It is with great excitment that I announce that HHBF swimmer, 12 year old Britney Dortona, has been selected to represent Team Canada at the 2012 Giochi della Gioventu games in Italy this June. Britney was selected out of a tough field including Provincial and National level medalists.
This competition is for swimmers with Italian background born in 1997 or 1998. The eight swimmers selected will have the opportunity to represent Canada in a swim competition held in Italy in June. "This is a great opportunity for swimmers to compete against swimmers from other countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, United States and of course Italy," said head coach of the delegation, (and age group coach with MSSAC) Andrea Pittis. "It is also a great opportunity to discover the Italian traditions and culture."
Britney is the second Blue Fin (Kyle Haas) to represent their country in an international meet this season. Although this is not a National Development team and is not run by SNC, it is a great opportunity for Britney and wonderful exposure for HHBF. We sure are getting a lot of that type of exposure of late!
It is Ontario Coaches week and I've been asked a lot (of late) why I coach and I have given a lot of cushy sound bite answers. The real reason is this:
Watching a child evolve from an insecure, uncomfortable "single celled organism" into a confident, fearless and complex athlete. The best part is breaking down the boundaries of what someone thinks they're able to do. They're amazed and excited and can't wait to do more and get even better. Its the best feeling in the world and to be a part of that is so much fun!
There are days why I question why I do it and I don't expect a lot of readers to understand that sentiment. Very few see the number of hours spent dealing with issues before they become problems, but is a major part of the job (a coach that I look up to, once told me that if I do my job well, most people won't even notice that I've done anything). Coaches spend a lot of time dealing with non-coaching issues; its not just showing up for a couple hours a day and hanging out. But I wouldn't trade it for anything.
A lot of gratitude should go to anyone who decides to spend their valuable time shaping young psychology and physiology (Teachers deserve to be a part of this week's celebration for sure!). Thanks so much to my support staff; Chris Henderson and Shannan Andrews (I owe you a lot more than a quick thanks on my blog). Thanks to all of the interest from younger athletes looking to get into coaching. Thanks to everyone who gives us the opportunity to do what we do.
In related news, there are 3 videos that are VERY worth your time:
1.) OFF THE DECK: Tera Van Beilen's success team speak (her parents, her and her coach) to me via Skype about how she was able to make it from an Age Group kid to an Olympic Team member. A little long, but totally worth the time. GREAT VIEWING FOR PARENTS AND SWIMMERS TOGETHER!
2.) OFF THE DECK: A compelling argument from Western University's Ken Fitzpatrick when choosing a university path (albeit only one side of the argument).G REAT VIEWING FOR PARENTS AND SWIMMERS TOGETHER!
3.) THANKS MOM: Maybe its because I'm the primary care giver for my 2 children but I cannot watch this video without tearing up. Thanks to Bmac for bringing it to my attention yesterday. This is the last word in any argument regarding parents and sports.
Podcast: A couple of good ones in the past few weeks that you'll want to listen to if you haven't already.
LINKS: - A little something to get you in the mood for the Olympics. - Friend of swimming, Randy Starkman dies at age 51. Particularly sad about this because I failed to meet up with him in Montreal hoping to get him back in Toronto. - Australia is turning out some scary fast kids in their Age Group Championships last week... Yikes! - Benoit Huot representing Canada and Para Swimming on the Morning Swim Show this week. Good viewing.
New episode of Off The Deck with Tera Van Beilen, her parents and her coach. Very good viewing for Parents, Swimmers AND Coaches. I'm pretty proud of this one. Please check it out.
About 8 years ago, I worked in an office with a guy who HATED that people watched sports. HATED it! Daily, he would challenge me with questions like: "What's so great about it?" and "Whats the point of watching someone else do something? Go out and ride your bike.". This would fluster me so much because it was too hard for me to put into words. I would stumble on the answer with things like "...I don't know I just do," and "...I don't know... what's so great about watching your dog chase a ball..?" But in his mind, he won these arguments because I didn't have an answer.
This past week in Montreal at the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Swim Trials that question came back at me while watching the triumphs and failures that go hand in hand with sport. I am a nerdier swimming fan boy than most of you, but the story lines that presented themselves leading up to the meet and developed in those 6 days could not have been written better by Hollywood's best screen writers. It was so intense and emotional that my heart strings felt assaulted and I couldn't take anymore by the end.
Here are my top 5 favourite moments from the week:
5.) Tera Van Beilen makes the team: Annamay Pierce does not... I made the safe prediction months ago that Annamay was not going to make the team. Not because I don't like her (I do, very much) but because her coach, Joeseph Nagy, is arguably the best breaststroke coach in the world and he coaches here in Vancouver, BC. Martha McCabe also swims for him (surprise, she won a medal at world championships and made the team this year) and so does Oakville's Tera Van Beilen. Tera has improved by leaps and bounds this season and it was really cool to see 4 girls get under the qualifying time for the Olympic Team in the 200BR (only 2 can go). Girl's breaststroke in Canada is very good and deep and I'm very proud of that. It was also nice to see that Tera posted the 2nd fastest time in the world and Martha posted the 3rd fastest. Should be interesting this summer. I chose to travel with Oakville to Olympic Trials and was staying with head coach, Sean Baker. This added a whole other level of emotion to Tera's performances. I got to speak with her parents after as well which was really nice to see. I'm very happy for them! 4.) Mens 200BR... what went wrong? It was heartbreaking to see Mike Brown miss the Olympic Team after he put it all out there and came out of retirement, but it was even more heartbreaking to see Scott Dickens disappointed that Mike Brown would not be going with him. Warren Barnes, too, had laid it all on the line to make the team in 200BR but did not achieve. None of the men were under the Olympic Qualifying time, but none more surprising than Mike Brown. Brown was 4th in 200BR at the 2008 Olympic Games and finished 4th in the 2012 Canadian Olympic Trials in a time way far off of his best. After the race, he was overcome with emotion and left the pool deck area (very unusual for Brown). ...But there are 2 sides to every story and with great disappointment of one comes great fortune for another: Scott Dickens made the 2012 Olympic Team after missing the 2008 Team. My heart and my brain are still fighting this one; how do I feel about this result? Can I feel really happy that Scott was redeemed AND very sad that Mike failed?
3.) David Sharpe should buy a lottery ticket! Don't get me wrong... I LOVE a good underdog story. The first race of the week was Mens 200FLY. The Canadian Record holder, Stephan Herniak, missed the 2008 Games due to a mental breakdown in finals and this was going to be his time to perform... although Zack Chetrat of TSC and the Toronto Training Center (recently left OAK) was also hoping to make the team. David Sharpe of Halifax was in lane 8. The race was between the 3 of them for the most part and in the last 50m, it looked as if Herniak had, once again, had a mental breakdown and Chetrat was charging for the finish when David Sharpe, from LANE 8, out touched him by .02 for the win. FROM LANE 8!!!!!! Not 1, but 2 dreams shattered in .02 of a second!! FROM LANE 8!!!! I had the pleasure of interviewing David the next day (audio to come in my next podcast) and I was expecting him to be excited, but he wasn't really. He seemed annoyed that he wasn't faster in the morning and legitimately expected to win. Love the confidence, but I'm not sure that 1:58.81 is going to make the Olympic Team, as it is not terribly fast in the world. Kids, I'm not sure if that was luck or skill, but practice your finishes! .02 seconds meant the difference between a shattered dream and pretending you knew you were going to win all along. Don't take anything for granted in a race; everyone wants to win.
2.) Andrew Ford vs. Alec Page in 400IM I.M. in general is not overly competitive in Canada and for a long time, Andrew Ford had it locked up. Last summer, Alec Page broke Alex Bauman's national age group record in 400IM and was gaining on Andrew Ford. On the first day, this was the key match up. It looked like Andrew had it locked until Alec Page KILLED him on the BR-FR wall and Andrew collapsed. Now he had to wait another 5 days before 200IM and, arguably, his last shot at the Olympic Games. On Sunday, Alec scratched 200IM (no doubt to focus on the mile) and Andrew looked pretty confident as he had a 3 second advantage on the rest of the field going in. Although the performance was not his best, I like Andrew and love his coach, Don Burton! I'm very happy for them both for redeeming what went so wrong on Tuesday.
1.) The MacLean sisters hug defined my love of sports! There is a lot of back story here; far too much to write in this blog, but both Brittany and her older sister Heather MacLean had solid potential to make the 2012 Olympic Team. Earlier in the week, Heather missed her best chance in 100FR and Brittany was asked on TV and in front of a live audience how she felt about making the team while her sister missed it (interviewer, Catriona Le May Doan, was almost booed with disapproval by the live audience). Brittany was obviously upset but answered politically. Heather MacLean made the final in a very fast Womens 100FR event and... well... its best to watch as I words will not do it any justice:
There was not a dry eye in the whole place on Saturday night when this was happening (except for macho men like me who choked back tears and pretended the air quality was causing red eye). THIS is the reason that we all love sports. If this was being acted out by Megan Fox and Jennifer Lawrence, it would make about $150 million dollars, and not just because its girls in bathing suits hugging. The answer to my jackass former coworker's question "whats so great about watching sports" echos from our clapping hands and streams down our cheeks and cheers from our mouths. It tugs at our hearts and elicits genuine emotion that Hollywood producers wish that they could put on the screen. Sports bring out the best in us. They make us want to see people succeed and warm our hearts when they do.
Simply put; I feel more alive experiencing the onslaught emotions that I had last week (excitement, fear, happiness, empathy, disappointment and elation). I felt like I was somehow involved in everyone of those races and everyone of those story lines even though none of them had anything to do with me at all. I bet a lot of you felt the same way.
Honorable mention to the top 5 goes to Joe Bartoch, Richard Hortness and Paul Midgley of LAC in London, Ontario. I am so happy for all 3 of them!
Going to be an exciting night! Women's 200BR is going to be a very close race and as will men's 200BK. Friend of HHBF, Tobias Oriwol, was well under Canadian Record pace this morning and shut it down with 25m to go so that should prove to be a very intense 2min.
I came across this article earlier today that I think is a good read as we near the closing of trials. Check it out!
Exciting couple of days with a ton of upsets and excitement. Stefan Hernyak shut out of his second Olympic team by the unheralded David Sharp of Halifax, Amanda Reason making a career resurgence by qualifying as a 4x200FR relay swimmer (should be a VERY good relay this summer btw) and Mike Brown failing to qualify for the Olympics. HHBF is staying with OAK at Olympic Trials, so today was exceptionally exciting with Tara Van Beilen qualifying for her first Olympic Team in 100BR. What a roller coaster of a weekend and we're only half way done.
One thing that is not clear to many is how someone makes the Olympic Team. You used to have to win the event, but that s no longer so. Now you must win under a time standard in order to go for sure. If you are not under that standard, you must be below a second, slower, standard and are then nominated for the team. Those people will not learn their fate until July. See the explanation below.
Lesson of the day: 13-14 year old boys should start working their butts off in 400IM!!
Simply put, 400IM is not overly competitve. 4:17 won it and then a lot of people are between 4:25-4:35 which isn't that quick on a world stage. Learn strategy and work on it NOW!!! 13-14 year old boys; here is your opening. You'll be the ones here in 4 years. TAKE ADVANTAGE NOW!!!
Brittany MacLean (friend of #coachmikepodcast) set a new Canadian Record in womens 400FR and both her and Savannah King made the team. It was a crazy busy day and I'm putting the finishing touches on some video and I hope to have that up soon but Kyle Haas races 100bk tomorrow, so that job comes first. See you all soon and I hope you're all watching at home.
