Succeeding At Failing If you want to succeed at new habits, you have to learn to succeed at failing. It is extremely overwhelming to get caught up in wanting to be really good at something right away. Because of how discouraging it can be to attempt something you know you might fail at, it is important to keep yourself grounded through the process by sticking to a plan that you create beforehand. You can immunize yourself against big letdowns by implementing experiments where you will fail in tiny ways. Don’t...

Who is setting your standards for you? A true story has it that one older man decided to jog around the local high school football field. As he huffed and puffed along, the team was in practice. The players soon started running sprints up and down the field. The man told himself, "I'll just keep running until they quit." So he ran. And they ran. And he ran some more. And they kept running. And he kept running until he could finally run no more. He stopped in exhaustion. One...

USA Swimming Announces Application Period for National Diversity Select Camp The application for the 2022 National Diversity Select Camp will open on USA Swimming’s website tomorrow, Tuesday February 1, 2022. The 2022 National Diversity Select Camp is currently scheduled to be held May 5-8, 2022, at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. From USA Swimming’s website the goal of the National Diversity Select Camp is: To empower athletes from diverse backgrounds and under-represented populations to: Demonstrate the viability of multicultural success in swimming Achieve performance excellence at...

Behind triple event winner William Spencer (200 and 400 IM and 100 backstroke), and relay dominance from the 10 and under and 13-14 girls, the Seattle Metropolitan Aquatic Club captured their first THSC Round Robin Invitational title with 1003 points. During the course of the weekend, SMAC earned duel meet victories against Hillsboro Heat, Legacy Aquatics, and the Tualatin Hills Swim Team before entering the eight-team championship round on Monday morning. Earning the first victory of the day in the 11-14 year old girls 1000 freestyle was newly minted 13...

Having been someone who swam the 50/100 freestyle throughout the entirety of my swimming career, I would have never guessed that I willingly would put myself through the longest day in endurance sports: An Ironman Triathlon. The event requires one to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run a full marathon of 26.2 miles in under 17 hours. As a novice to the sport, I did what I normally do when I indulge into a new hobby or activity: I fully submerge myself into it. I watch any videos...

Coach Tommy wrote a great piece on growth during difficult times. Buy on the Dip When reading Ray Dalio’s “Principles” one of the better sections was talking about turning adversity into an opportunity. It’s the idea of going against the grain in terms of traditional thought. In stock market terms, it’s called buying on the dip. This isn’t meant to be any sort of economical lesson and I’m in no way shape or form qualified to give money advice. What I do like is the metaphor that we can take...

Over the weekend of December 3-5, 2021, SMAC’s 12 and under championship team returned to KCAC for a full LSC championship meet for the first time since December of 2019. Competing against the best 12 and under swimmers from all over the LSC, SMAC swam to a second-place position heading into the next two legs of the PNS December 2021 championship triplet. Charlie Cancelmo led with way with both record breaking swims, setting new team best marks in the 11-12 boys 100 and 200 yard butterfly (57.77 and 2:07.53) while...

What is Right vs. What Is Easy I have never been the biggest Harry Potter fan, but like most, I found myself going through a phase where I was heavily invested. I had my phase when the final three movies came out, but my fiance is having her phase right now. We have been sitting down and watching a different movie whenever we have the extra 2 and a half hours to do so. We recently watched the fourth movie, The Goblet Of Fire, and there was something at the...

Coach Derek of View Ridge was recently selected to be part of the USA Swimming Girls’ National Select Camp in Chula Vista, California. He has written an awesome piece about some stuff he took away from the experience. The Triple Impact Competitor In October, USA Swimming invited me to participate as an assistant coach for the Girls’ National Select Camp in Chula Vista, California. Every year, USA Swimming hosts 48 young women and 48 young men from all over the country for two and a half days of in water...

MOUNTAIN TOPS ARE SMALL AND THE AIR IS THIN. It’s so difficult to stay the best. Even the most legendary companies spend years at a time reinventing themselves. As do dynastic sports teams. One of the most recent sports dynasties has been the women’s US National Soccer team. Jill Ellis, one of the greatest coaches at any level in any sport, was the head coach of the team during their most dominating years until her retirement in 2019. “The top of the mountain is a rented space, not one to...