JUNIOR ROYAL 4 NEWSLETTER: WEEK 4 (LCM 25)

Champions in the Pool. Champions In Life.

GRATITUDE~GRIT~GROWTH~MINDFULNESS~OWNERSHIP

Good Afternoon!

We are almost through our first month of Long Course...wow that went quick! The meet this past weekend was a lot of fun with the kids swimming events they wouldn't normally pick. They have done such a great job embracing that they are going to be good swimmers all the way around in every stroke rather than "specializing"...as a Coach 'specializing' is something I have never believed in because it puts mental limits on kids. Anyhoo...this week is 'to failure' week on the dryland side. We will be doing our normal dryland but we will also have a metric that we have been doing the last month, each day to failure. The point behind this is to see what strength we have created and where are we still 'weak'. Next week will start the new cycle for dryland and in the pool. Things will get tougher and faster! It is important as we ramp up, school has its last bit of intensity with finals and we head into the full swing of summer long course that the athletes are getting good sleep, really good nutrition and sucking down as much water as they can! If you have any questions going into this week please don't hesitate to reach out! By the start of the new cycle of training (next week) I need all swimmers to have their Tempo Trainers and Drag Socks!

GEAR

Reminder the gear for this season (besides suit, goggles & cap): For our group we will need 

• Mesh Bag for Gear
• Kick Board
• Snorkel
• Fins: Short fins and long fins
• Pull buoy
• Paddles
• Tempo Trainer
• Drag Socks

**I have added a couple things to the list and understand the kids not having these right away but I do want to start using them by Week 3 of practice. 

**We have also had quite a few kids say they "don't have a snorkel" or "things have been taken out of my bag" - please double check to make sure your swimmer has all of the gear they need

  80 PERCENTER'S

• Presley Barker
• Evan Calanog
• AJ Chesterfield
• Abby Collins
• Sarah Ding
• MacKenzi Fleck
• Grace Gowdamarajan
• Sawyer Green-Whitehead
• Delaney Miller
• Jack Reine
• Milley Sealls

COACH BLAKE 'RULES'

As a reminder these are Coach Blake's "Rules" for practice:

1. When Coaches ask the group is to quiet down - eyes on the person talking, ears listening and being engaged with what is being said.
2. When a Coach (or any other adult) isn't talking and we are on the wall waiting to do the next thing or waiting for the next rep - be as LOUD and FUN as you want - just make sure we leave on time and UNDERSTAND what you are doing in the set
3. Ask questions!! If we don't ask questions and just get in the water and go through the motions it doesn't help us in getting better.
4. Respect ALL OF OUR TEAMMATES and only be positive with one another - if you can't be nice don't say anything at all!
5. Let's have FUN and teach EACH OTHER (that includes the kids teaching me!)
6. At meets all Coach Blake expects....1. To have FUN! 2. To do your best (swim your best!) 3. To Learn!

IMR/IMX INFO

As part of our seasons goals we will be focusing on IMR (IM Ready) and IMX (IM Xtreme) scores. These scores are great indicators of where your swimmers are, how well rounded we are helping them become and where we can improve. The Junior 4's are working on improving their IMX score. To learn more about these click HERE. If you have any questions on these or on what your child's scores currently are don't hesitate to ask!

• Reminder this group uses IMR and IMX scores to better understand how we are doing on creating holistic swimmers these updated IMR/IMX scores will be HERE . This will be updated seperately after each Meet so you can see the improvement from beginning of the season to your swimmer's final meet!
  • ​I wanted to give you a basic understanding of IMR/IMX scores - these scores are based on your child's age, event swam and time they swam it in. This gets put into an algorithim and it spits out a score. The higher the score the better your athlete has done in that event - our goal is to have all of these scores be as high as possible and as close to each other as possible (Example: Blake is 9 and has a 300 in the 50 Fly, a 265 in the 50 Breaststroke, a 393 in the 50 Backstroke and a 287 in the 200 IM -- these scores help make him eligible for the Sharks group starting in the Fall)

STAFF

Social Media: If you do not already, follow the team on social media to get more info, see highlights on your kids and more!

• Instagram: @southeasternswimclub
• Facebook: Southeastern Swim Club

UPCOMING EVENTS

HIGHLIGHTS

• Highlights from the meet this weekend included watching the kids utilize the habits that we have been working to form this past month, including but not limited to a minimum of 4 underwaters off each wall, great length on their strokes at speed, no breathing into the turns and helping lift each other up after races. Best line I heard this weekend was "Hey you were kicking the entire race and I am proud of you for that! You've been working really hard on it!"... "Really I  was?! I didn't even notice!". I want to shoutout the fact that everyone left that meet with smiles, new best times, and everyone left with at a minumum 4 DIVS cuts. While DIVS cuts are no longer something this group is trying to strive for I still think it is important to see that you easily achieved that milestone without wearing tech suits or being rested...speaking of that shoutout to Milley Sealls, AJ Chesterfield and Delaney Miller for making Age Group State cuts in at least one event this weekend again without a tech suit or being rested! Just imagine what you all will be able to do in 2 and a half weeks at Sizzler!! 

UPCOMING

• May Meters Kickoff Meet: May 3rd+4th
• Summer Sizzler: May 30th-June 1st Sign up HERE 

GENERAL CALENDAR

Our general calendar will be on a Google Doc calendar once I have it complete at the end of this week! 

WEEKLY CALENDAR

LANE ASSIGNMENTS

The lane assignments below are just a starter and will be changed as I see a need for it. This season we are going to learn to be one team, one group lifting each other up!