Another Wonderful GMA Season Is Underway

Another wonderful GMA season is underway.

We just finished our distance meet this last weekend. I was impressed by how many athletes pushed themselves in the longer events. There were many regional swimmers who completed a 500, there was one who even did a 1,000! The age groupers' hard work during their practices also showed because their 100 split times were very even throughout their distance races.

Regional 1 and 2 had twenty swimmers last night in training and our group is the largest it has been in a while. We recently had new swimmers join our team and this is one of my favorite times of the year. The swimmers who are new to the team are used to our routines and are now able to focus on learning the specifics of each drill set. The swimmers who are returning get to revisit the drills and their techniques, serving as great group leaders.

Last night we got to focus on BREASTSTROKE! Since the IMX meet is coming up soon, we’ve been focused on improving all parts our Individual Medley. In Breaststroke, we started by focusing on our body line in streamline kick, then we focused on flexing the feet out during the kick. Our pullouts have been amazing! Every swimmer has been doing pull-outs past the flags and many are starting to get to the white lane marker.

It’s been a super start to this season. I’m excited to watch the athletes become faster and stronger throughout our season and I anticipate seeing our team members grow closer as teammates and friends.

Sincerely,
Nick Mack

HELLO from the FLA senior challenge

Today was a good day for us here at the FLA Senior Challenge. Despite extreme heat we performed well, posting best times across the board. Taylor complained continuously throughout prelims, naptime, and finals. He dropped 9 seconds in his 400 free g0ing a 4 14. Ubert swam well in his 400 free as well dropping 3 seconds at 4 17 and a sectional cut. Dylan dropped 2 seconds in his 100 back and got his first zone cut. I dropped 2 seconds in my 400 free posting a 4 11. We are repping GMA here in FL, swimmming fast and getting our tans on.
The weather here has been pretty typical for Florida. Hot in the morning and afternoon and the occasional fatal lightning storm in the evening. We have had a light show these past two nights and missed out on the end of finals due to the storms......too bad ;). I dont know about the other three guys, but sharing a room with them has been a great time! We have also created a unique smell that some would call a haunting aroma.
Tomorrow is our last day and we are looking to finally swim a relay together as a team. Hope all is well in VT....GMA pwns

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

Ring in the Spring!

The second GMA Spring Clinic has started and it is great to see not only returning swimmers from the first clinic, but also returning swimmers from the winter season and even more new faces! I can see the excitement building for the long course and summer rec seasons. On top of that, the weather is starting to look much more like summer!

Hopefully the weather will hold for the 25th Annual Vermont City Marathon on May 24th. This will be the 2nd year GMA has run one of the many water stations providing valuable support to the marathon runners. The GMA water station is on mile 25.5, right at the end of the 26 mile course. Last year, it was so much fun watching the competitors. We saw the wheelchair athletes as well as the winner of the last three years, Matt Pellitier, pass by our station. The marathon involves such a variety of athletes who have competitive goals, or race to achieve personal goals. Some bring a fun flair to the race by running in creative costumes.. I am looking forward to seeing another exciting marathon and to helping GMA show our commitment to our community!

Lets have some fun again this year! Please sign up on the Vermont City Marathon Poster or e-mail Laura to sign-up. We need 20-25 volunteers to cover two shifts. You can choose to attend for one or both shifts. Everyone is welcome! So if you are swimmer, family member or friend, come sign up!

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Sincerely,
Coach Tim Bard

GMA Swimmers "Clean Up" In the Pool

On Friday, May 1st, 2009 twenty of the GMA Senior, Sectional and National swimmers worked diligently to clean the Saint Michael's College Pool. To show their appreciation for the use of the wonderful Saint Michael's College Pool, the GMA swimmers devoted about 45 minutes of their training time to scrubbing the pool gutters, cleaning the pool deck, organizing the pool closet and generally beautifying the pool area. The coaches were impressed with the athletes and their effort. Each athlete promptly got to work cleaning. Every GMA athlete did so with smiles on their faces and determination to finish the task at hand. You will notice that the water line on the gutters has been painstakingly scrubbed away and the pool area is neat and clean. THANK YOU GMA SWIMMERS FOR DOING YOUR PART!!

Seizing Opportunities

Two weekends ago we had the opportunity to race at the historic Yale 50 meter "practice pool." The facilities were adequate, the warm-up space and time was exceptional, the meet hosts were generous and friendly and the schedule of events was ideal. We were given an exceptional opportunity to race long course indoors early in the long course season. This was a chance for our athletes to challenge themselves competitively and begin trying their racing strategies for the season. While we were not blessed with exceptional competition from the other teams participating in the meet, we were certainly blessed with many competitive advantages at this meet.

It was wonderful to see many of our athletes at the meet making the most of the meet. The majority of our athletes took the opportunity to warm-up for the entire sixty minute warm-up session and gain a feel for the long course pool. The majority of our athletes raced incredibly well with focus and determination to achieve best times and learn from their experiences. The majority of our athletes raced in 8-10 events within 20 hours. The majority of our athletes left the meet either with personal best times or with new observations about their approaches to racing which. While the conditions were not ideal, our GMA athletes seized their competitive opportunities.

GMA athletes have also seized their training opportunities over the last week during school vacation. Our athletes who were in town over the school vacation showed incredible dedication to their training. Almost all of our athletes who stayed in the area for vacation INCREASED their practice attendance last week. By all accounts, our athletes who travelled on vacation over the school break found ways to exercise and maintain their fitness levels. I have received reports that our athletes took their workouts to local pools while on vacation to train their normal GMA workouts. We have heard that our athletes spent and hour to two hours each day on vacation running, swimming, lifting and exercising. GMA athletes love to train and keep themselves in shape. They take the opportunity to remain fit, whether at home or away over vacation periods.

As we all return to the pool as a team, I know that we will seize the opportunity to take our training to the next level. We have only one month until our major long course competitions begin. In less than 15 weeks, the long course season will be completely over. Now is the time to get training, get working and get going FAST! Our GMA swimmers have shown that they have the focus and attitude that is required to make the most of their competitive, training and team opportunities!

Carpe diem, GMA!

Laura Matuszak

At Last Vacation Time Is Here!

At last vacation time is here! I am leaving on Friday for a week in St. Lucia with my family (and Merritt) and I will say, without apology, that I am glad to be getting away. I absolutely, without a doubt, 100 percent love coaching and working with the athletes everyday, but I am smart enough to appreciate and enjoy a vacation when it comes my way. I will surely miss everyone, especially the hard workers in Lane Finity or Lane David or whatever they are going to be!

I know that a lot of other folks will be traveling over break and this brings me to my point. While it is great for your attitude and state of mind to get a break from the pressures of your training routine, your conditioning will suffer unless you pay a little attention to it while you are away. I know it seems like a drag to have to think about working out when you are supposed to be relaxing, but consider this…exercise is relaxing! Imaging what your life would be like if you weren’t exercising your minds and bodies each night? How would you deal with social and academic stress? How would you deal with family issues? The work you do in the pool is not only essential for helping you meet your swimming goals, it is a tool that helps you survive the day-to-day in middle or high school. But the big thing to remember is that each day you don’t train, your goals are harder to achieve. Although it may feel good right now to say “I deserve a break” or “One week off won’t hurt me”, the truth is that this is a very important time in long course training and a week off could very well be the difference between getting that cut time, or missing it by a second.

So what am I suggesting? Well, it is not as bad as you may think! By all means, relax on your vacation! Put swim practice out of your mind if it helps you refresh. Don’t, however, neglect your body or your goals. You wouldn’t go a whole week without water or food, would you? Exercise is just as important for what you all have stated that you want to achieve this summer. So, what should you do? Well, swim ideally! If you are near a pool, swim for an hour or more a few times over the week. Laura can give workouts to anyone who wants them if you feel like doing more. No pool? How about running? A 45 minute run combined with push ups and crunches is an excellent workout. Get your heart rate up as often as possible. When you think about it, how much time are we really talking about? 4 hours over the course of the week? Are you willing to commit 4 hours to meet your goals? Are you willing to commit more? I am confident that all of you could answer yes to both of those questions!

As for me? Well, fear not! I will be maintaining my coaching skills while I am on vacation. (I want to meet my goals as well). Merritt and Dylan will enjoy all of the benefits of being on vacation with their swim coach! So pack those goggles GMA and have great break. I will see you all when I get back!

Coach Eileen Hall