Practice Link for New Years

Here are 2 practices courtesy of Coach Eric.  Please try and get in the water if you can Wednesday and Thursday.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2N-N1hvcVdxRkI5dlNlQXlLZlU/edit?usp=docslist_api

New Year

Congratulations on completing our 2014 training.  A couple thoughts on the upcoming year.

1.  If you have access to a pool - you need to be in the water the 31st and 1st.  We unfortunately do not have pool time available these days but during this period of the season it is very beneficial to be in the water everyday.

2.  We have  a meet on Friday evening.  What you do the days preceding this meet will effect your performance.  Please make good choices on eating, sleeping and playing (no injuries please)

3.  Our next big meet will be the Classic 01/17-01/18.  Please begin to think on which events you would like to swim.  This is a long but fun meet.  Check here for the meet information.

Meet - 01/02/2015

Location: Blue Ash YMCA - Ferris Pool

To get to Ferris Pool turn RIGHT when entering YMCA property.

Warmups: 6:55

Meet:  7:30

Schedule Week 12/29

Monday - 6:30-8:30 (We will be doing our Queen of the Hill practice.  Defending Champion Gabby Dangel graduated last year, so the title is up for grabs.)
Tuesday - 6:30-8:30
Wednesday - no practice
Thursday - no practice
Friday - MND meet - WU-6:55 Meet Start - 7:30
Saturday - 12-2

After this week we will resume regular practices.  More info to follow.

Saturday Practice 12/27

Practice at PCY Saturday 12/27 from 12-2.  Please arrive on time ready to go - these are very important practices!

Ursaline Results

Here are the results from Ursaline meet at Countryside Y

Friday Practice

We  will be practicing at PCY from 12:00 - 2:00 this coming Friday 12/26.  Hope to see everyone there for a special Coach Eric practice.

12 Days of Christmas practice review

Monday and Tuesday of this week featured one of my favorite theme practices of the season - "The 12 days of Christmas".  We of course did this the right way which meant following along just like the song and repeating each "day" as we progressed through.

Over the course of these 2 practices the swimmers covered between 8000 - 12000 yards (4.5 to just under 7 miles).  Coach Eric and I were very happy with the effort level attitude throughout this challenging set.

Please continue to bring this effort as we progress through this intense period of training - and try to be present for every offered practice.

Happy Holidays

Holiday Dryland - 12/24/2014

There will be a special dryland holiday theme practice on Wednesday the 24th at the Clippard YMCA on Cheviot road in Colerain.

Wear gym clothes (holiday theme is recommended) and bring water.

Arrive:  8:15

Start: 8:30

Finish: 9:30

A word to remember

Aqualung

What is the musical reference?

Breastroke Demo

I nice little demo of breastroke with some jazzy background music.  Note the compact kick - streamlined position - and timing of kick after hands have spun towards front

http://youtu.be/SDJysT29-hI

Best of West Results

Here are the results from the Best of West meet this past Thursday.

Also, I'm archiving all results under the Times tab

Technique - Zipper Switch

Meet Wrap: Ursaline/MND

This will be the first "meet wrap" I've written up for McAuley swimming.  A meet wrap is an opportunity for me to share some insights following a competition and hopefully offer a few tips for the upcoming week.

First - with this meet we entered the second third of our season - after one of the best starts to a season in recent history.  In our Best of the West performance we approached our races with confidence and intensity demonstrating the depth of talent present on the team this season.

Upon reflecting on the Ursaline/MND tri-meet my first impulse was to complain about the pace the meet was conducted.  I admit I was caught off guard with how quickly the meet progressed.  Having coached club swimming for the past 9 years I had forgotten how quick these smaller meets can run.  However, regardless of the timing of the meet a notable weaknesses was exposed within our team.

Confidence under pressure/stress :  meets offer a special type of stress that must be effectively managed in order to perform at our best.  This particular meet combined with the pressure of upcoming exams offered a double dose of anxieties which we were not prepared to handle.

Learning Opportunity - what can you do to keep your nervousness under control (or even better - use it to your advantage!)  Learning to deal with pressure is a SKILL and we all know that mastering any skill takes lots of practice.  Please read the following articles.

Here is a short article I think does a nice job of explaining why we feel nervousness and some simple solutions.

Here is a great article specific to swimmers and their anxiety surrounding meets.

As mentioned in the second article, in order to be prepared for our championships at the end of the season we must use these early duel/tri meets as "practice" - fine tuning the strategies we need to perform at our highest level.  The conditions will not always be ideal - we may not have as much rest between races as we might like, there may not be warm down facilities available, etc. but how we approach each race mentally can be rehearsed under these less than ideal conditions - then we can draw on those positive habits at the end of the season.

Official results will be available soon from this meet and will be posted on on the Times/Results page.  I'm excited to being this next phase of the season and look forward to a lot of fun and challenging practices to test ourselves physically and mentally in the upcoming weeks!  Happy Holidays

Coach Eric is excited

He admits it.... Coach Eric is excited

Mason Invite Pictures

Thanks to Thomas Bartler for taking some awesome pictures at the Mason Invite.  Check out his Facebook page to view the pictures -  All 656 of them!!

Backstroke Kicking

Here is a nice simple demonstration of what to aim for when swimming backstroke.

http://youtu.be/TvCvdIQLbaA

BEST OF THE WEST CHAMPS

Freestyle – Flutter From the Hips | GoSwim TV

An essential skill for efficient swimming is kicking from the hips.  We discover this during out kick repeat sets - check out the link below and be sure to read the blog post accompanying the video .  Enjoy



Freestyle – Flutter From the Hips | GoSwim TV

Ursaline & MND @ Countryside YMCA - 12/13/2014

Countryside YMCA (click for google map location)

Arrive: 12:50

Warmup: 1:20

Meet Start: 1:45

Best of West Meet - 12/11/2014

Gamble Nippert YMCA (click for google map location)

Arrive @ 5:30

Warmups @ 6

Meet Start @ 7

Mason Meet Results

Find all the results from the Mason Invitational here

Congratulation to all swimmers for a great 1st meet of the season.

McAuley finished in 7th place out of 19 teams!  Great job.

Mason Meet Information/Entries

Mason entries are available here

Link for Psych Sheet with all team entries here.