We
enter May in grand fashion!! There is
excitement and enthusiasm on the pool deck every session. The kids are making new friends everyday
during stretching and are solidifying those bonds in the water with their hard
work. The attendance charts are filling
with stickers as our first meet nears. I
can see a definite improvement in the technique and conditioning of those
swimmers who have been attending regularly.
KEEP IT UP!! This is
really shaping up to be a wonderful season full of best times and
togetherness. Together we can reach our
goals as a team. GO TIGER SHARKS!!
As we move forward with
the season and the swimmers continue to grow as individuals, I would like to
share some information with your families. This information may help you all
better understand why we do what we do at the Carmel Swim Club and give you a
better understanding of our process oriented style of coaching. We must all remember success is a process and
not just an outcome. Below I have pasted
an article that illustrates this point. The excerpt is from a letter written by
a former swimmer who claims a lot of her current success as an adult is do to
her past competitive swimming career.
“Teaching excellence through swimming for life”
The Carmel Swim Club
mission statement
What do Coaches Really
do for Athletes?
Here is what Jamie Drobny, now a working
adult, had to say in a letter to her old high school swim team members.
The Coach, proudly, is John Casadia of
An incredibly dedicated
swim coach, and my experiences as a member of his
close-knit and highly motivated high school swim team helped to develop my
competitive nature, my powerful work ethic, and my absolute fearlessness when
it comes to meeting life’s challenges.
Beyond his astonishing
energy, and his ability to guide us to multiple New Jersey State championships,
Coach John Casadia’s way of inspiring and motivating a team has left an
indelible imprint on my life/ In Coach Casadia I saw the embodiment of true
leadership, and the way in which leadership produces excellence. When he was
not poolside urging us on, Coach Casadia was working tirelessly behind the
scenes, preparing practices, planning pre-meet pasta parties, and crafting
weekly newsletters for alumni of the swim team, his current swimmers, and
parents of team members. Coach Casadia’s efforts earned his the national
recognition that he so richly deserved. He taught me through his example how
fulfilling total commitment to any team or group can be.
Although I was not the
fastest or strongest swimmer on his team, Coach Casadia always encouraged me to
outperform myself. He insisted that a fifth place finish in a race could have
just as much impact on the outcome of a meet as the first place finish. As a
result, now I understand that although I may not always be first or best, hard
work and dedication are never wasted.
For
thirteen years I spent twenty hours a week training to perfect my technique,
increase my endurance, and break my own records. Seven years later, I have lost
some of my speed in the pool and the superior level of physical fitness I once
enjoyed. What remains, however, is the high standard of excellence to which I
hold myself, a continued desire to succeed, a healthy competitive spirit, and
the ability to be a productive member of a team.
Indeed, to see myself as
a part of a team is perhaps the most enduring lesson that I have drawn from
swimming. Coach Casadia and my teammates taught me that a team is more than
just a group of individuals. It is an organism whose participants,
working together in pursuit of a single goal, achieves greater success
as a whole than would any of its parts working alone or in smaller groups. Each
team member has a contribution to make. All of the teams that I have joined,
including Coach Casadia’s, my college sorority, and my current team at RBC Dain
Rauscher, have been rewarding and educational experiences. I attribute my
success on each to my ability to determine the best role for me and to live up
to it, all the while remembering that I do not have to be the leader in order
to play a significant role in ensuring that a team meets its goal.
Jamie Drobny