SWIM RESOLUTIONS

BY MIKE WATKINS//CORRESPONDENT

Each December (and sometimes early January), millions of people across the globe make New Year’s

Resolutions – goals or promises to themselves that they intend to keep to improve their lives. 

Lose weight. Exercise more. Save money. Drink less. Stop smoking. You get the picture.

Rather than ask swimmers and coaches what their resolutions are for the upcoming year, USA Swimming asked them to offer resolutions for younger swimmers to help them improve in 2017 and beyond.

Here are a few words of their wisdom for a Happy New Year in the pool. 

Paul Yetter

First, have a goal time for as many events as possible and think creatively about ways to achieve at or close to those goal times in practice as often as possible. And second, be honest with yourself. You may have to motivate yourself to move toward the front of the practice lanes if you want to move to the front of your heats at higher levels of competition. 

Amy Modglin
“If I could give two New Year’s resolutions to younger swimmers, they would be, first, to make a conscious effort to enjoy the environment you swim in each day. Whether it’s your teammates, coaches or the joy of racing, the more you have fun and soak up every minute, the more successful you’ll be in the long run. Secondly, I encourage swimmers to work every day to achieve perfection on one small thing. Whether it’s the pull before the turn, the way your feet push off the wall or adding one small kick to your underwater, focusing on these little improvements will add up in the long run.”

Peter Vanderkaay
“Make a commitment to have tight streamlines in 2017. It's easy to get lazy, especially through the breakouts, so make a conscious effort to work on this and it will make a big difference. Also, identify a weakness in your technique or training that can be a focal point for improvement in 2017. For example, if your weakness is kicking, try to set some goals to improve.”

Caroline Burckle
“Put your horse blinders on and keep doing YOUR thing. Look forward. What is it that you WANT?! Channel that. Use the past as a point of reference to LEARN from, not to compare to!”

Tyler Clary
“An easy and extremely beneficial New Year’s resolution that all swimmers could see results from is constantly working on your streamline/body positioning in the water. Don’t get lazy because you’re doing a distance set or a set with more flip turns than usual. Your streamline could be the edge you need to beat the guy you’re racing.”

Ashley Steenvoorden
“One resolution I would recommend to younger swimmers is to do something extra every day to make yourself better. Do an extra set of sit-ups or pushups. Grab an apple instead of the brownie. Doing things, little things, every day will give you a leg up on your opponents.”

Chuck Katis
“Make sure that every day you’re in the pool, you do at least one specific thing that you can recognize made you better (effort, technical change, extra prep/recovery, etc.).”

Margaret Hoelzer
“One resolution that is always helpful and really important is to always find the good in every race. No matter if it was a bad or a good race, what did you learn? Maybe you learned how NOT to swim your race or what not to do, but always being able to walk away with something positive from every race is a very important learning experience, and it helps you always improve.”

Frank Busch
“Come to practice with this in mind – “Whatever it takes to get better today.” When practice is over, enjoy the other parts of life. Swimming stays at the pool.”

Anne-Marie Botek

“Stretch yourself. Seek successes that are worthy of your effort and dedication. Set significant goals, and know that, even if you don't achieve them, you will become a better person and a better swimmer for having dreamt big. And celebrate the successes of your teammates as well as your own. A victory, regardless of who achieves it, can be a source of motivation and inspiration for everyone on your team.”

Courtney Bartholomew

“Something I always tried to improve on during the New Year was looking closely at what worked during the previous year and what did not. My training may have been good, but what aspects could have been better? Maybe I needed to look at nutrition or get more sleep. The new year is a great time to reflect on small improvements that can make a big difference.”

Hayley McGregor Mortimer

“I think a great resolution for an athlete to make is to avoid cutting corners. You’re never too young to realize what it means to EARN your results/goals.”

Sarah Henry

“A great New Year’s resolution would be to go into every practice with something very particular in mind. As in today, I will do three kicks off of every wall. Or today, I will not breathe off my turns. And at the end of that practice, evaluate whether you accomplished that goal or not. This way, eventually these things will become habit, and you can move on to a new daily goal. Another resolution would be to self-evaluate if after every practice you gave your best. It doesn’t matter if you had the worst or best practice ever as long as you gave it all you had. If you can answer yes after every practice, then come race time, there should be no doubts in your mind that you could have done anything more.”

Jessica Hardy

“Some ideas for younger swimmers would be to encourage teammates, to not let negativity affect others during hard sets in workouts and to stay out of the junk food cabinet.”

Giles Smith

“Make it to as close to 100 percent practice attendance as possible. If a young swimmer is attending all the practices, for the most part, they will improve. Also, a second resolution would be to eat healthy and include lots of greens and colors in their daily food intake.”

Tori Trees Smith

“I think younger swimmers need to have consistency with every workout and make sure they are having fun with swimming.”

Alex Vanderkaay

“I think a good New Year's resolution would be to walk out of every swim practice knowing you did something or said something that, even if in the smallest way, made one of your teammates better.” 

Amy Bilquist

“Focus on having a growth mindset over a fixed mindset. And add two more underwater kicks to the last wall of any distance you’re doing in practice. So if you normally do six kicks off of a wall on the last turn of a 100, do eight.”

Sean Lehane

“Go to practice as much as you can; write down concrete goals and put them where you can see them every day.”

Mike Barrowman

“Each season, each week, each day, and each workout always have a hurdle. If you can surpass this hurdle, the remainder of the week/day/workout will get easier because your body and mind will be in ‘superhero mode.’ You can get through the hardest parts, and get through them well (thus improving your training level), if you can just get over the hurdles. For me, these things were nearly insurmountable and took a herculean effort to get past…but this was the secret to consistent improvement. My resolution was always to stand up to all of these hurdles for the coming year – mentally at first, then physically as it got tough – and to make it through to superhero mode at every possible chance.”

Felicia Lee

“I’d say two things can help young swimmers improve. First, commit to your underwaters. Start off with something like every turn kick past the flags and then slowly increase the distance throughout the year. Secondly, just remember to have fun with your teammates and the sport. Good things will come if you have positive vibes.”

Mark Warkentin

“Best New Year’s resolutions for a young swimmer: 1. Resolve to always have a goal. Big or small, near or long term, goals are important; 2. Keep a daily workout progress journal that chronicles your journey.”

Megan Quann Jendrick

“I've never actually believed in New Year resolutions. I think if you have a goal and you're willing to work for it, start right now, don't wait! You will be that much closer to your goal.”

Full Article via USA Swimming