1/21/2019 0 Comments Week 21Huge props to the swimmers and their families for making Winterfest successful. Through weather and long days you persevered! Our swimmers represented our program most excellently. Swimming in high intensity / big venues is a wonderful experience and our swimmers made the most of it and stepped up.
Huge props to Coach Jonathan and Coach Sarah for looking out so graciously for our group! Tomorrow the following beads will be awarded. As a coach, I am so very proud of each of these accomplishments. WinterFest Beads Blue- 3 Best Times Yellow-2 best time White - 1 best time Silver- Competing at Winterfest 2019 Gold Star - Outstanding swimmer of the meet (Eve Philips) Gold - outstanding swim of the meet (11/12 Boys 200 MR) EP BLUE and SILVER, GOLD STAR 200 MR, 50 BK 100 BF X2, 50FRx2, 200 FR Relay, 100 BR, 50 BFx2, 100 Frx2 NP BLUE and SILVER and Gold 200 MR, 200 FR, 200 IM, 50 BK (relay lead off) , 50 FR, 100 BK, 100 FR, 200 IM JB BLUE and SILVER and Gold 200 MR, 50 FR, 200 FR Relay, 100 BK NI BLUE and SILVER 50 BK, 200 MR, 100 FR, 200 FR Relay MB BLUE and SILVER 200 FR , 50FR , 200 MR GD BLUE and SILVER and Gold 50BR, 200 MR, 200 FR Relay KB BLUE and SILVER 50 BK, 200 FR Relay, 50 BF SPD SILVER and Gold and BLUE 200MR, 200FR, 200 FR, IS SILVER and YELLOW 200 MR, 200 FR Relay GB SILVER and WHITE 50 BK AH SILVER And now on to the business of the day! Mission: Championships 2019. We have the following meets left: Saturday, Feb 2 - Dual Meet vs Lebanon Valley @ Home February 24-25 – YSCAP League Championships Sat @ York College, Sun @ York GAC March 8-10 – YMCA Central Districts Championships @ York GAC If you are close to a Districts cut, consider the Moser invite on Feb 3. But a lot can be said for putting the pressure on a swimmer at a meet. So an all or nothing YSCAPS is also not a bad idea. Performing under pressure is a great life skill! We are full speed ahead to YSCAPS!!! We should see some great swimming based on what I'm seeing at practices! We are improving everyday! As we move into Championship season, please remind swimmers to wash their hands frequently. Also, please do not attempt to swim sick. Allow your body to rest. Our high intensity training will not allow you to heal as quickly as if you just rest! Can not wait to see all my Unbreakables at the pool! 🏊🏻♂️🏊🏻♂️🏊🏻♂️ Go Waves Coach McCullough
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1/13/2019 0 Comments Week 4We have gotten through a glorious week of each stroke!
This week's highlights included a Test Set on Wednesday and a Pentathlon on Friday. The Pentathlon was a 50 of each stroke followed by a 100 IM. Unbenounced to them, I added up the 50 times and divided it by two for a goal 100 IM time, hoping that would be close to their pace times for their 100 IM. The results are below. For mental training this week, we watched a video of perfect freestyle and then we attempted to visualize ourselves swimming with that perfect stroke. It is a great technique for correcting bad habits and facilitates adaptation. This skill can be sharpened to become more effective. Daily visualization of 6 to 8 minutes a day is highly recommended. This is just one way to use mediation in training. This week we will spend time focusing on freestyle and backstroke starts and turns. There are videos posted . 1/13/2019 0 Comments Week 20YCAPS: 27 training days
We are gearing this week for WInterfest. Those going to Winterfest will focus on their events and experiencing some uploading sets. Uploading sets look similar to the sets we have been doing but this week we will not go past one fail. We are cementing every aspect of the race into our brains. The swimmers are really looking great in the water and they have great attitudes. Friday both Coach Jonathan’s and Jr group will run together as he heads to U of Maryland for the Friday night session. Please sign up for YSCAPS. Chose events your swimmer needs districts times in or events they may be diong at districts so they can practice them. This will be the final chance for district cuts. Our goal is to get everyone to districts. However, YSCAPS will serve as the Championship meet for swimmers that do not qualify and their season will cease at that meet. In the pool we are are doing a lot less stroke work and focusing on our racing skills and getting our races faster. I am reminding them about small issues with their strokes but addressing any major issues is not possible with the amount of time to the end of the season. Usually at this point in the season,we work with what we got technique wise. But we are still developing our strokes so there will be a need to revisit stroke work periodocially. This week: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UffoytMy7Kj_OSdSlUZWhisPDfwh7hXaJyhc-uqBmEA Also it will become very important to tracksets. It is impossible for me to do this for the swimmers. Most are doing a decent job remembering where they are but it helps to log it. The log can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SoNxXOXyngKkPEoahC2LXrSt9rnTaxVb8l3Xbrg7_b 8 Most still need a tab created for them, email me for a template page if interested. keep up the great work! Go Waves! Coach McCullough 1/6/2019 0 Comments Week 19Just WOW!!
Such a great meet on Saturday with a lot of really great swimming. I am really hoping to be able to hold a bead ceremony tomorrow. But as of writing this I am still waiting on results and I am sure you are all seeing what I am on Meet Mobile! None the less it was a great , well run meet. The highlight was probably our 11-12 girls relay leading off the day with 2 (2!!!!!!) Relays touching at 1:55. But honestly there were a LOT of great performances. And many are understanding that the paces they are holding in practices directly correlate to their swimming performances. Each swimmer knows exactly what they are capable of swimming every day. It was interesting to watch them make that connection at the meet. We are really seeing the results of some tremendous effort in the pool at practices. For those who are coming back from some time off, it will take a while to get back into it and see paces before the break. It's important to get to as many consistent training days in as possible. Two days out of the water is the most you want to take off unless sick. We are incrementally conditioning our bodies and minds to swim fast and swim correctly . Two days off and your brain starts rewiring itself. I'd rather see a swimmer come in on their own a half an hour if they can make it than skip three days in a row. Or if you miss a day, make it mid week. We will be focusing on Winterfestevents for the next two weeks. If not going to Winterfest, swimmers will cycle through events as if they were. So if there are events swimmers want to focus on, please let me know. If only swimming one or two events at Winterfest, they will also be doing other eventsassigned to them in preparation of YSCAPS and Districts. 12/29/2018 0 Comments Week 18Christmas Training is wrapping up!!!! We got a great week of training in.
Great job getting to practices over the holiday. It is always a great time to get some solid work in and always helps to stay on a schedule during a hectic time. We will be practicing Monday this week, off Tuesday, and then back to school and regular schedule on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. This leaves four possible practice opportunities before the dual meet against Chambersburg on Saturday. Why is Chambersburg important? We will be swimming in the yard pool so this is a great opportunity to make District cuts! Please reach out with any events your swimmer might be interested in making cuts in. It never hurts to remind me of events with close to cut times . This pool has high blocks and deep water so the possibilities for fast times is real. This week will be devoted to working on events being swum at Chambersburg this weekend and/or WinterFest. As always you can see what we are doing at www.ourswimprogram.weebly.com under the this week tab. . . Go WAVES! Coach McCullough 12/22/2018 0 Comments Week 17Another Week in the Books! We are doing the work we need to do.
Since we are heading into the Christmas break training, I am closing the attendance for the reward practice. Everyone will have two options over the holiday for training on Tuesday and Thursday this week and it will become difficult to track who is coming to what. I will be coaching the morning practices next week from 8:50 to 10:30. The following swimmers are invited to a practice on December 29th with me: Gabe Blake BB Bonner JB Bonner Sean Detwiler Guy Detwiler Aiden Hess I will be designing a workout for each of them so we can work on what they need to. It is an optional practice, so if you do not plan to be there, please let me know. Nicely done to these six but also to the every swimmer who attempted to get to it. It was encouraging to see everyone trying so hard or being disappointed they couldn't make swim practice! Thank you to Nick Dean Garbinski! He talked with our swimmers about some of his swimming experiences and about what life is like at the US Air Force Academy. He also was able to work with them on their breaststrokes. The swimmers were polite, asked lots of questions, and took to him like fish to water! It was a great workout. Congrats to our Winterfest Qualifiers: Gabe Blake qualified in 100 Back Mya Beck qualified in : 200 Free/50 Free JB Bonner qualified in: 500 Free/200 Free/50 Back/50Free/100 Back/50 Fly/100 Free Kay Buhrman qualified in 50 Back Guy Detwiler qualified in 50 Breast/ Sean Detwiler qualified in 200 Free/100 Fly/50 Breast/100 Breast/50 Fly/200 IM Ireland Rundquist qualified in 50 Back/100 Fly/50 Breast/100 Back/100 Breast Neilson Parrot qualified in 500 Free/200 Free/50 Back/100 Fly/50 Breast/50 Free/100 Back/100 Breast/50 Fly/100 Free/200 IM Aiden Hess qualified in 50 Breast Belle Hess qualified in 50 Breast/50 Free100 Breast Nicole Hasis qualified in 50 Back Please make your entry selections before the 27th! I encourage swimmers to attend, even if it's just one day. I look forward to Christmas training! Woot, woot! Go WAVES Coach McCullough 12/16/2018 0 Comments Week 16Amazing Distance Meet on Saturday. Huge thank you to all the parents that helped out at the meet! It was incredibly well run, the hospitality was wonderful and it was just a great opportunity for our swimmers! There are not a lot of teams that could pull off such an incredible day for our swimmers! THANK YOU.
And our group set an incredible 4 team records! JB (Bonner )- 800 Freestyle NP (Parrot)- 400 IM KB (Buhrman) - 800 Freestyle IR (Rundquist) - 400 IM Pretty great showing! And IT JUST GOT SERIOUS! We are entering the back half of our winter season! This week we start gearing up for Winterfest and for our Championship meets toward the end of the season. The swimmers will start seeing a lot less technique work while we ramp up event focus. If there are events that you think your swimmer should be focusing on as we head into the end of the season, please let me know this. For instance, if Bobby almost made State Meet last year in an event, I should know that this is an event we should focus on. If you plan on attending Winterfest, the deadline to sign up is December 27th. If you could do this as early as possible, I would appreciate it. Those doing events at Winterfest will see an increased in intensity on those events. PROGRAM NOTE: On Thursday, December 20th Nick Dean Garbinski has graciously accepted an invitation to speak with the group about the influence swimming played while applying for college; and his transition to becoming a cadet at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs this year. He qualified for PIAA State meet his Junior and Senior years. He swam 50 FR/100 FR in his first appearance and 50 FR/100 BR in his second and final appearance. He will also share some insight into developing a fast breaststroke. Beads will be handed out on Tuesday! Go WAVES Coach McCullough 12/9/2018 0 Comments Week 15We had a great week or training. And congratulations to the four swimmers from the group that competed this weekend in the USA Invitational meet. There was a high percentage of best times at the meet. And two extra loud shout outs....
Every day I show up with these swimmers, they are amazing me with their hard work and intensity! It is a pleasure to work with them. There was a lot of focus on getting our freestyle longer and some odd drills trying to demonstrate the proper neck position as well as where the hands should be entering the water. We focused on counting our strokes and making sure we are finding power in each stroke. This week our focus switches back to breaststroke and butterfly. This is our fifth time through our stroke progressions and the swimmers are understanding what we are working on, asking more questions, and focusing! It's great to see. This week is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UffoytMy7Kj_OSdSlUZWhisPDfwh7hXaJyhc-uqBmEA/edit?usp=sharing Wednesday will be our third test set day! Believe it or not, they clamor for this thing. Many were disappointed when the November on was cancelled! Attendance for the special offer started last week!! JB, KB, GB, GD, SD, CH, AH, NP are all at 100% attendance so far! ((((((DECEMBER 29th there will be an reward practice open ONLY swimmers that attend 100% of the Junior practices offered form December 3rd to December 28th! I hope to see a few there but it will run even if it's only ONE swimmer!))))))) . Coach McCullough 12/3/2018 0 Comments Week 14Yes, that is a week 14 wrap! The Swim-a-thon went swimmingly and the well deserved water polo was a nice break from training for the group. Even with the break, EACH swimmer saw at least one best time at the meet this weekend! Nicely done, Juniors! It's bead day!
11/25/2018 0 Comments Week 12/13We saw many, many District cuts at Tournament of Champions! Our bead ceremony last week was inspirational! Attendance beads for November will be awarded this Thursday! So keep coming back!
In our last meeting we talked about the biggest take away from the season so far is those seeing the most improvement are the swimmers putting in the most effort and focus. Each swimmer is getting out what they are putting in. Every practice is an opportunity to improve and they get instant feedback from their results during the Sets each day. Our practices have seen consistently high effort levels across the board and we are getting quicker. The swimmers are also understanding the importance of tracking their paces and staying on their paces during sets. And I am seeing appropriate RESTS. I am also encouraged by the focus on the little things in practice. Yes, there is still the messy streamline occassionally but so much progress is being made! I am proud of our work so far. These swimmers are After coming off some intense freestyle events last week, the technique and event focus will be on breaststroke and butterfly events this next week. Tuesday is the swim a thon. I have officially cancelled the third test set (it was sceduled to run the week before Tournament of Champions . The fourth will run as scheduled in a couple of weeks. Next meet is this weekend, Saturday, Dec 1 – Dual Meet @ Hanover. If your swimmer is joining us late: there’s a bit of a learning curve and I encourage them to be patient. I also encourage you to read the past emails and learn about the training a bit. Biomechanics is the biggest focus, then mental attitude and outlook, and very lastly conditioning. Www.ourswimprogram.weebly.com. Go Juniors! Coach McCullough |