Boles Notes 2 November/09

Transcription

1 Boles Notes 2 November/09 A few days ago I attended a lecture at Wilfrid Laurier University by Dr. Penny Werthner from the University of Ottawa on the strategies for mental preparation for athletes at the Olympic level. One key message that I took away that we (coach and athlete) are striving to prepare to excel at optimal levels under stressful conditions. This is exactly the theme Dr Greg Wells talked about at the coaches conference in September in regards to performing skills under stress. This is the same theme we will build around the Tri Meet and Training Camp next May with Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. The other day as I was sorting through years and years of collected material from all the lectures and clinics I have attended, I came across notes from a lecture by Ian Percy, a Business development consultant, so I thought I would share it with you. I feel that these Eleven Commandments for an Enthusiastic Team can be used by coaches and club administrators everywhere and anytime. 1. Help each other be right, not wrong. 2. Look for ways to make new ideas work, not for reasons why they won t. 3. If in doubt, check it out. Don t make negative assumptions about each other. 4. Speak positively about each other and the organization at every opportunity. 5. Maintain a positive mental attitude no matter what the circumstances. 6. Act with initiative and courage as if it all depends on you. 7. Do everything with enthusiasm. It s contagious! 8. Whatever you want give it away (I know! but think about it, it makes sense) 9. Don t lose faith never give up. 10. Help each other win and take pride in each other s victories. 11. And perhaps most important HAVE FUN! Since my last TAS communication I have attended some meetings and continued visiting programs. As we set our goals for the season I thought I have a goal or target of visiting 100 clubs in Ontario this swim season. I m ¼ of the way there. So here we go starting the week of October 18 th, where John V and I head to Ottawa, first meeting with Pierre and Ken R from SNC and the Ottawa area head coaches including Derrick Schoof (GO Kingfish/U of Ottawa, Scott Faithful(NKB), Jason Allen(GO Kingfish), John Hawes (Carleton University), Dave Anderson (Carleton Place) and Gatineau area coaches Michel Berube and Robert Toupin. The meeting and discussion focused on working together to reach a common shared goal doing whatever it takes to have one or more swimmers making the 2012 team! from the Eastern Region. The next morning I visited Derrick Schoof (GO/UOtt) and his staff Jason Allen, Simon St Pierre, and Rob Aburto (Rob swam and coached for me while at WLU/ROW). The 8 lane 50m pool at the University of Ottawa provided space for two Age Group programs along side a combined Varsity and club senior program simultaneously training at the same time 70+ swimmers going through the early season routine. Derrick identified the strengths of the senior layer of having good kicking skills, willingness to work hard but needed emphasis to improve their pulling skills. Ontario swimming is looking forward to

2 the continued improvement from this program and with the return of Canadian Record Holder, Backstroker Matt Hawes to Ottawa area the bar has been raised. The trip to Ottawa was a planned packed week of swimming business as several areas of Swim Canada and key stakeholders came together to continue the development in the areas of LTADs and the coaching education (NCCP) not an easy task but it is hopeful, the time and effort committed will reap improved results for the customer and programs. Another earlier morning I found myself on the NKB deck with head coach Scott Faithful and Age Group coach Melanie Gillespie steering 80 plus swimmers through their routines. A strong representation of year olds(in three groups) under Melanie s charge bodes well for a feeder to Scott s and Iain s (McDonald) senior programs. The revitalized coaching staff with a few trips to the US coaching education circuit featuring ASCA s key educator Guy Edson will help bring new faces of NKB to Ontario and Canadian levels of excellence. Up the highway and on a ferry, John and I found ourselves at Montebello, Quebec a resort to host the SNC AGM. The days were packed with presentations of the improved Canadian swim results and the path we are on for the next season leading to 2012 including Jr and Senior programs and the many opportunities in the world of swimming. I enjoyed the talk by Pat Hogan from USA swimming focused on the Club Excellence program (something I feel we will develop down the road in partnership with SNC) and the unique made for TV panel discussion with Canadian Swimming Friend Chris Wilson. I suggest you take a look at it (go to and look up recent news October 30). Tuesday October 27 th I visited London Ontario home of the London Aquatic Club and University of Western Ontario Mustangs. In the early hours of the morning the LAC program attacked a good IM set while a later in the morning, head coach Paul Midgley conducted a high performance practice with the assistance of Ken Fitzpatrick (1984 Olympian) for Joe Bartoch and Bryn Jones. The main set was developed from the previous week s testing by Dr Greg Wells, (CSC Ontario)with Joe and Bryn. I had the opportunity to go on tour of the new UWO athletic facility featuring the new 8 lane 50m pool. A wonderful facility for the competitive swimming community and with great anticipation and the help of new Athletic Director Therese Quigley (formerly from MAC) we should see OUA swimming and beyond accessing the facility very soon. Later that day coaches Andrew Craven and Donna Moskal (LAC) along side of Paul s senior program put together a strong training session, good skill execution and kick development. Andrew s senior program then went across the parking lot to the Good Life gym for a 1 hour session of body pump program designed for the swimmers. The next day I dropped in on head coach Murray Drudge (NYAC) at the Glendon college 6 lane 25 yd pool. The Wednesday practice is a direct speed night everything is done at a prescribed pace, toward race pace effort. A good skill set used early in the practice was snorkel fins fast effort kicking 50 s/25 s with swim form and speed the target speed at times was to be better than their metre times. I also had the opportunity to watch Caitlin Hodge who would be attending the Jr national distance camp at UT the next week. Cailtin went a through a 2 week monster series program to prepare herself for the upcoming camp. NYAC Age group coach Sabrina Ng brought in her year olds for their practice time and right from the beginning the directions and the expected execution of those same cues were

3 part of the next 90 minutes. (Sabrina will be one of the coaches for the FUNdamentals camp later this month in Etobicoke) The next morning I met up with Gord Sprung (former swimmer of mine now head coach, and chair of the SDC of the Swim Ontario Board) OSHAC. It was circuit morning for the senior group, stretch cords in and out of the pool, demanding kick set, a few other pace driven swim routines carried the 120 minute practice. Gord outlined the goals and objectives with in mind as this being the continuance of the reshaping and re building of the senior program. As I finished up the tour of the Toronto east area, my GPS unit steered me to RH King high school 6 lane 25yd pool and Sylvain Pineau (SCAR) running practice for the senior program along side assistant coach Mike McWha (2000 Olympian) and the age development program. A long series of aerobic swimming, varying distances and strokes were on the menu for the practice. Then some fast swimming in relay fashion starting with a series of 25 s then 50 s and then 100 s. Fast paced efforts for 40 minutes. Skill development was the focus for Mike s group as well for junior coach Lily Haocheng Dong with her young 7 8 year olds for the next hour. The remainder of the evening up to 9pm saw many Scarborough swim programs coming through the doors in one evening.(including a masters group). On my way into U of T I stopped in at the Para camp held at the Olympium. Several of the Ontario Para swimmers were busy in the water. Coach Vicki Keith (Kingston most respected as a coach and a swimmer who swam all the Great Lakes I m trying to get my head around that) had the swimmers doing sets with quality control in place stroke count and speed. Lindsay Taylor managed the camp and Andrew Craven (LAC) co coached with Vicki during the camp Para national team coach came down with the flu and was unable to attend (Thanks Craig for staying in Vancouver and keeping the flu bug there) I was really impressed with the efforts put in by the swimmers good job! The first of three Performance 1 st mini camps took place October 31 with a practice 10am noon and then another in the afternoon. The Oakville contingent (Annie H, Marnie O, Mack D, Sherrylyn) accompanied by Oakville coach Laura Nicholls (2 time Olympian and a former swimmer of mine) were the trainers in the AM but we joined forces with Murray Drudge and John Calhan of NYAC and their senior and age group swimmers for a two hour long course practice in the afternoon. Another fine example of why it is so important to get swimmers competing in training together. The next one is Saturday December 19 th. The Women s Jr National distance camp took place November 2 7 at the UT National Swim Centre. Centre head coach John Rogers lead the program with integration with residence centre swimmers and the camp invitees. Byron McDonald co coached the camp with Steve Price from EKSC and myself as the attending coaches. The camp featured Ontario swimmers Bridget Coley (HAC), Caitlin Hodge (NYAC), Ioana Maria Negru (ESWIM) as well as Marnie Oldershaw and Annie Harrison (OAK). The camp offered 10 water practices, 5 dry land/strength sessions as well as bio mechanics video session and a nutrition talk (utilizing the service providers from the CSC Ontario. Friday afternoon during the practice we received the great news that Toronto was successful in gaining the 2015 Pan Am games. We look

4 forward to the many opportunities in the next 4 5 years for Ontario swimmers and clubs in the GTA. A big thank you to Ashley Bradbury TSC for her Team management for the group. One day during the camp, the Toronto Swim Club who share the U of T pool with the Centre and the Varsity swim team had half of their program in at once. I lost count but I figure there was 120 TSC swimmers running through their routine lead by TSC coaches John Grootveld, Bob Hayes and Dave Ling as well as Ashley Bradbury I think Victor Verblac had a group squeezed in there for a hour or so while the Varsity swimmers continued their laps (one of the Toronto pools went down with mechanical problems a well oiled machine never misses a beat!) On Saturday November 7 th another event took place, one very close to my heart was the re opening of the Wilfrid Laurier University pool after nearly closing for good, but a great push from ROW, the student body, the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo and the provincial and federal governments came through and made it happen it is just like a brand new pool with state of the art competition set up. The ROW Swim Club hosted its first swim meet of the season on the 7th. The construction crew worked several weeks of overtime to meet the dead line Outstanding Team Work! This past week edging toward the printing of this TAS newsletter I visited Hamilton with three programs in the water at McMaster University. McMaster head coach Andrew Cole (elated with the news of the 2015 Pan Ams The Hamilton area is slated for new state of the art aquatic facility) ran his varsity squad through 105 minutes of LC training then up in the Varsity Team strength & conditioning centre with coach Tim Sauve. When one program leaves the water another one or two are in Head Coach Sean Baker lead his charges through a 30 minute dry land circuit then in the water for a LC workout focusing on kicking speed and hitting pace intervals. In the middle of the pool, a crew of young developing GHAC swimmers, lead by Grey Fairley and Ashley Almas also reaping the benefit of the LC training opportunity. As I quickly realized another visit to Hamilton is in order to better appreciate all the swimming going on. Just before calling it a day, I got back on the 403 and headed back for the Central Region meeting at the Olympium with club presidents and coaches. This Region has a great deal to be proud of with an outstanding 2009 season with World Records, many national and provincial records and the announcement of the 2015 Pan Am games. A great deal of time and effort has gone into this Region and its volunteers in the clubs, the OSOA group and the coaching leadership. Good job to the chair Jeff Holmes and his team Cheers for another fine season! The next day I was in St. Catherines watching head coach Peter Bradstreet (BROCK) run his Varsity and senior club through a 2 hour practice geared at priming up for the weekend meet (the OUA Divisionals in Ottawa) Assistant coaches Greg Gleason, Briety McCann and Linsey Rivest worked in different parts of the 8 lane 50m pool with the BROCK aquatics program. A revitalized focus to get the swimmers climbing the competitive ladder is the focus for the season. Last visit of the week turned me down the 403 west to Brantford. I found head coach Tom Landridge and Tom s better half coach Jocelyn Jay (former member of Brant and National team member) ran a half dozen programs during the 3 hour time block I witnessed. A pleasant surprise was Dawn Taylor of

5 Fort Francis who brought two of her swimmers Donavan and Levis to the Annual Brantford Fall Invitational attracting 900 swimmers from Ontario and several teams outside the province.(this a good example of searching higher levels to be challenged at). I was pleased to see Tom and Jocelyn focused on foundational skills first with the long range plan of building the club up in stature and numbers. If all goes well the growth of size and performance of the Brantford Aquatic Club will fit nicely in time for the opening of a new 25m 8 lane facility adjacent to the 50m pool in 3 5 years time. Construction has begun for the arenas. (Ice surfaces still prevail, but the water surfaces are starting to appear in Ontario Yahoo!) Okay, one more visit will be the OUA Campbell Division in Guelph this weekend where I will see half of the OUA in action while the other 6 teams will be in Ottawa. The two day event is a great kick off for the OUA swim season. Note: the 2010 OUA championships February 5 7 at Brock and the 2010 CIS championships will held at U of T February Put those dates on your calendar and come out and see what OUA and CIS swimming has to offer FAST swimming! I now leave you with a couple of tips for consideration: 1) The 4 C s of success Communication Collaboration Coordination Cooperation at every level! 2) Temporary Wall system from Australia a great training and teaching tool contact Team Aquatic Supply for details. 3)*a little trick I learned from Gord Sprung how to get your stretch cords to last a very long time use Armoral sheets and wipe the tubes before and after use that s right the same stuff that helps make your tires shine! Many great opportunities ahead, through Swim Ontario, UT National Swim Centre, OSCA and the Ministry of health and promotion programs and initiatives. Check it out and when in doubt contact the Swim Ontario office. **Train to Excel Camp for Breast and IM Swimmers November 30 th at U of T Joszef Nagy is the lead coach. 12 of the best available Ontario Breast and IM specialists have been invited. All coaches are welcome. Training Opportunities at the UT national swim centre November pm; Dec am with JR/ 10 noon with Byron and 3 5 pm with Dean. If your swimmer has a 740 pt swim they are eligible. Contact Dean Boles, to confirm your involvement. dean@swimontario.com Stay in tuned to the Swimming Science channel developed by Dr Greg Wells and his team What s up for me? More club visits, Fundamentals Camp, Excel camp, Bergen Tour Again I m thankful to my team at Swim Ontario for the support toward Swimming Excellence and Leading Canadian Swimming! I will see on the deck very soon. If I haven t seen you yet You will! Dean