THANK YOU PARENTS!
(The following is the text from a presentation our athletes gave to our parents)
We’ve been given the opportunity to thank the people most important to the success of our swim team. These brave souls dedicate their lives to the success of each swimmer. They are the swim parents. Swim parents are a unique breed and can usually be distinguished by the following characteristics:
1. A distinct smell of chlorine permeating from their clothes and hair, as well as their car and other belongings.
2. Frizzy hair, compliments of all the humidity present at practice and meets.
3. A permanent slouch caused by too many hours on uncomfortable bleachers.
4. A somewhat glazed-over look from watching 10 or more heats of events their kids are not even swimming in.
5. Fingers permanently stained with yellow highlighter.
6. A chronic upset stomach from worrying about whether their swimmer is going to make it to their event on time, and more importantly, remember which stroke they’re supposed to swim.
7. An unusual ritual exhibited only on Sundays, when they secretly cross their fingers during their child’s races, hoping they won’t make it back to finals.
8. A propensity for screaming "Kick" or "Go" during a race even though none of the swimmers can hear them.
9. Their standard greeting for family and friends is "Which one of our fundraisers would you like to support?
10. The unique ability (particularly for the dads) to calculate how much time is left before the last event is finished, down to the minute.
11. And finally, an uncanny knowledge of the location of every Olive Garden in Ohio and surrounding states.
Even with all these little quirks, we love you! You are often taken for granted and rarely thanked. You spend countless hours inhaling chlorine and hauling us to practice and meets. You sit patiently through endless swim meets cheering us on and supporting the team. You spend your free time searching for lost or misplaced towels, goggles, and suits, which we insist were taken by some mysterious towel bandit, goggle gremlin or suit snatcher.
You make it possible for us to reach for our dreams and accomplish our goals. For all this and more, from the bottom of our hearts......... THANK YOU!!!!!
What Buckeye parents have to say about our club...
"I like the excellent technique instruction."
"Buckeye is a well-rounded program. Swimmers of all levels are welcome and are given excellent instruction. Everyone is important."
"My daughter feels that she is the most well prepared freshman on her college swim team. Her coaches are happy with her technique, and the intense schedule of college life is not overwhelming. This preparation came from Buckeye"
- from the mom of walk-on at a Big Ten school.
"Swimming is a low-impact and low injury sport and Buckeye has seems to have a very low number of injuries."
"We love to practice at Ohio State!"
"The highest quality of coaches you can find in any sport in Central Ohio."
"The coaching staff is experienced and stays with Buckeye."
"Buckeye has a low coach to swimmer ratio - we get great attention!"
"Swimmer's show immediate improvement at Buckeye."
"Buckeye makes it easy to join the team. No try-outs, no evaluations, just come on in and give it a try."
"My daughter experienced remarkable improvement in her self-confidence in just 3 months."
"The coaches are professionals and respect the kids."
"Everyone is a winner."
"The coaches are always there for the swimmer."
"The coaches take the time to get to know the kids outside of swimming."
"Swimming has excellent health benefits that no other sport matches. It allows kids to manage weight problems in a comfortable and successful environment. Swimming is highly recommended for kids with asthma."
"Buckeye does not segregate the elite swimmers."
"All kids are accepted socially."
"School & family come first at Buckeye."
"Buckeye teaches kids that they can be successful and have fun doing it. Too many programs ask kids to be serious in order to achieve success."
"The social activities and games are great. Not only do the kids form lasting friendships, but so do the parents."
"Buckeye opens the door of opportunity to swimmers at a young age. My daughter started at age 4 when no one else would take her. She's still loving it at age 9."
"The consistency in the coaching staff has created consistency in swimmers."
"Buckeye coaches can work with injured swimmers. They are given individual attention in a patient approach to long term recovery."
Reprint from fall 2006 mail folders (just in case you haven’t found that team mailbox)…
WHY SWIM Y?
As we begin our second year as both a USA Swimming and YMCA swimming member club, many of our USA swimmers are asking why should I swim Y? As a coach, I have tried for many years to encourage the local USA swimming clubs to adopt a YMCA style dual meet league. Our sport (primarily USA Swimming) asks parents and swimmers to sit through hours of swimming events just to participate in a few seconds to a few minutes of competition. Although meets are a great social opportunity for kids, we coaches are in the business of coaching swimmers. That brings me to the first and best reason to swim Y: DUAL MEETS! They are quick and fun and are included in the cost of your Y membership.
We are members of the Southwest YMCA cluster. This is a very important part of our Y affiliation being successful. Many of you are probably familiar with the lesser organized Y’s of Central Ohio. Our cluster is actually as well if not better organized than Ohio Swimming (the USA league that we are members of, which encompasses all of Ohio except Northeast Ohio). It is also one of the best YMCA clusters in the country. The ME Lyons YMCA, Countryside YMCA and Springfield YMCA all regularly place in the top 10 at YMCA Nationals. The southwest cluster includes Cincinnati, Dayton and ‘western’ Ohio Y’s such As Marysville, Bellefontaine and Sidney.
Our YMCA is the Hilliker YMCA in Bellefontaine (about 20 minutes west of Marysville). This is an independent YMCA with a very supportive administration. They have a special membership for our Columbus swimmers to allow them to represent us at YMCA meets. The cost of membership is $100 annually. Most of your cost will be recouped if you participate in our Invitational on 10/29 and our 3 dual meets. Think about this: most meets are $15 per day. 4 meets =$60. There’s a big chunk of your membership fee. No add in the cost of your time that you just saved by going to a dual meet rather than a 700 swimmer invitational. Yep – it’s worth it!!
The YMCA also has a neat little rule about what age group you swim. For the winter season, your age on December 1 is your age for the entire season. In USA swimming, your age on the first day of the meet is your age for that meet.
The Southwest Cluster runs the best Championship meet I have ever attended. The meet is at Miami of Ohio and is very similar in speed and quality to the Ohio Swimming State Age Group Championships (OHQ times). The cuts to get to this meet are slightly easier than OHQ times though. The meet also includes an 8 & under category and a 15-18 category. Thus, the meet is in a fast pool, with comfortable seating for both parents and swimmers and is much more inclusive for the swimmers.
Please take a look at the YMCA meet schedule. Ask me (Coach Laurie) as many questions as you can think of. I will be coaching at both the YMCA and USA meets this year, so your coaching will always be consistent at the meets. Coach Suzie (the head coach at Hilliker Y) and I would really like to build a strong dual meet team and are hoping that you will join us!
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Coach Russ' BLOG
