What to Expect on Your First Day of Seton Swimming Practice

Welcome to Seton Swimming!  It looks like we are about to have the largest team in Seton Swimming’s 25-year history.  Our roster currently has 88 kids plus 2 managers, including 28 kids who are new to the team this season – very cool!

66 of the kids on the roster have registered on-line, so if you haven’t had the chance yet, please hit the Join the Team button and get registered officially.

Tomorrow, Election Day, November 5, 2019, is our first practice at the Freedom Center.  With so many new kids, we’ll use a good chunk of tomorrow’s practice just getting organized.  With 12 kids of my own, I usually don’t find large groups of kids all that intimidating, but 88 is a lot!

Fortunately, we have lots of help on deck this year.  Besides returning coaches Pat Mulhern, DD Ross, Kimberly Dalrymple and Jerry Zadnik, we’ve added John Halisky and former Seton team captain Ashley Cackett to the coaching staff.  That should give us plenty of ability to give ever swimmer the attention they deserve.

We are also fortunate to have Callie Couture and Patrick Wood joining us as Team Managers.  We’re really going to need them.

Normally, we’ll start practice with dryland exercises precisely at 6:04 a.m. in the racquetball courts at the Freedom Center, but for tomorrow only, we’ll start with an orientation session in the bleachers in the pool area.

Here’s what you need to bring:

• Googles and a swimsuit.
  • Some sort of competition style suit is ideal but not required
    • For boys, that means a jammer – no speedos please
  • There are many types of goggles that will work well, just try to make sure they are designed for competitive swimming.
    • Here’s the style I personally prefer if you are looking for an example
    • If you have an extra pair of goggles, please bring them just in case a new swimmer doesn’t have a pair
  • A T-shirt and Shorts
    • Wear shorts and a t-shirt suitable for exercising, with your swimsuit on underneath
    • Assume that you will not be able to go back to the locker room once you come out on deck.
  • Breakfast
    • You will not have time to go back home, so most swimmers pack both a breakfast and a lunch for the day
  • Shower Supplies and School Uniforms
    • After practice, you will shower at the Freedom Center, so you should plan on being able to leave completely ready for school
  • An Attitude of Gratitude
    • How cool is it that you get to swim for Seton?
    • I’ll never forget my years of high school swimming, and I know you won’t either.

Here’s where you need to go:

• Meet me in the bleachers at the far end of the pool before 6:04 a.m. for an orientation talk
• After the first day, you will report straight to the racquetball courts ready to start dryland at precisely 6:04 a.m. (15-minutes later on Mondays)
• You will NOT be returning to the locker room between the orientation meeting and when we hit the water, so make sure you have your suit on under your clothes

Here’s how we keep the Freedom Center happy to have us:

• When you show up with more than 80 kids that are all trying to shower at the same time, some of the paying patrons of the Freedom Center can understandably get a little a frustrated.
  • We must show great respect for that.
• NO swim bags on the floor or on the benches in the locker room
  • You can put your bags in a locker, on top of the lockers, or out on the pool deck.
• I going to count on the Captains to make sure that our team is crammed into the minimum number of locker room bays possible.
  • For the boys, we should only be in the three bays closest to the pool. That will leave 2 bays for patrons
  • For girls, I don’t know how many bays there are in the locker room, but we need to leave at least one completely free of Seton Swimmers.
    • It might be hard with 50 girls on the team but leaving two (2) empty bays would be ideal.
  • When we come in to shower, we need to leave some showers open for the paying patrons of the Freedom Center
    • Boys, pile in the gang showers.
      • Do not use the private shower stalls at all
      • And do not use the bathroom stalls to change!
    • Girls, I will again leave it to the Captains to sort things out in the girl’s locker room
      • The goal is to make sure that paying patrons always have open showers.
    • Remember that you are from Seton School and everyone at the Freedom Center will know it.
      • Imagine that all of Seton School is being judged by your personal behavior and interactions.

Here’s how we will assign practice lanes:

• Tomorrow, we will start with a self-sort.
  • There will ultimately be five (5) different practice groups.
  • The most experienced swimmers will be to the far left and the least experienced swimmers will be to the far right.
• We will shift people around to find the best fit until Time Trials
• After Time Trials, once I have times on everyone, I will publish practice lane assignments for the rest of the season.
• If you are new to the team, please do everything you can not to miss Time Trials.
  • Not only does it make it hard to get you in the right practice lane, I can’t recognize you for a Personal Record without a starting against which to measure.
  • Time Trials starts at 7:00 p.m. on Friday night, November 15^th at the Warrenton Aquatic and Recreation Facility

I can already see that this season is going to be historic for Seton Swimming.  I am so pleased to have all of you on the team with us.  It’s going to be a great year!

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at [email protected] or call my cell phone.

Coach Jim Koehr