Green Mountain Swim Team

Hello team!

First, awesome job at practice today, the coaches were really pleased with the effort we saw at all age levels. We’re getting ready for times to start dropping like hot potatoes…

We also wanted to remind everyone to please bring back COMPLETED goal sheets by Thursday’s practice! If you missed today, we’ll have copies at the pool for you to pick up tomorrow. Some of our younger swimmers might want to employ the help of an older friend, sibling, parent, ect… to get the sheet done! Your coaches are looking forward to hearing what you have to say!

Another note–I just got the team manager software installed on my computer today, so things like best times and at least partial meet results will be up soon. Check back by day’s end!

Finally, an updated night practice schedule (I’ll make a link to this in the links page) for our upper division swimmers.

Monday-7:30-9:00 p.m.
Tuesday-7:30-9:00 p.m.
Wednesday-7:50-9:00 p.m. (includes dryland AND water polo)

Thanks for checking in! And please share some of your team goals in the comments section of this blog post!

Coach Luke

Hello all –

First, I wanted to let you know that Coach Rich is beginning night practice tonight from 7:30-9pm! This is meant for upper division swimmers, and it is a GREAT way to improve your skills and get in even better shape!

Second, I want to encourage everyone to PLEASE try to make it out to practice tomorrow! We will have meet sign up for Saturday’s meet against Lakewood, and we will also have goal sheets that we will work on in practice. These are very important to the coaches, so if you miss please pick one up on Wednesday!

Finally, I wanted to give some quick recognition to some excellent Gators who made a big splash in the pool this weekend in our first meet of the season! Like the coaches kept saying, this week was more about smiles than state times, so here are a few swimmers who their coaches smile with their effort, toughness and great attitudes!

Kevin Kruse came back from a year off with new energy and not a trace of rust! He beat (Krushed, if you will) his goal times off the bat and with a little more practice, looks like he could be right back at the league meet this year!

Jake and Gabe Odenweller came into the year as new swimmers and have so far given it everything they’ve got! They’ve attended every practice, sported a few different hairstyles, and have gone for some of the hardest events…all after only 4 days of practice! Talk about confidence!

Kenzie Oreskovich earned her keep with a CARA swim team last year and has come in and has already made an immediate impact with the team. Her awesome attitude, huge race presence, love of butterfly and HUGE smile have already inspired her coaches and her teammates. Keep your eye on this one!

The 13-14 boys came out in force, and they showed that they’ll be a force to be reckoned with this year! At a time when many boys drop out to pursue other interests (bugs/boogers/farting/girls/ect…) we’ve got 2 relays+ of some of the most dedicated, fun-loving kids on the
team. This WILL be a top 10 relay at state, I’m calling it now!

Jack Lucas swam extremely well, crushing competition 2-10 times his size with a huge dive and killer instinct in the pool! Who said whiling away your summers on the GMSC diving boards wasn’t worth something?

Brett Wilsey swam one of the biggest races of her swimming career, coming from wayyyyyy behind to catch a fellow swimmer who looked like, after 75 meters, would swim away with the race. But Brett did EXACTLY as she was coached to do and swam a blazing fast time, all while showing that she compete in more than just the breaststroke!

and finally, I know this week was about smiles, NOT state times, but…

Dylan Jacob swam an incredibly gutsy 50 freestyle to close out the Boys 9-10 relay. Even though he wasn’t quite able to catch the stingray relay, he did manage to break 35 seconds. In meters. Did I mention that the winning time at state last year for this age group was 34.58? One of the toughest records in the Gator record book (17 years old!) looks like it might be in reach!

Thanks again for all of your hard work! We’ll see y’all in the morning!

Coach Luke

Hello again!

I first wanted to let everyone know that I made another
meet time mistake. I got the warm-up times mixed up, putting upper
division first and lower second. The times currently showing in the box
to your right are updated AND correct. Please help me spread the word, especially since this is rather last minute and I didn’t learn of my mistake until the end of practices today. We’d like to keep everything as streamlined as possible in the morning!

Lower Division (12-under)

6:00-6:15

Upper Division (13-up)

6:15-6:30

Please come 10 minutes earlier than the posted time to make sure you
have enough time to stretch and get ready! Warm-ups are short so every
minute is valuable!

And a final note…the only top haiku submitted so far from the survey by celebrated gator haiku-ist Molly Kruse.

Dear Lucas Morin
I love swimming on the team
I love prizes too.

Can you top it? Might be tough…

Coach Luke

Hello again!

There aren’t many new updates to report (I know, it’s killing me too…) but I did productively waste my free time today by doing the following things to the blog:

1) There’s a new link section to the right that mostly links back to the GMSC main site to provide you with things like qual times, records, order of events, best times (coming soon) and practice schedule.
2) Created a “next meet” section with vital information about our Saturday Meet and the finalized relays for that meet.
3) Created a survey to test out a new format for meet entries that is posted below. Please help me out and fill it out! View survey here!

Coach Luke

So I missed my self-imposed 10 a.m. deadline, but here’s the info for tomorrow!

———–

What:
Intrasquad Swim Meet

Where:
Green Mountain Swim Club

When:
Wednesday, June 3

Warm-Ups: 6 p.m.
Meet Start: About 6:30 p.m.

Who:
All swimmers, especially those new to the Gator family!

Why:
This meet is a big practice meet for us. It gives all of our swimmers (new and old!) a chance to get back into our pool and swim a real meet in a fun, stress-free environment. It’s great practice for everything from understanding race procedures to how kids go through the heating tent. These meets can feel complicated if you’ve never participated in one!

It also gives us a chance to test out our equipment and volunteers to make sure that everything is running smoothly so that we don’t encounter problems on Saturday!

———–

Please make sure you’re at the pool on time for warm-up, it will be short! Also note that we will have a very IMPORTANT parents meeting at the beginning of the meet, so don’t just drop your kids off, if at all possible! We’d really like to get the chance to speak with you at the beginning of the meet!

Finally, on the weather watch, note that the high tomorrow is supposed to be a blustery 65. That means that when the sun starts going down, you’re going to want something warming for both you AND your wet child. Think wind chill, multiplied by 10. Then think about how grumpy your child will be once their teeth stop chattering enough for them to express their displeasure. Bring SEVERAL dry towels, blankets and a thermos with some warm liquids!

Thanks, and everyone hope for some SUNSHINE!

Coach Luke

As the very perceptive and insightful amongst you may have guessed, practice is off today due to the mildly inclement weather…and the fact that the coaches don’t want to catch hypothermia trying to instruct you.

Tomorrow looks like a bit of a toss-up, although if it’s not raining you can assume that we’ll be there waiting for you at the pool!

Intrasquad updates are coming in the near future (by 10am), since I got it totally wrong the first time…

Coach Luke