Team Santa Monica Newsletter- September 2021

Message from the Head Coach

Accept the Process, Embrace the Process, Trust the Process...

Your coaches only want to help you be successful. There is not a single decision, direction, or piece of advice that is formulated without first and foremost focusing on helping you get better. Our job is to make you the best swimmers you can be; by ‘best,’ I mean ultimately the best. Our responsibility at each group is to help prepare you for the next level.

In order to be successful and reach your goals you have to accept that there is a process, and you have to remember that there’s no fast track to success in the pool. There is a scientific progression to your weekly, monthly, and yearly plans and this progression is far more important than a particular outcome on a given day. We wouldn’t use a stopwatch if times weren’t important, however, singular races along this long journey should not be our primary concern; we’re on a rollercoaster together and must expect ups and downs. This is a process! It’s uncomfortable, demanding, and it’s rewarding.

With that in mind, we want your TSM practices to be the focal point for your learning and development as a swimmer. We believe you learn best under the stress of practice conditions alongside your teammates, not in isolation. And we want to keep the message about your improvement clear, simple, and consistent. If you receive a different direction about your swimming in another setting, please ask your TSM coaches to clarify! We don’t want any swimmer frustrated or confused.

Do coaches have favorites? Absolutely!!!... Our favorites are those who do most fervently what the coaches ask of them. The desire and effort to get better - even on a bad day - trump any degree of talent or luck. I would also add that we never tire from coaching amazing swimmers: not necessarily international medalists, but young capable people like you with great character and drive. 

Thus, I ask all of you to ACCEPT, EMBRACE, and TRUST process every day. Please remember that regardless of the outcome, your swimming career will be full of experiences with some of the most amazing people on the planet.

Good luck and remember to value every day as it is your last.

MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD PRESIDENT:

Welcome back to what promises to be another successful swim season! The Board of Directors met in their first meeting in September. I am excited to work with them – it’s a great group! We elected officers for the year. In the interest of maintaining consistency during the pandemic, we elected to continue as we did last year:

Secretary: Hsuan Chuchen

Vice President: Laura Scott

President: Alexandra Tower

The new season is always filled with uncertainty for swimmers going into new swim groups. Parents and swimmers alike need time to adjust to the changes, even if it means staying in a group when friends are moving to others. In late July, I learned that my swimmer would not be moving to a new group. At the risk of oversharing, the consensus among the coaches was that he simply wasn’t ready – not emotionally, and not for the shift to more rigorous coaching. Although his friends are scattered among different groups now, we are happy to trust the judgement of the coaches. They have the experience to know how to progress each of our swimmers.  

Although I swam in a club team when I was young, I’ll admit that I am a clueless parent, when it comes to club swimming today. I don’t know my swimmer’s times, and I don’t know what his favorite stroke is. I am reminded of a word of wisdom that I hold dear, from an international-level coach. He asked me something about my son, and I confessed to my cluelessness. His response was simple, but I will never forget it: “Keep it that way. It will be the healthiest for him.” Whew!! What a relief it was to hear that! That leads me to what almost all swim clubs share with parents, and by which I hope we all can abide:

“Swimmers swim, coaches coach and parents cheer”.

I’m excited to see our swimmers participate in more swim meets this season, and I hope you’ll join me in cheering for our swimmers as best we can. If they don’t let us into the meets, or if they do, we can be the best pep-squad TSM has ever known!!

FUNDRAISING

A special thank you to the Kuwatas for their continued support of TSM with their magical musubi!!

The Annual Giving campaign is around the corner, and our goal is to top last year’s wildly successful fundraising efforts. I know we can!

MEET HIGHLIGHTS

JUNIOR OLYMPICS
WHAT AN EXCITING DAY 1!

Ellie Sim City swam her last race on TSM! 😭 We wish her all the best!

Angie De Togni swam in the consolation final of the 100 back after dropping 4sec in prelims. There definitely wasn’t ketchup on her spaghetti 🍝!

Speaking of ketchup, Amelia Hines won 2 events 🏆 the 200 fly and the mile 💪 achieving both the 800 and mile sectional cuts 🤯

Amelia wasn’t alone in those races. Kae Tanabe joined her in the mile coming in 3rd and it was a fun race as the duo was next to each other in the 200 fly and completed the 1-2 finish for TSM. 

Speaking of swimming next to each other, the brothers Mullin were side by side in the 200 back, even hitting each other at one point 🤦‍♂️ 

Chris “John” Goodman also swam the 200 back and took a bite out of his best time like it was a slim Jim, oooohhhh yeeaaahhh

Harrison Smith swam the 200 fly and dropped it like it’s hot, time that it is 🔥 He also pulled a usain bolt and competed in the 100 free

We were all a part of the Sophie Chang gang as she flew through water in the 100 fly 🦅

Alan Ssshhhhhhaaban 🤫 not so quietly competed in the 200 back and 200 fly back to back, and he’s still standing (unlike someone 😝)

-DAN

TSM HOME MEET

SEALS

Great first meet to start off the season strong with Seals. We had 17 out of 31 Seals swimmers competing. It was a great opportunity for swimmers to change their NT to actual times. Seals will be competing in all events in the future so all Seals will have times for events in which their age group provides. We will be working with snorkels and more starts/ turns in the month of October. 

-CHRIS

AG1

Very proud of AG1 for all of their hard work, sportsmanship and performance overall at the TSM Season Opener Meet! Everyone dropped time and put forth the effort to apply the technical corrections/prompts towards their swim in all events. Very impressed to see this. I’d like to highlight Mylo Vitar Patel and Zoey Jaffa for their efforts. This was Mylo’s first swim meet in quite a few months and his performance surpassed all expectations! Guess they call him M.V.P. for good reason. Zoey was focused and achieved new best times and also made sure her teammates were cheered on for all of their events.

-MICHELLE

AG2

Age Group 2 did a mic drop with all their time drop! Every swimmer who competed came away with personal bests, giving great confidence for the season to come. Most impressive was the variety of events in which everyone competed and swam well in. It shows dedication to becoming better all around swimmers.

-DAN

AG3

Most of the kids in the group are new and it was good to see everyone racing. Some of the kids swam most of their events for the first time and that was amazing to watch. I think everyone learned a lot from each race and are more focused at practices now. Everyone did well and we are looking forward to getting back to training and getting ready for the next meet.

-IMAN

SENIOR DEVELOPMENT

SD did an amazing job at the meet. It was exciting to see some of the swimmers race for the first time and for some of them it had been a while since competing. Every swimmer dropped time from a few second to upwards of 21 seconds in some events. I’m excited for the next meet and seeing everyone improve this season.

-ADRIANA

SENIOR PREP

Noteworthy benchmark meet to see where we excel and what needs to be improved for Sr Prep. We had 9 out of 10 Senior Preparation swimmers competing. With the addition of tempo trainer usage and weekly AM Dryland, October looks to be a good month for training 💪 

SENIOR PERFORMANCE

What a great way to start the season! Senior Performance swimmers showed that their hard work early this season will pay off. We had great showings in the 500 free and 400 IM that showed a lot of physical and mental toughness.

-DAN

NATIONAL PREP

It was good to get back to racing. Kids did well all around but there are definitely things we need to continue working on. Kids all raced well. Looking forward to getting back to training and getting ready for the next one.

NATIONALS

We had a great Futures Championship meet at the end the 2020-2021 Season. National Group swimmers recorded lifetime bests, won multiple medals, and qualified for US Open (Nationals) and Summer Junior Nationals in multiple new events. Colton Milne was able to swim faster than the USA Olympic Trials standard in his 200Br with a time of 2:17.53 LCM.
After a great Summer Championships, it was time for a much-needed break. However, we have hit the ground running after our two weeks break as our target meet of our first mesocycle is the Speedo Jr Nationals in Dec 2021.

Our first meet of the Seas, the TSM Season Opener, was a great test to see where we are and how we need to move forward. We had multiple lifetime bests and are looking forward to seeing better swims at the next meet.

Five out of seven swimmers are currently being recruited by NCAA D1 colleges, which is great and exciting for TSM. We are proud of all the kids and their commitment to themselves and their goals.

-MOHAMMAD

NUTRITION

EAT AND HYDRATE TO PERFORM…

Everything a student-athlete does is about performance, both in the classroom and in the pool. An athlete who does not eat enough, will not be able to function well at school, during practice, or during a competition. If your swimmer is struggling to stay awake during the day, has low energy at school or in the pool, and seems sluggish they are not eating ENOUGH calories during the day… and this will impact them more and more as the season progresses because they start each week at a caloric deficit.

Just because your swimmer eats a lot more than you or more than before, it doesn't mean they are eating ENOUGH to perform in the classroom and/or in the pool.
Coaches fully understand when swimmers are tired, due to not sleeping enough, or when they are pretty sore because of the work they do in the pool; however, lack of energy is mainly due to not eating ENOUGH of the right foods at the right time (before/during/after training or competition).

Yes!!! You are right!!! Keeping up with swimmers’ nutrition alone is like having a 2nd job.... that's why swimmers have to be involved in the process, take responsibility, and learn at a young age what they need to do to be able to be successful as student-athletes. 

You can use the link below to learn more about fueling. If you need more help in this area please do not hesitate to reach out to your Coach!

https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/camps/national-select-camp/fueling-for-comp-factsheet-2020-final.pdf

Go TSM!