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The Biggest Question....

By John Leonard

In all of age group sports, the biggest question for every parent is..."How much to be involved." In every sport from tennis to golf, to gymnastics and swimming, there are horror stories of absolutely awful parental interference, with tragic consequences for the career of the young age group athlete. Yet every one of us loves our children like nothing else in the world. So, how does this happen? I think it's because as parents, we're all looking for a singular rule that will make our role as parents "successful". And it does not exist. In fact, exactly the opposite is the truth...the rules change all the time, as the child matures, and only experience can tell the parent that. Here's a classic example. Jill is 8 and very enthusiastic about her new swim team....most of the time....but on a given Friday, her friend is having a sleepover party and Jill wants to go and skip practice.  Perfect role of her mom? "Jill, get in the car, you made a commitment to swim team and you will keep that commitment. I'll take you to Sally's for the party right after practice." Mom reminds Jill of her commitment..no if's, and's or but's. And enforces it, without depriving the child of the fun party. Perfect. Now Jill is sixteen...another friend is having another Friday evening party and once again, Jill is debating where she "should be". She discusses it with her Mom. This time, Mom simply raises and eyebrow and says "your choice, you know what you should do."  Again, perfect. But totally different. And that, I believe, is the point. When our children are young, we are really and truly "herding them through the process" and making decisions for them, as we should be.....And the goal, is to gradually and systematically, based on successful demonstration of competence, to hand over to them, the decision making power. Athletes who have been in a sport for years, invariably have the same comments..."my parents let it be "my sport", not theirs," "they were interested in what I did, but it was mine," "they didn't interfere at all in my teens, it was up to me to get out of bed to go get them to take me to morning practice. If I chose to sleep in, oh well, my loss." The hard part is judging that "letting go process" and deciding when it's "right" to let go of what. Like most things in life, it's never completely straight-forward..instead, it's two steps forward, one step back, etc. In the case of most children though, by the early to middle teens years, it should be parents just sitting back and enjoying watching their teenagers make decisions and experience the consequences. I have a friend named Lynn Offerdahl. Lynn is a former collegiate All-American diver and her husband John, a former All-Pro linebacker for the Miami Dolphins. Lynn has two children who swim and two who play football.  Lynn says "Every time you do something for your children that they can do for themselves, you make them weaker. Every time you chose to "let them do it," you are choosing to make them stronger. I want strong kids." It doesn't get any wiser or better than that.

John Leonard is the director of the American Swimming Coaches Association and an active coach.

Smile when it hurts

Good little story about attitude and how it affects people around us.    Smile when it hurts

by LisaDiane Mercado Etheredge  Published on Saturday, September 1st, 2012  http://www.etherlimits.com/2012/09/smile-when-it-hurts/

Several weeks ago Billy and I began attending Body Pump classes at Gold's Gym.  A couple of our teachers mentioned that they enjoyed having me in class because I smiled all the time.  One of the teachers even noted that I seemed to smile more during the harder parts of the workout.   After hearing these observations, I began thinking about why I smiled during Body Pump classes.  The most obvious reason is that I enjoy the class, which has upbeat pop music and movements matched to the beat of the songs.  There is a large group of people participating, and an instructor shouting instructions and motivation throughout.  All of the above are things that make my workout experience more convivial.  But it occurred to me that there is another reason I smile when my workout gets tough.   I swam competitively throughout much of my growing up, including my first two years of high school.  During the first few weeks of school each year, we did not swim during our workouts - we had what we called dry land training.  Running, pull-ups, bear-crawling up the stadium steps, sit-ups, push-ups, any crazy exercise you can imagine that doesn't involve water... basically torture.   The coach who oversaw these parent and school sanctioned torture sessions was a man named Bill Thomas.  I am smiling as I type his name.  Coach Thomas loved to have us go through an obstacle course which we alternately called the Tour de Force, Tour de Torture, or Tour de Thomas.  I actually cannot recollect if it had any official name, or maybe those were the official names!  At any rate, Coach Thomas relished making us swing from the monkey bars, do pull-ups, inverted push-ups, and probably a lot of other exercises that I have blocked from my mind.   Here is the thing.  We complained at the time, and I am complaining now, but the truth is, it was excellent training, and I am absolutely certain that it made me stronger and ultimately a better swimmer.  Frankly if Coach Thomas had continued to be in charge of my exercise regimen beyond high school, I would not need Weight Watchers or Body Pump now, because I would be completely fit already!   So back to the smiling.  Coach Thomas would assign additional exercises if you looked too pained while you completed any task he had set for you.  I actually trained myself to smile when he looked my way, so he would not get the idea that I needed anymore sit-ups with the medicine ball, or whatever.  Basically, I taught myself to smile when I had exercised to the point of hurting.  It seems that I learned the lesson so well that I am still smiling when it hurts twenty years later.   Coach Thomas, thank you for teaching me the value of grinning through the pain, and pushing myself to accomplish more than I thought I could.  This lesson has served me well in the gym and in life.

LisaDiane Mercado Etheredge is a native of San Antonio. She swam for Alamo Area Aquatics from 1983 to 1993, and attended Taft and Clark High Schools. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Texas, Mrs. Etheredge settled in Austin, where she works as a training specialist for PPD, Inc.

Swim Parents Can Learn About the Developmental Process in Sports...And Respect It.

Nice article from Coach Leonard. Certainly something all coaches and parents (regardless of the sport) deal with. It's always good to bring some perspective to anything. Marc Swim Parents Can Learn About the Developmental Process in Sports...And Respect It.

By John Leonard

One of the most frequently asked questions in swimming is "how come I'm not as fast as "those guys?" Sometimes this can come from child to parent, or child to coach. Occasionally, and unfortunately, it can come from Parent to child (pretty destructive, though unintentionally so.)  Living in the USA, there are as many ways of training young athletes as there are coaching devising the training. Most are based on sound developmental principles that result in long term appropriate development and physical progress. Occasionally, someone drifts off into some inappropriate training for a particular age. Quite often, since all children develop differently, some children are under-served by a particular type of training. But the most common correct response to the question is "they are physically developed earlier than you are."  "They" may be bigger, taller, more coordinated, and most importantly, STRONGER than another swimmer.  Children develop at different rates, hence the concept of chronological age and biological age. You can be 12 with the "look" of a 10 year old boy, or you can be twelve with a need to shave every other day and the build of a late teenager. And the difference in girls of the same chronological age is even more pronounced.  The point being, children can be "spot on" in terms of age and development, they can be "early developers" and they can be "late developers".  As a vast generalization, those children whose genetic heritage comes from closer to the equator, tend towards early development. Those near the northern latitudes for their heritage, tend to be late developers. One is not "better" than the other". They are simply, different. And of course, whatever developmental "advantage" or "disadvantage" they are at early in life, tends to even out quite dramatically in the later teen years. Humans all wind up looking very similar. The danger is that the slower developing child may become discouraged by their lack of competitive success, despite great practice attendance, great skill development and hard work. Size and strength DO matter in the sprint events. One solution that is highly long term satisfactory, is for the late developer to focus on the event distances that especially reward diligence in training and diligence in learning...the 200's of the strokes, the 400 IM, and the distance free events. IF our slow developer eventually has a growth spurt and shows promise in the sprint events, they will have the best possible background preparation by having spent time in the 200-400-1500 range earlier in their career. A second issue is that parents of fast -developing children may become incorrectly focused on "winning races" since that is what their child may do...rather than on the real business of age group swimming...the perfection of technique and solid aerobic training background.  It's easy for any of us as parents to dream dreams of the Olympic Games when our 10 year old is dominating his local opposition, or even national competition.....but they are biologically advanced, which, by definition, will later "even out". Very important for parents to recognize that your child will develop at their own time and rate.....and comparing them (favorably or unfavorably) with others does them (and the others) a serious dis-service.  The only valid comparison that is also meaningful, is the child swimming against their own best times. And may they make steady progress in that measurement! All the Best for Good Swimming! JL

John Leonard is the Executive Director of the American Swimming Coaches Association and is an active coach of senior and age group swimmers.

RESL 2012

RESL Championships 2012

Another solid showing from our Marlins swimmers this year. The team came together beautifully and most swimmers reached their goals, a feat I would not have believed possible last September as we were starting a long 8 months without our home pool. To say this past season was challenging is a gross understatement, yet the coaches stepped up to the challenge and the parents supported their kids as they were attempting to follow a sometime confusing practice schedule between Drake and Ross Valley.

47 swimmers participated in this year’s Championships in El Cerrito competing in a total of 362 races. 78% best times over the weekend was a little worst then last year, but we still were the most improved team of the meet. Another 3rd place, but a lot closer to 2nd and the 4th place team wasn't even close.

We received 19 disqualifications, quite a bit more than last year. Although some were unavoidable, it really points to some need to improve our teaching schedule. Indeed there are many skill required to accomplished a good race and so few swim practices to learn them.

25 swimmers improved their time standard with a total of 16 new "B" times, 28 new “A” times, 30 “JO” times, 26 “FW” times (11 in 2011),  and 1 Sectional time.

Most amazingly, 44 team records were broken in one single meet, the most ever achieved in a single meet! Congratulations to Coco Berkenfield, Monica Sears, Ava Salmi, Isabella Salmi, Alicia Vogelaar, Annalise Schlafer, Kate Claman, Connor Tish, Jack Berkenfield, Ian Chow-Ise, Anton Zahradnik, Aidan Cumming, Jared Sears, Alex Claman, Justas Reskevicius. All 15 swimmers helped break 5 relay records and 39 individual records.  These 44 team record certainly helped break last year's performance with a total of 126 team record for the 2011 - 2012 season! Out of the 47 Marlins swimmers participating, 35 helped score points for their team. Our swimmers did a great job and Jeff, Buffy, Berrie and I are certainly proud of their achievements.

I also should mention the fact that 4 or our swimmers received the high point award in their respective age groups: Ian Chow-Ise (13-14), James Beard (11-12), Jared Sears (15 and up) and Ava Salmi in the (15 and up).

I have posted the results (swimmer / meet) on the website and the ribbons are filed in the team folders. You can stop by the pool anytime during business hours and the lifeguards will be happy to bring the folders out for you.

Special thank you to all the families for doing their part in helping run the meet, to the families who stepped up and drove their kids to the pool just so that we could enter a relay. Thank you to all the parents who participated in the Friday morning breakfasts at Drake over the summer, who again helped put together a great Doughnut Breakfast and a fantastic team BBQ, who were generous enough to give great gifts for the coaches, who take the time to give me feedback on the team, who counsel and assist me when needed. Again, thank you all for giving us the opportunity to work with your children.

Marc

Vallejo Swim Meet

Great meet last weekend at the Vallejo Pool. Our 18 Marlins performed well above average with a 64% improvement over 3 days and 84 races. The strokes are getting cleaner and Jeff and I found ourselves talking about new things to improve, although we did spend some time reminding our athletes some of the usual shortcomings as well. The kids were focused and it showed.

In the process, four records were broken. Congratulations to Monica Sears for her new team records in the 1000 free and the 200 back, to Jared Sears for improving his own record in the 1000 free and to Annalise Schlafer for her first team record ever in the 100 free.

Vallejo TV (Comcast Channel #27) was there to film all the 13 and over races. I was told the tape would play this coming Saturday and Sunday, for more info on the times, please go to www.vcat.tv.

Next we have 3 swimmers who have been selected to represent our zone (Zone 3) at the upcoming All Stars Meet on Sunday, March 4th at Indian Valley College. Coach Jeff will be going as well as our Zone 3 coach for the 8 and Under. Congratulations to Coco Berkenfield, Lani Kamler and Monica Sears. Go Fast!

Santa Clara Senior Meet (1/28-29 20012)

What a weekend! Great pool, certainly worth the 1h30 drive to swim in such great facility. Great weather, I think I may even have burned a little. Very efficient meet, the Santa Clara folks know what they are doing, they ran a tight show and everything was well oiled. Great swims!
 
Our swimmers were inspired by the level of competition and together they managed to improve 54% of their times and apart from a few exceptions most non improved races were very close to best times. We saw some really good strokes from the Marlins and it looks like they are retaining the corrections they hear about at swim practice.
 
Four team records were broken over the weekend, thanks to Ava Salmi in the 200 back, her sister Isabella in the 200 back and Jared Sears, both in the 100 and 200 back. Yes this meet was a backstroker's fiesta!
Great job, and thank you for the show!
Marc
Meet results

Your First Swim Meet

I bumped into this cute six minute video about a swimmer's experience at their first swim meet. There are some good tips and it applies to our home meet where no check-ins are required. Enjoy!

Educational Weekend

This last weekend, Gadi, Jeff and I spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the annual coaches clinic held in Napa every year. It happens to be the second biggest clinic in the country, not too surprising when you see how many teams are located in the bay area alone.

We sat through some good classes and listened to inspiring speaker. We picked up a few ideas from coaches about stroke work, set design and team management.

Meanwhile, we had three of our parents, Theresa Kamler, Judy Ferguson and Nina Rannel participating in a swimming official clinic in San Francisco. Lots of good information was available and I am so happy to have them step up and be Stroke and Turn Official for our team.

Santa Rosa

This meet was our last of the session before our 2 week holiday break. Although far from being an ideal meet to make it the highlight of our fall season, the fact that the pool is indoors had a lot to do in the final choice. Unfortunately this was a cold weekend and the indoor space we were promised for our swimmers was not available on Saturday. As a result everyone huddled outside the pool building for the whole day trying to stay warm in between races, which proved to be a real challenge. Sunday was better as indoor space was provided to the swimmers, but it seems that Saturday took its toll on the kids.

16 Marlins swimmers participated over the 3 day weekend and Jeff and I watched 88 races, some really good, other less so, but always great opportunities to learn and improve on the details. With 2 disqualifications and  46% of the times improved, we witnessed and average meet from our athletes. Given the conditions, my assessment should be a little more positive, but as a team I maintain that we could have done a bit better.

That said, some athletes had good races. It is worth mentioning Lizzie Ferguson's great weekend with a best time on all 7 events entered in the meet. Also a new Junior Olympic qualifying time for Coco and Jack Berkenfield, Isabella Salmi, Alicia Vogelaar and Anton Zahradnik and two new Far Western qualifying times for Ava Salmi. And I shouldn't forget the fact that Ava also broke 3 new team records (for the 15-16 age group) in the 500 free, 100 and 200 back, her sister Isabella broke 8 team records (for the 17-18 age group) in the 50, 100, 200 and 500 free, 100 and 200 back, 100 and 200 breast and Jared Sears improved his own record in the 15-16 age group 500 free.

I always tell the swimmers to process the outcome of their race during their warm-down, file the pointers given to improve details for swim practice and move on, get ready for the next race. I obviously follow the same pattern, the lessons from this meet have been filed and will be apply to help me design the future workouts and now I will be focusing on our next goal, Junior Olympics and Far Westerns, mid and late March 2012.

Special thanks to Judy Ferguson and Nina Rannel for officiating during the meet. You both have helped the team meet its requirements and stay in good standing with our zone.

Meet results

Swimmer Results.

Junior Olympics - December 2011

What a beautiful weekend it was in Morgan Hill for our December Junior Olympics. Sure it was a bit cold in the morning, but nothing our kids can't handle. Jeff and I coached 8 swimmers who made the trip with their families over the 3 days of competition. As always, the meet was well attended with closed to 100 teams, but the facility in Morgan Hill can handle it.

Our Marlins swimmers did a good job while swimming a total of 26 races during the meet. With a 66% best time and one team record from Monica sears in the 400 IM, we feel the kids did well. Worth mentioning are the performances of James Beard and Ian Chow-Ise who managed to improve all their events but one. Good job to Coco Berkenfield and Lani Kamler for matching their best times, to Annalise Schlafer for her first JO experience, to Anton Zahradnik for continuing to improve at every meet this fall, and to Alicia Vogelaar for a solid performance in the 100 fly, her first best time in a while. Go Marlins!

For more info about the results, please click here for the result by swimmers and here for the meet results.