Embedded Files
(From the Stanstead College yearbook)
Mr. Keet and I were lucky to have such a great group of student-athletes for our novice season. They accepted that we had zero hours of swim coach experience between us and supported our development as coaches. They were a pleasure to work with. We started with a few seasoned veterans who were very helpful to us and the beginners. The team worked so well with each other, at least after they'd stopped swimming into each other while doing the backstroke. They always had great drive in competition, even the beginners. Early in the season, while some were still belly-flopping - belly-flopping isn't the best way to start a race —they continued the race swimming their hardest. Some had to learn how to keep their goggles on when they dove in. If they didn't manage it, they still swam as fast as they could. I think Mathieu swam a whole race with his goggles in his mouth early in the season. Over the four months, the team became more composed, more professional, eliminating the belly flops, and starting to swim with excellent technique. We set up practice sessions and they swam them. We doubled the difficulty and they swam again. We double the difficulty again, they paused for thought, and then swam again. They stood on the starting blocks at each race with great composure and gave everything for themselves, the team and the school. Thanks for an excellent season.
(From the Stanstead College website, December 11th)
Athlete of the week: Simone Ruf
In her second year on the swim team, Simone Ruf shows the grit and determination needed to compete at the highest level.
When her coach presented her with the challenge of competing in every single event at the first meet, Simone did not hesitate for a second and dove right in (pun intended!), swimming ALL six races at the inaugural event of the season. Despite her innate ability, this young athlete from Stanstead remains humble in her endeavours; she sets the highest bar for herself and is a role model for her fellow teammates. Only in Grade 8, the future is bright for this week’s Athlete of the Week. Congratulations, Simone!
Honourable Mentions:
Buddy Shen (swimming) who shaved 26 seconds off his previous best in the 50 m freestyle at the opening swim meet
Jeremy Tremblay (prep boys hockey), who finished second in scoring (5 goals in 3 games) at this past weekend’s 16-team tournament
(From the Clarion, February edition)
Swimmers dive into new season
This year’s swim team is a great mix between new and experienced swimmers. Three meets into this exciting season, our team is doing great. We all have improved a lot since the first practice. Even if some of us got disqualified in some races, we generally do very well. At the third meet, several swimmers swam every single race, bringing back many points both for the team and individually. There were many first places, making the coaches very happy. The relay teams (Junior girls and Senior boys) are getting faster and faster, making the number of points per swimmer average higher. At the first official meet, we scored 2.6 points per swimmer. But at the second one, our average went up by a lot! We got 6. 4 points per swimmer. With one qualifying meet and the finals left, we hope to finish as well as we started!
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