Monday, December 1, 2014

Recap From A Couple Of Visitors

Back in October, I had  Michelle Jones, MScFN, RD, CDE
(Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator) and Dr. Jason Price (Chiropractor) to speak on their trades. I was able to capture some if it for website sharing for those of you unable to attend. 

Michelle`s talk can be heard here. Her slide show can be seen here and the caloric needs worksheet can be found here. 
Anyone interested in contacting Michelle can do so via email.

Most of Jason`s talk can be found on the YouTube video below. Anyone interested in contacting Jason can do so via email.




Sorry about the low sound on these: they were all recorded spur of the moment without the ability to sound check. You may need to adjust the sound on your speakers.

Sincerely,

Mike Thompson
Head Coach
ROW/WLU Swimming

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Division I Team Championships


Although we’re just entering Short Course season, this is about the time we need to start thinking about Division 1 Ontario Team Championships. It is never easy to select a small group of representatives from such a large and deep group of team contributors and not everyone that we want with us can possibly be picked. ROW will be up against some of the strongest teams in Ontario. Last season, we only sent 14 and unders; this season, I want to send the strongest team possible and try for the best possible placing (hopefully the win). For those of you who do not know how this selection process will work, here is in inside glimpse:

- All Division 1 teams are permitted to bring 50 athletes in total. Each swimmer can swim a maximum of 5 individual events + relays.

- Points are scored by individuals placing in the top 8 and for relays placing in the top 8. Individual points – 9pts for 1st, 7pts for 2nd, 6pts for 3rd, 5pts for 4th, 4pts for 5th, 3pts for 6th, 2pts for 7th and 1pt for 8th. Relay points are doubled (for example: 18pts for 1st, 14pts for 2nd, etc). If we do not score in the top 8, we get 0.

- Swimmers MUST swim in their proper age category (obviously), but we can use a younger athlete for an older age class relay, provided that 2 of the relay participants are of the proper age (for example: we can use a 13 year old to swim on a 15&Over aged relay, but at least 2 of the swimmers on that relay must be 15 or older). There are cases where this may happen to make the most competitive relays possible.

- We are only allowed to enter a maximum 1 relay per age category, regardless of how many people we have in that age category.

- There is no minimum or maximum amount of swimmers that we must take in any age category. The team is primarily picked based on the athletes that have the highest probability to score for ROW (either in relays or individual events).

- To ensure we have the best possible relays (4x50FR and 4x50 Medley), the first events and times looked at when selecting are the 50s (FLY, BK, BR, FR). We might have 4 people that are around the same time for 50BK. The person that will likely be chosen in that case is the person with the best odds of scoring in an individual event. In the end, we may even opt to swim someone up from a lower age category for a relay and free up more space on the team.

- We also take other factors into consideration when choosing the roster. For example, swimmers with high regular attendance (both meet and practice), swimmers that are punctual (a BIG factor for team travel), swimmers that are reliable (have they performed consistently well at meets), swimmers that we know will show up for finals and cheer their hearts out (even if they’re not swimming) and swimmers with great attitudes (it’s a LONG weekend! Negative attitudes make it intolerable) will also be considered when filling the roster.

- The age groups are broken up as follows for both Girls and Boys: 10&Under, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, 17&Over. Relays are the same except that there is a 15&Over category. Since the age categories span 2 years and there is quite a bit of growth that happens in the 11-12, 13-14 and 15-16 categories, people that made the team last year may not make it this year. This may seem unfair to some, but if an athlete has just aged up into a new age category and they’re at the bottom end of it (for example: just turned 13, so they’re the youngest swimmer in the 13-14 age category… and 14 year olds are typically through a good growth period) it becomes difficult to contribute, and thus may not make the team (even if they were pretty good in their former age category). Sorry in advance, but that’s the reality of the rules on this meet.

- Traditionally, the weakest age categories are 10& under boys and 17 & over boys and girls. The strongest (and hardest to score in) are 10 & under girls and 11-12 girls. Freestyle is often the deepest event and the hardest to score in, especially if you’re changing age. Breaststroke is typically the least deep.

- We have decided to not include swimmers attending the International Children’s Games on this roster because of the timing of the events. Athletes will have had some time off, had a major competition and made a 20hour flight home, which is not conducive to best possible performance.

- This is a comment on alternates right out of the meet package:
In the event that one (1) or more of a team's entered swimmers cannot attend the meet, the coach may designate substitutes from any age group or gender for a full complement of swimmers.
Substitutes:
Must be designated immediately at or prior to arrival.
Will not be accepted after the start of the meet.
Will not be seeded according to entry times.
Will be placed into empty lanes when possible.
**
We will still select 3 alternates. They will be notified that they are alternates, but the coaching staff reserves the right to select the appropriate alternate to fill the appropriate roster spot on the team. For example, if a 10 year old boy bails on the team, I would like to replace him with another 10 year old boy to round out the relay, but if I name a 10 year old boy as an alternate and a 14 year old boy gets hurt and cannot travel, that 10 year old boy can’t help us on the 13-14 relay.

Here is some indication of how fast last season’s Division 1 meet was: (click on the age category on the left hand side of the screen and then check the events). Believe me when I say that difficult decisions need to be made in order to piece together the most competitive, loudest and most positive contingent of our team. Our primary job as coaches and roster selectors is to put us in the best possible placing position, not to spare individual feelings (it is impossible to include everyone). We obviously want the meet to be a fun experience for all involved and come back having achieved something that ROW as a whole will be very proud of. We have to score points in order to survive.

We plan to announce the team before Friday October 31st.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Anti-Doping

Every athlete in the SNC is technically responsible to ensure that they are compliant with WADA and are aware of doping and banned substances. The purpose of this post is to educate inexperienced parents and swimmers with the protocols involved with anti-doping.


  1. What is doping: Doping the general term for an athlete using a banned substance to artificially enhance their performance. Certain substances are banned because they can be used to enhance alertness, muscle growth, recovery, hormone levels and other things to give that individual an unfair advantage. Banned substances also include recreational and illegal drugs - many athletes have tested positive for these in the past and have been punished as a result.
  2. Can I get in trouble for taking a banned substance even if it is not to enhance my performance?: Yes. Many household substances and over-the-counter medications are banned substances including asthma inhalers and cold medications. 
  3. What do I do?: First of all, understand that drug testing is not likely to occur in athletes that are under the age of 16 and hardly ever happens for athletes that are not competing at a National or International level, so don't get stressed out about it. Having said that, it is your responsibility to make sure that you understand that you are responsible for what goes into your body and to always be aware of it. 
Before taking any medication, you can always check Global DRO. Global DRO is a search page that will allow you to search all medications against WADA's list of banned substances. The GREAT thing about this website is that it allows you to search for specific sports (banned substances for archery are different than for swimming) and you can search for BRAND NAME and chemical name. Once you get your search results, you can click on the "status" link and it will show you everything you need to know, including if it is okay to take.


If you are taking something on the banned substance list for medical purposes, you should seek out a therapeutic use exemption (TUE). A great website to help with this is the Medical Exemption Wizard. This site will walk you through what you need to do to get a doctor's permission to use this medication in training and competition. Having a TUE and declaring that you are taking medication prior to a test is an important step in fair play and compliance to WADA and SNC guidelines. 

Some athletes and parents get freaked out about the possibility of drug testing. For those who are unfamiliar with the testing process, you should visit sites like Canadian Centre For Ethics In Sport (CCES) and see SNC's testing policy, which can be found in all SNC National meet packages. 

Although the vast majority of athletes will never have to worry about being tested or even taking any banned substances, I feel that fair play is extremely important and educating athletes & parents about anti-doping and their role in it is equally important. If anyone has more questions or concerns about this topic, please feel free to contact me. I want everyone to have access to the right information to avoid a potentially career-ending and life-altering miscommunication.



Wednesday, September 24, 2014

What Goes Into a Swimming Program?

Most of my coaching career I have spent trying to educate people through as many avenues as possible - be it video, audio or written. From my experience, there is no better way to communicate and to educate than from a Head Coaching role. I always feel that the information must flow from the Head Coach (the developer of the program) to the members (the consumers of the program).

Through the sport of swimming, I have always found a diverse mix of participants - from the very experienced to the hockey converts and all the way to the learn to swim areas. The biggest confusion that I find always comes up is what ends up being paid for: where does the cost come from. Usually, in swimming, pool fees are quite high due to the basic safety & liability of water (electrical hazard, insurance, life guards, cleanliness of water, water quality, etc). Running a pool can be extremely expensive and the costs get passed on to the user groups.

But lets not get confused; Swimmers are not the user group here, the Club is. If every individual had to cover the cost of their own pool time, this sport would be uncontrollably expensive. There are many things that swim club members pay for. These include:

  • Pool time, relationship
  • Certification & affiliation to keep pool time affordable. 
  • Registration fees
  • Employee fees
  • Office fees and expenses
  • General operations & Social function
  • Some meet fees
All these things together make a "program". The Head Coach will develop how the club is structured and will operate (this coach is usually also responsible for a primary group; but is also responsible for all groups in the club). Group coaches will use the resources available and, using the Head Coach's philosophy, will develop an appropriate training plan which will include training days, camps (if applicable), meets & planned days off (holidays & days where pools are unavailable).

When is it necessary to make up for missed training days?

Short answer to this question is almost never. Programs are well planned out. Knowing that a group may be missing a practice in 8 months can be planned for. Time leading up to that day off can be ramped up so that the missed day can be used as rest. Therefore, replacement pool time is rarely needed and is really just a luxury. If our coaches were strictly reactionary, we would be unprepared and unfit to deal with a change in routine. 

Time missed for meets is also worth noting, as there are several different types of meets. Some meets can be used for training purposes: learning how to swim a 200 in a stressful environment after practicing it over and over. Swimmers may miss a session or 2 due to a meet, but that does not mean that the time must be made up; it means that the time was better used at the meet.

The few times that I would say it is warranted is when pool time is unexpectedly cancelled (water quality, power out, snow storm) and even then, it would only be if an adjustment to the planning could not be made. 

I would argue that for anyone with more than 4 sessions/week and more than 50 sessions/season, "make-up" pool time is unnecessary because the planning is done with these things in mind. It is not accurate to think of the services of a swim club in terms of price/practice because what is delivered is so much more complex than just pool time and meters swum.



Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Welcome To The ROW Parents Blog

Hi Everyone. Welcome to the ROW parents Blog. I will use this space to communicate important notes as well as address topics that may interest ROW parents.

Today, I will post a couple of documents for the Senior Group

Goal Setting Form
Goal Setting Video
Parent Meeting Handout

Check back regularly for updates. Enjoy!

Mike Thompson
Head Coach
ROW/WLU