From the Coaches - March News

From the Coaches - March News:

FUNdamentals:
The Fundamentals group have been doing a fantastic job in practice this month. Recently we
have been focused on practicing applying what we learn in practice to our strokes. For
example, breathing patterns when doing freestyle and butterfly to increase lung capacity and
promote rhythm. Another thing is 5m walls off every wall. Each swimmer has been executing
the sets with effort and thought which is amazing to see. To end the month our squad has an
IM time check where many swimmers got PB (personal best) or qualifying times. As the end
of the season approaches there are lots of events the swimmers can look forward to! 
The swimmers we would like to recognize this month for their execution in practice and
eagerness to improve are Jude L. and Vy L. Both of these swimmers have been working on
their freestyle and butterfly over the past few weeks. During practice they come ready to
learn and apply what we are teaching to their strokes which sets a great example for other
swimmers. 
~Coaches Christina and Karley

Blue:
Blue swimmers have been doing an amazing job in training to increase their mid-distance
freestyle abilities! This has involved completing longer sets to prepare us for racing 200 and
400 FR. We have also spent time working on our underwater dolphin kicks to make sure we
are getting past the flags off of each wall. This also well prepared the group for their first ever
long course meet!
This month I would like to highlight Lilah G. She was new to swimming at the start of the
season and has continued to pick up new skills along the way. Recently she has been finding
new ways to challenge herself and is finding success in her training! She is a great teammate
and helps make sure other swimmers know when they should be going for sets and reminding
them of what equipment is needed when forgotten.
~Coach Victoria

Gold:
Gold swimmers are back from march break and ready to put some work in to build strong
into our spring season! Before March break, gold swimmers were working on their capacity
to swim further and we really upped the distances covered each practice. Now that we have
spent some time building distance, we are now playing with some speed work over different
distances to challenge and grow swimmers ability to cover these distances faster. We are
increasing speed while holding on to those important skills and technique we spend so much
time talking about and practicing. With this increase in demand, swimmers are increasing
their understanding of recovery and making sure they are thinking of all of the elements that
go in to swimming their best. It has been great to see an increase in awareness and
understanding about our stretch, strength and mobility work in land playing an important part
in keeping muscles and joints able to handle the increase in demand and work load. Gold
swimmers are valuing their stretch time more and starting to incorporate this outside of
practice to boost recovery ready for our next practice. This is an important skill to be able to
use on those long swim meet weekends so it is great to see some swimmers taking ownership
to make sure they are feeling their best to swim!
We would like to highlight one gold swimmer that we have recognized for really putting in
the effort to focus on skills and best technique while pushing into that work zone of feeling
uncomfortable to challenge growth in their abilities. Often the first one in the water at
practice and taking ownership of leading the lane and knowing the pace time, Nick Tykva has
been coming into practice with great focus and determination. Well done Nick, we are
excited to see your progress at the long course meet this weekend!
For most of our Gold swimmers, this weekend brings the first long course racing opportunity!
Long course swimming brings a new excitement and new challenges and we are excited for
the swimmers to learn another aspect of swim racing and experience swimming events in a
different way. Well done to everyone who swam at the AA/AAA combined LCM at
Centennial this weekend!
~Coaches Lauren and Leila

Junior:
In the past two weeks we've added some big challenges to our training sessions which
showed some of the big improvements the squad has made this season, and then areas that we
still need to work on like the mental approach to a perceived challenge seen on the white
board.  Measures that have shown improvements - timed 400 kick had nearly 100% PBs,
pace kick - all swimmers can now sustain intervals of 1:00 and 1:05 in all four kicks.  On the
mindset side of training, we are layering in different tools that swimmers can choose to use to
strengthen their approach into the remaining training and competitions for the season -
different breathing techniques for performance, scripting prerace and race events, and
visualization of races will be part of our land training for the next few weeks.
Brody MacPherson and Josh Tumampil - were able to participate in the March break training
camp in Rio Maior, Portugal. They gained experience in working through a wide range of
challenges including international travel, different language, different facility and
expectations around training use, food different from home, expanded training hours, sharing
sleeping quarters, raising performance education sessions, and team work challenges.  They
also had a chance to see other athletes training including the resident youth national team, a
visiting team from France, a youth national team out of Hamburg Germany, a national para
triathlon squad from Brazil, open water swimmers and triathletes from Portugal, each of
whom were training at the Sport Center at various times around us.
~Coach Michelle

Senior:
In the past few weeks Senior has been working on some tough training sets, including an
increase in stroke work both in efforts and in distance. We have been targeting our 100’s and
200’s stroke to develop our proficiency. As we continue our training we will be looking to
return to some freestyle best average sets. MArch was a busy month for our Senior squad
with Alex Jonsen-Humble, Idan Arie, Luke Ellis, Leon Bautista, Samuel Somerton, Dominic
Cote, Oliva Jodrey, and Rozalyn Tate taking part in our March training camp in Portugal.
Swimmers gained some valuable training experience working through some new targeted
training with 4 hours of long course pool time per day, team challenges, and performance
learning sessions. For detailed accounts from our swimmers about the trip take a look at our
(Facebook page). Sophia Deane and Alex Jonsen-Humble both travelled to Quebec City for
Speedo Eastern Championships where they both got to watch and race against some of the
the top competition in the country. They got to observe Katerine Savard prepare and compete.
Alex also experienced his first finals appearance at a National competition.

Swim Nova Scotia Maine Travel Te:am
Over March break, I got to experience travelling as a coach down to Maine with the Swim
NS Maine tour team! From a coach perspective this was a great opportunity to get a different
North American swim meet experience and learn from other coaches, meet and learn from
new swimmers, Swim NS staff and have a fun weekend involved in sport. As a coach looking
at it as an opportunity for our swimmers; its awesome to see just how much some of these
swimmers learned about swimming, about themselves and about going through the swim
meet process managing your own nutrition and energy. 
This is a great chance for swimmers to challenge their skills in an outside, new setting. For
most of these swimmers it was a location they had never been to and they were swimming in
a different set up - 10 racing lanes in a short course yard pool with another four lanes of the
same pool open for warm-up/swim down. New distractions, new excitement, new events;
some swimmers tried out a 500 or 1000 freestyle. This all spread over a 3 and a half day
swim meet with a full day of travel either side. It is absolutely a challenge for them to
manage the whole weekend but they have so much fun doing it, make so many friends and
it’s great watching their confidence grow! All of the coaches were so proud of all of the
swimmers, we all had so much fun! I came back to practice enthusiastic with the hope some
of our current swimmers may get the chance to go next year, I am sure they will have so
much fun and collect some memories as well as ribbons and medals. So, some thoughts for
things to learn/get ready for team travel and for those looking to check out the Maine
experience:
- Qualifying times - trust your progress and apply even if those qualifying times look hard
(talk to your coaches and work on goals to get you there!)
- NUTRITION - this is a big learning curve constantly throughout swimmers years of
swimming but it really is a big one at this meet. Swimmers get to Maine and are set free in a
grocery store to get snacks for the meet, lunches and anything they need to supplement what
is available at meal times. Learning some easy things to grab to put together from a
supermarket (with a fridge and a microwave available at hotel) to feel good and have energy
is something I still have to think about and plan, so swimmers make sure you learn your fuel!
- The travel part: the bus was great, Bette plans lots of activities, games and movies so
everyone knew most people before we made it to Maine and the bus ride didn’t drag on. The
border crossing isn’t too intensive (Bette (Swim NS executive director) plans ahead well and
has 20 years of these trips so she is an organized lady!). It’s a big drive to go into a swim
meet session as you arrive, so having some quieter activities to get some rest or tune out for a
bit if you need to can be helpful plus some snacks for energy. Swimmers room together in 2’s
or 3’s with swimmers from other teams so being able to rest and sleep in a new environment
and having some strategies in place for good sleep habits are good skills too!
- SWAG: So. many. t-shirts. Also, the meet organizers knew our team and look after us well.
Bag tags, caps, t-shirts, water bottles etc. Don’t forget to save up for one of the meet hoodies!
See Lauren or Jane from junior for more info.
- Expectations; some returning swimmers came back ready to learn the most they could and
asked all coaches for their thoughts and feedback constantly, some brought spare team caps
and traded with all other teams at the meet and some swimmers were challenging themselves
to work their process of getting up, swimming, analyzing and doing better at finals based on
morning experience because yards is a completely new experience. There really is something
for everyone travelling on the team! 
- Packing; - spare suits, understanding they need time to dry and how drying happens best
(not on the floor under stuff), making sure you name and wear your team clothing, spare
towels, spare goggles(!). Having the right stuff at the pool helps keep focus on swimming
well. Have your swim stuff in your swim bag ready to travel separate to your overnight. Also,
side note, 12 and under were not allowed to race in tech suits for this meet so make sure you
read the meet info and pack the right suits.
I had so much fun on this trip and loved meeting swimmers and coaches from all around the
province who I will now know and chat to at swim meets. It really is a great opportunity for
both swimmers and coaches - coaches if you can organize around other commitments, I fully
recommend applying!!
Parents, swimmers and coaches, if you are thinking about Maine and have any questions, feel
free to chat to me poolside!
~Coach Lauren