Friday night’s Time Trial meet brought me back to Cushing Hall at the University of Notre Dame in the Spring of 1984. That is where Dr. Raven (think Mr. Magoo, if you are old enough for that cartoon reference), my Thermodynamics professor, first introduced me to the concept of Entropy.
I won’t bore you with the 2nd law of Thermodynamics beyond saying that Entropy is the idea that, in nature, all things naturally move toward increasing randomness. That’s why heat flows from hot to cold, why gases spread out to fill the container, or why you can’t unmix your cream in your coffee – and why your messy bedroom never seems to get neater on its own.
It’s always been a proof of God for me, because I can see in my real experience that the 2nd law is true – and that simply forces me to ask how it is possible then that there is so much order in the world. The functioning of the human body is one vivid example. Think how improbable it is that a random set of molecules could order themselves into a human cell, then in turn order themselves into a human heart, and then in turn again find order in the human body.
What we learn from our application of the Law of Entropy is that order must be imposed from the outside since the opposite will never happen naturally. That’s why we use a covered Yeti cup to keep our coffee hot, why gases need to be stored in metal cylinders, why we must store our cream in a container separate from our coffee – and why your mother must make you clean up your room.
Another great example of a system that tends toward increasing randomness is a high school swim team, with their swim bags, on a high school pool deck. Our version of that system moved toward randomness faster than I anticipated after we graduated 34 seniors and replaced them with 36 6th and 7th graders.
Excellence is not about good, it is about better, and as much as we accomplished on Friday night, I know that we, as coaches and captains, and I, as the head coach, are going to have to get better at keeping our coffee warm.
Time Trials 2025, Mission Accomplished
Each year we kick off our season with a Time Trial Meet at the Freedom Aquatic and Fitness Center with a few goals in mind:
- Ensure that we have good baseline times on every swimmer against which we can measure improvement and with which we can prepare our meet and relay entries.
- Ensure that everyone clearly understands how Seton Swimming operates at a Meet, particularly arriving on time, warming up efficiently, showing great respect for the national anthem, getting to the blocks in time for your events, and starting a race with the whistle rather than voice commands.
- Ensure that we have all the parent volunteers and supplies that we need to run our Meets.
If those were the goals for our Time Trial meet on Friday, November 14th, then I would have to say that we were highly successful. Not only did we accomplish those goals, but several swimmers made their presence known, especially several swimmers who are new to the team. Watching the swimmers on Friday gave me a lot of faith in the future of Seton Swimming.
So Proud of Our Captains and Parent Volunteers
After I got home and quietly pondered the results of the Time Trial Meet down in my office, I found myself with a strong desire to get better myself, but also with a sense of gratitude for our well our volunteers and captains performed. It is no small feat running a smooth event that involves 115 kids and more than 40 parent volunteers.
What made me smile was one of the biggest reasons the event went so smoothly – the performance of our Captains. Led by Captain-of-Captains, Greg Bauer, I watched as Anastasia Garvey, Kyleigh Fifield, Philomena Kay, Gabby Russo, Daniel Sokban, and Dominic Judge each took charge of their own sub-teams with a great balance of discipline and fun.
The process of teaching 115 kids all the things involved in Seton Swimming’s pre-meet routine normally results in us starting the actual meet late – this year (for the 3rd year in a row), we actually started the first event early.
As I said in the opening of this blog, I think I am going to have to take responsibility for the task of changing our approach to match our changing team demographics, but given my lack of adaptation, I thought the Captains did a great job.
The kids did too. For the most part, everyone was exactly where they were supposed to be, and for the most part, each heat simultaneously hit the water with the military precision that I expect during our public warm-up sessions.
The highlight of the training session on our pre-meet routine for me is always our lesson on why and how we respect the National Colors before each Meet. Those of you who were there probably figured out what returning swimmers have known for a while – how we show gratitude for our country is very important to me.
Both my parents, all three of my brothers, and seven (7) of my boys are, were, or are training to be military officers. Please pray for them.
I’ve re-posted my blog on “Why and How Seton Swimming Respects our National Anthem and Colors”. If you haven’t already seen it, please read it.
And finally, I was so pleased with how quickly our large group of parent volunteers gelled to ensure our ability to host eleven (11) meets this season. Without that ability, we could never give 130 kids the opportunity to swim at Seton because no other school would ever allow us to bring that many kids to one of their swim Meets.
It is impossible to highlight every parent involved, but I will say how grateful I was to have so many parents step into significant leadership positions: Mike Judge, Eric Beltran, Melissa Sokban, Hume Nguyen, and Dan Arnold (the new “Voice of Seton Swimming”) with the dry-deck officials, Tommy Reynolds heading up the wet-deck officials, Yudi Sokban heading up the timers, Anne Judge leading meet set-up plus nearly everything else that was left undone.
Did you notice how many Stroke & Turn Judges we have this season? Sixteen! That’s a lot of coffee to keep warm, but Tommy Reynolds is doing one heck of a job, bringing order to that large new group of volunteers.
We’ve made a big push with the other teams attending our Meets to add certified Stroke & Turn Judges also, and from what I can see so far, most are responding well. A shared burden is light as they say. Thank you all. If you are reading this blog and want to make our numbers seventeen or twenty, here’s what you can do.
And, of course, our head Referee, the Godfather of Seton Swimming, Charles Seltman. This is Mr. Seltman’s 31st season with Seton Swimming!
“E” is For Excellence – We focus on better. Good takes care of itself.
His Master said to him, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.”
- Matthew 25:23
This is my favorite quote in the bible – I have it hanging prominently in my house, and I’ve given a framed copy to every one of my children. It is from the Parable of the Talents, which every third year just happens to be the Gospel reading at Mass on the weekend of Time Trials.
For those of you who have been on the team for a while, you probably recognize it immediately as a frequent reference in my talks and interactions with you.
For those of you who are new to the team, do you remember the story?
The Master went on a journey and called in his three (3) servants. To one he gave five (5) Talents, to one he gave two (2) Talents, and to one he gave one (1) Talent – “to each according to his ability”. Then the servants with five (5) and two (2) doubled what they had, but the servant with only one (1) Talent buried his.
When the Master returned home, he settled accounts. To the ones with five (5) and two (2) Talents, he was well pleased: “Well done my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your Master’s joy.”
But to the servant who buried his Talent out of fear that he might fail, he was not pleased at all: “You wicked, lazy servant! Throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
Whoa!
I have spent a lot of time pondering that parable. Jesus only had 1,000 days, so I don’t think he was saying anything superfluous. So, why did Jesus choose to tell that story?
Is there more to our path to heaven than just being a “good” person? Surely, you can be a “good” person without working hard, without continually improving yourself, or without taking any risks.
Can’t you?
So, there must be more to being a “good” person that just being pious, loving, and kind. More to the point we are discussing here though: is there a reason why, in Jesus’ story, the Master gave a different number of Talents to each servant?
In my 62 years in this world, I’ve noticed that it is quite normal to see that the people around me start with different levels of ability in various things. Doesn’t the fact that Jesus told this story sort of imply that that is part of God‘s plan?
If God wanted us all to be great swimmers in the objective sense, wouldn’t he have made us all 6’5” tall with big muscles, long arms, and tiny hips? And isn’t it interesting that the Master seemed equally pleased with the servant who returned five (5) Talents and the servant who returned two (2)?
In pondering this Parable, I have come to these inescapable conclusions:
- There IS more to being a “good” person than just being pious, loving, and kind.
- It doesn’t matter how many Talents we have been given as long as we use them to the best of our ability.
- If we have a Talent and are afraid to use it, we are wasting a gift from God.
This is the biblical foundation for my definition of Excellence in our GEMS – It’s not about good – it’s about better. Now let’s take this one more step and try to apply to all your lives.
On the continuum from massive failure to massive success, what is the middle called? “Average”? Or less charitably, “mediocre”? Lord, may my name and the word “mediocre” never be used in the same sentence!
Do you want to know the formula to guarantee mediocrity in your life? It’s simple. Only do the things that you like to do.
And what are the things we tend to like to do? The things that we are naturally good at – the things that come naturally to us. In other words, the things for which we were given a lot of Talents.
So, what about the things for which we were given only one (1) talent – say breaststroke? Are we not responsible for doubling that Talent too.
If you’ve read this far, I’m sure you know the answer. This is why I will try to get as many of you as possible to swim in all eight (8) individual events during the season. I want to know the events where you are the weakest so that I can use them to push you out of your mediocre mindset.
Breaststroke is more than a swimming stroke. It is also a metaphor for anything in your life where you lack confidence. So, let’s double our Talents in breaststroke and then go crush the 200 IM, both literally and figuratively!
A Coming Out Party for Some New Swimmers
One thing that invariably happens at Time Trials is that several new swimmers make their presence known with outstanding early season performances. This year was no different:
- Girls
- The Paradise Sisters – Melissa Paradise (11) and Therese Paradise (8) came to Seton for the first time this year from Homeschool, and it is already obvious that they are going to have a huge impact on our team, both individually and in relays.
- Melissa will join Ariana Aldeguer (11) as female swimmers capable of finishing in the top-3 at States and qualifying to be All-State. Melissa even has a chance to break the team record for 100 Backstroke before she graduates, a record held by all-time Seton great and NISCA All-America Anna Kenna.
- Therese is only in 8th grade, but she certainly doesn’t swim like one. I haven’t seen an 8th grader this talented since all-time Seton great Alex Doonis came on the scene in 2006. Therese was particularly impressive to me for her versatility. She’s a four-stroke swimmer, which you all know is an important goal for all Seton swimmers. As we enter the season, Therese is already our 2nd fastest breaststroker, behind only Ariana who will likely never swim the 100 yard event after December.
- Emma Magness (7) has the potential to be a superstar both in the water and on the board. She’s a gymnast, and she has already shown that she can transfer that training background to the pool. I was simply blown away that a 7th grade girl could go 1:07 in 100 Free with no background in USA Swimming.
- Sofia Reeves (7) is part of a new crop of 7th grade girls that are making me feel very hopeful about the future of Seton’s competitive prospects leading up the 2031.
- Maddie Henderson (7), Clara Bauer (7), and Joce Wilson (7) are three other new 7th graders that I can already see will be a big part of the future of the girl’s team.
- Marian Kay (6) sure made an impression on the coaches with her ability to swim all four (4) strokes with basic technique at such a young age.
- Leah Fifield (6), Maeve Mooney (6) and Lexi Reeves (6) were among several others who gave me a reason to look forward to the future of our team. Leah and Maeve participated in Coach Bohman’s pre-season Speed Series and the results were evident.
- The Paradise Sisters – Melissa Paradise (11) and Therese Paradise (8) came to Seton for the first time this year from Homeschool, and it is already obvious that they are going to have a huge impact on our team, both individually and in relays.
- Boys
- Joel Bookwalter (9) took a year off and is back, bigger and stronger than ever – and it really showed. He swam six (6) massive PRs in six (6) events including drops of 15.26 seconds in 100 Back, 13.49 seconds in 100 Breast, 10.64 seconds in 100 Free, 7.58 seconds in 50 Fly, 7.29 seconds in 200 Free, and 2.66 seconds in 50 Free. Once he further perfects his stroke technique, I think I can easily see Joel on a future State and/or National Catholic team.
- Michael Brand (SR) is also back after tackling some health issues, and I was so pleased to see him starting off so well. Michael swam 2.00 seconds faster than ever in 100 Free, 1.35 seconds faster in 100 Breast, and .61 seconds faster in 50 Fly.
- Noah Vaughan (JR) is a third swimmer who has returned to the team after a one-year hiatus, and he made his presence known on Friday night. He was 5-for-5 on PRs in events for which he had a previous time including cutting 31.87 seconds from his 100 Breast PR along with cuts of 12.53 seconds in 100 Back, 12.50 seconds in 100 Free, 17.30 seconds in 200 Free, and 1.26 seconds in 50 Free.
- Joe Witter (SO) swam in Group 6 last year, and his willingness to learn has really paid off. This year, he has moved up to Group 3, and his four (4) PR performance on Friday showed why. How about a 88.42 second drop in 100 Breast, a 61.94 second drop in 200 Free, a 5.89 second drop in 100 Back, and a 4.05 second drop in 100 Free!? We still need to fix that breaststroke kick, but the way Joe listens to coaching, I’m sure Coach Joe Hurley and Coach Kevin Koehr will help him get there.
- Kolbe Partridge (6) is only in 6th grade, but he was awfully hard not to notice. It is not the normal 6th grader who can go 1:13 in 100 Free, 1:21 in 100 Back or 1:28 in 100 Breast.
- Connor Kay (6) swam well enough to attract the attention of the Godfather of Seton Swimming, Charles Seltman, who made a point of calling me over to tell me, “that Connor Kay is going to be a good one!”.
- Christopher and Daniel Schroer (6) both swim remarkably well for a 6th graders also. They both attended Coach Bryce Bohman’s pre-season Speed Series, and you can see how it has paid off for them. The Seton swim class of 2032 is already starting to look very strong.
- Peter O’Malley (8) is following a long line of older sisters who swam and led the Seton team as Captains, and it is great to have the O’Malley family back on the team. I can see already that Peter has the capability of making his older sisters proud.
Returning Swimmers Who Looked Strong
Normally I would have every swimmer swim every event at Time Trials, but with the exceptionally large number of swimmers on the team this year, I had to cut scope quite a bit. Almost everyone for whom I already had times swam only 50 Free and 50 Fly. That doesn’t mean that some of these experienced swimmers didn’t get a chance to shine through.
Here are some of our returning swimmers who showed serious scoring potential for Seton on Friday night:
- For the Girls:
- Ariana Aldeguer (11) is returning from an All-State and record-breaking season, and she looks even stronger this season. I didn’t have her swim many events on Friday, but I did want to see where she was in 100 Breaststroke and 50 Fly, and I was blown away by her power, technique, and speed in both. She dropped 3.48 seconds from her PR in 100 Breaststroke and .48 seconds from her PR in 50 Fly.
- Maggie Schroer (SO) is returning after some dramatic improvements over the course of last year’s season. She’s been working hard in the off-season, and I look forward to her having a big impact on our relays during the championship season. It was great to see her improve so much in 100 Breaststroke, cutting 10.44 seconds from her previous PR.
- Philomena Kay (JR) swam near the top of the field with a strong 50 Free and a .89 second PR in 50 Fly.
- Anastasia Garvey (SR) is the only senior among our very top girls this year, which is very exciting for the future. She showed a lot of promise in carrying part of the load in Breaststroke for us after her 2.74 second PR in the 100.
- Betsy Arnold (SO) cut 1.09 seconds from her 50 Fly PR. If she keeps improving, she may find her way onto some scoring relays for the post-season.
- Sophia Halisky (SO) looks ready for the hard work ahead with her strong swims on Friday. I know she will play a role on our scoring relays if she continues to work in practice like she has been.
- Kyleigh Fifield (JR) looked strong in her only event on Friday, the 50 Free.
- Avila Mantooth (SO) is back and ready to get to work. I know it is just a matter of time and hard work at practice for her to get back to her scoring form from last season.
- Right with that group of our top swimmers, we a great group of other girls who are constantly improving and are looking to score in the post-season for Seton one day soon, including:
- Clare Kay (8) who cut .47 seconds from her 50 Free PR.
- Aoife Haggerty (JR) who dropped .29 seconds in 50 Free.
- Jane Judge (SO) who will also be scoring for us in diving.
- Elizabeth Hurley (SO) whose beautiful lines in the water led to a .80 second PR in 100 Breast and a .21 second PR ion 50 Fly.
- Katie Cooley (8) who dropped .80 seconds in 50 Free.
- Annie Dusek (SO)
- Lily Waldron (SO)
- Katie Bauer (SO)
- Gabby Russo (JR) who cut .17 seconds from her 100 Breast PR
- Annabelle Mikkelson (FR) who swam 50 Free .34 seconds faster than last year.
- Caroline Schroer (8)
- Charlotte Meadows (FR)
- Lucy Herwick (FR) who swam through back pain to a .80 second PR in 50 Free.
- Emma Beltran (8) who dropped a huge 1.97 seconds in 50 Free.
- Monica Irving (SO)
- Maggie Mikkelson (8)
- Charlotte Poullath (8)
- Madelyn Fioramonti (8) who cut a whopping 2.39 seconds in 50 Free
- Gianna Pillion
- Allison Quispe (SR) who beat her previous be in 50 Free by .37 seconds.
- Gigi Gibaldi (JR)
- For the Boys:
- Lionel Martinez (JR) is certainly the class of our boys’ team, and it showed on Friday with a 24.59 in 50 Fly and a 22.68 in 50 Free. Both are very good times, especially in the pre-season.
- Thiago Martinez (SO) literally turned my head with how much stronger he looks than last year, particularly under water. I was amazed to see him swim 50 Fly and 50 Free so much faster than last year, dropping 1.31 seconds and 1.10 seconds, respectively. 00 for 50 Fly is smoking!
- Daniel Sokban (JR) is coming off a State Championship soccer season where he scored a goal in the State Championship in game in Richmond, and, on Friday night, I got the feeling on Saturday, that he is ready for more championship competition this winter. He rocked 50 Free, behind only the Martinez brothers, and he even dropped 2.28 seconds from his 50 Fly PR. Daniel and Lionel were two members of our team record-setting 200 Free Relay. I’m starting to wonder if we can break it again.
- Over the last few years, we’ve seemed to have a large crop of boys who pushed each other to ever higher levels of achievement, and I can already see that dynamic coming into play how? Who’s going to be swimming on our relays during the championship season? Here are some more boys that showed they are capable:
- Michael Zahorchak (JR) has been lifting weights, including before 6:04 a.m. practice, and the results showed with a 2.00 second PR in 50 Fly and a .09 second PR in 50 Free. His 50 Free on Friday was the 4th fastest Seton performance.
- Jack Herwick (SO) has also come back stronger, finishing only .01 seconds behind Michael in 50 Free.
- Dominic Judge (JR) rocked his 50 Fly with a 1.34 second PR, and he had a very strong 50 Free also.
- Patrick Kay (JR) was right with Dominic after his 2.34 second PR in 50 Fly and his strong swim in 50 Free. Patrick and Dominic didn’t get a chance to show what he could do in the other strokes, but I promise they will get that chance.
- Greg Bauer (SR) is our Captain-of-Captains this year, and he is doing a great job both in and out of the water. In the water on Friday night, he cut .19 seconds from his 50 Fly PR.
- Close on the heals of that group, we have a great group of other boys who are constantly improving and are looking to score in the post-season for Seton one day soon, including:
- Ben Ellis (JR) who cut 1.35 seconds from his 50 Free PR.
- Joey Lynch (SO) who really impressed me with his 15.99 second PR in 100 Breast and his .06 second PR in 50 Free.
- Jonas Wilson (SO) who likewise impressed me with his 2.05 second PR in 50 Fly and his .49 second PR in 50 Free.
- Paul Partridge (8) who cut .11 seconds from 50 Free PR.
- JJ Garvey (FR) who dropped a huge 8.19 seconds from his 50 Fly PR.
- Luke Fifield (FR) who dropped a massive 3.04 seconds in 50 Free.
- Charlie Dusek (SR) who had one of the more impressive nights with a 46.56 second PR in 200 Free and a 1.67 second PR in 50 Free.
- Aidan McCardell (SR) who cut 10.14 seconds in 100 Back and 1.36 seconds in 50 Free.
- And then we have a group of returning younger swimmers who showed they could become the leaders of our team in the future if they keep working:
- James Nguyen (8) whose 1.70 PR in 50 Free did not surprise me after I saw him coming in on extra days to get more work – very impressive James.
- Dominic Sciscilo (7) who dropped a huge 2.86 seconds in 50 Free.
- Will Judge (7) who cut .13 seconds from his 50 Free PR.
- Rafael De Micoli (SO)
- CJ Pennefather (7) who dropped .85 seconds in 50 Free and will drop even more with an improved streamline.
- James Reynolds (FR) who beat his previous best time in 50 Free by 1.59 seconds.
- Eamon Haggerty (FR) who also cut 1.59 seconds from his 50 Free PR
- Philip Nguyen (8) who lowered his 50 Free PR by .59 seconds.
- James Beltran (7) who dropped a huge 7.81 seconds in 50 Fly and .11 seconds in 50 Free.
89 Personal Records Already!
Our team’s core values, or GEMs, are Gratitude, Excellence, Meekness and Sacrifice. The second GEM is Excellence, which has nothing to do with how good you are – it has everything to do with how much better you are. Over the years, I have noticed that, if we all get better, the winning seems to take care of itself.
From our first practice until Christmas, we will use large chunks of our practice time to build every stroke and every wall from scratch. This is the result of another truism that I learned long ago – the fastest way for a high school swimmer to get faster is to do the strokes right. Dramatic improvements will never come by just swimming inefficiently incrementally better.
As you will see throughout the season, I will meticulously track Personal Records or “PRs” (i.e., Best Times) for each swimmer. That is why seeing new swimmers at Time Trials is so important – to get a PR, you must have a time from which to improve.
It is nearly impossible to write a blog each week that mentions all 130 athletes on the Seton team, but one thing I will commit to – if you swim a PR, you are going to get highlighted. So, here are the swimmers not previously mentioned who swam at least one PR:
- Grace Catabui (8) beat her PR in 50 Free by .17 seconds.
- Rose Ellis (SR) dropped .35 seconds in 50 Free.
- Thomas Goodman (8) cut .27 seconds from his PR despite some rib pain.
- Addi Hadro (8) keeps improving. On Friday, she improved by another .13 seconds in 50 Free.
- Dominic Henry (SO) beat his best time from last year by .39 seconds in 50 Free.
- Colette Kramer (SR) dropped a big 1.12 seconds in 50 Free.
- Cora Kramer (JR) had an even bigger PR, dropping 2.64 seconds from her 50 Free PR.
- Rebecca Kramer (8) had a PR that was even bigger yet, dropping a whopping 3.35 seconds in 50 Free.
- Camila Quispe (FR) looked great in her first attempt at 50 Fly, and she never looked better in 50 Free during her 1.14 second PR swim.
- Bella Vaughan (FR) dropped 2.04 seconds in 50 Free.
- Jane Vaughan (7) cut 2.51 seconds in 50 Free.
Swimmers Who are Brand New to the Sport Showed Courage
The Meet on Friday night was very unusual in that new swimmer on the team was asked to swim five (5) different events in a single two (2)-hour period. That’s not easy.
Some of these kids are coming out for the sport and have never really swum at all. It takes a lot of courage to try something so far out of your comfort zone, but I have enormous respect for the kids willing to do it.
Here are some other swimmers who showed how much heart they had at Time Trials:
- Gabe Marm (SR) who has joined the team as a senior to help him prepare for a future career in the US Army. I am so excited to have him. Some of you might remember Geoff Ross (Coach DD Ross’ oldest son) who graduated in 2006 and did the same thing to prepare for West Point.
- David Brand (7)
- Anselm Clune (7)
- Lucas de Brey (7)
- Mary Elder (6)
- Oisin Haggerty (7)
- Gus Halisky (7)
- Blaise Hallada (8)
- Camille Hallada (6)
- John Paul Hartung (FR)
- Mark Hartung (7)
- Charlie Hawley (7)
- Natalia Hercules (7)
- Emma Jolly (6)
- Heidi Mayer (6)
- Caeli McCardell (6)
- Colette Mikkelson (6)
- Therese Rehmann (6)
- Patrick Wise (7)
Other Great Swims
And here are some other swimmers who came back to the team this year ready to improve their strokes and maybe work their way toward the Varsity team one day:
- Siobhan Maher (8) showed good improvement in her streamlines and flip turn.
- Julia Maranian (SO) looked strong in her only swim of the night, the 50 Free.
- Evie Mayer (FR) was right on her 50 Free PR, and she just began training again this season.
- William Orellana (8) who tackled 50 Fly for the first time.
More Things That Worked Quite Well
I started this blog by highlighting several things that pleased me about the way we performed as a team on Friday night. Among those were the way the Captains led, the way we handled the National Anthem, and the way our parent volunteers jumped in to run an excellent meet.
Let me highlight just a couple of others:
- Very Few Events Missed
- While we did have some kids miss their heat in an event, for the most part, we were able to fit them into another heat. Once the season starts, however, you’ll simply be disqualified per the NFHS rules. If you miss an event in a championship meet, the penalty is even worse – you are disqualified from the rest of the Meet! You are swimming on a high school swim team now, so we make the assumptions that you can get yourself to where you are supposed to be. Overall, I was pretty impressed with how well our young team was able to get yourselves to where you were supposed to be, on time.
- Very Few Swimmers Skipped an Event
- We only two (2) kids completely skip their events without talking to me first. Usually that is a bigger problem at this first Time Trial meet, but I’m happy to say that, for the most part, it wasn’t a problem this year.
- Please don’t confuse that with my being happy with those two (2) kids though. I want to be clear on this going forward though – you are never allowed to skip an event without permission from me personally. Don’t go talk to Mom because you don’t want to talk to Dad.
- I was a swimmer once too, so I know how nervous you can get before a race. Being nervous is never a reason to skip an event.
- Notification by Swimmers Who Must Miss the Meet – Normally at this point in the season, we have kids who fail to show up to the meet without notifying me in advance. Amazingly, that did not happen at all this past weekend! Thank you!
- Please keep it up. If you must miss a meet at any point for the rest of the season, please just send me an e-mail now.
Opportunities to Improve
Besides the chaos that I opened with in my blog here, there were two (2) other areas where we I hope to see improvement:
- Knowing your Warm-up Lane Assignments in Advance
- As we were fighting through the organization of our warm-up demonstration with a sound system that was difficult to hear, I saw some lanes with too many kids and some lanes with not enough kids. That never would have happened if every kid was in their assigned lane rather than just going to a lane with their friends.
- Parents, I need your help on this please. If you child does not have access to the internet, please make sure they are seeing the information I am sending out, including warm-up lane assignments.
- Arriving On-Time
- Did you ever wonder why I publish such odd times for the start of our various events? It’s because that is exactly what time I want to start. When I say that you should be stretching on 6:39 p.m., I do not mean “about 6:39 p.m.”. I mean for you to be there before 6:39 p.m. so that you can be ready to go exactly at 6:39 p.m.
- Leaving Early
- High School Swimming is not an individual sport – we are a team. We don’t leave to go home when we are done individually. We stay and cheer for our teammates until the very end. Then we leave when we are done as a team. Can you imagine a football player going to the locker room before the game is over because he is done playing?
- In our regular season meets, the final event is the 400 Freestyle relay. We try to make it a tradition at Seton to have the entire team in the team area by the side of the pool cheering for the swimmers in this final relay. No one should be in the locker room or the bathroom during this final event.
- Post-Meet Handshake
- To tell you the truth, I forgot that I needed to train you all on how we do this, but once I saw that the Captains had already started the team in a line around the pool to high-five the other team, I realized it was too late – particularly since we only had half the team on deck at that point.
The First GEM, “Grateful”
With Thanksgiving approaching, I thought it might be appropriate to share some words from Deacon Don Libera of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Warrenton:
This week offers us our first opportunity to put this into practice as we prepare for our Thanksgiving celebration on Thursday. In light of Thursday’s theme, maybe our focus, our theme during the coming weeks should be to have an attitude of gratitude. For indeed, when we are truly thankful, we are humbled because of the many blessings the Lord has bestowed on us.
When the spirit of gratitude is rooted in humility, it produces in us the fruit of authentic love, and becomes contagious. When we think about how gratitude works in our own lives, we know that when someone is sincerely grateful toward us for something that we did for them or gave to them, we are much more open to doing more for them.
When we see a spirit of generosity in our children, even when it is not directed toward us, we are more inclined to be more generous toward them. A spirit of gratitude and generosity in one person often causes the recipient to respond with gratitude and generosity. We bear God’s image in this. We imitate His unbounded generosity, His unbounded love for us. So how better to prepare?
I really like how Deacon Libera talks about the chain reaction that occurs when we show gratitude. Gratitude is contagious. Let’s start an epidemic!
Final Notes
- For this coming week, we’ll finish our work on freestyle and maybe start backstroke – so don’t miss practice!
- On Wednesday, December 31st, we’ll have our annual Cystic-Fibrosis swim-a-thon. Thanks again to the Given family for helping us run it once more. I’ll pass on more information shortly, but I can tell you now that I’m looking forward to repeating the successful team effort of last season to raise money for this great cause. Since we first started doing this, we’ve raised over $110,000 for Cystic Fibrosis Research at Johns Hopkins University.
I have been so pleased to see so many of you on deck with me and the other coaches for morning practice. Your smiles, your laughter, and your desire to get better make it fun for me also.
See you tomorrow morning,
Coach Jim Koehr