News and Announcements
Message from Coach Kevin
Dear Swimmers and Parents,
Please read this carefully.
The championship season is upon us. Here are some general guidelines for our big meets. Remember, all championship meets are required with some exceptions for middle school boys swimming for their middle school and high school boys who are representing their high school. If a middle school boy has AA qualifying times they should miss Clusters. High-school boys should swim Clusters and miss the YMCA State Meet.
We taper the swimmers for the biggest meet for which they are qualified. Eight and under swimmers will taper for the YMCA Eight and Under State Meet. Swimmers nine and up who have not yet qualified for the YMCA State Meet will taper for the Cluster Meet in the hope that they will qualify for the YMCA State Meet. Only swimmers who are tapering are allowed to wear “speed suits.”
Shortly, you will be entering the Eastern Cluster Meet or the Michigan Open (a US meet.) All swimmers should be competing that weekend, except for those exceptions already noted. Eight and unders swim one day at Clusters. All other swimmers should swim both days and enter the events where they have a chance to advance to the next championship meet (and avoid the events for which they already have state, AA and zone meets.) Swimmers may swim up to six events at Y States, AAs and Zone Meets and we want them to have a full complement of races at those meets.
Eight and unders should consider both the Cluster Meet and the State Meets when they select events. Generally, they should swim their most challenging events at Clusters and their best Y events at the state meet. Remember that at the state meet eight year olds swim against eight year olds, seven year olds swim against seven year olds, six year olds swim against six year olds and five year olds swim against other five year olds.
Please feel free to ask the coaches for advice about event selection. While for the most part we do not tamper with a swimmer’s choices, we reserve the right to do so!
Please remember that the team is hosting the YMCA Eight and Under State Meet/Districts on February 15. We cannot staff the meet with the parents of the participants only. Please do your part volunteer!
Kevin
Note from Coach Kevin (1/5/20)
Dear Swimmers and Parents,
I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful holiday season.
It was a very productive time for the team as we accomplished a great deal at the holiday-break practices. It certainly showed this weekend. We had a group of elite swimmers selected to represent Michigan at the Mid-States All Star Championships in Indianapolis (picture in this post). Gus MacDonald, Sam Clifford, Sean Lu, Ian Whan, Evan Tack, Emmett Knudsen, Mariana Becharas, Oliver Grake, Nolan Knudsen, Avery Tack and Nico Bonel-Muras made the trip. All of them swam extremely well. Gus MacDonald set new team record in the 200 IM (1:56.51,) 400 IM (4:14.38,) and the 200 breast (2:12.76.) Two of the 9-10 boys swam out of their minds. Nico Bonel-Muras dropped six seconds in the 50 fly and ten seconds in the 100 fly. Nolan Knudsen dropped twenty-nine seconds in the 200 free. Evan Tack and Emmett Knudsen both anchored 11-12 medley relays with incredible freestyle split times. Congratulations swimmers! Thank you for making BBD look so good!
At the Flint Meet, our swimmers were also swimming incredibly well. On Friday and Saturday we had first places from Stella Glorio (9-10 500 free,) Gillian McKinley (11-12 500 free, 100 back and 200 IM,) Jack Higgins (11-12 50 back,) Grafton Anderson (8 and under 25 back,) Jack Ruud (8 and under 50 free and 50 breast,) Avery Anderson (11-12 50 fly and 200 back,) David Mark Beatty (13-14 200 free,) and Cami Wilson (15 and up 100 free.) We are adding to that with the Sunday sessions.
We recently heard that one of our swimmers, Drew Collins, set a new team record in the 100 back at the University of Detroit early in the boys’ season.
Nice work everyone! The coaches are extremely proud of you!
I hope all of you have made new years’ resolutions to work hard and keep this momentum.
We have a lot to look forward to in the next couple of months as we head into the championship season. Swimmers, please review your progress and decide which events you will swim at Cluster Meet/Michigan Open. All swimmers should be swimming that weekend.
Please remember ALL championship meets are required.
We do have a few swimmers who unfortunately will not be able to get in their three Y meets. For those swimmers your season ends at the end of January.
Keep up the good work everyone!
Kevin
Dear BBD swimmers, parents, and coaches,
At the end of this year I will be moving to Washington DC to begin a new job with the Superior Courts. I am excited for my new opportunity but definitely sad to be leaving BBD. This was only my second season coaching, but I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to work with such a great group of swimmers, an amazing coaching staff, and dedicated parents. As many of you know, I was a BBD swimmer growing up. Being able to coach with people who had coached me and others that I had swam with in the past was such a meaningful opportunity. I really enjoyed working with each age group and seeing so many improvements in such a small window of time. It was an absolute pleasure to coach for this team. I really appreciate everything that BBD has done for me over the years, especially Kevin and Mike. I wish everyone the best of luck with the rest of the season and know you will all do great! Please feel free to stay in touch and also reach out if you are bored in the DC area ever. Thank you again for
everything!
Miles
2019 - 2020 Goals Sheets for 13 and Ups
13-Ups will not have goal sheets printed and distributed this year by the coaches. Instead they’re available for download in this post. Please save the PDF and talk to your coaches about your goals. 12-Unders should have already received sheets from their coaches
Dear Parents and Swimmers,
Our swimmers had a very busy and eventful weekend. We had a small contingent at the RAYS Meet who dropped time like crazy!
Our older girls, representing their high schools, had a great weekend. Congratulations to the Seaholm swimmers (many of whom are BBDers) who won the Division 2 State Meet and to our Coach Chris Bagley who led Cranbrook-Kingswood to a second-place finish at the Division 3 State Meet.
At D2s, Carly Burry qualified for the National Meet in the 50 free. The next day at the “Day-After” Meet, Bella Vaughan qualified for the National Meet in the 100 back. Welcome to the National Team Carly and Bella!
As we approach the holiday season we want to maintain our momentum. We will be offering many practices while the swimmers are out of school. If you are away for more than a couple of days, please make arrangements to train. Other teams usually welcome guests, as we certainly do, but you need to plan ahead. Find a club where you will be and ask. If that doesn’t work, our coaches will be glad to supply workouts if you can find a pool. Consistency is the key to success in swimming and extended breaks can play havoc with our goals.
Speaking of goals, 12 and under swimmers should have received their goal sheets by now. (the seniors will receive theirs electronically.) Please fill them out completely and put them in a zip-lock bag with a pen and bring them to practice to review with a coach. It’s great motivation.
Our team has sponsored two meets and we have two more to go. We are the host team for the YMCA Eight and Under State Championships/District Meet on February 15 as well as the second “Day-After” Meet in early March. We need you to plan to help on those dates. Every parent is needed to step up to help in some way. More information will be forthcoming after the first of the year.
At our last board meeting, there was discussion about what to do when parents don’t fulfill their volunteer obligations. We know, that compared with other organizations, we do not ask much, but we need everyone to help. As a Y team we have values that we try to instill in our swimmers…..and our adults. I do not like the idea of fining parents. I believe that parents volunteer because it’s the right thing to do and they are modeling that good and appropriate behavior for their children…so please step up when you are asked.
It’s all good news! We have much for which to be grateful…..happy, healthy swimmers, supportive parents, a great board, and renewed commitment from the Y. Keep that in mind as you celebrate Thanksgiving. Enjoy every minute with your family and friends.
Coach Kevin