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January 2003 | Volume 2, Issue 5
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Meet Managers' Report:
We just finished the SYS Y Invitational Meet and I just have to say that the Shark Athletes are AWESOME!! The parents were all bundled up (somebody said it was cold?!?), but not the swimmers! They went out and did what they had to do. This meet is used to qualify for Y-States and had to be done. Special thanks go out (once again) to the volunteers in hospitality for providing hot food items. I liked the soup a lot and I'm sure that the hot chocolate went over big too! I would also like to give a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to all those parents who stepped up braving the near freezing winds and timed the swimmers this weekend. I hope most of you have thawed out by now! This meet could not have gone on without you - thank you all!
Now, Y-States! Sarasota has won this meet for quite sometime due to the outstanding coaching, spirit and enthusiasm that our swimmers bring to Orlando with them. This all starts out the weekend prior to the event at Encore Park with a huge pep rally. There, we play games, have a disc jockey, a scavenger hunt and picnic. This is always big fun, in a relaxing atmosphere, to socialize with great people! If anyone wishes to help out please contact Jane Boritz or any board member. New people bring great ideas and suggestions and these are always welcomed.
The next huge task at hand is approaching with breakneck speed and that is the Y-National Masters Swim Meet. This is a huge fund-raiser for our team. This will be the second time we have done this and I only hope that it will be as successful this time as it was the first time. For those of you that don't know, it was so successful on our first try that the sharks were able to buy the big scoreboard that is at the pool. After the last meet we hosted (The Y Invitational) we all know just how important the scoreboard is!! We are currently in the planning stages for the Masters and anyone wishing to help out with this, please contact Dave Trimble. Dave is taking a huge role in chairing this committee and doing a terrific job. This is a life defining event that each and every shark swimmer should be exposed to, from the pre-team swimmers to the national team. I personally took a lot out of the meet the first time we hosted this. I had the pleasure of timing a ninety-three year old man in the mile. It took 45 minutes, a feat, I'm sure I couldn't accomplish! Each athlete at this event had a great time and they were very appreciative of our hard work in making the meet so successful!
I look forward to seeing everyone at Encore for the pep rally and then in Orlando at the Y-State Meet.
Good Luck to Everyone!
The Meet Managers
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Stroke Camp
Spring Break, March 24th through March 28th from 8:00 am to 12 noon
Cost $100.00 for non-members; $75.00 for members. Ages 8 to 14
Coaches are Sherwood Watts, Mike Stewart, and Rick Walker
Emphasis is on Stroke Technique. Sign up now at the front desk in the main building at the ESJ YMCA; limited enrollment so hurry!
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A few months ago I attended a Swimposium in Orlando. I originally signed up to ‘pass the time’ while some of the Sharks were at the swim clinic. I couldn’t imagine what other information they could tell me that I hadn’t already heard somewhere along the way over the past 5 years. Boy was I wrong! As I would like to share many things from the Swimposium with you, I cannot due to space limitations,etc. I would like to tell you about some of the more shocking things I learned that Saturday morning.
Why do kids swim?
28% Enjoy/Fun
15% Fitness
13% Be with Friends
13% Compete
8% Improve
8% Meet new people
The speaker stressed that although we hate when our kids take long showers and play in the Jacuzzi after practice, this is necessary. They need to have ‘face time’ out of the pool and social interaction to keep the ‘fun’ in the sport.
I think the most surprising information was the quiz we all took on “Are you a Pressure Parent?” I whispered to myself, ‘this is not me…I’m going to skip this part and head out for a soda break’. The lecturer asked us all to at least fill out the quiz and then we would all take a break. He must have known my intentions. Anyhow, here is the quiz.
1. Is winning more important to you or your child?
2. Is your disappointment obvious?
3. Can only you ‘pyche up’ your child?
4. Is winning the only way your child can enjoy sports?
5. Do you conduct post mortems after competition or practice?
6. Do you feel you have to force your child to practice?
7. Can you do better coaching your own child?
8. Do you dislike your child’s opponents?
9. Are your child’s goals more important to you?
10. Do you provide material rewards for performances?
Well, when I read #5, I knew I was guilty. There isn’t a meet that goes by that we don’t spend some of the time reviewing the races. Your head wasn’t back, you didn’t even look like you were kicking, doesn’t Coach tell you not to do that? And so on. Or the old pre-race pep talk. Remember, keep you head back, touch with two hands, treat the wall like a hot potato. The lecturer spoke in a loud voice now and said, “for goodness sake, if he doesn’t know that stuff by now, he ‘ain’t gonna learn it! All you’ve done is fill his head with negative garbage!"
That did it for me! I now had myself classified as a pressure parent. From that point on my husband and I tried desperately to keep quiet at the meets. It’s very hard. And the, ‘do well and we’ll rent a video game after the meet’ had to stop. It’s been a lot harder than we thought. But spoken from a man who is a Coach, a parent of 2 swimmers and an employee/lecturer for USA Swimming, I knew this guy was speaking from experience. Like we always tell our children, learn from others' experiences and mistakes. And on that note, I’ll close. I’m not sure if any of our Coaches agree with any of this, but it sure seemed like valuable advice – something I wanted to share with the other Sharks.
Peg Rauch
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