Recently in FISH of the Month Category

Written by Coach Matt

In my year and a half with the FISH, plus my years of experience coaching summer league, I have never had a more coachable athlete than Molly Ellor.  I define a coachable athlete as someone who is committed to her or his own development, who is hungry for feedback, and open to anything that may improve him or herself.  Molly's drive and desire to learn and get better, coupled with her maturity, and her continued dedication to the FISH swim team, make Molly a very worthy FISH of the Month.

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.   

Written by Coach Andy

Some of our young swimmers have broken out this past summer in many different ways. Several swimmers improved their times from the previous summer, others improved on technique in each of the strokes, and some worked on coming consistently to practice. One of our young Level 1 swimmers has exemplified all of these qualities and has gone above and beyond the coaches' expectations.   It is the entire coaching staff's honor to recognize the 2011 FISH of the Month, Hannah Arndt.

Written by Andy Cipriano

For the past five summers we have had a swimmer join us from California to train with us for a few weeks over the summer so that she was able to keep up with her training. This kind of dedication can only be found in people who are trying to bring themselves to the next level in both swimming and outside the sport. The FISH Swimmer of the Month is Felicity Hicks.

Madelyn (Maddie) has progressed quite rapidly this season and has dropped some significant amounts of time in all of her events. The Christmas Championships is where Madelyn had her breakthrough meet with 7 best times and 5 Junior Olympic Championship qualifying times (100 Free, 200 Free, 100 Backstroke, 100 I.M., 200 I.M.). She dropped over 1 minute and 8 seconds with only having 3 times before this meet. Christmas Champs provided her launching pad to the rest of her season, and she has continued to grow and improve as a swimmer since then.

Madelyn has been a perfect model of our program, and reflects our philosophy completely.  The building blocks for her success this season began in the summer, when Madelyn was driving all the way from Annandale to Reston to attend FISH summer long course practices.  A swimmer like Maddie who wants to learn more and get better is an ideal candidate for our summer program providing her with a jump-start into the short course season.  

Written by Josh Morgan

2010 has been a great year so far for Emily! In route to winning the girls 10 & Under high point award at the RAC Classic over MLK weekend, Emily won the 200 free, 50 back and 100 back and teamed with her fellow 10 & Under FISH to win both the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relays. Emily's 100 backstroke time of 1:04.88 bettered the PVS Resident Record and is currently the top in the nation for her age group. Emily had three other swims at the RAC meet that earned her national rankings: 200 free, 2:08.42 (8th), 50 back, 31.11 (11th) and 500 free, 5:42.54 (11th).

Written by Josh Hyde

Casey Storch, 10, is November's FISH of the Month. Casey's performance at the November Open was outstanding; he qualified for Junior Olympics in every event he competed. After this meet he came to practice with a new found focus on his training and enthusiasm to do whatever it takes to improve. This was apparent at the recent Tom Dolan Invitational meet where he improved his times in all of his events, only 4 weeks after the November Open.