Minneapolis Grand Prix - Wrap up

Sometimes it helps to look at things in total to get a real appreciation for what you have accomplished. This meet was essentially the first meet of the year for 4 our our elite Male swimmers. All of whom are well beyond the days of "best times" every time they swim. In fact, most of these guys train hard all season, just for 1-2 opportunities to get best times at all. This early in the season (less then 8 week in), best times and team records are just about the last thing on their minds.

With all that said - Here is a synopsis of how these swimmers did this weekend. Keep in mind that most of these swims are without a full rest or shave.

Friday - 

200 Fr
Jeff Williamson - 1:43.75 (GCOM team record)

100 Breast
Matt Tanchick - 58.67 (GCOM team record - and less then .9 seconds of his lifetime best)
Tom Kirch - 1:01.10 (less then .5 off his lifetime best)

100 Fly
Jeff Williamson - 52.08 (GCOM team record)
Matt Tanchick - 53.74 (less the 1 second from his best time).

400 Free Relay
Jeff Williamson - 46.81 (GCOM team record), Matt Tanchick - 48.44 (fastest split ever), Tom Kirch (48.51), Erick Burgwardt (49.75 - first time under 50 seconds ever) - For a total time of 3:13.52 (GCOM team record)

200 Fly
Matt Tanchick - 1:53.92 (Lifetime best by almost 5 seconds)
Jeff Williamson - 1:52.23 (GCOM team record - Lifetime best by .2 seconds)

100 Back
Jeff Williamson - 54.19 (GCOM team record)
Erick Burgwardt - 55.83 (Lifetime best by 1 second)

50 Free
Jeff Williamson - 22.18 (.6 seconds off best time - with no rest)

100 Free (Time Trial)
Tom Kirch - 48.32 (Lifetime best)

200 Breast
Matt Tanchick - 2:08.53 (GCOM team record - 7 seconds under lifetime best)

200 IM
Matt Tanchick - 1:55.17 (GCOM team record)
Jeff Williamson - 1:57.48
Tom Kirch - 2:00.45

200 Back
Jeff Williamson - 1:58.28 (GCOM team record)

10 team records - 4 Lifetime bests & most swims within 1 second of lifetime best splits. Great early season meet.

Day 3 - One session (Minn Grand Prix)

Frederico Burgwardt, and his adoring fans.

Autograph time:

Once again, 5-time Olympic Gold Medalist Missy Franklin was busy warming up and actually swimming this morning, so she could not sign autographs for the assembled innocent kids. Luckily, Frederico Burgwardt (GCOM), made himself available once again today to sign for the kids. What a gentlemen, and the kids were sure happy too. Another funny moment among many this weekend.

Swimming:

Today started off pretty rough. It was a LONG day yesterday and the kids were a little late for breakfast even, which is usually never a good sign. This early in the season, 3-day meets for swimmers from our area are NOT the norm, so we struggled a bit with stamina. This is somewhat to be expected but not to be used as an excuse. We trudged over to the pool and went through the motions of warm-up but we all just could not generate the energy needed to swim where we needed to. We had 4 individual events today. 3 in the 200 IM (Jeff, Matt and Tommy) and 1 in the 200 Ba (Matt).

First up was the 200 IM's, and Tommy, who was nursing a bit of a groin tug all weekend. He got out to a great start in the first 100 at 56.26. His groin held him up a bit in the breast and he somewhat struggled on his way to a 2:00.45. Not bad, but he was hoping for something a little better. Considering his groin, as coaches, we could not be disappointed.

Next came Matt and Jeff, a true showdown race if we ever had one. Both were paired up next to each other in the final heat of the event (heat 8). Jeff was in lane 1 and Matt was in lane two. Both got out to decent starts, but in the end, it wasn't all that much of a race as Matt pulled away in the breaststroke and raced his way to an easy win at 1:55.17 to Jeff's 1:57.48. The last swim of the weekend was Jeff in the 200 Back about 20 minutes later. Given the tone of the day so far, we did not expect much, and we weren't disappointed. Jeff struggled to a 1:58. 28. A fairly inglorious end to an otherwise very good meet.

Taking stock of the whole weekend. We really could not be disappointed as we had a 5 lifetime bests out of 17 swims. For an early season November meet, that is actually pretty darn good considering that several other swims were right at their lifetime best as well. I think that overall, we had hoped for some nice swims here and there, and that is exactly what we got and then some. I think the swimmers might not agree, but they sometimes look a little to deeply at times alone, verses realistic expectation though. We did have discussions to this effect and overall, I think we all will leave this meet with a very positive outlook on our training to date and what it tells us about what we need to do to move forward the rest of the way.

We certainly had a great time hanging out together and bonding as a group. This was a very fun group to hang out with and we all, coaches and swimmers, enjoyed each others presence. We'll have to schedule another one of these meets soon.

Matt, Erick, Jeff and Tommy on the way out. 

Great weekend.

Day 2 - Finals (Minn Grand Prix)

Coach Phil, Jeff and Matt at Finals

Grand Prix - Day 2 Finals

After having a very solid morning session, we were very hopeful for some good swims in our final session of the day. 1 full day into the meet, the swimmers seemed to be getting into the groove of things and as we would expect, they started to "raise their game" up a bit. We had 4 swims in the finals session tonight, 2 for Matt Tanchick and 2 for Jeff Williamson. Matt outraced Jeff this morning in the 200 Fly by going 1:54 in the morning heats, earning a spot in the A/B flights (which swims first in the evening session). This meant Matt had the opportunity to set the bar even higher for Jeff (whose strength is in the fly events, moreso then Matt). Matt did not disappoint and swam an awesome 1:53.92 in the night session, taking temporary team bragging rights as the GCOM 200 Fly record holder.

As fate would have it, Jeff had to wait almost an hour at his shot at Matt's newly minted record. Needless to say, there was much "smack talk" between the two of them during this period. Once Jeff's opportunity came, he made sure not to waste it. He took off like a shot and was out in 52.65 in the first 100 (faster then his 100 Fly swim yesterday). He, of course, paid the price for it in the last 100, but still managed to come back in a 59.58 for a total time of 1:52.23, which is right at his lifetime best. A very good swim for this time of the year.  Less then 4 minutes later (literally), Jeff had to get up and swim the D Final in the 50 free. It wasn't the prettiest swim, but he did manage a 22.74. Slow, but understandably so.

That left Matt Tanchick's 200 Breast as the final event of the night. Matt is fairly inexperienced at this race (compared to other distances in the Breast), but we knew he had even more in him from his big drop in the morning and he's been swimming great all weekend. Sure enough, caught up in the moment of things, Matt went out really fast in 1:00.23. A little too fast for this race, but he came back surprisingly well and managed to go a 2:08.53, which is much more in-line with where his times should be. This should really give his college recruiting coaches something to think about when considering him as a potential recruit. A very solid race for him. His best race, the 200 IM is in the morning.

Fun and games:

The highlight of the evening had to be the other great swims we saw through the night by Olympic greats like Lochte and Franklin, along with others. But our favorite moment by far was supplied by none other then our own Erick Burgwardt. We have been sitting all weekend next to Missy Franklin and the Colorado Stars Team. All the kids in the stands have been milling about above us waiting to for her, or anyone as it turns out, to sign autographs for them. At one point, when Missy was off warming up, Erick stepped in and asked if anyone wanted his autograph? Sure enough, a line of little kids started forming and Erick got to live the life of a "rock star" for about 5 minutes until they kids realized that they had absolutely NO IDEA who he was and didn't want his autograph anymore. Even Missy got a kick out of it when she heard about it. It was good for a few laughs.

Mihail Alexandrov on his way to a 1:55.38 in the

Men's 200 Breast.  

Day 2 - Prelims (Minn Grand Prix)

Tommy, getting ready to swim

a 100 Fr Time Trial

Day 2 - Prelims

Another 6:45 AM wake-up and it was back to the pool for another session. Today, we had swims in the 200 Fly (2), 50 Fr (1), 100 Back (2) and 200 Br (1), along with a few TT's.

Results by swimmer:

Matt Tanchick - Continues to have an awesome meet and today started off great in the 200 fly with a 1:54.13 (new team record), a lifetime best time by almost 4 seconds and good enough to get him into the B Final. Matt's next race was several hours later was the 200 Breast. Matt is a breaststroker, but has never really put together a very good 200 race to date. With some confidence from the 200 Fly, Matt decided to take it out aggressively, which he did by going out in a 1:01. He paid the price in the final 100, but managed to swim a 2:09.48, which was a very respectable swim and a lifetime best by 5 seconds.

Jeff Williamson - Jeff struggled to get going a bit in his first race, the 200 Butterfly, but still managed to go a respectable 1:56.34. Good enough for the C Final and he expects to go significantly faster in finals, which is typical for him. His next two races were, like last night, back to back. In fact, all three races occurred within a 45 minute period. Not exactly optimal for performance. Jeff was able to go 22.18 in the 50 Free, which is off his best of 21.4, but good enough to sneak back into the D Final. The Backstroke was a struggle with a 54.1, but we couldn't expect much coming off 2 tough swims a few minutes before. We expect much better tonight.

Erick Burgwardt - Erick was swimming in the 100 Back and choose to do a 100 Fly time trial. In the 100 Back, he went a 55.83, which was a lifetime best by almost a second. A great swim for him. In the 100 Fly Time Trial, he died a bit coming home and went a 57.0, which is about a second slower then his best. All in all, pretty good swimming for this time of year.

Tommy Kirch - Tommy, just had a time trial today in the 100 Free and went a 48.35, which is about .35 seconds faster then his lifetime best. Considering he had 2 turns that were a little iffy, this was a very good swim. Remember, early in the season, it's easy to make a mistake or two so working through them at meets like this is crucial to success later in the year. I think, all of us (his coaches, Tommy and his teammates) all think that the 100 Free might be a very good event for him down the stretch after this race.

Overall, a very nice morning session with some great swims, some good ones and some that we know we can improve on. We're all feeling pretty good about our performances to this point.

Day 1 - Finals (Minn Grand Prix)

Finals - Day 1

After a decent morning start, we headed to Jeff's favorite lunch spot on the planet (Noodles & Co.) for some lunch. Then it was time for a much needed nap to get ready to improve on our morning swims in the Finals session. After a nice rest we got back to the pool around 5:40 PM and started warming up. We have been sitting next to the Colorado Stars all meet so far, so Matt took a little time out of warm up to make a few friends.

Matt with 2012 Olympic Champion Missy Franklin

Once we were warmed up, we had about and hour before our first swim and during that time we got to watch some of the best in the world do their thing. First up was 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist Missy Franklin (pictured above) in the 200 Free. She turned in a 1:42.28, which was the 5th fastest female 200 free in history and set an USA Swimming Age Group record. Next up was Ryan Lochte in the 200 Free, who cruised to a win with a 1:35.15, followed almost immediately by his 100 fly at 46.73. I'm sure he is not impressed with those swims, but they were fun for us to watch.

Soon enough it was time for us to swim. We were swimming the 400 Free Relay first, which was the first relay for us ever at a National level meet. Jeff, who had a bit of a rough start this morning, was leading us off and got us out to a phenomenal start at 46.81. He was followed by Erick, who is a relative newcomer at this level. Erick, who has never been faster then a 52 in the 100 Free (its not his thing) swam a very respectable 49.76. He was followed by Tommy (48.51) and Matt (48.44) for an overall team record time of 3:13.52. A very nice start. A new team record the fellas

Next up, was Jeff Williamson's 200 free. He didn't swim all that well in the morning and was hoping to improve quite a bit this evening. The only problem was that this race was less then 15 minutes after the relay. Still, not to be deterred, Jeff went out like a champ in 49.6, but started feeling that 46 relay split a bit in the back end of this race. He finished a very respectable 1:43.75 (2 seconds faster then this morning). It's about 4 second off his best, but a very good swim considering the circumstances and a new team record. About 15-20 minutes later, he had to swim the 100 fly for his 3rd race of the night. He made a good swim of it (considering the circumstances), but at 53.04, it was about a second slower then this morning. All in all, considering the back, to back, to back nature of the night, Jeff rebounded very nicely from his shaky early start.

Matt just had one swim tonight (other then the relay) and that was in the 100 Breast. It was about 20-25 minutes after the relay so he was in pretty good shape. He was seeded 18th overall and was in a great lane for this heat. He went out in a blistering 27.19 and was in a great spot to take the heat. Unfortunately, he was in a bad stroke cycle at the end and took a short stroke that hurt his overall time just a bit. This is a very typical early season miscue and that's exactly what these meets are for (to work out those kinks before more important meets later in the season). Still, his time of 58.67 was a touch faster then in the morning and still his 3rd fastest time ever in this event. It was also good for 19th overall in the meet. A very nice swim for this point in the season.

All in all, a great day for the boys and after a few more group shots with Missy Franklin, it was off to eat some pizza and then get some rest for tomorrow's races.

Tommy. Matt, Missy Franklin, Jeff and Erick.

More to come tomorrow. 

Arrival and Day 1 Prelims (Grand Prix)

Arrival:

Ideally, when you travel to big meets, you want to arrive a day or two early to let your body recoup from the trip, but given that this meet is in the middle of an important school period we had to make a few adjustments and fly in at the last minute. Arraignments were not necessarily ideal, but sometimes you just have to make the best of it. The 4 swimmers and Coach Tim took a direct flight out of Rochester at 7 PM at night and after a quick 2 hours flight landed in Minneapolis at a little after 8 PM (Central time). Coach Phil flew in earlier in the day.  By the time we got to the hotel and checked in, it was a little after 9 PM and the kids finally got to bed at about 11 PM, which is midnight our time in NY. After a quick 6 1/2 hour sleep we were up and at the pool by 7:30 Central. A short night indeed.

The meet facility is right on the Campus of the University of Minnesota (home of the Golden Gophers), and the campus itself sits right on the edge of Downtown Minneapolis. It has a nifty "city" feel to it and there are lots of shops and food joints. It's about a 5-10 minute walk from our hotel.

Downtown Minneapolis from our Hotel

Day 1 - Prelims

Given the late night getting in, coupled with the time of season we are currently in for the boys (early), we certainly were very realistic with the performances we were looking for as coaches. This is really the first competitive meet for these for swimmers since late July or early August and just like anything, getting back into "race shape" is a process. Particularly challenging this season was that 3 of our swimmers (Jeff, Matt and Erick) have missed quite a bit of training time as they have spent much of the fall visiting colleges and various recruit trips. Those aren't meant to be excuses, but it is the reality for kids early in their senior year of High School. The purpose of this meet was never to light the world on fire time wise, but really just an opportunity to gauge where you are at this particular point in the season so that you can build on these early successes and move up from there for the end of the season.

With that said, we did expect our swimmers to perform somewhat. We gave all 4 swimmers a "mini-rest" (not a full taper) and two swimmers (Matt and Tommy) decided to add a shave on the legs to boost them up a bit. We expected a bit of a rough morning given the circumstances and knew that likely this would possibly be our worst session of the meet. We were pleasantly surprised. Here is a synopsis by swimmer.

Jeff Williamson - Jeff started the morning off with a 1:45.22 (team record) in the 200 Free, which was not a very good swim at all for him. You could see that he had not raced this distance since summer. The best part about it was that it was fast enough to earn a spot back in the D final for tonights session. A genuine do-over is just what he needs after this race. He came back about a half hour later and went 52.08 (team record) in the 100 fly, which is actually not a bad unshaved time for him. He also gets to swim this one again too and we expect even faster tonight. A mixed morning for Jeff, but Jeff has always fancied himself a "night swimmer" anyway.

Matt Tanchick - Unlike Jeff, Matt decided to put a shave on his mini-rest to really set the tone for his high school senior season. Matt's first event is arguably his best in the 100 Breaststroke. He didn't disappoint. Matt turned in a 58.69 (team record) in prelims, which is less then a second off his best time from last season. A very solid morning swim. As fate would have it, Matt ended up having to swim his next race, the 100 fly, about 12 minutes later. We knew it was a pretty tough turn-around, but Matt is a gamer and we knew he give it a good run. He did, swimming a 53.74, which is also less then a second off his lifetime best. Overall, we were very pleased with these swims and Matt will get the opportunity to swim the Breaststroke again in the C Final tonight (seeded 18th overall).

Tom Kirch - Tommy has been nursing a bit of a sore groin the last few weeks, so we limited his breaststroke swimming a bit. It was feeling better by today, but still, power breaststroke is the worst thing for a sore groin. Tommy also decided to shave on his rest as well to give him a little something extra. Tom went out and had a really good race and swam a 1:01.10, which is less then 1/2 second from his lifetime best. He narrowly missed the D Final for tonight, but it's probably just as well as he still felt his groin a bit on that swim and he has a lot more swimming left on the weekend. This was a very good swim for him and we were happy with it.

Matt Tanchick, 2 lane in - 100 Breaststroke

All in all, not too bad of a morning. 3 very good swims, 1 okay swim and 1 that we know we can improve on tonight. That's about all you can ask for at this point in the season. Judging from the rest of the swims in the pool and the times being posted, many of the men here are in a very similar place physically. There is a lot of swimming left in the season and this meet is a great starting point.

We'll be back in action later tonight at the Finals Session.

LIVE MEET RESULTS

Minneapolis Grand Prix

6 Comets will be traveling to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the USA Swimming Minneapolis Grand Prix Meet, including coaches Tim and Phil and swimmers Jeff Williamson, Matt Tanchick, Tom Kirch and Erick Burgwardt. This meet should be a really great experience for all of us and we expect the competition to be quite good. Past Olympic Champions Ryan Lochte and Missy Franklin will be there, along with many other National Team Members from Team USA.

As we have been doing for the last few National Competitions, we will be live-blogging this meet to keep our team and other interested folks up to the day insights and experiences we have. We do this so as a way to inspire our younger swimmers to this level someday and let them know just how much fun you can have and what rewards you might have in store for you with continued hard work and dedication. Jeff, Matt, Tom and Erick will have events each of the 3 days and we will be participating in relays for the first time at a National Level Competition with our club. I will provide a few helpful links below.

The meet will be held November 9-11, 2012 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center, which is a very good facility that has hosted many National competitions in the past. The Grand Prix series is a series of 6 of these meets and swimmers can score point by placing. At the end of the series, the points are scored up and cash prizes are awarded. Because of the generous payouts, many of the top swimmers in the country attend these meets.

University of Minnesota Aquatic Center

Helpful Links: 

• USA SWIMMING WEBCAST - Watch the meet live while is happens.
• Golden Comets Twitter Feed - We will be updating up to the minute results.
• PSYCH SHEET - .pdf of the psych sheets for the meet (search on GCOM-NI)
• 5 Storylines to watch in Minnesota - USA Swimming article.

Good luck to all the swimmers.

Post China Trip wrap-up: What does it all mean?

It's been a few weeks since we've been home, but I really needed some time to process all that we did (if anything) on this last trip. On the surface, it almost felt like we just went there for vacation more then a work trip. We were wined and dined and treated like kings the whole time, got to tour around and see some really special places over there, but when it comes right down to it..... did we really reach any tangible objectives? Immediately upon our return home, if asked I might have said "not really"....... After a few weeks of reflection though, it has finally dawned on me that this trip was probably more successful then I ever could have imagined.

Building guanxi, Phil and Zou

Classic Chinese scenery.

Before leaving for my first trip, and a few times since, I googled and researched Chinese culture and etiquette so that I did not make a fool of myself while there. During my research, I kept coming across a term called "Guanxi". Very simply, guanxi is a basic concept that describes the depth of personal relationship. It's kinda like the glue that holds a friendship, or business relationships together. Being a westerner, I'm not sure I ever had a full grasp of it's importance until this trip. The concept of it is literally the underpinning of the Chinese business society. Once you fully understand it, it becomes very easy to explain how our trip unfolded and we reached the levels we did.

Building major guanxi, The two guys next to me

are two of the most powerful sports guys

in all of China.

On deck with the best. Coach Wei Wei and Bai

(both developed Sun Yang and Ye Shiwen

from Childhood).

During this trip, we ended up having dinner with the Heads of two Provincial Sport Development Programs (each one having been responsibly for developing multiple Olympic Gold Medalist's), several of China's most prominent Swim Coaches, plus the heads of several Universities. We were also "allowed" to have access to China's most prominent swimming athletes Sun Yang and Ye Shiwen. While that may not seem like a big deal here in the US, it is a hugely symbolic gesture for them. No other westerners have been able to meet with them in the 2 months since they both set world records at the Olympics. They were both allowed to autograph caps for us, something that in China would be worth more then $30,000 on their open market. Truly an incredibly great honor, one that would have never been possible without a sizable amount of "quanxi" built up over the last several trips.

Xiongdi: Brothers - Wei Wei, Dan, Tim, Phil & Jiang.

I certainly met and came into contact with some important people the last time I was there, but this time, it was to a whole "nother" level. All of it in the shadow of some very public and UGLY times between US/China swimming relations that were born out of the -Last Olympic Games-. Even in the midst of this ugliness, the people directly involved in this exchange (from the Chinese side - i.e. their coaches and swimmers), opened their arms and welcomed us with open arms. The only reason for this is the guanxi build up in the last 2 trips between myself, coach Phil and two of their prominent coaches and managers (Wei Wei and Jiang). In essence, when we arrived, they "vouched" for us, and let others know that we were "sincere" and trustworthy.

More guanxi: Dan, Coach Bai, Yang Ye (2004-2008 

Olympic Silver Medalist), Phil and Tim.

So what does all this mean? Well, for starters, I have been invited to bring 15-25 American athletes between the ages of 13-17 to China for an 8-day "cultural exchange/training trip" in the Spring of 2013. We are the ONLY Americans ever to have been extended this opportunity. Our tentative plans are that we will fly from Western NY to Shanghai and spend 4 days training in Wuxi, which the Wuxi Sports School, and then travel to Hangzhou to train for an additional 4 days, several of which will be with the Zhejiang Provincial Team (which produces 50% of the Olympians for China). My Chinese friends agreed to sponsor the trip so that the ONLY expense for the athletes chosen will be the cost of transportation to and from China. For the cost of airfare, 15-20 lucky swimmers will get the opportunity of lifetime to experience something that few americans get the opportunity to do, experience life in mainland China.

Dan, Tim, 2-time Olympic Gold Medalist and 

World Record Holder Ye Shiwen and Phil.

In addition to that, Coach Phil and I have a few other projects we will be working on with our friends, but suffice it to say that the quanxi built up will last for many years to come. In that way, this trip was a phenomenal success for not only me (and Phil) personally, but for our club in general. It's clear that the Chinese are very interested in opening up to the west, and we are at the very forefront doing just that. There is much that we can learn from each other if we just take a step back and open our minds to the possibilities.

In the meantime, both Phil and I have moved beyond simple quanxi with our contacts in China Jiang and Wei Wei. After this trip, we have become Xiongdi, which simply means "brothers". I'm excited for the opportunities that lie ahead for all of us.

Ye Shiwen, Sun Yang and the Zhejiang Provincial Team

As discussed in my LAST BLOG POST, China selects its National Team (including those that represent it at the Olympics) from the competition between all of the different Provincial teams. Each province sends it's best swimmers to the competition and the top 2 in each event make the National Team (Similar to the US Olympic Trials). The Zhejiang Provincial Team, in which Hangzhou is the capital is by far the strongest in China and it's swimmers make up the largest percentage of National Team members. Two of its swimmers (16 y/o Ye Shiwen and Sun Yang) recently won a combined 4 events at the 2012 Olympic Games and set 2 world records - 1 each). Our itinerary, made up several months ago, initially had us visiting the team on this trip.

At the past Olympics, 16 year old Ye Shiwen shocked the world by setting a new World Record in the 400 IM and beating the American favorite in the race by several seconds. Now, Ye is not exactly new to the world's stage as she was the 2011 World Champion in the 200 IM and should have been favored to be very competitive in both IM races, but for some reason her "win" was suspect to some. Immediately after the race, some irresponsible members high up in the US Swimming community made some accusations that she "must have been doping" to go that fast. While it's certainly true that China, like other countries, has had a checkered distant past mired in drug scandals, but there is also ample evidence that they have cleaned up their act in the past 10 years or so. In any event, their swimmers go through the same testing as every other swimming athlete does, and Ye Shiwen has been tested MANY times in the past and there have NEVER been any evidence of any cheating on her part. It was a totally baseless and unfair accusation to be made in such a public way. So instead of enjoying her success and pride in her performance, she and her coaches spent most of the Games answered dumb media "speculation" questions wondering if she was "cheating". It was an "ugly" stain on the swimming part of the games and caused a little bit of an "International Sporting Incident" between the US and China. Some old ugly scabs got picked off for sure. Secretly, I had worried that might be an issue on our visit, but I know how I felt on the matter, so whatever happen, there was that. Besides, no one made any promises either way, so I figured that if we played our cards right, maybe we'd get lucky.

We had already had dinner with the head of all Sport Development in Hangzhou and plus we had  had some great social dinners with all of Sun Yang and Ye Shiwen's early development coaches, including Wei Wei, her very first coach. Wei Wei is one of our hosts and he was one of the coaches we hosted in the US earlier this year. We developed a very good friendship with him in the past year. He and Jiang, who is his manager at the DaQuan School are just all around great people. So it really didn't matter if we got to meet their champions or not, we have already made some great friends on this trip and that in and of itself is all we really were looking for. Sure enough, on the drive over, Both Jiang and Wei Wei were cautioning us that our trip might be very short and that both Ye and Sun "might" not be there. Something about them having to go to Shanghai at the last minute or something. At this point, we're friends so we had honest discussion about what happened to her at the games and how unfair it was. Bottom line though, it's been less then a month and neither Ye Shiwen, Sun Yang, or any of their coaches have met with, or have been given access to ANY other Westerners since returning from London. We would be the first. They just weren't sure she was ready, or they felt anyone from the west deserved to be introduced to them. I could totally appreciate it. I figured we get the "2-minute" rush tour, while the swimmers hid in the locker room and we'd be shooed out of there pretty quickly. As we walked in the rather large pool area, you could feel some tension in the air. For the first time since being her, I was a little uncomfortable.

As fortune would have it, last year when I was here in Hangzhou last December, I had an occasion to meet (and share a few toasts with) Coach Zhuzhi gen, who is Sun Yang's coach and the Head Provincial Coach. Wei Wei skillfully reintroduced us and he remembered me from that visit. I showed him the picture we took that day on my I phone. We shared a few laughs about it and I offered some very nice words for him and his success in London. Coach Phil and Dan were right behind me and they equally gracious and the mood lightened considerable. Soon we were walking around the facility and were shown a few different things here and there. There were a few groups in the water and a few kids milling about on deck. We were just walking along and we came to a group of girls stretching and getting out of the pool. I recognized Ye Shiwen immediately. Wei Wei went over to her and spoke to her for a few minutes, and then they both walked over and we were all introduced. We shared a few nice words and she smiled and was just as warm, shy and humble as you expect any 16 year old kid meeting a bunch of strangers would be. She agreed to take a photo with us all and proceeded to do just that. After a few more words with Wei Wei, she walked over to a table where Jiang had laid out a few swim caps and she signed one for each of us. After a few more words, she was off to go hang with her friends (practice had ended) or to do what any other 16 year old does after practice.

Coach Tim and World Record Holder Ye Shiwen.

While all this was going on, I couldn't help looking a few other swimmers in the pool and I noticed Sun Yang's BEAUTIFUL stroke from a mile away. We continued our tour and meeting the other coaches for another 45 minutes or so and ended up at the end of the pool as Sun Yang was just finishing warm down (we videoed some of it). Again, introductions and kind words all around and a few pictures later, he strolled over to the table and signed his name on the cap right above Ye Shiwen's name. He was very gracious with us. He even knows a little English. It was a privilege meeting such a well-mannored, and humble dude (out of the water). There was NO discomfort after the few few minutes and we spent over 1.5 hours there. They gathered up the caps for us and we were off. Later as we all marveled at our good fortune, Jiang shared with us that because both Sun Yang and Ye are national heroes, and they are somewhat limited with who they come in contact with, there is a huge market for ANYTHING autographed by them. In fact, on China's versions of eBay, Sun Yang's autograph has sold for 150,000 Yuan (or $24,000 USD). I asked them what the caps would be worth with both of their signatures on it? His reply.......... "there is no price because those never existed until now". So based on a few toast's 8-9 months ago, and a few nice congratulatory words, we were presented with probably the only 3 caps with both of their signatures that exist outside of China. I feel pretty honored by that. Our friendship with Wei Wei (who has coached both Ye and Sun before) obviously had quite a bit to do with it too.

Coach Phil, Tim, Sun Yang, Jiang and Dan.

All in all, it was a great day, and one that wasn't even over. In the afternoon, we traveled to Wuxi, to have dinner with the president of the Wuxi Sports School and the Director of Sport Development for Wuxi (a city of 8 million). I'll dedicate a separate blog post for that.

Day 4 & 5: DaGuan and the ChenJinglin Schools

The next couple days of our trip were a mix of sightseeing and swimming. In the morning, we saw some of the sights and then in the afternoon, we visit 2 of the main clubs in Hangzhou. The overall picture of swimming here in Hangzhou looks a little like this. Hangzhou is a city of about 6 million people and there are about 20 swimming "clubs" here. Here, the word club is somewhat different then it is at home. A club here is a swim program that is set up in one of the many sports schools here in the city. Some you can join, others you can be selected out of primary school, or out of the lessons run at the pool and invited to join the team. Of the 20 teams, only 4 of which are considered professional programs, which simply means that they produce the best swimmers and receive the most support from the government. At this "city" level program, swimmers work hard and train to reach the professional Provincial team. The Chinese national team is selected from the best of the 19 or so different provincial teams around the county. The Zhejiang Provincial team (which Hangzhou is part of), is the best in all of China and almost half of China's National team which represent the country during world competitions (like the Olympics) come from there.

Two of the Hangzhou "city-level" teams are the DaGuan School and the ChenJinglin Sports School. The two are separate clubs, but maintain a close link in friendship between each other in swimming because the coach of DaGuan (Wei Wei) used to coach under the coach from ChenJinglin (Coach Bia). It was coach Wei Wei that discovered 2012 Olympic superstar Ye Shiwen and recruited her to swim at ChenJinglin School in 2004. Coach Wei Wei gets "credit" for her discovery in the Chinese system. The other Chinese world record holder and swimming star Sun Yang also comes from the ChenJinglin school.

On day 4, we went two visit West Lake in Hangzhou in the morning and visited DaGuan in the afternoon and watched practice.  On day 5, we went to a very old and famous Buddhist monastery in the morning and the ChenJinglin school in the afternoon and watched that practice. At some later point, when I have more time, I will get into the specifics of what I saw and experience. Today, we visit the Zhejiang Provincial Team and meet some of their superstars. That's all for now.

Coach Tim

Day 2 & 3 - Zhejiang University

The last couple days has been kind of a whirlwind, so I've condensed both days into one post. We were pretty much in the same place, doing stuff all related to the same thing, so it makes sense.

Morning in Shanghai, China

The morning after our arrival, and because of severe jetlag, we work up ungodly early at 5 AM to a beautiful sunrise from out 19th floor hotel room onto the largest city in the world. It was still asleep, so it was very peaceful. Over the next few hours it slowly woke up (as did we) and we set out on the day after a traditional breakfast. Today, in the morning hours, we were setting out to the southwest, down towards the City of Hangzhou. The city itself it is about 2-2.5 hours (180 km) south of Shanghai. We were actually headed to the University Center, which is a large section of town that contains 7 full and separate universities all in one area. We arrived in time for lunch. After the traditional 1.5 hour lunch, we set out for the University of Zhejiang University of Economics and Finance to work with the swim team.

The system of swimming in China at the University level is MUCH different then in the United States. It's pretty complicated and to be quite honest, I'm not sure I understand it fully. However, this much I do know. Every fall, just at the start of the school year, they have something called the University Games of China. This is an Olympic games-style competition that is held for 10-days near Beijing. The team are organized not by college, but by provinces. So all of the best athletes in a particular province will train together for the summer, then travel to this competition and compete as one team. So the team that we got to work with was the team from the Zhejiang Province that is training at the university we worked stayed at. We spend several hours observing and actually working with them as they did dryland and swam a workout. Some spoke fairly good English and could possibly make fine additions to our college team someday :). It should be mentioned that some of these swimmers are QUITE good and could easily swim at the highest University levels in the United states.

Zhejiang Provincial University Team.

That night, we had a very traditional Chinese dinner that went on well into the night. Our hosts were managers and administers within the college athletic program. After what seemed like a very short night sleep, we were up early again and off for the day. In the morning, we spend the day with several high level college administrators discussing our two colleges (Monroe Community College and their school) and the possibility of future opportunities that could involve brining our swimmers to train in China for a "training trip" or vice versa. We are all VERY optimistic about the making this happen. We then were taken to a very fancy restaurant and treat to a great traditional Chinese lunch with the same folks we met with. If you are getting the feeling that everything revolves out food and the good times that go along with it, you are quite correct. There is nothing to cement a good friendship and talk of future cooperation then a good meal, right?

Us with the Athletic Director and her deputy at Lunch.

Sticking with the theme of mixing business and pleasure, we then spend the afternoon about 1 hour north of Hangzhou in a historical Chinese village called Wuzhen. It's an actual small village that maintains the traditional ways of life from the Song Dynasty (200 years ago). It was very beautiful. Everything revolves around this small river (Dongshi River) and it was really an interesting learning experience. Also, the signs were written in both Chinese and English so that made things really helpful for us. I'll attach a few pictures, but they cannot capture the pure beauty of this place.

Bridge over the Dongshi River (Wuzhen, China)

Some Traditional houses along the River.  (Wuzhen, China)

By the time we got back to town, it was getting late for dinner (it was 7:30 PM), so our Chinese hosts wanted us to taste China's version of western food, so they took us to a Pizza Hut (they are very popular here). It was different for sure, but it was not bad at all and we were very surprised. They have a much more expanded menu and they put some weird stuff on pizza, but we stuck with the classics and it was a good meal. We were done early and because we we have a few full days ahead, we went back to the hotel and turned in early. Sleep is something our bodies have to figure out here in China.

Coach Tim

Day 1 - Flight and arrival.

I had forgotten just how long that flight is. We took off from Rochester, as scheduled and after connections, we boarded a Delta 777-200ES (a big plane) for our 7300 mile Detroit to Shanghai flight. As expected, it was brutally long, and we couldn't have been happier to touchdown at the Shanghai-Pudong airport.

We arrived in Shanghai, China around 6:50 PM (China time) on Tuesday, August 29, 2012 and by the time we had made it through customs, it was almost 8 PM. The only snafu was that one of Coach Phil's bags did not make the flight over. A little hassle, but they assured us that the bags would reach us within a day. Sure enough, as expected, Jiang and Wei (our 2 friends and hosts), and Sandy (our interpreter) were waiting for us on the other side of customs. After a 20-hour day, we were pretty beat but we certainly were hungry too. They whisked us away in our Mercedes caravan and we were off to Shanghai City Center (Pudong) for some dinner and a few night time sites. We dined at a very famous (did not catch the name) Shanghai restaurant with our group (Jiang, Wei, Sandy, Coach Tim, Coach Phil and my brother Coach Dan - who is the head coach at Monroe Community College and who took the trip with us).

Dinner was great. We spent about 2 hours catching up with our friends and meeting new ones. One of Jiang's friends in Shanghai hosted us and his name is Claude (Chinese typically will offer American names to themselves to make it easy for us). Turns out that Claude is an executive at a wine company here in Shanghai and along with dinner, we shared several VERY expensive bottles of wine (one was a tasty Red from 1997 that costs about 6000 RMP - or $500 USD). It was quite a special time to reconnect with our old friends. I forgot just how Welcoming the Chinese People are.

Coach Dan, Jiang, Coaches Tim, Wei, Phil and Claude

After dinner, Claude had arranged for a couple drivers for us and we drove around to a few cool locations in the city and took some pictures. Shanghai is HUGE. With a population in the city proper at 23 Million people, it is considered the LARGEST CITY in the world. We spent our night in the Pudong section of the town, which is right alongside the Huangpu River. Pudong is the heart of Shanghai's Finance District. We drove to the Oriental Pearl Tower (a Shanghai landmark) and took pictures for about an hour before calling it a night.

During dinner, Jiang gave us a little bit of what we'd be doing for the week, and who we'd be seeing. I won't ruin any surprises here, but suffice it to say........... This trip is going to be SPECTACULAR. More to come later......

Downtown Pudong, Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China

Thats all for now. More to come later......

Coach Tim

Headed Out

Just a quick note as we head out to the airport. It's a dreadfully long flight to get to China and depending on connections can take anywhere from 20-24 hours. Our flight today will take us from Rochester, to NY (LaGuardia), and then from NY to Shanghai (with a stop in Detroit to get on a larger plane for the final leg). It's about an 8000 mile trip and the Detroit to Shanghai flight alone is scheduled at 14:55.

Our anticipated arrival in China is 6:40 PM Tuesday. The time difference between Rochester and Shanghai is 13 hours (they are ahead of us). Hopefully I will get an opportunity to blog every day to keep you all informed on how the trip is going. I hope that the next entry will be sometime on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Coach Tim & Coach Phil

China Trip Itinerary

We received our Trip Itinerary in the last few days and will add here.

08/28 Reception (we arrive at Shanghai-Pudong airport at 6 PM local time).

08/29 Shanghai touring in the morning and drive back to Hangzhou, CoachZuo’s site; (Zhejiang University of Finance, Hangzhou)

08/30 Visiting Coach Zuo’s college, Zhejiang province university selected
swimming team practice;

08/31- 09/01  Touring Hangzhou in the morning and visit DaGuan Swimming
Center (This is the club that Olympic Gold Medalist and world record holder Ye Shiwen is from. Her Coach - Coach Wei Wei is one of our hosts).

9/02 Touring Hangzhou in the morning and visit ChenJinglun Sports School, (this is where Olympic Gold Medalist and  world record holder Sun Yang is from, Vice Pricipal is Mr. Bai who Coach Tim had a dinner with last time her was here).

9/03 Visiting Zhejiang Swimming Team (This is the Provincial Team that is putting out China's best swimmers)

09/05 Leave for USA in the morning.

09/04 Wuxi (Where I went last year. Will be Visiting the Wuxi Sports School again).

Junior Nationals - Day 4 & Wrap-up

Day 4 - 

Today was the final day of events for Jeff (there is 1 day left in the meet though), and Jeff was scheduled to swim the 200 Freestyle in the prelims and then going to do a time trial in the 200 Back, which he has not swum in awhile.

After the typical 6 AM wake-up and trip over to the pool, Jeff got in for warm-up. After 3 already grueling days, mentally and physically, Jeff wasn't really feeling it in warm up. Arms and legs were very fatigued and it was pretty clear that Jeff was pretty ready to be done. Coach Phil made him warm-up MUCH longer then Jeff would have liked, but it was crucial to get his body ready to race. 4 days is a lot of racing a good warm-up/warm down is crucial to keep the body ready. The 200 Free was the first event today so there wasn't a lot of time to mull the race over, which was probably a good thing. If you followed the blog all along, it's pretty clear that this was a physically and mentally draining week for a first time National Championship swimmer like Jeff (and others). Between knowing that the stands are full of college recruiters looking for the best talent for their programs and trying to impress them, to just plain being humbled by the sheer talent level assembled here, it's pretty exhausting.

The 200 was going to be what we coaches call a "character swim". Not feeling his best, mentally or physically, it was gonna be a challenge to summon up the moxy to get out there and swim a lifetime best (1:56.47). As coaches, we did what we do..... we got up into his grill a little bit and told him that he  really wants to be considered an elite swimmer, he was gonna have to find a way to rise above the fatigue and find a way. It's not how you do when you are at your best that defines your true championship spirit, it's how you do when you're not. It sounds cliche, but it's the absolute truth. We didn't have much else to say really. It really was up to him at this point.

Jeff was in heat 6 and got out to a nice comfortable start. He was pretty much right with the pack in his heat (all swimmers that went about 1:56.50). He was out pretty conservatively at a 56.97. It was an okay first 100, but not quite as fast as we hoped. More importantly, his stroke looked a little heavy and he did not look comfortable at all. The 3rd 50 was going to be crucial. It didn't look good. He was right in the pack at about 4th or 5th at the 100 wall, and both swimmers on either side of him took off at the 3rd 50. They kind of started leaving Jeff behind. As any swimmer can attest, that is the defining moment in a race............ It's decision time - You either go with them, or you let them go. By 130-135 yds, it looked every bit like Jeff was making the decision to let em' go. As a coach for 25 years, you can almost here the conversation taking place in his head from the side of the pool. "I'm tired", "these guys are too good".... blaa, blaa, blaa. Jeff hit the 150 at 1:27.32, almost a body length behind the leaders. A lifetime best looked to be slipping away and he was 8th, out of 8 at the 150 wall. Generally, we knew that even at his best, coming home much under 30 was asking a lot. Not what we were hoping to see.

Sometime between going into the wall and coming out....... Jeff must have made another decision. It was clear in 1-2 strokes that Jeff wasn't gonna just give this race away. His tempo picked up and his kick went into overdrive. He was going to get the kid next to him........ Plain and simple. He almost did too. Jeff came back in his last 50 meters in 28.87 (which is very fast for him) and managed to go a 1:56.19. It was a lifetime best for him and more then 2.5 seconds faster then he has been all season. He was second in his heat and moved up to 53rd place from his 74th place seeding.

It was great to watch. It's something that as a coach, is part of the pure joy of our sport. Don't get me wrong, it you would have asked Jeff, or even Phil or I at the beginning of the meet, if we would have happy with a 1/2 second best time in this race, we woulda said no. But it was really the way this race was swum that makes it so satisfying. He coulda quit, we all knew he wasn't feeling his best, but he didn't. That's the lesson to take from all of this for you swimmers. Your not always gonna hit the water feeling like a million bucks, and your probably always find yourself up against bigger, stronger swimmers........ But if you never quit.... good things will happen. Whether you are swimming at this level, or just in a local competition back home. It's just racing, and its the best part of what we do.

Jeff was pretty much toast after this race, but we had the night before signed him up for a time trial in the 200 Backstroke (not the easiest of events when you are tired). He begged us to let him get out of it (it is, after all, a totally voluntary thing). Like good coaches, we refused and made him swim it. He hadn't done one in over a year and his time was a fairly slow (for him) 2:17.something. He needed to set a respectable mark for himself. Well, a few hours later, he got back in a swum the trial and went a very respectable 2:10.98, which is currently the second fastest Niagara 15-over time this year.

In the end, it turned out to be a very good experience for Jeff (and for us coaches). He came (for really the first time), to the highest National Level meet for swimmers his age, and was right in the thick of it. He learned that your not always gonna be the best, and that there is always more you can do to get better.

**NOTE** A quick note of thanks to Jeff for being a good sport in all this. These are valuable experiences, and someday some of you will find yourself here and to be able to share his experiences with the rest of the team is good. You might feel some of the very same things someday.

Junior Nationals - Day 3

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Today was day 3 of 4 days of competition here in Indianapolis. Today's races included the 400 Free and the 100 Fly. Jeff was competing in the 100 Fly. It's one of Jeff's favorite events and he was pretty excited about it. Jeff, like many older swimmers in Niagara and USA Swimming in general, is a huge Finals swimmer. Often,  the preliminary rounds are used just to qualify for the evening session, where you can then come back and "earn the hardware" at night. After all, we've all seen the great ones like Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte ease off in their prelim or semi-final swims only to come back in the final set world or Olympic records in the finals. It's not that they "don't try" in prelims, they absolutely do, it's just that those prelim "opportunities" are not often viewed the same way as final "opportunities" are. After all, no places, or medals are won in prelims, right? Today was reminder that, as swimmers, you MUST treat every "opportunity" to swim as a finals swim, because you are never assured that that "next swim" will be there if you don't.

Jeff's best lifetime prelim swim time was a 57.20 heading into today's race and his best final time was a 56.50. He was seeded overall at 36th in the program (out of 104) going into the prelims session. Jeff felt pretty good and made a great run of it in the morning and went a 56.54 in the prelims session, right at his best finals lifetime best. It was a great swim, but he was just a little tentative in his first 15 meters (we thought). We had calculated that it would take roughly a 56.50 to make it back to the finals session......... and we were just about dead on. Jeff's prelim swim moved him up 10 spots to 26th overall, 2 places out of the the top-24 that they take back for the coveted finals session. To add insult to injury, 1 person scratched out of the finals session, leaving Jeff as the first alternate. First alternate is that dreaded spot at any meet, because you have to come back and be ready to swim, but if there are no medical scratches (very unlikely), you don't get that finals opportunity to improve. The difference between Jeff's 25th place and not getting to swim and 24th place with the opportunity of the nighttime do-over............ in this case was .02 seconds (56.52 to 56.54). That is all that separated 24th and 25th place.

All in all, it was a great race for Jeff and he certainly gave it his best shot and moved up the field pretty well, but to come so far and to just miss out by a fingernail is a tough thing for any swimmer to endure. If there is any lesson to take from this for any young swimmers out there, its to make sure that every opportunity to race must be taken advantage of. Sure, you don't win any medals in the prelims round, but when you reach this elite level of swimming, you MUST preform in the morning, or you will not get the opportunity to do it at night. If you can't make it out on to the dance floor, you'll never get to dance. It's that simple.

Tomorrow brings a new dawn and we're excited for what the day will bring. Jeff is swimming the 200 Freestyle, which is a very good event for him. He hasn't done many this summer, so it'll be interesting to see where he is at. His backstroke is actually looking really good too, so we decided to time trial him in the 200 Backstroke tomorrow afternoon. He hasn't done it in over a year, so we are really interested in seeing what kind of time he can turn in.

Jeff seemed to fare a little bit better then his other Niagara competitors on this day. This meet is so extraordinarily hard to get to, that most swimmers have already had to rest/shave just to get here that they are already past their physical peaks. Also, this level of competition is like NOTHING these swimmers are used to facing so it sometimes throws them off their game a bit. EVERY swimmer at this meet is an elite swimmer and when you are used to being the "best of the best", which all of these swimmers are back at home, it's a little humbling to say the least to come here and be surrounded by so many great swimmers. All the other Niagara swimmers that swam today (Dina Rommel, Summer Schmitt, PJ Ransford and Jack Boyd) were all a bit off their lifetime bests in today swims, but they certainly did Western NY proud just making it here and representing the other 5700 swimmers from Niagara that did not. All will have other swims in the next couple days to once again, showcase their talent against the best 18 & under swimmers in the country.

Junior Nationals - Day 1 and Day 2

Phil and Jeff arrived in Indianapolis on Sunday, August 12.... 1 day prior to the start of this 4-day long meet. Since this meet requires either a long drive, or flight to get here, it's always nice to get here a day or two early and acclimate. After a pre-meet warm up in the IUPUI Natatorium (where this meet is being held) on Sunday afternoon, they were ready to go.

Historic IUPUI Natatorium, Indianapolis, IN

Jeff's first event of the meet on day 1 was the 200 M Fly. The 200 Fly was a late event addition for Jeff when he reached a qualifying cut in the 100 Fly several weeks ago (which added another bonus event for him). Jeff's best time entering the meet was a 2:08.23 from earlier this summer. Jeff was in the first heat and got out to a great start in his first 100 with a 59.23 split. He payed the price for the fast start a bit in the last 50, but was able turn in a phenomenal 2:05.60 prelim time. This time was fast enough to not only make it back to the finals session in the Bonus heat (the top-24 make it back), but it also set a new Niagara LSC record for the 17-18 y/o Mens 200 Fly. Quite an impressive feat since this year is really the first year Jeff has begun to concentrate on the 200 fly, and Jeff only turned 17 a few weeks ago.

At finals later that night, Jeff tried to swim the race a little differently by going out a bit more conservatively and having a little more left coming home..... He did exactly that: out 1 second slower, back 1 second faster. End result...... basically the same time as the prelim swim 2:05.80. This was good enough to maintain 23rd place, which was his overall final place. Considering 1 year ago at this time, his best time in the 200 M Fly was a 2:17, all of us were very pleased with his swims today.

Day 2's race was the grueling 400 M IM. Jeff had turned in a remarkable 4:34 earlier this year out of nowhere at the Columbus Grand Prix meet. That swim was out of the blue, but is a pretty lofty bar to set for yourself. As this event rolled around today, Jeff was admittedly a little too amped up and nervious. Already a pretty tough event, the big stage (a National Championship meet) and a very competitive field both combined to fray Jeff's nerves a bit. Not usually prone to nerves, he swam a little tighter then usual and went 4:36.97. This was a seasonal best swim by almost 2 seconds, but just off from his lifetime best from Columbus. Jeff was a little disappointed, but it really ended up being a great lesson for him (as it should be for all swimmers). Sometimes, even as an elite level swimmer, you can let the moment overtake you and your training by over thinking a race. It's always best to stay as relaxed and focused when going into any race (big or small). There is such a thing a putting too much pressure on yourself to perform. All swimmers do it at every level, but teaching yourself to relax and just swim for the pure joy of it, will help you to overcome nerves, even in the biggest moments.

It was by no means a bad race and in fact was the 2nd fastest time he has every swum that race, but the lessons that he (and all athletes) can take from it in the long run are probably more valuable then the time itself. Adversity itself never defines the athlete, it's their response to it that ultimately will. We all feel really good about the day at this point and Jeff's time still ended him up in 30th place (out of 60 competitors), which is basically where he was seeded at so that is something really be proud of. After the race, we stopped up in big foyer area where 1992 Olympic Gold medalist Melvin Stewart happened to be and after some good, inspiring words, we were able to get a shot with him, Jeff and Phil.

Jeff, Phil and Mel Stewart.

The next two days, we go on to really fun and enjoyable events for Jeff. The 100 Fly tomorrow and the 200 Free on Thursday. He can really just go out there and have some fun which is the plan. That is, after all, exactly what this sport is for, no matter what level you are swimming at. Tonight, Phil and I will go to the coaches & officials social in downtown Indianapolis for some food, beverages and something called duck bowling (??).

So far, so good..... More tomorrow.

Where in the world in China, Part deux....

Last Winter, I traveled and blogged extensively about my last cultural exchange trip to the Peoples Republic of China. Well, here we are about nine months later and I am set to return to China in a few days for another exchange. This time, I will be traveling with my good friend and Senior Coach for the Comets Phil Baretela and my brother Dan (a swim coach for Monroe Community College). We will catalog our travels and what we encounter here on this blog.

Where in the world in China, Part duex

If you may -recall-, last year, my trip to China was primarily centered in Wuxi, in the Jiangsu Province, with side trips to both Hangzhou (hang-joe) and Shanghai. It was during this side trip to Hangzhou, that I struck up a friendship with 3 people that would ultimately lead to this return trip. It was there that I met up with Coach's Wei Wei, Zuo and Jiang. In March of this year, we were able to bring the three of them to the Rochester, NY area to visit several local swim programs (including the Comets). This led to our return trip invitation this August.

For this trip, me, Phil and Dan will be staying primarily in the picturesque city of Hangzhou, China. Hangzhou is the capital of the Zhejiang province and is a city of 8.7 million people. It is located on the Yangtze River Delta about 180 kilometers (110 miles) southwest of Shanghai. It is primarily known for it's historical beauty and is considered one of the most beautiful cities in all of China.

You can learn more about Hangzhou from -wikipedia-

Chen Jing Lun Sports School and Hangzhou Sport Development Program

During my last visit to Hangzhou, I was invited to the Chen Jing Lun Sports school in Hangzhou by the Aquatics director Jiang Lian and Coach Wei Wei. After spending a day or so there, I forged a lasting friendship with the both of them and we were able to learn a great deal of information from each other. This relationship was cemented in March 2012 when Coach Wei Wei and Jiang were brought to the United States to participate in a cultural exchange here.

Coach Zuo, Tim and Wei Wei in Hangzhou in Dec. 2011 

As it turns out, Hangzhou is currently the hotbed of competitive swimming in China and two of the world's best swimmers have been discovered and got their start in Hangzhou. Current world record holder in the 1500 M Free and 2-time olympic Gold medalist Sun Yang was a member of a competing sports club in Hangzhou and current 16 year old Chinese swimming sensation Ye Shiwen. Ye took the world be storm in 2012 by winning both the 200 and 400 IM and setting new world record in the 400 Fr. Ye Shiwen started her swim career with Coach Wei Wei and he was her developmental coach until she was 13 years old.

We will be spending the week as guests of the  Chen Jing Lun Sports school and the Hangzhou Sport Development Program. We will be working with Coach Wei Wei, and Jiang with their swimmers in learning the latest techniques and developmental skills that are taught to young Chinese swimmers.

Ye Shiwen, 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist (200 & 400 IM)

Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics

Also while we are there, we will be guest of the the Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics. The university swim team, which is one of the most respected in all of China, will be working with Coach Zuo as he and his swimmers prepare for the University Games in Tiajin, China. We will assist him in final preparation and meet with University officials during our stay.

We will be traveling in China from August 27, 2012 through September 5, 2012. We will primarily be staying in the Hangzhou area, but will hopefully get to spend a little time in both Shanghai and Wuxi during our stay. We will be blogging out entire experience while we are there and traveling.

Summer Junior Nationals

This weekend Coach's Phil and Tim will be traveling to Indianapolis, Indiana for the USA Swimming Speedo Junior National Meet with Comet swimmer Jeff Williamson. Jeff will be swimming 4 events over the next week. We will be blogging the swim meet, reporting on not only Jeff's swims, but also the results of the other Niagara Swimmers at the meet.

The meet will be held at the historic IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis, home of several past US Olympic Trial Events. Jeff will be swimming the 200 Fly, 400 IM, 200 Free and the 100 Fly and is looking to improve on an otherwise great summer season this year. This meet will culminate the 2012 Summer Season for the Comets and we will be taking a little break before the opening of the 2012-2013 season. During which time, both Coach Tim and Coach Phil, will be traveling to Hangzhou, China to work with several of China's most prominent swim coaches, including Chinese Swimming phenom Ye Shiwen's developmental coach.

More to come from Indiana on Monday.

Until then, here is some good background information on the Junior National Meet.

• REAL TIME RESULTS PAGE
• MEET INFORMATION
• PYSCH SHEETS
• TIME STANDARDS - To qualify for the meet.

Good Luck Jeff.

Comets Place at the 2012 Northeast IMX Extreme Games

As noted in our LAST BLOG POST, the Comets had 7 swimmers competing in Washington DC at the 2012 Northeast IMX Extreme Games. This is a championship meet featuring some of the best IMX swimmers in the northeastern United States from Virginia all the way up to Maine.

Comets IMX team (from L): Coach Regelsberger, Sidney St. Rose-Finear, Arthur Fan,

Tyler Regelsberger, Gabby Studebaker, Zach Shine, Ashley Ali, 

Coach Musshafen and Brandon Crist

The meet was a great success and all of the swimmers achieved best times. Many got all best times or best times in the majority of swims. All of the swimmers improved their individual IMX scores. I'm told the swimmers all had a great time as well and it was a motivating experience to swim against some of the best swimmers in this part of the country in this format meet. All look forward on returning home and continuing to work hard at practice to continue the great improvements they have made.

Two of the Comets swimmers managed to score in the Top-16 bracket of their age division, which earns them a nice plague and allows their points to score for team scoring. Top-16 means that their cumulative IMX scored in the top 16 places for their age division. For example 11 y/o girls score against other 11 y/o girls and 11 y/o boys only score against other  11y/o boys.... etc. all the way through 14 y/o boys.

Sidney St. Rose-Finear's IMX score of 2980 was good enough to place 13th among the 11 year old girls at the meet. That score is also the 2nd highest in the Niagara LSC for the entire year and within the top-200 11 y/o girls in the entire country. She averages 596 across all of the 5 event in the series.

Arthur Fan's IMX score of 4031 was good enough for 2nd overall for the 13 y/o boys division. This score is the highest score in the LSC for his division and places him in the top 60 nationally among all 13 year old boys. Arthur's score is also 5th among ALL 6000+ swimmers (of any age) in all of Niagara LSC across the entire IMX series. Considering Arthur just turned 13 in October, he is sure to improve on these scores through the course of the season (IMX runs through the year from Sept-Aug). Arthur averages 671 points per event across the 6 events in the series.

From Left: Coach Musshafen, Arthur Fan, Sidney St. Rose-Finear

We are extraordinarily proud of Sidney, Arthur, Zach, Gabby, Ashley, Tyler and Brandon for their great work and we're excited to watch their progress going forward. The IMX Extreme Challenge is the ultimate test of versatility for swimming athletes and requires that swimmers dedicate themselves to ALL STROKES and disciplines in order to succeed. It's not just good enough to be "good" at one stroke/distance. You must work equally hard at them all to succeed.

We're very proud that among the 5 teams representing Niagara LSC, only the Golden Comets placed swimmers in the top-16 and registered a team score of 7011 (Sidney and Arthur's combined score). This is good for roughly 12th-13th (final scores pending) among the 60-70 teams represented.