Seals Families,

I hope everyone has had a safe and fun weekend- we’re looking forward to seeing your kids at practice again tomorrow!

We’ve got a potential for some rough swimming weather this week but will not cancel unless storms appear imminent, or if we get bad weather during practice. The Remind group will be the first line of communication to families if there are practice cancellations.

For the next two weeks, we are SO fortunate to have Elli Overton coaching with us while Coach Caleb goes on a school trip abroad. She has already gotten to know many of our swimmers through the clinics that she has hosted during the season, and will bring so much expertise and knowledge to our practices! In addition to being a former Seals head coach and Olympic swimmer, Elli is also an author, having written a children’s book about doing your best as a competitive swimmer. The story (featuring kids in orange suits on a team called the Seals- could be us!) is inspiring and confidence-building to swimmers of ALL ages. Tomorrow (Tuesday), we will start practices with Coach Elli reading her book to our swimmers.

Our home swim meet for the upcoming weekend will be a shorter and smaller meet. This would be a great swim meet to try a new stroke (or the 100 IM) for the first time. In the past few weeks at practice, your swimmers have been working a lot on breaststroke and butterfly, as well as IM for our 9 and up swimmers. If you are wondering whether your swimmer is ready to try a stroke they haven’t competed in before, start by asking them about it. Do they know what the stroke is, and can they tell/show you how to do it? Have they been at practice when we have worked on the stroke? As always, please also feel free to reach out to me for feedback on whether your swimmer is ready to try a new event.

Trying a new stroke takes a lot of bravery! A little bit of nerves are okay (and sometimes good!), but if your swimmer is expressing fear about trying a new stroke, it’s also okay to wait until they feel more confident. There is no need to rush. 

It also isn’t unusual for a swimmer to get disqualified the first time they try a new stroke, so don’t let the potential for a DQ dissuade your swimmer from trying a new race. We try to frame DQs as learning opportunities. After meets, the coaches and I look at the list of DQs so that we know what to work on with our swimmers at practice. Everyone starts somewhere, and trying a new event is a great way for swimmers to experience individual growth and success during the season . As coaches, it’s so fun and rewarding for us to see swimmers who get disqualified a meet learn to get the stroke right and end up with a great time!

I think that's all for now. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions, comments, or concerns! Thank you, as always, for giving us the opportunity to work with your kids each day.

Go seals!

Ivy