Happy spring everyone! School is almost over and summer looms tantalizingly close. It is natural to think if this time of the year as the beginning of a season. As the GMA swimmers will tell you however, that is not the case at all as far as our long course season goes! Our long course championship meets are getting closer all the time and actually, this is more like the middle of our training season. This is why I was so excited to see how many athletes remained focused this weekend as we experienced a disruption in our pool schedule.
St. Michael’s college needed to shut the pool down for maintenance and we had to do 4 days of training with no water! Laura put together some amazing dryland workouts that really kept the athletes working hard. I am proud of those of you who made the effort to come and participate. It would have been easy to say “Oh, well, it’s not worth it to go for only dryland” and stay home. Instead, you realized that strength and load bearing workouts are as critical for your success as pool time and you attacked the non-traditional training with enthusiasm and GREAT attitudes. I have no doubt that it was hard, but those of you who were here know that it was worth it!
Saturday was our Dryland Olympics. The kids competed in a variety of events like running (some did a 5K), lifting, pushups, pull-ups, and the 100 yard dash, just to name a few. Taylor G. and Caroline W. were the big winners of the Senior/Sectional/National group. As Olympic partners, they pushed one other to perform well and each proudly took home a $10.00 gift certificate to Moe’s. Dylan H. and Ubert (the elder) tied for second. Other winners were Brenna C., Emma H., Lauren K., David L. and Lindsay M.
After the Dryland Olympics were over, we enjoyed a celebratory team brunch, thanks to the effort of Senior/Sectional/ National parents. Good job everyone! I am constantly amazed at how hard you work and as always, proud to call myself a GMA coach! See you in the pool! (Finally!)
Sincerely,
Coach Eileen Hall
