Hello Everyone,
We are through our first week of the preseason! I just want to welcome all the returning members of WST as well as those who are new to the team. I am extremely excited for the remainder of the season and to see everyone work hard and have fun this summer. Being that I am new to the program I want to communicate my expectations for the remainder of this season.
This season, much like in the past, we stress that the swimmers attendance to practice is crucial. I understand that over the summer there are family vacations and swimmers are often involved in other sports as well, however, in order to progress and improve in our sport it is necessary to attend all practices. If you are unable to attend practice please be sure to communicate the reason with one of the coaches. This goes for the meets throughout the season as well. Myself and the other coaches spend a lot of time writing practices and line ups for meets and it is important that we know who will be there and who will not. For the swimmers who are also swimmers on a USS club team it is required that you attend at least 1 practice a week on a day other than Friday. Failure to attend practice, without communicating a reason to the coaches, could result in sitting out of a meet.
Now that the weather is starting to get warm again as we move closer and closer to summer it is very important that we stay hydrated and safe at practice. Please make sure that when you come to practice you have a water bottle or two along with your sneakers and clothes for dry land.
I feel that creating a strong team bond in a mostly individual sport is extremely important. This season I hope to strengthen that bond between everyone on the team. We will be pairing up our older and younger swimmers as swim buddies to help bring everyone together and give everyone a real sense of team unity. These buddies will be able to help our younger swimmers at meets knowing when to go up to their races and everyone can show their support to each other during their races.
No matter if you have been here for many years or this is your first season at Warrington we are all Dragons now. Please come to practice with a positive attitude ready to swim and work hard but also have fun while doing it.
I am really excited for the rest of the season. I hope you are as well.
Coach Zach
Monday, June 2, 2014
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Season Updates 6/30/13
Hi Everyone,
The season is off and running! We were all very disappointed that the weather did not cooperate for our first meet. I am working to possibly reschedule the meet for 7/8, and we are awaiting final confirmation. We will notify everyone ASAP. In other news, we had a great showing at the Cold Water Classic. Almost every swimmer had a time drop, which shows all our hard work is paying off.
As I said to the swimmers before time trials, we may all have different times, but we all have one thing in common, that we are all Warrington Dragons. A swimmer should not only be seen through his or her times, but the dedication, hard work, and commitment he or she shows to the team and teammates. Everyone has the chance to improve in swimming. As teammates, you have the ability to support each other and push each other in practice and meets, and this is why swimming is a great team sport. As coaches we can do the same thing for you, so make sure to talk to a coach after every one of your races to see what tips and compliments we may have for you!
We are looking forward to working with everyone for the rest of the season!
Julian
Hi Everyone,
The season is off and running! We were all very disappointed that the weather did not cooperate for our first meet. I am working to possibly reschedule the meet for 7/8, and we are awaiting final confirmation. We will notify everyone ASAP. In other news, we had a great showing at the Cold Water Classic. Almost every swimmer had a time drop, which shows all our hard work is paying off.
As I said to the swimmers before time trials, we may all have different times, but we all have one thing in common, that we are all Warrington Dragons. A swimmer should not only be seen through his or her times, but the dedication, hard work, and commitment he or she shows to the team and teammates. Everyone has the chance to improve in swimming. As teammates, you have the ability to support each other and push each other in practice and meets, and this is why swimming is a great team sport. As coaches we can do the same thing for you, so make sure to talk to a coach after every one of your races to see what tips and compliments we may have for you!
We are looking forward to working with everyone for the rest of the season!
Julian
Sunday, May 12, 2013
WST 2013
Hello Everyone!
Welcome to the WST 2013 Swim Season. I am very excited to yet again be a part of Warrington this year. I would like to outline my goals and expectations for this season, and how it differs from last year.
Last year was an extremely successful season where we went undefeated and moved up to the top Red Division. Congratulations! We worked very hard and did things like extended dryland and Saturday morning practices. This year we will be integrating dryland into typical morning practices and we will be giving the swimmers and coaches Saturday morning off.
We still stress practice attendance! We expect the most out of our swimmers, and the only way to do that is to come to practice to work on everything. Those who are new to competitive swimming will learn that there are a lot of small things to learn and improve on. If you have an older swimmer who is participating in USS, let me know and we can work something out as far as attendance goes.
During the initial afternoon practices, swimmers will be separated by age group. During those practices, coaches will assess your swimmers in terms of technique and comprehension of the practices to determine which practice group they will belong in. This is not to say we will be putting a new 17 year old swimmer in the developing group with 8 year olds. We will work hard to make a balance that promotes both sociability and fun. Parents will be informed before the morning practices start which group your swimmer will be in.
Meets are the most fun part of being a summer swim team member. If I still have fun with them after coaching for 8 years, then they must be fun!! This being said, I would like everyone to make an effort to come to as many of the meets as possible. We ask everyone to do a check in or out for meets in the meet sign up book. This makes it a lot easier for us coaches to make the lineup accurately. It is also why we ask for you to sign in or out in advance. The process of writing a lineup requires a great amount of time and paperwork and timely communication is necessary.
We are very happy to have Amanda and Erin back as Assistant coaches. Adding to the staff are Sarah Zaborowski and Amber Andrewlevich who will be great assets to the team.
In terms of added support, we offer private lessons at Warrington. If interested please contact us.
Thank you for reading, and get ready to have a fun and awesome summer!!
- Julian
Welcome to the WST 2013 Swim Season. I am very excited to yet again be a part of Warrington this year. I would like to outline my goals and expectations for this season, and how it differs from last year.
Last year was an extremely successful season where we went undefeated and moved up to the top Red Division. Congratulations! We worked very hard and did things like extended dryland and Saturday morning practices. This year we will be integrating dryland into typical morning practices and we will be giving the swimmers and coaches Saturday morning off.
We still stress practice attendance! We expect the most out of our swimmers, and the only way to do that is to come to practice to work on everything. Those who are new to competitive swimming will learn that there are a lot of small things to learn and improve on. If you have an older swimmer who is participating in USS, let me know and we can work something out as far as attendance goes.
During the initial afternoon practices, swimmers will be separated by age group. During those practices, coaches will assess your swimmers in terms of technique and comprehension of the practices to determine which practice group they will belong in. This is not to say we will be putting a new 17 year old swimmer in the developing group with 8 year olds. We will work hard to make a balance that promotes both sociability and fun. Parents will be informed before the morning practices start which group your swimmer will be in.
Meets are the most fun part of being a summer swim team member. If I still have fun with them after coaching for 8 years, then they must be fun!! This being said, I would like everyone to make an effort to come to as many of the meets as possible. We ask everyone to do a check in or out for meets in the meet sign up book. This makes it a lot easier for us coaches to make the lineup accurately. It is also why we ask for you to sign in or out in advance. The process of writing a lineup requires a great amount of time and paperwork and timely communication is necessary.
We are very happy to have Amanda and Erin back as Assistant coaches. Adding to the staff are Sarah Zaborowski and Amber Andrewlevich who will be great assets to the team.
In terms of added support, we offer private lessons at Warrington. If interested please contact us.
Thank you for reading, and get ready to have a fun and awesome summer!!
- Julian
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
WST 2012 Season News
Hello everyone,
Welcome to the WST 2012 Season! Summer is coming and it’s time to think about our team and all we wish to accomplish. I am happy to announce that we have retained all our coaches from last year! This means that we will have much of the same experience that we did a year prior, which I hope will be to your liking. Everything will operate as it has in years past with some new things that we are going to try this year.
- I have learned the importance of core strength and conditioning from starting to coach CB West High School. Therefore, I have decided that during our morning practices for 11 and ups, we will have dryland for 30 minutes on Mondays and Wednesdays. This would mean that practice would go from 8:15am- 10:30am for them. 10 and unders would still be 10am - 11am and 8 and unders 11am- 11:45am. Only 11 and ups are doing dryland. We will be working on core strength and cross training through sprinting, and possibly with stretch cords, a pull-up bar, and medicine balls.
- I understand that some swimmers may choose to swim with their USS team during the summer. Many swimmers go to CBST, which I am very familiar with since I am close to Stu and have coached the program. This year I will require USS swimmers to attend at least one WST practice a week during the morning practice season. We want everyone to be part the team and as coaches we want to feel like we get to work with you outside of just meets.
- I want to try out Saturday morning practices this year. WST members without a USS commitment should be attending at least 3 practices a week. I know when life happens sometimes that is not possible for everyone. This is why we are going to do Saturday practices starting the first week of morning practices to give an extra opportunity. There will be no Saturday practice on June 23rd (Cold Water Classic), and July 7th (4th of July weekend). The last Saturday practice will be July 21st. Saturday practices will run like an Advanced Swim Clinic for the first half of practice, and an endurance driven practice for the second half. We will split the lanes into strokes, and it will give the swimmers an opportunity to think about technique and racing strategies for their particular stroke. Then we will translate that into an endurance set. Times will be different than M-F: 11 and up 9am - 10:15am, 10 and under 10:15am - 11:15am, 8 and under, 11:15am - 12pm
- Here is a gentle reminder that if you have not signed in for a meet before its deadline, you will not be put in the meet. The lineup takes a very long time and since we will be having two meets a week, I have little time to change the lineup for swimmers who were not signed up. Thank you!
Let me know if you have any questions. I am very excited for this year. We are going to work hard as coaches and we expect the same from our swimmers. At the same time we will be a team based around fun and friendly competition. See everyone soon!
Julian
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
2011 Congrats and Thank you!
Julian’s WST Speech 2011
I’d like to make a short speech about all the fun times we had at Warrington this year. It seems like the season flew by, but I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. Personally, I haven’t had this much fun since my first year coaching.
We had a spectacular season. Our record was 6 - 1. We looked very strong as a team overall this year. Most importantly we were both respectful and good sports. Next year we will surely be the winners of the sportsmanship award for our division. We had every age group - even 8 and unders - shaking hands after their races. Also there was so much cheering going on, almost every time I turned around to look at the field. I am very proud of you guys for the spirit you’ve shown this year.
Almost every meet we had at least sixty best times total. In the end, what makes swimmers better is their ability to break their previous time. This means that as a team, we are only getting better! I am very excited to see what the future holds for Warrington Swim Team!
Overall, we have very good practice attendance. Everyone loved 10 minute kicking, saying tj-nea, hey buddy, and all those great phrases. Remember the practice when we ran to the shed and back? Yeah, that was great. I am very proud of the dedication you all have shown in coming to practice on time and ready to swim.
I’d like to end my speech with thank yous.
First, and most importantly I’d like to thank my coaches. I couldn’t have done it without you guys, and you all have shown great work ethic and enthusiasm for the job.
Tim, you have a vast knowledge of swimming and what it takes to be a great swimmer. I appreciate that you never missed a practice and were always there for the swimmers. You work hard and are very personable and kind. You remind me of myself when I started coaching. I mean all the good qualities of course.
Natalie, you will be a great teacher one day. Your demeanor, patience, and willingness to go the extra mile are all qualities a teacher needs to thrive in the field. You are great with the kids and I can tell that you really care about them. You always came to practice with a paper plate and a smile. Thank you for that.
Amanda, thank you for being so dedicated to the team. You know all the ins and outs of the team like the rest of the coaches, but you know a bit more since you’ve helped your father all these years. I appreciate that you did a lot of extra work with ribbons and lessons on the side. It’s obvious that you care about the team and the swimmers and it was great having you as a coach this year.
Erin, you have a really great heart. You care about the kids so much and enjoy coaching and smiling with them. I think that is one of the most important qualities a coach should have. Thank you for working so hard and coming to practice even when you weren’t feeling well. Also thank you for making the teams for blue and gold, and typing up the awards we are about to give.
Thank you to all the volunteers that helped run the meet. Table workers, announcers, timers, DQ judges, deck parents, runners, 50 50, everyone. Thank you to the board members for helping make the coach’s jobs a lot easier and giving us blue and gold night and this picnic. We appreciate all the work it took to keep this team running.
I’d like to make a short speech about all the fun times we had at Warrington this year. It seems like the season flew by, but I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. Personally, I haven’t had this much fun since my first year coaching.
We had a spectacular season. Our record was 6 - 1. We looked very strong as a team overall this year. Most importantly we were both respectful and good sports. Next year we will surely be the winners of the sportsmanship award for our division. We had every age group - even 8 and unders - shaking hands after their races. Also there was so much cheering going on, almost every time I turned around to look at the field. I am very proud of you guys for the spirit you’ve shown this year.
Almost every meet we had at least sixty best times total. In the end, what makes swimmers better is their ability to break their previous time. This means that as a team, we are only getting better! I am very excited to see what the future holds for Warrington Swim Team!
Overall, we have very good practice attendance. Everyone loved 10 minute kicking, saying tj-nea, hey buddy, and all those great phrases. Remember the practice when we ran to the shed and back? Yeah, that was great. I am very proud of the dedication you all have shown in coming to practice on time and ready to swim.
I’d like to end my speech with thank yous.
First, and most importantly I’d like to thank my coaches. I couldn’t have done it without you guys, and you all have shown great work ethic and enthusiasm for the job.
Tim, you have a vast knowledge of swimming and what it takes to be a great swimmer. I appreciate that you never missed a practice and were always there for the swimmers. You work hard and are very personable and kind. You remind me of myself when I started coaching. I mean all the good qualities of course.
Natalie, you will be a great teacher one day. Your demeanor, patience, and willingness to go the extra mile are all qualities a teacher needs to thrive in the field. You are great with the kids and I can tell that you really care about them. You always came to practice with a paper plate and a smile. Thank you for that.
Amanda, thank you for being so dedicated to the team. You know all the ins and outs of the team like the rest of the coaches, but you know a bit more since you’ve helped your father all these years. I appreciate that you did a lot of extra work with ribbons and lessons on the side. It’s obvious that you care about the team and the swimmers and it was great having you as a coach this year.
Erin, you have a really great heart. You care about the kids so much and enjoy coaching and smiling with them. I think that is one of the most important qualities a coach should have. Thank you for working so hard and coming to practice even when you weren’t feeling well. Also thank you for making the teams for blue and gold, and typing up the awards we are about to give.
Thank you to all the volunteers that helped run the meet. Table workers, announcers, timers, DQ judges, deck parents, runners, 50 50, everyone. Thank you to the board members for helping make the coach’s jobs a lot easier and giving us blue and gold night and this picnic. We appreciate all the work it took to keep this team running.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Welcome
Hello All!
I just wanted to welcome everyone to my blog and also to the 2011 Warrington Swim Season! For those of you who were unable to attend our short meeting last Friday, I would like to reiterate some information and concepts from my speech.
Steven has been offered to teach AP Calc as a second year teacher; therefore, he needs to do immense training over the summer. We will miss him, but we are happy he is successful and I'm sure he'll come and visit sometime this summer.
I have three things that I aim to accomplish this summer as head coach.
1. Equality in treatment of swimmers: No matter what level your swimmer may be, advanced or struggling, I believe that every swimmer deserves equal attention. Anyone who comes to practice regularly is relaying the message of: I want to be here to become a better swimmer. That dedication deserves the attention of the coaching staff. I want everyone to reach their full potential in swimming.
2. Attention to technique: Practices will focus on HOW the swimmer is swimming his or her laps, as apposed to how MANY laps he or she is swimming. If a swimmer has swam 100 laps in a practice, but the swimmer has swum these laps incorrectly, then nothing has been learned or gained. Actually the swimmer is worse off because the bad habits are becoming ingrained in muscle memory. Good swimmers are those who have refined stroke technique.
3. Concentration on fun and team spirit: Sure we all want to win, but I believe that if we concentrate more on having fun and enjoying ourselves, then winning will come later as a result. It's summer swimming, not the Olympics. Also if we concentrate just on points, then the swimmers in the later heats will be stressed upon less, which goes against my first point. If I could pick a summer where we focused on winning every race of every meet, ignored certain swimmers in favor of the higher tier swimmers, and moved up a division, vs a summer where everyone got an equal shot, was cheered for in every race, and we stayed in the same division, I would always take the latter.
Thanks for reading, and I'll see everyone soon!
Julian
I just wanted to welcome everyone to my blog and also to the 2011 Warrington Swim Season! For those of you who were unable to attend our short meeting last Friday, I would like to reiterate some information and concepts from my speech.
Steven has been offered to teach AP Calc as a second year teacher; therefore, he needs to do immense training over the summer. We will miss him, but we are happy he is successful and I'm sure he'll come and visit sometime this summer.
I have three things that I aim to accomplish this summer as head coach.
1. Equality in treatment of swimmers: No matter what level your swimmer may be, advanced or struggling, I believe that every swimmer deserves equal attention. Anyone who comes to practice regularly is relaying the message of: I want to be here to become a better swimmer. That dedication deserves the attention of the coaching staff. I want everyone to reach their full potential in swimming.
2. Attention to technique: Practices will focus on HOW the swimmer is swimming his or her laps, as apposed to how MANY laps he or she is swimming. If a swimmer has swam 100 laps in a practice, but the swimmer has swum these laps incorrectly, then nothing has been learned or gained. Actually the swimmer is worse off because the bad habits are becoming ingrained in muscle memory. Good swimmers are those who have refined stroke technique.
3. Concentration on fun and team spirit: Sure we all want to win, but I believe that if we concentrate more on having fun and enjoying ourselves, then winning will come later as a result. It's summer swimming, not the Olympics. Also if we concentrate just on points, then the swimmers in the later heats will be stressed upon less, which goes against my first point. If I could pick a summer where we focused on winning every race of every meet, ignored certain swimmers in favor of the higher tier swimmers, and moved up a division, vs a summer where everyone got an equal shot, was cheered for in every race, and we stayed in the same division, I would always take the latter.
Thanks for reading, and I'll see everyone soon!
Julian
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