Tonight’s practice went really well. We had a really high turnout of kids for a Thursday during vacation week. It's nice to see so many folks committed to coming to practice after many of the kids have had their end of the season meet.
As we were walking down the stairs it was really nice to hear the kids talking about their goals. It was one of our focuses this year was to have kids use their goals more effectively. I think talking with their peers and hearing their goals said out loud from someone else allows them to not only hear more repetitions but reflect and think about what their peer is saying.
We focused a lot on flip turns tonight and the quality of sludk. One of the items we discussed from the regional meet was trying to get kids to do the same amount of sludk but use it more effectively. We had kids sludk consistently past the flags for two of our main focus sets. We do similar things for stroke count so we are now trying to incorporate it into our sludk.
Dry-land went really smoothly as well. We started doing some station work this week and the kids seem to really enjoy having the fast pace between the activities. The kids have enough knowledge about the basic dry-land exercises where we are now able mix up different varieties of activities!!!
Overall it was a great night! - Nick
Green Mountain Aquatics: Team and Coaches' Blog
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
This is such an exciting time of year to be swimming! Starting last weekend and ending in March, there are championship meets being held around the regional and around the country. Swimmers from all kinds of programs and in all parts of the United States are gearing up to swim their best at the end of the short course season!! What is GMA doing to get ready to race?
First, we are celebrating the successes that we have already experienced this season. We had an excellent New England Regional Meet with almost all of our swimmers achieving at least one personal best time at the meet. The excitement from winning personal best prizes and from racing well as a team is fueling the efforts of our Age Group and Speedo Championship swimmers. This weekend, our qualified 12 and younger swimmers will compete at the NEW Upper Valley Aquatic Center at the New England 12 and Under Championship Meet. They will spend the week in training, preparing physically and mentally to race their best! Let's go GMA!
Next, as we begin the championship meet season, we are renewing our focus on the fundamentals 0f swimming - stroke technique, streamline, efficiency. After a great visit last Monday (1/9/09) from USA Swimming Sports Performance Consultant, Rick Bishop, our Senior, Sectional and National swimmers have some valuable teachings about the importance of streamline, dolphin kicking and attitude in their racing. We are hopeful that our athletes will take these teachings to heart; implement the teachings in their training; and prepare to race their best at championships.
Finally, since some of our athletes have completed the short course competition season, we think that it is important for our teammates to stay in the water until the end of March. This is an important time to share in the joys of the team during championships and to focus in the water on stroke improvements that will help ALL of our atheltes qualify for championships in the future. Remembering that the the team goal is to win the National Championships in swimming, we know that we will need EVERY athlete to swim their best in order to achieve this massive goal. The preparation for this goal happens EVERY day at practice.
We'll see you at the pool soon!
Sincerely,
Laura Matuszak
First, we are celebrating the successes that we have already experienced this season. We had an excellent New England Regional Meet with almost all of our swimmers achieving at least one personal best time at the meet. The excitement from winning personal best prizes and from racing well as a team is fueling the efforts of our Age Group and Speedo Championship swimmers. This weekend, our qualified 12 and younger swimmers will compete at the NEW Upper Valley Aquatic Center at the New England 12 and Under Championship Meet. They will spend the week in training, preparing physically and mentally to race their best! Let's go GMA!
Next, as we begin the championship meet season, we are renewing our focus on the fundamentals 0f swimming - stroke technique, streamline, efficiency. After a great visit last Monday (1/9/09) from USA Swimming Sports Performance Consultant, Rick Bishop, our Senior, Sectional and National swimmers have some valuable teachings about the importance of streamline, dolphin kicking and attitude in their racing. We are hopeful that our athletes will take these teachings to heart; implement the teachings in their training; and prepare to race their best at championships.
Finally, since some of our athletes have completed the short course competition season, we think that it is important for our teammates to stay in the water until the end of March. This is an important time to share in the joys of the team during championships and to focus in the water on stroke improvements that will help ALL of our atheltes qualify for championships in the future. Remembering that the the team goal is to win the National Championships in swimming, we know that we will need EVERY athlete to swim their best in order to achieve this massive goal. The preparation for this goal happens EVERY day at practice.
We'll see you at the pool soon!
Sincerely,
Laura Matuszak
Thursday, February 5, 2009
GMA Wednesday 2/4/09
The team is getting ready for the New England Regional Meet. We are excited for our Developmental athletes who will get a taste of a big New England Meet. In addition, many of our Senior and Sectional swimmers have set specific goals for their Regional performances. The daily training this week has been focused on meet preparation and racing skills for our athletes attending the Regional Meet. Spirits have been high and we are looking forward to a great weekend of racing.
Our Age Group and National Group swimmers are also getting focused on their end-of-season meets later in the season. Their training is in the final stages before taper and they are anxiously awaiting the meet preparation period.
The coaches are beginning their athlete evaluations for the season, are considering team awards for the end of season banquet and are planning ahead for the summer long course season. We hope that our successes during the New England, Sectional and Junior National Meets this winter will encourage all of our teammates to stay in the pool with GMA in the spring and summer. The program flier will be posted within the next few weeks so keep your eyes open for it on our homepage!!
LET'S GO GMA!! SWIM FAST and HAVE FUN!
Our Age Group and National Group swimmers are also getting focused on their end-of-season meets later in the season. Their training is in the final stages before taper and they are anxiously awaiting the meet preparation period.
The coaches are beginning their athlete evaluations for the season, are considering team awards for the end of season banquet and are planning ahead for the summer long course season. We hope that our successes during the New England, Sectional and Junior National Meets this winter will encourage all of our teammates to stay in the pool with GMA in the spring and summer. The program flier will be posted within the next few weeks so keep your eyes open for it on our homepage!!
LET'S GO GMA!! SWIM FAST and HAVE FUN!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Welcome to our new GMA blog
Dear GMA parents, swimmers, coaches and fans,
Welcome to our new team blog! The coaches, captains and athletes will use our blog to share the latest training and racing news and information. This will serve as our way of keeping everyone in the loop about the day-to-day happenings with the team. Of course, our website will still function as our primary source of team information, dates, results, and swimmer data.
I hope that you enjoy our blog and that it helps you gain a better feeling about our GMA champions!
Sincerely,
Laura Matuszak
Welcome to our new team blog! The coaches, captains and athletes will use our blog to share the latest training and racing news and information. This will serve as our way of keeping everyone in the loop about the day-to-day happenings with the team. Of course, our website will still function as our primary source of team information, dates, results, and swimmer data.
I hope that you enjoy our blog and that it helps you gain a better feeling about our GMA champions!
Sincerely,
Laura Matuszak
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