Hey all you Dolphins, we had a rough week of practice but that is behind us now. We hope you used the time wisely and finished up all the end of the year school projects that are coming due. Or maybe you just use the time to start preparing for finals that will be starting this week. Good Luck with them we are sure All of you will ace them all.
Our Mini Dolphins finally got all of the evaluations done this past week in between the rain, cold air and on Friday the cold water. As of now we have 50 in the 8 and under group, and its not to late to come and join so talk to your friends.
Some of our seniors have been busy with Proms the last couple of weekends. It seems like just yesterday that they were part of our 8 and unders. It's nice to see the way they have grown into outstanding young adults and Great Dolphins!
This past week we put in a lot of dry-land with an emphasis on our core muscles. Some of you worked through these while others felt we were just wasting some times. Make no mistake about it everything we do from Day 1 prepares us for that last meet which should be our championship meet. I talked to a few of you about how you tend to get upset about your races and reminded you that it can not just be about the races. The process is as important if not more so to put you into a position to be sucessfull. I also reminded some of you how everything becomes important right before divisionals, yet you tend to forget about the other 8 weeks. It started a week ago, so lets have a good week of practice.
TODAYS TOPIC "MENTAL TOUGHNESS"
Athlete's coaches, peers,and maybe sometimes parents refer to mental toughness as an explanation of why certain people fail under immense pressures, wheras others seem to excel during competition. It's been said that competition is 10% physical and 90% mental. The following is a quote from Vince Lombardi, "Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. It's qualities are sacrifice and self denial. Also , most importantly it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It's a state of mind, yu could call it character in action." A mental tough athlete will have complete trust in their ability, no matter how much stress they encounter, and they believe they will be SUCCESSFUL. At the same time the mentally tough athlete will also understand that there will be those times when they will fail, and the question becomes how will they handle that failure and move past it. The following are some coping strategies to help you become a mentally tough athlete.
MENTAL IMAGERY: How many times do you just show up at practice or a meet, warm-up sit down and just talk with friends, and then when it's time to swim head over, go to your lane, race and come back. What are you thinkling as you stand at your lane? Try to imagine stepping up having a GREAT start and break out. Feel your body and water unite as you slide into that turn and bounce off with all kinds of speed. Feel yourself as you increase your arm speed and drive those legs to the finish. IMAGINE A GREAT RACE!
EFFORT EXPENDITURE: When swimming you have to commit to your race, you can't just go through the motions. Whatever is going on outside the pool, leave it at the door when you come in. Regardless of your competition or the way you feel OWN YOUR SWIM and SWIM WITH SOME HEART!
THOUGHT CONTROL: Don't dwell on the negatives like I'm going to lose or I have to get a certain time, or that swimmer is too fast. These negatives act like extra baggage and it only weighs you down physically and mentally. It's your race and to own it you need to focus on what you can controland that's swimming fast!
RELAXATION: Try to find time to relax during the meet, and re-energize your batteries. Part of this is doing your proper warm-up and warm-downs, stretching and staying hydrated. This does not involve running around and being on your phones, and in fact if that is what you are doing, your not there to swim fast.
ANALYSIS: Analyze your performance. Ask yurself; What were my weakness? strengths? during that race or practice. Too many times we go back to practice and keep repeating the same mistakes without making a real effort of correcting them. Take the information back to practice and focus on correcting those mistakes so that you can be in a position to move from that good swim to a GREAT SWIM.
THIS WEEK PRACTICE IS NORMAL TIME. SATURDAY IS TIME TRAILS AS OF NOW YOU MAY SWIM AS MANY AS YOU WANT
HAVE AGREAT WEEK AT SCHOOL!
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