Dear Parents and Swimmers,

We are off to a great start for this year's swim team!  Moving forward you should expect to get an email from me on Sunday evenings recapping the previous week and previewing the upcoming week. It is our hope that these weekly communications will help parents understand what our goals are during practice, and will help you and your swimmers what to expect during the upcoming week.  Due to our holiday weekend, this week's email is coming to you a day late!

Re-cap from last week:

Week 1 in the water really was about the coaches trying to get to know each of the swimmers.  We have also been focusing on laying the foundation for good technique.  We have focused on drills that encourage strong kicking, a streamline body position, and keeping the swimmers' heads down/flat in the water while breathing. These are all skills that we will continue to work on throughout the season.

Swimmers in the 11 & up session also worked on backstroke (kicking from the core, reaching with arms, good body rotation from through the hips and shoulders), and did break-out sessions for breastroke, butterfly, and starts.

Preview for this week:  

This week's schedule will be unique since we have both speedy meet assessments and time trials happening.  In between those we will be working on the following:

10&unders: starts, backstroke, and some breastroke (time permitting)

11&up: continue break-out groups for stroke work in all 4 strokes, starts and turns. Thursday's workout will focus on adding distance!

Since this week is a bit different, please pay close attention to the following daily schedule:

Monday, 5/28:  NO PRACTICE: MEMORIAL DAY

Tuesday, 5/29:  

5:30-6:30-Speedy Meet assessments.  We ask that ONLY speedy meet swimmers attend this practice. Once assessments are finished, we will use the remainder of practice to work in small groups with Speedy Meet swimmers on starts.

6:30-7:30: Normal practice for our 11& up practice.

Wednesday, 5/30:

5:30-6:30-Time Trials for regular meet swimmers. We ask that ONLY regular meet swimmers attend this practice. Once time trials are finished, we will use the remainder of practice to work in small groups with regular meet swimmers on starts and relay transitions.

6:30-7:30: Time Trials for swimmers ages 11-18.*+ Once time trials are finished, we will use the remainder of practice to work in small groups with regular meet swimmers on starts, turns, and relay transitions.

*If you are a swimmer age 10 & under but normally attend the late practice, we need you to attend the early practice for time trials.  We will NOT run 25m events in the 2nd session, so it is important that you attend the time trial session for your agegroup.  

+If you have previously talked to me about not being at time trials, please send me your most recent times for the following events: 50 free, 50 back, 50 breast, 50 fly, 100 IM.

Thursday, 5/31:  Normal practice schedule unless needed as a make-up day for time trials or speedy meet assessments if we have weather complications this week.

5:30-6:30:  10 & under

6:30-7:30: 11 & up

Friday, 6/1: NO PRACTICE

Saturday, 6/2: Speedy Meet @ Northstone @ 9:00am.  Directions to the pool can be found on our website

Final Thoughts....

A few more items to keep on your radar:

1. Water:  Even though your swimmers are surrounded by water during practice, they still need to make sure to stay hydrated!  Make sure you are encouraging your swimmers to drink plenty of water before and after practice.

2. Nutrition: Swimming takes a lot of energy!  Encourage your students to eat healthy, nutrient rich foods during swim season!  Foods high in potassium can help prevent muscle cramping.  Bananas are popular in the category, but other great choices include avocados, beets, canteloupe, honeydew melon, regular and sweet potatoes (baked), and spinach.  Foods rich in magnesium (pumkin seeds, sesame seeds, almonds, cashews, peanuts, pinenuts, salmon) are useful for helping muscles recover from a build-up of lactic acid.  

3. Swim caps:  For swimmers with longer hair, swim caps during practice really are helpful!  We have been working really hard on head position for freestyle this week in practice. When a swimmer takes a breath and has hair in their face, the natural reaction is to raise or shake their head, which is exactly what we don't want their head to do, and ultimatley affects their whole stroke. If possible, encourage your swimmer(s) to wear caps! They keep hair out of their cute faces, help protect hair from getting damaged from goggle straps, and might even help goggles stay in place!!!  For those swimmers worried about caps pulling their hair, silicone caps are a fantastic investment!  Feel free to see me at practice if you would like to feel/try a silicone cap.

Thanks for reading what will hopefully be this season's longest email!  I hope you all have had a good and restful weekend, and I look forward to seeing you this week!

~Coach Tiffany