What Thanksgiving Means For This GMA Coach

Thanksgiving is a GREAT time to be a GMA swim coach. The short course season is well underway, our training groups and coaching staff are all buzzing along with GMA energy and the bright lights of the championship season are growing brighter every day. It is at this time of year when I am grateful for the Thanksgiving holiday and the time to reflect on all of the reasons I am thankful to be a GMA swim coach.

First, I am thankful that I get to meet so many great families through my coaching work. We have families who live right down the street in my neighborhood and families who live as far as 100 miles away from the Saint Michael's College Pool. All of us are bound together by this awesome sport of swimming and the tremendous impact the sport has in our lives. We have GMA families who contribute to the team in so many ways. We have families who have devoted the last 15 years of their lives to officiating at every session of every meet. We have families who love to provide the best food concessions we can at every meet, even if it means arriving at 5:30 a.m., staying until 9:00 p.m. and visiting Costco on a busy Saturday afternoon just to pick up jars of mustard and plastic forks. We have families who not only spend endless hours driving to and from the pool at all hours of the night and day but also manage to squeeze an hour out of their hectic lives to organize and clean our overflowing storage closets. We have families who take on new volunteer responsibilities with the Booster Club and families who host team parties. Every GMA family finds ways to contribute to the team so that GMA and the great sport of swimming can be instrumental in the development of their children.

I am endlessly thankful for our outstanding and professional coaching staff. I am in awe, daily, of their undying commitment to children. Every GMA coach is passionate about teaching stoke technique, self-discipline, self-awareness and leadership to each of our GMA athletes. Our coaches bring this teaching to each GMA athlete in unique and interesting ways. Our coaches, first and foremost, care about our athletes and work to make each of the daily lessons in swimming relevant and interesting to each athlete. GMA coaches make the GMA experience a meaningful one for our GMA athletes and meaningful for me.

I am thankful for the inspiration and motivation given to me by our current GMA athletes. I am nothing short of elated every day when I get to come to the pool and work with such energetic and interesting young people. I enjoy working with our team leaders who set the standard of excellence for our team; with our committed athletes who lead by example; with our emerging leaders who are building the skills and the confidence to guide the team further; with our athletes who have recently transitioned to the senior level who are eager and anxious to find their place in the program; with our developing age groupers who continue to learn and grow in the sport as they discover their athletic goals; and with our budding developmental swimmers who are enthusiastic, energetic and ready to excel. What incredible character and charisma each GMA athlete offers this team. What a thrill to imagine where we will be at the end of the season when we all work together to achieve our common goals!

I am thankful for our GMA alumni and former team members. Thanksgiving provides our GMA alumni a special time of homecoming and sharing. We love having swimmers return to the team from their college programs. The lessons they share with us about their college experiences teach us how we can be better as team and how we can make the most of the GMA experience in preparation for college swimming. They ignite training environment with a familiar GMA energy and they open our minds to the possibilities for our athletes as they take their swimming, schooling and lives to the next level.

Finally, Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to be a GMA coach because the excitement of the December meets beckons. We start with the UVAC Meet, where the majority of our team will be together to race hard and have fun at one of our favorite facilities. This year, we also get to travel to Atlanta with an athlete for the USA Swimming Short Course Junior National Championship. What an honor and a joy it will be to attend a national-level meet and see our GMA swimmer shine! We finish the December meet circuit with the New England Senior Meet. We get to travel as a team to Boston and we get to watch our GMA team leaders show New England Swimming how great swimmers from the Green Mountains are!

Thank you GMA families, coaches, athletes and alumni for providing me with purpose, passion and meaning every day of my life. Happy Thanksgiving GMA!

- Laura Matuszak