November 2011 Archives
Coach Emily has been swimming since she was two years old. But she only began to swim competitively for her summer team the "Langley Wildthings," when she was nine. She swam with them for a winter season before moving on to swimming year-round for two winter seasons. Her freshman year she joined another Langley team, the Langley Saxons Varsity swim team, and plans to join them again this winter season. Emily's favorite strokes are butterfly and freestyle. Emily is a sophomore at Langley High School, and when she's not coaching or doing her homework you can usually find her reading.
Ben
Paris started swimming with the Fish at the age of 8 and continued up until his
freshman year in high school. He was a member of the Mini Fish, the Age Group,
Advanced Age Group, and Terrific FISH. He received one varsity letter, swimming
his freshman year, at McLean High School.
However,
his love for playing soccer finally took over and he had to leave the FISH to
concentrate on his soccer career.
He enjoyed playing soccer at McLean High School where lettered 4 years.
Upon
his high school graduation, Ben moved to Berlin and studied at the Technical Universität Berlin, where he
also continued to play soccer and reinvigorated his drive for swimming by
joining the Berliner TSC swim club.
After living one
year in Germany, Ben decided to return to the US. He is now a full-time student at George Mason University and
a member of its Division 1 Men's soccer team.
Ben will be
working with the Minis.
Congratulations to all the FISH swimmers who competed at the Swim and Rock Meet this past weekend! This meet was very exciting and a great experience because it was a prelims/finals meet and gave our swimmers a chance to swim both in the morning and at night. As a result, we saw a lot of fast swimming and time drops which led to many races being won by FISH swimmers. Please follow this link to see the great results of this weekend. This meet shows how much progress our swimmers are making as a result of their hard work and training.
Go FISH! Keep up the good work!!
BY CHRIS ROSENBLOOM, PHD, RD, CSSD
From Thanksgiving to New Year's Day there will be a lot of media stories on weight gain during the holidays. Dire warnings will be issued about high fat and high calorie holiday dishes. But, what receives less media attention is the abundance of healthy foods that appear on mom and grandma's table from November to January.
The week has been full of surprises in Guadelajara, Mexico. I felt great and excited up until the day right before my events. Then, I suddenly came down with an unexpected infection and had to have an IV treatment at the athlete village. I had good care, but everyone thought I wouldn't swim my first event the next day,on Monday, and maybe I would miss the entire competition!
However, by Monday I felt well enough to try the 200 I M. I
didn't quite realize the level of energy it would take. I did swim it, but I
did not place in the event and had trouble breathing in the high altitude. My
time was way off, and I was very disappointed, but my teammates were so
supportive. By Wednesday, I was much better and I was ready for the challenge
of swimming the 100 breast. I swam a respectable time, considering dealing with
illness and a 5000 feet altitude, and I placed second - taking a silver medal
for the US team. I realized then that I had reached my goal of being on the
medal platform.
Hi FISH swimmers and coaches, and greetings from
Guadelajara, Mexico. Here I am with some U.S. paralympic teammates. This picture was put in the Parapan
newsletter. I'm not wearing my
official Olympic uniform clothing yet because it was being tailored just for my
size! We had 'uniforming' in Houston, where we were given duffle bags and all
kinds of Olympic sport clothing.
Then we arrived in Guadelajara the next day. We attended opening ceremonies, and then we
had practice. The pool is brand new. It's awesome.
All of us live in the athlete village in
one section. Other countries live
in other sections. It's a great place. There is an international area with lots
of shops.
Here are flags of different countries. I swim events on Tuesday and Thursday. Fish of the Month: Nicholas Arndt
The qualities coaches look for in athletes include an unquenchable
willingness to learn, fantastic work ethic, and a positive attitude. Our FISH of the Month has demonstrated
these qualities and taken them to a level that has made him a person that we
should all look up to, regardless of his "Mini" stature. I often quote the great Vince Lombardi,
"Practice does not make perfect.
Only perfect practice makes perfect," to emphasize the importance of not
only practice attendance but also, just as significant, practice performance. Nicholas Arndt not only has over 100% practice attendance
but also performs at 100% of his ability at every practice. All of the FISH coaching staff agrees
that he is a joy to coach and we are proud to have him on our team.
