Christmas Camp Info Senior Step Up and any others who are interested in swimming more! Please talk to me!

For every practice swimmers should have shorts, t-shirt, running shoes and a skipping rope.They should be on deck with water bottles filled prior to the start of practice.

Schedule for Senior Step Up and any swimmers who are interested in swimming more!

Monday December 29th 4:30-7:00pm including dryland, MillenniumPlace.

All the rest of the practices unless stated differently are at NAIT
Tuesday December 30th (2 Practices)
10:30- 1pm
3:30- 6:00
Wednesday December 31st 9:30-12:30
Thursday January 1st 2:00-4:00
Friday January 2nd
9:00-11:00 dryland till noon
3:00-5:00
Saturday January 3rd - Millennium
6:45-8:45am, dryland till 9:30am
Team breakfast for Senior and Senior D at Denny’s? or at someone’s house?
Volunteers?
PM at NAIT 3:00-5:00pm

Kingsway is across the street for swimmers to do some shopping and get some lunch
or just relax or swimmers are free to hang out in the stands between sessions. On
Tuesday and Friday I will be there between sessions and swimmers will have to stay
in groups however if there is a parent that would like to come and supervise the
younger swimmers between practices at the mall that would be perfect.

Schedule for all other Senior Development Swimmers
All Practices at Millenium
Monday December 29th
4:30pm-6:45pm stretch till 7:00pm
Tuesday December 30th
9:30-12:15pm
Wednesday December 31st
9:30-12:15pm
Thursday Jan 1st
NO SWIMMING, pool is closed
Friday Jan 2nd
9:30--12:15pm
Saturday Jan 3rd
Swim 6:45-8:45am Dryland till 9:30am
Possibly followed by a team breakfast?
At Denny’s? or someone’s house? Any volunteers?
For dryland swimmers should have shorts, t-shirt, running shoes and a skipping rope.
They should be on deck with water bottles filled prior to the start of dryland.

5km Pool Challenge Results

Congratulations to all the swimmers from across the country who took part in this year’s 5km Pool Challenge throughout the month of November.

https://www.swimming.ca/docs/Events/5km%2008/2008%205k%20results.pdf

PCS News and Results Link

Follow our swimmers at http://www.pacificcoastswimming.com/LiveResults/2008-09/XmasCracker/
News for Friday:
New A Time: 1500 Free Sarah Laplante!
New A Time: 1500 Free Robyn Murray
Medal Swims from Kevin in 200 IM, 200 Free!
New 14 year old B time Marielle!

JP Fiset Recap

It was a great weekend of racing! Lots of fast swimming from everyone in the group. Highlights come from:

Matt Whiteside achieved his first A time in the 50 meter breatstroke and narrowly missed his A times in the other 2 breast stroke races this weekend.

Liam Strocher and Allison Hender each earned their QT's this weekend as well. Liam achieve both his 200 IM and his 400 Free time standards this weekend. Allison also achieved her first ever QT in the 400 free on Sunday, this was her first 400 free as a member of the Silver Tide Swim Club. It has been a great year for Ali and this is only another step to great achievements.

Sierra achieved her 14 year old 400 free QT this weekend with a 15 second best time.
Aaron and Willow also in their first year of year with Silver Tide missed their QT's in both the 200 IM and 400 freestyle this weekend. Lauren narrowly missed her 13 year old QT as she ages up after short course trials. Piper also inched closer to her 200 IM QT as well.

It was a fantastic weekend with tons of best times and great swims right throughout the weekend. I will add more once we get the results in! Good luck to all those continuing on to PCS on the weekend.

JP Fiset Update #2 (Hopefully Final One)

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish." -John Quincy Adams

Thursday practice is at 3:45-6:00pm for swimmers not at the meet.

JP Fiset crash course 101: (Hope it helps)

I have broken it down into early warm up session (7:15) and later warm up times 9:45 for each day for each swimmer
The early sessions finish around 11:00 each day and the later sessions finish around 1:30 Friday, 2:15 Saturday and 2:45 Sunday if it says all day by your name you swim in both the early and later heats

Thursday is the 800, 1500 and 400 Free Relay. Swimmers swimming these events should be there for warm-up at 2:45pm and all distance events should be finished by 7:30pm. The relays are first so if you are only coming for those they should be done quite early.

***Friday-Sunday the faster heats are being swum in the first part of the morning and the slower heats are being swum later. Some swimmers will be swimming events in both the early and late heats***

Brendan- early session Friday and Saturday
Marielle- early and later session Friday, and Saturday and later Sunday
Allison- later session Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Jasmin- early session Friday, early and late Saturday and Sunday
Kevin- early session Friday and Saturday
Sarah- later session Saturday and Sunday
Robyn- early and later Saturday and Sunday
Willow- later session Friday, early and later Saturday and later Sunday
Josie- later session Friday, early and laterSaturday and later Sunday
Piper- later session Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Connor- early session Friday, Saturday
Ryan-early session Friday, Saturday
Liam-early and later session Friday, early and later Saturday and later Sunday
Paulo-early session Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Lauren- later session Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Aaron-early and later session Friday, early Saturday and early and later Sunday
Sierra-early session Friday, earlier and later Saturday and Sunday
Matt-early and later session Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Melissa-early and later session Friday, early Saturday and early and later Sunday

Friday we are swimming the 100 breast, 50 back, 200 fly, 200 free and 400 IM, the 200 Free relay is also Friday and will be run in Finals.
Saturday we are swimming the 100 free, 50 breast, 200 back, 100 fly, 200 IM and 200 Medley relay in finals
Sunday we are swimming the 100 back, 50 free, 200 breast, 50 fly, 400 free

JP Fiset

Updates are coming in steady.. none with updated swimmers who are swimming later. Please continue to check your email!!

The meet link is
http://www.olympianswimclub.com/meets/jpfiset/

From this link you can get live results, and if you click on REAL TIME AND FEATURES it has a pysch sheet, what pool we are in (WEST for all 3 days)

Swimmers by day from Senior Development are:

Thursday: Distance or Relays: Paulo, Kevin, Ryan, Brendan, Sarah, Robyn, Melissa, Jasmin

Friday: Everyone but Sarah

Saturday: Everyone

Sunday: Liam, Aaron, Paulo, Breane, Sierra, Melissa, Jasmin, Lauren, Willow, Allison, Piper, Sarah, Marielle, Josie, Matt, (All who have been to all meets and not going to PCS should be on this day)

Times:

Thursday: 2:45

Friday
Heats Part 1; 7:15 am
Heats Part 2 (Repechage) 9:45
Finals: 3:15

Saturday
Heats Part 1: 7:15 am
Heats Part 2 (Repechage) 9:45
Finals: 3:15

Sunday
Heats Part 1: 7:15 am
Heats Part 2 (Repechage) 9:45
Finals 2:15

Laser Quest

We are still waiting to hear back from a number of people. Please Let Matt know if you can or can not attend ASAP at coachbowkowy@gmail.com

From Matts Email :As long as enough swimmers are interested (30 plus) we will doing a year end Christmas party that is being organized by the senior swimmers, it will be an over night laser quest adventure the night of December 19th. Please let me know asap if you are interested so that we can see if we have enough people. Cost will be $30. Dates get taken quickly so e-mail me soon so that we can book it before someone else does.

Laser Quest Edmonton(780)424-211110829 105th Ave.Edmonton, ABT5H 2X5

Weekly Update: 5km Pool Championships

It was a great 5km pool championships for all the showed up for the morning swim. Everyone was substantially better than last year over the 5km distance. For those of you doing it for the first time all showed control and confidence in the swims you did. Everyone should be looking forward to their upcoming 1500, 800, or 400 over the next two meets. I was pleased to see all the smiling faces before the swims and also pleased with the level of exhaustion after the swim. You all truly gave 100%. Whether you thought you died, or though that you had some left it is something that you can learn from. And everyone can learn from me and those parents that watch when I say we need to still be harder on ourselves with our turns! 5km or 50 meters you need to do them perfectly every time!

Also on GET UP and RACE night with the 200 IM's this week. The number of best times and the skills you showed was impressive! Not just small best times but big ones from 11 of the 14 swimmers at practice and the other 3 weren't that far off! Way to go! Now we get a chance to show what we can do this weekend at the JP Fiset. It will be a LONG meet so get your parents to check their email this week for information from Matt.

Weekly Recap

Hello from the coaches desk.
Last week was a great week of training. We increased the effort, quality and meters all while maintaining a focus on those under waters. The increased excitement about racing really impressed me this week. Pushing yourself to race every day will only make yourself better come the meets.

As we approach the last meets before Christmas we will continue to work hard and be ready to swim fast at JP and/or PCS. Remember the little things as they are what make you better!

• Use those last few strokes of every effort to mimic your racing perfectly
• Get those feet past the flags
• Get your own times (ALL the TIME)
• Swim perfectly even when it is not an all out effort
• Have fun, come on time, do the on deck work and swim fast!

Watch for news about Laser Tag, Christmas Camp and the 5km swim challenge out by Matt soon.

Keep up the great work!

Kellie

“The jump is so frightening between where I am and where I want to be...because of all I may become I will close my eyes and leap!”

Top 10 Best Things Young People get out of Swimming

10. They Develop a strong work ethic
9. They become goal oriented and learn how to commit to them
8. By necessity they become great time managers
7. They derive general fitness and health
6. They are participating in a sport they can do for life – masters is ever growing
5. Travel – see the world ahead of their age peers
4. Develop life long friends
3. They are eligible for athletic scholarships
2. They experience increases in self-esteem and confidence
1. They learn to value excellence

The 2008-2009 season is well on its way...

The time is now! The time to change is now! The time to be is now!

Life is a long journey as well as being or becoming an athlete. Sometimes we lose our way, we lose motivation, lack confidence, repeat the same mistakes. Mark Tewksbury once said before his Olympic Medal win. “I’ve changed nothing, and nothing’s changed!” How often do we find ourselves in a situation where we haven’t really changed anything and surprised by our unchanged results? Any sport separates and reveals on performing day the athletes that have made the right choices, athlete’s that have learned from their previous mistakes, athletes who believe in themselves and in the beauty of competition, athletes who rise above the challenges to become something more, something braver. But in the end is it merely an athlete we have become? Maybe we simply become an athlete supporting a team, a greater cause? In our time is it possible to become a hero?

Here is an excerpt from the Tv Show Heroes:
“ I've had the chance to see the world through newly humbled eyes. Witnessed amazing things. Seen ordinary people among us trying their best each day - to be heroes. These ordinary people, like you, like me, are capable of extraordinary things.”

We all have the ability to do greatness.

Amateur Sports provide the tools and process for young athletes today for a greater path tomorrow. If one is here for reasons that aren’t in equality with committing to sport excellence. Then what is your purpose? What are you hoping to get out of this experience? The only question I ask to these swimmers is which path are you on? This may be mature for some athletes at this stage but in truth we must really start to ask questions about ourselves early on to fully understand what we may be.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.”

Ryan Cochrane Swim BC Talk

https://www.swimming.ca/flash/08agm/08agm-ryan-randy.html

Lessons in Swimming

1. Anyone can win, Anyone can lose, Swim The Race.
2. Great Finishes Count. Practice Them. 1/3 of all races in the 2008 Olympics changed positions in the last 5 meters.
3. Put Yourself In Position To Win. Winners were in the race all the way. Maybe not leading early but in the race all the way.
4. Be Generous in Defeat. Then get determined not to have to do it again!
5. Swim for Your Team.
6. Stroke Technique is Everything.

Attendance

I have been taking attendance for the month of November. I will be publishing monthly attendance and will seperate the informed and uninformed absenses. This is simply to hold you accountable for your swimming and to help you understand how much you have actually missed or how dedicated you actually are.

Attendance at Swimming Practice By John Leonard

One of the hallmarks of a quality swimming team program is a planned program of physical development. (Other hallmarks include an emphasis on teaching, intelligent approaches to competition, and racing with a purpose, as well as individual attention to those who are "earning it" through their attention to the instructions of the coach.)

The planned program of physical development includes programmed physical stress and recovery times. Progress can only be made by the athlete by imposing a previously inexperienced stress on the body system. The body will then adapt to this stress, if provided the appropriate degree and timing of recovery. (Total rest is NOT appropriate recovery...it does not provide the lower level stimulation necessary for compensatory chemical reactions to develop.)

The stresses applied can be in the form of speed, distance swum, or "density" of workout. (yards per time period.) Stress can also be specifically applied in accordance with energy systems. A quality swimming program will mix the stresses in appropriate quantities and types for the group of athletes, and thus the individuals, being trained. The "mix" will be different for different groups and individuals, based on their previous training.

Thus, attendance at workout is a CRITICAL feature in making physical progress in the program. When an athlete misses a workout, they upset the delicate balance of "how much of what" stresses they apply to their body. In worst cases, athletes attend the recovery workouts, and miss the stressful workouts and thus never apply increasing stress to their systems. In the next worst scenario, athletes miss a series of recovery workouts, and attend only the stressful workouts and thus never get the appropriate recovery stimulation, and go from "sore" to "more sore." Finally, missing a "cycle" of stressful and recovery workouts means that the athlete takes "one step forward and one step back" and worse, comes back to a stress/recovery cycle that is now two steps up from their last practice .... a very stressful adaptation.

This ignores, of course, the fact that the athlete has let his teammates down by not attending, and has lost the opportunity to learn what is being taught that day.

NOTE TO COACHES: If you allow athletes to miss practice without comment, you are saying in effect, "It doesn't matter if you miss." If their absence means nothing, then so does their presence (mean nothing).
To help create good swimmers, we must have good attendance habits. Remind them of the upcoming meets, and something that exists to achieve there...goal setting.
With 13 and ups, we want to press for good attendance. For 12 and unders, we want to educate parents and swimmers as to its importance, while not stopping them from playing other sports as well. But make sure they know we consider swimming to be just as valid and exciting and involving as football, volleyball, etc. And remind them subtly that in swimming, "everybody plays all the time."

"TO ACHIEVE GREAT THINGS, FIRST SHOW UP EVERY DAY."

What Does It Mean to Be Part Of A Team? Written by: John Leonard

To become a part of a team is a privilege. Few people ever get the wonderful opportunity to experience the support of teammates and friends in the crucible of the competitive arena. A team lifts and elevates the performance of an individual to heights never before achieved. Each Individual must also recognize their responsibility to the team.
A team is a collection of individuals who have chosen to pursue one or more common goals. One of these goals, by tacit agreement of all concerned, is the improvement of each individual, which can result in improvement of the team performance. This is true in swimming. We compete individually, but preparation for competition is best accomplished in a team environment. No individual can create this environment for excellence on their own. It takes a team.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. If an individual wishes to benefit from the team, they must give to the team. Successful teams nurture the individual, and expect the individual to respond by also nurturing the team. Individual sacrifices on behalf of the team are just as much a part of the team environment as team accommodation of the individual.

The most successful teams have some characteristics in common in terms of accommodating the needs of individuals;
1) They demand adherence to the core values of the team. Outside these core values, they allow freedom of individual expression. But the core values are absolute, and not to be modified or bent for the individual.
2) They recognize that not every individuals every need can be met, but they bend over backwards to accommodate the MOST IMPORTANT needs of each individual.
3) They react positively to the idea in action that each individual first takes care of their own responsibilities, then assists others in their needs.

Individuals on successful teams also have some common characteristics;
1) They give back. If they want to be cheered for, they cheer for teammates. If they need special attention, they provide special attention to others.
2) They recognize that the fastest swimmer and the slowest swimmer on any team have unique responsibilities. The team will go no higher than the fastest, and will be limited by the efforts of the slowest. The individuals put special effort into assisting each to maximize their potential.
3) They know that Rules do not make teams, but traditions based on what it takes to achieve group goals do make a team. The individual recognizes the power of peer pressure when the object is right behaviour.
4) Individuals recognize that a rising tide lifts all the boats, and that it is better to make the pie bigger than to fight for their small piece of the pie.TEAM has been described as "Together Everyone Achieves More". Anyone who has been on a good team, will agree with that acronym.If you are on a good team, be thankful. If you are not, what are you doing to CREATE a good team from the one you are on today?""The Team Takes Care of Me, and I Take Care of The Team""Each member of a team has a responsibility to be better today, than they were yesterday, as an athlete, and as a person. That's how teams get better""On our team, the fastest guys help the slower guys every day. Then when the meet comes around the slower guys do better, but they also cheer so hard for the fast guys that they'd bust a gut.""Team means together.
We do a lot of things outside the pool together. When you know your teammates as people, it makes it a lot easier to support them when it counts.""A team is knowing other people care about you.""We all commit easier to group goals than we do to our own. We want to not let anyone else down....why else do we swim faster on relays than in individual events?""I love my team, because they give me so much. I get to follow five other fast women in practice each day, and that makes me faster. I get to spend time with five other fine women outside of practice, and that shows me how to solve problems and be a better person than I could ever manage on my own. What's not to love? I gotta give it back, and repay my debts.""Its funner on a team" "Teams double the pleasure and half the pain." "I know people who think swimming is an individual sport. They've never tried practicing alone." "Swim teams are like families. It ain't always pretty, but it's much more rewarding to be in one."

Streamline

Click to see a steamline! The most important skill we need to be able to do perfectly.

IM Turn Videos

http://www.swim.ee/videos/example_medley.html

Fly Videos

http://www.swim.ee/videos/example_fly.html

Backstroke Videos

http://www.swim.ee/videos/example_back.html

Breaststroke Videos

http://www.swim.ee/videos/example_breast.html

Freestyle Videos

http://www.swim.ee/videos/example_free.html

Examine the videos. Watch the emphasis on the kick and turn over. Remember to finish each stroke. Turns!!!! Dives!!! and Finishes!

Times to Check Out

This is the link to the USA Top Age Group Swims from last season. Check it out! Times are in LCM and SCY. We do not swim yards so just look at the LCM.

http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/_Rainbow/Documents/4baf1540-b702-4e81-87d1-9ea8451bca3c/Top%2010%20Times%20-%20condensed.pdf


They are fast! But just to know what you are competing against in the world.

Wednesdays

Wednesdays will remain as they have been. Practices will be from 3:45-5:30.

Group Focus's till Christmas

With the great successes on the weekend, there are still a number of things that the group can work on as a whole. Here are my thoughts.

• feet past the flags in ALL four strokes, and in ALL distances of races
• intensity in races! Always give 100% (or more!)
• Race awareness
• Arriving on time and starting your warm ups every day
• Improving strength and flexibility
• great body position!
• Getting your times all the time in practice. The clock is your friend, so use it!

Feel free to write yours down on a sheet of paper so I can help you better.

Getting ready to go!

Warm Ups are to prepare you for competition and practices.

There are many different ways to prepare. Physically and Mentally they should have you ready to race and practice. You need to do what you need to do to be Physically and Mentally Prepared to Race and Train Hard!

There are many options, but none are about sitting around and pretending to stretch while talking to your team mates. You can start out with stretching, move on to some activation and then finally into the pool where it starts. At meets, you may hit some race pace work but not too much. It's the process that gets you going not necessarily the swimming speed. The deck stuff is just preparation to get you into your warm up as quickly as possible. The deck stuff is for your physical fitness at Millennium or any other pool we train at. Flexibility and Strength and the important things we need in the pool. Also the skipping is there to help you explode off the blocks and the walls. Many more reasons but I think you can figure out my point.

At meets and at practice, the key is to identify what you need to do to be ready the minute you hit the pool or stand on those blocks. So walk onto any pool deck ready to get started with your warm up! Whether you are the leader or the follower you need a warm up.

As a group it is a HUGE area that we can improve on! Lets start today!

Poppy Meet Recap

Poppy was a great success. It was the first time where most of the group was competing on the same weekend. We did a great job of being aware of when swimmers from within the group were racing and it was nice to see you supporting the new and younger members of the club. Also welcome to racing with Senior Development to Breanne and Piper. Both girls we very successful in their first meets with Silver Tide.

This year for meets I am going to do my summaries a little different. I will give out swims of the meet, a swimmer of the meet and a OOPs of the meet.

Swim (s) of the Meet
- Matt Whiteside- 50 Breast. Taking off 7 seconds along with 100% best times in all of his races.
- Paulo for his ability to race. It is very nice to see! I was very impressed with his 50 Fly and Free and his ability to do great under waters.
-Connor for his 200 IM which is an indication of all the hard work he has been putting in on all 4 strokes.

Swimmer (s) of the Meet
Swimmer of the meet goes out to Marielle Froese. 100& best times . Some others did as well. Marielle looked fantastic over the whole weekend, using her new technique in freestyle to swim to huge best times in all free events. More impressive was her ability to split her races perfectly.

OOPS however goes out to everyone!!! for the horrible state we left our team area in both days. We were the dirtiest club there and we are the ones that should be setting the example. I talked to everyone about this after Saturday and then Sunday it was even worse! Thank goodness some of the swimmers stayed to help clean up the area, those who didn't owe them and the parents involved a big thank you for cleaning up your pigsty (From all the coaches and parents)


100% Best Times:
Marielle, Lauren, Matt

Please Subscribe!!!

I added the wrong thing to have the messages I put up sent to you. Please SUBSCRIBE to the blog to be kept up to date with all the information. The link is on the right side of the page at the top.

Thanks Kellie

November 11 Practice Change

On November 11th only Senior and Senior Development swimmers will be swimming all others have the day off.

The AM practice is at the regular scheduled time for Senior and Step up swimmers.

In the afternoon both groups will have dryland starting at 4:15 and will swim from 5:15-7:00pm.BE THERE!

Saskatoon

Brendan, Connor, Sierra, Robyn, Ryan, Allison and Liam made the trip to Saskatoon for the first away swim meet of the year. From the meet came a number of great swims, lots of learning about were each and everyone of you are at early in this swim season. Make sure you walk away from every meet knowing what you have done well and what you can do to make yourself better.

Now those swimmers know where they are at and can better assess the goals that they have for the year. I am going to be doing another round of goal setting after everyone has been to a meet. Most likely after Poppy.

Oct 20- 25

News for this week.

Blog now up and running. If you check the blog can you sign up as a group member (section on right of blog). If you do this, you will get any updates of information that I add to my blog sent to you, that way you will not miss anything.

• New to the blog this year! A calendar! I am new to using it. The swim schedule is just for Senior Development. Senior Step up make sure you know which practices are different for you.

Their will be no swimming Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week as the top two groups are away at Saskatoon.

We had a great start to racing yesterday. New qualifying times, best times and a great sign of things to come.

Emails

Senior Development Families

Can you please send me your emails so I can add you all as subscribers to the blog.

Thank you

Kellie

Best Times

Best times are available in MYswimming.ca
Go to www.swimming.ca home page
Sign up for MySwimming account by clicking on the Sign up button near the bottom center of the home page
Fill out required fields and click on Create Account at the bottom
Open Account and click on My Swimmers tab
Click on Add a Swimmer
Fill out info on swimmer including Date of Birth, click on Search (it will only find swimmers if all fields are exact match to the database - names, birthday etc)
Click on Add This Swimmer
Go to Reports tab, select swimmer and season (2007-2008 for last year), click on show – seasonal best times are at the bottom.
All the times for that year are posted and by clicking on any one time you can see more info on that race and result.

Welcome Back

It was great to see everyone back with all the excitement to start the new season. This week is going to be a little bit crazy! We will just have to use this week to get back in the water and then we can start to get into technique work and more base building swimming as the meets come up FAST. Just to let you know, I am only coaching you Monday and Tuesday. I am at a staff meeting on Wednesday and then away at a coaches conference for the rest of the week. I hope to learn some new things to bring back to the group. If you have any questions please email me at coach_kellie@silvertide.ca and if it is urgent and you need to contact me during the day you can email me at kellie.rolston@blackgold.ca (only for urgent questions). The best time to talk to me is before or after practice this year as I am teaching and coaching!

WELCOME BACK AND IT WAS GREAT TO SEE YOU ALL!

News From Kellie

I just got a teaching job in Beaumont teaching Grade 3! I am very excited and am looking forward to a busy year of swimming and teaching!

I am looking forward to hearing everything that has happened to you over the summer.

Kellie

Sherwood Park News, Sherwood Park, AB

Age Group Nationals Report

Sherwood Park News, Sherwood Park, AB

Getting into running

Hope that most, if not all of you have been attending the runs with Matt. I am teaching grade 3 this year full time and will make as many of the runs as I can.
Things to think about:

1. Group Goal Setting at Camp
2. Swim meets start fast! What have you done to maintain your fitness?
3. What did you see at the Olympics that you think will help you swim faster?

See you soon!

Kellie

Sherwood Park News, Sherwood Park, AB

Sherwood Park News, Sherwood Park, AB

Provincials Report

Sherwood Park News, Sherwood Park, AB

Sherwood Park News, Sherwood Park, AB

Summer Games Report

Tentative Schedule for 2008-2009

This is the tentative schedule for the season. I have also added the meets we know about right now in the upcoming meets column. It will be a season of more trips to Calgary, with Victoria again and a few others we are planning.

Depending on what you are recommended for next year:

All groups have a brief amount of dry land before all practices (time is already included) be sure to have shorts and t-shirt and maybe shoes for skipping.

Senior Step-up
Monday 5:30-7:00pm Dry land 5:00-5:30
Tuesday 5:45-7:30 am, 5:15-7:00 pm
Wednesday 3:45-5:30pm *this practice will move to 5:15-7:00pm after Poppy
Thursday 5:45-7:30 am, 3:45-6:00 pm
Friday 5:15-6:45pm, Dry land 4:45-5:15
Saturday 6:30- 8:45 am Dry land 9-10

Senior Development
Monday 5:30-7:00pm Dry land 5:00-5:30
Tuesday 5:15-7:00 pm
Wednesday 3:45-5:30pm *this practice will move to 5:15-7:00pm after Poppy
Thursday 5:15-7:00 pm
Friday 5:15-6:45pm, Dry land 4:45-5:15
Saturday 6:30- 8:45 am Dry land 9-10

Provincial (New group) will be an option for some of you as well as fitness. Schedules TBD

Summer Time in the Park!

I am officially signing out for the summer. I encourage you to watch the Olympics as much as possible and check out the videos online (Flo Swimming and Swimming World) to see the preparation that goes into swimming at this level. It is the most exciting time for swimming in our sport. Also try some new sports and activities and the occasional swim in a pool or lake. Stay tuned for more announcements in late August and early September.

Age Group Nats was a blast and l look forward to having some of senior development swimming in the meet next year.

News just in...

Kevin and Brendan have cut their hair for the summer!

Age Group Champs

Josie, Kevin, James, Brendan, Connor, Ryan, Liam, Max and Kam all were at Kinsmen representing Silver Tide well at the Provincial Champs on the weekend.

Leading the way for the group was Ryan with best times in all of his 8 events and breaking 8 club records along the way (50, 100, 400 free, 50, 100 Fly, 50 , 100, 200 Back). Not to mention he came away with 8 provincial titles over the weekend. Way to go Ryan! Check out the power rankings on Swimming Canada to see how he ranks in the country. https://www.swimming.ca/PowerRankings.aspx
It was a heart breaking weekend for Connor and Brendan who swam amazingly well but came away just short of their age group national times in the 1500 Free and 200 Fly. Both boys should be proud of how far they have come this season.
James and Kevin proved to be strong contenders in the 11-12 Age group with second swims in all of their events. Kevin took away the bronze in the 400 Im with a fantastic swim.

Josie continued to swim very well with all best times and making finals in all the backstroke events. She was also a great leader on the 10 and under relays all weekend long. At his first A's, Liam made finals and swam on 5 relays. Way to go!

It was a great end to a wonderful season for Senior Development
Good luck to those continuing on the Summer Games.

Summer Games Trials

The hottest weekend of the summer so far was spent at Millenium Place for a few swimmers from Silver Tide. We came away with 6 swimmers being placed on the Summer Games Team for Zone 5. Zac, Brayden, Kevin, Ryan, Caylee and Nicole will be going to Medicine Hat along with Mr. Labonte as chaperone. Way to go!

Swimmers swam well with short course best times for every swimmer. Many of the swimmers were using it as a qualifying chance for A's and Age Group Nats. We had a number of close calls with all just over the standards but everyone coming very close. Jasmin missed A's by 0.2, with Brayden missing age group nats by .02 as well and Connor and Brendan under 2 seconds away from the 200 Fly age group nat.

Kam, Max and Karlyn will be joining the swimmers in Medicine Hat as memebers of Zone 5's Triathlon team.

Age Group Trials

This Week

This week is that last week of swimming for those of you not qualified for A's and not attending Summer Games Trials. Also I would like to welcome Matt Whiteside to the group for this week as he qualified for B's.

Right now the list continuing on after B's is:
Caylee, Max, Kam, Brendan, Connor, Melissa, Jasmin, Josie, Kevin, Ryan, James, Liam and anyone who qualifies at B's.

The year end party is coming up with a FUN day in the pool to happen before the party. Emails have been sent out. If you can not attend please let Matt or Lisa Peddie know ASAP.

Freezing in Red Deer and Bouncing off the lane ropes in Calgary

It was my weekend off and the feed back that I received from both meets was that the swimmers had a lot of fun! Whether it be in the tent at Red Deer or playing cards in Calgary. It was a busy weekend for most and everyone came out of the weekend with something to be proud of. Liam was the swimmer of the weekend getting passed that 3:12 barrier in the 200 Fly by over 6 seconds and qualifying for A's in his first season with the club. It was great to see how excited the group was for him. Best times were at a premium in Red Deer (I am thinking the cold) but everyone came away with a few. Robyn was 10 seconds away from her A time in the 1500. It was Laurens last meet of the season and she swam well being close to best times in all of her events and a big best time in the breast stroke.
In Calgary the boys were what I would call streaky. All with good swims, great swims, and those that we will look back at and wish we could redo. Consistency is something that we are now going to be working on every day for the rest of the season. Brendan and Connor are inching closer and closer to the Age Group National Standards every time they swim.

Great Job!

Summer Games

An email was sent out about Summer Games Trials. They are in our own home pool and it is a great opportunity to make a team. I encourage you all to think about it. If you are interested please let Matt know at coachbowkowy@gmail.com . Do this ASAP

The trials are: June 27, 28, 29 at Millenium Place

The Summer Games are: Aug 7-9 in Medicine Hat. You will travel with the team and stay with the team so you do not need to organize your own travel arrangements.
http://www.2008albertasummergames.com/association.aspx?p=swimming

The Last Week of May

Last week we saw some different types of efforts in practice. I was proud that everyone pushed themselves hard during the sets. I think that your legs are getting used to all the running and it is really paying off in the pool. The 5x 200's and the 3(8x50) fast went really well, even though most of you were very tired and claimed you could just not go any faster. The practices at Kinsmen went really well and should help you with the number of meets coming up. This week we will swim hard through to Silver Cup, then with swimmers going in all directions the group will be divided depending on your individual focus.

Attendance is very important as we approach the end of the season. The nice weather and school exams I know are distracting. Make sure you are well organized so that you do not have to miss practice because you did not plan ahead.

Also good luck to our triathletes as they start their races.

"Everyone has the desire to win, but only champions have the desire to prepare."
Author Unknown

Words to think about.

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. --Jim Ryan

Quotes are one of my favourite things. As a swimmer I had many that I kept in a little book for the days when training got hard, my muscles hurt and it was a little harder to get to the pool. Yes those things do happen. I still look back at it. You have all set goals at the beginning for long course season that involved improving upon your swims so far in the year. I would insert "good" habits into the above quote. Swimming well all the time, allows you to always be moving forward. There are different things for every swimmer in the group that are going to allow them to become a better swimmer. Keep working on all the skills, whether they seem big or small they all are important. If you have questions, do not be afraid to ask. You will only get the answers if you ask.

Here is another quote for you:
Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second. Give your dreams all you've got and you'll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.--- William James

FLO SWIMMING

http://www.flocasts.org/floswimming/index.php is the latest website to be used by senior development. I have sent all the parents an email to be a member of my team. This is so that you can see the videos that I have posted online of the swimmers. This way they can refer to them at anytime and watch for a refresher when ever they want. I only have your emails so that is why it is you being added.

For swimmers: I know that you all have emails yourself. I would like to add you to the members of the group. Can you please either email me at coach_kellie@silvertide.ca or give your email to me on a piece of paper at practice.

Have fun with it. It is also a great webiste to watch other swimming videos on too!

Video chance

Tuesdays practice will be extended till 6:00 for those that can stay and I will video all that are interested in the 4 strokes so you can watch following Wednesdays run.

New Links

No more waiting for emails... check these sites for entries and results


http://silvertideentries.blogspot.com/ for entries for meets

http://silvertideresults.blogspot.com/ for results from meets

Swim-a-thon

Way to go! It was a great showing from the group. Everyone swam hard for the whole 2 hours.
These are the total lengths, meters and 5Km times if the counters had them., in no particular order.
Marielle- 216, 5400 meters
Josie- 242, 6050 meters
Liam- 250, 6250 meters
James- 292, 7300 meters, 1hour 20 min
Kevin- 326, 8150, 1 hour 13 sec
Lauren- 228, 5700 meters
Connor- 308, 7700 meters
Brendan- 328- 8200 meters, 1 hour 13 min
Caylee- 296, 7400 meters
Calvin- 296, 7400 meters, 1 hour 14 min
Robyn- 304, 7600 meters
Sarah- 270, 6750 meters
Melissa- 294, 7350 meters
Sierra- 290, 7250 meters
Ryan- 290- 7250 meters 1 hour 20 min

Great job everyone!

Summary of the rest of the Season

I talked to those that were at practice Monday night about what the rest of the season looks like. For the next 3 weeks we have Swim-a-thon this weekend. Training at Kinsmen on the holiday Monday from 10-12:30 long course. The weekend following that a select number of swimmers are invited to swim with OSC's group long course for a second practice on Saturday. ( More details to follow once finalized). Over these weeks training will be hard and focus on swimming fast and longer perfectly and more efficiently. The next weekend will be Silver Cup for everyone in the group. Then meet prep will begin for those focusing on B's with Red Deer and Cascade the being the first full weekend of June. Immediately after that is Age Group Trials with about 50% of the group there. If you do not qualify for A's at the meet, it is your last week of swimming. Then we have 3 weeks of swimming for the A swimmers going into A's in Edmonton. Qualifiers for Age Group Nats will continue on for 2 weeks until Age Group Nats. After that we have a meet in San Jose that we are trying to get a group together for.

EKI

What a great way to swim within the season, tired and deep within training. Senior Development showed up to swim hard and fast over the four day meet at Kinsmen. It is a meet that in the next few year is going to continue to grow into a faster and faster meet. We got to see National Record Holder Alexandra Gabor from Whitehorse swim and break many meet records.

Thursday started off with the distance events with Robyn and Jasmin under there best times and getting closer to their 12 year old A times. The boys definitely put on a show with 3 best times from Connor, Brendan and Kevin. Not to go without mention is Ryan who swam a great 1500 and is now within the top 10 and unders in the country over the last four years in the event and placed 4th in the 12 and under group this weekend.

Relays: the 12 and under boys combined of Connor, Brendan, Kevin, James and Ryan in some combination went on to win the 4x100 free and medley, 4x50 medley and come second in the 4:50 free. They also went on to be 3 in the 4x200 free relay in the 14 and under age category. They broke 3 club records!

Friday: Kevin was the first 12 and under to break the 2:30 barrier in the 200 Free LC. Followed by James just missing getting under the 2:40 barrier. 200 Backs had Kevin leading the way with a 2:42 followed by Brendan with a best time. All three 11-12 girls had great swims with all best times. 400 IM had Robyn as our lone girl with a great swim. Connor and Brendan went 1-3 in the race with big best times.

Saturday: 200 Im had Kevin, Brendan and Connor all going faster at night to have more best times. 100 Fly Brendan showed great speed going 1:15 in the morning and then 1:14 at night. 400 Free had best times from Sarah and Jasmin in the morning. The battle was set for the boys with Ryan, Kevin and Brendan all in the final. It ended up with all 3 boys within a second and all with big best times.

Sunday: 200 Fly had Brendan, Connor and Liam all go best times with Connor getting his youth recognition and Liam getting closer to that A time. Brendan swam a great race to get that special teddy bear of the night! The girls all had best times in the 100 back. Ryan, James, and Kevin were all in the final with Kevin leading the way with his 3rd best time in the event of the day!

It was a great meet! We swam well tired and I can't wait until we are rested and get another chance to race like we did this weekend! Way to go!

Schedule Changes and EKI Weekend

Reminder to all the the new schedule change takes place on Thursday this week. Do not forget.
This week the group with be divided with some at EKI and others getting back into training for the end of season meets.

Thursday: We have Distance swims from Kevin, Ryan, Brendan, Connor, Sarah, Jasmin and Robyn at EKI. James, Liam and Caylee with have practice that night at MP and then come to the meet the next day. All other not in the meet with have regular practice.

Friday: At EKI we have Kevin, Ryan, Brendan, Connor, Sarah, Jasmin, Robyn, James and Caylee. Liam still does not swim at EKI on Friday so can choose to come to the meet for a warm up during finals or practice Friday night. All not in the meet have regular practice with the first half being you helping out with Junior and then a short set after that.

Saturday: All EKI swimmers at the meet. All others no practice.

Double Double Teams!

Congratulations goes out the Yellow Team who pulled out a close victory over team Red and Blue. The overall highlight from the coaches was the excitement about swimming within Silver Tide. We had many great swims that were accompanied with great team support. With new A qualifier Alyssa Byrne, and new B qualifiers Haley W and Marielle Froese leading the way. Along with near A misses from Halle Elford and Liam Strocher. I am sure a few 8 and under club records were broken and maybe a few others. We have to wait for results to come in to be sure. I was most impressed with the appearance of Silver Tide on the pool deck and how enthused you all were to cheer on your team mates.

Double Double Team Challenge

For the Double Double the swimmers from elite, senior development and senior will be divided into teams of 15 and will be competing against one another over the weekend in the areas of appearance, performance and attitude! We will be going over the teams and points on Friday night.

Good luck and have fun!

Swim-a-thon May 10th

Swim-a-thon this year is on May 10th. It is from 6:45- 9:00. Senior Development will be swimming as many lengths in 2 hours as they can, not just the standard 5Km for time. We are going to see who can go the furthest. Remember to eat well that morning to fuel your body for the 2 hours of swimming and also remember your water bottles that have slowly been disappearing from the deck!

Schedule changes to the end of the year

This is the new schedule starting May 1st
Monday: Stays the same with swimming from 3:45-5:30 and then dryland till 6:15
Tuesday: Stays the same with swimming from 3:45- 5:30
Wednesday: Changes: Swimming from 5:30-6:30, Running from 4:00- 5:00, Stretching and Abs on deck from 5:00-5:30
Thursday: Stays the same with swimming from 3:45- 5:30
Friday: Stays the same with swimming from 3:45-5:30 and then dryland till 6:15
Saturday: Stays the same with swimming from 6:45-9:00 and then dryland till 10:00

These changes are because of the summer club joining us in the pool! Welcome back to the new summer club head coach Mike Clark. Any questions please ask.

Congrats!

Congratulations to Kam, Max and Karlyn for being selected to the Alberta Triathlon Team this summer!

Moving Forward

In the next two weeks everyone has a swim meet. It is important that you are at practices everyday. Long course season is a lot shorter and therefore we have less chances to qualify for meets. The whole group is entered into Double Double and for most it is their first long course meet of the year.

EKI is the next weekend and everyone will be swimming that weekend either practices or at the meet. We have Brendan, Connor, James, Kevin, Ryan, Jasmin, Sarah and Robyn qualified for the meet. At that meet it is heats and finals and ALL swimmers are expected to be back for finals each night. Distance events start Thursday and everyone but Ryan has an event that night.

After EKI we head back to training and move onto swim-a-thon, Silver Cup, Red Deer or Cascade, then the provincial meets start. After that there is Age Group Nationals and possibly a meet in San Jose (Far Westerns). Stay tuned for more info to come.

With only a few chances to qualify for that next level it is important to stay healthy and get to the pool everyday.

Stroke Camp

It was a great weekend in Grande Prairie for Syd, Sarah, and Jo this weekend. Along with me we ventured to the IM, breast and distance free camp on Friday to do some great training and to take in as much as we all could. The report from the coaches at the camp was that our three swimmers were all very coachable and should be very excited to swim fast this long course season, each receiving various prizes over the weekend for great skills, leadership and ability to take in new information and apply it to their strokes.

I was very lucky to attend this camp and will be applying the information that I learned within every practice. The main focus of the camp was efficiency and always swimming with good skills all the time. Something that we have been focusing on in practice since the switch of seasons. Also I am going to pass on the information and the execution of the skills but it is up to you as swimmers to use them all the time. I am not in the water for you!

Remember to takes more energy to do a slow turn than a fast one!

Skipping Ropes

Please bring a skipping rope to every practice. Now we will be starting with 5 minutes of skipping along with our regular warm up routine every day. Also on Saturday you will be doing skipping along with running so make sure to have proper running shoes as we will be going outside once the weather is nice enough. By not having proper equipment (shorts, shoes, etc) you are inviting an injury to happen especially since we are at the peek growth time for most of the group.

Also on the equipment note: next year we will be sending out an equipment list for the groups. Some ideas to think about are a pull buoy, paddles (No bigger than one inch bigger than your hand. For most finger paddles will do) and small fins (not zoomers) in a mesh bag.

The trip to Fudruckers.. and the swim meet in Saskatoon

It was a great start to the 2008 long course swim meet season for everyone who attended the meet. Results to come... But from what I saw: Halle, Nicole, Kathleen, Robyn, Josie, Brendan, Robyn, Marielle all posted 100 % best times (7 out of 7). Karlyn, Brea, Erin and Sarah P all had great swims to start the season with a few best times mixed in.

In the Septathalon meet format, the times from all 7 swims are added up to create an overall event winner.

In the 10 and under we had Halle and Josie place in the top 3 with Josie winning the B category and Halle coming 2nd in the C category. In the 11-12 girls Marielle was 2nd in the C category and Robyn was 3rd in the B category. Brendan was first in the B category for 11-12 boys. Karlyn won the 15 and over A category with Brea placing 3rd in the B category.

Not to mention the great swims from Kathleen and Nicole in their first ever long course meet!

Novice Series

Hot from the meet results: Liam qualifies for B's in the 200 IM. While I was not at the meet I heard that it went well and that the relays were an exciting finish to the meet.
Some stats:
5 Best Times: Sarah, Liam, Lauren, Sierra
4 Best Times: James, Kevin
3 Best Times: Jasmin
2 Best Times: Ryan

Way to go! On to long course we go!

Olympic Trials on TV and the Internet

Silver Tide arrived in Montreal yesterday after only a few hours of delay in Toronto. The girls got to the pool today for two practices and are looking good.

The coverage of the meet on TV is found at http://www.cbc.ca/sports/?detectflash=false and more info is on www.swimming.ca.

Travel Meets

A few concerns that I have is that a lot of families are choosing to opt out of the travel meets. For some in the senior development group the travel meets are a few of the only chances to race long course this season if you have not qualified for meets. We just did goal setting and I know that these swimmers want to improve their times but to reach these goals they need to race!

This is what I have told the swimmers:

What You can do to Maximize your Swimming:
1. Come to Practice. You can't learn swimming skills by not being at the pool. Be on time as best you can.
2. Come to meets. As many as possible. The only way to learn to race is by RACING.

Also there have been comments about team travel. We can not offer team travel if we do not have a good size of swimmers committed to attend the meets. A half empty bus just does not work. We are looking at changing the meet sign up process for next year to hopefully allow team travel to be an option next year.

Spring Break Training

Senior Development will be taking a little bit of a break over spring break. Training will be up to you. We are expecting you to complete 3 practices on your own that will be emailed out. I was asked if you can do more. Of course!!!! I know some of you have kept a log book and that would be a great place to get extra workouts from.

Josie and Ryan you are swimming with Elite over the break because of Dino Cup. Matt will be sending out that information soon.

Over the break, Nadine and Rachelle are away at Olympic Trials. I encourage you to watch the meet and track the results at http://www.swimming.ca/

Enjoy the time off of school and a few days away from the pool.

Goal Setting

Goal Setting will be happening this week for the Long Course Season... starting thinking where you want to aim for.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.- Aristotle

11-12 Camp

It was a great first provincial camp for Connor, Brendan, Kevin and James. Each boy was on their first away over night trip without a familiar parent and all roomed with someone they had never stayed with before. Parents they all did great!

Connor won a prize for his outstanding performances over the weekend with a 2:38 in the 200 IM, 2:54 in the 200 Breast (less than .2 off his age group national time) , a 34.9 in the 50 Fly and another 2:38 in the 200 Fly inching him closer to another age group national time. Kevin also won a prize for his "team spirit" with that contagious yell that we all know very well. Brendan was a great racer all weekend long with very respectable tough swims in all of his races and great leadership within the training sessions. James had best times in his 200 IM, 200 Breast and 50 Breast over the weekend.

More than the swims the swimmers learnt first that I am not crazy and we need to use our under waters all the time and saw many videos of the best in the world doing so. Not to mention how important it is to use the clock to let yourself know how you are doing all the time. They also had talks from University of Alberta head coach Bill Humby and EKSC Kier Maitland who is hoping to make the Olympic team.

They all represented STSC very well and I hope took a lot away from the camp.

Four Boys Make 11-12 Provincial Team

Congratulations to Brendan Elford, Kevin Labonte, Connor Rawson and James Janzen who were selected to the 11-12 North South Dual Meet and Camp that takes place this weekend at NAIT. Because of their great swims I was also selected to be the boys team coach. It should be a lot of fun and a great experience for the four of them to learn a lot and meet the other 12 and under swimmers from the province as well as be coached by other coaches than me.

Information will be sent out shortly about the camp.

Silver Tide 5th Place Team in Province! Way to Go!

As a team we placed 5th overall! Way to go Silver Tide.

• Ryan Schamber placed top 2 in every swim, had 100% best times and broke numerous club records and is even closer to a few more! He is now ranked top 10 in the country in a few of his swims!
• Connor, Kevin, Brendan, James had best times in almost all swims and made a presence in the 11-12 boys category.
• The 11-12 boys along with Ryan placed 3rd in all 3 relays.
• Connor is within 2 seconds of his Age Group National Time in the 200 Fly and received his Top 25 Youth Recognition Time. He had all best times except for the 1500 Free.
• Brendan finished the meet with a great 100 fly and swam to best times in everything but the 1500 free. He is also moving closer to his Age Group National Standard in the 200 Fly.
• James swam to 100 % Best Times, made the A final in the 50 breast and achieved a few new A times.
• Kevin has amazing swims this weekend to move up into the top 8 in all back stroke swims. He also had all best times expect for the 1500 Free. He also proved to be the most supportive team member always using a lot of energy to cheer on his team mates.
• Josie made it to finals in the 200 Back and placed top 16 in everything she swam, had 100 % best times and achieved a few new A times.
• Jasmin made her first finals, qualified for EKI and swam to 100% Best Times.
• Sarah swam to 100% Best times, moved up in placings and also qualified for EKI.
• Caylee continued to get more best times and improve in her freestyle events and is getting closer to her 14 year old A Times.
  

There was more excitement from Elite and Senior so you will have to check Matt and Ryan's blogs for that info!

Competition Info - The Taper and the Meet

During the taper :

• Your daily volume should not drop below your expected daily meet volume. That is, if with warm-ups and races and warm-downs you are swimming 3,000-5, 000 meters a day, then the last week going in to the meet should not drop significantly below this on consecutive days
• Although rest is important, do not sleep so much during the day that you cannot sleep well at night.

During the meet

• Don’t change your routine because you are at a major meet – what worked before will work now – just do it better (ex. If you warm-up 1,500 m before a race all year, don’t suddenly drop to 1,000 m at the big meet)
• Don’t be distracted or allow yourself to compromise what you need to do to follow what others are doing or as a reaction to a race performance. An example is stretching – don’t be afraid to leave your friends to take care of yourself
• Follow the meet schedule with your swims – i.e. swim a warm-up a night even if you are not racing. Remain part of the ‘flow’ of the meet always
• Be ready to adapt to changes in situations – whether it be warm-up times, transportation difficulties, missed wake-up calls etc. Things can quite often go wrong or not be to your liking – that is not important at all. What is important is that you can adapt to the new situation in a low-stress manner. This is very important when traveling with large groups where many decisions are made for the whole group, and the individual has little or no say it the decision. If your reaction is to ‘fight’ it you will add stress to yourself, and lose focus on what really matters
• There is a difference between being a qualifier and a competitor. Go the meet planning to compete – whether it be winning heats, moving up in your ranking or scoring. This means being ready to swim best times. You should not be satisfied with simply participating
  Remember that your competitors are trying to beat you! Don’t be afraid to make a race personal, or be ‘selfish’ about your needs – no swimmer is going to allow your to win – you have to fight for it

Wanna get an ‘A’ in swimming?

'A’ to ‘A+’ Behaviors
I always try my hardest.
I always do the whole set.
I get all my repeat times.
I count my strokes regularly.
I try new things.
I encourage my teammates.
I work hard at the "extras‟ like dry land and stretching.
I am willing to train very hard to reach my goals.
I listen well at training.
I trust my coach to tell me the right things to do.
I am a good leader in the group.
I support the group by cheering for them at training and at meets.
I use my bad days as lessons for the future by turning them into great weeks.
I understand that competitive swimming is a context for my own personal growth and not a contest to see who is a better person.
I don‟t allow myself to quit something I‟ve started.
I love to lead the lane and race sets with others.
I have fun at swimming no matter how hard the work gets.
I love swimming and I can‟t wait to get to the pool!!
Competition for me is about using a race or a training repeat to get the BEST out of myself.
I believe my goals are my guide to success.
I believe I will succeed and I know I must earn my success through hard work.
I understand my training program by asking questions about it and by paying close attention at practice.
I am a great trainer because I know my best times in every-thing I do and I always try to improve them.
I understand my stroke technique because I ask questions to the coach and pay close attention at practice.
I respect myself, my club, my teammates, my coaches and my competitors.
I lead a healthy lifestyle which supports my goals.
I am proud to wear the Silver Tide colours.

“What you achieve is defined by the limitations you put in your mind. Where you are and what you are will always be that way because of the dominating thoughts that occupy your mind.”

Those people who IMAGINE clearly and BELIEVE strongly usually ACHIEVE what they wanted.

Some things to start thinking about as we start to think of more travel meets.

Here is an article for your reading. It is written by one of my old coaches and collegues. I think that it is something to think about as the group starts to move to higher level competitions and on to bigger performances.

http://www.pacificcoastswimming.com/PDF_files/BarrattTeamTravel.pdf

Water Bottles and Nutrition Talk

So here it is. You want relays! Well if you all bring a water bottle and have it at the end of your lane and actually drink it we will do relays that day! It is up to you!

Some points from the nutrition talk:
Carbohydrates: 60% daily kcal
Your brain and body's favorite food. Your most efficient fuel.
glycogen storage = endurance which means good practice and good performance
8-10gm/kg of body weight/day
Protein= 12-15% daily kcal
1. build
2. maintain
3. repair
Help you grow.
No benefit to power, strength, or endurance. To gain strength you need to exercise.
1.2-1.7 gm/kg of body weight/day
Fat: 25-30% daily kcal
If you are not burning fat you are burning carbohydrate.

Energy Needs
Under 12= 2500-3000 kcal/day
Over 12= 3000-6000 kcal/day
Servings size most important. If you are filling up on fat you are not leaving enough room for carbohydrates.

Hydration
Water acts as a coolant to maintain body temperature
Increase Body Temp= Decrease in Performance
Dehydration is a loss in 1% of body weight through water loss

Here are some tips:
-Small amounts absorb better
- Caffeine, sweet juices and pop not good
-2L before exercise
500-600 ml 2 hours before pool
250-500 ml 30-60min before pool
150-300 ml every 20 min during (WATER BOTTLES)
200-300 ml every 20 min after
So you should always be drinking!

Pre competition Meals
Can be considered lunch for practice day
-Quick and easy digestion - high carbohydrate, moderate protein, low in simple sugars, fibre and fat and caffeine free
-plenty of fluids
-familiar
-2-4 hours before event or training
-500 kcal

Pre competition Snack
Find what works for you!
Smaller version of pre competition meal- lots of Carbohydrate and Fluids!
Note: Protein Shakes should be mostly carbohydrate

On Competition Day
High carbohydrate rich foods that you are familiar with
-less than 1 hour between races eg. banana, crackers, drinks
-2-4 hours between races, more carbohydrates eg. bagels, muffins, dried fruit, high carb bars
-more than 4 hours- more proteins and fats added- dairy is good, sandwich's

Recovery Eating

1. Replace fluids
2. replenish gylcogen stores (carbs)
3. replace electrolytic losses

Drink plenty of fluids- should pee before and when done. Emphasis on carbs. Have within 30 min of exercise. Carry something in your bag. Balanced meal plan. The chocolate milk factor! Yes it is good, but in small amounts and immediately after you exercise.

Special Concerns

Have a high carbohydrate snack before bed- eg cereal and in the morning follow the pre event snack.

Traveling- family style restaurants allow you to make the best choices, planes, trains, buses, cars and hotels all dehydrate you. Pack familiar items!

If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask.

Long Course Meet Schedule

This is the tentative meet schedule that has been emailed out. If you know you can not attend a meet now, why not tell Matt now! Any questions please ask.
Team Alberta North vs Team Alberta South 11 -12 Training Camp / Dual Meet March 21-22
April 5-6 Dino Cup Calgary Josie and Ryan
April 12th-13th Saskatoon Septathlon
April 12th Novice Series
April 25th-27th Double Double
May 1st-4th EKI Qualifiers
May 10th-11th Something Local
May 31st-June 1st Silver Cup
June 1st 10 and Under #4 Non A 10 and Unders
June 6th-8th Freeze or Fry Red Deer
June 5th-8th Cascade LC International A + above
June 13th-15th Age Group Trials Medicine Hat Qualifiers
July 3th-6th Age Group/Senior ChampsEdmonton (Qualifiers)
July 24th-28th Age Group Nats Calgary Qualifiers

Age Group Trials this weekend!

Great weekend!

Jasmin and Brooklyn make Age Group Champs.
Lots of best times, finals being made, medals being won, and a club record or two from Olivia Anderson!

Results to be posted soon and a write up to follow.

Westerns

Stay tunned to my blog for the western updates or go to http://www.swimming.ca/liveresults/08SpeedoWest/ for the live results. I believe there is also a live video feed that is starting Friday that you can watch for some fast swimming. From http://www.swimming.ca/ you go to the Westerns link and you can access the video stream from there.

Day 3:
A number of great swims again especially the 200's. Erin and Sarah snuck into the finals with great swims and best times in the 200 Fly and 200 Breast. Sydney narrowly missed the finals in the 200 breast but had a great swim for another best time. In the 200 Back we had a big drop from Karlyn and best times from both Nadine and Sarah. Kyle was just under his best time in the 100 free as well this morning.

Erin was 24th tonight in the 20o Fly and Sarah took off another second to come 22nd.
The 4x 200 Free Relay of Karlyn, Nadine, Rachelle and Sydney.....

Day 2:
A big day for Silver Tide with two Olympic Trial Cuts. One for Rachelle in the 50 Free Swim off and another for Nadine in the 400 Free final.
From Finals:
Rachelle 50 Free 23rd, 50 Fly- Not up yet
Nadine 19th 400 Free 4:23.81

Also Best times from Julie in the 50 free, Karlyn and Sarah in the 200 Im in the heats.

Day 1 Results:
1500 Free: Nadine 8th in 17:24.13 a 4 second best time, Karlyn 31 in 18:12.93
The 50's: All best times!
Fly- Rachelle is going in 16th to tommorrows final with a time of 29.33
Back- Julie 49th with 31.86
Breast- Sydney 46th with 35.86

Also Mike Clark achieved his first National time in the 800 Free!

Freezing Cold, Fast Swimming and Card Games

Grande Prairie brought many different forms of excitement! Cards, the hotel pool and all sorts of naughty moves made going the wrong way on the waterslide, the car rides and lastly Silver Tides fast moves in the pool. You had to be there to understand! So for those of you who did not attend here is a short recap:

• 3 club records broken by the Schamber family, Rebecca broke the 50 and 200 free 8 and under club records and Ryan broke the 400 IM club record
• We tried to get Ryan to swim up ages but were just not aloud. She swam great with the big boys but his times were exhibition and more importantly he was most improved at speed by the end of the meet. Also he made the mature decision to swim up rather than win all the 10 and under events!
• Aggregates were won by Jenny (15 and over), Rebecca (10 and under), Brendan (11/12) with many others coming very close.
• There were many battles on the table throughout the weekend that put young versus old, and depending on whom you ask it went either way.
• 100% best times by Brendan and 3 new A Times.
• It was Brea's first meet of the season and she showed that she is on her way back and looked like she had a great time doing so.
• Halle was battling sickness throughout the weekend but pulled out some great swims in the 200 Im, 100 Back and 50 Fly and should be looking forward to more success at B's.
• Jenny may be wishing Ryan was a few years older. Too bad he is 10! She had a great meet with best times in the 200 Im, 100 free and 100 Breast. I think she made Ryans day with the bag she gave him from her aggregate win. Thanks!
• Megan started the meet off with a 25 second drop in her 400 free and ended it with a great 100 fly best time.
• Whatever Kevin says when he is behind the blocks works! 100% best times! A 100 fly A time! Jumping around and talking to himself gets him swimming fast. I think that he should teach this to the rest of the group who like to stand still before their races, but I think the addiction to pop though should stop soon!
• Nicole was the lone representative from Junior development, and she represented very well! 5 Best times and a lot of smiles. Flip turns and underwater pulls, Chelby should be proud.
• Robyn had a great meet, swimming her first 400 Im in 6:19, along with breaking the 3:00 mark in the 200Im is turning into a very well rounded swimmer. She had 5 out of 6 best times and a few new B times as well and is creeping up on the boys little by little.
• Nicole was a racer at night with big drops in the 100 and 50 free and also breaking 2:40 for the 200 IM.
• Rebecca had a great meet with all her long events seeing big drops. Under 3:00 in the 200 free and under 2:30 in the 200 IM. She will be looking to make some finals at A's

Also I would like to admit that my DS skills improved over the weekend thanks to Rebecca and Halle handily beating me on the car ride up.

Senior Development News for February

With some of the group off to Grande Prairie next weekend it is time to update you of where the group stands. We have Calvin, Brendan, Robyn, Kevin and Ryan at the meet with some of the Senior Group and Rebecca, Halle and Nicole for Elite and Junior D.

I would like to welcome James Janzen to Silver Tide. He adds nicely to our group of 11-12 boys! It is great to have you into the group.

While I am in GP training will conitinue at regular times!

Here is the groups breakdown of qualifiers for the short course season:
At Senior Provincials: Max, Kam
At Age Group Provincials: Caylee, Ryan, Josie, Kevin, Brendan, Connor, James, Sarah
At Age Group Trials: Jasmin, Melissa, Robyn, Sierra, Lauren, Calvin

Field Trip Time!

Canada West Swimming Championships

When: This Friday- Saturday

Where: Kinsmen Aquatic Center

Time: Saturday Finals at 5:00. We will try to be there as a group on Saturday. If you want to come Sunday too Finals start to 2:00.

What to wear! Silvertide gear and if you have any U of A gear.

Why? Fast swimming, great turns!

Blue Bears

Wow! What a great meet! As a team we had a very impressive weekend with new qualifiers from B's right up to Age Group Nationals! This is a reflection of all the hard work being put in at all levels of Silver Tide! From our group and Ryan's we had Sarah Laplante get her first A TIME in the 1500 Free and Jasmin Hillman achieved her B QT in the 400 Free. Brayden also achieved his 50 Free A Time along with Rebecca in the 100 Fly. Nathan was our new Age Group National Qualifier! We had Caylee just narrowly miss her A Time in the 100 Fly by .09 but she will be getting another chance this weekend and we had another 100 Fly near miss by Sarah Peddie.

Along with these new qualifiers we had many swimmers step up there performances to achieve B or A times in new events over the weekend. All the IM training is paying off and we are becoming very well rounded swimmers across all the events! I am proud to say that other clubs have noticed and you all deserve a big pat on the back!

Friday Night: Distance! It was a big night for the group we had Sarah and Robyn complete their first 1500's and Melissa, Sierra and Jasmin all swim their first 800's all with very impressive times for their first attempts at the events. The 11-12 boys of Connor, Kevin and Brendan put on a show in the 1500 with huge drops off of their best times. The Kings also dropped close to a minute to near breaking the 18:00 mark. Also our Elite development girls of Halle, Rebecca, Sarah and Olivia joined Ryan and Josie with more best times in the 400's for 10 and unders.

Saturday and Sunday: With so many great swims I am going to try to highlight a few of the ones that I can think of off the top of my head! I have already mentioned our new qualifiers so that goes without saying! Great job! Leading the way for the group were those who made finals and continued to better there times by putting in great races at night. Max, Kam, Connor, Brendan, Kevin, Calvin and Liam all made the best of the finals opportunity. It was also Liam's first heats and finals appearance! Robyn was just knocking on the door of finals being an alternate in a few events.

100 % Best Times were achieved by: Kam, Max and Connor

Mayflower

New qualifiers: Sierra B QT 400 Free, Ryan 400 Free Top 5 Youth Recognition. From what I heard it was a good meet full of great performances from some very tired swimmers! Way to go!

Happy New Year

We are now back into the swim of things after the local and Jasper training camp. From what I saw at Jasper from Caylee, Brendan, Melissa, Sierra, Connor, Max and Kam and what I heard from Ryan about the group that stayed home, you should be looking forward to great swims for the rest of the short course season.

In Jasper we got up to swimming and even kicking on 1:00 base intervals towards the end of camp and I am going to trying to get the rest of the group heading in that manner over the next few weeks. We only have a few more weeks of hard work before we start to head into the championship meets for the short course season. With most of the group qualified for one meet or the other it should be a very exciting time for senior development.

In January we have no practice on Jan 12 but we are attending the Mayflower meet on the Saturday for all A or B qualifiers and those not qualified for B's yet or who are 10 and under have some events on Sunday. The next weekend we have Blue Bear which is a heats and finals meet which we will be looking to swim fast at!

Keep up the great work!