Great job last night Riptide! We secured a win to start us off strong. However, the primary goal of the meet is to learn about ourselves so we can work on improving both as individuals and as teammates. For a first meet I think we did exceptionally well: 

1. We rarely had to put out an APB for a swimmer which is a win (just remember to stay close to the bullpen while you still have events to swim).

2. Although not SPOTLESS, the bullpen was fairly clean at the end of the night which is awesome (please just remember to throw all trash away before leaving).

3. We had some amazing performances resulting in dozens of PR’s.

4. Most athletes tried to swim ALL of their events even if they didn’t want to or felt like it may be too hard. I think some swimmers surprised themselves! It is important to remember that us as coaches will never put a swimmer into an event if we don’t believe they can do it. However, as always, please let us know if you ever have serious concerns about any event.

Weaknesses/Points to Work On:

1. Breakouts (getting up and swimming fast) - summer league is all about quick races so we want to maximize our underwaters but only until we lose that momentum and then we want to get to top speed ASAP. We will work on this next week.

2. Turns.  As always our turns as a team were a little weak (most likely because of only having a few practices). We will DEFINITELY be hitting these hard next week.

3. Sportsmanship - we did fairly well here but it is important for swimmers to remember to stay in the pool until all swimmers have finished. It is a sign of respect.

4. Starts - we just haven’t had enough practice on these yet but we will spend a good deal of time on these as well next week.

5. This is directed specifically at the athletes: if you are never at practice and you never communicate with your coaches, please don’t show up to a meet expecting a coach to “fix your freestyle” in warmup or get upset when your times are not what you expected. Swimming is a sport that requires muscular endurance but more importantly it is all about muscle memory. If you miss several practices, you lose a feel for the water which makes earning a PR quite challenging. Show up to practice and TELL your coaches what you want to accomplish and they will help get you there.

We will continue to work and improve as a team next week in preparation for one of our more fun meets against Wild Timber. Thank you to all parents and volunteers last night because without you there is no swim meet. Words cannot express my appreciate for each and every one of you. Also a big shoutout to all parents because I understand the sacrifice you are making to give up 5+ hours to sit in the rain just to watch you child swim for 1-3 minutes is truly commendable.

Go Riptide!

Coach Daab