Links of The Week March 28th

It has been a long time since the last "Links of The Week with Tmacswims" and taking a recent look at different swimming websites over the weekend I noticed a lot of awesome reads. Here is just a taste of some of the articles I have been reading. Enjoy.

NBC to broadcast U.S. Olympic Trials for several sports, including Swimming
Swimming has always been a sport in Canada that lacks any real media coverage. Our friends across the border saw non-stop live coverage of NCAA on ESPN networks for both men and women. What did Canadians get for CIS champs? A cute little live stream. Nothing exciting compared to the U.S. having said that it is a plus the CIS champs were online live, if only major networks could see the benefit in airing swimming. The U.S. is going to have wall-wall coverage of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials on NBC and NBCS with taped playback coverage likely on TV. All eyes will be on the states as Phelps swims in his final Olympic Trials ever. (Unless he decides to change his mind again and go for 2020 Olympics...)

Texas Cleans up @ NCAA Champs
For the last week the big hype in swimming has been the mens NCAA champs. After a successful laddies champs in the previous week with records being broken all over the place, high expectations were set for the men. In the end, the men from Texas were crowned team champs. Along the way, though, records were being broken left, right and centre. All I have to say is U.S. Olympic Trials will be big and lets hope the record breaking trend continues for the U.S. because they are showing the world they are ready and on fire!

Teammates hope to make Olympic Relay team
As Canada's Olympic Trials will take place next week 4 swimmers from the national centre that train together daily are hoping to all be part of the women's 4 x 100 freestyle relay. Check out the 4 minute video click in the link, truly worth wild watch.

Swimming back where is belongs!
The 2016 Olympic Swimming Trials for Canada will be back on the Canadian leading network (CBC) after not being on CBC in 2012. After a successful 2015 Pan Am Games coverage it is true to say the coverage for Olympic Trials will be impressive. Canadian's will be able to watch finals daily LIVE online via live stream with play by play and race analysis, as well on deck interviews with new team members to team Canada.

Club vs. Varsity Swimming & Teammates

WLU Team Photo at Laurier February 2016 

I was recently asked what the difference is between club and varsity swimming. To be truly honest, many of the core aspects are quiet similar, but when it comes to the fine details, they can make or break a team. What do I mean by this? In this post I’ll break down some of the key aspects of the sport that are truly critical.

One of the biggest things I have noticed in my first year here at Laurier is the importance of team! Everything we do is as a team, whether it is training in the water in the weight room, going for a bite to eat after a tough workout, doing homework together, traveling to meets, celebrating success in the season and many other things.

On any club team, teammates are the glue to a team’s success. This is something I see all the time with larger teams at small clubs and especially at provincial and national level meets. These types of clubs are swimming more for the club then themselves. In varsity swimming, racing for team points and the team overrides the individual performance. The overall goal is representing your team and doing the best possible to move the team up in rankings, win heats, cheer loud and proud, and be supportive to one another. This is not something difficult to do and you feel really good doing it.

WLU at Western for the 2016 OUA Championships

 Attending the 2016 Ontario University Association Championships last month in London at Western was the most exciting and loudest meet I have ever attended. The energy in the building was electrifying as teams big and small cheered loud and proud for there swimmers, regardless if they were placing first or eighth in the heat. I have been to loud meets like Team Champs, but OUA’s was way louder. It definitely has to do with wearing the team cap and uniform on deck. As student athletes we are on deck representing our school! We have proven to the coaching staff, teammates, and ourselves that we are good enough to be present and deserve this opportunity. This fight is much different then any club team.

 I can honestly say if it was not for my teammates, both varsity at WLU and WRMS looking out for me and checking in I would not be the swimmer I am today. Having these amazing teammates to train with everyday is incredible. It allows us to push one another in training to allow everyone the chance to reach new limits and heights. I truly believe this is something that is difficult to achieve alone. The people you train with everyday understand the pain and struggles we facing head on. They look at the “T” for hours a week, doing the same thing, attending classes, and holding down a social life. I am not saying you have to spend every second of the day with your teammates, I am saying we will all have a time in our careers where teammates will be needed to workout problems or ask for advice.

 

When it comes to giving advice I am often one that can lay down some thoughts about stroke, or the sport in general. Recently at W Ross we spent the entire 2-hour workout reviewing and reflecting on the short course season that is now behind us. Sometimes these sessions are important to have. I have learnt over the many years in this sport mental processing is 90% and the physical aspect is 10%. These types of sessions only make a team stronger. It allows teammates to share issues or success that have been reach as well allow for comment on areas that need improving. WLU has done this exercise several times over the season and in my mind it has only made us strong.

As we shift into the long course season, things pretty well continue as business as usual. The quality of practice remains the same and type of workouts will shift at key points in the season. LC is much shorter then the SC season and swimmers have less opportunities to make qualifying times. Every race is critical and important. Having the support of teammates at every single race and event will only make us faster and stronger mentally. I honestly do not know what I would do without my teammates in my life and in the water with me everyday!

Returning to the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre

This was a journal write up I completed for a first year English class I am in at Laurier.

Photo: Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre 65 meter pool

On February 26-28 I swam my first competition inside the 65-meter pool of the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre pool for the first time in over 2 years. Competing in the 2016 Short Course Western Region Championships was a huge success! I swam several life time bests and won several events. The WGSC pool has been a love hate relationship for several years. A couple of years ago I used to train inside this pool 9 times a week as it was my primary training center. Now coming to university things have shifted with swimming for the Wilfrid Laurier University as well the switch to W Ross Macdonald Swimming. For once in a very long time I was excited to return to this pool and was looking for exciting swims. I have had a lot of history with this pool. Back in early 2014 I faced the uphill battle of a serve shoulder injury that nearly ended my swimming career. Coming back to this pool in the past was often difficult because knowing the training I once did nearly ended my swimming career. Often times coming into the building, negative thoughts would swirl around my mind and even at times emotions would take over a weights session or lane swim practice. Seeing the faces of former teammates and coaching staff was often difficult and made me frustrated remembering all the drama and terrible times. Since going to university, and not being at this pool everyday I think it made this swim meet so exciting and unique because it felt like coming to a new pool I had never swam in before. 

This meet was different for me as I was swimming off events because I just swam my best events while representing WLU at the Ontario University Provincials a couple weeks before. When I looked through the event program my attitude only improved as I saw where I was seated. Being able to win 3 gold and 1 silver medals was extremely rewarding. But more importantly swimming personal best times and having fun was even better then any medals won. My confidence to swimming well in this once difficult pool to swim in had returned. I am looking forward to the next competition I will compete in at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre Pool.

 

Results:

50 Back Prelims 29:26 10^th

50 Breast Prelims 32:61 2^nd

100 Breast Prelims 1:12.59 2^nd

200 Medley Relay 1:56.66 6^th

100 Breast Finals 1:10.89 GOLD and LIFE TIME BEST

50 Back Finals 29:24 12^th

200 Breast Prelims 2:37.72 1^st Season Best Time

200 Free Relay 1:41.06 GOLD by 0.03 for 2^nd and 0.11 for 3^rd!

50 Breast Finals 32:39 SILVER

200 Breast Finals 2:37.27 GOLD Season Best Time