Each season the National YMCA sponsors a virtual swim meet. Y teams are invited to send in the results of their first meet and the results are compiled. For us it was the results of our invitational in October. We have just received the results. The link below will lead you to them. If your time put you in the top 16 you can download a certificate to commemorate your achievement. I haven’t had time to look at all of the results, but Ii did see several of our 11-12 and 13-14 boys are ranked very well. Please check it out!

http://ymca.ymcacompetitiveswim.org/YMCAVirtualMeetReports.asp

Kevin

Dear Parents and Swimmers,

We had two outstanding meets on Saturday.

Our eight and unders won their 42nd straight YMCA Eight and Under Meet. The highlight of the meet was Sophie Kommer breaking the oldest team record on our board when she broke the 25 freestyle record. The old record was set in 1983! Sophie also won the 50 free.

Our swimmers won all six of the relays contested and individual first places were taken by Maren Cooper (2,) Teddy Howe (2,) Isla Ley, Brody McCuiston (2,) Jack Ruud, Audrey Iacco, Jack Palmer, Tommy Higdon, Ellie Ker, Dhivashree Kesavan, Becham Leith (2,) Lyla Collins, Grafton Anderson, Mary Bailey, and Will Michael. It was a terrific way to bring the eight and under season to a close. Two of the eight and unders, Sophie Kommer and Lyla Collins have also qualified for the 9/10 YMCA State Meet. Congratulations to all of our eight and unders!!

In the afternoon three new swimmers were added to our YMCA State Team: Carter Phillips, Lucy Sowle and Duke Kiriluk.

Our board ran a great meet. Our co-presidents Zach Anderson and Dave McDonald served as meet managers, Megan Cooper shadowed them in order to take on the role in the future. Michelle Schwab ran the computers all day and Farookh Ahmed, Ted Mabley and Bill Clifford officiated and many parents worked both meets. Thank you. I got a ton of compliments from the Y coaches on how well the meets were run. Thank you all for a great day. Once again, BBD looked good!

Kevin

Dear Parents and Swimmers,

To say that the coaches were delighted by the performances of our swimmers at the Eastern Cluster and Michigan Open Meets would be an understatement. Our swimmers exceeded our expectations (and in many cases theirs!) With this being the first of our meets in the championship season the forecast is favorable for a great deal of success.

The basic reason for our swimmers success is the structure of the program. At the beginning of the season I described the commitment it would take to achieve our goals—-regular practice, participation in meets and competing in championships. That is why there are requirements. We want to ensure the success of every swimmer. And you saw how well it is working. That is why it is so disappointing when families do not follow through. This weekend we will be swimming at our 42nd YMCA Eight and Under State Meet where we are the perennial champions. It saddens me that we have several swimmers who are missing the meet (a required meet) even though we advertised the date of the meet in September at our organizational meetings. We had a long waiting list of swimmers we could not accept who would have fulfilled the team’s requirements who were denied that opportunity.

There is nothing easy or convenient about developing into a fine athlete. Swimmers and their families make a lot of sacrifices in order to achieve. And while we are in the championship season, the board and coaches are planning for the future. This is always a challenge because BBD is like a house of cards. We rely on dedicated coaches and board members, but we have no control over facilities. Southeast Michigan has a severe pool shortage to accommodate the number of swimmers in our area. This spring the Cranbrook Pool will close for a major overhaul. While we be back in that beautiful facility in the fall, it is not available to us in the spring and summer.

Coach Mike Wind has spent a great deal of time searching for facilities so that we can offer a quality program to our swimmers, but it won’t be as convenient.

For our spring programs we will be using facilities in Royal Oak and at the YMCA (for our younger swimmers). Mornings practices will be at Royal Oak Middle School (the former Dondero) and evenings will be at Royal Oak High School (the former Kimball.) For swimmers who are planning to swim long-course IT IS IMPERATIVE that they do the spring program. The summer season is too short to see positive results without beginning in the spring.

For our summer program we will be at Southfield Civic Center in the morning and Seaholm in the afternoon.

While we are blessed to have a great number of excellent swim and country clubs in our area who do a fine job of introducing children to competitive swimming and training them for sprint events, when a swimmer reaches the age of thirteen that type of preparation isn’t sufficient if they have goals of competing in high school or reaching Zone and National competitions.

IT IS ALSO IMPERATIVE that swimmers are registered early for the spring and summer programs. We are still a business operation and if our numbers are too low to support the program we will have to make adjustments. Sign up early and relieve us of that stress.

I want you to have this information because we will begin discussing this with swimmers at practice and you will need time to plan…create car pools, coordinate schedules etc.

Enjoy the rest of the season. I sure will. Our swimmers always make us look good!!

Kevin

Dear Parents and Swimmers,

We have arrived at the Championship Season and I am very excited about our swimmers’ prospects. Every swimmer competes in at least two championship meets and they are ready to shine!

This weekend…..a couple of reminders…

Please be punctual. Nothing derails the meet like tardy swimmers, so please be respectful and be ready for warm-up already capped and goggled!
10 and unders should have their event numbers on their hand WHEN THEY ARRIVE AT THE MEET!
8 and unders have relay events at the beginning and the end of the session. After their last individual event they should grab their towel and report to the hallway so we can assemble the freestyle relays. No one leaves before the end of the session.

The following weekend – 8 and under State Meet and Districts

This is the 42nd annual YMCA 8 and Under State Meet. BBD has won every one. It is a really special day for our newest swimmers. The team will meet at the end of the session so we can distribute some surprises. Please don’t leave.

The District Meet is a last-chance meet to achieve state times.
We are pleased to be hosting these events and we need everyone’s help to make it successful. Sponsoring meets is the principal way that we fund the team without other fundraisers. As we pointed out early and often it is a family’s obligation to work our meets.

Remember, a swimmer’s season ends with their last (and biggest meet.) The 8 and Under YMCA State Meet marks the end of the 8 and unders’ season. 8 and under swimmers who have achieved times for the nine and up meet should begin attending the 9-10 practices at this point.

Only swimmers who have completed their obligation to the team by competing in the championship meets (short of Nationals) are invited to enroll for the team for next season.

Good luck to all of our swimmers. It is going to be a very exciting ride!!

Kevin

Dear Parents and Swimmers,

We have just returned from a MEMORABLE meet in Indianapolis. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the Indy Meet is a regional meet with teams from all over the Midwest. The competition is in two side-by-side pools. The older swimmers swim preliminaries in the morning and, if they finish in the top 24, return for finals in the evening. The younger swimmers swim timed finals in the afternoon. The coaches who attend are on deck for 36 out of 56 hour weekend skating between the two pools.

Our swimmers were on fire! Some highlights….

• Ethan Schwab won three events and qualified for nationals in all of them; the 100 and 200 breast and the mile. Ethan’s time in all three are new BBD team records.

• Gus MacDonald was the high-point winner in 13-14 boys and he set a meet record in the 500 free. (I was standing with a group of boys from other teams while Gus was running away from the crowd of swimmers and they were amazed by his splits.)

• The 11-12 boys set meet records in the medley relay (Emmet Knudsen, Sean Lu, AJ Farner and Jack Higgins) and the free relay (Sean Lu, Emmet Knudsen, Ian Whan and Jack Higgins).

• We had new AA cuts from Michael Drelles (3,) Malin Murphey (2,) Avery Anderson, George Witte, Charlie McQuiston and Mira Tarraf (2.) Nolan Knudsen, Will Schwab and Aleks Bovdur achieved new zone cuts.

• Jack Higgins won two events and Drew Collins finished first in the 100 back in the morning session.

• Lindsay Louwers and Lucy Truesdell dropped time in the 200 breast in the morning and came back at night for finals where Lindsay dropped another two seconds and Lucy dropped another EIGHT seconds.

I know I have missed many highlights….so many great races! Please forgive me. There were amazing performances from every swimmer and they are setting themselves up for an amazing championship season. It’s important to revisit our goals and choose events carefully.!

Even more impressive was the amazing display of support and sportsmanship from our swimmers. They were having a great time cheering for one another and celebrating their successes. The older boys were standing with me during the medley relays and were blown away by the performances of their younger teammates.

This kind of experience sets Y swimming apart from other programs. The swimmers were there for each other whether it was one of our superstars or if it was one of our newer swimmers. It transcended age group and gender and it made for a weekend they are not likely to forget. As always I couldn’t be more proud of our athletes, grateful for the hard work of our coaches and the support of our parents. We can accomplish incredible feats when people trust and endorse the process and the program.

Kevin