Broadcasting Life

coach andi

i am starting to realize that i may be getting in over my head with being swim coach andi. i know i have the strength, the power, the guts and the will to be coach andi...but i didn't think i would be thrown in head first with this coaching thing. i expected to be an assistant coach, just helping certain kids with strokes and such...but no. i'm in charge of workouts, meets, the kids happiness, their overall well being...i'll basically be adopting 70 kids in a week and a half. yeah, want to be a mom but not that soon and not that many. uffda. last night the other coach, jenny, and i were talking about certain aspects of being a coach and what our coaches were like. jenny is quitting before the summer term starts as she is unhappy with the board members. so far, i've had a good relationship with them, let's see how far that goes. anyways, jenny has become more laid back this year due to the fact that she can't stand the board of parents. we talked about how strict our coaches were. with bryan, we were in the water by 4:30, no exceptions. there was no stopping during a set. if you had to go to the bathroom or stretch or if you had a sideache, there was no stopping until the set was done, especially if it was during the main set. sitting at BASS practice is so different. people stop during main sets, they get out to go to the bathroom, get drinks of water, blow their nose, etc. without asking. i don't know how bryan could stand the whining. i'm making it but wow, if they could listen to themselves whine.

i've decided that i have 2 projects for the summer. one being kim. she has the stroke of a distance freestyler. she even has a janet evan arm, her right arm never bends, it's always straight. however, she has the worst mental attitude. jenny said that one summer kim was her project, but she turned out to be a disappointment, it had something to do with the way she was brought up and the way her family is or something like that. kim is one of the fastest swimmers in practice, yet she can't break 6 min. in the 500 free and she should so be able to do that, no problem. kim is 15-16 and i know 13 year olds under the 6 min. this shouldn't be a problem for her. kim swam the 500 in a get out swim yesterday (one person is selected to swim an event and if they make the goal time given, everyone gets out of practice to either go home or have free time). her goal time = 6 min. she swam a 6:25...jenny told her it was 6:20. i will never lie to the kids about their time, i don't care how hard it hurts them. i want to get kim well under the 6 min. this summer and also show her that she CAN swim as fast as she wants, to not be afraid of the pain and whatever else. jenny told me not to bother with her but that makes meeting this goal that much sweeter.

my other project will brittney. brittney is still a little new to swimming although she's definietly one of the top swimmers. she needs some stroke development, especially with the fly and breaststroke. the thing is, she is so willing to learn and to fix her stroke! it's amazing! she already has a pretty good free and backstroke and i think she will be a good sprinter. she needs to get some meat on her bones though, she's so skinny! she comes everyday to practice and she puts 110% into every set. i've been warned to watch what is said around her though. her parents only let her watch G and PG movies, only listen to christian music, the middle school team she swam on last year (she's 8th grade) her parents wouldn't let her do the "jump! shake your booty, jump!, jump!, shake your booty" cheer. she used to tell her parents but i think she's learning that what the real world is. i'm gonna take her far though and get her some state times.

i do realize that these two shouldn't be my only projects. in fact, i shouldn't have projects, i don't want to be playing favorites. i just want to show all the swimmers that they can do anything they set their minds to and that a little hard work will get them far. these two just stick out with things i want to do this summer. jenny told me that i was going to be her project and that she would keep in touch and help me out...thank God!

i also learned that not to many swimmers go to swim meets, let alone state. my goal for the team? get as many swimmers to compete and get qualified for state. they have so many good swimmers, i don't know how they don't have state times!

all i have to say is, after yesterday, i admire my coach 10 times more. it's amazing what he did for me and the team. he got so excited if we made our times and supported us 100%. i think i need to email him and tell him this...and then ask for pointers! ahhh...should be an interesting summer!