Red Team: January 2008 Archives

Hi Everyone! Now that we have all survived the day in the "rain forest" over there at the WSF Swim Meet, I thought it was time to touch base with everyone. But, before anything else, thanks for being so supportive and understanding of me as I sit or hobble around the pool deck! This time cannot go fast enough.

I want to touch briefly on several items.

Swim Meets.After the "Chicago Crew" swam so well a week ago, we came back with a second great group performance this past weekend! I am very proud of the willingness to get up and race; ask great questions about those races; and stay focused during the nastiest day of weather Coach Jennifer has ever had to endure coaching at a meet! At the WSF Swim Meet, the Red group accomplished 85% new best times!! STAY THE COURSE!

Now in moving ahead from this meet, I feel that we have been focused and therefore we have been able to secure more pieces of our individual puzzles to put in place. I think bigger pictures are beginning to appear for the Red Swimmers as we make our way toward the "final phase" of the short course swim season.

I don't want to fail to make mention of the "Swimmers of the Meet" for both the Chicago Travel Trip or the WSF Swim Meet. At the Chicago Meet we had one young lady that swam eight new best times! So, the Chicago "Swimmer of the Meet" goes to Logan Bianchi! This past weekend we had yet another young lady who went eight new best times!! And two young men who both swam six new best times in the meet! Our WSF Swim Meet "Swimmers of the Meet" go to Katherine Gonzales; Jack Travis and Chase Walter! Way to go and what a great job of racing!!

Final Phase of the Short Course Season. Last night-Tuesday, January 29th, Red had a team meeting to talk about where are we headed from here? I reviewed the season for them and spent a lot of time focusing on all of the positive growth that I have seen-both in and out of the pool within this group. We are now able to accomplish the goals of a workout on a daily basis because the group does a much better job in accepting the responsibility that they play within the workout.

To help each individual understand the goals that they want/are able to reach this season, we are doing several team building activities this week. Monday was a recovery day from the last several weeks of consistent work that the majority have done; Tuesday we had a lengthy team meeting to talk about focusing and moving ahead to the championship phase of the this season and dryland work focusing on the legs. Wednesday was just good old fashioned long course practice for two hours. Thursday we will hit the dryland session hard and then spend 60-75' totally focused on goal-setting . This is on an individual basis. We will look at our early season goals; time improvements that we have made; our current best times; what meets we have left to focus on and our time goals for Lost Dutchman; Regionals and reaching further to our last meet of the season.

Next week we will focus on working hard and precision work with drills.

Parent/Coach Conferences Informational Flyers.On Thursday, January 31st, please look for the flyers in your mailboxes. This is a great opportunity for parents to spend 15'-20' one-on-one with their child's coach. These are similar to Parent/Teacher conferences at school. Sign-up/Scheduling sheets will be available starting on Saturday, February 2nd. Please know that if you don't sign up, I will fit you in after finishing all of the other scheduled swimmers first. I want to be fair with everyone.

BEST Activity Calendar February-May 2008.Knowing that every one's daily lives are quite busy, I know how people like to get upcoming dates in their head and on their calendars. Following is the schedule, as of February 1st:

Friday, February 15-Monday, 18th=Lost Dutchman Meet (Entries are posted and in mailboxes)
Wednesday, Feb. 20th=BEST Parents Meeting (topics to be announced)
Feb. 28-March 2nd=Regionals (Reg cuts)

Friday, March 7th or Saturday, March 8th=Red End of Season Party!!!
Thursday, March 13-Sunday, 16th=Arizona State Age Group Meet (Q Times)
Friday, March 21st-Monday, 24th=Easter Weekend Break
Saturday, March 29-Sunday, 30th=Season Finale Swim Meet (Everyone)
Monday, March 31st-Tuesday, April 8th=BEST TEAM Spring Break
Thursday, April 3-Sunday, 6th=Far Westerns Swim Meet (Far Western times)

Wednesday, April 9th=BEST Resumes practices
Saturday, April 26th=BEST Long Course Intrasquad Meet

Sunday, May 4th=BEST Team Dinner and Awards Banquet

With everything that is going on in Phoenix; Scottsdale and Glendale this week, I sure hope your family can enjoy some of it...or just some quiet time at home! No Peyton...I will have to settle for little brother Eli! thanks for your continued kind words of encouragement and support. I am having a blast with your children. Thanks for sharing! Have a great weekend!
-Coach Jennifer

Following are reminders to update everyone.

Practice Schedule Reminders/Changes.Everyone should have gotten an e-mail on Monday a.m. with several practice time updates. Following are those and any new ones:
Wed. Jan. 16th=5-7:00p.m. (Chicago Swimmers done by 6:30-please be on time to pick them up!)
Fri. Jan. 18th=6;7:30p.m.
Sun. Jan. 20th=12Noon-2:00p.m.
Mon. Jan. 21st=Martin Luther King School Holiday/Practice=3-5:00p.m.
Fri. Jan 25th=6-7:00p.m.
Sat. Jan. 26th=NO Practice due to the WSF Swim Meet

Chicago & WSF Swim Meets.Good Luck to the nine Red Swimmers who are traveling to Chicago for the BEST Team travel trip & swim meet. Swim fast and have fun!!! (In that order!!)
For the WSF Swim Meet, following are some details to help everyone out with the weekend:
The meet is Saturday, January 26th & Sunday 27th. All 14 & Unders will swim in the afternoon both days. The meet location is the Southwest Valley YMCA, 2919 N. Litchfield Road, Goodyear, AZ. (It is where we had our meet in November). Warm-up are slated to begin at 1:00p.m. both days. Meet starting at 2p.m. Please be on time! Everyone is expected to be in BEST team attire. The team shirts for Saturday are BEST Red ones & Sunday is BEST White ones. Good Luck! The entries are posted on the age group bulletin board.

"Coach/Parent Conferences" Informational Flyer. Next Tuesday, January 22nd, everyone will be receiving an informational flyer about Coach/Parent Conferences that I am wanting to organize and carry out. When I was a head age group coach in Indiana, I did these for several years and felt that everyone benefited greatly from the time spent to do them. Please make sure to take the time to read this important information that is soon to come your way. I will be sure to e-mail it out next week also.

Just to let you all know, I am having a blast with your children! I feel like we really have bonded a lot in the last several of weeks! We still have lots to work on, but we have made great strides in the listening; attitude; and effort departments! Thanks for sharing your great kids with me! have a great week!
-Coach Jennifer

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that you have survived the first week getting back into the swing of things! The Red group sure has a lot to feel good about and be proud of! What a fantastic start to 2008 they have had in the pool! Great efforts and attitudes have been the highlight of the new year for me so far! (Nothing to complain about here!)

January Schedule Everyone should have received the paper copy of the Red January practice Schedule in their mailboxes on Monday. I have also e-mailed those out to every family. Remember, the details of every day for Red are found on this schedule. I really believe this helps the swimmers and parents to know what is going on a little better and know what we are doing and what to expect and when.

Meet ScheduleJust a reminder about the upcoming meet schedule for January and February. The meets in January are the point of the season where the hard work of November, December, and Holiday Training will really show and make an impact for many swimmers. We are still in the work phase of the season, but we are also in the phase of the season where the meet performances are taking on new importance in the way that we are prepared. Following is the upcoming meets that involve Red Swimmers:
Jan. 17-21st=Chicago Travel Trip/Swim Meet. Good Luck to the nine Red Swimmers who are going to Chicago!
Jan. 26-27th=WSF Meet. I will be doing this entry next week. Please let me know if you are NOT attending.
Feb. 15-18th=Lost Dutchman. Need qualifying times. Most times are faster than National BB times, but slower than Arizona Q Times. I will update everyone on who has cuts for this meet.
Feb. 28-Mar. 2nd=Age Group Regionals. Must have Regional times.

Monthly Attendance Stating at the end of January, I will be posting the attendance for the month. These will be displayed in percentages also. I will also post the attendance averages for the months of September-December 2007. I think is the indicator which shows who has truly been consistent in their attendance, therefore efforts too. When we are looking at improvement, not only time improvements, but also in skill improvements, consistency speaks loudest at this age and stage of progression.

Next week-Week of January 14th.In next week's blog, I will include information concerning upcoming BEST parent Meetings and information about Coach/Parent Conferences.

Thank you so much for your continued support of BEST, your children and of me! I want all of you to know that I thoroughly enjoyed our week of Holiday Training!! I could not have asked for any more of the swimmers who were in attendance and our attendance has averaged right at 75% for the first two weeks of the new year!
-Coach Jennifer