“Mom, tell me again, what is your profession”? This is a question I have heard frequently from my offspring as they fill out one form or another.
I thought about this as I stood on deck this weekend at the Winter Classic meet, surrounded by GMA swimmers checking in and out, warming up and down, racing, crying, eating, laughing, and cheering. I did a quick mental inventory of how I landed here on deck wearing the GMA coach’s shirt.
I was once an age group swimmer. GMA's founding father Jim Donoghue was my coach. I showed up at school with frozen pigtails after early morning practices. I lost hundreds of pairs of goggles. I was the confused child hanging on to the gutter trying to figure out how to breathe to both sides. I begged to use kickboards. I understand.
I also have been a GMA swim parent. I watched my child throw up blue Gatorade. I went the wrong way in the I-89/91 matrix more than once. I pondered the question of how my child’s breaststroke could look SO different every time she swam it. I cried when she finally broke 1:00 in the 100 Free. I understand.
I am a GMA masters swimmer. Laura is my coach. I have SLUDKA’D. I have chest pressed. I have “overkicked”. I have double descended hitting my goal 200 race pace. I understand what its like to train the GMA way.
My life experiences in the pool, driving to the pool, and sitting at the pool have all led me to my current position, on deck coaching your children. I am privileged and honored. I appreciate your willingness to lend them to me for a few hours every day to work with them and help them become better swimmers. I appreciate the commitment you have to getting them fed and watered and where they need to be. I appreciate your trust in believing in the GMA philosophy and letting GMA coaches do their jobs. At GMA, every skill progression, interval set, dry land exercise, and warm up protocol is based on science and experience. For every activity in or around the pool there is a reason.
As many of you remember, before computers and heat sheets, there was the dreaded “Bull Pen”, an extremely chaotic area full of cold, folding chairs in rows, hordes of excitable children, and two or three sacrificial parents trying to get and keep the swimmers in order. Like the rotary phone, the bull pen has become extinct thanks to modern technology. Now our kids have the capability to actually warm up their muscles, get their hearts pumping, and get their mojo flowing, before every race.
Your children are athletes. Athletes perform best when they are warmed up. During a typical GMA age group practice, athletes will swim their best times near the end of a 90-minute workout. Simply, warming up is a good thing; standing behind the block for 15 heats of the 200 freestyle is not.
I had a posse of worried age groupers circling my coaching wagon last weekend. They were staging a protest against pre-race warm up. By utilizing my extraordinary communication skills (yelling and wagging my finger), ultimately I convinced them to warm up. While some embraced the concept more than others, I am proud of all the age groupers for trying something new and preparing for a race the GMA way. Age Groupers were rewarded with several personal best times and championship cut times. (I love it when it works out that way...)
I am lucky to have my unique perspective of GMA swimming and coaching. Though I have not seen it all, I sure have seen and experienced a lot of it. It is from this place of experience that I can say, I believe in our GMA parents, athletes, and coaches. We are a mighty team. Lets keep on working together to achieve excellence.
Gotta go, time to drive to the pool......
Maria Cimonetti
