SUA Meet Wrap

It was a chilly night outside - but the Keating Natatorium was plenty warm.  I'm proud of the hard work our swimmers have put in over the holiday training and continue to put in at practice.  This meet was what I consider a "practice" meet.  A meet where we get a chance to try some new things.  Maybe swim a new event - maybe try and incorporate a technical change you've been working on - but probably most importantly practice having faith in yourself, your teammate and your coaches.  Often times as a season progresses tension can build up around having personal best swims.  This can lead to lot and lots of energy going into worrying about races and getting fixated on time drops.  Of course getting faster in your races is important - but PR'ing every race is just not realistic.  The most successful swimmers I've worked with take each race as a learning opportunity.

If they drop time great - but what did they learn? 

If they don't drop time - fine - but what did they learn?

As we approach the mid-point of the season these learning opportunities become more and more important.  We want to maximize the effectiveness of our time in the water and to do this takes a combination of 

Focus - 

            In practice: 

                  Your coaches really want you to do your best - we spend a lot of time thinking about your practices and how to structure the limited amount of pool time we have.  Often times each set during practice has a specific focus point or goal - be sure you know it and are working towards achieving it.

          Outside practice:

                   You are going to be sore.  Swimmers have tight and sore shoulders.  If you want to minimize your discomfort you must do maintenance on your body EVERY DAY.  During preseason daily stretches and stability work was given out - are you doing it?  If you have sharp or severe pain that is different of course and needs to be evaluated.  If you have any questions just ask - your coaches want to help!

Faith -

         Trust in yourself, your coaches and your team.  We are in this together and we all want the best for our team. We may be a small team with individuals of many different backgrounds but we are united by our dedication to bettering ourselves in and out of the water.

On a less philosophical note the results from tonight meet are available on meet mobile right now and will be posted on this site when the pdf is made available.