IN THE DAWG HOUSE. Welcome Back! Things to look for. What It Takes to Make Us Successful Swimmers by Coach John. Inside this issue:

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Martha Franklin
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1 IN THE DAWG HOUSE Crown Point Volume 1, Issue 1 October 2005 Welcome Back! Welcome Back!!!! I just wanted to drop a little note welcoming everyone back to another great season of swimming. For the new families, welcome to ours! I also would like to let everyone know what our plans our. As we set forth to try to so what every competitive team does in capturing an elusive championship, we are looking to try to establish ourselves as great technicians which will lead to fast swimming. The coaching staff s focus, as should be everyone else s, is to first make sure that we are swimming the strokes as perfect as each swimmer can first and foremost. While every swimmer is different, there are certain elements of commonality to our swimming that we are trying to establish early on. When we feel that we have comfortably attain that goal then we will be moving on to more general training of each of our swimmers in the area of endurance. After we have established our base of training we will then be getting into the specifics of each swimmers specialty. As we do this, our focus in the first three invitational settings is not going to be time but technique. After that we slowly shift our focus to more of a time orientation. This is very critical that everyone is on board with this thinking or the planned season s training will be less effective with those that are not. While I ve always been told that patience is a virtue, as a swim coach, I prefer to refer to it as vital to great swimming accomplishments. If you do not first correct what is wrong, all the training in the world is only going to get you so far and you will never reach your full potential. Parents please try to reinforce to your swimmers that they need to listen to what the coaches are asking them to do and DO IT on a daily basis. Swimmers know that in doing this you will eventually reach your ultimate goal to what you feel will be your success. Success doesn t come easy. It takes a tremendous amount of hard work, patience when making changes, and lots of repetition of perfect swimming. Practice doesn t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. Things to look for Updated mailboxes. November s practice/meet calendar. Meet sign up deadlines to be posted on the bulletin board and the website. Michigan City Pirhana s Invitational sign up (October meet). Munster s SYOA Invitional sign up (November meet). Duneland s SYOA Invitational sign up (November meet). What It Takes to Make Us Successful Swimmers by Coach John For Parents: Your child has chosen to compete in a sport that is the most demanding, time consuming, and random sport there is. And hopefully, for your child s state of mind, it was them that chose to participate in swimming. I think that the most damaging factor to a child s success in any sport is for their parents to try to live their past athletic success or lack there of it through their children. As I have told the swimmers, do not swim for me, any of the assistant coaches, or you as parents. They need to swim for themselves. They are the only one s that can control their success or lack of. Our role as coaches is to give them the tools, which we have learned, to be successful and your role as parents is to sup- port and encourage their efforts and stand behind their coaches. The second thing that limits your child s success is for the parents to try to be a coach. My job is to teach my swimmers everything I know about swimming and everything I will learn in the future. Giving them reminders, as reinforcement, of what the coaches have told them before races, I would not consider coaching. However, trying to tell them what you may have learned 25+ years ago as a swimmer may actually end up being as Inside this issue: Welcome Back 1 What It Takes to Make Us Successful Swimmers 1-3 Coaches Corner 3 September Birthday s 4 October Birthday s 4 Age Group State Results 4 October Calendar 5

out dated as an 8-track tape. It was great back then but there are certainly more efficient and effective means of swimming today. Just as everything else, swimming evolves.

2 out dated as an 8-track tape. It was great back then but there are certainly more efficient and effective means of swimming today. Just as everything else, swimming evolves. Ways of swimming faster get tested over and over again, until it gets proven to be more effective and then it gets past on down the line from coach to coach or written in the Journal of Swimming Research. We as a coaching staff try our best to stay on top of all the changes, decide whether or not it would be best for which of our swimmers to learn this or if they need to mature more before we teach it. There are certain basic ways strokes must be swum; however, each swimmers stroke must be fined tuned to fit their ability. The way one of our Olympians may swim their strokes may not entirely mold to your child s ability, so must be adjusted here or there. I would like to share a quick story about this topic that Dr. Dave Salo, Head Coach of Novaquatics (Irving, CA), told at the 1999 World Coaches Clinic when I was there. He was talking about how he had a father who on a daily basis would come to his practices and tell him how he thought he should be telling the kids what to do, how the swimmers What It Take to Make Us Successful Swimmers (cont.) To catch the reader's should be swimming, and what he as a coach should be doing. After about a week of this, Dave decided to show up at the father s place of employment, returning the favor, and proceeded to tell him how he thought he should be doing his job. After that the father never mentioned anything again. Now, by no means do I plan on showing up at any of our parent s place of employment but I would ask that my job be entrusted to me. It is my career, and as my wife believes, my life. I take it very seriously and in no way would do anything that wouldn t benefit ALL of our swimmers as a whole. The third thing, I feel, that can limit our swimmers success is timeliness. Probably the most important thing a swimmer can do to prepare his/herself for practice or a meet is to be a little early to either one. I say this in regards to stretching attention, place an interesting sentence or quote from the story here. and dryland. Most of injuries that occur happen to muscles/tendons/joints that have not been properly warmed up. If a swimmer is late, they effectively miss the full time of stretching and/or dryland (depending on how late), putting them at risk to possibly injury. Since none of our swimmers have the ability to drive themselves to practice/ meets this responsibility falls solely on the parent s shoulders. Your children have made a commitment to this sport and you need to help them succeed by giving them every opportunity to be on time to do so. USA Olympians (from R to L) Lindsey Benko, Michael Phelps, Aaron Piersol, Natalie Coughlin, Amanda Beard, & Gary Hall Jr. For Swimmers: 1. Take your sport seriously Although you should thoroughly enjoy swimming, that word (enjoy) takes on different meanings as you grow older. As you begin swimming, having fun at practice should mean you have a good time with your teammates while you re there, or you enjoy the times you get to play games. However, as you get older the enjoyment should mainly come from your success at meets (while still enjoying the time you spend with your teammates). 2. Always follow what coach asks you to do Again enjoying your teammates and the time you are at practice is essential, however, it still is practice. If you don t stretch properly, as you have been shown, if you don t swim the stroke or sets as you have been told to, if you don t warm down like you should, you ll never be able to reach your full potential as a swimmer. That would be a shame. We don t ask you to do challenging things because we like to torture you (as some of you say); we do it because we know in the long run you ll be a better, faster swimmer for it. That s why you signed up, to be a better swimmer, or it should be why you are doing this. 3. The short cut never takes you to your long term goals Just because Sally Seahorse is ahead of you on a certain set or you are swimming a stroke you aren t particularly great at, doesn t mean that stopping at the wall (fixing your goggles in an effort to disguise the fact that your sitting out) and waiting for Sally to get back there or turning before the wall or pulling on the lane lines is going to help you achieve your goals. Whatever they may be. Yes, you may make the send off it you cheat but you ll always come up short of your long term goals. You will regret the extra pull on the lane line you took..trust me. 4. Learn from mistakes and constructive criticism, don t get mad about it Getting mad about things and showing your disgust for things only makes you appear foolish and shows your lack of sporstmanship. Speaking from experience, the only time I was DQ d was for throwing my goggles for unsportsmanlike conduct. I deserved it. The official was right. I had just won the 100 Breaststroke. I looked up at my time and didn t like it and was mad. I ripped my goggles off and threw them at the wall. The official DQ d me and my coach never said a thing. He knew I knew better and I cost my team valuable points. I never did it or anything that would embarrass myself again. When you don t like the results of the way you swam your races, learn from what the coaches tell you about why and do something about it. Page 2 Volume 1, Issue 1

3 What It Take to Make Us Successful Swimmers (cont.) Don t just shake your head and walk away or pout or cry. None of that is going to make you better, it will just make you look foolish. Make a difference the next time around. 6. Be honest with yourself When you look in the mirror at the end of the day, can you truly tell yourself you did everything that was asked of you. 7. Believe in yourself Before you walk into each practice or meet, tell yourself that any challenge that gets put in front of you, you will be able to conquer. No matter how bor Practice doesn t ing, no matter how exhaustdetermination Staying ing, no matter how trivial make perfect, perfect focused so that you things may seem strive to achieve your goals no conquer it all.every time. practice makes matter what it takes. If you don t have faith in perfect. your own abilities, then you Dedication Giving up a need to start at square one part of one s life to achieve an ultimate and build that faith. goal. 8. Believe in your coaches If there is one thing that you should never do, it s Desire Reaching for what others may not trusting in what a coach may tell you. feel is unattainable. If you don t believe in the training you put in with all the effort you gave, then it is all for naught. What we will ask you to do, If you are truly determined, dedicated, how we will tell you to do it, and how we and desire to succeed that nothing will may push you, is all in an effort to make stop you. you successful. Trust in us because we 5. Subscribing to the three D s There are three key traits that every great athlete possesses: believe in you. 9. NEVER make excuses Excuses are for those who don t have the heart, courage, or pride to rise to the occasion. Excuses are for those that have given up on their dreams when the road ahead is all fogged over. Excuses are a quitter s best friend. 10. NEVER use a four letter word Can t, don t, won t are words not recognized by coaches. See number Do everything as perfect as you can every time! Practice doesn t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. Enough said.. Nothing in this life ever comes free, especially success. There is a LARGE price to pay in order to be successful in this sport. Some of my suggestions may not be all the ways to be successful but they are a great start. Coaches Corner Since this is my first newsletter, I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about my experience. My wife, Renee, and I live in Highland with our three girls, Katie (5) and our wonderful twins, Rachel and Sarah (2). I ve have been coaching since I started off volunteering for my old high school coach after I learned that I didn t clear medical waivers to compete at Indiana University and would be unable to train and compete for Doc Councilman. After 2 years of High School assisting, I started my age group coaching career at Lake Central. While I also helped out with the High School teams, my desire to just work with age group swimmers blossomed. After 2 years at Lake Central and a brief stint doing accounting work (my actual college major), I took a job as the Head Coach of the Munster. I was there for 8 years. While I had many friends there and learned much from the swimmers, I decided to move on and join In the dawg house Crown Point. I would really like to thank everyone for this opportunity in trusting me with growing and developing your young athletes hopefully into successful collegiate careers. Career Highlights: Helped coach 2 Junior National qualifiers, 1 U.S. Open qualifier, 1 High School State Champion and multiple High School State qualifiers 76 T-16 individual swimmers (with 3 number one rankings) and 44 T-16 relays Summer 2000 & Winter Indiana Age Group State Championship Runners Up 11 of the 15 seasons coaching Munster resulted in a top 5 finish or better One of my more humbling moments in getting to meet and talk with both Jon Urbancek (from University of Michigan) and Dr. Dave Salo (Novaquatics) at the Short Course World Championships in Indianapolis Coached 8 Central Zones individual champions 33 individual Age Group State Champions and 15 relay Age Group State Champion Level 5 ASCA certified I hope to be able to have some of the same success here that I have in the past and even more in the future. Swimcerely...Coach John Page 3

4 Crown Point September/October Birthday s!! Phone: ext We re on the web! September: Taylor Adams 9/4 11 yrs. old Lauren Doyle 9/4 7 yrs. old Sam Gill 9/28 10 yrs. old Caroline Lodovisi 9/2 9 yrs. old Erika Tanquilut 9/10 7 yrs. old Arly Woodworth 9/23 8 yrs. old October: Erin Mauger 10/23 14 yrs. old Angelica Pabon 10/16 9 yrs. old Holly Schuster 10/17 10 yrs. old Andy Vandenburg 10/27 13 yrs. old Meet Results Summer Age Group State Championships Event # 1 Girls 50 Breast 10 & Under 48.39L F Schuster, Holly G L F Adams, Taylor Event # 3 Girls 100 Free 10 & Under 1:20.25L P Schuster, Holly G Event # 11 Girls 100 Free :08.00L P Lowry, Caitlyn :09.75L P Balko, Hayley A Event # 12 Boys 100 Free :08.90L P Yeager, Blake R :09.58L F Yeager, Blake R Event # 13 Girls 100 Free :05.03L P Lionberger, Ashley R :05.37L P Raspopovich, Molly R Event # 14 Boys 100 Free :01.06L P Morin, Brendan J :01.70L F Morin, Brendan J :02.27L P Kukurugya, Matt Event # 15 Girls 400 IM :37.48L F Roberts, Angela J Event # 17 Girls 50 Fly L P Balko, Hayley A Event # 19 Girls 200 Fly :50.09L P Kleinaman, Morgan C Event # 21 Girls 100 Breast :31.29L P Raspopovich, Hannah M Event # 24 Boys 100 Breast :21.05L F Kukurugya, Matt :21.94L P Kukurugya, Matt Event # 26 Boys 400 Free :17.76L F Yeager, Blake R Event # 27 Girls 400 Medley Relay :58.60L F A Relay 14 6 Molly Raspopovich, Angela J. Roberts, Ashley R. Lionberger, Samantha R. Lamantia Event # 28 Boys 400 Medley Relay :00.82L F A Relay 15 4 Event # 31 Girls 50 Free 10 & Under 36.49L F Schuster, Holly G Event # 33 Girls 100 Breast 10 & Under 1:46.09L F Schuster, Holly G :47.77L F Adams, Taylor Event # 37 Girls 200 Free Relay :01.48L F A Relay 15 4 Ashley R. Lionberger, Samantha R. Lamantia, Molly R. Raspopovich, Angela J. Roberts Event # 38 Boys 200 Free Relay :00.01L F A Relay Event # 39 Girls 400 Free :56.82L F Lionberger, Ashley R Event # 43 Girls 100 Back :15.03L P Raspopovich, Molly R :15.88L P Roberts, Angela J Event # 44 Boys 100 Back :12.10L P Morin, Brendan J :13.10L F Morin, Brendan J Event # 45 Girls 100 Fly :20.54L P Balko, Hayley A Event # 47 Girls 100 Fly :13.38L P Lionberger, Ashley R :14.49L P Raspopovich, Molly R Event # 48 Boys 100 Fly :10.78L P Kukurugya, Matt Event # 49 Girls 50 Free L P Lowry, Caitlyn L P Balko, Hayley A Event # 50 Boys 50 Free L P Yeager, Blake R L F Yeager, Blake R Event # 51 Girls 50 Free L P Raspopovich, Molly R L P Lionberger, Ashley R L P Roberts, Angela J Event # 52 Boys 50 Free L F Morin, Brendan J L P Morin, Brendan J Event # 52 Boys 50 Free (cont.) 27.65L F Kukurugya, Matt L P Kukurugya, Matt Event # 55 Girls 200 IM :39.52L P Roberts, Angela J :40.55L F Roberts, Angela J Event # 57 Girls 200 Medley Relay :25.48L F A Relay 15 4 Gabrielle S. Raspopovich, Hannah M. Raspopovich, Hayley A. Balko, Caitlyn Lowry Event # 59 Girls 200 Medley Relay :16.03L F A Relay Molly R. Raspopovich, Angela J. Roberts, Ashley R. Lionberger, Samantha R. Lamantia Event # 60 Boys 200 Medley Relay :14.94L F A Relay Event # 67 Girls 200 Free Relay10 & Under 2:41.90L F A Relay , Emily Dykstra, Taylor Adams, Holly G. Schuster Event # 73 Girls 200 Back :44.59L P Raspopovich, Molly R :45.24L P Roberts, Angela J Event # 75 Girls 50 Breast L P Raspopovich, Hannah M L P Adams, Britney Event # 80 Boys 200 Free :34.55L P Yeager, Blake R Event # 81 Girls 200 Free :17.89L P Lionberger, Ashley R Event # 83 Girls 200 Free Relay :04.28L F A Relay 6 26 Britney Adams, Gabrielle S. Raspopovich, Caitlyn Lowry, Hayley A. Balko Event # 85 Girls 400 Free Relay :24.34L F A Relay Angela J. Roberts, Samantha R. Lamantia, Molly R. Raspopovich, Ashley R. Lionberger

OCTOBER 2005 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Schedule of Events 1 October 14-16 - Michigan City Piranha Fall Invitaional 2 3 4 5

5 OCTOBER 2005 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Schedule of Events 1 October Michigan City Piranha Fall Invitaional No Practices 15 No Practices No Practices - Halloween

Gold s Aquatics Club. We look forward to meeting you and your family soon! Our Mission. Our Philosophy

Gold s Aquatics Club. We look forward to meeting you and your family soon! Our Mission. Our Philosophy Gold s Aquatics Club So you re interested in swimming We are a year round competitive swim team, and have been swimming at Gold s Gym Woodinville since 2007. Our team includes swimmers ages 5 and up. Could