State of the Season!

It's been a very busy couple of weeks, let me fill you in on what we've accomplished so far.
-Our freshmen and sophomores swam hard and placed 4th at the Freshmen/Sophomore Invite at Rockford.

-We had a chance to see our girls swim strong in some different events at our second home meet against East Kentwood. A great showing that our girls are strong in not only our main events but have some very strong secondary events as well.

-At the Zeeland Tri Meet our junior diver Taylor Wiercinski broke the varsity 11 dive record set just last year by Cristee Cordes. While we had a lot of tough competition, we had a lot of spectacular swims. Very encouraging for our Saturday meets which are important practice for the conference meet.

-As we began ramping up the yardage and intensity of practices to gear up for taper, we had our meet against Hudsonville, yet another strong conference team. While, as coaches, we can tell that our girls are swimming tired and sore (which is a good thing at this point in the season) we still had some promising swims.

-We're looking forward to wrapping up our regular season with conference opponents West Ottawa and Grand Haven. Our girls will be very tired over the next few weeks, keep in mind that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger. This week is the last week of monrning practice and dryland practices for girls tapering for conference.

-Next weekend we'll be taking 8 girls with 18 individual cuts and all 3 relays to the MISCA meet at Eastern Michigan University. This is a nice showing for our team and should be a very positive experience to see what the rest of the state has to offer.


Taper Time
Our girls from the D team and some from the C team will be tapering for their last meet against Grand Haven starting tomorrow. While the first week of taper doesnt feel much different than where we are at now, we will begin to focus in and shorten their practices. A and B swimmers will begin their taper the following Monday. We look forward to a couple of exciting weeks.

Here's a few tips for taper paraphrased from the experts...
1. Remember that taper is not a magic thing that makes you swim faster no matter what. It all depends on the effort you put forth throughout the entire season and the focus and effort you put in during the last few weeks of season. As coach Allison said earlier this season "the season is like a bank. If you're depositing lots of good yardage and good habits, the withdraw at the end of the season will be greater".
2. Keep all thoughts positive. As we've been saying all season, you need to BELIEVE in what you have been doing and where it's going to take you.
3. Visualize your races and your success. Visualize yourself meeting your goals.
4. Taper is different based on age, ability and body style. Dont stress about how you feel in the water during taper, everyone reacts differently. Some feel great during taper, some feel sluggish, tired or even sore. This doesn't foreshadow how you will feel during your last races.
5. Your energy levels will be increasing, be responsible with it. Make sure you are saving as much energy as you can for your competition date.
6. Sleep and eat right. Cut out the junk food, and low energy foods. As one coach I researched said, "you wouldnt put regular unleaded in a BMW, so dont put low quality food into your body". Getting rest, even with increased amounts of energy is imperative.
7. Dont shave until the day before your last competition. Give yourself the mental and physical edge as you glide through the water faster and stronger.
8. Own your investment in the season. Believe in yourself and your training. Be confident, strong, and proud of what you've done and where you're going.


Believe in yourself,
Believe in your team,
Believe in your coach,
Believe in your dreams.