About SWIM MEETS and other DEMONS...

Past week was a busy one for our team, there were a couple of swim meets and even I (Coach Ana) attended (after many years) to one as a competitor and not only as a coach or an spectator. 

As a competitive swimmer I used to love swim meets and this weekend (yes, it was a whole weekend event from Friday to Sunday) I remembered why, the previous excitement and anxiety before every event, the rush and adrenaline right before jumping in the water, swimming faster than you ever imagine you could do and finish a race completely exhausted, sharing the passion about this sport with other swimmers and just enjoy spending time with your swim family is an amazing experience. 

As a coach I enjoy swim meets in a different way but the love for them is the same, is the perfect opportunity for me to connect with my swimmers in a way that during trainings is impossible to do, to teach them that winning is a plus but not the main goal, that losing is not a bad thing if you learn from it, that when you are able to face your biggest fears then you become stronger and you grow up as an athlete and as a person, that only by making mistakes you get to realize what you are missing in your training, that your team and your coach will always have your back and that the only person you are competing against is yourself and the clock. 

But as much as I love them not everybody feels the same way (I think they are an acquired taste) and every time these two words  "SWIM MEET" come around, craziness does too, from last minute confirmations to participate, swimmers forgetting their googles, swimcaps and even swimsuits the day of the event, kids asking a million times what they are going to swim when not only me as the coach but also the event organizers make sure they have that information ahead of time, up to the most "creative" excuses to not attend because they just don't want to admit how scare they are and is much easier to just pass. And yes, even after all these previous - stressful - messy - series of events, I still love swim meets, and my biggest struggle through these years as the coach of the Jaguars has been to find more spaces for you to compete, get to know other swimmers and be able to not only live that experience but learn to love it as much as your coach does. 

We (coaches, athletic department, swimmers and parents) have still a lot of things to improve but for now I would like to give my most sincere congratulations to the ones that participated because you are an step forward in the path of becoming an amazing athlete, now you know your start point and what your goal for this year should be.  

See you on our next event on October 6th and 7th at IJA, let's see how many of you brave kids take that step this time.

Go JAGS!!!

Coach Ana.