“Brave it till you make it.”  ~ Naide P Obiang

This quote is an off take of the "Fake it until you make it" idea. But I like this idea better. It gets to the idea of the courage it takes to finish well.

We are almost there, but not quite to the finish yet. We have to muster the courage to finish well.

AQUAMAN CHALLENGE

Yesterday we finished our second Aquaman Challenge of the season. It requires the swimmers to complete every individual event minus the 500. They swim these back to back in three heats. It's a great lactic set and a great way to test fitness.

The first took place on our second Saturday of the season. This second version shows the great progress in technique and conditioning of these athletes. You can compare the results of the  Early Season results and the Late Season results. BRAYDON RYNSBURGER  gets the award for the most improvement by dropping a huge 84 seconds. TYLER VANHAITSMA and CARSON MILSPAUGH made huge improvements too by just completing almost all the events. I am very impressed with the overall fitness improvement of this entire team.

THE UPCOMING WEEK
AWAY MEET @ Hamilton with Manistee

5:15 Warmup 6:15pm Meet

Bus leaves the HIGH SCHOOL  at 4:45

We are required to bus athletes to Hamilton unless we receive specific instructions/permission from parents for students to drive there. It will be a one way bus trip

PRACTICES:

- Monday 3:30-5:30 @ HAC

- Wednesday 3:15 - 5:00 @ HAC

- Thursday & Friday 3:30-5:30 at DOW Center on Hope College Campus

- Saturday: 9:00-11:00am at DOW Center on Hope College Campus

Monday the 21st: Students are off, but I have a PD Day. For consistency through the week of conference, we will have practice at 3:15 at HAC

Divers Only
- Friday: 3:15-5:15 @ Zeeland West 

A LOOK AHEAD 

Conference Meet - CHANGE OF DATES and VENUE
AT Zeeland February 24 and 25.
Note this is a Thursday and Friday evening instead of a Friday evening and Saturday Afternoon.

I'll give schedule details next week.

Ready for Taper?
Taper 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. 

Swimmers who choose to should have tights to wear at practice beginning this Wednesday the 13th. I suggest tights that are nylon and footless (hemmed at the ankle), not heavy "winter" tights. 
Tights are used to enhance drag during taper but heavy winter tights provide too much drag. The footless tights don't unravel during the two weeks or so of swimming with them on. 


LOOKING AHEAD
Second Chance Meet Hosted by Holland - Tuesday, March 1 at 6:30
This meet will be hosted at the Holland Aquatic Center by Holland High School. 

• Final Meet for those not making State cuts. 
• This is a great opportunity for athletes to swim events that they didn't get a chance to swim at the Conference meet. 
• I need to know what events you want to swim by Sunday evening (Feb 27th). 

SAVE THE DATE End of the season banquet will be on Tuesday, March 15 at 6:00 at the High School. Details will be emailed to you soon.