Dear Parents and Swimmers,

2021 is not a year we will easily forget. At BBD, all of us, —the board, Y personnel, and the coaches did our level best to maintain a sense of normalcy during the pandemic. As a team we have always been good at adapting to changing circumstances. When I began, we only used the Y pool for practice and our treasury was kept in a cigar box. We had three coaches and we ran all our meets (dual meets) in the Y pool. We’ve come a long way and we have many reasons to be grateful. The latest good news came from our four swimmers: Charlie Bruce, Drew Collins, Angus MacDonald and Ethan Schwab, who just returned from the Speedo Winter Junior Championships East Meet in Greensboro, NC where they represented us well. Ethan broke the US Michigan 15-16 age group records in the 100 and 200 breaststroke. COVID didn’t get in their way!

​Here is our Christmas break schedule. Please take advantage of it!! If you are in town, you can come every day we have practice. If you are traveling, please get workouts from the lead age-group coaches or make arrangements to train with another team.

​December 20, 21, 22, 23,26, 27 and January 2 at Cranbrook:

13/14 and 15/17 – 11:30 – 1:30

9/10 and 11/12 – 1:30 – 3:15

8 and under – 3:15 – 4:30

For those young swimmers who are still in school on the 20 and 21:

December 20

8 and unders- 4:30 – 5:30 @ YMCA (one practice only)

9/10s – 6:00 – 7:15 @ Derby (one practice only)

11/12s – 6:00 – 7:15 @ Covington (one practice only)

13/14s – 7:00 – 8:30 @ Derby

15/17s – 7:00 – 8:30 @ Covington

December 21

8 and unders- 4:30 – 5:30 @ YMCA (one practice only)

9/10s – 6:00 – 7:15 @ Derby (one practice only)

13 & Up – 7:00 – 8:30 @ Derby

December 28 and 29 at Cranbrook

13/14 and 15/17 – 12:00 – 2:00

9/10 and 11/12 – 2:00 – 3:30

8 and under – 3:30 – 4:30

At this time we are still working on the schedule for December 30th. There is a meet at Cranbrook that day so we cannot practice there. Stay tuned!

Enjoy the holidays!!!

Kevin

Dear Parents and Swimmers,

​We are heading into a very exciting portion of our season!

​We have the Farmington Meet this weekend and I am looking forward to seeing a lot of improvement in our swimmers. Please remember to be punctual and to have the event numbers on young swimmers’ hands. After the meet, the swimmers should record all of their times on their goal sheet and bring them to their coaches for a review and goal-setting session.

​Coach Peter Leonhardt will be escorting a group of older boys (Charlie Bruce, Drew Collins, Angus MacDonald and Ethan Schwab) to the Speedo Winter Junior Championships Meet in Greensboro, North Carolina. This is a national meet in a premier facility (Y Nats will be there in the spring). Good luck, gentlemen! I know you will make us proud!

​Welcome back to our high school girls and good luck to our high school boys who will be leaving to train and represent their high schools. Remember boys, you are always welcome to come to our practices if your high school practice is canceled. We are here for you!

​Our new record board has been installed in the lobby of the YMCA. It is spectacular! I wanted to do a ribbon cutting, but we are far too busy for a ceremony, but stop by and check it out. It is truly inspiring. Thanks to the board for providing this and the Y for getting it out of the lower level. It chronicles more than fifty years of competitive swimming at the Y and is a great advertisement for our program.

​The coaches have been talking to the kids about staying focused during the holiday season. It is a great opportunity to pick up some extra practices. If you are traveling, please try to make arrangements to train. Other teams are usually happy to welcome our swimmers. We expect to have some guests in addition to our returning college swimmers. Over the Thanksgiving weekend we saw several of our alums—-Megan Clifford and Emma Dickhudt (Hillsdale,) Hannah Deighan (the University of Maine,) Kaden Schwaiger (George Washington,) and Sam Violassi (the Naval Academy).

​Please remember to stay safe by following the protocols at the various venues. Unfortunately, we have had swimmers diagnosed with COVID and others have had to be quarantined. As a Y program, we must follow their procedures. If you have any questions, please address them to Dan Marsh, our Y exec.

Kevin

Dear Parents and Swimmers,

We had a GREAT weekend at the Zeeland Pool!!!!

Our swimmers won the meet and two of our swimmers, Eliana Ker (8 and under) and Jack Ruud (9-10) were the overall age-group champions. We picked up a raft of state and zone qualifiers. Those of us who stayed in Holland had a wonderful time downtown. AND best of all, the hotel personnel complimented me on the behavior of our swimmers!!

Goal sheets will be distributed at practice this week. Please make sure you get one and fill it out with your current times and bring them to a practice (in a zip-lock bag with a pen) and the coaches will review them and help set intermediate and long-term goals.

The Indy meet has just been posted and this entry is a bit tricky. We have to enter now, but the meet is not until the end of January. There are qualifying times for this meet that many of our swimmers who are new to the team haven’t had a chance to meet. They probably will by the time we actually swim the meet. If your child is in that situation and you would like to attend the meet in this premiere facility it is okay with me if you enter them if you are willing to pay the fine if they don’t achieve the qualifying time at the meet (and have not achieved it at meets between then and now.) Please ask a coach for guidance.

​We are waiting to get practice time the Friday after Thanksgiving….We will let you know as soon as we do.

Good luck to our high school girls who will be competing in the Division 1, 2 and 3 High School State Meets this weekend!!! We know you will do us proud!!

​Kevin

Dear Parents and Swimmers,

I have a lot of important news. Please read carefully.
​
PRACTICE CHANGES THIS WEEK ONLY;
Thursday, November 11th – No practice at Cranbrook
Friday, November 12th – 13/14 and 15/17 is combined with 11/12s from 6:00 to 8:00 at Cranbrook

PERMANENT PRACTICE CHANGES BEGINNING THIS WEEK:
Since girls’ swimming is beginning at the middle schools we cannot get Derby until 6:00. Beginning this week (Monday – Thursday) the first practice will go from 6:00-7:30, and the second practice will go from 7:15-8:45. Friday practice for 9/10s will run from 6:00 -7:30.. Beginning next week, Covington practices for the 11/12s on Mondays will be pushed back by 15 minutes each. While we support our middle-schoolers representing their schools, we expect them at our practices throughout their middle school seasons.

GRAND RAPIDS MEET:
We have almost a hundred swimmers attending the meet this weekend at Zeeland. PLEASE BE ON TIME FOR WARM-UP. SWIMMERS ARE EXPECTED TO CHECK IN——LATE SWIMMERS MAY BE SCRATCHED FROM THE SESSION. YOUNG SWIMMERS SHOULD HAVE THEIR EVENT NUMBERS ON THEIR HANDS. Coaches Mike (Bajorek,) Chris Bagley, Peter Leonhardt and I will be attending the meet.

HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS:
Congratulations to our high school swimmers who swam so well this past weekend representing their high schools. Shout out to Mairin Dalziel (Royal Oak High School) who qualified for the YMCA National Meet!!
Remember High School girls—-if your season is over, start coming to our practices. Those of you who are swimming the State Meet, we expect you back at practice after Thanksgiving. If we do not see you right away we may give away your spot as we have people on the waiting list eager to join us.

Good luck, everyone at all of the competitions that are on the horizon!!!

Kevin

Dear Parents and Swimmers,

What a great weekend!!

Thank you to all of you who made it possible! We had board members and other volunteers who worked all four sessions and many others who worked multiple sessions in addition to everyone who stepped up and did one. Thank you! We cannot do it without your support.

If you were unable to work this past weekend we plan another meet in January, in addition to the “Day-After” meet after the boy’s high school meet in March when we will need you. Everyone learned a lot!

​Our swimmers looked great! We will distribute the goal sheets soon, so please have your data so you can record them on the goal sheet and the coaches will begin to do one-on-one goal-setting sessions with the swimmers. When a swimmer brings the goal sheet when they meet with a coach, please put them in a plastic bag with a pen.

​It’s time to enter our next meet which will be on the other side of the state at another great facility in Zeeland. Please consider it. If you plan to attend make sure to choose some events other than the ones swum this past weekend. Remember, every swimmer is expected to compete in every event available to them in their age group during the season. There can be no late entries and no entries can be accepted if accounts aren’t current.

REMINDER – PRACTICE CHANGE THIS WEEK:

- No 9/10 or 13 and Up at Cranbrook on Tuesday due to CK swim meet

- No 11-12 practice on Friday at Cranbrook

- 13/14 and 15/17 will practice at Cranbrook on Friday from 6:00 to 8:00

- We will be practicing on Halloween. No rest for the wicked!!

Kevin