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Sharks News
February 2019
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From the Desk of the Head Coach
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Wow! February was a very exciting month of competitions for the Shaker Sharks! Shaker Shark swimmers make up a majority of the Shaker Heights High School swimming and diving teams. The high school swimmers will compete in Championship meets throughout the month of February. We will update the website with results. Our 8 & &Under Swimmers will kick off the Shark Championship season in Lakewood on 2/19. Good luck swimmers!
March continues our championship competition portion of the season. March is also a time where we try to review each swimmer’s technique and evaluate group placements. Let us know if you have any questions.
Eighth Grade Shaker Sharks are invited to join the Senior practice groups starting Monday, April 8, 2019 at the Woodbury pool 3:45-5:45 pm Monday – Friday. Carpooling is highly encouraged to help get swimmers from the Shaker Heights Middle School to the Woodbury Pool. This is a great way to have our 8
th grade swimmers get to know the senior group coaches, training routines, and get reacquainted with older teammates. See Coach Peterson if you have questions.
Check the
practice calendar online for the most up to date information regarding practice schedules. We have numerous groups and two sites for practices.
See you on deck,
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On Sunday, May 5, 2019, Shaker Sharks will host a long course meet at Cleveland State. Please mark your calendars! Information on volunteering and meet signup coming soon!
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Sharks Progression Manager
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Follow your swimmer's progress using the Sharks Progression Manager, created by Sharks Coach Jelani Watkins!
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February 17
February 24
March 8-9
March 15-17
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Congrats on a great high school dual meet season. Lots of really fast swimming! That all came from your hard efforts, consistent attendance, and technique improvements. We have a pretty special group within the senior practice group. Keep up the good work.
There is still time to sign up for the Lake Erie Swimming Senior Championships 3/15-3/17. After the LESI championships, many of you will have the option to take a well-deserved break from practices. We will offer technique sessions during that period. Swimmers must sign up in advance for those sessions on the team website.
We will start training for the summer long course season beginning Monday, April 8, 2019.
We had a lot of improvement and successes this year. We would like to encourage you to practice in this spring and summer to continue that improvement. See Coach Peterson to discuss any questions you might have or to work out a plan that will help you accomplish your goals.
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Like we did last year, starting in March, we will be adjusting the practice set up for the Masters group. We will be offering 3-4 lanes of workout. However, we will also be offering 2-3 lanes of technique work each practice. Those interested in improving a particular aspect of their technique will have that opportunity at both pools. More details regarding this will be explained in the coming weeks at practice.
Please remember to always check the online practice calendar for the most up to date practice information. We run a very flexible practice schedule. If you come late or leave early, that is fine, just do so in a courteous manner. If you arrive for practice late, just hop in and join the set in progress. You can ask a coach, if available or lane mates or just swim easy until the next set starts and you’ll get the full explanation. If you leave before the practice is over, just let your lane mates know you are leaving. Best to try and leave at the end of a set, not mid-set.
Thank you and keep up the great work. Lots of improvements going on with our group.
Team breakfast day will be Saturday, February 23, 2019 with lanes 5 & 6 being asked to help us out.
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Championship season is quickly coming upon us. This is the time of year where we see many improvements with swimmers. This may be swimmers completing new events for the first time, getting a personal best in their favorite race, or achieving new time standards. Some of this has already been seen. The past few weekends have produced numerous impressive performances. At the Turn Up the Heat meet, every one of our swimmers had a personal best time or finished within a second of their best. Congratulations to all the swimmers on their commitment to working hard both at practice and during competition.
Age Group practices
have increased intensity in preparedness for the end of short course season. We have been focusing on building strength along with the endurance that has improved in the last months. Swimmers are working on maintaining a higher level of power over longer distances. Instead of sprinting 25's or 50's we are working on holding that faster pace for 100's or more. Kids at both the Middle School and Woodbury have done a great job of focusing on maintaining that higher level of effort. They are developing good work habits at practice that are translating into better results at competition. I would also like to thank the swimmers for their positive attitudes. Even during difficult workouts, they have been acting as a team and maintaining a positive mind set.
For all roster groups
please remember to be at meets on time. Most meets have assigned warm-up times and require the swimmers to circle/check in prior to the meet. Swimmers need to be ready to hop in the water at the time designated in emails. To avoid issues with registration, plan on being at a meet at least 15 minutes before the time listed in the warm-up info.
I would also like to remind swimmers to be on time for practices and bring all needed equipment ( water bottles are important). Be ready to get in the water or start dry-land at the posted practice time.
Masters
keep up the good work. Congratulations to those that competed the past month. I look forward to seeing all of you continue to improve as I find new ways to add kicking and sprinting into our workouts.
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Five-time NBA champion Tim Duncan once quoted wise words from Saint Jerome saying, “Good, better, best. Never let it rest, 'til your good is better and your better is best.” Over the past few practices, these words have been shared, recited, and used as motivation and guidance during Age Group, Gold, and Junior practices. Swimmers have been working hard to make their good seed times better in practice so that they may be able to swim their best times in meets. During this challenging portion of the season, when swimmers juggle hard practices with Winter storms and school testing, the Coaches are proud of the progress and new goals that swimmers have been making. Check them out for your swimmer in the
SPM Database
today!
In preparation for upcoming meets, we have spent much time focusing on starts, turns, and transitions
. Additionally, we have enforced a consistent short warm-up routine in the Gold and Age Group practices that naturally reinforces good habits at the beginning of each practice. Some swimmers have developed strategies for decreasing the time they spend on the block and maximizing how far out they pushed off of the block; others have simply gotten over the fear of hitting their head or stomach on the water. Some swimmers have developed strategies for decreasing the amount of time they spend on the wall during transitions; others have simply gotten over the fear of hitting their head on the wall during flip-turns. Whichever lessons were learned, each swimmer has made great progress.
In addition, we encourage our Gold swimmers to attend Saturday morning practices for a more technical and individualized experience.
If a swimmer has something that they really struggling with or would like to fine turn their turns or dives, we highly recommend these practices. In general, we will be working on improving each of the four competitive strokes and breaking down the specifics of streamlines and flip turns off the wall as well as starts.
As the championship portion of the season begins to come to a close, the Sharks Coaching Staff would like to encourage swimmers to discover more ways to improve in and out of the water. We are planning to host intramural competition opportunities for swimmers to race and make additional best times that we can add into the
SPM Database
. When the dates are solidified, we will highly encourage swimmers to attend these Shaker meets. We look forward to sharing more information regarding those opportunities, results from the coming championship meets, and more in future newsletters. Please let us know if you have any questions comments, or concerns regarding practices, meets, or the team. As always, we thank you for supporting the team, and look forward to seeing your swimmer in future practices!
-Compiled with the help of Coach Arthur and Coach Brittany
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