Penguins,
It is an exciting time of the year, a time I have looked forward to for many years. I am very happy to have all of our families, new and old. We will be having an eventful year, as always, we have already welcomed 29 new penguins. However challenging it may seem, the coaches are very excited to have all of these brand new swimmers. I joined the team when I was five and didn’t make my first lap across the pool until my very first swim meet, ever since then I have been hooked to the wonderful sport of swimming. I joined my first year round team when I was eight and have swam in a number of meets around the nation.
Over the years I have accumulated a broad knowledge of the sport of swimming. In the past the coaches used to write little briefs to the team on various topics (i.e. team performance, the importance of tapering, stroke technique, etc.). With the start of the year I would like to bring this back, with the limited amount of pool time we have I would like to extend a resource outside of the pool. Each week I will be writing on various technique tips, what I encourage each family to do is read the brief and then try the tips the next time they’re in the pool. Swimming is not just a physical sport, for any who may think that will be left in the wake of the swimmers who use both their muscles and their brains. A swimmer’s greatest resource is his/her brain, without it a swimmer’s muscles will just go for the easiest route. So for this week the first tip is to always think while swimming, this is my biggest philosophy as a coach. Things just become easier when you use your head.
Until next week….
Coach Ryan