Weekly Update - April
2
The banquet is over and we had a BLAST!!!! The awards were fun, the
food was great, the dancing was a blast, and the zoot suit was
wicked cool. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did at the
banquet and hopefully pictures of my suit will start to surface
soon. For those of you that were unable to attend let me fill you
in on some important information. We are finalizing our new website
layout and design and it will soon be going live. This means that
everything we do for this team, including meet entries, volunteer
sign ups and even eventually monthly payments, will all be done via
our website. If you are not accustomed to going to our website yet,
now is the time to get used to it. This website will allow us to
take care of things much quicker as well as get information out
easier. Please keep your eyes out on the website
(www.texasterrapins.com) and be prepared for when it all
changes.
This is the second week into our rebuilding process and things seem
to be going good. We have been having a lot of swimmers in the
water this week and to help us make sure all gets the attention
they need, we are pleased to have a new assistant coach, Coach Jeff
that will be helping us out during April. Jeff is a swimmer himself
and has a love for swimming. Jeff is also an assistance coach with
the Crocs, well known and liked. Come next week, hopefully the
weather and temperature will start to be more on our side and we
can utilize the 50m pool and early practice times at lakeside more
often than we have been able to now. Summer league is around the
corner and we are preparing to start writing practices more geared
to the summer league swimmers, this will start after the first Long
Course. This is also the last week of dry land; next week we will
start preparing the swimmers to put their drag shorts back on.
After the first long course meet 4/17-19, all long course swimmers
will be required to bring drag shorts to practice. All 11 & up
summer league swimmers will also need to have their drag shorts
after that first meet. I want to reiterate how important it will be
for the 7 & over ages to continue practicing with TTST this
summer. We support your choice to do summer league but we also want
you to continue progressing in your swimming. Swimmers lately have
been doing much better at practice and I am very happy with their
progress. The no tolerance policy is starting to take hold and the
swimmers are starting to understand that it is time to push harder.
More and more are finishing work out boards and less and less are
being kicked out or having new sets given to them. Lets’ keep
up the good work!
As most of you know our front gate is a little bit on the broken
side and will stick in the open position often. The entire fence is
in the process of being replaced but until then we ask that if you
walk by and the gate is open to please shut it. Baseball season has
started up in Fairfield and it is dangerous to have all the people
around with an open gate to the pool. The board thanks you for all
the help we can get on keeping eyes out on that gate.
I am in need of some help from all the parents. I have a problem
with loving to talk to swimmers when they are not in the pool and
this is a problem I am having trouble fixing. I need the help from
the parents to keep swimmers off the pool deck until it is time for
their practice so that Coaches do not get distracted. By having the
deck clear of swimmers not practicing and parents, will allow
coaches to focus on the swimmers in the water. I thank you for all
your help.
Our turtles of the week this week are Paige Fery and Tyler
Wiesepape. Paige has really started to show us how serious she is
with her swimming. She is the type of swimmer that when you look
into her eyes you see nothing but determination and fuel. Her
practice habits have done nothing but improve all year long and are
now at the point where her fuel is about to be lit on fire. I am
looking forward to seeing what she does once the fire is burning
inside her. Tyler is one of our newer swimmers that we have picked
up this season. He is a very strong swimmer and when his mind gets
set to something you can tell that there is no giving up until it
is completed. He is also one of the few boy swimmers we have that
does not spend a lot of his time talking during practice. He shows
up for one thing and one thing only and that is to improve upon
himself as a swimmer.
Our tip for the week is from Speedo about body rotation:
Fixing Your Body Rotation
In my opinion, the reason why most people’s legs twist and
cross is because their legs are trailing the body rotation, instead
of moving with the hips and body. The key to fixing it is making
sure to get good range of motion with the entire leg, not just from
the knees down. Make sure to control the kick all the way from the
hips/upper thigh. That way when the hips rotate, so will both legs
at the same time. This is definitely not mentally or physically
easy if you’re not used to it, so be patient. If your legs
are only crossing when you breathe, it could mean that you’re
over-rotating to take the breath, and it’s simply impossible
to sustain an even kick when your hips are rotated too much. If
this is the case, try not to twist your body as much to take the
breath.
Coach Jason
713-291-6830
Weekly Update - March
23
Welcome back from spring break, I hope everyone had a wonderful
week off. Abbie Jones did very well at TAGS and we can officially
say that she is the 10th fastest free stylist in her age
group in the state of Texas!!! Over all it was a fun trip and a
great experience for her and I look forward to her continued growth
as a swimmer.
We will be starting up our new practices this week and next week we
will be moving around pools a lot for the older groups, so be sure
you are taking your swim gear home with you from here on out. We
did make some changes to the March calendar and have put the new
updated calendar on the website (www.texasterrapins.com) if you will
need it. Keep your eyes and ears open for more announcements to
come for April practice schedule.
I am very excited that we have added practicing at our 50 meter
pool, as well as we will be starting offering Saturday practice
options for all our groups, starting this
Saturday. Also, with our week off we are going to
start up turtle of the week next week so look for our turtles in
the next weekly update.
With our new practice schedule going into effect I have had some
questions about dry land training. We will be continuing with dry
land on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
We will still run on Tuesdays and Thursdays but Friday will now be
our only non running dry land day. We are starting to build the
swimmers endurance and strength in the water up again so more
swimming will be asked of swimmers. We are also not completely done
with our technique and we will be spreading out the remainder of
our technique that we have left (starts, turns and finishes)
through the weeks to come.
To help you figure out what your tuition payment will be this
summer, the board has put together a chart that will clearly show
which groups will have which discounts for summer tuition. We offer
20% discount in tuition to all our swimmers who competes in Summer
League. In addition we will offer a 20% discount to all
swimmers who pay for June, July and August summer tuition by June 1st. I have attached the
chart to this email.
Starting this week we are going to be moving to a zero tolerance policy for the
Green and higher groups. What this means is I will be asking more
from the swimmers from now on and any arguing or unnecessary
playing will result in removal from practice or harder set to make
the swimmer focus more. This is the next step we are taking into
getting our swimmers prepared for the future and ready to work hard
in all aspects. I appreciate your understanding and any help that
you can give your coaches in enforcing this new policy so that our
swimmers can be the best they possibly can be.
This Saturday is the BANQUET!!!!! I am very excited as we have 158
people signed up and it will be a BLAST!
Lots of awards, dancing, food and Coach Jason in a sweet looking
suit J.
Our tip of the week is from Speedo
Being a Team
Leader
BY DR. ALAN GOLDBERG//Sport Psychologist
Probably the very best way for a captain to motivate
teammates in practice and at meets is to directly model
the behaviors that you want them to take on. For example in
practice, if you as the captain work hard, go all out on every set,
closely follow the coaches’ instructions and do so with
enthusiasm and a positive attitude, then you will be
doing a lot to get your teammates on board following your
lead.
How you act as the captain will always speak much louder
and more powerfully than what you say. In addition, help
your teammates remember exactly why they should be working hard
today. That is, if you can periodically remind your
teammates of the team’s goals and that the way to best
achieve them is by working hard today (and every day) in
practice.
However, keep in mind that sometimes you may have a teammate or two
who haven’t bought into the team’s goals or who really
don’t care as much about swimming as you do. Understand that
it is very difficult to motivate someone who isn’t motivated
to begin with.
At meets you want to keep in mind that swimming fast largely
depends upon staying loose and relaxed and having fun. If you model
these behaviors for your teammates, you will be doing a lot to help
them relax and go fast.
Coach Jason
Weekly Update - March 9
Champs are now over and what an exciting way to end our short
course season. Our last meet of the season for the 12& under
champs we got to witness TONS of HUGE time drops as well as TAGS,
BB, and a relay taking first place from behind! Over all the
kids had a lot of fun and did exactly what they had been training
for all year long. As I take a step back to see it all and take it
in I can’t help but feel full of pride for what all my
turtles have done this year. Time drops were not the only
thing that a lot of swimmers over came this season and hopefully
they will take their new found strength and continue to push
forward for next season.
Our website (www.texasterrapins.com) is always changing and
progressing thanks to Chris Keller. If you haven’t
been to the website in a while please make sure to stop by and take
a look. You will find lots of info about the team and what we are
doing to progress. Such as our new “Jump Startý
program that we are doing this year to help get summer leaguers
ready to compete. If you have any siblings that want to get
prepared for summer league please check out
http://texasterrapins.com/Jump_Start_To_Summer_Lea.html
and let us help them get started.
The March calendar has been released and I have gotten a lot of
questions about our added opportunity for our swimmers to swim in a
50 meter pool. We have not released all the information yet as we
are still in the process of securing the pool. Once we have locked
our days and times into the 50 meter pool, the board will be
sending out an email to everyone with directions and suggest a car
pool solution for those who might not be able to make it there on
their own.
Also, we have been noticing a pattern
on Fridays that most of the Green level swimmers that
come are coming at 4 instead of 4:30. We will there for have
Green group start practice on Fridays at 4 and all groups will end
at 6.
Swimmers make sure you bring your shoes EVERYDAY!!! We are doing
dry land again until after the first week in April. Tuesday and
Thursday we will be running but Monday, Wednesday and Friday we
will be doing dry land exercises and using all of our new dry land
gear. Purchasing of all our new equipment was made possible
do to all the hard work so many of you put in to our Swim-a-thon
fundraiser in the fall!!
Before I let you know about our turtles of the week I wanted to
mention that going into Long Course season we will be doing turtles
of the week bi-weekly. This also allows our Turtles to be
able to enjoy the stuffed Turtles a little longer. "Turtles
of the week" are; Erica Strautman and Jackson Kaye. Erica is
a pleasure to have at practice because she has a very positive
attitude. She is always ready to pay attention and wait for
instruction without all the jumping and splashing around. When
corrected she tries her best to continue on her strokes with the
correction. Jackson is a Teal level swimmer who is in Coach
Meagan’s group. From what I have seen and heard, Jackson has
some of the best manners towards his Coaches at practice. He does
not argue with his coaches at all and is always willing to give his
110% at practice. We are very proud of our turtles this week and
are looking forward to other turtles working hard! Make sure
to check the web site for pictures of our Turtles!!
Our tip of the week is from Speedo about backstroke starts.
Backstroke
Starts
Does your backstroke start look like a precise blast off the wall
or a plunging back flop? This sometimes awkward take-off can make
or break your race. The goal is to get as far ahead of your
competition as possible by maximizing your forward speed from the
start. Here’s how to do it:
The biggest obstacle in most backstroke starts is
slippage.
It can happen twice: during the pull-up from incorrect foot
placement and during take-off from uneven body weight
distribution. Your toes should be just under the
surface and about six inches apart for best balance (adjusting for
your body size). To distribute weight evenly over your body instead
of just your feet, don’t pull up as high as possible on the
blocks. Rather, pull both your body and hips in towards the wall.
This way, your legs can push your body out. If you try to push
upwards, that’s when your feet will slip down.
Explode, in the right order.
When you take off: 1) throw your hands away from the block, 2)
throw your head all the way back to see the water and 3) explode
your legs as though you are launching a missile. This sequence
allows your feet to push your body away from the wall instead of
forcing your legs down.
Remember your arms.
Experts agree that during take-off, throwing your arms over your
body is faster than around the side, but only if your back is
arched. If you are new to this, practice in the deep end first, as
you can overextend and hit a shallow bottom.
Streamline.
Just like in fly, breast and free starts, your feet should enter
through the same hole created by your hands. Arch your back and
your hands will break the surface, followed by your head, then your
body and finally your feet, all through the same entry. Once
submerged, squeeze your head inside streamlined arms and kick hard,
using your first arm pull to explode to the surface.
Practice.
Like anything else, if you want to be good, practice constantly.
You can easily turn an awkward backstroke start into a weapon of
speed.
Coach Jason
713-291-6830
Weekly Update - February 23
This weekend was absolutely great! The excitement levels were
really high and it showed in the kids swims. I am very proud of all
our swimmers this weekend and how well they handled all the
pressure and put up a lot of their best times. I am looking forward
to this weekend with the 29 12 & under swimmers we have going.
Remember, if you are going to spring champs you will need to bring
some leggings or pantyhose to practice this week. For the weekend
we are urging all the 11 and 12 year olds to shave, the 10 &
under swimmers we will allow the parents to make the call on that
one.
After this weekend we will begin doing dry land, for Green and
higher, and lots of technique again so make sure your swimmers are
coming to practice with shoes. We will be doing dry land every day
but we will only be running 2 days out of the week (Tuesday and
Thursday). We are going to start putting all our new dry land
equipment to use. That means lots of jump ropes, stability balls
for our core, and resistance bands to help strengthen our
shoulders. We use dry land as a time to help not only strengthen
our muscles but to also help strength our bones. So when our
swimmers get back into their sets and get ready to be pushed in the
water again they will be ready to handle whatever we throw their
way. We will begin strength training again and shortly after we are
done with our technique and dry land we will begin drag suits as
well. Keep your eyes and ears out for that announcement to
come.
As you all know I am still working on my article to release to the
team on why continuing swimming with TTST during the summer, even
if you swimmer will be competing in summer league meets, is of such
importance. Let me briefly explain. When your swimmers start
out the season with a year round swim team they are being trained
to be strong and faster than a typical summer league swimmer is.
When you train your body in this fashion the only way to continue
to progress is to stick with the program and continue to be pushed.
The longer a swimmer spends working hard all year long, the more
distance it takes to exhaust the body. The only real way for any
swimmer to progress through swimming is to do it when their body is
exhausted. That is when all the flaws start to come out and that is
where we want our swimmers to be so they can find their flaws and
work on them so that they will not be brought to their meets.
Racing, no matter the distance, the body will always become
exhausted before the end of the race and keeping the technique
while exhausted is what keeps the speed. SO the key to continued
improvement is to keep doing the harder practices. Look
forward to my article when it is released, I will be working double
time on it after this weekend to have it out before the end of next
week.
Our only Turtle of the week this week is Christina Walker.
Christina is a joy to have on our team. She is always at practice
with a positive attitude and never complains about anything. She
sets a great example for our other swimmers and will continue to
excel at swimming with her awesome work habits.
Parents as a reminder for our end of the year banquet please make
sure you RSVP through your E-Vite. It is sure to be a blast for all
who attend!!!!
To follow up last week’s ABC’s of swim meets here is
B.
B is for Building Your Mindset
How should I think to swim well?
Every individual has a unique mental state under which he or she
performs best. There is not one right way to think. The key is to
know what you are thinking and how you are
feeling when you perform your best.
How do I know my ideal mindset?
To identify your ideal mindset, think about the best performance
you ever had. Ask yourself:
· What did I
do to mentally and physically get ready (music,
routines…)?
· Was I
relaxed or pumped up?
· What did I
focus on throughout the event?
· What words
describe how I was feeling? What I was
thinking?
How do I recreate this mindset?
First, you have to choose to create your ideal mindset and
take responsibility for your thoughts. Second, before each practice
and event you should develop a routine that allows you to
recreate this mindset. Imagery, music and positive self-talk are
great ways to build your ideal mental and physical state. Third,
you can come up with a trigger word, phrase or action that
reminds you of the characteristics of your best performance. This
trigger needs to have meaning to you so that it can focus your mind
to help you perform your best. Write the trigger on your hand,
goggles or bag so when you see it you will be reminded to think
that way and to approach each event with your ideal
attitude.
Build your mindset
Instead of just hoping you will be mentally ready to compete, take
control and create the mentality you want before each event. Know
your ideal mindset and choose to create this mindset through
pre-event routines, trigger words and by simply telling yourself,
“This is how I’m going to think
today.ý
Make it Great!
Coach Jason
713-291-6830
Weekly Update - February 16
With the last weekend off from swim meets and with the rest of this
season over we are edging up on the Spring Champs meets. This
weekend we will have the 13 & over Spring Champs which means
all swimmers going to need to be wearing their PANTYHOSE during
practice and for meet warm-ups. For the 12 & under swimmers you
will need your pantyhose next week in preparation for your final
meet. We use pantyhose to help the swimmers stay strong and keep
their endurance up, as we lower their total yardage for the day.
I know some of you have been wondering about
"what’s the deal with pantyhose".
Our short course Banquet will be coming very shortly and I wanted
to remind everyone to save their date, March 28th, for
our Banquet (6 - 10 PM)!!! There will be a DJ, games, dancing, and
we are inviting all our Terrapins, swimmers and families.
Participation Trophy awards will be giving to all swimmers, in
addition to many, many other awards. SO make sure you can
attend this function and come and have fun with us ...and yes, you
will get to see Coach Jason in a zoot suit! More
information will be coming out from TTST info so keep your eyes
open.
Practice lately has been a little easier on the kids due to
tapering and getting prepared for spring champs, so you may have
noticed your swimmer coming home not as tired. This is part
of tapering to not work them as hard close to the final meets of
the season.
I want to remind parents when coach Meagan and I are available to
talk. I have a brief period every day from 6:15 to 6:30 in which I
can talk with parents and answer questions, and Coach Meagan has
time on Monday and Wednesday from 5:15 to 5:30 and Tuesday and
Thursday from 6:15 to 6:30. We both generally have time after
practice is over. Please always feel free to email me with
your questions, or call me. We want to continue to do our
best at practice to watch and coach your children as they swim, so
we can continue to work on their strokes and make them
better. Please help us, by not trying to catch us during swim
practice. Of course we welcome you bringing towel to the deck
when your swimmer is done.
Long Course season will soon be starting and we are working on
securing a long course pool for practice in - once or twice a
week. This is primarily an option for our older swimmers,
Aqua and up, and gives them a great opportunity to swim in a 50
meter pool as well as it helps them better prepare for some
of the long course meets. Practice schedule will be slightly
modified come end of March, on days were Long Course training will
be offered. We will have to travel to the Long Course Pool
(possible car pooling) approx. 20 min. from Fairfield.
For Blue and Teal, there will for a short period of three weeks be
changes to the practice scheduled, the first three weeks of
April. This is the weeks were FAST summer League has
clinics. There will be no changes to the Green groups.
Finally I like to remind you that we will be offering a Summer
League training program for all our Year Round Swimmers who likes
to participate in Summer League meets. Basically it will mean
that your swimmer will continue to practice with Terrapins, but do
meets with Summer League. We will be entitled to a 20%
discount in tuition for the month of May and June, while your
swimmer swims Summer League.
Our turtles of the week this week are Matt Braswell and Claire
Bradley. Matt is a teal swimmer who has greatly improved his
practice habits recently. He has been working hard to be the first
swimmer done with his set and is setting a good example for the
other swimmers. Matt is always courteous at practice and often
helps his teammates out when needed. Claire is one of those
swimmers that will continue swimming no matter what kind of
distractions are going on in and around her lane. She is a very
hard worker that pushes to finish her work outs every time.
Claire is a very strong swimmer who continues to push herself and
those around her to become better at swimming.
Our tip of the week is from Sport psychologist Aimee
Kimball….
A is for Anxiety
If you want to swim fast, you’ve got to prepare yourself
mentally. That’s not always an easy process. Beginning this
week, Sport psychologist Aimee Kimball, PhD., introduces a series
of articles on usaswimming.org
that makes mental training as easy as A-B-C.
The ABCs of mental training will run every two weeks. This
week’s topic is Anxiety
Why do I have anxiety?
Many athletes have anxiety before they compete, whether it’s
a pounding heart, difficulty breathing, tight muscles, or worried
thoughts. All animals have what’s called the fight-or-flight
response in which our bodies prepare to either fight a challenge or
to run away from it. These symptoms of anxiety aren’t always
bad, as they can signal a readiness to compete. Think of a race you
were involved in that wasn’t important to you or where you
knew you would win it easily. You probably didn’t have the
same signs of anxiety because you didn’t see this event as
being as threatening. The perception of a challenge/threat is what
makes athletes feel anxious.
Changing the Perceived Threat
If situational factors (event importance, your opponents) cause you
anxiety, focus on controllable factors that help you to swim well-
a smooth stroke, a strong kick, and a well-timed start. When you
start to add “uncontrollablesý to your focus, you are
adding thoughts to your head that don’t need to be there and
are making it a lot harder to swim to your potential.
Physically Relaxing
To release anxiety, take some long, deep breaths and picture all
the physical and mental stress leaving your body. You can also take
a few minutes each day to go through your muscle groups, tightening
them and then relaxing them. By doing this progressive relaxation,
you can recognize when and where you are carrying physical tension
and learn to physically loosen your muscles so that you can perform
your b
Therefore
Anxiety as you know it doesn’t have to exist. You may have
some physical activation (faster heart rate, quicker breathing) but
you can control this. Simply think how you want to think and leave
some time for a pre-race routine that allows you to physically
relax. While it requires training, you can regain control of your
body by taking control of your mind.
Make it Great!
Coach Jason
713-291-6830
Weekly Update - February 9
This past weekend was one of the most exciting weekends I
think I have ever had as a swim coach. It started off on
Friday night with Derek Miller and Michelle Scott (plus
other swimmers who used to be on TTST) at high school districts. I
was so proud and so happy to see our swimmers setting the best
times of their lives, 52 in the 100 free for Derek and 59 for
Michelle, and on top of that making it to regional. So after seeing
these amazing swims on Friday night I got to go to Magnolia on
Saturday morning where we had 40 swimmers!!!!! We had so
much fun and our teams huddle for the meeting and cheer was so big
and so loud that I could not have been any happier. This meet this
weekend showed me that we will be ready for spring champs. We had
Abbie Jones get her second TAGS time in the 100 IM, Rachel Parker
almost hit TAGS in the 100 breaststroke and tons of time drops and
improvements all weekend long! Regionals will be
this
Friday at 9 am to 1 pm out in the Woodlands area, when I
know exactly where I will past it on to the team. If you can come
out and watch and cheer for our swimmers please do as this meet is
very fun and exciting and all of our swimmers could learn something
from watching this swim meet.
This week we will continue with our tapering for spring champs and
will start on the Aqua and Green group tapering. The sets will
increase in how hard they will be getting but we will decrease the
total yardage of the day. We do this so that the body stays fit and
strong but not exhausted. We want all of our swimmers going into
spring champs at their peek, strong and rested. Last week on
technique day we worked on perfecting our backstroke flip turns,
this week was 2 hand touch turns. Next week we work on finishes and
break outs so that our swimmers will have strong turns and
finishes.
Remember that 13& over spring champs entries are due this
Wednesday, if you are planning on going make sure you circle
in at the pool. If I have you in any events that are NT and you did
not swim this past weekend in those events you will not be able to
be in the spring champs meet with those events. The 12 & under
spring champs wishful entries will be coming out this week so be
sure to look for those! If you haven’t made it by our website
recently try to go and take a look at all the LSU pictures that we
have up there thanks to Chris
Keller!
Remember to mark your calendar, we will be celebrating a great TTST
short course swim season the last weekend of March. We are
looking at 03/28 evening, this is for all our swimmers and
families, great food will be catered, DJ with music and fun games,
dress up and rewards to ALL our swimmers - you do not want to miss
this opportunity.
I still get requests about what to do come summer league. I
will shortly be sending out more details, however TTST
recommendations for the Long Course season, regardless if you
wish to swim all Long Course meets or combine with Summer League
meets we do strongly recommend all swimmers to practice with
TTST.
Our turtles of the week are Mike
Garcia and Tayler Galvan. Mike is in the Teal group and is
one of those swimmers that always shows up early for practice.
Meagan tells me that he is a very good listener and always does
what she asks him to. I can tell you from my experience that he is
a very fun and bright swimmer to have around. Tayler is very highly
self motivated and wants more than anything to improve upon her
skills as a swimmer. She shows up to practice,
gets in the pool right away, and starts knocking down sets like
it’s her job. She takes all the corrections we have for her
to heart and we really see her try to improve and fix anything we
give her.
This week’s tip of the week is coming for me instead of Speedo.
With the end of our short course season coming to an end we are now
in preparations for finishing strong at spring champs and TAGS. The
thing that will help swimmers the most is attitude. Your attitude
and thoughts about yourself as a swimmer are going to be the
deciding factor in whether or not you are going to have the best
meet of your life or just another meet. In this short time we have
left you should be very positive about yourself and your swimming
capabilities and to have a positive outlook on any corrections that
either I or Coach Meagan has for you at practice. Remember, our job
is to help get you to be the best swimmer you possibly can be and
we do care enough to try anything to get you there.
Some things that have happened in the past will
need to stop completely over the next 3 weeks.
When you get done swimming the first thing you should always think
about is did I do my best, if the answer to that question is ever
no then the next question will be how can I do better for my next
event. The last thing your Coaches will ever want to hear is
“I sucký from their swimmers. If we told you
“you sucký all the time, would you ever get better at
swimming? The answer is no so please do not do that to yourself.
Remember, whether you can or you can’t you are right.
Coach Jason
713-291-6830
Weekly Update - February 2
I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend off for the Superbowl, I know
I did. This week marks the beginning of our tapering for the
swimmers. The Junior group will begin immediately while Aqua and
Green will take a little longer since their champs meet is not
until late Feb. We have brought back technique focus days and those
days will generally be working on starts, turns, and finishes as we
do not want to mess with strokes too much at this time of the
season. Attached is the February calendar that you will see which
days we will be working on technique. After February we will begin
running and dryland again so swimmers in groups green and up will
need to bring their shoes to practice every day in March. We will
also be taking all of spring break off so the kids can have a break
when we switch over from short course to long course. Practice
times will change in April and we will bring you more information
on those time changes soon. The schedule should go back to normal
sometime in May.
With everyone coming down with the flu we can only hope that you
are all taking it easy and getting better soon.
We have definitely felt the flu on the Terrapins, I have received
lots of phone calls and emails letting me know. Remember, rest and
lots of vitamin C will help you on the road to recovery. When you
are all better and healed up we will be ready for you at
practice.
Our turtles of the week this week are 2 girls, sisters to be more
accurate, Komay and Komie. As I do not always get to watch these 2
girls during practice Coach Meagan tells me that they are 2 of the
most respectful swimmers that she has. They do all of the work when
asked to and do not ever stop to play around in the middle of a
set. I was also told that these 2 girls have started doing
intervals using the clock and not messing it up!! I know Coach
Meagan is proud of them as well as I am and look forward to seeing
these girls progress their swimming even further.
This weekend is going to be very exciting for all of our swimmers.
We have our MAC Open meet with 39 swimmers signed up to go!!!!
WOW!!! I hope everyone else is as excited as I am about this
weekend. We also have our GOLD group swimmers, Derek Miller and
Michelle Scott, doing their High school District meet this Friday
night at Cy-Ranch. Lets cheer them on and hope they have a great
meet!
Our Speedo tip of the week has to do with Injury prevention in an
area that is not usually talked about.
Preventing Knee Injuries
This week’s Speedo Tip of the Week comes from strength and
conditioning specialist Mike Mejia, author of “The
Men’s Health Gym Bible.ý Mejia recommends some
exercises that might help prevent knee injuries.
Mejia’s Tip:
Although the shoulders receive most of the attention from an injury
prevention standpoint, the knees are also an area that should be of
particular concern to swimmers.
This holds especially true for females, whose inherent anatomical
structure makes them far more prone to knee injuries than their
male counterparts. Their wider hips, in relation to the position of
their knees (known as the Q-angle) places an inordinate amount of
stress on the medial, or inner aspect of the joint, most
specifically on the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). It also
causes them to rely too heavily on their quadriceps, which can
alter the normal mechanics of the knee joint resulting in a painful
condition known as patellofemoral syndrome.
While it’s true that knee injuries like these are far more
common in ground-based sports like soccer and basketball, the
constant pushing off of the blocks and off the walls during flip
turns makes them a growing concern for young swimmers. That’s
why exercises like the ones featured here should be a regular part
of your dryland workouts. They’ll help strengthen those
under-used gluteals and hamstrings and stretch muscles that are
pulling your knees out of their natural alignment.
Butterfly Stretch : Sit up straight with the soles of your feet
touching each other as you press your knees down towards the floor.
Hold for 20-30 seconds, then rest and repeat.
Kneeling Quad/ Hip Flexor Stretch: Get down on one knee with your
other leg positioned at 90-degree angle in front of you. Bend your
back knee and grab your ankle as you lean forward on your front
leg. Hold 20-30 seconds, then rest and repeat with the other side.
Do two stretches on each side.
Single Leg Bridge: Lie on your back with your arms folded across
your chest and one leg held up over your hips at a 90 degree angle.
Next, brace your core muscles as you press your foot onto the floor
and use your glutes and hamstrings to lift your hips up until your
body forms a ramp. Hold for a second, then lower and repeat. Do two
sets of 8-10 reps with each side.
Side Lying Abduction: Lie on your side with your ankles, knees,
hips and shoulders stacked. Begin by bracing your core muscles and
using your outer thigh to lift your leg up until it reaches a
45-degree angle to the rest of your body. In doing so, be sure you
lead the movement with the outside of your foot – and not
your toes – to keep the focus on your glutes. Do two sets of
10-15 reps with each side.
Coach Jason
Weekly Update - January 26
WE ARE BACK
FROM LSU!!!!! The kids all did GREAT and we all had
such a wonderful time. Unfortunately a few of the kids came down
with the flu and had to depart for Houston a little earlier than
expected and we are all hoping that they recover quickly. Out
of the 13 swimmers we took to LSU 3 of them won a high point award
for their age group. Byron Keller won 2nd place high
point for the 6 & under boys, Sydney Begnaud won 4th
place for the 6 & under girls and Sydney Stanford won
2nd place for the 7 year old girls. There were tons of
time drops and personal best times set at LSU and the atmosphere
was very exciting all weekend long. Coach Meagan and myself
are very proud of all of our LSU swimmers this weekend and we are
looking forward to next year’s LSU trip and hoping more
people will join us.
Our turtles of the week this week are Sarah Orr for the
girls and Byron Keller for the boys. Sarah was just recently moved
up to the aqua group for her hard work at practice. She is one of
the swimmers we have that come to practice and do their work
without having to be told to go. She is always working hard to
better herself in her strokes. Her attitude at swim meets is always
positive and is always ready to soak up any info about her swimming
that she can get. Byron is the only 6 year old I have ever met that
WANTS to be in the 500 free. He is a very hard worker and wants
nothing more than to do his best to make himself and his coaches
proud of him. This past weekend at LSU he showed us what true
sportsmanship is and was congratulating his competition any time he
lost a race as well as cheering on his team mates as they swam
their hearts out. We are very proud of both of our turtles this
week and are looking forward to seeing who will be our next
turtles.
With short course season coming to a close very shortly
and summer league starting up very soon, I am putting together an
article that will explain the Terrapin’s long course season
as well as explain why we recommend ALL our summer league swimmers
to keep practicing with us during the summer time. I will be
releasing this article in its own email when it is complete as well
as have some hard copies up at practice for you to take
home.
Practice goes back to normal this week!!!! The MAC
open meet will be coming down this Wednesday and I
will be sending off the final entries Wednesday night. If you
want to be a part of that meet you still have time to circle in or
drop off your entries at the pool. MAC Open is a real cool
meet, it is the only one in this season that allow all of our
swimmers to get together at a meet, so please if you can make it,
this will be a great opportunity for your swimmer(s) and you to
come and be part of the Terrapins Swim Family.
This Speedo tip of the week comes at the perfect time.
Fight the
Flu
This week’s Speedo tip of the week comes from
National Team physician, Dr. Jim Miller. He offers some advice for
fighting the flu in the coming championship season.
The Tip:
You have completed the dreaded intensive training of the holiday
season and have two to four more months until your championship
meet. Everything has been taken into account – your event
schedule, your training and the best part – taper.
Is there anything that could mess all this up? YOU BET! One
to two weeks off with five pounds of muscle loss could surely
derail this train. That is exactly what could happen with a bout of
influenza, more commonly known as the Flu.
Open the window…and in flew
enza
The flu is a viral infection that is
spread through the air. Each year, the influenza virus mutates slightly so your
immunity from the prior year will not completely protect you. The
virus is a respiratory infection that can result in a debilitating
viral pneumonia. It is
very dangerous for those who have a weakened immune system,
such as the elderly or someone with a disease that affects their
immune system like diabetes.
However,
if you are training doubles with long hours for studying for exams,
your immune system could also be at risk. Since the air from a
human sneeze has been clocked at hundreds of miles per hour, one
sneeze from the wrong person at the wrong time will expose you
quickly. You could be in trouble.
Prevention is key
So, what can you do to prevent the
flu? The best prevention is to boost your immune system against
this virus by getting a flu shot. This shot is
ideally given one or two months before the virus reaches your part
of the country. The shot will not offer you 100% immunity, but it
decreases your likelihood of getting sick. If you do end up
catching the virus, the course would be greatly abbreviated if you
received the shot.
Still,
there is a problem here. It is January and parts of the country are
already reporting cases of the flu. Does a shot help now?
That is a great question to which experts will disagree. But, if
your area has not had cases yet, even a flu shot given two weeks in
advance should give you some partial protection. And don’t
wait so long next year!
C your way through the
Flu
In addition to the shot, there are
other steps you can take to avoid getting sick. In addition to
proper hydration, nutrition and sleep, some experts believe that
increased Vitamin C intake may enhance your immune system against
viral infections. It is suggested you take between 1,000 and 3,000
IU of extra Vitamin C per day, unless you are on a medication that
interacts with Vitamin C. As always, consult your doctor before you
begin taking any supplements.
Back to
Basics
When it comes to the flu, there are
some basic steps you can take to help prevent getting and spreading
the virus. Wash your hands routinely and cover your mouth when
coughing and sneezing – and of course wash your hands when
you do if you did not make it to a tissue. The antibiotic
gels that do not require water work just fine.
Take if
for the team
If you feel that you are coming down
with a nasty respiratory infection whether it involves your lungs
or not, get to your medical practitioner quickly. There are antiviral medications
that make a big difference, if you start them quickly. Your medical
expert also has a rapid test, which will help to determine whether
this is influenza or not while you wait. By taking care of it
quickly, you get better faster and your team and coaches will be
more likely to stay healthy, too. You do not want to take out
your whole relay team with you!
Coach Jason
Weekly Update - January 12
A&M was a blast the kids all did great and had a great time
there. Abbie Jones made TAGS in her 50 free and is now edging up on
3 more events. Next weekend we have the Katy 10 & under going
on and then Mardi gras the following week, our short course season
is coming to an end very soon. We have already gotten the dry land
equipment ready to go for the start of the long course season
(after TAGS in March) and are preparing for the changeover. Late
January and early February we will begin our tapering practices and
heavy technique focus again to prepare for spring champs.
We have made a change to the January calendar and have decided that
we will be having practice on Thursday. It is going to be a Friday
practice which means no blue or teal practice that day, as coach
Meagan will be by herself. Wednesday night we will be having our
pep rally for the kids and Mardi gras. We will have King cake there
and be doing our team cheers and decorating cars to get everyone
pumped up. Friday there will be no practice as both coaches will be
out of town for the Mardi gras swim meet. We will resume normal
practice schedule that following Monday after Mardi Gras is
over.
Our turtles of the week this week are Katelynn Grein and Kevin
Johnson. Katelynn was just moved up to the Aqua group recently and
has been tearing through our workout boards. She is one of the
swimmers that we hardly ever have to ask to keep on swimming as she
is always moving through her sets on her own. She listens very well
to instruction and we can tell that she really focuses on any
corrections that we give her on her strokes. Kevin is one of our
Junior group swimmers that constantly finishes his work out (close
to 8000 meters on some days). No matter who is in the same lane as
him he will always push hard to finish his sets so that he can
improve as a swimmer. Kevin has great work ethics and really
listens to us during his time that he swims with us. When we tell
him what we are seeing him swim he will not argue with us at all
and will do his best to fix what we have told him to. Thanks to our
turtles of the week this week and swimmers keep on working hard for
us and your name will be in this weekly update one day.
With our short course season coming to a close very soon our
behavior tolerance has become a lot less lenient than what it was
in the past. We have had to dismiss a few swimmers from practice
early already, something neither they nor us enjoy doing, and
appreciate the continued support and understanding from the
parents. Overall it seems that practices are starting to run a lot
smoother now because the swimmers understand that now is the time
more than ever to buckle down and get serious.
We are going to be offering Perfect to Swim and Learn to Swim to
TTST swimmers and new swimmers, check web site, and we will shortly
be sending out more info.
Our speedo tip of the week is : Bilateral
Breathing
This week’s Speedo Tip of the Week is an excerpt from the
Jan.-Feb. 2008 issue of Splash. Here are some pointers for making
bilateral breathing a little easier.
The Tip:
If you’re not breathing to both sides, it’s never too
late to start. It helps balance your stroke, creates symmetry in
back musculature, helps eliminate cramping and increases your
oxygen intake, resulting in a more efficient, faster stroke. Plus
in a race, breathing bilaterally helps you keep an eye on your
competition.
The key to doing this correctly is proper rotation. If you’re
whipping your head around to breathe on your weaker side, your hips
will drop and throw your balance. Here’s how to make
bilateral breathing easier:
Practice rotation drills. A great one to start with your body on
its side, with the bottom arm extending out in front and the top
arm resting on your side. Point your nose to the bottom of the
pool. Slowly kick to keep your hips up. Roll and stroke until you
are lying on the opposite side. Breathe freely and check your
balance. Then turn your head so your nose points to the bottom, and
stay on your side for 10 kicks. Repeat the motion for the length of
the pool.
Try a set where you breathe to your right side on one length and to
your left on the next.
On a set of 75s, breathe every five strokes on the first 25, every
three strokes on the second length and every stroke
(right-left-right-left) on the last length.
Breathe to your weak side in all warm ups, cool downs and slower
swimming sets, and to your strong side on main sets. Gradually make
the shift to bilateral breathing on main sets.
It doesn’t matter if you practice bilateral breathing per lap
or per set. What matters is staying balanced and symmetrical so you
can breathe easily on both sides. Once you begin regular bilateral
breathing, it gets easier with every practice.
Stay smooth and fluid while breathing every third stroke.
Eventually with practice, breathing every cycle with no
interruption in your flow should be easy. Your goal should be to
breathe evenly to both sides in all your practices and races.
Coach Jason
Weekly Update - January 6
Welcome back from the holiday break, I hope
everyone enjoyed the time they spent with their family. With the
New Year comes new practice times and a change in our workouts. We
are officially done with drag swim suits for the rest of the short
course season and will be peaking out in our distance and interval
sets. We are going to use January as our time to push these
swimmers to the next level. We want them to be prepared for the
spring champs meets so we can have them putting up their best times
of the year. This also means that behavior issues will be tolerated
a lot less now as we are going in to crunch time. So swimmers come
to practice prepared to work hard!!!! During the month of February
we will begin our tapering which will be more technique heavy than
hard work.You will also notice there are no scheduled days on the
calendar for technique days for January. We will continue
corrections as we see them but for the month of January we will not
be devoting too much practice time on pure technique. We will pick
back up with technique days in February when things get a little
bit closer to champs. Due to the holiday break we did not do any
turtles of the week, so this week we will be paying extra close
attention for our new turtle of the week.
There are a lot of swim meets to look forward to
in the next couple of months, including MARDI GRAS!!! We will
almost have a swim meet every weekend all the way to the end of the
short course season. So if your swimmer is looking to reach a
certain time or goal for the year now is that time to try and get
it. The signups for the Katy meet are going to be extended to this
Thursday instead of Wednesday.
We have ordered Dry land equipment – with
many thanks to the hard work our swimmers put in during our
Swim-A-Thon collections! We will use it heavily at the beginning of
the long course season (early March) and on days when we know
swimming will not be possible. We are still searching for an indoor
facility that will allow us to take refuge and work out during bad
weather days that keep us out of the water.
Following up with the New Years here is a
wonderful Speedo tip of the week: New Year’s Resolutions
This week’s Speedo Tip of the Week is an
excerpt from the January-February 2008 issue of Splash, in which
correspondent Linda Hass writes about the potential effectiveness
of New Year’s Resolutions.
The Tip:
Turn your New Year’s Resolution into a tool that adds
excitement to your swim experience and power to your performance in
the pool. If you haven’t thought of a resolution yet –
or even if you have and you want to fine tune it – the new
year is the perfect time to aspire to your best in the water, on
the deck or with the team.
"Athletes should set goals anyway. Jan. 1 is the perfect time to
take that to the next level by making a formal announcement," said
Pam Braseth, head coach for the USA Bluewater Barracudas, Okaloosa
County, FL.
Bluewater coaches traditionally lead their entire team in writing
down swimming-related New Year’s resolutions such as race
times or habits in practice. Quietly setting a goal without fanfare
can also work, but public announcements give resolutions muscle by
adding accountability, Braseth added.
Other keys to successful resolutions include strong commitment to a
few attainable goals, plans that measure progress and taking action
daily, according to a 1997 University of Washington survey on New
Year’s resolutions. Once you’ve made a resolution,
create a plan to achieve it.
"Each day brings a series of choices that can move you closer to
your goal, whether it be making a special effort to streamline
turns or going out of your way to encourage teammates," Braseth
said. Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) sophomore Dave Brown said
anything that brings him closer to his goal of attaining 1:37 in
the 200-yard freestyle is helpful, and that includes New
Year’s Resolutions. "Sure I’ll be making one,ý
he said. “It couldn’t hurt, and it might help."
December 17
We have finished our final winter champ meet and are now looking
forward to the final push before spring champs. The kids will be
done with all drag suit swimming starting in January and we will
begin to start slowly pulling back on the work outs a tad. This
does not mean things will be super easy starting in January what
this does mean is the yardage and intervals will begin to shorten
with more rest in between. We want our swimmers to be at peek
condition for Spring Champs as this will mark the end of short
course for most of our swimmers.This whole process is called
"tapering" and will take about a month and a half total for it to
work perfectly.
I want to send out a reminder and another attachment for the
paintball sign ups. We have extended it to this Thursday to get
your forms and money turned in, if you have any friends over 11
that would like to come they are more than welcome. Paintball is
next Tuesday (December 23rd) at 2 PM at No. 1 Paintball off grant
road. Here is a link to the directions : Link
The weather is continuing to stay cold and I have been noticing
some swimmers coming to practice with no shoes or sandals!!!!
Swimmers are required to wear some sort of shoe on there feet to
practices so that when they get out of the water they will not have
to be bare foot on that freezing cold cement. Also, some sort of
robe, hoodie, big towel, or parka would help them stay warm as
well. Make sure your swimmers are leaving the house with all their
gear ( SHOES INCLUDED).
Our Turtles of the week this week are Abbie Jones for the girls and
Max Harbour for the boys. Max is one of our most improved swimmers
that we have at practice right now. He comes to practice on a
regular basis and it was not long ago that he was doing doggy
paddles to breath. He has worked his little tail off and been
listening to coach Meagan very well and has been dropping lots of
time off his events at meets because of his improvements. Abbie is
a very strong swimmer who knows when its time to have fun and when
it is time to be serious. She comes to practice ready to work hard
and is there even when its snowing outside!!! We are very proud of
our turtles this week and look forward to watching their
improvements.
Next couple of weeks practice times are different please be sure to
check the December calendar that I have attached to this email.
Also, look forward to my wishful entries for Mardi Gras to be
coming out very soon. The final day to reserve your hotel with our
block discount will be December 26th, so if you are planning on
going make sure you get your hotel reserved before then.
Eating a Variety of Food
This week’s Speedo Tip of the Week comes from nutrition
counselor Jessica Knowles. Knowles offers some advice on eating a
variety of food.
Knowles’ Tip:
Broaden your horizons when it comes to trying new foods. The reason
why we say to eat a variety of foods is due to the nutrients each
food contains. Go to mypyramid.gov to give you a guide to eating a
well-rounded diet.
I don’t recommend supplements for getting vitamins and
minerals into your body. Your body absorbs nutrients from food
better than a pill, and there are things like phytochemicals in
fruits and veggies that cannot be reproduced in a lab. Also, the
dietary supplement industry is not as strictly regulated as the
foods we eat, and supplements may contain prohibited substances not
listed on the label. They are classified as “Take at
Your Own Riský for Doping Control. (For more
information visit www.usantidoping.org).
And just because your weight and blood pressure are normal
doesn’t mean you’re necessarily healthy. How are your
blood lipids (i.e., Cholesterol, HDL, LDL)? Foods that come from an
animal source will have saturated fat and cholesterol in them.
That’s why beans/legumes are also recommended as a protein
source that has no cholesterol or saturated fat.
Being picky isn’t going to cut it when it comes to your
health. When you eat better, you perform better. It’s that
simple.
Coach Jason
December 8
This weekend went well for most of our swimmers with time drops
happening on most of the swims. One notable swimmer this weekend
was Brianna Edwards who dropped lots of time (6 seconds in a couple
of 50s) on all of her events that she swam. On another note I
wanted to send out my thanks to Hal McNeese who had a couple of
great swims but most importantly was his attitude during this whole
swim meet. He was very up beat and positive about all his swims and
took any correction we had for him with a smile on his face and a
thank you coach after wards.
Our turtles of the week are Hal McNeese for the boys and Vivian
Evans for the girls. Vivian has been a very hard worker for us this
whole season and does a great job of doing as we ask her to do with
out ever complaining. She takes our instructions very well and also
listens very well when we are correcting her strokes so that she
can become a better swimmer. Hal the past few weeks has had a
change of heart about swimming and about practice and has become a
completely different swimmer than once was a couple of months ago.
His attitude at practice and meets has become something wonderful
to have around, he does not argue with his coaches about his
technique and when we point something out you can really tell he is
focusing to try and do what we asked him to. I do not even remember
the last time I had to tell him to keep going on one of his sets as
he is going on his own accord now.
I would like to thank everyone who participated in our survey that
we sent out because we got a lot of great feed back and useful
information. A couple of things we have already started doing and I
would like to let you know what those things are. We have purchased
4 dry erase boards for work outs to be written for each group every
day so that mine and coach Meagan’s attention can be used
more for the technique of your swimmer during practice rather than
repeating the sets over and over to them. The past couple of weeks
have been wonderful with these boards and we will continue to use
them, however, we need the help of swimmers to make the boards even
more useful. I have attached a copy of the swimmers code of conduct
to this email to remind the swimmers that they have signed this
form and would like for them to reread it to remember how they
should act at practice. With our focus being shifted more towards
watching and correcting stroke technique at practice now we will be
cracking down on behavior issues. A verbal warning in a calm voice
will always be given first, if the swimmer is still misbehaving
he/she will have harsher actions taken upon them that could result
but not limit to removal from practice with a phone call to
parents. We love all our swimmers and really want to help them
progress in this sport as much as possible. Also, I know we have
told the swimmers this but I do not think we have ever sent this
out to the parents, our use and definition of "punishment sets".
Our definition of a punishment set is a set we use to force the
swimmers to work hard and focus on correcting one bad habit that
they were showing us. We give out punishment sets when coach Meagan
and myself are noticing that a majority, if not all, swimmers are
portraying a bad habit during their practice, I.E. stopping and
standing in the middle of the pool during a set. We do not
typically give out punishment sets for bad behavior, however, we
have given them out for spending too much time talking on the wall
(which we consider a bad habit during a set). When we have behavior
issues we will change or give "special" sets to that one swimmer,
or however many swimmers are acting out, to make them work harder
so they do not have the chance to continue with the bad behavior. I
have in the past given multiple lanes, and on one occasion, the
entire pool much harder sets because the talking or goofing around
was way out of control. I do believe with our new dry erase boards
and the way we are going to be running practice from here on out
that such behavior issues will become much smaller and easier to
control.
I received quite a few emails letting me know which times would
work best and it came pretty close to being right down the middle,
with a few more preferring the later practice. Therefore, our
practice times,except for the 23rd due to paintball, will be like a
typical Friday Practice. With paintball going on for our older kids
on the 23rd we decided that it would be best to have practice in
the morning rather than not at all. Over the Holiday break we will
be offering 3 practices each week to keep our swimmers in shape and
for our competitive swimmers to be ready for the upcoming meets in
January/February. We will be taking a scheduled break all of spring
break week, starting March 16th, to allow our swimmers a break
between the transition of short course and long course. I am
already working on the January calendar and hope to have it
completed and out before the holiday break starts as there are
going to be a few changes. Based on what we have been observing
this first half of the short course season and based on the survey
feedback we are going to be changing the way we do blue and teal
practice. We want to split them apart so that coach Meagan will
only have one group in the water at a time. This will ensure
that Coach Megan have ample opportunity to focus on coaching each
child. We are also going to offer less opportunities for Aqua to
choose between two daily practice times. This is to ensure
that I have adequate time to focus on all swimmers I have in the
water at a given time.
We would like to take this time to welcome our newest board member
Chris Keller. He is going to fill our special projects and
webmaster position to help our team website have relevant
information uploaded -timely – and in an organized fashion.
Chris came from the Katy Aquatics swim team and was the webmaster
for them as well as being the art director and webmaster for his
company. We are looking forward to having him on the board as we
think he will bring lots of talent and new ideas to our team.
This week has quite a few things going on for our swimmers. We have
the Christmas party on the 11th, attached flier, we have the
deadline for the paint ball waiver on the 10th, attached the
waiver, and we have the 8& under sprint champs meet this
Saturday!!
We currently have 90 people already signed up for the Christmas
Party. Terri will be at the pool this week; Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday so make sure to stop by to secure your spot, if you
have not already done so.
As a reminder paint ball will be for 11& ups only as per the
company we are using and will cost $29.90 by the 10th of December
to be paid to TTST. We will be doing the paint ball on December
23rd at 2 PM, directions will be sent out the week before and the
day of paint ball.
The meet this weekend for the 8 and under will have lots of 25s and
50s which means it will be lots of fun for all the kids. If you did
not sign up for this weekend and would like to consider on decking
please let myself or Lisa (ttstinfo@yahoo.com) know before hand so
we can help you get things straightened out.
Wishing you all a great week.
Coach Jason
November 4th
Another weekend down, another meet down. We had a great meet with a
lot of first timers that really made me excited for this swim year.
I will be sending out the next 11-14 wishful entry list tomorrow
for the BTA meet tomorrow. Also, we are preparing to get the ball
rolling for our trip to LSU for the annual Mardi Gras swim meet! We
are working on getting a system set up that will be the easiest way
for us to find out who would like to go with us as well as putting
together hotel info so that you can book your rooms in advance. The
Mardi Gras swim meet is in Lousianna at the LSU pool (very nice
pool) late Janurary. Once we have gotten all the info sorted out we
will send it out to you.
We had some issues with team pictures having the wrong team name
printed on them. Wades Photography has told us that if anyone has
any pictures that they would like reprinted with the correct swim
team name that they will do so at no charge. So if your pictures
have the wrong team name printed on them and you want it changed
please bring them up to the pool and we will have a box there for
all reprints.
Swimmers this week we begin DRAG SHORTS swimming, what a drag :).
Junior and gold will be required to wear their drag shorts every
day at all times during practice unless other wise told so. Aqua
and Green group will be required to have their shorts every day as
we will be using them for a few sets here and there to help build
up your water strength. You can buy a pair of drag shorts from
D&J sports or if you have a pair of basketball shorts you can
use those. Any shorts that are at least down to the knees will work
but ones with pockets would be better.
I have attached the November calendar and it should be up on the
website very shortly as well.
Our Speedo tip of the week is a very important one for athletes,
EATING. Finding time to eat is always the hardest part for any
athlete.
Finding Time to Eat
This week’s Speedo Tip of the Week comes from Dr. Kathleen
Woolf, a registered dietician and a member of the American Dietetic
Association. Woolf offers some advice on finding time to eat during
the busy swimming season.
Woolf’s Tip:
During the busy season, finding time to eat meals and snacks can be
a challenge. Long training and practices don’t leave
enough time to prepare or eat food.
Tips:
Don’t skip breakfast. Breakfast is the most important
meal of the day.
Establish a regular meal and snack schedule. In addition to
breakfast, take time to plan, prepare, and eat healthful meals and
snacks.
Bring snacks with you to eat before practice and after school.
Portable snacks include granola or energy bars, trail mix,
crackers, juice boxes, fruit (fresh and dried) and pretzels.
Eat enough energy to maintain your weight. You will be
burning lots of energy during long practices. If you find you
are losing weight, add more servings of starches (whole grains,
rice, cereal, pasta), fruits (apples, bananas) and low-fat dairy
products (cheese, milk, yogurt) to your diet each day
Coach Jason
October 20th
The new week has begun and the 10 & under meet has passed, and
WOW what a WONDERFUL job all the little ones did this weekend!!!!
We saw some amazing swims this weekend and were very happy with how
the swimmers looked. We saw quite a few backstroke flip turns from
our 8& under age group that made Coach Meagan and myself so
very proud!! I wanted to send a special thanks out to Abbie Jones
for not only racing the best races I have ever seen her do but also
helping us get the younger and newer swimmers behind their blocks
when they were supposed to be there, she really gave us 150% this
weekend. Without Abbie there I think we would have had a lot more
people miss their events than we did.
This Wednesday is our SWIM-A-THON!!! It will be from 4 PM to 8 PM
and you can come at any time in that time frame to do your 2 hours
of swimming. The only rule is that you have to stay in the water
until you are finished, once you exit the pool you will not be
allowed back in. That means any and all swim gear is allowed, we
want our swimmers to do their best to reach their goal for laps but
most importantly we want them to have fun while they are doing it.
We will be providing pizza, raffle tickets(1$each) and some little
trinkets for the kids once they have completed their swims. I will
be getting in a 4 PM to do my 200 laps and will be there to greet
all the kids and have fun with everyone.
This is the last week that we will be running with the kids during
practice. After this week we will be getting the swimmers in the
water much quicker as we are going to start building on the
distance that we swim, it is time to build up our water strength
and endurance. I will send a reminder out again but I will go ahead
and give the swimmers fair warning now, starting Novembmer 3rd we
will begin wearing drag shorts. Gold and Junior will have to have
drag every day, and their normal suits, Aqua and Green will need to
bring the shorts every day but we will not make them use it every
day. Drag shorts are what we use to make the swimmers get pulled
backwards into the water as they swim so that they have to swim
much harder to get the same thing accomplished. Drag shorts can be
board shorts (surfer swim suits) or basketball shorts, with pockets
would be better.
Our speedo tip of the week hits home with our freestyle breathing
technique. I know the kids are tired of hearing us say the same
things over and over so I thought that it would help to read it
from a professional.
Breathing Technique and Timing
This week’s Speedo Tip of the Week comes from USA
Swimming’s Biomechanics Coordinator Russell Mark. Mark offers
some advice on good breathing technique for freestyle.
Mark’s Tip:
Good breathing technique and timing is so important to an efficient
freestyle. Breathing “lateý typically means your
breathing interferes with the rhythm of your arm strokes.
Late breathing can also affect how your arm pulls underwater.
If you start pulling water while your head is still turned for a
breath, it will likely lead to a poor catch, and then that arm may
eventually cross underneath the body at the finish. Here are
some things to think about:
Start turning your head to breathe BEFORE the recovering arm (on
the non-breathing side) hits the water. Most people wait for
that arm to enter and extend before turning to breathe.
Take a quick breath with your head low, trying to keep one goggle
in the water. Don’t lift your head to breathe.
Begin turning your head back into the water while the arm in the
water (on the non-breathing side) is starting the catch.
Coach Jason
October 13th
With this weekend over it is more of a realization that our meet
season has started! Our first meet of the season went wonderful
with swimmers looking great and even some swimmers swimming best
times ever. I am very excited for this weekend with the 10 &
under meet, we are bringing 30 swimmers to this meet!!!!! I am
hoping this coming weekend goes as well and as smooth as this past
weekend.
I have attached the October Calendar to this email, we will be
swimming today at normal times. Next Wednesday, Oct. 22nd, is our
Swim-A-Thon! We appreciate all the parents that have signed to
volunteer so far but we could still use a few more volunteers so we
can keep this Swim-A-Thon moving smoothly throughout the night. The
sign up sheet will continue to be put out at practice so please
make sure you stop by and take a look and see if there is anything
that you might be able to do.
We are doing a few things different this year for our Swim-A-Thon
and I wanted to let you all know what is going to be different and
the same. We will be providing pizza to all swimmers that
participate in the Swim-A-Thon, if anyone else would like to have a
piece of pizza it will be 1$per slice. We do ask that each family
bring a 2 liter bottle of soda so the swimmers will have something
to drink after they are done swimming. The major change this year
is going to be that we are adding some prizes to help motivate
swimmers in getting more pledges and donations. USA Swimming awards
are $500 = USA Swimming T-shirt, $750 = USA Swimming Towel, $1,000
= USA Swimming Bag, TTST has decided to add to the prizes that
could be earned. Our prizes are as follows: $150= TTST Yard Sign,
$250 = 1 Free month of swimming, $600= 1hr Private lessons with
myself using an under water video camera + TV so that at the end of
the lesson we can review your childs strokes. All money earned will
go towards buying our team starting blocks and equipment for the
swimmers so we can better train them at practice.
Dryland is something that we always do every year as it does a lot
for your swimmer, increase strength and increases lung size.
Today’s Speedo tip of the week lets you know what Dryland
will do for your swimmer medically.
The Importance of Dryland Training
This week’s Speedo Tip of the Week comes from Dr. David
Swensen, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and
assistant coach for the YMCA of the North Shore in Melrose, Mass.
Swensen talks about the importance of dryland exercises.
Swensen’s Tip:
Several studies have compared swimmers with higher impact athletes
such as gymnasts or runners, and non-athletic individuals and found
the bone mineral densities (BMD) in the spine and most areas of the
body to be the same, but they found the hip region in swimmers to
have lower BMD than the other groups. This doesn’t mean that
swimming thins your bone. This is an expression of Wolf’s Law
(for you physiology geeks), which tells us that your body will
deposit more bone mineral to areas of your skeleton that are
stressed by your usual activities. Therefore, it is a good
idea to add higher impact weight bearing activity to your
swimmers’ routine. Weight training can help, as long as the
swimmer performs exercises in which he is loading his skeleton in
an upright position. Some examples include squats, lunges, cleans
and some plyometric exercises such as box jumps. These should all
be done with proper supervision. Mixing in some running activities
will also help increase bone density at the hip. Also, don’t
forget the importance of dietary calcium.
Coach Jason
October 6
The question on everyone’s mind has been answered, this
Thursday D&J sports will be coming out to the pool with gear!!!
If you can’t make it on Thursday we will be holding on to all
the gear they bring (that was ordered) and will have it at the pool
for you. Team pictures will be this Friday in lieu of practice,
Wades Photography will begin setup at 3:45 PM and will be ready to
start taking pictures by 4:30 pm. I have attached an order form
from Wades and we will also be putting one in your swimmers folder.
After pictures are done we will be doing a team cheer and talking
about this weekends swim meet to get the swimmers riled up and
ready to go.
The meet this weekend will be in the Woodlands, I will be sending
out directions and timeline either Tuesday or Wednesday when I have
that information. If you wanted your swimmer to swim at this meet
and were not able to get registered for the meet in time you can
always on deck at the swim meet. This means you would do the entry
at the swim meet and pay the fee (double the normal price) and your
swimmer will be able to compete.
I want to thank so many of the parents for doing a great job of
staying off the deck during practice time and catching me outside
practice times. This allows us to focus on the swimmers in the
water. Remember I or coach Megan will be very happy to answer any
e-mails, phone calls or will be happy to talk to you outside of
practice times.
The new week has begun and the 10 & under meet has passed, and
WOW what a WONDERFUL job all the little ones did this weekend!!!!
We saw some amazing swims this weekend and were very happy with how
the swimmers looked. We saw quite a few backstroke flip turns from
our 8& under age group that made Coach Meagan and myself so
very proud!! I wanted to send a special thanks out to Abbie Jones
for not only racing the best races I have ever seen her do but also
helping us get the younger and newer swimmers behind their blocks
when they were supposed to be there, she really gave us 150% this
weekend. Without Abbie there I think we would have had a lot more
people miss their events than we did.
This Wednesday is our SWIM-A-THON!!! It will be from 4 PM to 8 PM
and you can come at any time in that time frame to do your 2 hours
of swimming. The only rule is that you have to stay in the water
until you are finished, once you exit the pool you will not be
allowed back in. That means any and all swim gear is allowed, we
want our swimmers to do their best to reach their goal for laps but
most importantly we want them to have fun while they are doing it.
We will be providing pizza, raffle tickets(1$each) and some little
trinkets for the kids once they have completed their swims. I will
be getting in a 4 PM to do my 200 laps and will be there to greet
all the kids and have fun with
everyone. This is the last week that
we will be running with the kids during practice. After this week
we will be getting the swimmers in the water much quicker as we are
going to start building on the distance that we swim, it is time to
build up our water strength and endurance. I will send a reminder
out again but I will go ahead and give the swimmers fair warning
now, starting Novembmer 3rd we will begin wearing drag shorts. Gold
and Junior will have to have drag every day, and their normal
suits, Aqua and Green will need to bring the shorts every day but
we will not make them use it every day. Drag shorts are what we use
to make the swimmers get pulled backwards into the water as they
swim so that they have to swim much harder to get the same thing
accomplished. Drag shorts can be board shorts (surfer swim suits)
or , with pockets would be better. Our
speedo tip of the week hits home with our freestyle breathing
technique. I know the kids are tired of hearing us say the same
things over and over so I thought that it would help to read it
from a professional.
There will be a clear plastic bag hanging up next to the wishful
entries list from here on out that you can drop your meet entry
forms into. This will also help us (your coaches) focus on the
swimmers during practice so that we can get more done. Also hanging
up next to the wishful entries are the volunteer sign up posters.
Our team is run by mostly volunteers and there are a lot of things
we will be needing volunteers for coming up. If you haven’t
already please make sure you stop by and see if there is anything
you can possibly do and sign up for us, your help will always be
appreciated.
Swimmers have been doing a GREAT job of making sure they are signed
in when they get to practice. We will be letting everyone know who
our perfect attendance swimmers are as an on going thing. It is
wonderful to see all our swimmers working hard to progress
themselves in the sport that they love. It is all the practices you
can make that will allow you to become a stronger faster swimmer.
At swim meets we train for short distance as well as long distance,
our Speedo tip of the week is about how to pace your longer
distance swims. Most of the stuff said here you will hear either
Coach Meagan or myself saying a lot.
Coach Jason
September 29
This weekend we had a blast at family fun night, I wish everyone
could have been there. I wanted to start off by thanking all the
board members and volunteers who came and helped us get this family
fun night rolling, with out volunteers this team could not
function. I wanted to send out a special thanks to Nestles Toll
House for donating a cookie cake to our team for everyone to enjoy
and to Doug Hoffman for stepping up at the last minute to run our
PA system during the whole party. I hope everyone had as good of a
time as I did.
There was a lot of information handed out at the family fun night
that I am going to put into my weekly update. First I would like to
let everyone know that we now have bins with your swimmers name on
a folder that we will be using to relay information to you. The
bins will be at the pool for you so you can check your folders on a
frequent basis, that way we can keep you up to date with what ever
info we need you to have. In your folder as of right now there
should be info packets from family fun night, goal sheets for your
swimmers, and information on the Swim-A-Thon. Our Swim-A-Thon is
going to be Oct. 22nd (Wednesday during practice) from 4pm to 8pm,
we will need many volunteers for that night so that it will run
smoothly. Aqua group will be required by the coaches to swim a
minimum of 150 laps, Junior and Gold will have to swim the full 200
laps. All other groups are welcome to try their best to reach those
high numbers!!!!
Team pictures are on the way and scheduled to be Friday the 10th!!
The swim meet that weekend turned out to be a Saturday and Sunday
only meet so we will be doing team photos and team cheers to
prepare for our first meet that Friday. I have asked about team
suits and from what I have been told they should be here very soon!
Today I will be bringing the wishful entries up to the pool, if you
could not open the file I sent please be sure to come to the pool
to see what I would like to see your swimmer swim. I will be taking
down the wishful entries tomorrow night at the end of practice and
sending out my final entries. Wednesday I will be placing the Oct
18th meet wishful entries for the 10& under swim meet, which
will be taken down the following Tuesday.
As another reminder, we have begun our push for endurance and
strength in the water so swimmers will have much harder sets.
Tuesday’s and Thursdays Green group and higher will need
their shoes as we will be running, please be sure you bring enough
water/gatoraid to keep yourself hydrated throughout practice.
With our first swim meets begining very shortly I feel that our
speedo tip of the week is one that every swimmer should read. It is
about focus at meets and how to change your focus off of a bad
race!
Putting Bad Races Behind You
Coach Jason
September 15th
This week’s Speedo Tip of the Week comes from National Teamer
Teresa Crippen. Crippen offers some advice for pacing in events
like the 400m IM, 200m fly and the mile.
The Tip:
Sprinting is an all-out effort. But pacing is key for tough events
like the 400 IM, 200 fly and the mile. With practice, you can
master good pacing.
Don’t treat an endurance race like a sprint. Pace yourself
and aim for solid splits. The IM is a good example. Your fly split
should match your free split, whether it’s a 200 or 400 IM.
If the free is slower, you didn’t have enough coming home.
You might hear this a lot from your coach, but to have an even (or
faster) free split takes practice.
The third 50 on a 200 (third 25 on a 100, third 100 on a 400, etc.)
is crucial. Your split should be your goal pace that you swim in
practice during a pace set. Let’s say you swim a set of 8 x
50’s @ 1:30, holding race-pace, which for you is 29 seconds.
At a meet, your third 50 split should be 29 seconds. “The
third 50 in a 200 is what makes or breaks you,ý National
Teamer Teresa Crippen said. “It’s where great swimmers
get their leads and the not-so-good swimmers fall back.ý
We’ve all seen swimmers that have taken it out too fast and
fade coming home, or perhaps have done it ourselves. Then there are
those, usually an experienced swimmer who loves to race, who start
out blazing and seem to hold on,. It’s a gutsy move, and if
you’re not afraid of a little pain, give it a try. Although
solid splits and even pacing is the safest bet, it can be fun to
see what your body is capable of handling. Try it in practice first
before going to a meet where qualifying time standards might be on
the line.
“With my training, I have the ability to go out hard and hang
on. I wouldn’t advise that, but it’s just what works
for me,ý says Crippen. In training, she practices broken
400s at race pace. Then at a meet, her 200 feels easier to hold.
She also races 800 IMs in practice for 400 IMs at meets. “I
treat my fly and back like it’s a 200 race, then on
breaststroke, I just try and hold on. I always take it out hard.
Always. To me it doesn’t matter because it’s gonna hurt
no matter what I do.
Coach Jason
