Boles Notes December 2009 Hello all another month has flown by and when time travels at that speed one must remind him or herself to make each day count. As I write this we are in around 100 days from the Nationals/Pan Pac Trials (March 31 April 3 in Montreal). I trust you all have a rock solid plan in place to execute the best possible performances of your swimmers. A great deal of dialogue, on line opinion and of course, our first hand experience regarding competing without the magical suits. We see the results from Europeans and the World Cups, the rocket like times with several world records being broken and established. For the most part We, the ones here competing in Canada and the States back to reality and some good old fashion realizations There are no short cuts! We need to train smart and be exceptionally driven toward the pressure and stress in which the race demands. We must continue to develop the technical efficiency under that same stress. We must commit to the time required to improve the starts and turns. We must strive with effective ways to shape the body to glide through the water with little drag and utmost efficiency (Dry land, Strength & Conditioning best practices in place). Take time to read the article by Dr. Judy Goss in the latest Swim Magazine for some tips for the go forward without the suit. Hold Fast Swimming, Good Training and Thorough Preparation in extremely High Regard! Welcome difficult, goal oriented challenges! Seek out Challenges that will help you swim Faster and achieve your goals! Before I get started I want to let you in on a couple of things (tricks) I saw as I was out and about. First was with Sean Dwyer (Trent) he and Scott Farrow have been developing a neuro element to the kick rate by taking surgical tubing, wrapping around the ankles in a figure 8 (like if you were to do pull but have the swimmers kick full out 4x25 @1min and then take the tube off and kick 2x50 all out I like the idea so much I thought it might help those swimmers who are weak in the hip flexors for back kick give it a try. I also liked what Ron Campbell (CAJ) was doing with mirrors on deck and under water even for back stroke while holding it over the water. These mirrors can be ordered and purchased at Team Aquatic supply (approx $75/1 metre mirror) Check it out. So my journey of my 100 Ontario clubs continues with a visit in Georgetown and the Halton Hills Swim Club under the direction of head coach Mike Thompson (former swimmer of mine) Mike was busy on the deck helping with one of the local high school teams before having his Sr 1&2 swimmers run through a solid practice of skills and challenging sets. Halton Hills Swim club along with many others this particular season has experienced growth in numbers going from 40+ swimmers a few years ago to a solid 140+ today. The growth and continued drive in the pool is in direct relationship with hard work and vision. To help Mike is a number of coaches like Chris Henderson conducting Jr 2&3 practices (these kids do not shy away from hard work and having fun at the same time. Look for great swims from the Halton Hills crew this coming championship season. A side note, each year on the same weekend as the Jr
Provincials, Halton Hills and the Milton Marlins compete against each other for the Halton Hills Cup utilizing the swimmers not competing at the Jr Provincials what a great idea! The next day I left the Swim Ontario office and headed up to Orillia first to see the Orillia Y Channel Cats having practice at the Orillia YMCA. Head Coach Meredith Thompson Edwards leads the senior group through a Dry land/ Swim Circuit while assistant coaches Elaine Thompson and Ken Elphick lead their young charges at the same time. A great deal of effort and cooperation has gone into building a strong relationship with the club and the Y. Again another club experiencing a good year of growth in numbers. Always the challenge is how to manage with the limited pool space but Meredith and her team have demonstrated if there is a will, there is a way. While in Orillia I along with John Vadeika and Christy Yaremczuk attended the Huronia Region Meeting. Thanks to Florence Kelly and her team of directors for having us there and a chance to see how cooperative the clubs are and the positive impact they have in Ontario swimming. Lots of potential to be realized there. Right after the meeting I headed over to Peterborough to catch early morning practice at Trent University with head coach Sean Dwyer(Trent) on deck with the Senior team while Tony Brundle (former competitive swimmer from Brock University) and Julie Cartwright running the Junior practices. A great mixture of swimming, Dry Land and conditioning between the groups took place during the 2 hour session. Attention to detail was the theme in and out of the practice. As soon as 7:45 am hit, the Varsity squad of Trent University hit the water with the help from Swimmer/coach Scott Farrow. Coach Nicole Dwyer (Sean s wife took care of the important things at home that morning). After a good chat with Sean sharing ideas I was off down the highway to Whitby. I would not be attempting this goal of 100 clubs without the help of a GPS device. This time I found myself at the Whitby Iroquois Centre and the Anne Ottenbrite Pool. Actually before entering the pool I was amazed to find not the usual two ice rinks but SIX under one roof. I did find my way on the deck with head coach Trent McNicol (WDSC)conducting the pm practice. Physical Strength is the foundation to the program as each Senior swimmers carried out a routine of perfected exercises including a huge number of body weight movement exercises. Once the practice started a crew of swimmers followed the SNC conditioning tests conducted by Trent s wife (a fire fighter and likely the strongest person I have seen on my visits). Assistance coach Cathy Gerroir had 20+ Jr swimmers in the lanes beside the seniors following a series of sequenced drills and skills using fins. On my way out the door I ran into Julie Howard (1996 Olympian and recent Aquatic Hall of Fame inductee) with husband Brad Johnson (former CIS champion ) with their two young children entering in to the swim of things with parent and tot swimming. The recruiting flyers will be heading their way no doubt. The next morning I found myself at the Ajax Community Centre watching head coach Matt Bell (AAC)running his seniors through a well sequenced routine of yoga and activation exercises. Then into the pool for a clear and concise practice of general swimming with skill and pace expectation with focus on motor perfection (form & content of the stroke efficiency and speed control). From the first notice board I saw outside of the pool area to in and around the deck, Excellence through swimming was
evident. I look forward to dropping in on the Agegroup and Jr programs under the direction of Mischa Sommerville in the new year. Later on that day, I visited the Wilfrid Laurier University pool for the official re opening of the pool. Almost 12 months to the day, the pool was headed for permanent closing due to insufficient funds for much needed repairs. November 20 th was a day of high 5 s for a community that came together to save a pool. Two million dollars raised by the ROW Swim Club, WLU student body and the Cities of Kitchener and Waterloo and another two million from the provincial and federal bodies has given an awesome facelift and inner workings of great air flow and state of the art blocks and meet operation system. We look forward to all the anticipated building of aquatic facilities for Ontario in the next few years. Another good example of a group of Aquatic supporters was in London over the past couple of years with the refurbishment of the Thames Outdoor pool. Look forward to the Summer LC meet 2010. Masters and Age Group clubs rallied and were successful to save another Long Course facility saved and preserved for many to enjoy. I had another visit at McMaster this time on a different day of the week. The MAC swimmers were doing race preparation work with Coaches Andrew Cole and Tim Sauve. I jumped over to the next group as Sean Baker of the Hamilton Aquatic Club had his female swimmers doing a great head to head set with outstanding practice performances while the guys were hitting some speed leading into the Canada Cup. At 6:45pm after a hour long series of med ball exercises and core development Grey Fairley and Ashley Almas of Golden Horseshoe Aquatic Club ran the 30 plus swimmer from their top group in 4 lanes while long time swim coach Sam Hart ran a group of youngsters through drills and skills fitting for their next challenge set. The next day I stayed a bit closer to home and visited head coach Ron Campbell of the Cambridge Aqua Jets. Ron had a mixture of swimming going on hitting some quality swims on one of their test set days. As time went on during the practice another group came in head up by assistant coach Barb Primeau and then a couple more Jr groups with coaches Natasha and Sara. The pool became busy and full, another symptom of a club having a very good membership drive. Ron brought out the mirrors for stroke correction in the water and out of the water good teaching tool. At the end of practice I had an opportunity to tell the swimmers that the John Dolson pool had a special memory for me as it was the pool I first qualified for my first nationals cut. When describing that the blocks were then in the shallow end, one of the Aqua Jets quickly asked how old are you? Well that was the end of my story telling for the day. As the month of November was coming to a close I was able to attend with John Vadeika a meeting at U of T for the National Swim Centre with the coaches and administrators from High Performance sport and Swim Canada. All efforts are on track to promote great swimming in the GTA through the centre and the local swim clubs with the support of Ontario sport and Ministry of Health and Promotion. We look forward to more opportunities as we edge closer to the 2015 Pan Am Games. Thursday morning of the 4 th week of November found me travelling the 407 to the Mallards Swim Club in Markham and coach Serge Vangeneroff. The theme for the morning was IM swimming with 25 s of
fast fly kick, several combinations of strokes and drills and pace. We worked on the finer elements of the pushoffs and the underwater kickouts. A quick trip back down the highway from the pool to the Etobicoke Olympium where the National Jr. Prospects team was having a practice prior to the Canada Cup. Kelly Steeves and Ulf Ornjhelm (NEW) were part of the staff for this initiative lead by Jr national coach Ken McKinnon. Later that day was the UniversityChallenge Cup where the top invited universities came to compete in a short competition at the U of T. The Ontario schools who participated in this event were the U of T, Western, U of Waterloo, Laurier, MAC, and Guelph. U of T men came out on top while the University of Calgary won the women. Friday morning I met up with 40 Age Groups swimmers from the Markham Aquatic Club lead by Head Age Group coach Brian Lindsay along side him coach Danica at the Thornlea pool in Markham assisting in the clear direction of the sets. Attention to Detail is evident as the core group of the squad, execute the walls and streamlines extremely well. The other observation is that these kids work hard throughout a 4000m IM combination set finishing the last 20 minutes of practice with speed of the Relay Takeover exercise. Again down the highway back to Etobicoke to watch the Canada Cup. Many of the Ontario swimmers swam well with many personal bests and in season performances a fair start to the season going back to the basics. A very good check point( I call this the Snapshot of Truth period) to round the corner into some heavy training and preparation for the Championships meets later in February, March and April. While the Jr prospects team carried out some more testing protocols, Swim Ontario hosted a breast stroke/ IM camp with lead coach Jozsef Nagy (coach of Annamay Pierse) You can read my report on the website. My notes include some very good insight not only for breast stroke but the training methodology and Race Execution for High Performance results. Joe sent me a note the other day recommending a book to read It is by his professor from Hungary Akos Toth the book The Methodology of Teaching Swimming that day was very insightful for the ones who experienced it. As I eased into December I had a chance to head up north of the 401 to Brampton to visit the home pool and head coach Bill O toole. His swimmers were coming off the Canada Cup and some were getting ready for the Youth Cup so technique was the theme of the practice. A great set up at the McMurchy Pool with the Cobra Swim Club having the full run of the facility. As the practice wound down it was evident Bill was once button holed as only a sprint coach but he is now in his words a full service coach and the results from the Youth Cup showed that with top finishes in nearly all events. A good staff of coaches assisting Bill includes Jorge, Tony and Ian to name a few who I saw on deck that night. I had a chance to see a strong showing of Ontario clubs during the Youth Cup hosted by the North York Swim Club. I can remember this meet being the Jr Canada Cup I hope with some interest from the topdown brass, we can see a true international flavor be brought back into the landscape here in Ontario. My last club visit was to the Mississauga Aquatic Club under the direction of head coach Mike Rutledge. I had the opportunity to see the new U of T Mississauga pool a very nice 8 lane 25m pool in a stunning
athletic complex. This has been a great addition to the club who continues to see swimmers rise to the national final but is especially excited about the 75+ 12& unders covering 3 groups. A full on practice of 2015 and beyond hopefuls going through the doors every Saturday morning 6 9am at the UTM campus. The strong core of experienced coaches Darren Ward (1988 Olympian),Coach Andrei and Mike Gurgol aiming to lead Ontario swimming in the age group ranks once again. December 9 th I was off with the Ontario Youth Team to the Bergen Jr International meet in Portland. Great job by the swimmers. Special thanks to Team Manager Anne Bell, Coaches Andrew Craven (LAC), Sean Dwyer(Trent) and Victor Delac(TSC). The Results are posted. First glance at the meet, Ontario swimmers won 17 medals, performed 40% best times and gained an experience that will help move them toward the next level. As a province we must continue to improve our strengths (our strong events 100 metre events/im s) but we do need to commit to a higher level of achievement and effort for the 200 metre events in particular the 400m free and 200 flys. Our counterparts and colleagues out West have a pretty good hold on that area of performance. Come on you guys Giddy up and GO! On this. Last stop will be U of T for the Mini Camp 8 10am and 4 6pm for swimmers with 740 point performances. Happy Holidays and the very best for 2010 and beyond. Regards Dean Boles