Congratulations Francisco Gomez

 

 Francisco was always my little man with a big heart…He was and I hear still is the hardest working swimmer in the pool. I am so happy to see his times dropping and happy to hear that he had a great Junior Olympics. I am also very proud to  hear that he was selected to the Florida All Star Team that will be  competing at Indian River College. Francisco was one of the top 10 and under’s in Florida and now that he has aged up to the 11-12 age group he is still in the top of the heap. Francisco swims for the Davie Nadadares Swim Team, Coached by Coach Tomas Victoria…..I will be down in South Florida the first two weeks of June I’ll drop by and say hello…Until then my little buddy, keep working hard and remember all that I taught you… Never Give up!  

Basketball NCAA Championships

Watching the NCAA basketball championships this past week brings me back to part of my life that I will always treasure. When I was in my early 20’s I was a CYO basketball coach and I will never forget coaching St. Leo’s  to the Brooklyn Dioceses Championship .Many great athletes and coaches came out of my home town Corona….One such coach who became one of my all time favorites   was Jimmy Valvano. Jimmy learned his basketball in the playgrounds of Corona, he attended St. Leo’s Catholic School. I am so proud to come from the same town as him and to have attended the same school. He has and always will be part of what made me a successful coach.

Jimmy’s North Carolina State Wolfpack  Team won the NCAA Championship. He was a New York City street-smart coach who rose to the ranks of being one of the best college coaches in the business. Jimmy died at a very young age of cancer. When he was awarded the Arthur Ash Courage and Humanitarian Award he announced the creation of the “V-Foundation”. and organization dedicated to find the cure for cancer.At the awards dinner, Jimmy gave a fantastic speech. One particular poignant section of Valvano’s speech is as follows:

To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special. He ended his speech saying ” Don’t ever give up”….Don’t ever give up !

                            

Jimmy Valvano at the ESPN Awards                Winning the NCAA Championship

Junior Olympics Begin Today in South Florida

Hey down there…..hope you are all doing well and are ready to swim your best this week end….Good luck to you all and stay focused on what you have been training for. Make it all count, every start, every turn, every stroke, every finish…Keep you head on straight and don’t get too excited….it’s just another meet!  TAKE THE CHALLANGE !

Backstroke Technique…

 

The key to backstroke is the hand entry into the water and shoulder hip rotation.Your hand should enter behind the shoulder and out to the side.You swim your fastest on your start and turn, you want to extend that speed into the middle of the pool. You can accomplish this by fly kicking 6 to 8 kicks on each start and turn. Make the kicks small, powerful and fast. You don’t want to feel the water on your feet, at the end of your last fly kick start to flutter kick as you take that first stroke. Your shoulder roll should be higher than your head or at least equal to your head position. Aim your shoulder to the sky while your other shoulder should be pointing towards the bottom of the pool

DRILLS 

Vertical Kicking- Kick fly while maintaining a vertical position in deep water. You should be able to kick 3-5 full kicks per second. Do this for 3 minutes with 10 seconds rest in between each set

Fly Kicking Underwater – Fly kick on your back underwater in a streamline position for at least 15 meters

Fly kick on your back on the surface – Fly kick with your hands at your sides…Do intervals of 25/50/100’s

Single Arm -Stroke with one arm and roll shoulder, with a slight lift of the other hand.

Concentrate on proper recover of the hand position, thumb up on the exit from the water and palm down on the entry into the water, entering pinky first

 

Sectionals….in South Florida

It was an absolutely beautiful day today here in Loveland Colorado…Temp was hovering around 70 degrees and the humidity was around 15 present…So, it was out to the yard doing some chores like cutting fire wood, cleaning out flower beds, raking up some leaves left over from last fall…when all of a sudden I thought about what was going on in South Florida…then I checked my face book and found out it was time for the sectionals…So good luck goes out to all of my former swimmers,,,,,,Let me know how you guys did

Coach Pete  

This is where it all began for Thomas Veal

 Here is Thomas as a hard working 11 and 12 year age group swimmer, training at Team Weston Aquatics in Weston Florida…..After many workouts and hard determination he is now swimming in the British Championships….Well done Thomas, once again proof of the pudding is having a strong age group program and a dedicated age group coach!

Thomas Veal……British Championships

 

Thomas Veal posted a 4:04.27 for the 400 meter freestyle in the British Championships. Thomas swims for Pinecrest Swim Team out of South Florida. Congratulations Thomas on a great swim……..

Balance…Key to proper swimming

A well balanced stroke will improve your stroke production and increase your speed. Each and every stroke should be identical. Your left side should be a mirror image of your right side, the length, depth and finish of each stroke should be the same….This is balance,,,,without it, you are not swimming to your potential, with it, you will be smoother and stronger throughout your swim….Once again be intense and think while you are swimming don’t just count the tiles on the bottom of the pool!   

Davie Nadadores Swim Camp Info

Yesterday when I was recommending the swim camp program I failed to mention the dates the camp will be in progress. The Camp will run from June 21 through August 15. You can find out the fee schedule and camp events by going to the Davie Nadadores web site and clicking on the information sheets. If you have any questions you can also contact Coach Tomas Victoria at: coachtomas@aol.com or daviecamp@davienadadores.com 

Hey Guy’s Did you hear about the new swim camp?

 

There is a new Swim Camp in town, that I think you should consider looking at. The head Coach Tomas Victoria talked to me today and is so excited about this new camp. He and Coach Alex are putting together a program that will be hard to beat….The camp is located in Davie Florida only 10 miles west of Ft. Lauderdale Beach Florida and the facility is a top notch state of the art 70 meter pool, they also have a great dryland training facility on site. The two coaches that are conducting the Camp are ASCA Level4 Certified and are tops in their field with years of experience under their belt. Both are Coaches  of Olympic, National and Intentional swimming caliber and are very well respected by their peers. I have personally worked with both coaches and can vouch for their passion, zeal, and integrity

You can check them out at:daviecamp@davienadadores.com