Hi Kigoos!

I was very impressed with the level of team spirit and sportsmanship displayed by all the Kigoos who attended the Poco meet last weekend! I hope everyone is excited for the Super 7 this weekend. With over 150 Kigoos signed up, it should be a great weekend of racing!

The Intermediate Red’s have spent a lot of time working on butterfly and I am so happy with the improvements the group has made! Our goal was so learn how to stay relaxed when swimming butterfly. We spent one week working on the chest press to elevate the hips, one week working on butterfly breathing (keeping the chin low and breathing quickly) and finally, we practiced pulling with the elbows high. I have seen many improvements in both technique and attitude surrounding butterfly! One of my favourite moments last week was hearing one the the intermediate swimmers say to their lane mates, “butterfly is actually really fun once you learn how to relax.” I hope to see these improvements continue as the season progresses.

This week we have been focusing on breaststroke kick. We are practicing lifting the heels and pulling the legs back behind the body to create a narrow and efficient kick. While the kick is important in all four strokes, whip kick accounts for nearly 80% of the propulsion in breaststroke, making a strong kick essential for fast breaststroke. A strong breaststroke kicker is one who can pull their legs back and keep their knees at or inside their hips. This is important to reduce drag, but also to allow the kick to be initiated with the forward lunge of the upper body. When a swimmer lacks hip flexibility, they kick with their knees too wide which limits their ability to initiate the kick fast enough to maximize propulsion. In order for breaststroke to be most efficient, the kick should be initiated prior to the shoulders entering the water, with the knees in and the feet flexed. I encourage the swimmers to always work on their flexibility and practice pulling their legs quickly behind them in breaststroke kick for faster swimming.

Finally, congratulations to last week’s swimmers of the week, Madeleine F! Maddy has shown improvements in her training, and has impressed me with her attitude and effort during longer sets. She is always encouraging to everyone around her, demonstrating great sportsmanship. Maddy showed perseverance at the Poco meet and posted a significant best time in her 50 free to win the event. Great job Maddy!

Looking forward to a great weekend!

See you at the pool,

Emmy

Hi JD blue swimmers and parents,

For the past few weeks we have been working lots on breaststroke. Remembering to kick with flexed feet, and not share our ice cream. During the next few weeks we will continue practicing breaststroke, as well as work on under waters, and dives.  It has been great seeing so many of you at meets, and I encourage everyone to come to as many meets as they can. They are a great place to practice swimming, and gain confidence in the pool. Everyone has been showing so much enthusiasm at practice, and putting in 100% effort, which I love to see.

Keep up the great work!

Coach Erika

Hey JD Reds!

Awesome work these past two weeks! Last week we started working on fly as well as focusing on breakouts off of a dive and this week we began practicing IM turns and longer distances in preparation for racing 100 IM at meets. I am very happy with the level of effort everyone has been putting in at practice as well as the great attendance we’ve been having.

Next week we will be focusing on improving our dives, turns and underwaters which will help us get best times! I also want to mention that morning practices are really good opportunities to get more one on one time with a coach as there is usually a smaller turnout. I love seeing the energy and positive attitudes the JD Reds have been bringing the practice!

Keep up the great work!

Coach Lucy

Hey JD Oranges,

This week we have been working on backstroke and some more freestyle, hopefully over the next two week we can get dolphin kick and a little breaststroke kick down. I’m really happy with the attendance at practices, but I really hope to see more of you guys at the weekend meets. Our first JD only meet is June 20^th so I hope everyone is getting super excited!

“There are always going to be obstacles that come in your way, stay positive”

– Michael Phelps

Coach Gabe

Beep Beep Hello Sr. Reds!

 We have completed the first two meets of the year and we are on to a good start! Everyone showed great racing passion, grit, and determination. WAY TO GO EVERYONE! Naturally, though, there is still more work to be done.

 Just a reminder as we are all passionate athletes and evidently want to improve in every event, which is a great attitude to have, we must not forget to trust the process. It is important that we reflect and learn crucial lessons from our mistakes to improve. Like having better underwaters, breakouts, and working on technical aspects each swimmer knows they need to work on. It is more than ok to have these little mistakes now, so we don’t make these little mistakes when it will really count the most – at Regionals and Provincials.

 Moreover, I want to give a couple of academic and athletic shout outs to the following swimmers. I want to congratulate Elizabeth L. and Ashely M. for making Team B.C for the Canada Summer Games! Academically, I want to congratulate Dakota and the JD coaches: Hailey, Sophia, Lucy, and Erika for graduating this year. Furthermore, I want to congratulate Lucas Y. and Nic K. on their academic awards this year at school. This shows how the Kigoos kick butt in and out of the pool!

I wish everyone senior the best of luck with their upcoming exams. Let’s keep up the great work!

Best,

MJS

Hi Kigoos!

Great work in Boundary Bay everyone!

Last week the Intermediate Red’s worked on butterfly breathing. We practiced keeping the shoulders on the surface and tilting the chin forward to breathe, rather than lifting up with the chest and shoulders. Keeping the head low creates a much more efficient stroke as the hips stay high and the momentum is carried forward rather than up and down.

We are going to spend some more time this week working on butterfly-this time we will be focusing on the pull. As in freestyle, one of the biggest mistakes made is dropping the elbows during the pull and therefore missing a large percentage of the power of the stroke and increasing drag. We are going to practice keeping the elbows elevated during the pull phase and pulling the water straight back in the opposite direction we want to move.

We have spent a lot of time working on technique over the last six weeks and I have seen many improvements! We will continue to always concentrate on technique as it is absolutely essential for long term development and fast swimming, but the emphasis will shift to more race specifics as we enter the next phase of our training. This week we will be focusing on freestyle breakouts. A good freestyle breakout consists of the following elements:

• A minimum of three fast, explosive dolphin kicks (but preferably more!)
• An immediate transition to fast flutter kick
• An explosive stroke which breaks the head out of the water while the chest stays down
• The lead arm remains streamlined and pointed straight ahead during the breakout stroke
• The first three strokes are explosive and as many strokes as possible follow before lifting the head to breathe

Here is a video describing an effective breakout.

Finally, I would like to congratulate this week’s swimmer of the week, Yasmine F! Yasmine lifts up her teammates and consistently demonstrates a great attitude no matter the circumstances.  Yasmine works hard and smart in practice; she demonstrates awareness in the water and because she remains concentrated on the focus, she almost always reaches the goal of the set. Way to go Yas!

Here is one more reminder about relays:

The relays are made on Monday before the meet, so please let the coaches know before the deadline to change if you are unable to stay. The coaches work really hard to ensure as many swimmers as possible get to participate in relays, so please let us know in advance so we don’t have to scratch any teams, and everyone gets to participate!

See you at the pool,

Emmy

Hello Senior Whites!

Hi Kigoos,

Great job at the Ice Breaker and a big thank so everyone who helped make our meet such a success! I am so proud of our team; it was great it see so much Kigoos team spirit, sportsmanship and fun!

The Intermediate Red swimmers had a great meet! We have been focusing a lot on technique and it was awesome to see the swimmers apply what we have been working on in the last five weeks to their races. While technique was the main focus it was exciting to see so many best times! I am looking forward to watching their improved technique translate into fast swimming as the season progresses.

Last week, the Intermediate Red’s work on butterfly body position. We learned how to make fly faster and easier (a great combo!) by practicing pressing down with the chest and fully extending the arms to lift the hips up. This week, our main focus is on butterfly breathing. We will focus on keeping the head low to the water when breathing, by tilting the chin forwards and keeping it at the surface of the water. The breath has to occur quickly for correct butterfly timing, so once the head clears the water for a breath, it should continue to move back down to not disrupt the stroke. Here, is a video discussing butterfly breathing. It first shows a bad example as the swimmer elevates him self to breath by lifting his shoulders up, next he demonstrates proper fly breathing by tilting his head forward and keeping it low to the water.

There were a lot of impressive results and attitudes amongst the Intermediate Red swimmers this weekend which made choosing one swimmer of the week a difficult task! However, Isabella M has been working hard for the past five weeks and it paid off as she took 40 seconds off her races this weekend! Isabella shows leadership in practice by always staying on task and helping those around her understand the set and stay on the pace times. I am impressed with her attitude as well as how she has taken ownership for her own swimming as she almost stays behind after practice to ask what she can do to improve. Way to go Isabella!

A reminder about relays:

Relays are meant to be a fun part of swim meets, but they become extremely stressful for the coaches when swimmers leave the meet early without checking in. We had to scratch over 5 teams this weekend due to swimmers leaving early. Any relays listed in the heat sheet are NOT official so please check in with your coach and always check the relay sheet at the coaches’ desk! The relays are put together in advance so please always contact me in before the meet if your child is unable to participate.

See you at the pool!

Emmy