A Great Practice

Friday's practice was the best practice of the year!  We had a full group and the lanes were set up for Regional's to be swum at night, so the pool was perfect to do some racing.  It was a test set day where the kids were challenged to make goals and go for them.  We talked about the set after warm up, they picked their stroke, and went for it.


The set:
6 times 100 stroke (no freestyle) on 6 minutes (lots of rest)
All the same stroke
Go for best time
Hold the pace and find ways to get faster!

The kids started off the first one and really had great effort.  They hit some goals, and were close with others.  Their times were getting written on the board and they could see where they stood.  I think throughout the practice almost a quarter of them had swam all time best times, and the rest were within 1-2 seconds.  I had swimmers holding all 6 within 2 seconds of each other, and other swimmers telling me the next day they were ready to get sick by the end (a good thing I think).

What made this the best practice of the year wasn't the fact that they gave great effort or hit goal times.  It wasn't about the streamlines, which were great, the turns, or the stroke technique.  The reason this practice was great was because by number 3, all of the swimmers started moving toward the end of their lanes as the other groups were in.  They were cheering, screaming, and waving for their teammates to go faster.  They were holding each other accountable and helping them get to their goals.  They would get excited when they went best times, and even more excited when their teammates did.  The kids got into the practice, gave it everything they had, and pushed each other in a way we haven't seen this year.  They became a team and a group that supports each other today, something that goes a really long way in loving swimming.  That's why this was the best practice of the year!!

As a side note Coach JD and Leah said their ears were ringing afterwards.  This was from the energy and cheering from the swimmers, and a lot of help from Coach Jordan and his peircing whistle and energetic cheers.  Great stuff!