This past weekend OUR groups had some great individual swims with many JO cuts achieved. Congratulations to all of you. The first part of our season and journey is now behind us and I am so proud of all of you and the progression of the groups at this point in the season. Now we are entering our hard training phase of our season which will take us through which ever championship meet that you find yourself in.This is the time of the year where everyone starts to 
panic about making cuts for the March Meets, and every year I tell them the same thing this process is not a one week or two week thing, it starts with the very first day of practice. It involves every practice session, every drill , every turn, every streamline off the wall and every finish into the wall.
panic about making cuts for the March Meets, and every year I tell them the same thing this process is not a one week or two week thing, it starts with the very first day of practice. It involves every practice session, every drill , every turn, every streamline off the wall and every finish into the wall. Every time you are in the water, and every time you leave on a repeat is an opportunity to get better, and now the question is; Do you use that opportunity 
or Do you waste it 
? Will all of you get a cut if you do the work? I have never made any promises to swimmers about getting cuts or making ALL STARS, but what I will promise you is that if you follow the plan and work at it you will put yourself in the best position to swim fast and maybe even surprise 
yourself at the same time! If your choice is not to do the work than you are like that blind 
that we have talked about and how once in a while he will be lucky and find that 
.
or Do you waste it ? Will all of you get a cut if you do the work? I have never made any promises to swimmers about getting cuts or making ALL STARS, but what I will promise you is that if you follow the plan and work at it you will put yourself in the best position to swim fast and maybe even surprise yourself at the same time! If your choice is not to do the work than you are like that blind that we have talked about and how once in a while he will be lucky and find that .You may think that taking a day off from practice or by skipping a set or even one or two 50's is no big thing, but you are only cheating 
yourself and at some point it will come back and hurt 
you when you least expect it. It may rear it's ugly 
head during a finish, a streamline, a turn, a finish, one race, or maybe an entire meet. Don't allow yourself to be caught in that position!
yourself and at some point it will come back and hurt you when you least expect it. It may rear it's ugly head during a finish, a streamline, a turn, a finish, one race, or maybe an entire meet. Don't allow yourself to be caught in that position!UPCOMING MEETS: The meets that we should be looking at for everyone is the SNOW MEET on February 5 for AG1, JUNIOR 2 and Senior PREP groups. The other meet is the JO QUALIFIER Meet on February 12 and 13 for the JUNIOR 2 and SENIOR PREP groups. AGE GROUP 1 swimmers should not attend this meet without talking to Beth or I first.
WEEKLY TOPIC: HABITS
Habits are important for all people and athletes are no different! You have chosen to be an athlete and by making that choice you are no longer an average person. You now have to develop HABITS that will put you in thebest position to succeed (we have discussed that above a little), and that not only involves your time in the 
but also your time away from the pool. What you do every once in a while will have some impact on your swimming, but it's the things that you do EVERY DAY and the good HABITS that you develop that will have the biggest impact on your results. As an athlete you have placed yourself above the average person and there are certain habits that you need to establish in order to stay on top.
but also your time away from the pool. What you do every once in a while will have some impact on your swimming, but it's the things that you do EVERY DAY and the good HABITS that you develop that will have the biggest impact on your results. As an athlete you have placed yourself above the average person and there are certain habits that you need to establish in order to stay on top.Seven Habits of Highly Effective Athletes (From the book Highly successful athletes)
- Revolve all other habits around your intended goals: Athletes that are highly effective revolve everything else they do around being a better athlete. An athlete's diet is focused on what foods will be beneficial to their training and performance, they sleep the amount of hours required to recover properly. Everything you do should be thought about from a perspective that takes into account the consequences of all actions.
- Pour every ounce of effort into training: An athlete doesn't just work out; they don't just go through the motions. An athlete puts everything they have into the task at hand.
- Educate yourself: Athletes that make it place a lot of faith in their coach. Great athletes have coaches that take them to enormous levels of success. However, highly efficient athletes don't just rely on their coach, if they did they could fail if that relationship falls through.
- Keep records: All highly effective athletes keep records of relevant information, that includes training performance, good days, bad days, good sets, bad sets, practice and meet times. By making this a habit you can notice positive and negative turning points and can make adjustments along the way.
- Focus on details: An effective athlete pays attention to these things. Without looking at theses details an athlete cannot make the tiny increments of improvements along the way.
- Restraint and discipline yourself beyond the average person: Many people make excuses and exceptions for breaking either the team, group or even their own personal rules. An effective athlete will establish rules that are NON-NEGOTIABLE.
- Notice the little things: Most people don't notice the little things. This was important to include because many athletes believe that it is the big thing that makes the difference. However the things that make the difference are the accumulation of tiny factors that lead to massive changes Not doing the little things is very detrimental.
SUNDAY JANUARY 16: SNOW TUBING
