Folks;

Can you believe it?  The end of the 2008-2009 short course season is fast approaching.  We have district this weekend and state the following week.  While I will wait until after the end of states to offer a comprehensive evaluation of this season, I do want to take advantage of this bit of time to offer a preview of what is to come. 

This weekend will be fantastic.  Not only will we witness 14 of our swimmers fight for the best times of their lives, but we will see them do so with the confidence and understanding that they have done everything possible to ensure their struggle will not be for naught.  While every single swimmer competing this weekend deserves a shout, skip and holla, there are a few in impressive standing (top 3 seeding) who will experience nothing short of an explosive meet:

Alexandra, who has never wavered in tackling every practice like it was her last, is seeded 2^nd in the 200IM;

Ben, whose recent focus and determination has not been without reward, is seated 1^st in the 200IM, 100fr and 100fly; 2^nd in the 100bk; and 3^rd in the 50fr;

Connor, whose enthusiasm and spirit can make a sloth waltz, is seeded 2^nd in the 200fr and 3^rd in the 100bk.;

Ella, our persistent spirit whose desire to thrive is second only to her eagerness to learn, is seeded 3^rd in the 200fr;

Kara, our resident fly enthusiast and offender of any perceived boundary, is seeded 2^nd in the 200fly; and

Patrick, whose tenacity and drive can derail a freight train, is seeded 1^st in the 100br; 2^nd in the 100fr and 50br; and 3^rd in the 200fr and 100fly. 

All of these individuals, in addition to Caroline, Georgia, Emma, Rip Tide rock stars Griffin and Josh and Mimosa

 rock star Vincent, have also agreed to be a part of the State squad, which will be traveling to Sulphur next week.  

They will participate on relays with Alyssa, Annie Laura, Davis, Francis and Alex, who all individually qualified.  Keep in mind, victories at district in any of the cited events will qualify that swimmer for state.  Can you feel the excitement?

We are on fire.  There are 25 tsunamis and tidal waves.  Of that number, 76% will swim an individual event at 

a championship meet and nearly 60% will represent our team at state.  Nate may be great, but we are just plain

 awesome.  Keep rock’n it!

Andrew

I could go on about the program, but it would be easier for you to learn more about through a special  USA Swimming IMX web page.  It can be accessed by clicking here (photo follows).

We encourage every swimmer and parent who will be attending this meet to take a couple of minutes to visit the above link to get a better understanding of IMX.  You will understand why your swimmer may be competing in an “unusual event” or two. Parents, help us by supporting your child’s challenge this weekend.  If we all embrace the IMX concept, this will be a fun and worthwhile weekend.

Let’s help the swimmers break out of their comfort zones and try something new. It’s amazing to me that some of the swimmers haven’t swum some of these events EVER in their lives…how do we know what we can accomplish if we never try?

Nu Wave has 83 swimmers registered to compete in this event. That number is significant, not because it is an increase from last year, but it is also an increase in the percentage of Nu Wavers who are participating in meets.  I am gladdened by this trend and hope it continues.

By the way…I know that if they had this program when I was swimming in the 70s, I might have done more Breastroke at meets. I was labeled a sprinter / backstroker early in my career, but would have been too competitive to simply forfeit an event.

Thanks for being a part of our program,

Rich

His family must be thrilled…especially Dad (his favorite swimmer). I learned that Joel and I have something in common.  We have both want to make people fly. Maybe you can get him to sign a copy at the meet this weekend.

Way to go Joel!

tidal waves and tsunamis;

wow.  more appropriately, superfragilistic!

tonight’s practice was amazing.  it was difficult, for sure.  it was challenging, no doubt.  despite the pain, fatigue and exhaustion, you rock’d.  you not only rock’d, you cruised.  you not only rock’d and cruised, you rocruised.  now that is saying something.

as you know, we have a home meet in the near horizon, district over yonder and state just over the bend.  our short course season is quickly slipping through our fingers and i am so proud about where we are.  some are there, others have no idea where they are, but we are right here.  more specifically, we are right where we want to be and right where we need to be.  so look up, look forward and look down if you wish, but know that we will only be moving in one direction- that being out of this world.

one day at a time is how i tend to live, but i would be fooling you if i said i wasn’t gearing up for an amazing championship season.

andrew

Tsunamis and Tidal Waves;

Lucy sent out an e-mail earlier today with the schedule for the next few months.  For those that have given it a peek, the changes are noticeable.  The schedule will take effect Inauguration Day 2009 and follows:

M:  Tsunami and Tidal Wave, 4.15-6.20pm at Newman

T:  Tsunami, 4.15-6.20pm at Newman

W:  Tsunami and Tidal Wave, 4.15-6.20pm at Newman

R:  Tsunami, 4.15-6.20pm at Newman

F:  Tsunami, 4-6.20pm at Tulane; Tidal Wave, 4.15-6.20pm at Newman

S:  Tsunami and Tidal Wave, 8-10am at Newman

Review of the schedule for Rip Tides reveals that: 

M and W:  we have the pool pretty much entirely to ourselves

T, R and F:  we will continue to share the pool

S:  we have the pool all to ourselves

This is a fantastic change, especially considering the recent growth that we are experiencing.  With more folk, we have more support to continue the route that we have already established.  We are well on our way to topping the success of last season.  We have a home meet coming up and then district and state will be calling.  Let the doubters do their thing, but I am looking forward to joining quite a few of you on answering those calls.

Andrew 

hey all;

i just wanted to follow up in a far more cursory manner the sentiments expressed by rich.  each of you are in a fantastic position right now.  we are at the start of a new season and  we can count on one hand the number of zone sets we have done higher than 1a.  this weekend, you demonstrated that we are exactly where we should be.  we were capable of sustained energy exertion and completed sets without breaking stroke.  we were brimming with confidence and completed swims able to pin point areas of weakness that, come next meet, will be areas of strength.  we were a collective unit and demonstrated a willingness not only to push ourselves to compete, but also encouraged each of our teammates to do the same.  

y’all are such a thrill to work with.  not only do you constantly surprise yourselves with your talent and drive, but you surprise us all with how much you are capable of growing.

over time, alchemists, voyagers, ruffians and folk like you and me have searched the world over in hopes of enhancing life through wealth.  Thankfully, wiser men and women have long known that there is far greater wealth in enhancing life.  thanks y’all for making everyday a payday.

andrew 

I just wanted to put up a quick post and tell you how happy I was with this weekend’s meet @ CCSC.  I did not have the opportunity to watch Friday night’s fun, but Coach Marshall told me how well everyone did.  Congratulations. I did, however, catch our younger swimmers in action this morning and was VERY impressed.

When I watched our newer swimmers earlier in the Fall, we had many athletes disqualify during their races.  At this meet, we were technically sound.  I was impressed with the level of improvement the team made as a whole.  We did have some DQs, but it was nothing in comparison to what we had at the start of the short course season.  KUDOS to the swimmers and coaches for working on those corrections throughout the winter and applying those changes here, at this meet.

We had some fun this afternoon with the older swimmers as well.  I stated in an earlier blog that my hope was to see great back half swimming by our older athletes. I got my wish.  For the most part, we even split (1 sec or less between 50s) or came close to that in most of the races.  I even saw some negative splitting.

Most of you now know that speed will be there at the end of the season. We have hardly touched the higher zones at  practice and some people were at or better than best times. It was great to see that you have made the endurance gains needed to start the season. Keep it up as we introduce the higher zones in the upcoming weeks.

The swims were great.  You owned the back half. More importantly, was the attitude on deck.  I was watching with pride was you cheered each other on, laughed at inside swimming jokes and understood what to expect at a meet during this phase of the season.  We are maturing not just as swimmers, but as an organization as well. You all exhibited Championship Behavior many times throughout the course of the Meet.

Many times this afternoon,  my thoughts drifted to the GPAC meet we attended this time last year.  That Meet might rank up there as one of the worst meets I coached in my professional career.  We were early in the season, people were back ending races, but were WAY off personal best times.  My swimmers didn’t have a history with me and were questioning “why am I going so slow?”.

Most didn’t get the whole “wait until the end” concept and were freaking out. I knew some of you tried to keep the faith, but it was tough, when you added so much time. Thankfully, most everyone stayed on board and we had a great Spring shave and taper meet.  That was followed by even better seasons in the Summer and again,  this Fall.  In essence, you began to expect success at the end of the season.

That is what our Program is about…success at season’s end.

Expectations come from history. In Tampa we had a lot of it.  We are now starting to build expectation here in New Orleans. I am glad our Program now has some history behind it to help swimmers new to the program have faith that they will ultimately succeed.  That attitude allows us to understand what this meet was about;  enjoy it and prepare for our ultimate success later in the year.

I enjoyed the meet this weekend.  Hopefully, you enjoyed it in the same manner.

Again, great job

Enjoy the day off,

Rich