October 28- November 3

"Don't let negative and toxic people take up space in your thoughts.

Raise the rent and kick them out!"

"Be careful how you talk to yourself because you are listening."

Please watch this short video clip from the head football coach at Western Michigan University ... he talks about "Rowing the Boat" - how to focus on the task at hand, not the past or the future, and depend on those who are in the boat with you.  I really think it will put us in a great mindset to do great things this weekend.

https://whatdriveswinning.com/conference-videos/row-the-boat

THE WEEK OF CONFERENCE IS HERE! 

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.  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 because of our day-to-day process and taking our meets one swim and one dive at a time.  We all have negative thoughts that creep in... the "what if's".  The key is to push out the negative and replace those thoughts with the positive ones.  Your mind can only have one thought at a time... MAKE IT A POSITIVE THOUGHT before every race and every dive - push the negative thoughts and the "what ifs" out.  Let your positive voice be the stronger voice that always wins over the negative voice. There's a lot that will go on this weekend that we have no control over, but we do have control over our own mindset towards our individual swims and dives. The challenge will be to continue to stay in the moment - not focused on the last race or dive, not focused on the next race or dive, but to stay in the moment and give the final outcome to God.  If we can continue to encourage each other and keep a positive mindset throughout the weekend, we're going to have a FUN end to our regular season, and accomplish some really great things!

Ready for Taper?
A few parents have asked about Taper. It is that time of the year when workouts change. Yardage decreases while intensity and speed increase with the intent of preparing and "resting" the body for the championship portion of the season. If you want a little more detail about taper, here is a nice little article that explains it well. 

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 was 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, we 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.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SHAVE DOWN Shaving is required for ALL SWIMMERS. The shave down is as much about a psychological boost as it is about removing hair. The feel that a swimmer gains from shaving (caused by the removal of a small layer of skin) gives a psychological boost that is hard to explain. We will discuss this with the girls this week.

• Here is a short article on the benefits of shaving and the ways parents can help.
• Here is a great article about the do's and don'ts with helpful hints for the shave down.

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, 26
• 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 10.29

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

Tuesday 10.30

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

Wednesday 10.31

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

Thursday 11.1

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

Friday 11.2

• 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 sweatpants and/or HC Aquatics apparel.
• Divers:
• Dismissed from school at 10:55am (after 3rd hour) to meet Diane at Zeeland at 11:45.
• Diving Warm Up @ 12:00pm. 
• Stands Open @ 1:30pm.
• Diving Prelims Begins @ 2:00pm.
• Swimmers
• Dismissed from school at 12:15 (after 5th hour)
• Carpool to Allie Brown's house for a meal.   (1880 Blue Isle Ct, 49424)
• Leave Browns at 1:30 to arrive in Zeeland by 2:00 to watch some rounds of diving.
• Warm Up @ 3:00pm.
• Stands Open @ 3:30pm.
• Prelims Begin @ 5:00pm.

Saturday 11.3

• 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 or parka.  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 Haven Christian Reformed Church Youth Building (541 Alice Street in Zeeland)  All parents, siblings, etc. are welcome to attend!  An email with info (and requesting an RSVP) was sent out last week by Emilie De Young.  If you have questions on the pizza supper, email Emilie De Young or Vicki Zylstra.