Junior Olympics

Seven swimmers attended the 2011 Junior Olympics Championships in San Ramon. With very hard conditions on Friday and Saturday (lots of rain, wind and cold) our athletes had a tough job. To spice it up, a record number of swimmers qualified for the meet, bringing the total number of teams attending to 102 and the number of swimmers over 1500! This made for very crowded warm-up / warm-down lanes and a confusing meet happening in 3 pools at once that made keeping track of everything a bit challenging.

But the Marlins managed, and with slightly above 50% best times, everyone getting at least one best time, 5 new team records and 2 new swimmers qualifying for Far Westerns in 2 weeks, we can say that it was not bad at all.

Congratulations to Aidan Cumming and Tyler Welty who both got their first qualification to the Far Western Championships scheduled in 2 weeks in Morgan Hill. Aidan qualified in the 50 Breast and Tyler in the 100 breast.

Congratulations to Coco Berkenfield and Ava Salmi for breaking a team record in the 9-10 100 back and the 13-14 100 breast, respectively, (both 10 year old records!), to Monica Sears, Tyler Welty and Jared Sears for improving their own records in the 11-12 500 free, the 13-14 100 breast and the 15-16 200 free respectively.

Good Job to James Beard, the youngest boy (11) for putting up with the weather and the cold and still improving both of his events.

Parents, thank you for the support. Jeff and I are greatful for it.

Marlins News

Considering the time of the year, the weather was pretty good for our first home meet, even if it was a bit cold for the second half. 60 swimmers participated, about 1/3 more than last year, and we welcomed 14 kids who participated in their first meet ever. Everyone was a bit nervous and I probably didn't help much by adding events to most of them. Still in the end everyone did a great job. Congrats to Cadence Ayoubpour, Bennett Barsotti, Mac Berry, Malia Chendo, Lindsay Eiseman, Ada Huttula, Sophia Lindsay, Alexander and AnnaLea Sreba, Lauren Surtherland, Aidan, Spenser and Haley Thompson and Noa Zimmerman.

A 62% best time is pretty good, considering that 25 and 50 yards event are a bit harder to improve. All in all a good event that hopefully got our new families to learn a bit more about the sport and our older one to have some time to catch-up. Still, I would have rather like to spend my time supporting and coaching the swimmers instead of starting the meet. Next time some of our more experienced family may want to step up.

Next on the Marlins schedule is the Junior Olympics Championships in San Ramon where 8 our swimmers will be competing over 3 days (3/18 to 3/20).

Do not forget our swim suit try-on. Reed from Norcal will be here are the pool from 4 to 6:30 pm on Tuesday, March 22nd. He will be happy to help you size the suits for your kids. He will also bring goggles and will be happy to deliver any purchases if you give him enough time (and the item is in stock).

The Monticello swim meet in Napa on April 9th is still open. So far we have 13 swimmers attending. It is a meet recommended for all our swimmers as long as they have at least one home meet experience.

Marlins News - Napa

Last weekend was the Napa meet. Although I witnessed some of the coldest temperature by pool side before warm-ups, I can still say that we got lucky. The kids were ready and prepared to handle the cold for the most part, and it seems that the conditions were not too distracting.

17 swimmers participated over 2 days of competition. We had quite a few kids sick or recovering from being sick so that explains the low percentage of swimmers who improved at least one event. Two disqualifications only, but both could have been avoided  (and both swimmers know it). Still a 50 % best time, 14 new races never perfomed before and 2 team records, make this an overall good meet for the team. Unfortunately, this was the last chance for our swimmers to qualify for the up-coming Junior Olympics Championships and even if a few kids got really close, no one added any events to the current roster of JO qualifiers.

I should mentioned the 2 team records broken over the weekend. Coco Berkenfield (10) broke a team record in the 200 back, it was her first time swimming the event and she took the record away from Sarah Dunn, one of our fastest Marlins swimmer who still hold many records. Also Tyler Welty who improved his 100 breast a bit and broke his own record set back in December. These 2 swimmers helped bring the total number of records broken to 29 since September, surpassing last years total records by 2 ... with 6 months to go before the end of the season. I can hardly wait!

Good job to all and a special thank you for all the parents who help time during the meet, and an immense gratitude for Theresa Kamler who worked as a stroke and turn during the meet.

Marlins News - Vallejo

We just finished our first meet of 2011 after 6 weeks of practice since the winter break. We did not do any specific preparation for the event and treated it as a practice meet. No surprisingly, the majority of the 18 swimmers who participated in the meet performed as expected. Over the weekend, the swimmers improved 49% of their events, well below our 60% average for meet, but no one was really off their best times by much and that is a good sign. Another good sign is that out of 100 races, the team only collected 2 disqualifications.

What was surprising, was the fact that four swimmers collected a total of ten new team records! Congratulations to Coco Berkenfield (9-10) for her performance in the 50 fly, Lizzie Ferguson (9-10) for breaking an 11 years old record in the 500 free, Monica Sears (11-12) for breaking six team records in the 200 free, 500 free, 100 back, 100 fly, 200 and 400 IM, and Jared Sears (15-16) for his performance in the 1000 free and the 400 IM.

Less surprising but still worth noting, is the performance of the Coco Berkenfield and Aidan Cumming who added 3 new Junior Olympics times each, Lizzie Ferguson, Justin Jo and Annalise Schlafer who added one "A" time each, and to Monica Sears for swimming a Far Western time on her 100 fly, and getting three "PRTs" Pacific Reportable Times in the 100 back, the 200  and the 500 free.

Big thank you to Judy Ferguson and Theresa Kamler for officiating during the meet.

Marlins Away Meet Check List

     1.    When you get to the meet, you must:

a.    Have your child check-in for every day of the meet. The athletes must check themselves in. The clerk will circle the events for the day, or ask the swimmer to do it and the swimmer will initial next to it. Pre-seeded meet do not require check-ins.

b.    Find the team area and set-up with your team.

c.    Have your child check-in with the coach, at which point the coach will go over warm-up procedures and any specifics for the meet. If your child is young and the weather is on the cold side, the coach may advise him or her to skip warm-up all together.

d.    No events should be modified before clearing it with the coach first.

e.    Be ready for the team meeting schedules 5 minutes before the end of the scheduled warm-up.

f.  All swimmers must wear their team caps during warm-up and also during their races.

2.    Show your team spirit: Swimmers should wear Marlin’s paraphernalia like cap, suit, parka, sweats, T-shirt, etc. Remember to cheer for your teammates!

3.    Help your child learn their competition routine:

a.    Check their Heat and Lane assignment (if relevant). Heat / Lane information is posted around the pool or can be found directly on the program if the meet is pre-seeded.

b.    Check–in with appropriate coaches to let them know their seeding assignment and get a word of encouragement and a technical reminder. Be patient, coaches have to watch races, talk to swimmers before and after their races. They may not be ready when you are; this is why you want to give yourself some extra time to check in.

c.    Line up to swim and make sure the timers have your name on their clipboard, swim the race.

d.    Warm-down (double the distance swam in the race if it is 200 yards and above, or triple it if it is 100 yards or less) if space is provided.

e.    Check-in with appropriate coaches to hear feedback on your race, times, splits, pointers, acknowledgments.

f.     Go drink and eat! Let go of the last race and prepare the next.

4.    Parents, help your child stay at the meet as long as you can to reinforce the fact that any competition is a team event. Get involved in the running of the meet by timing or becoming an official. Avoid coming for your child’s one race and leaving 5 minutes after it’s over.

5.    What to do when your child gets disqualified. Disqualifications “DQs” are part of swimming; this is the other way your child’s performance is judged other then with a stopwatch. Rules are designed for purposes such as fostering fairness amongst the competitor, allowing order and smoothness in the running of a meet and protecting the integrity of a stroke against the ever-evolving interpretations of the swimmers and their coaches. Sooner or later your child will be “DQed”. When this happens, remember that this is part of the learning process. The Stroke and Turn Judge will meet the swimmer behind the block and will hand him a yellow sheet while explaining the reason for the DQ. You are encouraged to listen and make sure your child understands the nature of the mistake. The coach will go over all the details to make sure that this “incident” turns into a learning opportunity. Parents and coaches are not allowed to argue the merit of a DQ directly with the judge. If necessary, a protest can be filled by the coach with the Referee who will investigate the call made by the judge. Often your child will be upset. Remember to offer your support and let the coach do the coaching.

6.    Pick up your awards at the end of the meet when possible.

7.    Clean the team area; leave it as clean as you found it.

8.    Check in with your coaches when you leave the meet, even if it’s just to say goodbye. Don’t leave the meet until you know if your are on a relay or not.

9.    Parent’s code of conduct: Swim meets are an important part of the sport experience. It is also the one-time parents, coaches and swimmers come together to make the event work and to help it be successful. Each has a specific responsibility, which do not overlap.

The child’s job is to showcase his/her knowledge and experience acquired during practice sessions and other competitions, while having fun. It’s also to reach goals he/she has set for himself/herself as well as socializing with his/her friends.

The coach’s job is to facilitate the experience by sharing his/her expertise, by putting things in perspective and giving an unbiased opinion of the athlete’s performance. The coach’s job is to use the opportunity competition provides to reaffirm and / or redefine goals for each athlete, each training group and the team as a whole.

The parent’s job is to provide unconditional support and love to the athlete. Also to allow the athlete to mature by creating the space needed for him/her to grow. The parent’s job is to assume there is always a certain amount of pressure put on the athlete during competition, and that they should be careful not to add to it.

a.    8 & Under: At this age, it is the parent’s job to help their kids learn about the running of a meet. Don’t expect the coaches to run around looking for your children because they simply can’t. Bring your child to the coach, run them through their competition routine until they know it by heart. Parents should teach their children how to best utilize their coach, they should also help the coach better understand their children by communicating with them.

b.    9 – 12: If your child is new to swimming, you may want to follow the recommendations for the younger swimmers. The goal is to make sure the athlete is doing what needs to be done while helping them less and less as they get older. This means that sometimes parents may want to let the athlete suffer the consequences of a mistake in order to best learn from it.

c.    13 & up: By this age, the athlete understands their expectations at a swim meet … but parents are not off the hook yet. They still need to make sure that there is good communication between their child and the coach.

What to bring to a swim meet? Dress warmly; you can always take layers off if the day turns out warmer then expected. Pack at least 2 towels, swimsuit, cap, goggles, warm socks, sleeping bag, and extra clothes. Don’t forget to write your name on all your belongings so that they can be returned to you when found. Bring homework; reading, cards, and travel games … last but not least, healthy food that will keep your body fueled throughout the entire meet.

Remember: If you are new at this, more experienced parents will be delighted to help you out, they all remember being a little confused at the beginning too!

Drinking Enough Water?

USA Swimming is has just revamped their website and has made it a lot easier to use. The problem is that there is so much information that it wasn't always clear where to find it. I do encourage parents to check it out since it offers a great source of general information about the sport. There is even an area specifically dedicated to parents like you and giving you access to lots of different topics.

As an example, please read this excellent article on practice and water drinking (which the kids rarely do well enough - even the ones who bring water bottle at swim practice).

Marlins News: Junior Olympics and Fort Bragg

Kate, Anton, Monica and Ava at JOs

Last weekend (12/3-4-5) was very busy for some of our Marlins swimmers. We had 4 athletes who qualified and attended Junior Olympics in Pleasanton on Friday. Congratulations to Kate Claman, Ava Salmi, Monica Sears and Anton Zahradnik for a good performance at the meet. Worth mentioning that Monica finished 14^th in the 100 free and Anton finished 13th in the 200 back.

From Pleasanton, we drove straight to Fort Bragg where we met the rest of the team for a 2 day meet in the brand new indoor complex that made the experience a real pleasure. We were received very well by the host team that was pleased to see us make the effort to attend the event. Yes, it was an effort as it is a 3 hour drive to get there, and the return trip was quite a challenge as we headed back to Marin under some really intense rain that made visibility an issue. That said, everyone agreed, it was so worth it that we are looking forward to going again next year!

..and swimmer's corner.

The team stayed at a nearby hotel and we managed to spend Saturday evening’s dinner with most of the athletes and their families in one place … not a small feat, thank you Norm for the planning it took to make it happen. We did get a small treat by stumbling out of the restaurant onto the holiday parade down Fort Bragg’s main street. Being used to Bolinas and Woodacre parades, I certainly connected with the small town feel and the random floats but let’s say that it was … different. The highlight (for me at least) was the pigeon who was walking slowly at the end, apparently banned from being part of the actual parade because of its edgy attitude and propensity to do his business in the middle of the street.

Float Fort Bragg style! .... sorry no pics of the pigeon.

Parents corner ..

But let’s get back to why we really drove up north: the swim meet! 23 swimmers participated in the event over the 2 days, not bad for a really far away meet. As a team we did really well, 153 individual events and 7 relays later, we managed to finish 3^rd overall with 2 marlins swimmers taking the high point award in their respective age group. Congratulations to Monica Sears and Anton Zahradnik both in the in the 11-12 age group. Since the pool is new, this was the 3^rd meet there and therefore the list of pool records got completely updated during the meet and our Marlins swimmers broke 31 pool records over the 2 days. That experience  was new for me as well! 

Some of the swimmers holding trophy and plaques!

Although the overall improvement was only 55%, and in some ways quite average for this kind of meet, it does not reflect the smaller victory that almost all the swimmers experienced. 22 swimmers ended up improving at least one of their events. 5 team records were updated as well, Monica Sears broke the 11-12 100 back, Isabella Salmi broke her own record in the 15-16 200 back, Jared Sears broke 2 team records in the 500 free (what a race!) and the 200 IM for the 15-16 age group, and last but not least Tyler Welty broke a very long standing record in the 100 breast for the 13-14 age group. That record belonged to Chris Mai (Coach Chris) who by far had been the fastest breastroker the marlins have had the privilege to call one of their own. Looks like Tyler, who is just getting back in shape and has recently moved to Marin from Ohio with his family, is not done updating our team records in that stroke. Welcome to the team Tyler!

Special thanks to the parents who supported the event and made it such a great experience for their kids. We hope we can be back next year if the meet is offered again. Fort Bragg is a younger team and is struggling with all the challenges that running such a meet imposes, in addition, the city is having difficulties keeping the newly built center open year around. Let’s wish them well and hope things will work out for them.

Happy Holidays,

Marc

The Swimmer’s Will

The Swimmer’s Will

(15 steps for greater success)

1.    I will always say “I will” or “I do.”

2.    I will think positive at all times.

3.    I will respect myself, my teammates, my coaches, my parents and my competitors.

4.    I will do my best each day.

5.    I will be on time.

6.    I will start and end each swim at the wall.

7.    I will start each set on time.

8.    I will streamline always.

9.    I will flip all turns.

10. I will breath from both sides.

11. I will push myself past what I believe possible.

12. I will encourage my teammates.

13. I will follow directions.

14. I will have a strong kick.

15.  I will have fun!

Borrowed from a USA Swimming Newsletter .... This pretty much covers it all, although I could add: " I will attend every practice" to the list but that would be pushing it!

Matt Biondy was in town!

On Tuesday, November 23rd Matt was in town. Thanks to long time friends of his and Marlins parents Karen and Howard Luria, Matt was invited to speak to the St Marks kids during the their general assembly. Of course  I had to be there.

Matt Biondy is one of the most distinguished swimmers of all times, competed in 3 Olympic Games 84, 88 and 92 and broke many records (more info here). At the height of my swimming carrier, I remember Rowdy Gaines was a big focus for me for one main reason: Rowdy was fast (he won the 100 free at the 84 Olympics) ... and he was just a short as I was - actually, he was the shortest swimmer in that race. Yes in the world of freestyle sprinters, 6'1 is short, and I must admit that it was too easy to latch on to that excuse as a ceiling for my performances.

In any case, Rowdy did help me during my competitive years as a reminder that you didn't have to be a giant to swim fast. All was well, until I attended an international meet in Monaco in 85 or 86 where many countries would send their national teams as a gauge meet. No one broke any records there (as far as I can remember) as every swimmer was still in the thick of training (it was in May), but just being there with the best swimmers in the world was, well, it was awesome!

When I was not warming up, racing, warming down, stretching and hanging with my teammates, I would go  sit amongst the various team attending the meet. The US team and Australian was a bit more interesting because I could understand bits of what was said between the swimmers, but sitting next the the Russians or Japanese was fascinating. It was like traveling abroad and not understanding anything, still realizing that we were not all that different in our needs (stretching, visualizing, talking with coaches). Anyways, at one point in the meet I found myself trying to figure out a way I could swim in the same lane as some of the great swimmers during warm-up. I know I sound like a groupie, whatever, what if by some kind of miracle, swimming within feet of them would rob off on me. Nothing magical happened of course except for the fact that I actually found my self standing right next to Matt Biondy as he was about to get in the pool for warm-up. Granted he didn't have his hand on my shoulder as depicted in the picture above, but I was close enough that I was looking straight into his eyes ... just kidding, straight at his shoulder!

Matt was the Michel Phelps of my time and I know it was an honor for Jeff and I to be part of this event at St Marks. Thank you Karen.

Marlins News - Napa - Fort Bragg and more

We are just returning from the Napa meet (11/5-6-7) and we have 17 more practices to get ready for Fort Bragg. Napa was a good meet, well run and this year the weather was not as bad as it could have been. The meet was a good measuring tool to see where the swimmers are in their preparation. Based on the amount of swimming and the intensity of training, combined with the fact that the kids were not rested before the meet, I was hoping most of our swimmers would swim close to their best time (within .5 sec on 50s, 1 sec on 100 sec and 2 sec on 200s). As it turned out, out of the 80 races performed at the meet, we had 32 best times and only 16 races were worst than predicted. Out of the 16, only 7 were out of character an 3 of them were an "off" performance by an otherwise good swimmer for the meet.

I don't usually get into such detailed meet analysis, but with our next meet less then a month away, I really wanted to make sure my gut feeling was correct. In other words the kids are doing well, and even though we had a 43% best time and 2 DQs - which in itself is nothing to rave about - they are swimming close to their best while not rested. Also worth mentioning, is that 4 team records were broken, Isabella Salmi in the 200 back 15-16, Jared Sears in the 400 IM, 200 back and the 100 back 15-16. In addition 2 new team records were establish in races never swam before in the 13-14 1000 free by Alicia Vogelaar, and the 15-16 1000 free by Justas Reskevicius. Good job to all of you!

Our next meet, and the focus of our preparation is Fort Bragg (12/4-5 the meet will close on 11/22 or when full). This is a first for the team as we have never traveled this far for a meet, but I was motivated by by some very tangible facts irrevocably linked to competing at this time of the year. Last December we attended Junior Olympics and it was 32 degrees on the pool deck during warm-up! Although not the optimal temperature to swim your best, it would not be so bad it the meet was in the middle of the swimmer's preparation, but about 3 times a year the kids need a focus meet were they can really shine, otherwise swimming hard at practice becomes less palatable.

I am delighted to see that parents and swimmers alike are supporting my decision to enter a meet held in an indoor facility, and at the same time providing swimmers and parents with an ability to bond with the team during the trip. So far, we have 23 swimmers committed to the event and we might get a few more before the meet closes.

We will also have a few swimmers who qualified, attending Junior Olympics on 12/3. It will be a busy weekend as they will be traveling straight from on meet to the next. this is exciting!

We are still having some problems with the pool heater. Seems that it turns itself off and needs to be reset at random times. The staff is staying on top of it and it is only a mild inconvenience for the kids as the water dropped to 81 - 82 degrees only a couple of times since we have discovered the problem. We are still working on solving the issue.

The transition to our winter schedule was pretty smooth and we will maintain the training schedule until the end of the session (12/17). We will be combining swim practice for all groups on 11/24. This is usually a poorly attended swim practice and we will use the same practice schedule as Fridays (G1 and G2 from 3:40 to 4:40 pm and G3 and G4 from 4:40 to 6:10 pm).

I have been experimenting with taking videos of the kids during practice. The concept is not new for the Marlins, but our technology has so far prevented us from sharing it with everyone as the finished result was such a big file (anywhere from 1 to 2 Gb) that it made it impossible to post it on the website or e-mail it, and very unpractical to burn on DVDs for everyone. But technology is catching up and with the use of a "flip" video I am able to take short clips 3 to 5 seconds of the swimmers in action, without affecting the flow of swim practice, and make it available for the kids to watch. I will be posting the videos on the Marlins Website and arrange them by practice groups. You do have to log in to access this section of the site, but I hope you will find it well worth it. I even plan on adding pointers and small critics as I get use to it to make it an even better teaching tool. I am also working on using the same camera and installing it on a pole so that we can see under water. Below is an example of a video:

That's it for now!