Meet Affirmations for 10 & Unders

For the Turkey Classic, I am having the parents read this to their kids right before they go to bed each night. My hopes are that they are mentally preparing for the swim meet even before they arrive. When the time comes to take action, they are ready to go and their confidence is at a maximum:

“Tomorrow…
You are going to wake up and you are going to eat a healthy breakfast. You know that food is energy and the right kind of food will help you achieve your swimming goals for the day.
You are going to pack your own bag with your Nadador suit, at least two Nadador caps, your racing goggles, and anything else that you feel is important for the swim meet to come.
You are going to arrive at the pool 5 to 10 minutes early because you are punctual and understand the importance of being prepared and stress free.
You are going to actively stretch with a mind-to-muscle connection that will help your body become a swimming machine.
You are going to have the best warm up of your entire life. You will feel the water like never before and your technique will feel smooth and relaxed. You will feel amazing.
You are going to check in with your coach before and after each race as well as warm up and warm down to ensure that you are fully prepared to execute your race plan. You have an uncanny belief in your coach and are prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve success.
You will perform at your absolute best for each race. Your confidence is sky high because you have trained to be the best you can be.
You won’t over-think your races. You will just RACE.
You will be proud of yourself, be a good sport, and hold your head up high regardless of the outcome because you are a Nadador.
You will believe in your team, your coach and yourself.
…See you tomorrow.”

Bryan Dedeaux
Mission Viejo Nadadores
Division Director

10 & Under workout for Nov. 17th 2009

Warm up

1x300 (100Fr, 100IM, 100Fr)

Kick-Bk

6x150 on 3:00 (50k, 50s, 50k)

Drill-Brst

4x200 2 on 4:20, 2 on 4:00 (25 2k-1p, 25 swim)

Pull-Free

1x100 on 1:45 - 4x50 on 50 - 8x25 on 30 (w/paddles and buoy)

1x100 on 1:40 - 4x50 on 45 - 8x25 on 30 (w/out gear)

Swim-Fly

2x400 IM on 10 rest w/Fins (200Fly, 100IM, 100IM)

3,500yds

The day before this particular workout, my Gold group got an earful from me about a poor set at the end of the practice. So, on this day I sat them down for a meeting to discuss who was going to be our team capt. for the Turkey Classic and to get a read on their moral. In that meeting I found that the kids didn't go home discouraged the night before, but in fact, they told me they wanted to get right back in and do it again and make it right. I was proud of their response and got a great workout. Probably one of the best of the season so far. At the end of practice, I had a couple of the kids come up and say that they really liked the workout, but wanted a harder one tomorrow. What can I say?...They love swimming.

10 & Under Workout for Nov. 11th 2009

Kick-Brst

8x through

1x100 (Swim 50 Fr, 50 Brst) 0n 2:00

2x25 (Kick Brst-Sprint) on 30

Drill-Free

8x75 (50 Single arm catch up-25 catch up) on 1:40

Pull-Fly w/ small paddles and fins

10x100 (kick, right, left, swim) on 2:00

Swim-Back

16x25 (High Tempo. Rip the thumb out. Slice the pinky in) on 40

Skills-Open turns

Keep shoulders under - Eyes on hand

3,200Yds

"Coach Bryan's Death Camp"

I was taking video of my swimmers a couple years back and one of my kids looks at the camera and says "Welcome to Coach Bryan's death camp!" Our dryland is pretty hard. However, they are smart enough to know why we do the things we do. They are told from the beginning that when you work hard you get stronger and faster. The dryland portion of our workouts are very intense and are often considered the hardest part of the day. My regular dryland routine consists of fun, yet challenging exercises that creatively involve the following ideas:
Running
Jumping
Pushing
Pulling
Crawling
Abs
Coordination
Balance
Plyometrics
I think it is important to make dryland fun for the kids while making it something that they are going to get a lot out of. I notice that out of every new group of 40+ kids that I get each season, only 5 or 6 of them are truly athletic. So, the activities we do in our dryland routine are based on creating athletes. I hope that by having more athletes we will have better swimmers that will be good at more than just water based competition. Watch the video and you can see some of the things we do. I would be interested to see what other teams do for dryland with their younger kids. Please let me know if there are some things that you believe in and do in your dryland routine.