As you all know the diddy league is Alex's baby and so I do not get involved and tread on his toes - apart from a little bit now, oh and last night even though "I wasn't there"!
After the Foo Fighters concert got cancelled and then my friends band had to withdraw from the Metal to the Masses semi final, I was left with a Saturday night free, a cherished and much loved event for a coach as it doesn't happen that often, so I decided to pop down to Queens leisure center and support the clubs Diddy team.
I'm glad I did as what I saw was terrific. I wont go on about results etc as that is for the official report, but race after race Long Eaton swimmers stuck out as the most skillful in the pool. I am a firm believer in skills and technique and putting this into young swimmer is vital. When swimmers master skills at an early age then when they grow up and become stronger and fitter those skills will help them win races. I am not worried if a swimmer does perfect skills but doesn't win at a young age, I would prefer the skills first then the victories later, after all the average Olympic medal winners age is 23 for females and 25 for males and I wouldn't be surprised to see those figures go up in years to come. That being said those swimmers that swam with high level skills were winning their races last night as well which is a tremendous achievement.
From what I saw last night the future of the club is bright, very bright with lots of skillful fast swimmers coming through the ranks. A big congratulations to Alex, Melissa and the junior squad coaching team for producing such a great pool of swimmers that are going to be amazing, and thank you to all the volunteers who help run these fun galas. The team spirit throughout the gala was amazing along with the nutrition, hydration and behavior of the swimmers, who left poolside spotless again.
Remember Behavior-Repetition-Habit, lets make those habits great!
