From the Coaches - End of November Updates
FUNdamentals 2 & 3:
The fundamentals squad has been doing great work so far this season! Recently the group
had mastered reading sets off the board and practicing using the pace clocks during sets
instead of relying on the coaches to start them. We are also proud of the swimmers
encouraging each other during practice, it being great moral to the squad. All the swimmers
have been doing amazing in and out of the pool! We would like to recognize the following
swimmers who have done a great job exemplifying the core values we hold as a team:
respect, leadership, pride, and excellence.
Standout Swimmers:
Mila is part of our FUNdamentals2 group. Recently we have welcomed two new swimmers
to the squad, and she has naturally taken a leadership role by helping out our new
swimmers.
Emma is part of our FUNdamentals2 group as well. She comes to every practice ready to
take on new challenges. During activation and land, she always puts the same effort into the
exercises the coaches give.
Rowan & Ellie C are part of our FUNdamentals3 group. During practice they are always
attentive and apply feedback from the coaches to their stroke. They also encourage their
team mates to strive for their best on a regular basis.
~Coach Christina and Coach Karley
Blue:
Blue swimmers have been doing an awesome job working on their skills for the 200 FR and
200 IM in practice! This meant a couple of weeks where swimmers had long practices
chalked full of swimming. Earlier this month, a few of our swimmers decided that they
wanted to do some baking for the group, and we had a spontaneous, after practice, baking
exchange!
At the first NovaTech meet Clara, Chloe, and Aurora graduated Level 2 and moved up to
Age Group Competition! We also had Nia and Kornii graduate Level 1 and will now be
swimming the 200 FR and 200 IM at NovaTech competitions!
The Age Group swimmers continued practicing their sprints at the Dal meet in early
November and tried their hand at the 200 BK and 200 BR at Acadia! It was a great
opportunity to try some new events and work on the 200s skills we had been developing in
practice!
Up next is the NovaTech 2 competition on December 2, and the Candy Cane (age group)
meet December 8-10 – our first chance at a prelims and finals meet!
Standout Swimmer:
This month I wanted to highlight Kyrie! Kyrie is incredibly focused on his technique and
takes in feedback from any coaches who provide it. Kyrie’s focus and dedication are showing
in the way he has raced this month!
~Coach Victoria
Gold:
Over the weekend at Acadia Gold swimmers showed great focus and use of the skills we
have been working on in practice. This resulted in some awesome swims and some great
reflection to take back into practice as we build into the Candy Cane meet! Both Leila and I
are very proud of everyone’s effort and attitude throughout the weekend, we love to see
the excellent support and cheering on your teammates! Sunday morning saw Avery lead the
12U warm up group to be the loudest Crusader team cheer from some of our smallest
Crusaders. Golds focus and effort resulted in some great progress and some new time
achievements in both AAA times achieved and a club record broken!
Julia achieved the 12U women’s 200IM time at Acadia to add to her previously achieved
200FR time qualifying her as a AAA swimmer.
Ainsley achieved the 200BK and 200BR 12U women’s AAA times, moving her closer to that
AAA qualification.
Noa achieved the 200BK, 200BR, 200IM and 1500FR AAA times for 12U men to add to his list
of AAA qualified times.
Hayden achieved the 200BK and 200BR AAA times for 12U men, some solid progress
towards a AAA qualification.
Lily achieved the 200BR, 1500FR and 200IM AAA times for 12U women to add to her AAA
qualified times list and is now a Crusaders club record holder in the 10U women’s 100FR
with a speedy time of 1:10.68! The previous record was set in 1998 at 1:10.90.
We are excited to build towards Truro’s Candy Cane meet! Make sure you pull out all your
festive accessories ready for the meet!
Gold swimmers have been building our meters in practice, with awesome effort on our long
Monday night 100s free sets! A lot of technique corrections have been made, with the help
of our handy orange headset circles and the speaker that we enjoy using!! We are excited to
see Gold bring on this technique, stamina, and speed in Truro.
Standout Swimmer:
We wanted to highlight El Dorey, who is only on their second season of Crusaders. El has
grown so much as a swimmer and brings a positive energy to the group by being there for
their teammates, being respectful in the lanes, and having a good attitude towards self-
reflection and challenges. El is unfortunately leaving the club this month - but their growth
as a swimmer and person, and contribution to the team will be remembered! Thank you to
all the swimmers that signed a Crusaders shirt as a parting gift. El - you’ll be missed but we
all wish you good luck with your move and transition to the Yarmouth Whitecaps! See you
on deck at meets!
~Coach Leila and Coach Lauren
Junior:
Junior squad continues to build their fitness base and expand their race experiences. With
use of measured training sets to help identify individual pace times we will be transitioning
toward training sets in which swimmers will have individual target times to achieve. The
squad completed their first 2km set of 20 x 100 on Saturday with great effort and positive
attitude. Thanks are extended to all the parents who were able to join us on deck and
record all the times for the coach.
~Coach Michelle
Senior:
Senior has continued to see tremendous progress in our training, specifically with aerobic
endurance work. This has culminated in some spectacular 1500 Fr races that took place at
Acadia. Each Senior swimmer had their own goal pace times and many were able to follow
race plans to achieve these times. We will continue to work on the small details and good
habits including turns, underwater, and breakouts. We have started to individualize
workouts for the athletes to target goals and key races. Swimmers that attended practices
on Nov. 12th and Nov. 28th received individualized workouts that were performed very
well. As we look towards January we are increasing our speed work in our long course
practices.
Stand-out Swimmers:
I would like to highlight all the Senior swimmers that swam a 1500Fr at Acadia. The start of
the session was not ideal, and everyone took that in stride; Alex, Idan, Luke, Leon, Dominic,
Niara, Emma, Sophia Croft, and Rosalyn.
Special shout out to Sam who swam all three events plus a relay on Saturday afternoon and
Sophia Deane who PB’d in both 50Bk and 200Bk.
- Coach Mikayla