Killarney SC Invitational Recap
The Killarney meet Nov 19 & 20 was chock full of new experiences for the TREX squads. There were many swimmers trying events for the first time ever, some disqualifications, for some a chance to experience their first prelim/final competition. There were some medals won, and even a swim-off on Sunday afternoon (where Maria represent the Dinos, winning herself a spot in the finals heat). Did I mention best times? There were SO many best times (collectively over two hundred and fifty from our 60+ swimmers)!
Amidst all of those best times, TREX gained over ten new Festival qualifiers over the weekend as well, to bring that tally to over 30 UCSC swimmers eligible for the Festival meet at the end of January 2023. We are already looking ahead with great goals in mind (including possibly even more Festival qualifiers next weekend!).
Here are a few takeaways from an awesome, eventful weekend:
- It is important to talk to a coach both before and after a race, whether you are happy or sad, nervous, excited, disappointed, or just anxious to get back to friends. Talking to a coach before a race helps to settle on a race plan, dial in and focus, or calm nerves. Talking to a coach after a race helps to make sense of the experience and encourages an understanding of splits and race strategies. TREX coaches can help swimmers exercise the muscle of awareness: how they choose to think about their experiences and what they might be capable of.
- It is ok to feel really nervous! TREX swimmers are learning to make race plans and take their nervous energy and channel it into focused speed during their races. It is quite something to be able to maintain focus amidst the excitement on the pool deck, behind the blocks, while feeling nervous, and while exerting effort/feeling fatigue in a race. For our young swimmers to put together so many great swims as they learn to manage so much in their minds and bodies is something to be celebrated.
- On that note, it can be disappointing to put together a great swim and then find that either you didn't finish with a best time or that you got disqualified. Swimming is a very objective sport, the numbers are always very real. While we make sure the rules of each stroke and turns are well understood, we spend a lot of time talking about technique and effort and more subjective things that can be done SO WELL, and still not result in what, on the surface, we would call success. We are making a practice of acknowledging ALL of the successes (objective and subjective) and building on them; taking the disappointments and obstacles and using them as tools to improve.
Well done TREX! We are all looking forward to more exciting swims at next weekend's November Invitational!
- Coach Amy