Our Source for Change is You

This is what we told our athletes as we convened for the first team meeting after the Winter Junior Nationals. We, as is the case with many of you, are in the winter break time. There is some family time, some travel, and of course the coaches’ dream – training camp…no school, lots of pool time and an abundance of enthusiasm! Well, at least on the coaches’ part…

So exactly what does all this mean in a practical sense? We, swimmers and coaches alike, are fueled by what we see/experience at the meets. Why the meets? Because we are competitive swim teams. If you are a club within USA Swimming then you share (or presumably share?) the 3 core objectives: 1- build the base, 2 – promote the sport, 3 – achieve competitive success.

Not all teams function this way but ours does. We are proud of our competitive program and its corresponding national level of success/recognition (North Bay Aquatics is a Bronze Medal Club).

To do this we need to recognize that at our upper level we need to hold each other – swimmers and coaches alike – to a high standard.

Therefore, our goal this winter is to get better which is often times reflected in getting faster. We want to swim at night at the highest level possible…swimmers say/ask, “Did you get back?” meaning did you qualify for a final? We want to swim at night…simple as that.

How do we get there? By doing things we haven’t yet done. Pretty simple when you get down to it. Ever done a set of 100’s on the 1:10? Maybe you should try…even if you cannot finish the set at least start it! Begin the task first; finish the task second. At some point in time every one of you can do something you have yet to do…and when that happens, doors open for you…

Your task is to open as many doors as possible. One of our swimmers recently asked about emailing college coaches to generate some interest. Our response was this; “Spend time on getting faster at what you do. Swim fast enough to get the phone ring.”