Character First

Here’s a great article from SwimSwam regarding character and the impact it has on you and those around you.  It’s not a long article, but it’s packed full of points to ponder.

Click below to read:

Character First

COSA Scholarship Application

Applications for the 2013 COSA Scholarships are now available.  To apply, please click the link below.  Last year COSA awarded four $500 scholarships to local athletes.  BKYS member Cameron Hackett was one of the recipients!

http://bit.ly/1aG0Fc9

Illness and Swimming

Dear Parents,

Please ensure that your kids get sick and get it over with before the high school swimming season starts.

Thanks,

Lew

Swim-a-Thon® letter

Swimmers and Parents:

Many of you have expressed concern that you may not have time to talk to friends and relatives regarding our upcoming fundraiser (Swim-a-Thon®).  Obviously, the time commitment you have made to swimming – in addition to school and other activities – is tremendous.

This is our only fundraiser for the entire season and it will benefit you directly by assisting with your end-of-season travel and functions that the club provides that impact you (things like having coaches at meets).

To assist you, and make it less of a task to solicit donations, please follow the link below to a sample letter that you and your parents can send to friends and family via e-mail.  You may personalize or change anything you wish and, by all means, please add your name at the bottom.

Sample letter  (If you have any trouble with the link, please let me know).

Additionally, please check out the CrowdRise site.  This will allow you to simply send a link (you could add the link to the sample letter) and contacts can donate online!  You must register at CrowdRise to use this service.

CrowdRise

Good luck with your efforts!

Buckeye Swimming Fundraiser

Please continue working to raise and collect funds for our ONLY fundraiser this season.

5% of collected donations goes to the USA Swimming Foundation that supports the philanthropic arm of USA Swimming safety programs, the U.S. National Teams, and swimming programs and education for all ages.

The Buckeye Boosters are offering the Senior Swimmers who need to raise money for their end-of-season trip to have 50% of what you raise over $100 applied to your trip fees.

For those who have not yet received their fundraising envelope, please contact Jeff Baggs (that's Jeremy's dad) so that you can get started on your pledges.

If you are unable to attend practice on the designated day, Saturday, October 26th, please see one of the coaches to make arrangements to have a practice count for your fundraising laps.

Please have all checks written to the Buckeye Boosters or Buckeye Swim club.

Meet Sign-up

Meet sign-up is now available for the Worthington John Bruce Invitational.  Please go to the team site to register for the meet.  Instructions are there to help you register for the days you will be attending.  We will review your entries prior to submitting them to the meet host.

9 WAYS TO BE A BETTER TEAMMATE

from USA Swimming

(I’ll take #9, please)

9/18/2013

BY MIKE GUSTAFSON//CORRESPONDENT

In swimming, just because you’re a good swimmer doesn’t mean you’re a good teammate. Being a good teammate is about much more than just cheering during races. Just like practice, being a good teammate takes hard work, practice, and a daily commitment.
Swimming is an unusual sport in that it is technically “individual” – meaning no one can physically help you swim down the pool faster. But when a team comes together throughout the season, motivates each other, pushes each other, and picks each other up when others fall down, each swimmer on that team will actually get better. Being a good teammate means, while you can’t physically push someone down the pool to be faster, your presence almost can. (See: Pretty much any epic relay anchor.)
Here are 9 ways to be a better teammate:

1. Stand up when you cheer.
“Cheering” is actually kind of worthless if the swimmer about to race doesn’t see you opposite the blocks or standing poolside. When you step up to race, 99% of swimmers look to see if teammates are there. It’s a quick, fleeting glance, but it matters. Don’t sit in the bleachers and passively whisper a teammate good luck. Stand, walk to the pool, and let them see you. They’ll feed off your energy.
2. Create a culture of encouragement.
So simple. Just one sentence, “Keep it up!” is so effective when you’re hanging on the gutters barely able to blink. It doesn’t even have to be directed at anyone specific. I had a teammate who constantly shouted encouragements while we all rested on the wall. Over time, he created a culture of encouragement. Soon, 3 guys were shouting encouragements. Then 6. Then the whole team.
3. Pick someone up when they’re falling down.
This part is tricky, and you have to be careful, but if someone (and they usually already know who they are) is skipping practice or slacking off or being disruptive or negative, don’t be afraid to say something to that person. That doesn’t mean yell or embarrass that person. Take him/her aside as a teammate and be direct, honest, and positive. You’re a team, and part of being a team is not letting others fall behind. Everyone needs to be picked up, and as a teammate, that responsibility is yours.
4. Criticize in private, compliment in public.
If you ever need to approach a teammate about something negative, do so privately. But compliments should be public. In our team meetings, we did a round table where everyone had to point out something good another teammate did in practice that week. Look, swimmers aren’t blind. We see things in practice. When someone is truly bringing it that day, being positive or executing a dryland exercise right, let ‘em know. And let everyone else know, too. If you don’t compliment your own team, who will?
5. Know when to back away.
Everyone’s had a bad race. Being a good teammate sometimes means knowing when to allow a teammate some private time if that teammate had a bad race. Let people have space to gather thoughts. I might be in the minority on this, but I believe you shouldn’t say “Great race!” if it clearly was a swimmer’s bad race. Saying “Great race!” after a bad race might actually make that swimmer feel worse, or angry, or upset, or defensive. Instead, if you want to say something, say, “It’s OK, let’s get ‘em in the next race,” or sometimes don’t say anything except a hand on the shoulder, or simply allowing that person some temporary space.
6. Embrace when teammates swim fast.
We’ve all been there. So-and-so drops 6 seconds even though so-and-so doesn’t train as hard as you. The hardest part of being a good teammate is realizing your teammates might beat you. That’s OK – that’s part of the sport. You have to control those feelings and focus on yourself. Nothing is more poisonous to a team’s chemistry than envy or jealousy. Worry about your own performances and congratulate your teammates when they swim well. After all, the faster they are, the more competitive your practices will be, and the better you’ll become.
7. Don’t be afraid to get competitive in practice.
There are two types of teammates: Those who push others to slow down, and those who push others to go faster. Be the latter.
8. Don’t ever say, “This sucks.”
No it doesn’t. It may be hard, or cold, or tough, but that doesn’t mean it sucks. You knew this sport was hard work before signing up. Sports are about pushing yourself. When you mutter, “This sucks” you’re actually bringing others down, too. When you’re having a great practice, the last thing in the world you want to hear are negative comments from a teammate, so don’t do it to them when you’re having a bad practice.
9. Realize you don’t have to be fast to be a good teammate.
In 50 years, people won’t remember times. They’ll remember teammates. In my opinion, it’s better to be a good teammate than a good swimmer. It takes work, but the lessons you learn being a good teammate will serve you far better in life than swimming a 200 fly really fast. And the best part in swimming – and in all sports – is you don’t have to swim a 200 fly really fast to be a good teammate.