Recaps

Senior Leadership Camp

Over the weekend of September 12-14, 102 senior level YOTA swimmers and 63 senior level swimmers from other YMCA teams across the state made the trip to Arapahoe, NC for a fun weekend of training and leadership development at Camp Seafarer. The theme of this year’s camp was IMPACT, which echoes our team’s motto for the year. We kicked off the weekend with an awesome team building session led by the Camp Seafarer staff on Friday night. Then we hit the ground running on Saturday morning with an awesome Keynote Workshop where Coach Macy and Coach Rachel led the group in a great discussion on the positive and negative impacts of the many influences in their lives. This was a great warm up for their workshops that followed which focused on the impact of mental wellness and the power of their impact on others through leadership. Outside of the workshops, our athletes were taking their training to the next level through a challenging pool workout, an open water race, dryland, and habit practice. Other highlights from the weekend include the variety show and scavenger hunt on Saturday night, watching the sunrise on the pier on Sunday morning, and camp activities during free time throughout the weekend. We ended the weekend stronger, smarter, and more connected than we were at the start. We can’t wait to do it again next year!

YOTA Intrasquad

305 age group level YOTA swimmers took over the Taylor Family YMCA on the morning of September 28th for the Annual YOTA Intrasquad Meet. This meet serves as a practice run for our novice swimmers and is an opportunity for our more seasoned age group swimmers to get back into racing before we dive into our meets this month. It was an incredibly successful morning full of smiles, fun racing, and a whole lot of purple! BIG shoutout to all of our awesome volunteers and officials who helped the meet run so smoothly. We can’t wait to see more YOTA parents on deck volunteering at our meets this month!

The Annual Campaign

It’s that time of year when we come together for the We All Belong Annual Campaign - an opportunity to make an impact far beyond the pool! This campaign helps ensure that every child has access to the YOTA Swim Team and other life changing YMCA programs, regardless of financial circumstances. Right now, some athletes are only able to swim because of the generosity of past donors. Our participation in this campaign reminds us that the YOTA program builds more than fast times - it develops resilience, responsibility, and character that extend well beyond swimming. Since 2006, I've witnessed the life-changing impact of this team and the lifelong friendships it creates. Your participation in this year’s campaign allows us to uphold that tradition of excellence. There’s never pressure to give, but every contribution makes a difference. Thank you for helping us show that at YOTA, We All Belong.
-Coach Tom

SwimStrong Dryland

We are officially entering our 4th season partnering with SwimStrong Dryland! SwimStrong continues to provide YOTA with limitless resources on injury prevention, nutrition and leadership opportunities. They are in the process of creating their own app that is almost a direct reflection of their website. The goal is to have it on all app stores by the end of the calendar year. They have also partnered with Coach Christen Shefchunas to help expand their mental health trainings. Click here to view her first video about normalizing nerves!

They have also updated their website to include many new exercises, injury prevention prehab series, and nutrition guidelines for athletes. Please ask your site director for the website password if you do not have access to this. We are so excited to get back to work with SwimStrong dryland and hope to see another year of improvement out of the water!

Check out this month’s webinars:

October 26th - Athlete Webinar: The Period Playbook by Brittany Miller (Females only)
October 26th - Parent Webinar: Strength Training Benefits for Youth Athletes by Bryan McPherson

NCS Spotlight

Congratulations to these swimmers who have been selected to attend the North Carolina Swimming A-Team and IMX Camp!

A-Team Camp: Benjamin Lei, Langston Berryman, Manoela Laurentino, Mary Henning Pedersen, Alexander Lei, Laura Soliman, Aiden Gajowski, Ximin Zhang

IMX Camp: Katie Wilson, Peyton Cossey, Kira Schneider, Juliet Christopherson, Michael White [Alternates: Alana Schneider, Lee Lowther]

Looking Ahead

October 10-12: TYDE Andy Craver Autumn Leaves Invitational at the Greensboro Aquatic Center (All YOTA Athletes)
October 25: GOLD IMX Meet at the Goldsboro Family YMCA (Coach’s Discretion)

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