First the Questions

We are in a contemplative state this week and as such believe that in our quest to find the keys to the issues posed last week it is first necessary to ask the questions that are at the heart of our profession. And so here is our take on the core issues surrounding our coaching and perhaps by extension your own coaching. It would be awesome if a dialogue ensues as we know enough to say with certainty we haven't all the answers, or the definitive set of questions.

Why do we coach? - Money, fame, peer recognition, awesome T-shirts, trips, name in the newspaper, personal satisfaction...

How do we coach? - Authoritarian, open practices, closed practices, limited input from athletes and or parents or assistants, seat of the pants, sit and eat, pace the deck, write on a white board...

Are there gains to be made? - In what areas...

Have we changed what we believe to be true? - About technique, training systems, dry land approaches, team dynamics, parent interaction, social dynamics...

What would happen to us if we are wildly successful? - Can we handle those changes...
Conversely, what would happen if to us if we missed the mark significantly? - Loss of job, no more speaking at clinics, loss of membership, financial impacts...

Are we too young to excel or too old to be relevant? - do age barriers or gender barriers exist in our sport...

We believe that if we can answer most if not all of these questions - as well as others you may add to the discussion - we are better prepared for the season that awaits us.

We are thinking about this a lot and we thank those of you (you know who you are) for stimulating this line of thought...might be a good roundtable at a clinic near you someday...

We all know there is a difference between 10x100/1:10 and 10x100/2 given the same exact swimmer. We believe this other line of thought is actually more important. Here's to an awesome week and an even better start to your season!

Searching for a Lift in Expectations

We just returned from an inspiring week of racing at the US Summer Junior Nationals in Indianapolis…the fastest 18 & unders in the country racing for their futures in the sport of competitive swimming.

One thing that was/is foremost on our minds was/is, “How do we get those on our team who are capable of swimming at this level to 1) realize it and 2) make their cuts?”

Every coach we spoke with had ideas and opinions. The one consensus was that we all had swimmers at home who could have been in this meet talent wise. The other main takeaway from the meet was that if you could achieve the time standard there was an excellent chance you could get a night time swim (top 24 places in the heats) providing you swam your entered time at the meet.

There are two basic forms of incentive: extrinsic and intrinsic.

The extrinsic ones can range from earning a different colored cap all the way to having your expenses paid up to 100% by the club. We will address those issues on our team this fall and beyond into 2013.

The intrinsic motivators are more challenging to pinpoint and then execute. In speaking with Terry Stoddard, the excellent coach and mentor at Swim Pasadena, we liked his explanation of his club’s approach to senior swimming. He described the goal statement that the club was going to do everything in its power to assist each swimmer in reaching their full potential.

We like this approach since it allows for the varying levels of talent to berecognized while holding everyone to the same high standard, namely giving the training and racing their very best. We tell our swimmers to, “Do your best each and every time. No one expects you to do more than your best, likewise make certain you do deliver your best on any given day.”

We think it is incumbent upon us as coaches to drive home the message of personal excellence. One of our swimmers, Theo St. Francis, said it best the other day; “If you are going to make the time to do the sport you might as well make the effort.” We will hone in on that sentiment a lot. And then there is this quote from one of Dave Salo’s swimmers about Coach Salo’s attitude expressed this way; “If you didn’t want to get better…McDonalds is always hiring!"

As we work in our club to create a culture shift from the Sectional level to the National level we will remember that each swimmer is different and as such needs a special eye from the coaching side. Simultaneously we are working even today towards making the group seek higher levels of performance from themselves. This striving for personal excellence is a life lesson that has implications for personal success well into adulthood.

We don’t think the answer to raising expectations is to do more. We believe it is a matter of doing more of the correct things – technique, training, dry land, nutrition, time management, teaching personal responsibility, excelling in the classroom, being a contributor to one’s community…the list is even longer but you get the point.

Not all swimmers have the talent to compete nationally and yet we saw several, indeed many that had very little natural talent holding their own in Indianapolis last week. Witnessing that was inspiring and motivating. This next season will be our best – you can count on it!

Two Items of Interest

From time to time we are visited by swimmers who have been through our program, gone off to college and then are back in town for a family visit. Yesterday Shayan Sayadi stopped by the pool for a swim and visit. After practice we asked him how things were going. He has finished his undergrad work and is taking a year to work before determining exactly in what field he will pursue his master’s degree.

He said he was being fueled by the “twin pillars of persistence and patience.” He went on to explain that, “persistence cancels out the apathy that may come with patience while patience cancels out the anxiety that may come with persistence.”

We are impressed with his thoughtfulness.

The other item this week is one you may have already seen but in case you haven’t check out the article and especially the video of Dana Volmer’s butterfly stroke analysis on the link below. Gotta love the technology available today!

Dana Vollmer’s Butterfly Stroke Features Dolphinlike Moves

Have a great week. We will since we are in Indianapolis with 5 swimmers at the US Summer Junior National Championships!

Another Side of Michael Phelps

We have enjoyed immensely the races and stories that have unfolded in London. Ken found this one that is very insightful. Our team found it motivating, to say the least. We trust you will enjoy it as well.

Le Close Example of Phelps Effect

LONDON -- Chad le Clos had waited for this moment nearly all his life. As a 12-year-old boy in South Africa, he had watched the 2004 Athens Olympics on television, saw an American man named Michael Phelps win six gold medals, and decided right then and there that he would dedicate his life to becoming the greatest swimmer his body would allow.

In the years that followed, he worshipped the American swimmer. He read every article he could get his hands on. He cut out pictures of Phelps. He recorded and watched all of his idol's races, and then he'd watch them again.

So you can imagine the emotion Friday night -- le Clos walked onto the pool deck for the final swim of his 2012 Olympics, and the man walking in front of him was none other than Phelps, who was about to swim the last individual event of his career.

Two nights earlier, le Clos had shockingly out-touched Phelps to beat him in the 200-meter butterfly, a race he hadn't lost at a major international meet since le Clos was 8 years old. After the race, he mentioned how excited he was to beat his idol. The next morning, when Phelps relayed the story to coach Bob Bowman, the two of them got emotional.

"It means Michael has done what he wanted to do, affect the sport of swimming," a watery-eyed Bowman said. "When he described that to me, he got choked up about it. So did I."

When he was just 15, Phelps stated his goals to agent Peter Carlisle. They had nothing to do with gold medals, world records or becoming the greatest swimmer ever. Instead, Phelps said he wanted to change the sport of swimming; he wanted to motivate, inspire and push people to chase their dreams.

The blond-haired, 20-year-old le Clos was the result of that goal. On Friday night, as he walked onto the pool deck with his idol for the last time, le Clos couldn't stop thinking about his place in this special moment.

"I just kept thinking I wanted to be up there on that podium," he said. "I wanted to be in that race with him. I wanted to give him a run for his money. I wanted to make him proud."

At the halfway point of the 100 butterfly, Phelps was seventh and le Clos eighth. It didn't look good. But then, Phelps came charging, and the boy followed his idol. Le Clos had watched Phelpsian comebacks such as this for more than a decade, but now he was in the middle of it. He thought of the lessons he had learned from all the races he watched.

Keep his arms long. Push his chest out as far as he could.

Phelps had done the same and sped out to the lead. With about 20 meters left, le Clos looked to his left and realized he, too, had a shot.

"It was just like the 200," le Clos said. "I was thinking, 'I'm catching him. I'm catching him.'"

But that changed in the last 5 meters.

"I took one last look, one quick look," he said. "I thought maybe if he finished badly again I might get it, but no way. He got it tonight."

The final times: Phelps, 51.21 seconds; le Clos, 51.44. Less than one-quarter of a second between them. In a way, that's how it was supposed to end, with Phelps offering one last in-person lesson to a protegee.

"Michael got to pay him back for the other night, which was nice," Bowman said. "This is a tough game. You've gotta learn. The kids have to learn, right?"

For le Clos, the night had only begun. He promised himself that no matter what happened, whether he finished in first or eighth, he would walk over to Phelps and tell him something when he climbed out of the pool and his Olympics were over.

"I told myself I would tell him he was my hero," le Clos said. "So that's what I did."

Phelps responded by softly tapping le Clos on the shoulder and briefly putting his arm around him.

"I think he knew already," le Clos said. "He told me he would wish me luck for the future and said he really wanted to watch me do great things."

The moment touched le Clos' father, Bert, who looked on from the front row of the second deck of the Aquatics Centre.

"It's like Larry Holmes and Muhammad Ali," he said. "I mean, this is my son's hero. When [Phelps] put his arm around Chad, it's unbelievable. Michael is the most gentlemanly person in sport. From the le Clos family to the Phelps family, I want them to know how much we appreciate everything Michael did for us. He changed my family's life."

Before the night ended, le Clos and Phelps spent even more time together, arguing over who would win in a "FIFA" video game battle and discussing getting together someday to go cage diving in South Africa.

"He said he plays on PlayStation. I play on Xbox," Phelps said. "He says he could still take me. It's that competitiveness we both have. It's cool to see. It's been great getting to know him."

What a week it had been. Three years ago, when he made his first South African senior team for the world championships in Rome, all le Clos cared about was being in the same pool with Phelps. But the two were in different preliminary heats then, and le Clos missed a spot in the semis by .10 seconds.

Now he is a footnote to history: the last man to ever beat Michael Phelps.

"I never thought this would happen," he said. "From watching him in Athens to sitting here ... it's absolutely fantastic."

But perhaps no one was moved more than Phelps. On the second-to-last night of his illustrious career, he was the one who got to witness firsthand the results of a dream he had 13 years ago.

"It just goes to show that anything you want and anything you want to achieve, if you put your mind to it, you're going to achieve it," Phelps said. "I've said that so many times, and it's true. Chad is showing that. He has a lot more goals he wants to achieve, and I'm excited to see him continue in the sport and see what he does."

End of Season Team Party

We had our annual end of season party this week. This is the affair where swimmer, parent and coach recognition takes place...in a word it was AWESOME! Each coach spoke for a few minutes about his/her group, what the objectives of that group were and how the season went. Ken then asked me (Don) to speak about the path...you know about the path - the one that starts with birth and ends up in Masters swimming...

Below are my notes for my 5 minutes on the subject of the evening...how does North Bay Aquatics help swimmers move from "here to there"...?

The PATH

PARENTS are the keepers of the path
With your love-support-financial aid- your volunteerism

COACHES = help light the path, marking it for clarity when forks appear

SWIMMERS - travel the path, learning as they go...
Learning how to swim - be good teammates and even better citizens and contributors to their community

Think of this team as a 3 Legged Stool - parents, swimmers, coaches - the moment one leg thinks it is more important than the others the stool is less stable let alone functional or comfortable

Ken told another excellent story at last week's team meeting about how his wife makes a killer minestrone soup...and how each swimmer is similarly made up of different ingredients...I just riffed off of that story.

Soup - pan is critical - without it there is no definition...there can be no soup without a pan

Water or stock of some sort, ingredients, heat, seasoning, simmer, maybe some crackers or a chunk of French bread

Our SWIMMER is similar -
Perhaps our team - NORTH BAY AQUATICS - is the "pot" - helping to define what shape the "soup" will look like

We also start with WATER and add ingredients -
Stroke work - turn work - start work - work on conditioning - more stroke work - some speed work - more stroke work - a dash of motivation - and some responsibility

The word "work" is used purposefully because WORK WORKS...

WORK WORKS TO BUILD COMPETENCY which WORKS TO BUILD CONFIDENCE (the most important muscle in the human body)...CONFIDENCE BUILDS PRIDE...

PRIDE BUILDS SELF ACCOUNTABILITY & HIGHER EXPECTATIONS & A SELF PERPETUATING CYCLE OF SUCCESS

We had a fine evening and we had an enormous amount of very positive feedback, especially from the parents who had more clarity about how our team works and the values of our direction.

Been Away for a Few Days

We have had a chance to do some reading and thinking about our favorite subject...this profession, the thing we call coaching.


Thinking back to how we got started, why we keep coming back, why we keep at it, what exactly do we think we will get from it...


We don't have any conclusions at this point but we do know it is intriguing...and we don't seem ever to be able to figure it all out...once in a great while we seem to have a grip on it and then, bingo...it slips away...


It might be a training plan that goes sideways or an athlete that melts down unexpectedly...


Or it might be a swimmer who breaks through to a new skill level when something clicks for him or her...


We have come to at least this partial conclusion...it is helpful, maybe even imperative, to be comfortable with the uncertainty of it all...


And it helps to have a set of professional standards on which you do not compromise...


No two people coach the same way but there are certain guidelines which seem to make sense...they include in no particular order:


A sense of fair play - A mutual respect for teammates and coaches - A group dynamic of striving for excellence - A belief in positive outcomes - A willingness on the part of all involved to take risks - A belief in knowing that we don't have all the answers


This list is perhaps pages long but once the core is identified it makes it easier to live with the uncertainty. And we believe that much is critical....living with the uncertainty...


Got a few more weeks to go this season...it's going to be fun and supercharged all the way to the end...and we will have a big smile working on that last day - thinking about both what just happened and what is coming down the road, because we aren't anywhere near being done yet...

A Man of Few Words

We don't know Matt Biondi personally but we really enjoyed getting to know him vicariously reading the first chapter of Chuck Warner's latest book, "And Then they Won Gold."

The book looks into the progression of 8 Gold Medal swimmers from their early years until they reach the pinnacle of their career. While we coach in northern California and certainly know his name, we never personally met or conversed with Matt.

It is really enlightening to know how champions develop their approach to their passion. We especially liked this part of Matt's story...

As a sophomore in high school he earned the fourth spot on the 400 free relay for Campolindo's North Coast Section team with an individual time of 51 seconds in the 100 free. He joined a 46, 47 and a 48 grouping. In the finals of that relay Matt was given the anchor spot. It was a great race with Campolindo missing the gold medal by .07 seconds. Matt's split was an awesome 48+.

In Warner's words, "The skinny sophomore stayed in the pool for nearly 10 minutes hanging on the gutter in disappointment. Finally, Matt pulled himself out and walked over to his coach and sternly said, "Stu that will never happen again."

Matt was indeed a man of his word.

He went on to a long and storied career that ended with 8 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze Olympic medal as well as numerous World Championship and NCAA awards. People marveled at his exquisite stroke technique and his amazing ability to anchor relays getting his fingers on the touch pad first.

He polished his technique early as a way of overcoming his then skinny frame's disadvantage over that of more physically developed competitors. He developed his passion for relays by his disappointment of his sophomore year in high school.

It is probably safe to say all swimmers can learn more from their disappointments than their successes...and so can their coaches and parents.

We recommend adding Warner's book to your library.

A Set With Promise

As we work to fine tune our swimmers' awareness of how to deal with long course racing we have come up with an approach that may work for you. It seems to be working for us; however the final proof will wait for another 4-6 weeks for the season ending meets.

We work on stroke counts and pacing, developing a feel for how to swim over the longer stretch of water. We like this set since it can work in a 33.3 yard pool, a 40 meter pool (our set up), a standard 50 meter or any other length you may be using for your training. You can adjust the intervals as you wish. We did this set twice last week now that the "bulk" conditioning swimming is pretty much done for the summer. We did it on the 1 minute per lap base - in our case 40 meters.

After warm up...
10x40/1 establishing distance off the wall and final stroke count

10x80/2 keeping the stroke count the same on lap 2 as lap 1. We did say that it might be necessary to add 1 to the count on the return trip for free and back due to the different type of foot plant on the wall at the turn but the goal was to make the stroke counts the same

4 rounds of the following (400 meters per round)
1x40/1
1x80/2
1x120/3
1x160/4

On this set we added in to the mix of stroke counts the time factor. We went 10 seconds apart so everyone was leaving on a 0 (zero). At the end of the first lap if your time was 3 (the last digit on the pace clock - 23, 33, 43 whatever - makes no difference the total time) then at the end of the 2 lap swim it would (should) be 6 and then 9 after 3 laps and 2 (12) again after 4 laps.

We had them play around with strokes and times. They could set the time, faster or slower, up to them. The idea was to get them adjusted to counting strokes and hitting times. On Saturday we only did three rounds.

There was very little chatter on the wall as they were comparing stroke counts and times and figuring out what their next number to hit was going to be...some of them were a little shaky on their multiplication tables...we figured it was from using calculators too much. We had a few good natured chuckles on that subject.

Anyway, play around with the idea. If it has merit to you give it a try and see what happens. We figure that as the next several weeks unfold we can expect to see improvement in their repeats both time wise and stroke count wise. We expect this will translate into some fine swims from the blocks.

As we get closer to the big meet we will decrease the number of rounds, perhaps decrease the number of laps...that kind of thing.

Let us know any variations/improvements you think of. Thanks and have a great week in the pool!

Is It Worth It?

You are a coach, or maybe a swimmer; perhaps you are a parent. You – or your swimmer - have just made the qualifying time – the cut - for an important meet.

BUT…the meet is a long way from home. Maybe it is a rather expensive plane ticket away. Plus the hotel cost will be higher than if you had made your cut earlier. And then we have to figure out a way for the coach to make the trip as well…right? The coach is an integral part of this process.

For the swimmer it is a chance to compete at a higher level, with your new group of peers. For the coach it is a clinic, an opportunity to grow professionally and personally.

If the meet is the US Olympic Trials it is a no brainer – you and the coach go; period.

Somehow, some way the money is found and you both are at the meet. Your hotel might be 20 or 30 minutes from the pool…no big deal – you are in THE MEET!

Ken just returned from Trials with two of our girls who each had a single event. Neither of them will forget the experience. It has changed their lives – forever. If you stop and think about it, what has been the highlight of your athletic life so far? If you are an athlete or a coach chances are it was some prestigious meet or event. Certainly there are a multitude of races and meets you will remember for all the various reasons. But if you have ever been to the Olympics, or the Trials, or Nationals, or Junior Nationals, or Sectionals – well you get the drift here.

Most important thing in your life – perhaps, but probably not…yet still a remarkable experience and at the time, perhaps the defining moment in your development.

If the meet is not the US Olympic Trials you must decide if the trip is worth it, or not. You must decide what the goals of your swimming or coaching are. If the goals are to move up when opportunity presents itself then you must be prepared to act on the opportunity.

Here in Northern California we have target meets. In December it is either the Husky Invite or Sectionals. We attend one or the other. Our faster swimmers go to either the Junior or US Open meet. Even if there is only one swimmer we go. Why? We are a competitive swim program with goals to race at the top…simple.

In March it is Clovis or Orlando. We go with whoever qualifies. If we need two coaches we take them. It is how our program looks at competitive swimming.

This summer it is Trials or Sectionals or Clovis or Indianapolis.

The point of this discussion is simply that you need to apply the same standard to all the big meets as you would to the Olympic Trials…make the cut and you go…and take the coach with you since she or he has a vested interest in your performance and their own professional development.

Words of Wisdom from Those Who Know

At North Bay Aquatics we are very fortunate to have some swimmers who move on to colleges with big time swimming programs. JD – as he is known to all of us – is one such student/athlete. He is swimming and studying at the University of Arizona…which makes Ken feel enormously proud since Ken is an All-American from the 70’s at Arizona…and he actually graduated as well! Eric is the Head Coach and he held a team meeting recently. JD shared the content from that meeting…in a word, awesome. Thank you JD for sharing with NBA. We really appreciate your presence on our team.
  -------  

Eric had all of the swimmers who have been Olympians give everyone a piece of advice before they leave for Trials.  Everything was geared toward Trials and the Olympics, but it can easily be applied to swimmers at any level going to their big meet.  For that matter, the advice can be relevant to anyone who needs to perform when it counts.  

Below are my paraphrased highlights.  You can see how important smiling and relaxing are at big meets.  Mistakes and omissions are mine; credit for any good stuff goes to the respective Olympian.  

Best,  

JD  

-- 
Jon Denton-Schneider
Eller College of Management - Entrepreneurship, Business Economics
College of Humanities - Spanish (Portuguese Concentration)
The University of Arizona, Honors College
   

Crissy Perham - 1992 silver medalist, 100 fly; relay gold medalist

  Crispy qualified for the 1991 World Championships team.  She remembers being very nervous on deck because it was her first major international meet.  Matt Biondi came up to her and asked, "Are you having fun?"  She said, "Yes, of course.  This is what I do; after all, I'm a swimmer, so of course I'm having fun being at Worlds."  His response: "Well, then can you please make your face look like you’re having fun?"  

Albert Subirats - 2008, 2012 Olympian for Venezuela
 
Albert didn't perform as well as he wanted to in 2008 because he treated the Olympics as something bigger than they really were.  "It's just another meet," he said, "but I forgot that in Beijing.  If you're going to Olympic Trials or the Olympics themselves, you have to take the 'Olympic' part out of it.  Don't freak out - it's the same 50, 100, 200, or 400 meters you always swim."  

Christine Magnuson - 2008 silver medalist, 100 fly; relay silver medalist

  Christine talked about how seeing herself as an underdog was critical to her making the team in 2008.  "No one expected anything from me at Trials last time, there was no target on my back.  That's how I'm going to think about it this time around, too," she said, even though she is one of the "favorites" to make the team.  She also gave advice on how to keep yourself from over-thinking the whole thing: "Pick someone in your heat and focus on beating them.  And it can be for any reason.  For me at Trials in 2008, I chose someone because I thought she was a real jerk."  

Matt Grevers- 2008 silver medalist, 100 back; relay gold medalist

  Grevers focused on something similar to Crissy.  "Even if you're super nervous, just smile.  I don't care if you've made finals and you're going crazy inside, just smile.  Smiling relieves so much stress and helps with your nerves.  Every time they call my name, I just do this," he said, and made his goofy trademark grin.  

Ed Moses - 2000 silver medalist, 100 breaststroke; relay gold medalist

  Ed's message was similar to Christine's.  "In 2000, I made the team when no one expected it.  But in 2004, I was the favorite in both breaststrokes and I didn't make the team in either event.  I cared too much about what other people thought of me, and I let that get to my head."  

Amanda Beard- 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 Olympian; multiple-time gold medalist, world record holder
 
Amanda said she likes to think about how there are bigger things in life than swimming.  "Before every race, I always spend time with my family because they remind me that swimming isn't everything.  When I'm behind the blocks, I always wave to them - they go crazy, and it makes me smile.  If you guys need to, you can wave to them, too, because they're always drunk and they'll love it."    

Space Shuttle, Helicopter, Tarmac

Here in northern California we had our high school championships four weeks ago. The day after that weekend concluded we gave our team Monday off. On Tuesday we had a team meeting about the next three weeks. Those weeks are filled with school activities including finals, making up for all the work that was put off to finish projects, graduation parties, lunches and graduation itself. Everyone gets caught up in the scene, even the freshmen. It is a challenging three weeks to be a swimmer with your eye on the summer season.

We spoke to our team about this period saying that every year we see some who remember to train as much as they can, making some sacrifices socially to stay on track. We even had a meet on our schedule - the Summer Sanders Invitational in Roseville, CA - to mark the end of this three week period. While at the meet Ken and I observed pretty much what we expected to see. Some kids rocked really well including Junior Nationals and Olympic Trials cuts, some fought to hang on and others got a nice tan.

Last week, on Wednesday at our team meeting, Ken gave one of his all-time best performances as our head coach. He spoke about the summer racing season. We outlined the schedule of meets and how the first weekend in August we were taking a large group to Clovis, CA for a great senior meet. They have two 50 meter pools, three finals and always very warm weather. Conditions are usually perfect for fast swimming at the end of summer. You can also make your summer Junior National cuts at this meet earning a trip to Indianapolis. It is a really meaningful way to end the summer. And the time standards are not super tough so nearly all in our training group can make the meet.
But then Ken tossed in the caveat. You cannot go to the meet simply by having the time standards. You actually need to be ready to race well and to add to the team effort. So, if you are not ready, either because you haven't trained enough, or properly or haven't raced enough, or properly then you stay home and start your short summer vacation a little sooner.

He said our group can be split into three sections. He made everyone feel comfortable with his delivery. He had a big smile on his face. He told a few stories from his own high school and college summer training and racing days. He became one of them, a peer and yet still their leader...I had visions of the pied piper!

He said, we have some people on the space shuttle...we have some on the helicopter - which as everyone knows just hovers...and then we have some people on the tarmac. They all were laughing and they all got it without being uncomfortable. It was masterful...coaching genius, especially the delivery.

Afterward I had Emmy ask me, "Don, where do you think I am?" I replied, "The shuttle." She laughed and said, "No, I am on the tarmac. I took three days off after high school championships; three days off after finals; three days off to get my lifeguard certification." We smiled at each other...point made, case closed.

After this Saturday's workout, a gem that covered 6800 meters long course, Isabelle declared with a smile and a note of personal triumph, "I am off the tarmac!"

It is now seven weeks to Clovis and this much is certain...some, maybe most, will go. Those who do will be ready and will succeed. Those who stay home will know the choice was theirs all the way. It is a valuable life lesson, that much is certain.

"I Never Thought It Would Be Me"

Those were the words out of Brigitte (Jo Jo) Winkler's mouth after she qualified for the 2012 US Olympic Swimming Trials last night while winning the 100 meter breaststroke race in Roseville, CA. Her time was 1:11.99. Several of her North Bay Aquatics teammates had a more reasonable shot at the prestigious meet's cuts. In the end, she was the one left standing in a somewhat nerve racking weekend of racing.

The lesson learned by Brigitte and her teammates was that nothing is assured and to some extent nothing is impossible.

Hard work, determination, trust and courage are all needed. There are some 300,000 registered swimmers in US Swimming. 1700 have been invited to try out for the Olympic Team. That means that .02% of the swimming population will be in Omaha.

The next lesson is that there are three stages following something remarkable (either a positive or negative situation)...Shock, Disbelief, Acceptance.

Jo Jo has had several conversations with her coaches about this process. If you cannot get to acceptance then you most usually stall out, never to repeat that awesome "unbelievable" event again.

Regardless of the outcome you need to move into the acceptance phase in order to move forward, either to new greater heights or to put aside a major disappointment and regain your footing.

There will be several swimmers who make the Olympic Team who no one is even considering right now. Likewise, there will be several favorites who miss. It happens every time. That is why they swim the events in the first place.

The first step in the process is to get invited. Congratulations to Brigitte and all those who will be in Omaha. It is a rare and distinct opportunity to say the least.

A final thought we shared with her is this; be grateful - and ask for more. She has accepted her results and is now ready to move forward. She is not done.