The Week Ahead: 10.31 to 11.5

You have to be able to center yourself, to let all of your emotions go. 

Don't ever forget that you play with your soul as well as your body.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

I prepare to swim MY race.  

Amanda Beard

And here we are...THE WEEK OF CONFERENCE! The end of the season comes quickly once we hit the last stretch of October. Conference is meant to be a fun celebration of the work that we've put over the course of the season, and I'm sure this year will be no exception. The thing to keep in mind as we go throughout this week and head into the meet is that we've gotten to this point and made the progress we have not because we've focused on end-results, but because of our day-to-day process and taking our meets one swim and one dive at a time. There's lots that will go on this weekend that we have no control over, but we do have control over our own individual swims and dives. As the Amanda Beard quote, exemplifies, we need to prepare for OUR opportunities to compete, not anyone else's. And, as the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar quote reminds us, this will be about more than just the work we've put in, but also the mindset we approach the week and weekend with. If we're able to center ourselves, focus on our own individual efforts, and encourage each other throughout the weekend, we're going to have a FUN end to our regular season! I can't wait to spend Friday and Saturday together as a family and see what we can accomplish!

Transportation Info

• Zeeland is a SELF-PROVIDED transportation location for HC. Make sure you have a ride for both Friday and Saturday that will get you to the pool on-time.

Important News/Notes for Athletes

• As I mentioned last week, we need to make sure that we're doing everything we can to stay rested up throughout the week.  Get enough/extra sleep and avoid adding extra vigorous physical activities.  If you have a question about something that you're doing, employ the motto "when in doubt, leave it out".  For those Conference swimmers who are taking PE classes right now, I have emailed your teachers. You will have to participate minimally in regular class activities, but can sit out from physical testing, running, etc.
• Between warm up and the actual meet, each day of Conference will be 5+ hours long.  Each day, be sure to bring plenty of snacks and a couple water bottles or other drinks so that you can stay fueled-up throughout each session.  On Saturday, eat a good breakfast (much more than just a piece of toast!).  
• Each swimmer needs to bring a pair of comfortable, broken-in tennis shoes to wear on-deck during the meet on both Friday and Saturday.  Walking around barefoot on a hard-surfaced pool deck for five hours is more draining than you would expect.  Please clean the soles beforehand so we're not tracking dirt everywhere.

Conference Championships Info

• Location: Zeeland High School
• Teams: The OK Green Conference is made up of Holland, Zeeland, Hamilton, Byron Center and Unity Christian.
• Prelims/Finals for Individuals: Our Conference meet is split up into two days: Prelims on Friday and Finals on Saturday.  For individual swimming events, on Friday, everyone will swim their two individual events and up to two relays.  On Saturday, there will be 3 heats of each event:
• The last two heats (the scoring Consolation and Championship heats, respectively) will be made up of the Top 16 swims from prelims, with a maximum limit of 4 athletes per team (with 6 teams, 8 out of the 24 eligible scorers will be left out).  
• The first heat of each event is a non-scoring "Bonus Heat" made up of the next 8 fastest times, regardless of team (thus, even if an athlete was one of the 4 eligible scorers, she is NOT guaranteed to swim in the bonus heat).
• Relays: On both Friday and Saturday, there will be a heat each of non-scoring B and C relays followed by a heat of the scoring A relays.  
• Diving: Divers will do 8 dives for prelims on Friday.  The final 3 dives will be completed on Saturday during the normal diving slot with the Top 16 from prelims eligible to score.
• Scoring Breakdown (descending by place):
• Relays (A relays only): 40, 34, 32, 30, 28
• Championship Finals (Top 8): 20, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11
• Consolation Finals (9-16): 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
• Note: if a swimmer qualifies for the Consolation Finals (9-16) but swims a time on Saturday that would make the top 8, she still receives 9th place.
• Saturday Awards: On Saturday, there will be an award ceremony for the Championship Finalists from each event and the  A relays.  This will occur after the completion of the next event (eg, the awards for the Medley Relay will be after the Championship Finals Heat of the 200 Free).

Daily Info

Monday 10.31

• Conference swimmers out at 5:30pm.
• State swimmers out at 5:45pm.

Tuesday 11.1

• Conference swimmers out at 5:00pm.
• State swimmers out at 5:45pm.

Wednesday 11.2

• Conference swimmers out at 5:00pm.
• State swimmers out at 5:45pm.

Thursday 11.3

• Conference swimmers out at 4:45pm.
• State swimmers out at 5:15pm.

Friday 11.4

• Athletes will be missing a couple classes on Friday.  You need to communicate with your teachers AHEAD OF TIME to find out what you will miss, have to make up, etc. Work due on Friday still needs to be turned in on Friday, so arrange for that as well.
• Dress: team sweatshirts and t-shirts.
• Divers:
• Dismissed from school at 11:00am.
• Diving Warm Up @ 12:00pm. 
• Stands Open @ 1:30pm.
• Diving Prelims Begins @ 2:00pm.
• Swimmers
• Dismissed from school at 1:50pm.
• Carpool to Coach Diane's house for a meal.
• Warm Up @ 3:30pm.
• Stands Open @ 4:30pm.
• Prelims Begin @ 5:30pm.

Saturday 11.5

• ALL athletes, regardless whether they qualified to compete on Saturday or not, are required to be at the meet.  Anyone not competing needs to have on their team shirt and team warm up top.  Between our B and C relays and the bonus heat for each individual event, we hope to get everyone a swim on Saturday, but it's not guaranteed.
• Warm Up starts at 10:00am. 
• Stands open at 10:30am. 
•  Meet starts at 12:00pm.
• After the meet, we will be having a team pizza dinner at the high school in the cafeteria.  All parents, siblings, etc. are welcome to attend!  An email with info (and requesting an RSVP) was sent out last week by Sandy Visser.