FCA Swimmers of the Month

FCA Swimmers of the Month (November 2016)

Novice What can you do to enhance your practice and team experience? Just ask our SOM this month--because she is knocking it out of the park on all fronts! To start, this young athlete shows up to every practice--happy, excited, and focused. Her general demeanor is is exemplary, and we should all take note. On top of that, she goes the extra mile to listen, make adjustments, and improve--como se dice coachable? Her exemplarily attendance record and drive to be the best she can be should not upstage the catagorical respect she displays for her coaches and fellow teammates. There are very few who cheeered their teammates with as much genuine enthsiasm on on Super Saturday. Her mindful Ps & Qs have set the bar for all interaction--both on the deck and in the pool. If you are ever having a tough day, and need a pick-me up, look no further than Gabrielle Perlis. Congratulations on a great November, you are most certainly the Novice SOM.

Coaches: Ford, Gillison, Tedesco

Practice Kudos: Chase Rose – 15 Ethan Rosenberg – 14 Lucas Crutchlow - 13

Junior I With over 50 swimmers in the Junior I group it can be difficult to find the balance between spending time with your friends and staying on task. You spend roughly 75 minutes in a lane with 8 of your wildly fun teammates, and choosing to the listen to the coach’s directions doesn’t always hold your ear compared to your buddy’s joke of the day. Every now and then, swimmer comes along who displays the uncanny ability to comparmentalize all the distartction, push off the wall and go, go, go! Our November SOM works hard, pays attention, and actively seeks out ways to improve. As important, he works well with others, is very responsible, and one of the politest people to ever come through our pool door. Needless to say, we are very proud to honor Oskar Bauriedel as our November SOM!

Coaches: Ford, Sherin-Porter, Ford, Reichert, Gillison,

Practice Kudos: JI Gold: Gavin Briggs, Chloe English - 21 Spencer Thorne - 20 JI: Felix Kohler, Jamie Oswlad - 19 Ethan Murray, Olivia Stankiewicz-Goldsmith - 18 Junior II Bronze/Silver Our SOM has displayed great resolve this season. He is consistantly at the top of the kudos list and November is no different. This dedication has led to some signifigant time drops. At the EMAC meet, he racked up 7 lifetime bests--highlighted by a 37+ second drop in the 200 Back and 83+ second drop in the 1000Free! (This enthusiasm extends beyond the pool as well, he can often be found on the Rift as a Wood 5 rank in LoL.) Beyond personal achievements, this young man sets the standard for rsepectful interaction. If he is not listening intently to a coach, he is doing the same to a teammate. If he is not “locked in” on doing his best during a demanding main set at practice, he is “locked in” on picking up and supporting his teammates trying to do the same. We should all be so lucky to have this kind of swimmer by our side in and out of the pool. Please join the entire coaching staff in congratulating November’s SOM Boris Kohler!

Coaches: Anderson, Ford, Gillison, Reichert, Tedesco, Wolford

Practice Kudos: Alex Bullard, Ha-Eun Choi, Boris Kohler, Annika Naveen - 22

Junior II Gold/Senior

Chelyan, West Virginia native, NBA Hall of Famer and Administrator extraordinaire Jerry West once said, “You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.” This notion is certainly put into play when one enters ninth grade. High School, hormones, academic pressure, social pressure, posting pressure, parental pressure…it’s seems like spilt milk or Kayne could tip the scale at any given moment. What 15-year-old feels good on Friday night when there is Monday homework and housework to be done? Name a teenager that feels great when the 5AM alarm goes off-- signifying that 6,000 yards of challenging threshold training in the cold water awaits them on a winter morning of a school day? But sometimes-simple structure and hard work wins out. You find a way to use your “down” time constructively and embrace the notion of working hard on the days you do not “feel good.” And sometimes with this type of consistency, you can accomplish something special--the second fastest 3,000 for time in the club’s history (including both genders) or setting a new club record for the best average in the dreaded PVA-30. There are no short cuts to these kinds of sweet dividends, which clearly exhibit that one has found a way to keep going on sunny and rainy days. Don’t stop believing Freshman Maddie Anderson; you are the Swimmer of the Month!

Coaches: Anderson, Ford, Gillison, Reichert, Tedesco, Wolford

Practice Kudos: Billy Wilkerson – 20 Maddie Anderson, Sophie Shack - 19