January!

WELCOME
The new year brought some new additions to Junior Development. Ben, Ivo, Lauren, and Tristan all moved up from I can swim into the competitive program. They all have fit in very well have either already attended or are planning to attend a swim meet! As well, there were some JD swimmers who decided to try meets this January. Anders, Ayden, Evan, and Teya G participated in their first 10 and under series this past month. It is very exciting because almost all JD swimmers have swam at a swim meet... After 10 and under series, a couple of the swimmers new to meets told me that it was "awesome" and "so much fun", which was great to hear!
DQs
In competitive swimming, there are some rules that swimmers need to follow during races. If these rules aren't followed, it is considered a disqualification (DQ). DQs shouldn't ever be viewed as a negative experience. Rather, they should be taken as a learning oppertunity that is beneficial to helping the swimmer improve. I am always more than willing to discuss why a swimmer got a DQ with parents. I make a point of letting swimmers know what they did after their race if I see it, and if I don't see it I will do my best to find out from the meet referee. The following are some of the more reasons DQs are given:

• touching with one hand in breaststroke and butterfly
• touching on your front or being on your front at any time in backstroke
• doing the wrong type of kick in your streamlines or at any point during the race (especially in breast and fly)

PRACTICE IN JANUARY
This month we have continued to work on those streamlines! I'm sure all the swimmers are getting very tired of me saying the word "streamline" 100 times a day...but I won't stop until you ALL do it EVERY time!! As well, in the new year we have begun to do more 50s and towards the end of the month we started trying to do them on faster intervals. As always, we had our timed 200 flutter kick and all the swimmers did very well. We had almost 100% best times, and those that weren't quite there missed it only by a few seconds. The timed 200 is something we do around the same time every month. I feel that it's a great way for the swimmers to see their improvement in their kick and endurance. Lastly, a big focus of a number of practices was on working on our butterfly. Everyone has showed big improvement in their dolphin kick.

WHATS TO COME..
As we move into February, we only have 1 meet which is the Novice Series on Saturday, Feb. 14th. This meet is similar to the 10 and under series in that the swimmers get the opportunity to swim one race of each stroke. Additionally, they will get so swim an IM event (which is 1 or 2 lengths of each stroke, depending on the distance they are entered in). Novice series is another great meet for beginner swimmers.

In February, we will continue to work on our streamlines and turns. As well, we are going to continually work on developing our endurance by swimming 50s and some 100s. We will keep working on our butterfly, specifically on our breath timing.

See you at the pool! :)