Mid-Week Updates and Reminders, July 14, 2022
Weekend Practice Schedule
Friday – July 15 - Water Slide Friday
Bee Bees – No practice
IncrediBullets – No Practice
Bronze - 5:15-6:15 pm at Nelson
Silver I – 5:15-6:45 pm at Nelson
Silver II - 5:15-6:45 pm at Nelson
Gold - 5:15-6:45 pm at Nelson
Saturday – July 16 - No Practices due to Regional swim meet in Peoria
Good Luck Springfield Bullets - Illinois Swimming Regional Championships
Congratulations to Springfield Bullets Piper Langan, Adrienne Skelton and Griffin Gwaltney who qualified for and are swimming in the Illinois Swimming Regional Championships this weekend in Peoria. We are so proud of you and will be cheering for some awesome swims.
Piper, Adrienne and Griffin have worked very hard for this honor. The thing they all three have in common is their consistent practice attendance as well as the hard work they put in at each practice. Their hard work is definitely paying off for all three! Great Job!
Great Read - Six No-No Phrases for the Swimming Parent
From swimtelligence.blogspot.com
Parents often ask what to say to their swimmers to help them succeed. The conversations that happen between a parent and child can have a dramatic impact in shaping a swimmer's attitudes toward swimming. The phrases below are all things coaches have heard before, and we just cringe when we hear them. Each is an example of what not to say to your swimmer.
1. Introducing your child to someone as "the swimmer." "This is Johnny, the swimmer." Swimming is something your child does, not who they are. Help your child cultivate their identity as a person, and encourage them to be the best they can be at swimming. Ultimately, they will better be able to weather the storms of failure and enjoy the fruits of success in swimming if their identity is not wrapped around it.
2. "We came all this way/spent all this money/took all this time... and you swam slow/didn't try/performed poorly." Your kid is probably already disappointed in their own performance, without adding the weight of your parental sacrifices. Understand that it is the nature of human performance that your child will not perform at his or her best at every meet or in every race. The effect of making this comment is that the next time you make a sacrifice to go to a meet, your child will feel the added pressure - possibly to the detriment of his performance.
3. "Good job" (When your child doesn't perform well). They knows when it was a good swim and when it was a bad one. False praise does nothing but cheapen the praise when it is actually deserved. Try "good effort" or "you'll get 'em next time" or "I love you anyway."
4. "WE need to get this cut, WE need to win this event, etc." How many lengths of the pool are you swimming, mom? It is your child's swim, not yours, and you should try to promote their ownership of his performance. Be their biggest fan--there to support them through good and bad--not their teammate.
5. "It's probably your training" (reason why you swam slow). As a parent, it is important that you buttress your child's confidence in their coach. If you have concerns about your swimmer's progress, address them with the coach. Passing your concern on to your swimmer is likely to weaken the coach-swimmer partnership.
6. "It's okay, you don't have to go to practice today." This one comes up when your child is tired, cranky, or is just not wanting to go to practice. It is going to happen at some point that your age grouper will have one of these days. But rather than act as enabler by caving to your swimmer's desire not to attend practice, remind them that it their swimming and their results at the end of the season that will be affected. Remind them of the commitment they has made to their team and to their own swimming. The key is to get your child to make the decision, rather than having you the parent act as the passive enabler. It's tough -- you may not want to take them to practice either, but taking this approach consistently will help your child take ownership of their performance.
Parents, any questions about effective ways to talk swimming with your kid? Let your coach know, and let's get the lines of communication open and flowing!
Have you registered for our upcoming meets?
Our first 2 Intrasquad meets were a huge success. Our Bullets’ swimmers did a great job and everyone had a blast. We hope that more of our swimmers take advantage of the other meets we have on our schedule. These meets provide all of our Springfield Bullets’ swimmers additional opportunities to swim in low pressure meets in Springfield (intrasquad meets) and in Decatur (Turbo Turtle meet August 14). We encourage all of our Springfield Bullets’ to swim in as many of these meets as they can. REMEMBER - Meets are in important component for your swimmer and for our team as a whole.
Movie in the Park - July 22
Mark your calendar for July 22nd… The Springfield Bullets are planning to attend the movie Luca on July 22nd outdoors at the Sherman Village Park. We hope all of our Bullets’ swimmers will be able to join for this fun and exciting event. The movie will start at dusk but we hope to arrive early to enjoy some time before the movie starts. More details will follow.