APRIL 26, 2007
Good job to all of you who swam the long course meet last weekend! I talked with most of you and for the most part you all seemed happy with your swims! Sorry I could not be there but I have to get our future lifeguards through their course the next few weekends! I now have seen the results on line and you all did a great job!DERBY MEET THIS WEEKEND: Check the web site for warm-up information. Heather will be there on Saturday and Matt will be there on Sunday! Due to the meet we will not have Saturday morning practice.
VIRGINIA LONG COURSE CHAMPS: This meet will be held May 18th and 19th at GMU (FAIRFAX), and if you qualify and wish to swim please sign up.
"HOW GOOD OF A SWIMMER AM I"
Swimming is the one sport that we have where you can actually compare 
to regardless of your gender, age, or what part of the country you live in. Its very hard to compare yourself with others in sports such as 
, 
,
or
. USA swimming has a national motivational times list for all the age groups. "It looks like about 50% of all 11 to 12 year-old swimmers in the country hit a BB time, and about 25% hit the A. It looks like about 2% hit the AAAA times This is on the NATIONAL scale! 
Hey BB swimmers, in what other sport can you be assured that you are better than half of the other participants."
to regardless of your gender, age, or what part of the country you live in. Its very hard to compare yourself with others in sports such as , , or. USA swimming has a national motivational times list for all the age groups. "It looks like about 50% of all 11 to 12 year-old swimmers in the country hit a BB time, and about 25% hit the A. It looks like about 2% hit the AAAA times This is on the NATIONAL scale! Hey BB swimmers, in what other sport can you be assured that you are better than half of the other participants."As we approach the end of another season some of you may have thought about leaving the sport. I believe that kids leave swimming far too early, for many reasons. One of the reasons I hear a lot is that I "m not good at it, or my friends are better than I am. I actually had a swimmer a few years ago who was thinking of leaving the sport at 14, and we talked and she mentioned that most of her friends were swimmers, and how she enjoyed sharing those special moments with them at practice, meets, and trips. Together we discovered there were more positives than negatives to the sport. In fact the only real negative she had was she had to get up early 
. After I explained that this was really a positive because I was preventing her parents from complaining all summer of how late she slept 
. She continued to swim and graduated this past summer, and at the awards night she shared this story, and said it was all worth it.
. After I explained that this was really a positive because I was preventing her parents from complaining all summer of how late she slept . She continued to swim and graduated this past summer, and at the awards night she shared this story, and said it was all worth it. The best swimmers can go meets without a best time, so why do they do it. It's for the love of the sport, and the thrill of racing head to head. This is truly one of the few sports where it really is one on one. I've coached baseball and I always laugh a little when the say it's this pitcher against this pitcher. DO ANY OF THE OTHER PLAYERS AFFECT THE OUTCOME? Of course they do!
I attended a lot of Division 2 college meets this past year, and I can tell you that a lot of you could not only swim on these teams, but you would be swimming at finals at conference champs with your current times. Courtney's conference had another MAKO at the meet and she would not have made JO's or finals at Spring blast. She was however swimming finals at a college conference championship meet, and I've never seen her that happy!
"Do you still want to do year-round swimming? The answer EVERY swimmer in this group SHOULD be giving is, YES, because I'm GOOD at it! "
There is a place in the pool for EVERY swimmer!
MIKE
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