WMS Newsletter – Mid-Season 2019

Heart of the Season!

We have made it through June and we are now into the heart of the season. We could even call it the home stretch. We are really getting after it at practice. Being able to take what we did early in the season (technique work) into our more intense training is a great way to build amazing habits. I consistently talk about keeping your brain on when and keeping your focus on making small changes. The article that is attached is a good one to build habits with your mental preparation as well. This is likely a broken record at this point with our swimmers but the more we think about how to INSPIRE!! improve in practice and making those habits – the less we will have to think at a big meet. When we “Be a yardstick of quality. Some get to the big meet – a thinking athlete is a bad people aren’t used to an athlete! The bullet points on the article provide a environment where excellence is great insight as well to the mindset of different expected.” athletes. The next few weeks will be our toughest part of the season before we taper for our season – Steve Jobs ending meet (whatever meet that will be). WMS needs to keep the focus even through the hard practices because it will pay off in the end!! How Swim Coaches Can Get Started with Mental Swimmer Spotlight: Training Skills Jordan Zwagerman By Olivier Poirier-Leroy Best Times: Each day at the pool, while you pace the tiled deck, yelling out splits, 25 Free – 20.71 technique reminders, and for Lil Bobby to stop pulling on the lane line, the mindset of your swimmers is being shaped. 50 Free – 46.07 100 Free – 1:46.59 This mindset, which comprises of how motivated they are, how focused and 25 Back – 27.16 engaged they are, and how they deal with adversity, is being sculpted as they churn around the black line. 50 Back – 56.96

• One swimmer will give up during hard sets, which translates to Jordan is one of the newest easing off when a competitor surges ahead in competition. members of WMS. I used to • Another swimmer will daydream through training, and then try to make up for it by overthinking on race day. think he was extremely soft • Another swimmer will ease into a test set because they worry spoken but now I know it’s just about the pain to come, and then take out their races the same the coaches that he speaks softly way. These behaviors and habits and mental skills are being cemented with each to. He has fun in the water with passing day whether you are coaching them or not. So why not set the table his teammates and has learned so much so far. The little for the mental training skills you want your athletes to have instead of leaving things continue to improve. His starts, turns, streamline, it up to chance? underwater kick is all getting better every day. Lately he Why mental training skills can be such a hard sell: has been really proud of his new suits that he has. A few Seems confusing and mystical. new speedos along with the new WMS suit. I love seeing Mental training skills can seem like “The Secret” type stuff. Think really hard him have fun while still working hard in practice, especially on the thing you want, and you will achieve it. Or something. When a the run swims that we did a few weeks ago. He seemed to swimmer goes into the gym and lifts more weight than they did last week, that’s easy to measure. Same goes for when they improve on a test set – think running was fun so he ended up doing an extra mile pretty easy to mark progression there too. just for fun after he was done with his last swim portion. We are starting to set some good habits and those will But when it comes to “how much did my self-talk improve this week” it can be tough to accurately measure progress. You might see general changes in a likely continue to help Jordan continue to see swimmer’s attitude but quantifying this can be difficult (although there are a improvements as he grows into the sport. Great job so far couple ways you can do this) and hard to put into a periodization plan. Jordan – Keep up the good work! Ways to Implement Mental Training Skills: Emphasis the use of mental training skills by elite swimmers. What is your favorite part about swimming? A few examples of mental skills training: There isn’t just one thing that sticks out. I like it all. 1) used a pre-race routine that started from the time he woke up. 2) and Katie Ledecky write out their workouts and reflect on What other sports do you enjoy participating in? their training. I enjoy playing soccer. 3) Mary T Meagher picked a couple things to master every day. 4) focused on the way she wanted her body to feel on race day, and carried this over to her daily workouts. Do you have brothers or sisters? 5) writes out his goals and puts them up around his house, I have two brothers. Kyler and Dominic. building an environment that radiates cues for success.

While taking a little extra time each day to work on their mental training skills What is your favorite food? will help their swimming, this value extends itself well beyond the water. I love spaghetti Mental training skills create stronger students. They are better able to focus. They have a more realistic ability to set crazy-but-doable goals. They have strategies to stick with things when adversity strikes. They learn to manage Who is your role model? their energy and emotions. And on and on. And if that weren’t enough, learning mental training skills will help them develop a far healthier Nolan Stevens relationship with the sport. Upcoming Meet Schedule • May 11 – Rockford SCM Meet • June 27 – ZAGS Dual vs. Byron Center

• May 25 – Jenison LCM • July 11 – ZAGS Dual @ Hudsonville

• May 31-June 1 – Calvin LCM • July 13-14 – West Michigan Classic • June 14-16 – Oakland LCM • July 19-21 – 12 and Under State Meet • June 20 – ZAGS Dual vs Jenison (Home) • July 25-28 – 13 and Over State Meet • June 22 – Zeeland Summer Classic • July 27-28 – Less than Q1 @ Jenison Words from Coach…. Summer Season The summer season seems to always get shorter and shorter. We are less than a month away from our season ending meets and it feels like we just got started. There are a few meets that I am looking for our swimmers to attend. Our 12 and under state meet is at Saginaw Valley State University and our 13 and over state meet will be hosted by MLA in Holland. If your swimmer didn’t qualify for the state meet – Jenison created a meet last season which is very similar to a Districts or Junior Olympics in the winter season.

Training just to train is a hard way to go about it. The motivation to get better is always enhanced if they are training for a reason. I know that a lot of the high school girls are training to be in great shape going into the high school season, which shouldn’t stop them from swimming at the state meet if they have qualifying times. Learning to swim fast while tired is a great trait to have when moving forward in the sport! The high school boys should be looking at swimming at the state meet or the Jenison State Games meet. All younger swimmers should be looking at finishing their season with either the 12 and under state meet or the Jenison State Games. The entries are currently open on team unify! Let’s finish the season the right way – with some fast swims to take us into our break!

There is no substitute for hard work! Keep it up! GO WMS.

June / July Birthdays:

Wynston Matthews – June 1st Emily Pifer – June 6th Nate Brinks – June 9th Will Boes – June 11th Ashley Geddes – June 15th Abby Brinks – June 21st Philip DeJonge – June 22nd Isabelle Troost – June 25th Andrew Scheerhorn th Ashley Ketchum – June 26 [email protected] Jovie Poest – July 20th Samantha Wells – July 23rd 3390 100th Avenue Peyton Elenbaas – July 26th Jenna Meyer – July 28th Zeeland, MI 49464 Hudson Kosten – July 29th www.westmiswimmers.org