DOLPHIN TID BITS

DOLPHINS WEATHERED TSUNAMI

This past weekend the dolphins packed up their swim bags and with suits, caps, and goggles and headed down the road to Riverside Gardens where we ran head first into a Tsunami. This was a pool that none of the Dolphins had ever visited before so there was much anticipation as to what was going to happen. I had been to this pool once before and I believe the year was 2000 and yes it was a yard pool back then, having been converted in 2001. The biggest comment from the kids was "the lanes are so narrow", and I with all my sarcasm came back with "pull on them but don't get caught".

After some words of encouragment from Jared, Gen, Maggie and Anna, our graduating seniors, and putting a little L.G. water into their pool, we began our warm-up and the 2015 journey.

You all were great with your sportsmanship with not only Riverside Gardens but your own teammates as well. Jack West you really need to get more people involved with your dance moves (if that what it was, I thought you might still be stretching).

The dolphins found themeselves ahead 6-3 after 8 and under boys free with Matthew and Sam going 1st and 3rd and from that point they never looked back. The scoring in the Individual events remained consistent throughout the meet. At the end of free the Dolphins would find themselves ahead 53-37, the backstroke events found us adding 61 points to their 29. Our little frogs with that weird kick would outscore them 57-33 and finally our fliers soared scoring 58 points to Riverside Gardens 32.

DOLPHIN FIRST PLACE FINISHERS WERE, Matt Janicki, Meghan Ice, Genevive Manise, Edward Ice, Emma Rollins, Jared Britton, Elena Summers, Kate Casstevens, Catherine Lusick, Ian Fry, Madeline Ice, Justin Britton, Jonathan Bucholz, Michael Lusick, Miller Surette, Ian redding, and Calvin Marr. GREAT SWIMS!

DOULBLE WINNERS; MATT, MEGAN ICE, GENEVIVE, EMMA ROLLINS, JARED AND JUSTIN B., ELENA, KATE C., MATTHEW BRUNO, CATHERINE LUSICK, MADELINE I., AND MICHAEL LUSICK

The dolphins also continued to collect charms with 93 best times acheieved.

To all of your credit an offical from Riverside Gardens came over to me and said he was very impressed with all of you inside the flags. Turns were aggressive and finishes were strong and crisp. Keep up the good work. With that said the only area that gave me nightmares on Saturday night were the races that got away from us.

We have talked this week about it and here is the short version of the issue. Between the flags the bottom line is that either you are faster or not, and as long as you are trying your best and swimming with some heart, it what it is. Thats athletics and competition.

Inside the flags is a different story, and if you can stay within striking range at that point, all bets are off and it's GAME ON. Who wants it more and who has more heart. All athletes have that inner sense to dig down deep and give that last BIG push into the finish. If a swimmer is near you they are going to find that extra gear and if you don't you WILL LOSE IT AT THE END. As I have told you this week whenever I competed in any sport I could always deal with losing if my competition was just better, but in this sport if it came down to that last 10 meters then I was just not going to lose, because I was just always going to be the better finisher.

True story from Barbados from the 90's. There was a timer, Joe, from Poplar Heights last night in lane 1, who is a good friend and coached with me at York. Well we were on a team trip with about 80 kids in Barbados and of course Bob thought it would be great to have a coaches 100 (long course) race. Of course Bob didn't race. Joe leaned over as we took the blocks and said something like "Mikey why don't you just sit this out?" My come back was don't let me hang in too long because if we get to the flags together the hammer comes down and you're toast, and yes of course I won. Another race with him came up at Lee Graham a few years later when we were in the same Division. Both teams were tied at the end of the meet and again someone thought it would be great to have the head coaches race to see who would take the trophy that night. Of course Viola had his usual amount of trash talking. All I had for him this night was "no 5 foot clown is going to beat me in our pool. Yes that trophy stayed here and never left the pool. In all fairness to Joe he would get his revenge when Lee Graham was in Division 1 and he coached Chesterbrook. Yes the 5 foot clown had the last laugh!

The bottom line FINISH STRONG! SWIM AS IF YOU STOLE THE RACE!

MONDAY NIGHT MEET The dolphins had a great turn out last night for our meet with the Crush from Poplar Heights. At this time I have not tallied all the best times but we had a lot of them. Our starts were great, and our turns are improving. Keep working on the little things in practice.

It's the little things that will help you the most right now, so do them correctly ALL THE TIME not just when you feel like it. Why practice things that are going to make you slower. We want to do things that make us faster.

GO DOLPHINS!

 

OWN YOUR RACE! DOLPHINS RULE! THE COACHES