Time has flown which means we must have had fun.
I can remember clearly my first week with Coach Henry, showing me the ropes and discussing the plans for the year – huge kudos again to Henry for all that he does. He is personally invested in making sure we have a quality program – he cares about the swimmers and the program deeply.
I was then met by the high school swimmers in Mr. Staples office; keen to meet the new guy – from then on, it has been full steam ahead.
After a year, I have to thank parents for your support. It is difficult to succeed without your trust, and I appreciate very much, your enthusiasm toward what we are doing or working towards. I hope you are happy with the communication that has been sent, and openness toward you and your feedback. I will again look to book times between season one and two so we can meet while your kids are at swimming. We will offer more opportunities to meet with Dr. Jay-Lee Nair this coming year on various topics – her talk that we had in April was well received.
As I’ve said many times, a team will not be successful with out a strong inclusive culture. I feel that we have work to do here, but are on the right track. With the help of our senior swimmers and team captains for next year, we will see a concerted effort to ensure that every member of the program feels valued and knows they are important. I hope all parents feel that you are part of the team too.
I must also acknowledge the College, Mike Staples, and Frazer Cairns; whose support of what we are doing has been fantastic.
We have had some outstanding performances throughout a long racing season – there was a period of about eight weeks where we raced every weekend all weekend, with the same swimmers competing throughout. We’ve also seen some of our very young swimmers progress out of learn to swim and into competitive racing. The club nights have been a good opportunity to introduce new swimmers to racing, and also for those who are a little more experienced to set an example for the younger kids. There will be a new format for 2015-16 and more club nights.
Next year, we hope to offer, in conjunction with other schools, more opportunities for our younger swimmers through February and March. We will also run two extra meets for junior swimmers, one in December, and one in June. You will see the meet dates on our calendar. Please make sure you are free on the dates that we host – we will call on you to volunteer (parents) for our meets.
Our camps have been well attended – we will continue with the current format, with the addition of Dr. Jay-Lee Nair’s sessions. Dates for next year are posted on the blog.
Though not everyone in the program has the opportunity to attend our morning land sessions, I must thank Tony Faneco for his dedication to our program – our swimmers look forward to his sessions, which have the highest attendance each week. He challenges us physically and mentally, and I know the swimmers can feel the benefit of these workouts. Next year, there will again be restrictions for these morning sessions based on attendance of swim and gym session from the previous week. This will be clearly explained and posted in the New Year. We will commit to having all squads follow a land program on-deck before and possibly after they swim.
We will continue to offer an aquatics program to those who do not intend to be competitive. We are continually adding to, and improving what we do in our recreational program also. Henry does a fantastic job of leading this with the support of the coaching team.
With 35,000 views of the blog, I’m confident that communication is reaching a good proportion of the team – we are also reformatting our school webpage over the summer so that this is more clear and easier to navigate – there is always more that can be done.
New team gear will be available as soon as we begin in the new school year – the supplier has been very slow in providing samples etc, so we have delayed the ordering process. There will be one uniform for all groups for next few years.
"Heads Up" - We are raising the fees next year by 7% as we are no longer absorbing the GST
One of the goals for next year is to ensure that our swimmers receive the accolades they deserve, in front of their peers. We have the support of the sports office in making this happen.
We still need a meet sponsor for our September meet and the U12 meet we will host in June 2016 – making a profit from these events enables us to invest in hardware that will directly help the swimmers, plus add to the efficiency of running our meets. If anyone would like information on this, please let me know.
We (the coaches) are looking forward to next year, where we will push a little harder, expect a little more, and for some, see you more often.
Tony Robins said “If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.”
What we have ‘gotten’, isn’t good enough – at least I’m not satisfied with it and I hope the swimmers aren’t either – I’m pleased with our progress, but we have a very long way to go. There is no reason we won’t be the best school team in Asia – we certainly have the facility, and we have the program to produce the best – I have no doubt!
All we need are the swimmers with desire and commitment…and a paradigm shift as to what is achievable both in training and in competition.
We farewell our seniors: Charlotte, Juliette, Jojo, Khoi, and Kim - congrats on your graduation. All the very best for your futures.
I’d like to thank Pete, Monica, Henry, and Alex for their commitment and work this year. They are a great bunch of people and do great work with our swimmers.
Finally, thank you swimmers for a fun year. I hope you have enjoyed your swimming as much as I have. Look for the summer workouts that will be posted – enjoy your holiday. Eat healthy, sleep well, GROW, and keep fit.
See you on deck in August
Aaron
