HOPE ALL OF YOU HAVE A GREAT VALENTINE'S DAY !WEEK AHEAD: This week due to the college conference championship meet we will not have practice Wednesday thru Saturday in the afternoon. Age group 2 may make up Monday at the same time. All AGHP should attend Monday and Tuesday afternoon and get in Friday morning 5:15-6:15 am. JO swimmers do not want to be out of the water for 5 days in a row. Heather will do Friday practice, as I will be going to North Carolina for one of my daughters Conference meet. I will be gone from Tuesday thru Sunday.
UPCOMING MEETS: We are now into our championship part of our season, and we all now have our own championship meet that we will attend. JO's will be held March 1 thru 4 in at the PG swim center. Spring champs will be held March 24 and 25 at GMU (Fairfax). JO's you may swim 6 events and for those of you who have more than 6 let's look at your best event's and if at all possible 2 a day. We will be putting the relays together this week, so remember you may also be swimming in relays which will add some events! FOR ALL 10 AND UNDERS AND PARENTS, THERE ARE NO RELAYS ON FRIDAY. ALSO THE MEET WILL BE VERY QUICK WITH LESS REST TIME. ALSO THE FASTEST 8 WILL BE COMING BACK AT NIGHT TO SWIM FINALS. CONSIDER ALL THIS WHEN SELECTING EVENTS. 11 AND 12'S WILL HAVE 2 HEATS COMING BACK AT NIGHT.
WEEKEND WRAP UP: This past weekend we swam in two meets and as a group 
. Starting with Saturday' s meet we had 32 splashes from our group with 30 of them resulting in best times, and 9 JO cuts. A lot of you took the little things that we have been working on in practice and applied them to your races, and the results showed. This will help you as you enter that next level of swimming!
. Starting with Saturday' s meet we had 32 splashes from our group with 30 of them resulting in best times, and 9 JO cuts. A lot of you took the little things that we have been working on in practice and applied them to your races, and the results showed. This will help you as you enter that next level of swimming!Sunday we held our annual tri-meet and we had a lot of very impressive swims, and I don't have all the times in front of me yet and yes it was 
crazy on the deck, and yes I did miss some of your swims (SORRY). For those of you who come up to me and ask for my pen, my meet sheet, or my stop watch the answer was always no! Not trying to be rude, but I am really trying to see everyone in the water! I won't be able to mention all the swims but some that stick out are Abby M and Amy B finally reaching their goal of going under 30 in 50 free, joining them was Gillian in that heat!
Another event that sticks out is Logan M in her 200 free with a personal best in the first 50 and than putting it all together
The next one was the 200 fly which I think was causing many sleepless nights for Zoe H. For a first time she put this race together nicely
. Some other
were turned in by William Z, Sam O., Alex H., Sara, David, Hannah B, Claire E (first 500), Sean M., Miles. A lot of JO cuts were made on Sunday. LET'S KEEP OUR FOCUS GOING INTO THIS LAST PART OF OUR SEASON 18 DAYS TILL JO'S 42 DAYS TILL SPRING CHAMPS !!
crazy on the deck, and yes I did miss some of your swims (SORRY). For those of you who come up to me and ask for my pen, my meet sheet, or my stop watch the answer was always no! Not trying to be rude, but I am really trying to see everyone in the water! I won't be able to mention all the swims but some that stick out are Abby M and Amy B finally reaching their goal of going under 30 in 50 free, joining them was Gillian in that heat! | under 30 |
Another event that sticks out is Logan M in her 200 free with a personal best in the first 50 and than putting it all together | 200 free |
The next one was the 200 fly which I think was causing many sleepless nights for Zoe H. For a first time she put this race together nicely | 200 fly |
. Some other | good swims |
were turned in by William Z, Sam O., Alex H., Sara, David, Hannah B, Claire E (first 500), Sean M., Miles. A lot of JO cuts were made on Sunday. LET'S KEEP OUR FOCUS GOING INTO THIS LAST PART OF OUR SEASON 18 DAYS TILL JO'S 42 DAYS TILL SPRING CHAMPS !!TOPIC FOR THE WEEK: How many Jo cuts did you make? As each of you asks yourselves that question the answer may range from none to many! Whatever your answer is I want you to know that I am so proud of each of you, and the amount of effort in work that EACH of you have put in to get to this point! I have been so lucky to have a great group of kids to work with!
This will be tuff to say but you need to hear it and understand this! I notice that the last few weeks a lot of you started talking about JO cuts as WE neared that last chance, but in reality we started to work for that on September 11, and each day of practice was built for that. It's not something that you can work towards in only 2 months. It's a lot like school with that final exam at the end of the year, We need to do a little each day just to put us in a position to be successful. For those of us who didn't make JO cuts it's all right to be disappointed, just don't let the disappointment become your master and control you as WE move forward. Part of swimming and life is learning that the journey that WE are on is filled with many "potholes", the question becomes "Do we continue the journey or do we allow the potholes to 
Us. You need to appreciate failure and the use of it. Artists, athletes politicians and inventors have all failed many times. Did you know that Mark Maguire was the home run king while leading the league in 
outs! Babe Ruth was not only the home run king but he was also the strike out king!
Us. You need to appreciate failure and the use of it. Artists, athletes politicians and inventors have all failed many times. Did you know that Mark Maguire was the home run king while leading the league in outs! Babe Ruth was not only the home run king but he was also the strike out king! Self criticism is a learned habit which usually begins as a child when mistakes or failures are supposed to happen. We usually internalize criticism and we begin to criticize ourselves to prevent others from doing so.
Be kind to yourselves!! Some believe that we have to criticize ourselves to improve. Just the opposite is true. Show yourselves the same kindness and patience you might show a baby. "OTHERS WILL UNDERESTIMATE US, FOR ALTHOUGH WE JUDGE OURSELVES BY WHAT WE FEEL CAPABLE OF DOING, OTHERS JUDGE US ONLY BY WHAT WE HAVE ALREADY DONE." LONGFELLOW
For those of you who made your cuts 
Job well done. Now I want you to act like an athlete and that you belong in this group. What I am saying is that we do not have to act like we are better than others. Here is an example 
You ever seen a football game where almost on every play someone is celebrating one thing or another. I played this game and other team sports and call me old fashion but I believe when this occurs it is a slap in the face to your team and your opponents. When something good happens in sports be happy celebrate but when you throw it in the face of your fellow athletes than I believe you have crossed a line. People will remember how you conduct yourselves as a champion much more than the event.
Job well done. Now I want you to act like an athlete and that you belong in this group. What I am saying is that we do not have to act like we are better than others. Here is an example You ever seen a football game where almost on every play someone is celebrating one thing or another. I played this game and other team sports and call me old fashion but I believe when this occurs it is a slap in the face to your team and your opponents. When something good happens in sports be happy celebrate but when you throw it in the face of your fellow athletes than I believe you have crossed a line. People will remember how you conduct yourselves as a champion much more than the event.In closing I say congratulations to ALL of you, regardless of how you answered that first question, because you have all worked really hard and as far as I am concerned ALL of you are champions!
MIKE
