July 2010 Archives

We are all very excited to welcome Coach Steven Benecki to the FISH Family.  Please say hello to him when you see him on deck and introduce yourself so that he gets to know all of you very quickly!

Dear FISH families,

I am sad to announce that I will be leaving the FISH.  I have been given a great opportunity to coach and teach in Vietnam.  This position will allow me to travel, teach, coach and spend more time with my family.

Over the past year I have been blessed to work with  wonderful coaches, swimmers, and parents.  I have learned a great deal from Coach Ray about coaching and Monika about team management.

My decision to leave is not an easy one, I will miss coaching the FISH swimmers and interacting with my coaching buddies.  The FISH is a great team and I wish you all the best in and out of the water.

Jessica Rogers competed in 7 swimming events at the National Junior Disability Championships in Chicago, Illinois from July 17 though July 24th. She placed 1st in 4 of her events, making her the 2010 Junior National Champion in the  25 meter  sprints in back, breast, and free style, as well as the 50 meter breast. 

She placed second in the other three events, 50 M fly, 50 M Free, and 100 M Back.  She set Junior Records in her age group for all of her 1st place events, and her 50 M free 

Jessica also competed in wheelchair track and placed first in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 M races for her age group.

Congratulations Jessica, we couldn't be prouder of you!  

Written by Coach Gunther

The Swimmer of the month for July is Kaithlyn Torrez.  Kaithlyn Torrez age twelve, earned this recognition for a number of reasons. Her positive attitude and dedication to swimming have made her stand out this month.

Kaithlyn started swimming year round last September at the FISH's Wakefield program. She started out as a swimmer struggling to complete a 100 I.M.  Kaithlyn persevered and made rapid improvement.  She consistently displays a fantastic attitude at practice. Her desire to keep improving led her to start attending morning long course practices offered at Audrey Moore during the school year.  Kaithlyn has never been one to complain that a set is too hard.  Her positive spirit has paid off for Kaithlyn, with many of her long course times actually beating her best times for short course!

written by David Pursley

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog

The FISH's small senior team attending the PVS Senior Championships this past weekend, had a great impact.  There are many highlights worth mentioning.  Elena Marsilii started the meet off with an outstanding swim in the 1500.  In her race, she managed to go a best time, dropping SEVENTEEN seconds.  In the 400 free she dropped three seconds, in the 800 free, six seconds!  Elena also achieved a best time in the 400 IM. 

Stephen Fay was able to score a best time in the 200 meter I.M.  However, the FISH team had the biggest impact in the distance freestyle events.  Four of our swimmers made finals in both, the 800 and 1500 meter freestyle events.  Matt Benecki dominated the longer freestyle events by winning the 400 and 800 meter races.  The number of Fish swimmers at the top of the list was impressive to see, especially when comparing to the number of swimmers we entered.  

                  More important than the times they swam, this meet was a valuable racing experience for the athletes who qualified.  The pool at University of Maryland is a fast pool and the competition was strong this past weekend.  Going into the final few weeks of the long course season, it was important for the swimmers to get a "warm up meet" in before their season finale. 

Moving forward towards the final meets of the summer season the senior swimmers are showing great promise.  We are headed in the right direction and look forward to the upcoming championship meets! 

Written by Coach Gunther

 Long course swimming is considered by most professional coaches and high level athletes to be a true test of swimming ability and a more pure form of racing.  Short course swimmers learn to rely on power and speed often at the expense of endurance and technique. Since long course racing requires half the turns per race, distance per stroke, efficiency, and endurance become crucial elements to swimming success. Swimmers face the need to hold their speed for greater distances in long course racing. As a result, long course competition will present challenges to an athlete that short course racing doesn't offer.