Isabella Van Ess (Typhoon 1)
Isabella was chosen as a swimmer of the month for November because her coaches are very happy with the progress she has made with all her strokes, and because she always has a great attitude at practice and meets. She is enthusiastic to learn new things and not afraid to try them at meets, and she has great attendance for both practice and meets. Isabella only swam once a week last year with us, so she has made a great transition this year to the competitive team. Isabella’s favorite meet this year was the Reindeer mini meet because she won two heat winner ribbons and caps. Her favorite event to swim is the 100 IM because she gets to swim all the strokes. During practice she likes it when we work on flip turns in freestyle and backstroke. Isabella feels influenced as a swimmer by all her coaches at BWST, LCDS, and her summer team the Barracudas. Her three favorite things about being on BWST are going to the swim meets, her nice swim coaches, and being able to make new friends. To get ready for a meet, she likes to get a good nights sleep and make sure she has all her swim gear ready. One of her goals for this year is to break an individual team record, and she hopes to do this by coming to every practice and trying her best. Her advice for her teammates is to listen to your coaches! If she were stranded on a desert island the three items she would want with her would be a fishing rod, her dog Sandy, and music. When Isabella isn’t swimming she likes to draw, sing, and play with her dog Sandy. Way to go Isabella!
Jack Zapp (Green Crest 1)
Jack was chosen as a November swimmer of the month because he has shown great improvement this year in green crest, and always has a great attitude at practice and meets. He listens well and works hard to implement the feedback he gets from coaches to improve. Jack’s favorite meet this year was the Hokie travel meet because it was a fun traveling experience for him! His favorite events to swim at meets are the 100 fly because he’s good at it, 100 IM because it’s fun to swim every stroke, and 100 free because he’s good at that stroke. During practice his favorite set to work on is “Ins and Outs” where they swim IM’s but get out after each lap to do dryland exercises. Jack has been influenced as a swimmer by his parents, because they encourage and support him. The three things that Jack likes about being on BWST is having supportive coaches, nice teammates, and he likes being on a team. To get ready for meets he likes to drink plenty of water, make sure his cap and goggles are ready to go, and not think about anything but his strokes. One of his goals for this year is to make it to JOs (which he has already achieved in 100 fly) and continue to work on his stroke technique. His advice for his teammates is “if you say you are not good at an event, you never will be.” If he were stranded on a desert island the three items he would want would be a bottomless cup of water, a bottomless plate of food and a universal telephone. When Jack isn’t swimming he likes to stay active by running, biking, playing football, reading and eating ice cream. Great job Jack!
Kate Donati (Green Tide)
Kate Donati was picked as a swimmer of the month for November for several reasons. Even though Kate broke her arm earlier this year, she still came to practice to do dryland and still stayed as involved as she could. When she got the cast off she swam at a meet, and even though she wasn’t 100% she gave it her all and got best times. At the VA Tech travel meet she attended even though she wasn’t able to swim, and she helped out the coaches by video taping the other swimmers. Kate always has a great attitude at practices and meets and always works hard to improve her strokes and times. We will miss her when she and her mother move in January!! Her favorite meet this year was the Tech travel meet, because she loves to see new things with her team. Her favorite events to swim are the 500 free, the 1000 free and the 200 backstroke, because since these are longer events there is some strategy involved with doing them well. During practice Kate likes to work on distance freestyle sets. She feels like she’s been influenced by Bethany Hamilton (the surfer who continued to surf after losing her arm), because she didn’t give up what she loved to do after facing adversity. The three things she likes about being on BWST are her friends, her coaches, and her swim family (green tide). To get ready for a meet Kate makes sure to get a good nights sleep, eat pasta the night before, drink lots of water, and psych herself up for the next days meet. One of her goals for this year is to get an A time. To do this she plans on working hard at every practice and staying healthy! Her advice for her teammates is to never stop doing what you love, and make sure you truly love to do it. If she were stranded on a desert island the three things she would want with her would be her dog, a genie in a bottle, and a personal chef to make her good foods using the tropical island fruits. When she’s not swimming Kate likes to read, play with her dog, cook and write stories. Awesome job Kate!
