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Championship Season is Here
Many Ensworth Aquatics swimmers have already competed in a Championship meet at the Region level, while our High School swimmers are prepping for the State Championship.
After that, our 8 & Unders gear up for their Championship event during the Region meet at the Sportsplex on February 15 to 16. Then all of our qualifiers will head to Huntsville the next weekend for the SES Championships.
This is a busy time of year for everyone so a few thoughts going into Championship season:
Rest
Help your children get adequate rest. That means getting homework done early, putting phones away early, and doing something non-screen related anytime before bedtime (reading a book is still possible!)
Diet
Help your children make sure they are eating well. A drastic diet change may not be the best thing, but substitute carrots for potato chips, eat lean meats, pasta is okay for fuel, and avoid sugary drinks.
Mental Preparation
Help your children prepare mentally by letting them be the ones to prepare. Constant talking at home about swimming, goals, practice performance, etc. generally adds to the mental stress of prepping for a championship meet. Questions like, “Did you have fun at practice” and “Were your friends there at practice today” are a lot more helpful than “Did you work on your underwater kicking” and “Why weren’t you leading your lane.”
This is a time of year for doing some more hard work, doing a lot of fine-tuning, and enjoying the process. We encourage families to keep up with our events page for information about all of the championship meets.
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Check the Recipe... for Success
There is not only one recipe for success, nor is there only one reason for coming up short of success. As coaches, athletes, and parents, a good way to evaluate is to check all of the ingredients that go into a weekend of swimming.
Two weeks ago we took well over 100 athletes to Huntsville. I was there as a coach, but I also had a 9-year-old daughter competing in the meet. Our family traveled together to Huntsville, and when we arrived at the hotel on Friday evening around 8 p.m., I was just a dad. My daughter spotted teammates in the lobby and asked, “Can I play with them for a while.” We gave permission, settled into our room, and my wife ran to the supermarket to pick up supplies.
Being “Fun Dad,” I let the kids stay up for a while to watch a movie (after my daughter came back to the room). Finally, we put them to bed around 10 p.m., much later than normal bedtime. Bright and early, we were up at 6:15 a.m., way earlier than a normal Saturday. We headed to the pool where dad became a coach and didn’t really see his daughter swim much. I discovered after the session that she did not swim her entry times. Some times were much slower.
As a coach, I’ve never been a fan of the term “Adding Time” because every race, every meet, and every situation is unique. Wearing my coaching hat, I knew that my daughter was simply exhausted. She got to the hotel late in the evening, hung out with friends, watched a movie, went to bed later than usual, woke up earlier than usual, and for the first time ever arrived at a meet at 7:00 a.m. for a warm-up. She was tired!
As a dad, I was excited for her for the experience. She got to hang out with new friends in a cool atmosphere at the hotel. She got to sit up with her dad and her sister to watch Guardians of the Galaxy. She got to swim in the same session as the big kids and sit with her friends at the meet. And she got to race. But what she didn’t get were best times. The recipe, alas, did not include all of the right ingredients for best times, but it was the right one for great team memories.
Coach Erin and I had talked about some of the younger kids’ experiences on Saturday. I shared my perspective that I knew my daughter was absolutely exhausted that morning and guessed many kids her age felt the same way. I also predicted she, and the others, would be much better on Sunday.
And they were!
The kids were able to take all day Saturday after the meet to relax. There was no school and no travel. My own daughter got to bed much earlier that night. She (and we, the parents) had learned a big lesson. And the kids were a bit more ready for that early morning wake-up and warm-up.
Parents want the best for our kids, and the best seems synonymous with best times. When I evaluate the recipe for my daughter’s swimming that weekend, there are ingredients I would swap out, most having to do with proper rest. But when I look at the ingredients for healthy development in a team environment, I would not change a thing (though Mrs. Bahr would still say I should have put them to bed earlier!).
It is also worth acknowledging that having a bad day, swimming an off race, or trudging through a disappointing meet is often incredibly powerful. Experiences like these teach resilience and force an athlete to reflect and evaluate what he or she needs to do next.
I know my daughter will be more excited to go to the next travel meet because of the experiences she had in Huntsville. She will also be better equipped to do what needs to be done down the road when she begins to take ownership over-preparing to perform at her best.
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MTHSSA Region Championships
High School
Ensworth Aquatics high school swimmers head to the State Championship in Knoxville next weekend after a slew of stellar performances at the MTHSSA Region Championships last weekend in Nashville.
With a focus on being their best at the State Meet, our athletes had a week of hard training in the lead-up to Regions. The workload didn’t seem to matter, as many put up in-season best times with a number of lifetime bests thrown into the mix. Here’s a look at who scored in the top 16:
Women
200 Free: Abby Liff - 8th
200 IM: Reese Dismukes - 4th, Emily Harris - 5th, Hannah Neilsen - 9th, Ally Solomon - 12th, Lexi Stewart - 15th
50 Free: Morgan Carteaux - 2nd, Addison Wright - 4th, Parker Lynch - 7th, Lindy Hunter - 13th
100 Fly: Addison Wright - 3rd, Caroline Johnson - 7th, Callie Clinton - 10th
100 Free: Kallie Chelsvig - 3rd, Morgan Carteaux - 4th, Reese Dismukes - 6th,
500 Free: Emily Harris - 2nd
100 Back: Kallie Chelsvig - 2nd
100 Breast: Hannah Neilsen - 3rd, Lexi Stewart - 7th, Lindy Hunter - 9th, Ally Solomon - 10th, Abby Liff - 11th, Brooke Hughes - 14th
Men
200 Free: Jack Flanagan - 3rd, Noah Lucy - 7th, Kas McIntire - 9th,
200 IM: Jake Mason - 2nd, Colin Murray - 11th
50 Free: Oliver Pilkinton - 3rd, George Mabry - 4th, Jonathan Henschel - 5th,
100 Fly: Rob McCall - 2nd, Colin Murray - 15th
100 Free: Jack Flanagan - 2nd, George Mabry - 4th, Jonathan Henschel - 6th, Patrick France - 8th, Noah Lucy - 10th, Christian McIntire - 12th,
500 Free: Jake Mason - 1st, Kas McIntire - 2nd, Riley Oakes - 14th
100 Back: Oliver Pilkinton - 1st, Rob McCall - 2nd, Carter Galbreath - 13th
100 Breast: Patrick France - 4th, Aylor Huneycutt - 8th
Middle School
Ensworth Aquatics middle school swimmers who compete in the Harpeth Valley Athletic Conference will have one more opportunity to represent their school this weekend in the HVAC Championship right here at Ensworth. The rest of our Middle School swimmers are done with school swimming for the year after a great showing at the MTHSSA Middle School Championship last weekend in Nashville.
The Middle School Championship is an exciting meet, featuring a prelim / final format that many of these swimmers rarely get to compete in. Many who came back to swim at night put up lifetime bests, while plenty of those who couldn’t quite nudge out a top 16 prelims swim also put up best times. Here’s a look at the top 16 scorers.
Girls
200 Free: Leah Jackson - 2nd
200 IM: Julia Mason - 5th, Shelby Kolton - 14th
50 Free: Lilly Robertson - 3rd, Lizzie McWilliams - 5th, Kim Bao Nguyen - 12th
100 Fly: Emily Melton - 4th, Lucy Trailov - 12th
100 Free: Kim Bao Nguyen - 13th, Allie Smith - 16th
500 Free: Lilly Robertson - 1st, Julia Mason - 4th, Megan Horne - 7th, Ava Fetting - 9th, Amanda Feril - 13th
100 Back: Leah Jackson - 5th, Emily Melton - 8th, Lizzie McWilliams - 11th,
Amanda Feril - 13th, Megan Horne - 16th
100 Breast: Ava Fetting - 9th, Gracie Corn - 10th, Mac Spurrier - 16th
Boys
200 Free: Matthew Hughes - 2nd, Fielding Staelin, 11th
200 IM: Max Kohler - 4th, George Emrhein - 5th, Todd Dong - 6th
50 Free: Gray Attmore - 3rd, Jackson Enoch - 5th, Quincy Topping, 15th
100 Free: Max Kohler - 4th, Todd Dong - 10th, Alex Johnson - 16th
500 Free: Matthew Hughes - 2nd, Raleigh Maxwell - 8th
100 Back: Gray Attmore - 3rd, Elliott Darr - 7th, Raleigh Maxwell - 12th
100 Breast: Jackson Enoch - 5th, George Emrhein - 7th, Alex Johnson - 10th,
Quincy Topping - 11th,
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Ensworth Aquatics Swim Squad Registration is Open!
Ensworth Aquatics wants to help your kids’ school teammates fall in love with swimming! That’s why we’ve created a new group called the Swim Squad, and we would love for you to share the information with your kids’ school friends.
Swim Squad is for kids 11 and up who enjoyed their Middle School or High School season and want to keep swimming without worrying about meets or getting to more than 2-3 practices a week. The idea is to piggyback off the fun of the Middle/High School seasons and help prepare them for summer league.
Who knows, maybe one will be a teammate of your child’s come this fall? There are plenty of talented kids who’s first exposure to swimming is for their school, but who might be nervous about “club swimming.”
This group will run for two sessions, meaning no long term commitment, and provide these swimmers the tools to not only prepare for summer league but discover if year-round swimming might be right for them.
There’s more information on our website right here.
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Upcoming Meets & Events
Click on the swim meet links to access meet and hotel information.
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Swim Meet Registration
Signing up for a meet is easy, especially with the OnDeck app. Please review this article for information on how to use OnDeck. You can also sign up directly through the team’s website. Information on how to do that can be found in the article as well.
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Practice Schedule
Please pay close attention to the practice schedule for the next several weeks. With a number of Championship meets going on, there will be changes to the schedule. There may also be different coaches covering groups while many of our coaches attend the High School State Championship next weekend to either coach or support their own children competing in the meet.
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The Will to Overachieve
Kobe Bryant was one of the most accomplished basketball players of all time. No one could doubt his talent, but in the wake of a helicopter crash that took the lives of nine people, people who knew Kobe remember him as someone who did not count on talent to achieve his goals, but rather the drive to work harder than anyone else around him.
Kobe is quoted in an article as saying, “To think of me as a person that’s overachieved, that would mean a lot to me. That means I put a lot of work in and squeezed every ounce of juice out of this orange that I could.”
Jay Williams, a former competitor of Kobe’s from the Chicago Bulls, shares a great story about Kobe’s work ethic before a particular Bulls/Lakers game when Williams showed up at the court 5 hours early to get in some practice and Kobe was already working out. When Williams finished, Kobe kept going for another half hour. Kobe is quoted telling Williams the reason he worked so hard that day: “I saw you come in and I wanted you to know that it doesn’t matter how hard you work. I’m willing to work harder than you.”
When we watch gifted athletes soar through the air on the court, or glide through the water in a race, we often forget the amount of work that goes into those performances. There wouldn’t be sayings such as “Work beats talent when talent doesn’t work” if talent meant that’s all it took to be one’s best.
People like Kobe Bryant, and legendary training swimmers like Katie Ledecky, are known for their unquenchable desire to overachieve. They are fortunate to have been born with incredible talent, but they are smart enough to know that isn’t enough. They are willing to work their hardest, even if the result of that work isn’t guaranteed.
This quote from Kobe may be one of the most applicable when it applies to swimming. The quote is about casting aside the fear of failure:
“It’s basketball. I’ve practiced and practiced and played so many times. There’s nothing truly to be afraid of, when you think about it...because I’ve failed before, and I woke up the next morning, and I’m OK. People say bad things about you in the paper on Monday, and then on Wednesday, you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread. I’ve seen that cycle, so why would I be nervous about it happening?”
While we may not see many newspaper articles talking about swimming failures after a weekend meet, there are plenty of times that a failure to achieve a goal seems (in the short term) insurmountable. “I woke up the next morning, and I’m OK.” Dealing with challenges and becoming a leader is about separating yourself from both your successes and your failures. It’s about waking up the next day and knowing that you, as a person, are okay, and that you have the ability to step onto the court, or onto the pool deck, and show that you are willing to outwork everyone else around you.
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Birthday Shout Outs
Here are upcoming birthdays for athletes through February 2020. To all these amazing athletes, Ensworth Aquatics wishes each of you a happy birthday!
January 28 Margaret Riley
February 1 Baron McKinney
February 3 George Attmore
February 5 Kendall Knoch
February 6 Carson Neumann
February 6 Jackson Neumann
February 7 Kim Bao Nguyen
February 8 Teagan Oakes
February 10 Jordan Brod-Glinter
February 13 Emilia Trailov
February 15 Leah Coyle
February 17 Lawson Robinson
February 17 Carina Flores
February 20 Soren Gonzales
February 21 Grayson Ognibene
February 23 Abby Martin
February 24 Wyatt Kilgore
February 24 Lena Jensen
February 24 Melis Kurtulus
February 24 Lola Tanley
February 25 Shelby Kolton
February 28 Lydia Knobloch
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Ensworth Aquatics Gear
Speedo Merchandise & Equipment
Price drop! Thanks to All American Swim, our team suit prices have been lowered. Additional team gear, including warm-ups, swimsuits, backpacks, and equipment can be purchased directly at All American Swim or online. Visit the Team Gear page on our website for instructions on accessing our Ensworth Aquatics Online Store as well as the equipment requirements for each practice group.
To help our families who may have equipment/apparel they no longer need or have outgrown, we have a Swap Shop page (under the Competitive Team menu) where we will post any swim team-related items you want to sell, trade, or give away. This includes apparel, swimsuits, equipment, training aids, etc. Please email the description/photo to Naomi Kitahara. Alternatively, you can also post on the Practice GroupMe.
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USA Swimming - Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policy
This past summer USA Swimming implemented the Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policy (MAAPP). This new policy is designed to safeguard athletes from potential sexual abuse by adults. All clubs are mandated to implement this new policy, which includes an Electronic Communications Policy that replaces the policy that has been in place since our club was founded. In order to finalize registrations, we ask that each family acknowledge the MAAPP. To access our full outline of the policy, follow this link to visit the information page on our website.
Use this link to complete the acknowledgment as soon as possible. This is a required step in USA Swimmings registration. Naomi Kitahara will be contacting all team members who need to comply.
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Ways to Stay Connected
GroupMe App
If you have not already joined your swimmers' GroupMe, please consider doing so. Parents, coaches, and staff use GroupMe to communicate last-minute updates, traffic issues, practice changes, lost and found, carpooling and much more. Each practice group has its own group text, and we believe if you ask any returning team members, they will confirm that GroupMe is an invaluable communication tool as it enables them to ask specific questions and plan activities particular to their practice group. Use this link to download the GroupMe app.
Click on the links below to connect with your swimmer's practice group and parent reps:
Parent Reps
Stingrays - Jessica Horne & Maureen Kolton
Dolphins - Lindsey Sanford
Sharks - Fran Spurrier
Juniors - Margaret Mason & Susan Emrhein
Marlins - help needed
Senior1/Senior - Margaret Mason
Team Website & OnDeck
We are confident that everyone on our team has visited our team website by now, but beyond registration, it serves as the primary information tool for our team. Through our website, parents and athletes will commit to competitions, enter events, sign up to volunteer, access newsletters, review practice schedules, much more. Be sure to "Sign In" to the website to view all content. Go ahead and visit www.ensworthaquatics.com and bookmark it!
OnDeck is TeamUnify's supporting app that allows our staff to communicate through our website directly to team members' mobile devices. OnDeck also presents our website content to users with improved mobile device usability. What this means is you can enter into swim meets and signup to volunteer more easily on your mobile devices. Use this link to download OnDeck.
Social Media
Ensworth Aquatics is on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Click on the icons below to connect with us through social media.
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