Piranha Families:

Thanks for a great first week of swimming! Saturday morning was a bit brisk, but it was otherwise a beautiful week to get started. We’ll watch the weather this week, but unless we are hearing thunder, we will have practices.

These first couple weeks of the season can be difficult for a number of reasons: the weather is inconsistent, the water can still be chilly, and as many as nine months have passed since many of our swimmers have been in the water. There are a lot of rookies on the team, too, and jumping in with a bunch of kids that are familiar with each other can be tough. With one swimmer this week, we determined the difference between being “scared” (they were not) and being “nervous” (they were). These are a lot of variables to overcome.

I was asked, “Are you going to teach the swimmers to breathe in freestyle?” I answered, “We are going to teach them everything.” I explained that, eventually, we are going to address everything related to competitive swimming: four strokes and breathing, starts, turns (where appropriate) and racing.

The truth is, right now, a lot of our swimmers are literally trying not to drown (you have to admit, that’s a sound priority). We coaches are doing our best to keep instructions uncomplicated. You hear us yelling simple things over and over, especially “Keep swimming!” We know that if we can get the kids to just keep moving, they are quickly going to gain the stamina and confidence they need for the more complex skills they’ll need to be successful (i.e. proper breathing technique).

So, please be patient with your swimmers and coaches. Please remind your swimmers to be patient with themselves. Although it may not happen for everyone all at once, it will happen.

Thank you!

Coach Marty
404-683-7291