October Newsletter Senior Group

Go Back to Senior

October 2008 Newsletter Senior Team   Practice Updates         We will be changing the time of the Friday evening practice to 5:30-7:00. Most responses indicated that earlier would be better. This change will start on Friday November 7th because we will NOT be having practice on Halloween this Friday. I hope that this change will increase attendance, and if nothing else, make it more convenient for everyone’s Friday evenings.   Thank You         I want to thank all of the parents that helped at the Halloween Howl this past weekend. Your help was essential to running a successful swim meet. I also wanted to thank all of you who donated money for our auction basket. It was truly appreciated and the basket looked very good. I would also like to say a special thanks to Tracey Riordan and Chris Watson for taking charge of the auction basket at the last minute. They did a great job of putting it together and it looked great.   Swimmer of the Month         The swimmer of the month of October is Matt Phillips. Not only did Matt have a fantastic meet at the Halloween Howl, but he has shown up consistently to practice and has put forth maximum effort at those practices. Matt is a swimmer that is always out of breath at the end of a set. He pushes himself to work hard on everything, and that is a big part of his success. Matt is pleasant to coach and is always willing to work harder. These are the reasons that Matt has earned himself the October Swimmer of the Month title.   Upcoming Events    There will be NO Practice on Oct. 31st or Nov. 11th Wednesday November 5th Practice moved to Marquette 4:00-5:30 Tuesday November 11th is the Middle School Swim Meet at Lafayette November 21-23 CSC Invitational in Columbia No Practice on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday November 27th Coaches Thoughts         I want to focus this month on the meaning of character. There are people that are characters, and then there are people that show character. Character is defined as a set of qualities that make somebody distinctive, especially their qualities of mind and feeling. People are not just born with good, strong character. Their character is shaped by their families, teachers, friends, and coaches. I think everyone’s goal is to raise children with good character. There is not a swimmer in our group that does not have good character. The swimmers that show their good character the best are the ones that are able to push themselves further even when they are tired. They are the ones that do not make excuses for not doing as well as they can. Moreover, they are the ones that strive to make improvements despite circumstances that might otherwise slow them down. I feel privileged to coach such a good group of swimmers.    Halloween Howl         Last weekend, we had the first big meet of the 2008-2009 short course season. There were quite a few things that really impressed me. First, we had a number of swimmers that were not feeling the best to say the least. What really showed me their true character was the fact that they were still willing and sometimes determined to swim. The fact that these swimmers were still able to drop time despite feeling sick is just a testament to their determination. Second, we had some unbelievable swims, particularly in the 100 Free. A handful of swimmers dropped more than 5 seconds, which is quite a drop in a short race. The third thing that I wanted to mention that impressed me was the fact that I did not hear one complaint about the water being too cold or warm-ups being too early. Overall, I thought the meet went great. I know that not everyone did as well as they would have wanted, but how you respond to that will determine how well you do in the future.