Written by Coach Meredith
It's not always easy to make a big move right before you begin 8th grade. There is a new school to get used to and new friends to meet. In Emma Thomas's case, there is also a brand new swim team, a swim team which offers a significantly more challenging program than Emma's previous program. Through all of these challenges, Emma has always had a great attitude and a big smile. It is for this reason that Emma is Fish of the Month for September.
Emma is no stranger to moving around and has swum for many different teams. She came to Virginia from Oklahoma and before she lived in Oklahoma she spent three years in Germany. While in Germany, she swam for a team called the Kaiserslautern Kingfish. From Germany, Emma moved to Altus Oklahoma where she joined The Western Waterdogs Swim Team. While with the Waterdogs, Emma's typical practice schedule consisted of 3000-4000 yards in 2 hours. She swam 3 to 4 times per week. This is quite a difference from Emma's practice schedule with the Incredible Fish where she swims over twice that yardage in the same amount of time.
Since moving to Virginia and starting at the FISH Emma has done extremely well. She immediately embraced Coach Ray's practices, which required her to significantly increase the yardage and intensity she was used to. She also made a very conscious effort to improve her technique by listening to what her coaches were telling her and implementing it in practice. She even went a step further by giving the coaches feedback on how she was feeling about the new technique without the coaches having to ask her. She comes into practice every day with a smile on her face and a nice word for her coaches and her teammates. In the month that Emma has swam with the FISH she has gotten better and better in practice, routinely leading her fellow Incredible swimmers and making difficult intervals. Emma says that the FISH workouts are really hard but she knows that they will make her faster. She loves how everyone on the team is really determined and she is impressed by how fast everyone is. Emma also says one of her favorite things about the Fish is after practice to participate in dryland. Her great attitude and amazing work ethic make her stand out in the eyes of her coaches and teammates. Although only with the FISH for a month, she is already emerging as a leader and someone for her teammates to look up to.
Thanks Emma for always having such a great attitude! We look forward to seeing how much you progress over this season. Keep up the hard work and keep on smiling!
