GMA Heart

As the summer transitions to fall with cooler days and diminishing sunlight, the GMA coaches prepare for the start of the short course season. Each week, our pool is filling with more and more enthusiastic GMA swimmers. This week, the Senior, Sectional and National swimmers welcomed the Age Groupers and the Fall Clinic to the Saint Michael's College Pool.  Throughout the next month, we will see athletes join the program who are brand new to the team and eager to learn more about our sport. We will see our returning Regional and Age Group swimmers who, as 10 and 12 year olds, have already grown so much through competitive swimming and are ready to reach for new dreams in the water. Of course, our team leaders, the Senior, Sectional and National swimmers, have been training throughout the summer and have spent the last two weeks preparing to take the team in new directions this year, always conscience of our team goal "To win the USA Swimming National Championship." It is a thrilling time to be a GMA teammate, with the hope of a new season and the promise of an Olympic year!

Throughout the 2011 Long Course season, our GMA athletes have added to this hope and promise in our sport. The passion with which our athletes raced this summer inspires our team to keep reaching to achieve our team goals. At the New England Open Championships, our GMA women raced with tremendous pride in the toughest of all relays, the 4 x 200 Meter Free Relay. While none of the athletes in the relay truly loves the 200 Meter Free, each cared enough about one another and about GMA to race their hearts out. All four relay team members raced personal best times on the relay, most dropping significant time even though the relay was the last event at the end of a very long, hot day of trials and finals. The joy on their faces after the relay was over said it all . . . It sure feels good to race your best for the love of your teammates!



Another inspiring GMA race this summer was the Men's 400 Free Final at the New England Open Championships. How awesome was it to watch teammates Evan Grey and Michael Ubert push each other to perform their best? These two athletes train together every day, every week, year-round. In fact, I wonder if they spend more time with one another than they do with their brothers (and their brothers are swimmers!) When it came down to our big championship meet and the finals of the 400 Free, these athletes challenged one another better than any other competitors in the field. I know that they each raced their personal best times because they respect each other as teammates and as competitors. Is there a higher honor one can bestow upon his teammate than to view him as a worthy competitor and to race his very best when they are side by side?



What's really inspiring about our team are the unique hopes and dreams that our team members brings to their GMA experience. With over 100 athletes in the program, we are blessed to know so many outstanding young people, striving to achieve their own goals while supporting the goals of their teammates. This summer, we witnessed two GMA athletes continue on their road to the 2012 USA Swimming Olympic Trials. At the same time, we had numerous GMA athletes achieve new New England, Sectional and Junior National qualifying times and we had several GMA athletes attend new championship meets for the first time ever. Beyond the outstanding racing and the achievement of new goals, we saw GMA excellence in our athletes' attitudes and in their effort. One group that most impressed me this summer was our Knights Swim Team members. What an excellent group of young swimmers! I had the pleasure of coaching some of these athletes this summer and I have never met a more gracious, kind and hard working group of athletes. Every day, without fail, these Knights swimmers would thank me after practice. Every day, without fail, these Knights swimmers worked hard to develop better stroke technique and to get in shape. Our Knights Swimmers showed outstanding heart and team focus in training and in racing. While we were a very small team, our team spirit was enormous. The small ways in which our GMA athletes showed our excellence this summer - from our positive attitudes to our Olympic Trials racing - certainly sets the stage for an outstanding GMA short course season!



In fact, I am certain that we are carrying tremendous momentum, enthusiasm and passion for the sport into this short course season.  After our first week of training, I asked each training group to come up with a word to describe the HEART of our GMA Team right now.  These are the words that we associate with GMA athletes:
DRIVEN . . . DEDICATED . . . PERSEVERING . . . STUDLY . . . PERSISTENT . . . DETERMINED!  These are the qualities that will define our team effort this season and we are so EXCITED to share GMA with YOU!