Thursday, December 31, 2015

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Bay City HS Swimming/Diving Alumni


Blackcat Swim/Dive Alumni,

First, I'm working to restore our program's history and am looking for the most recent copy of our "Top Ten" list.

Now that we're back in Bay City, I'd hoped to do a quick update.  I last updated in 2007 and left records with someone here in town.  Unfortunately, they're unable to find them!


Rather than sort through old meet results* and reconstructing the list from scratch, I'm hoping to get hold of a fairly recent copy of the Top Ten list and just doing an update.

Also, we're planning to start a Facebook page in the spring to help former swimmers/divers/coaches reconnect with the program.

Finally, we'd like to do a combined Blue/Gold and Alumni meet to start our 2016-17 season.  More info on that once we get that Facebook page going.

Thanks for any help y'all can provide in helping us recognize all the great kids that helped put Bay City Swimming on the map over the years.

Swimcerely,

Button



*Many of which have gone missing

Coaches, Swimmers, & Parents:


Another competitive swimmer has died in what appears to be a shallow water blackout incident.



Dartmouth's Tate Ramsden was attempting a 100 yard underwater in a YMCA pool when he passed out.  More here



Please remind swimmers of the dangers of shallow water blackout.  More info is here.

Do this TODAY!!

Thanks,

Button

Quote of the Day


We can easily forgive a child who is afraid
of the dark;  the real tragedy of life is
when men are afraid of the light.

via The Imaginative Conservative

Plato

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Quote of the Day


Be who you are and say what you feel,
because those who mind don't matter,
and those who matter don't mind.

via WishesTrumpet

Bernard Mannes Baruch

Monday, December 21, 2015

Bobby's Back in North Texas



Bobby will be helping out with the Horned Frog swim program while working on his masters.  Story is here

Quote of the Day


A true champion knows how to overcome
doubts and manage those doubts and
turn them into motivation.

via SwimVortex

Misty Dawn Marie Hyman

Thursday, December 17, 2015

AT Post


Found this just now.  '15 AT thru-hiker Nick "Click" Reichard took tons of pics on his six-month hike.  Click started a month later than us but, since he hiked at about the same pace, didn't catch us.

His Instagram link is here, his store link is here, and a short vid is below:


Quote of the Day


You can't measure the mutual affection
of two human beings by the number
of words they exchange.

via Vitro Nasu

Milan Kundera

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Quote of the Day


If pigs could vote, the man with the slop
bucket would be elected swineherd
every time, no matter how much
slaughtering he did on the side.

via Wired

Orson Scott Card

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Nope: That horse ain't dead yet!!


Okay, maybe I am beating a dead horse...so what?



Via last night's USA Swimming Coaching Connection:

“STOP LOOKING AT YOUR PHONE!” yells Tasha, a point guard on the 6th grade YMCA basketball team I was coaching.

Immediately, I smile and start to explain to her that I forgot my watch and I needed to make sure we were on schedule. Tasha rolled her eyes, clearly unimpressed with my response.

“No big deal,” I had thought to myself on the way to practice when I realized I forgot my watch, “I’ll use my phone.” Fifteen minutes into practice, I had pulled out my phone to make sure we were on schedule. Big mistake.

“Can you believe the nerve of that girl?” I thought. “Here I am, the volunteer head coach, staying up late watching videos on drills and strategy, planning practices on my lunch break, staying late for players who parents are delayed picking up their child…and now some kid is telling me to put my phone away when all I am doing is making sure practice is on schedule?”

Reflecting back on that practice later that night, though, I asked myself what did Tasha really want? What was she really asking for?

I realized that she was looking for the one thing kids crave more than anything else. She wanted me to be there, in that moment, in that drill, watching her and her teammates. She wanted my attention.

She didn’t simply want me to care for her, or love her, or teach her how to play the game. She wanted more.

She wanted me to see her!

The rest of this James Leath post is here

Fixin' a Screw-Up


Today's Seth Godin blog post is "When things go wrong"

A protocol for moving forward:

0. Double check the work to make sure that there are no other problems within it.

1. Alert the relevant parties

2. Take responsibility for what went wrong. This doesn’t mean that you intentionally did it wrong, or that doing it right was part of your job description. It means that you know something went wrong, you’re unhappy about it, and you accept responsibility for letting it get by you and you accept responsibility for making sure it won’t happen again.

 3. Apologize. Not because it’s your fault, but because the incident cost other people time or money or upset them, and you’re sorry that they have to deal with that.

4. Come up with a plan to ameliorate the impact of the problem. If you can’t come up with a plan, say so and ask for suggestions.

5. Come up with a plan to avoid the problem in the future.

6. Gather feedback.

7. Thank everyone for their patience and goodwill.

Either that, or you could hide, dissemble, blame, shuffle along, scowl, depersonalize and then move on.

via The Guardian

Missed your athlete's taper?  It happens.

A second time?  Okay, that happens too.

Over and over again?!?!  Enough already!

Kids and parents are tired of coaches that skip past steps 1 through 7.  They're also tired of those that stop at number 3...it's time to move on to number 5...

Quote of the Day


Democracy and socialism have nothing
in common but one word, equality.  But
notice the difference:  while democracy
seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks
equality in restraint and servitude.

via Great Thoughts Treasury

Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville

Friday, December 11, 2015

Yup! It's gonna be another one of those...


...all-over-the-map posts.


Safety First!!  Texas Swimming does not endorse the use of firearms without ear protection.

Tim Bauer needs an ASCA Level V head age group coach at TWST

Great Hills Country Club needs a head coach

Corpus Christi TISCA

Texarkana TISCA

San Antonio TISCA

The City of San Antonio needs a Recreation Specialist (Aquatics)

The South County YMCA (Houston) needs a Youth Development Director - Aquatics

The City of Round Rock needs an Aquatics Manager

Coverage pages (race/interview vids, results, etc.) for this weekend's big meets:

Junior Nationals East/West (USA Swimming)

Junior Nationals West (Swimming World)

Junior Nationals East (Swimming World)

Duel in the Pool (USA Swimming)

Duel in the Pool (Swimming World)

NCAP Invite (Swimming World)



We laughed about fellow hikers nearing the end of the AT up in Maine (that's where them Maine-iacs lives) that whined "It's been so great - I just don't want it to end."  Really?  Y'all wanna keep on smellin' like butt fer ever?

Big Cat Invite

Klein Oak vs. Klein (JV)

Birdville/Denton/Guyer/Ryan

The Woodlands vs. Kingwood (JV)

Carroll/Coppell/Granbury

College Park vs. Magnolia

College Park vs. Cy-Woods (JV)

Klein/Montgomery/Clear Falls

Latest CSCAA D-I polls are here.  Texas men still #1.  A&M women at #5, follered by UT gals at #6.

More Earl Dibbles, Jr.:


AAAA Winter Wonderland (real time)

AQTX TNR (12/1)

LCA Winter Races

Dumbest headline of the day*:


Ya think?

Southern Senior Champs

FCST Fall Champs

LSST Fall Champs

COR Winter Classic

MAC BB & Under

A&M vs. Rice (W)

Austin vs. McMurry (M&W)

Still ain't had enough Earl?


Cathedral Loretto Invite

YISD Border Invite

Hawkeye Invite

The City of New Braunfels lacks coordination.  They need an Aquatics Coordinator and an Assistant Aquatics Coordinator

The City of Round Rock needs an Aquatics Supervisor

The South Montgomery County YMCA needs a Youth Development Senior Director - Aquatics

The City of Pharr needs an Aquatics Supervisor




*This post excluded

Quote of the Day


What and how much had I lost by trying to
do only what was expected of me instead
of what I myself had wished to do?

via Famous Authors

Ralph Waldo Ellison