For the girls... For the boys...

Pardon me for getting a little philosophical for a moment. I have been thinking a lot lately about what things have been going on around here. With the end of the girls season right around the corner and the boys being able to get in the water right after that, I find myself thinking about how very different the mindset is between the two groups right now. The girls are realizing their potential after a season of hard work and preparation and the boys are just starting their journey and wondering what the season will bring. Below are a couple of quotes that came to mind as I was thinking about these things and a little explanation of what made me think of them:

For the Girls...

The one thing over which you have absolute control is your own thoughts. It is this that puts you in a position to control your own destiny.

... Physically we are ready, or almost ready, to swim lights out. This is the fittest group of girls we have ever had from top to bottom. The conference girls are tapering perfectly and starting to get that spark back. The state girls are swimming faster than ever in practice and are going to nail their taper. We are all working on the little things that will help us go FAST!!!! My belief is that your success in the coming weeks will come down to how you are prepared mentally to attack your races and handle the big meet situations. These meets coming up are an opportunity for you to go fast and showcase your abilities (mainly to yourself). The only thing you can control is what happens in your lane. So relax and let go of what happens outside of your lane lines and have fun racing fast!!! Final places are just icing on the cake to knowing that you did your best on the day and on the season. You need to be excited to swim. Know that you will swim fast. Enjoy the atmosphere, enjoy your team mates, enjoy your competition, and enjoy the opportunity.

For the Boys...

If we are to be champions, we must rehearse daily championships within ourselves.

...We have three whole days of dryland conditioning in and a long season full of opportunities ahead of us. This quote reminds me that a state championship is not won in March. It is won throughout the year by the things that we do every day. We have the talent. We have the desire. Now we need to put those two things together with hard work and a great atmosphere. I fully believe that the team that wins the DIII boys state championship this year will be the team that comes together, pushes each other every day, and does not accept anyone on their team who does not rehearse for the championship daily.

How can we rehearse daily to be champions?
Have fun. Work hard. Enjoy the process. Keep things in perspective. Enjoy each others company. Push each other. Be consistent. Act like a champion. Take the narrow path. Hold ourselves (and each other) to a higher standard in the pool, on deck, during dryland, on the bus, in the hallways, in the classroom. The list could (and will) go on.

If we do these things I think we will have a great chance to be champions (as in hoisting a trophy). However, even if there were no trophies, no newspaper articles, no college scholarships, no all-state honors...would we still do it? I certainly hope so.

I will leave it at that for now. Basically, I am excited to watch our girls perform lights out at the conference and state meet. You are ready to go fast!!! I am also excited to start to work full-on with the boys. It's going to be a fun season of learning what we're all about!!!
T

MS parent meeting

Girls, please do not forget that we have a parent meeting TOMORROW (Thursday) in the East gym at 5:30!!!! I am sorry that I forgot to remind everyone after practice. I would love to meet everyones parents and I have a couple of tid-bits of information that needs to be shared! So I hope to see everyone (parents) there. Again, it starts at 5:30 (you can just stay here at the school after practice) in the East gym and should last about an hour. Thank you : )

Varsity Boys Calendar

The Varsity Boys calendar is up on the sky drive. Click the title above to access it.

We will plan on having the parent meeting on Thursday, November 13 at 7:00 pm.

We are currently doing our dryland conditioning on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 3:00-3:45ish.

I am looking forward to a fun, fast (swimming that is) season.
T

Zeeland Results

Click the title for the results.

I want to add my thanks to Coach Smith's for the Melvin's hospitality last night. It was greatly appreciated.

Great meet tonight. It seemed as though most girls were having a good time and focusing on the right things at the right times. I hope that everyone learned at least one thing from the meet tonight.

It was also a great time to recognize our parents and all that they do to help us be our best. Girls, please remember to thank your parents one-on-one for all that they do for you.

This was the last home meet for our seniors as well. This is our first group of four year swimmers and divers on the varsity team. I had planned on saying something during the parents night but I totally dropped the ball. I apologize for that. This group of seniors is very special both to me and to the Hamilton Swimming and Diving family.

I hope you are starting to see some glimpses of what is to come. Let's ride the tidal wave to great swimming and diving at the conference and state meets!!!!!

It's all in the way we fly!!!!!!
T

Team Dinner

Thank you to the Melvin family for an amazing dinner. Your generous hospitality is greatly appreciated!

UC Meet Results

Good meet last night. The energy level was up a bit! Let's keep things rolling for the coming weeks.
T

Middle School

Great job with our first practice yesterday ladies! Remember, I know it may have seemed tough but things will get easier and it will be a lot of fun : )
Just a couple of quick reminders; Please don't forget that I need all the order forms no later than tomorrow!!!! The earlier the better! And, we have have a normal practice today and tomorrow but on Thur and Fri we have practice at 8 AM. If you need to make ride arrangements let me know and I will see what I can do.
Again, great job and I cannot wait to see what the season has in store for all 40ish of us : )

Unity Meet and Monday Notes

Our meet tomorrow night with Unity Christian will be at the Hudsonville HS Pool on 32nd Ave. The meet will be starting at 7:00, not 6:30. The bus will be rolling out at 5:35.

Today we welcome the middle school girls team in to the pool as they have their first practice. We all need to work together to make sure that all goes well!

Practices for Thursday and Friday will be 9am-12pm for state qualifiers and 10am-12pm for non-state qualifiers. No early morning practices on these days. Wednesday is the last early morning practice for all non-state qualifiers. The state qualifiers will have morning practices until the Wednesday before the conference meet, November 5.

We will be having a pasta party next Monday in the lead-up to our meet with Zeeland. We will be at the Melvin's. We will get all of the girls to the Melvin's after practice and they will need to be picked up around 7:15 pm. If you would be willing to send some drinks along for the girls let me know. Tammy will be taking care of everything else. I will send a note home this afternoon with directions, etc.

We will be having a pasta party on Thursday, November 6 at the Ritter's. The state girls will have a normal practice. Conference girls will have a very short practice followed by the opportunity to shave down. We will then head over to the Ritter's. The girls should be picked up around 7:15 pm. I will send a note home with directions, etc.

There is something in the works for getting together after the Saturday of the conference meet as well. More info will come on that shortly.

The girls that are tapering for the conference meet will start that practice this week Thursday and Friday. We will be individualizing tapers as much as possible to give each of the girls the largest opportunity for success. Taper is basically a reduction in the workload completed so the body has a chance to completely recover from the stresses of the season. During this time it is very important that the girls get enough sleep, appropriate nutrition, and have the ability to relax some mentally as well as physically. If you are in a PE or weightlifting class you need to participate. I will request from those teachers that exercises be reduced or modified so as not to stress your system during this time frame but you need to fully participate and be an exceptional ambassador of swimming during this time. If you are in a weightlifting or PE class please let me know ASAP.

I am looking forward to our meet tomorrow night with UC. It will be an opportunity to swim fast and tune up before our meet with Zeeland and then Conference and State. It will also be a great opportunity to go fast regardless of how the meet runs, how much warm-up time we get, how the water tastes, etc. You need to be behind the blocks KNOWING you're going to swim fast, not wondering if you're going to swim fast. BRING THE EXCITEMENT.

It's all in the way we fly!
T

Food and Drink

Great practice tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you to everyone that has brought in snacks or drinks for the girls for after practice. I just wanted to update you on how we are doing. We should be good with snacks and drinks for the next 7-10 practices (through October 29 for sure). If you already have something feel free to send it in but please don't feel that it is urgent at this time. I will keep you updated on how our supply is holding up.

Thanks again to all that helped out with the snacks and/or drinks.
T

Northview Meet Results

Click on the title to view the results.

A good meet overall. We need to realize that the pool, the lighting, the competition, the _________ (fill in the blank) does not make us swim fast. WE MAKE US SWIM FAST!!!!! We are in control of our attitude. We are in control of how excited we are to swim and how fast we go.

We did have some best times, both seasonal and lifetime bests...so we know that it is possible to get it going. It is amazing to watch an athlete that catches fire and puts together a great meet. One swim influences the next. We need to be able to do that as a team as well. One girls good swim fuels the rest of the teams performances. The Bussis' came to swim last night with best times in the 50 for Emily with a 27.90 split on the medley relay, in the 100 for both Emily and Rachel with a 1:03.54 and 1:05.52 (split) respectively. Kassi Aalderink dropped a great 100 Back and went 1:17.34. There were a lot of other solid swims as well.

Are we tired? Yes, we are tired.

Can we swim fast when we're tired? You bet!

We are going to have a great practice this afternoon.

This will be a nice weekend without a meet. We are going to have a great practice on Saturday from 12:30-2:30. Enjoy your weekend and be safe and smart.

IT'S ALL IN THE WAY WE FLY (regardless of flight conditions)!!!!!!!!!
T

Food and drink and todays notes

We have the need for some more food and drink for after practices. We have had some parents that have donated items already and our supplies are running low. Typically we give them a juice box/Capri Sun/chocolate milk during their cool down and then a snack on the way to the locker rooms. Individual drinks work best but we can manage with gallons of chocolate milk/juice as well (I think the girls like to see me pour out the drinks for them and act as their butler). Snacks that we have had include cereal bars, granola bars, pretzels, animal crackers, etc. Something with a bit of protein in it is best but not mandatory. If you would be willing, please drop off any items in the pool office at any time. We have drinks that will last us through this Friday but we are all out of snacks. I plan to run to the store during the day today to get us some snacks to last through Tuesday or Wednesday. The girls really appreciate it and we have seen it really benefit them in their ability to recover from day to day.

Our meet this Thursday is at Northview HS (click this link for directions). The bus will be rolling out at 4:15 pm. The girls need to dress up for school and to the meet. We have been getting pretty lax about what dressing up means. The girls should not wear jeans (of any color). We want to present ourselves well and look the part.

The end is in sight for all. The number of tough practices left is dwindling. We have only 4 more tough practices left for non-state qualifiers. Taper for non-state qualifiers starts in two weeks! State girls will start their taper in about four weeks. I think that we have done a great job of periodizing our practices this year and we are seeing the benefits. This is the best group of trainers that I have had the pleasure of coaching. What we have been able to do in training has been remarkable. Not necessarily more yards than we did last year but definitely more quality. Everything that we do has a purpose. It has been a lot of fun to watch from my perspective. I hope that it has been a lot of fun (while being a whole lot of hard work) for the swimmers as well.

It is exciting to look over to the diving well during practice to see our divers trying new dives and getting their dd's up as high as they can. Our divers have been making great progress as evidenced by the great scores they have been putting up!

The starting times for the conference meet have changed a bit. Diving prelims will take place on Thursday. Warm-ups will be 3:30 pm with diving starting at 5:00 pm. The divers will leave immediately following school on Thursday. Swimming prelims will take place on Friday. Warm-ups will start at 3:00 pm and the swimming starts at 4:30 pm. Swimmers will be leaving immediately following school on Friday. Swimming and Diving finals will take place on Saturday. Warm-up starts at 11:00 am and competition begins at 12:30 pm. We will be leaving our pool at 10:40 am. It will cost $5 per session to enter the stands and programs will be available for $1. Doors to the spectator area will open at 4:00 on Thursday, 3:00 on Friday, and 11:00 on Saturday.

I have to take a minute to "toot our own horn" a bit. Last spring I was nominated for the Michigan HS Girls Swim Coach of the Year for the Michigan HS Coaches Association. I will receive the award on November 2. I share this because it is our swimmers and divers that make it happen. I can write workouts and meet line-ups but it is the girls that get in the water and make the great things happen. Along with that there are a lot of other people that have a huge impact on the success of our swim teams like our parents, age group coaches, middle school coaches, and Coaches DeRoos and Smith. It is truly a team effort even though not everyone on the team always get recognized.

I am looking forward to the next six weeks and all the fun (and tough) moments that it will present. How we handle the situations (good and bad) is up to us! It's all in the way we fly.
T

The MISCA Meet

Click the title for meet results.

A great meet overall. Congrats to...Brittni Ritter for qualifying for state in the 200 Free with a breakout 2:01.7, Maddy Kempkers for qualifying in the 50 Free with a 26.09, and Maddie Klenk for qualifying as part of the 200 Free Relay. We had some great swims.

Keep up the great work ladies.
T

HC Results

Well...we lost to a team that we should have beat. We came in a little off and they had a great meet. On the night, they were the better team.

Mentally we need to find out what we need to do to get ready to swim fast regardless of our competition. Emotionally we need to rely on each other more and we need to make sure that we are all ready to go. It is tough to come off a meet like we had last Tuesday with BC...however we have done it well before and we can do it well again. The way that we came together last week and the feeling of team on the pool deck was magical. I didn't get that feeling yesterday. I didn't get the feeling that we were having fun. It didn't look like we were having fun once the meet started. We are a team when things are great and when things are going bad. We are a team when things are magical and when we are flat.

I think that it is easy for us to chant our three P's when things are going well and we are swimming fast. However, I think that times like now are when it is most important to remember our PRIDE, our PERSERVERANCE, and the POSSIBILITIES that lie before us. It stinks to lose a meet like that last night. I am not happy about it and I hope you all are dissapointed too. We are better than how we performed last night. What can we do about it? From this point on we learn from mistakes made and we move on seeking to get better.

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
T

Saturday Info for the meet, Pizza, and Beach Fire

First- Great practice today. I know that it was very tough but you guys did GREAT!!!!

Saturday Meet Info:
Divers: 7:00 am Warm-up, 8:30 am Diving Starts. Hopefully they will be able to get all 11 dives in before swimming warm-up starts.

Swimmers: Bus leaves at 10:45 am. 11:30 am Warm-up, 12:30 pm Swimming starts. If diving is completed in the morning we should be done by about 4:00.

Pizza and Beach Fire
We will meet at our pool after the meet is done. I am hoping to meet at our pool at 5:00. We will then head out to the Smith cottage on the north side of Holland. Everyone needs to bring $3 to cover the cost of pizza. We will eat and head down to the beach for a fire. We will be done at 9:00 pm. Directions to the Smith cottage will be given out to parents that need them.

Have a great night,
T