Dear Swimmers and Families,

Next Sunday, May 2nd is our Time Trials. They are to practice for the real thing the next Saturday. Unless I hear otherwise I am entering all the swimmers. Foxes will swim Free only to get the idea, Coyotes will swim two events and maybe more, Wolves and every one else will swim all the events. This will be the only time you can do this so we want to get times and experience swimming all the events. Don’t even try to get out of it. Every one can do it. You all swim so much more in practice.

For kids who are nervous about racing the best approach is not to pressure them. Racing can be terrifying for a little swimmer even if it seems to so bad to us. If you put pressure on a kid they may quit the sport. If you leave them in control they will eventually race even if they try your patience along the way. No one has ever not raced. Even if they opt out right behind the blocks let them. Talking to them and telling them that they can do it is fine. Bribery is not considered pressure. But let them know that racing is their choice and they don’t have to. A few years ago at our first meet a bunch of 8 and Unders did not want to swim, including my own daughter. I told all of them but one that they didn’t have to swim. The one kid was really fast and on a relay. I put pressure on her because we needed the points. All the kids, including my daughter, swam but the fast relay swimmer did not. I learned my lesson.

Warm ups are at 9:30 for 9-10s and the Wolf Group. The 11 and Ups warm up are at 9:40. Foxes and Coyotes do not warm up because they are too little for it to make much difference and since the pool is very crowded with older faster swimmers it is a safety hazard. For Wolves and every one else warm ups are mandatory. No exceptions. Warm ups serve two very important functions. In what is the most studied subject in swimming (Do warm-ups help?) the answer always comes out yes. Physically you need to warm up to do your best. After all the days of practice to get faster why not spend 10-20 minutes getting your body ready so you can enjoy the maximum benefit of all that work? The second is mental. When the team comes together and warm ups, all the swimmers who have participated feel ready. They are all feeling, “now it is time to race as a team” Many times I have seen people opt out of warm ups thinking the 20 minutes extra sleep was more important only to be out of it when the race came. They weren’t ready. So we’ll see every one for warm ups.

The next thing is that you need to tell me if you are not going to be there by 7:00pm this Sunday April 25th. The best way is e-mail me at cmerun@aol.com. But you can also give me a written note at practice. Please don’t tell me and expect me to remember it. Although we are the smallest team in the league we still have 145 swimmers and I never remember every one who has told me. Normally I need to know by Tuesdays practice before the Saturday meet. This is extremely important. It really slows the meet down to have empty lanes and if I think you are going (I assume every one is going unless I hear otherwise) and I put you in a relay it can create mayhem. Please tell me by this Sunday and for the rest of the meets by the Tuesday before. It is a absolute deadline. I do the line ups Tuesday night and then pass them on and they are set in stone. If you email after 7:00pm it will be too late.

Finally the meets are the best part. The kids come together through a combination of training hard, racing and cheering. Swimming as fast as you can, getting a best time, watching friends and teammates get best times or win a close race, is all very exciting. Seeing the older kids cheer for the little ones and having the little one look up to the older ones is something to watch. It brings different ages together in a way that makes swimming a great and unique sport. If you are new to the team I recommend watching some of the older kids race with your little swimmers. It can be very inspiring. So swim fast cheer loud and enjoy the whole thing, but don’t eat the doughnuts till after the meet.

Eric