September 2014 Swimmer of the Month

Megan Helge (TYPHOONS)

Megan has just recently joined Blue Wave, and we are so happy to have her! Every practice she brings a smile, and is always excited to be there. She is positive, and works to better herself in the pool. She often tells the coaches what she wants to accomplish that day in practice, and it’s great to see such enthusiasm! We got to ask Megan a few questions about herself, so that her teammates may get to know her a bit better. Her favorite meet prior to being on Blue Wave was with her summer team, when her relay team won. She likes relays, and finds them fun and exciting! Her favorite stroke to swim is breaststroke, because “It’s relaxing and you aren’t working as hard as in butterfly.” Don’t worry Megan, we coaches will be sure to help you make your butterfly easier. We’ll just have to do more of it, haha. In preparation for a swim meet, what do you do to get ready? “I stretch my legs and arms, and pretend to do my strokes.” What is the most challenging part about being a swimmer? “When you learn new strokes, or how to get faster in your strokes.” Very true, it’s hard to change your stroke. It takes focus, and determination to become a better swimmer. Swimmers are constantly looking for ways to get better, and even though it is physically challenging, it is also exciting to know that you are enhancing your strokes! What are some things you like about Blue Wave? “I love my coaches. I like how they teach us. They make sure we are almost perfect in our strokes.” That’s the goal! Great technique leads to great swimming! What are some of your goals for the year? “I want to be good at butterfly, and I will achieve that goal by practicing.” Yes you will Megan! So besides swimming, we asked Megan what else she liked to do, and we learned some interesting things about her. She loves needle felt, knitting, sewing, reading, drawing, and GIMP (had to Google that last one! It’s pretty cool!). Megan loves ice cream, and if she won the lottery she would donate the money to the animal shelter. She is a preschool helper at her school, and if she got to be an animal, she would be a dog! Megan, thank you for sharing with us a bit about yourself! Keep up the good work, and congrats on being the Blue Wave Swimmer of the Month!

 

Alana Delisle (GREEN Crest 1)

Alana Delisle has come back this September with some amazing work ethic! She has been pushing herself harder in the pool, and her effort during practice is fantastic! In order to get an idea about what drives Alana to put in all this effort, we asked her a few questions. Alana, what is one of your goals for the year? “My goal for this year is to make it to Green Crest 2, and get my toes to flex in breaststroke.” What is the most challenging part about being a swimmer? “For me, it’s not stopping, doing 200’s, and flexing my feet in breaststroke.” Well, sounds like you definitely have specific ideas on what you need to work on! That’s great! I am sure you will be ready for any upcoming meets. Tell me, what has been your favorite meet and why? “The last SNOW Pumpkin meet, because I think I got first place in butterfly.” Congrats! So you must like butterfly? “I REALLY like butterfly, and freestyle of course. When I am doing them, I think hard about what I am doing.” That is great Alana! Great swimmers always do their best to focus on making their strokes the best. What is something you do to prepare for a meet? “I relax, and warm up, and practice my strokes and streamline.” Always make those basics good! What are some things you like about being on Blue Wave? “I like how it is competitive and how we talk about being positive. I also really like the coaches.” Positivity is an important character to have. When you bring a positive attitude into any situation, you can immediately make a difference in helping to make the situation better. Aside from swimming, what are some things you do other than swimming? “I pitch in softball, I like karate, and I like doing advanced math.” Wow! That is fantastic. What is your favorite food? “Steak, chicken, and hamburgers!” Yummy! I quite agree with you there. If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money? “I would buy an indoor pool, use my money for the swim-a-thon, and donate more to other charities. Oh, and buy a race car!” Sounds like a great mix of ideas Alana! What are some things you have accomplished outside swimming? “I am very proud of how good I’ve been getting at math, and how my pitching has improved.” Never stop learning Alana! Last question: If you were an animal, what would you be and why? “I would like to be a fish, shark, or snake.” Well Alana, I am glad to hear you have so many great ideas! Thank you for being such a positive person at practice, and congratulations on being Swimmer of the Month!

Allie Howard (GREEN Crest 1)

Allie Howard has been crushing it in practice! She has come back this fall, full of fresh motivation. Her focus in practice has brought about some great work in the water. A very bubbly swimmer, we asked Allie a few questions so her teammates could get to know her better. So Allie, you’ve come back to Blue Wave full of fire, and have been blowing up the water. What do you find is the most challenging part of being a swimmer? “Always doing your best no matter how tired you are.” Very true, the best know how to push their limits. What are some goals you have for this season? “One of my goals is to get more B times and A times. I think if I work really hard in practice and meets, I will achieve that goal.” Anything of value to a person is always worth working hard for. What has been your favorite meet this year? “ The Pentathlon because it was fun swimming 5 events in a row.” Always up for the challenge Allie! Great! What's your favorite event? “Breaststroke, because breaststroke is my best/favorite stroke to swim.” So to prepare for meets, what do you do? “I pack my bag, warm up, and eat a good breakfast.” Very smart. Be sure and get all your carbs, proteins, and vitamins in! What do you like about being on Blue Wave? “I like being on Blue Wave because the coaches are nice, funny, and encouraging.” Well thank you! We’re on Blue Wave because the kids are nice, funny, and encouraging too! Plus we all like being around the water! Besides swimming, what do you do? “Crafts, play with friends, and other sports.” What is something about yourself that your teammates may not know? “I need to work on my kicking A LOT.” Haha, I think everyone feels the same way. What’s your favorite food? “Cereal.” A breakfast gal I see. Be sure and stay away from Cookie Crisp before meets! If you won the lottery, what would be the first thing you would do? “I would go to my mom and yell ‘I WON THE LOTTERY!!! Let’s go to the store!!!’” I would do the same thing. What is something you are proud of? “I am most proud of doing other sports, and not just swimming because it keeps me healthy and active.” It is important to keep a healthy lifestyle. Good for you! Last question before you get pushed in the pool: If you were an animal, what would you be and why? “I would be a penguin because they can swim, they’re cute, and they live in the cold. I love the cold!” Well, when it snows we will have you swim your practice out in the lake! Just kidding! Well Allie, thank you for taking the time to answer some questions. Congratulations on being the Blue Wave Swimmer of the Month!

Calvin Chenault (BLUE Tide)

Calvin has been a Blue Wave for a long time, adding his time, humor, and hard work to the team environment. As one of our long time Blue Wave swimmers, we are sure that the kids would love to know a bit about this guy they see flying down the lane at incredible speeds! Calvin’s favorite meet has been the Virginia Tech travel meet, “because I love the opportunity to hang out with all of my friends on the team, and touring the college campus.” Virginia Tech has always been a fun meet. Calvin’s favorite events are the 100 and 200 backstroke, because that’s the stroke he feels best, and when he feels the fastest swimming. To prepare for meets, Calvin rolls and stretches his muscles, and pays close attention to the food he eats. He also keeps track of how much water he’s drinking. Great advice Calvin! We will be sure to make those good ideas habits! When asked what the most challenging part about being a swimmer is, Calvin said “The most challenging part about being a swimmer is starting off big, hard set, where you haven’t gotten through much of it, and you know there is still a lot more to go.” That is tough. Mentally tough. As a swimmer, our bodies are trained to go long distances in the water. But we also need to train our minds to go even longer. Calvin likes being on Blue Wave because he has a lot of friends that are on the team, are in the same group, and he likes the fact that it’s a smaller team. This way, swimmers get a lot more individual attention than on bigger teams. As an upper level swimmer, Calvin has become much better at setting goals, and knowing what needs to be done to achieve those goals. A big goal for him this year is to get an A time in both his backstroke events, and to achieve this goal he is going to work on his kicking and underwaters in backstroke. He is also going to take better care of his body. As an athlete, it is important to treat your body with respect, and practice taking good care of it outside the pool. Although he spends LOTS of time at the pool, Calvin does have other interests. His love of water and swimming lead him to become SCUBA certified, and he spent a week down in Florida with his boy scout troop doing two dives per day, including night dives where he saw many cool sea creatures, like sharks and sea turtles! Calvin’s favorite food is grilled salmon (keeping with the ocean theme we see!). If Calvin won the lottery, he would buy a really nice, really big mansion, with really nice, modern technology in it. That is really cool! Besides swimming, Calvin goes camping, skiing, and hiking, and one of his proudest accomplishments is his Life rank in boy scouts. And finally, if Calvin were an animal, he would be a wolf, “because I love the way they all work together intelligently to bring down prey that is many times bigger than any individual wolf.” Well Calvin, thank you for being a great wolf within our Blue Wave pack, helping us take down those enormous prey, I mean sets. Congratulations on being Blue Wave Swimmer of the Month!

April 2014 Swimmer of the Month

Zachary Ferguson (TYPHOONS 1)

Zachary Ferguson is a very smiley person. Every day the coaches get asked “How was that?” Zach is always looking to improve his strokes, and has been working hard to put more effort in pushing himself to go faster. His favorite events are the 50 free and the 100 IM, because he’s fast at freestyle and the IM’s are fun! We could not agree more Zach! When preparing for a meet, what do you do? “I eat good food, I listen to good music, I pick up my stuff, and I get pumped!” Sounds fantastic! Swimmers should always be pumped to jump in the pool. What is the most challenging part about being a swimmer? “Making the commitment to swim all the time.” Very true, Zach. It takes planning, dedication, and a drive to be better every day to make the commitment to be a full time swimmer. Keep up the good work man! What are some things you like about being part of Blue Waves? “How we use the blocks, we each have nicknames (courtesy of Coach Andrew I’m sure), we do dryland, and the coaches are nice!” It all sounds good Zach! What are some goals you are looking to achieve this year? “Getting stronger and faster – I want to do that goal so I can play football better.”

Anne Alcarese (GREEN Crest 2)

Anne Alcarese is a swimmer who is always working hard to perfect her strokes. She is consistently questioning the coaches about drills and sets, making sure that she not only understands the set itself, but the purpose of the set. She is always pushing herself to go further, and is also very positive! So Anne, what has been your favorite meet this year? “The Virginia Tech meet, because it was my first non-local swim meet, and because I was not there with my family.” That was a fun meet! It is exciting when you get to travel in swimming. What are your favorite events to swim? “I like swimming the 50’s because I would consider myself more of a sprinter. I also like all the breaststroke events because I love breaststroke!” I am inclined to agree, you’ve done really well with those events. So when you go to these big meets, and take on other breaststrokers, how do you prepare? “I tell myself to be happy, and to wake up because most of my swim meets are in the morning.” Any day you wake up is a good day! What is the most challenging part about being a swimmer? “I think everything about swimming is hard.” Hahaha, well while I do believe that’s true, swimming is also a very rewarding sport. It may be very hard, but with all that effort the results are always very satisfying. What do you like about being on Blue Waves? “I like my coaches and all my teammates.” Yay! I am glad you like us all! That just put a big smile on everyone’s face! Now let’s get serious: swimming, as you say, is a hard sport. What are some goals would like to achieve? “[I would like] to get an A time, and I will do that by really pushing myself in practice.” That is great! As you know, without effort, how can we ever hope to succeed? Keep putting in the effort! Now Anne, we have discussed a lot of things related to swimming, but as we all know, there is a great big world of non-swimming related things out there. What is something we may not know about you? “I have two brothers.” What is your favorite food? “Spaghetti.” Mmm, sounds delish! If you won the lottery, what would be the first thing you would do? “Give it all to JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).” That is awesome Anne! A great teammate puts others before themselves, and a good leader always sticks to their values. We will have to chat more about that later! Besides planning future philanthropy, what other activities do you do outside swimming? “Play outside with my friends.” Any accomplishments you would like to mention? “I got straight A’s!” Congrats! Glad to hear you are pushing yourself in school too! Last question before I let you get back to being awesome": If you were an animal, what would you be and why? “Shark, because they’re at the top of the food chain and I would be in the ocean always swimming.” That sounds like the place to be! Well Anne, it is always a pleasure. Congrats on being swimmer of the month! High five! “UDDERS!!” Blast! Got me again. Keep up the good work!

Caroline Dailey (GREEN Crest 1)

Caroline Dailey is called Boston. She is called Boston because she came to us from Boston. And there have been multiple other Carolines, so we need to be able to tell all them apart. But Boston is not just another Caroline, and not just another Bostonian. She is an original through and through, who has come to the team with incredible positivity, and great a great team focus. Her favorite event to swim is the 500 freestyle, because, as she says, “I found that I do like swimming longer distances.” That takes a lot of training! Be sure you work hard in practice! Here favorite meet was the first one the team had this year at Claude Moore, because she swam her first batch of long events, including the 100 free. To prepare for swim meets, Caroline makes sure she stretches that morning. It’s good to be loose and limber for swimming! When asked what the most challenging part about being a swimmer is, she replied “The most challenging part about being a swimmer is pushing yourself beyond limits.” That’s very true. Each person has a perceived limit, where they think they can’t get any further. As swimmers, we are learning how to push past limits, and try not to set any for ourselves. One of Caroline’s favorite parts about being on Blue Wave is discussing the Wall of Wisdom before practice. One of her goals for this year is to break the team record in the 50 breaststroke. Keep working hard Caroline! To get to know you better, what is something we might not know about you? “At my previous swim team in Massachusetts, we only swam 25’s in meets until you were 12!” Wow! That is different! Caroline’s favorite food is strawberries and granola bars. If she won the lottery, she would give half to cancer research, and put the other half in her life savings. Good plan Caroline! Besides swimming, Caroline stays active by playing lacrosse for the Ashburn Bandits. She is very proud of her heritage, and even though she has moved to a totally different state, she is happy she has made new friends while staying proud of her roots. And finally, if she were an animal, Caroline would be a dog, because they are loyal and so much fun to be around! Just like Caroline! We are so proud of you Caroline, thank you for your positive attitude and hard work! Congratulations on being Swimmer of the Month!

Maddie Hricik (BLUE Crest)

Maddie Hricik has done an excellent job exemplifying what a true team player should be. She has led both by words and example, encouraging her teammates to push themselves, and then being sure to push herself above and beyond her own limits. She has shown so much improvement this year, and her efforts to become the best version of herself have paid off! Come by the pool any time during Blue Crest practice and you will see! When asked what the most challenging part about being a swimmer is, she answered “My weakness is flutter kicking, which can be easily shown during a warm up at a meet, or during practice.” Like all swimmers, each of us has a part of our strokes that is weaker than the other. Swimmers are often perfectionists, and don’t like it when something isn’t just right, so they focus a lot on trying to improve their weak points. Keep working that kick Maddie! Her favorite meet this year has been the Turkey Claus Meet, “because it was one of the first meets where my aggression came out and I won my first free B-time.” Her favorite events to swim are the 100 and 200 breaststrokes because she loves the boost she gets, and the strong pulls from her body. When preparing for a swim meet, Maddie likes to get herself excited, telling herself “I can do it,” and when driving to the meet she listens to inspirational songs. Get pumped Maddie!! She likes being on Blue Waves because she likes “being able to bond with the coaches and the squad because it helps [her] push [herself] and keep up with different people every season.” Maddie pushes herself very hard when she’s at practice. “One of my biggest goals in life is to get a scholarship in swimming so I can go to the Olympics and get a gold medal. I will try to achieve this goal by making the most out of every practice inside or outside the pool.” Never let an opportunity to be great slip by! Way to go Maddie! Some cool things to know about Maddie is that her favorite food is steamed shrimp with a bit of eastern shore sauce, when she’s not swimming she reads, sings, do core work by dancing, stretch, and listen to her favorite music. If she were an animal, she would be a bottlenose dolphin “because they are absolutely beautiful, very smart and have a massive dolphin kick.” Channel your inner dolphin Maddie! If she won the lottery, she would go on a two week trip to Hawaii with her best friends. Does that mean all of Blue Waves is going??? Haha, just kidding Maddie! Outside swimming, what’s an accomplishment you are proud of? “I’m very proud of myself for facing my fear of roller coasters at Universal Studios back in November.” What’s something we may not know about you? “One thing some people don’t know about me is that my dad was a first responder to the Pentagon on 9/11 when I was nine days old.” Be sure and thank you dad for us Maddie! To be a great swimmer, as well as a great person, we need to be dedicated, and willing to take risks for the betterment of ourselves and everyone around us. Keep up the amazing work Maddie! Congrats on swimmer of the month!