UPDATES FOR THIS WEEK: All practices will be held at the normal times this week.SWIM MEETS: We have 3 meets coming up in January that you need to sign up for BEFORE DECEMBER 23. Distance meet January 3 (1000 free), January 4 (1650). You should not sign up for this meet if you are out of the water (which you shouldn't be) during the holidays. The next meet is the Mako Invitational January 9 and 10, and the January Open on the 17 and 18. We should be focusing in on the Jo cuts that we are close to for these two meets.
TOM DOLAN and CHRISTMAS CHAMPS WRAP UP: Our little group turned in an outstanding effort over the weekend at these two meets. At the Christmas champs meet we had several swimmers who got JO cuts. Elena Summers, Sophie Chase, Noah Carpenter, Mary Hudgins, and Melissa Kratzke had some great swims while earning JO cuts. Some other Swimmers from our group who had an outstanding meet were Katerine Walton, Lauren YI (swam Tom Dolan also), Julia Schwabenbauer, Jade Berman, Michael Mister, Michael Ide. At this meet we had 118 splashes and turned in 72 personal best and another 19 that were .95 or under off our best times.At the Tom Dolan Meet We had 112 splashes and turned in 75 personal bests and had 20 swims that were right near our best (95 or less) This was an outstanding effort by all of you Leading the way were Elise Bourdelias who had 9 races with 8 best times, Logan Coulson Moore who with her finals on Friday and Saturday swam 14 races with all best times at finals. Matt Jones swam 6 races with 5 best times and not a lot of rest in between. James Murphy had 11 races and turned in 6 best times in the individual events. Matt Martinez had 10 events and turned in 6 best times in all his individual events.
TOP BANANA AWARDS:Katherine Walton, James Murphy, Lauren YI, Sam Ober, Ana Ober
MID SEASON THOUGHTS Today we start what I like to call the 2nd phase of our season. This phase will carry us through to the championship season in Mid March. Your meet might be Junior Olympics, it might be Junior or Senior Champs, or it may be Spring Champs, but make no mistake all these meets are just as important to me, because it is at Your CHAMPIONSHIP MEET whatever it may be that you are swimming your fastest.Now that our mid season championship season is behind us and the holiday season is gearing up let's take time out to evaluate our performance and reevaluate season goals.
At our two championship meets as a group we had 230 events and we turned in 147 best times, 39 times that ranged from our best to . 95 off, and 27 times that were UNIMPRESSIVE.
For those of you who were successful, I believe that there were a few areas that you excelled in. The first and probably the most important was that these swimmers just went out and raced without regard to fatigue or a runny nose 
or anything else. Things are rarely perfect at all times in athletics and this certainly true in the swimming world, so one must prepare for the unexpected. RACE TOUGHNESS replaces all else at the moment the horn sounds. Will vs. Skill--the Fight in the 
- and a willingness to just GO FOR IT when things when things are not perfect
, and this was certainly evident with a lot of you. Consistent practice attendance-yes some were successful without the attendance (the fight in the dog), but only for one event out of 6 or maybe one day out of a two day meet -- however the majority who did well trained for fast swimming. Warm up / warm down procedures were followed-race preparation is different for everyone and those of you who went out and took care of business
were in a better position to succeed.
or anything else. Things are rarely perfect at all times in athletics and this certainly true in the swimming world, so one must prepare for the unexpected. RACE TOUGHNESS replaces all else at the moment the horn sounds. Will vs. Skill--the Fight in the - and a willingness to just GO FOR IT when things when things are not perfect, and this was certainly evident with a lot of you. Consistent practice attendance-yes some were successful without the attendance (the fight in the dog), but only for one event out of 6 or maybe one day out of a two day meet -- however the majority who did well trained for fast swimming. Warm up / warm down procedures were followed-race preparation is different for everyone and those of you who went out and took care of businesswere in a better position to succeed.Another area that affected our performance was the group spirit. 
You all took it to the next level with each passing session and I am proud of you for that. Positive vibes are very contagious. Your Teammates noticed the support and it motivated them to some great swims.
You all took it to the next level with each passing session and I am proud of you for that. Positive vibes are very contagious. Your Teammates noticed the support and it motivated them to some great swims.
stronger 
faster 
higher. As we start Phase 2 its time to go up to a higher place with each passing session. Your training goals should get higher and you need to push yourself to become stronger each and every day. We will not back down from a set or from perfect technique. Over the next 2 months the intervals will get harder and the yardage will increase as we prepare our bodies for what we are about to ask of them. Over the Holidays we will have some practice sessions which you should be attending. If you are out of town and able to get in with another Club I would encourage this. If you stay out for almost 2 weeks you will be behind and it will affect you. Stand together, swim together, and push each other to greater things.MIKE
