this time he did find his body position, with about 35 percent of the race left to go, and he closed quickly on the kids in his neighboring lanes. He finished with a personal best time of 1:18.65

07-17-2013, 07:50 AM	#326
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Long Course State Championships @ Savannah 7/18 - 7/21 We had the Gold Long Course dinner last night, and Brett is currently scheduled to be on both A relays at state. He'll be swimming with Jack and Hunter, plus Parker (who swam fly on the relay back at Stu Hixon that won Brett his first medal). There is an outside possibility that he loses his spot if he swims poorly at State and someone else on the team beats his personal best time, but Brett is swimming well so I don't expect that to happen. We will be heading down to Savannah today. We have to get there early, because Bear doesn't do well on long car rides and he'll be swimming the *1500* on Thursday. This will be the first time he's ever swum the 1500, which of course begs the question, how did he qualify. Well, when Bear got the qualifying time in the 800, it gave him the qualifying time in the 1500. The 800, when kids are grown is only a girls event, whereas the 1500 is only a boys event - so at the state level the 800 isn't offered for boys even as young as 11, but they give them the ability to swim up in the 1500, which makes perfect sense...if I can swim an 800 why not almost double it...Anyway, Bear is excited to give this a go, we'll see how it works out for him. Warm ups will be at 3:00, but he probably won't actually race until closer to 9, due to the long races and the fact he'll be in the very last heat. Bear is one of only 4 kids 11 years old that will do this event, so at worst he'll finish 4th in state and earn the team a good bit of points. Here is the remainder of the schedule: Friday Brett - 100 Breast Bailey - 50 Fly Bailey - 400 IM Saturday Bailey - 100 Fly Brett - 50 Breast Bailey - 200 Back Bear - 200 Back Sunday Bear - 400 Free Brett - 200 Breast Last edited by Breeze : 07-17-2013 at 07:54 AM.

07-23-2013, 09:21 AM	#327
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Long Course State Championships @ Savannah THURSDAY NIGHT 1500 Meters - Bear came into this event never having swum the 1500. He qualified for it by getting a state cut in the 800 (which isn't offered at State for boys). I thought he'd be a bit uptight about it, but he really was suprisingly calm. Even when he was presented with the fact that he would be sharing a lane with another swimmer, it didn't phase him (the funny thing...Bear and the other boy in his lane, actually brushed hands at one point in the race. It was so minor it didn't bother either of them, but an inch more and it could have been ugly)... Having never done this event before, the coaches decided the best bet was to try and keep Bear on a pace to be under the state cut time of 22:29.00, so in essence they wanted him to be 1:30/100 Meters. The coach told me to watch him for signals that I could let Bear know how he was doing when I put the lap counter in the water for him. The race started and Bear was good. The second 100, I had to give him the signal to pick it up. From there he was solid until about 500 meters to go, when I had to give him the go faster sign again. The in the last 300 Bear closed with a 1:26, 1:24, and 1:22. If you are wondering, he opened with a 1:24. His final time was a 22:02.37 and he not only earned the cut, but he got the cut for next year too, so he'll be swimming the 1650 at short course state for sure and he'll get this one again at next years long course meet. The coaches were thoroughly impressed with his finish, and even indicated if they had known he was going to handle this race that well, they would have set a harder/faster split for him to maintain. As it turns out he was only 15 seconds from getting the bronze metal... Last edited by Breeze : 07-23-2013 at 09:23 AM.

07-23-2013, 05:28 PM	#328
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Long Course State Championships @ Savannah FRIDAY 100 Breast - The day started with Brett's 100 Breast. He started out a bit off, his dive/pullout though not as bad as it was early in the year, wasn't as good as it had been recently. Plus, because he was next to two kids that were easily 5'7" or bigger and 120 lbs or more, he lacked the power they had. He trailed early, but after the turn, started to close. He couldn't catch the two leaders, but he did manage to finish third in his heat and improve by 2 seconds posting a 1:33.55 50 Fly - Bailey started this race, with quite possibly the worst dive I've ever seen her make. She was so deep she was the last to surface and was two whole body lengths behind the rest of the girls in her heat (of which there were only 2 others). Before the race was over she had caught one and almost caught the other, but the dive was so poor she was almost a second off of her personal best. However, it didn't matter as she was DQed for a false start...however the false start was actually her turning her head from looking at the starter to looking at the water after the starter had given the set command. Pretty ticky-tack, but it didn't matter...Bailey was actually more disappointed with her swim than her DQ... 400 IM - I was afraid Bailey wasn't going to do well here after her DQ, but she opened with a great dive and her 100 fly was a 1:27.97, only just over a second above her personal best in the event, and she was first in her heat, even though she came into the race with the slowest seed time of the 8 kids. Her backstroke was also strong at 1:40.31...and she was second at the midway point. However, her breaststroke issues came back in full force. In fact, it was the worst she's ever looked swimming it. She swam the 100 in 2:12 and fell way back (probably because of fatigue from working the first 2 legs of the race so hard). She finished with a personal best of 6:48.11, an improvement of 8 seconds. Thanfully, Bear didn't have to swim and he got to recoop from the 1500 the night before. Also, the air quality in the facility was horrible. From the moment I walked in my eyes were burning, and before the day was over all my kids were coughing and hacking. Also several of the kids we were with had the same issues... Last edited by Breeze : 07-23-2013 at 05:29 PM.

07-24-2013, 01:44 PM	#329
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Long Course State Championships @ Savannah SATURDAY Saturday started off terribly. Bailey woke up feeling poorly and she couldn't really choke down her breakfast before the warm up. We've had this problem with Bailey in the past, especially when she would have early Tennis matches, so we figured it would pass. We'll it didn't. She threw up (which she's done before when she had to eat really early)...only this time it wasn't a 1 time thing. She threw up 4 times throughout the morning, was coughing bad, and was running a fever of almot 100. So she ended up scratching her events... 50 Breast - Brett over worked this one. He really tried hard to go fast, and with swimming and breaststoke especially, overworking can actually create drag and reduce the glide portion of the stroke. As it turns out his time was not far off from what he was typically swimming 43.6, but given his huge improvement in the 200 just weeks earlier, and a 2 second drop in the 100, I was expecting an improvement here...he was disappointed. 200 Back - Bear started this one way too conservatively, he fell back a good ways, and he was well off the pace. In the last 50 he passed 3 people to have a respectible finish, but he added 4 seconds to his qualifying time. 3:18.83 As I mentioned the air in the factility on Friday was bad, it wasn't any better on Sunday. Several kids finished up there swims and had to go outside to catch their breath because they were coughing from the chlorine smell. This led to quite a bit of concern, and in fact, one of the big swim teams (Dynamo) decided they would not be swimming relays in order to keep the kids out of the pool area. This greatly improved Brett's chances of getting a year round metal at the state meet for his relay. It was too the point the relays were lining up...and the police, firemen, and hazmat team stopped the meet to do an air quality check. This check took over an hour and while the air quality test came back fine (and that is debatable for a bunch of reasons) the session was cancled due to time constraints, leaving the relays and the 400 free unfinished. The relay was completely cancelled and the 400 free was moved to Sunday in the spot for the 400 Medley Relay which was also cancelled. So the poor air quality cost Brett both of his relay swims with his friends... In case you were wondering, Bailey was fine by about 2 PM. No side-effects from the sickness at all. Pretty sure this was related to the chlorinated air...in fact, the symptoms for chlorine sickness match Bailey's perfectly. Last edited by Breeze : 07-24-2013 at 01:46 PM.

07-24-2013, 03:55 PM	#330
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Long Course State Championships @ Savannah SUNDAY 200 Breast - Brett came into this event, just missing out on the finals. In fact, had this event been at GaTech, he would have made the B final, as he was seeded 18th. He just dropped 10 seconds in the event a few weeks back, so I was hopeful he might drop a bit more and get real close to that 13 year old cut, but I wasn't expecting it. When the race went off, he took it out very conservatively (I think this was a concern about the air quality)...But on the second 50 he kicked it into gear and his split was 1:35.27...his split from his personal best was a 1:35.21. In the next 50 he was still gaining on the field, but coming home he seemed to tire a bit and he fell off the pace. I believe he had to work too hard in the middle 100 to overcome the conservative start, and I do believe he was having a hard time breathing as he was coughing when he finished...final time 3:16.08 400 Free My goal for Bear coming into this one was to get his 12 year old cut. Based on how he finished the 1500 I felt pretty confident he'd get the 5:45.99 time he needed. He started off good, and was moving through the water well. He was sharing a lane with a kid that was much larger than he was, and he was slightly ahead of that kids pace (that kid was 150 meters into the race when Bear started). However, Bear's great pace came to a screeching halt. In the last 130 or so, when he would typically start sprinting, he seemed to hit a wall. His pace fell way off and it was starting to look like he might not get that cut. He gutted it out and finished in 5:45.17, but he was having breathing difficulty when he got out. The bad air had gotten to him and with his asthma symptoms it was causing him to wease a great deal. I had to race to get his inhaler...he was fine and proud of what he accomplished. He's also really looking forward to the 500 and 1650 at short course. He thinks he might be able to medal...

07-25-2013, 12:16 PM	#331
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	GRPA State Championship - July 27th @ Lanier Aquatics This will be the last meet of the Summer Season and as soon as this meet is over we'll have several weeks away from the pool. Brett is the only one swimming in this event, as he was the only one to qualify at County. However, Bailey should have made it on the C Free Relay. 12 Girls make up the 3 relay teams, and Bailey was 13th in time of the girls that had stated they wanted to participate in this event. However, 1 of the girls that was marked as wanting to go, actually didn't want to. The coach marked it, and then the coach never bothered to check or ask, until the roster for the team was already submitted to the state and couldn't be changed. Bailey isn't too disappointed, just knowing she could have been there made her feel good... 200 Yard Medley Relay - Brett is on the B team with 3 other very good swimmers, and they are currently seeded 2nd in this event behind the county's A team. 50 Breast - Brett's 37.53 time is seeded 10th. If he can beat 2 people, he could get into the final 8 and earn an individual medal. This is very possible as 2 swimmers are .05 seconds faster or less...and several more are only tenths of a second faster. 200 Yard Free Relay - Brett is on the C Relay, so they won't be going to the finals here, but it's good for him to swim something at this meet that isn't Breaststroke... Last edited by Breeze : 07-26-2013 at 04:12 PM. Reason: corrected to note Brett is only .05 seconds away from 8th place

08-21-2013, 08:43 AM	#332
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	GRPA State Championship - July 27th @ Lanier Aquatics Let me get this thread caught up a bit... At the state meet, Brett didn't do exceptionally well. But honestly, I didn't expect him to. His practices were geared for him to peak the previous week, and he missed a couple of practices leading up to the GRPA State Meet, because of logistical issues. Here's how things went... 200 Yard Medley Relay - The team came in seeded 2nd, but there were several teams with sandbagged times. In their prelim heat, the backstroker was 6th out of 10 teams to the wall, Brett caught 1 of the swimmers in front of him to put them in 5th. The flyer passed all but the lead team (which was way out in front), but the freestyler lost a spot and the team was 3rd. With 4 heats and only 8 teams making the finals this was not a comfortable place to be...but as it turns out the team was seeded 6th headed into the finals...Brett's split in the relay was a 38.8 (while the pool was very slow this wasn't a good swim at all). 50 Breast - Brett was hoping to make the finals, but he'd have to do much better than his split in the relay...and he didn't. He went a 38.3. Unfortunately, had he matched his seed time, he would have made the finals...As it was he finished 11th (I think). 200 Yard Free Relay - This was an also ran event from the beginning. They had no shot at finals...Brett's split was pretty pedestrian, but in line with the other 3 swimmers. In fact, I don't think he had the slowest split of the four. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 200 Yard Medley Relay Finals - The backstroker again finished 6th. Brett swam a much better split, 37.8, but he was unable to make up ground. The flyer got the team to 4th, and was close to third, but the freestyler slipped back to 6th.

08-21-2013, 10:04 AM	#333
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Long Course and Summer Season Review When I look back on the long course and the summer seasons, it is pretty obvious that the kids did very well. When we look at the kids goals for the season that fact becomes pretty obvious.... Brett For Long Course, Brett wanted to earn state cuts in all 3 breaststroke races, wanted to be on one of the Gold Team Relays at state (preferably the A relay), wanted to earn a medal in a year round meet, and wanted to get a cut outside of breast for state. Well, Brett got all 3 breaststroke cuts, was on both A relays (though he didn't get to swim them due to the air quality issues in Savannah), he got a medal in the relay at the tune up event a couple weeks before state. The only goal he didn't reach was an outside cut, but I knew before the season started he wouldn't get that one. For the Summer Season Brett wanted to win breast at county, earn an individual medal at the GRPA State Meet, and get on the podium with his relay at GRPA State. Well he lost the Breast at county by .05 seconds - so he just missed, which also cost him his goal for making the podium at GRPA with the relay because the A county team won state (and Brett actually outswam the kid that beat him at county in every breast split, relay prelims, breaststroke event, relay finals - so Brett would have actually improved the teams overall times had he been on the A team). He did miss getting the individual medal. Bear In Long Course, Bear wanted to get a state cut, and he got 2, both long freestyles. It is looking more and more like this might be his niche in the sport. I was very concerned that he wouldn't get a cut so his accomplishment here and results at state were extremely satisfying for me, and it was easy to see how proud he was of himself. In Summer, he was hoping to get on the GRPA state team, at least in the free relay....and as it turns out, he was 1 swimmer from getting on the relay team. Moreover, had he not screwed up his turn, he would have made the team. Bailey Bailey wanted to get state cuts for long course, and I was comfident she would. She did an excellent job in her flys and backs and she appears headed to a nice short course season for 11 year olds. I think she was a bit disappointed with her results at State, but that is a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things. For Summer, Bailey wanted to get on the GRPA team as well, at least in Free Relay, just like Bear, and actually, had the Polo Fields coach not screwed up, she would have made the team.

08-21-2013, 10:20 AM	#334
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	2013 - 2014 Short Course Season The Short Course Season started yesterday. The kids have all been moved up. The Gold Team has redefined the levels and Brett is swimming on the Sectional Advanced team, while the twins are on the Sectional team. Thankfully, they all practice at the same time. Also, the practices are later at night, so it makes getting homework done a little easier. On the flip side, it makes dinner a challenge. The kids practice from 6:30 to 8:30, meaning we don't get home until 9 or so. We haven't discussed goals for the season, but we will soon, and once we do I'll post them... Last edited by Breeze : 08-21-2013 at 10:20 AM.

09-12-2013, 04:14 PM	#335
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Gold Time Trials @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 9/14 The season kicks off this weekend, and because this is just the time trials the meet will only be 1 day and sprint events...here is what the kids will be swimming... Brett 100 Back - 1:23.17 100 Breast - 1:25.06 100 Free - 1.11.85 Bear 50 Fly - 38.44 50 Back - 38.72 50 Free - 32.46 Bailey 50 Fly - 33.44 50 Breast - 44.34 50 Free - 30.19 Last edited by Breeze : 09-12-2013 at 04:15 PM.

09-24-2013, 11:39 AM	#336
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	Gold Time Trials @ Cumming Aquatic Center - 9/14 Brett - Brett's perfect attendance at Summer practices and through the early part of the season, combined with some improved confidence has really started to pay off. While he's certainly not challenging for state cuts or to win any event, he is dropping a considerable about of time... *100 Back - 1:23.17* - A huge improvement, as his long deliberate strokes came in at 1:18.67, a drop of 4.5 seconds. He still needs to increase his stroke rate...(coaches comments to him too), and if he does he could drop another 3 or 4 seconds easy. *100 Breast - 1:25.06* - Big improvement here. I felt he would post a best time, because of his improvements during long course...but I didn't expect a 4.62 second drop. 1:20.44. Unfortunately, he still has a long way to go to get the state cut (at 13 the drop in time is significant, mostly because the average boy starts hitting puberty and gets bigger and stronger). Coach wants him to hold the glide a bit longer...says he's too quick out of the stroke and is wasting some of his speed. *100 Free - 1.11.85* - Another improvement...1:09.04, would have liked to see a bit more honestly, and he still needs to kick better, but this is a huge step in the right direction. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Bear - Did ok, his stroke form is improving a bit, and I think we'll see some drops from him mid -season, but he's still working to iron out kinks...especially in the short races... *50 Fly - 38.44* - Rythem got off for him and he ended up adding just a touch of time 38.54 *50 Back - 38.72* - Backstroke was still stiff, but form was better and he dropped time to a 37.94, and I could see him dropping another couple seconds in this once he relaxes a bit and really starts to race, rather than thinking about what he was doing. *50 Free - 32.46* - Coach has really been working on getting Bear to stretch out his reach in the frees, and it seemed to help, he posted a personal best 31.46, and I could see him dropping more time in this one as the season goes on. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Bailey - Didn't have a great meet. She was very disappointed with her times, but I think this goes back to the fact she had such dramatic increases last season, I'm not sure she'll have the big drops this season, at least not until we get much further into it. *50 Fly - 33.44* - Did improve here, by about a quarter of a second. Would have been another half second faster if her dive wasn't sooooo deep. 33.18 *50 Breast - 44.34* - started out ok, but faded late. Ended up with a 45.14...also had a deep dive here... *50 Free - 30.19* - again deep dive killed her time. Not sure she would have improved but it would have been close with a good dive. 30.99

10-03-2013, 01:55 PM	#337
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	2013 SCAT Fall Invitational @ GaTech 10/5 -10/6 Brett *200 IM – 2:56.92* – this one will be interesting as Brett is doing much better and his stamina is better, but his fly is still a work in progress (read slow). *100 FR – 1:09.04* – been doing good in free at practice during the interval training (even Bailey has said so…then it has to be true, because Bailey hates to complement Brett) *50 FL – 38.41* – see the 200 IM…also there is no 50 Fly at state anymore for Brett’s age group, so I’m guessing he’s in this race because he’s really not capable of swimming/racing longer Fly events and this one is a way to get his strength up. *50 BR – 38.38* – Brett isn’t doing the 100 Breast, because he just swam it last weekend. Not sure why he’s doing the 50 over the 200… *200 FR – 2:29.65* – Again, Brett’s free has been better at practice so he could improve here. *50 FR – 32.88* – Brett will set a goal to get under 30 seconds in this, but he won’t improve that much. Much of his improvement in the free mentioned above is stamina based and the ability to stay near top speed for longer periods of time, not the fact that his sprints are actually considerably faster. I’m guessing he’ll improve, but only by about a second. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Bear *200 IM – 2:52.71* - Bear’s fly is starting to come together. Rhythm and timing is better, but the problem is he doesn’t have the stamina to maintain it for longer races. Not sure it will hold up here. Breast looks better and the back kick is much stronger (saw him at practice doing SLOB (Stream Line On Back). And he was passing a bunch of people. *100 Breast – 1:37.02* – Breast looks better, is it faster? *200 Back – NT* – entered with a no time, but I’m pretty sure he has an old time in this one. His back looks pretty good, I expect a decent time here as long as he doesn’t revert back to his fishtail motion in this race. *200 Free – 2:30.79* – Bear has been working really hard in practice, and especially on the longer sprints. He’s still in that pudgy growing stage, but he’s pumped about the longer frees. He’s already said he’ll sprint the entire thing. We’ll see if he can hold up. *100 Fly – 1:26.59* – My bet…if he’s not too worn out at the start is he’ll have a nice opening 25…a good first half of the second 25, then things will slowly start falling apart. Actually wouldn’t surprise me if he got DQed…the new fly is much shorter/quicker moves and I don’t think he can do it for a 100… *500 Free - 6:36.38* – Bear says he’s going to sprint this the whole way. He’s already told me he did a 6:18 at the end of practice during interval training early this week…I’m not sure how much energy he’ll have left at the end of a 2 day meet with some tough events on the second day, but it will be interesting to watch. -------------------------------------------------------------- Bailey *200 IM – 2:49.98* – Bailey has tried to convince herself that she likes the longer / tougher swims. So she states she’s looking forward to this one. I think she’ll do well and as has been the case for a couple of years it will come down to Breaststroke. If it improves she’ll post a really good time. *100 Breast – 1:34.77* – don’t know what to expect. Her Breast kick sets are pretty fast, but when she swims the stroke something gets lost in translation and her speed disappears. I know it is a timing issue, but I don’t think she has it resolved yet. *200 Back – NT* – Like Bear, I think she has a time, but I don’t know what it is off the top of my head. If her turns and starts are good, I expect a significant improvement here. *200 Free – 2:31.13* – she’s done ok in her intervals in practice, so she should improve here *100 Fly 1:15.17* – She’s really looking forward to this one, she is hoping to go under 1:10, I think 1:12 would be a pretty good goal. *100 IM – 1:17.43* – with a good start and turns she could drop a good bit of time here, if she isn’t too tired.