Congratulations to Claudia Doyle who on Friday qualified for the Long Course Junior Nationals with an awesome time of 1:05.30 in the 100 meter backstroke!  She will compete in this event on August 12th in Irvine, California.

How did she do it?  What can we learn from the fastest swimmer on our team to inspire others to follow her lead?  Here are three key elements to her training success this season:

1. Attendance.  All Spring and Summer, she had the best attendance on the team.  She did not miss a single practice in the early part of the season when we focus so much on technique work.  She did not miss a single practice in the middle part of the season when we focus on conditioning, race strategy and fine tuning one or two key technical elements for each swimmer.  The only practices she missed all season-long were for a family reunion.  Even then, she did not want to miss practice and her mom was the one who approached me about those 2 practices.  Considering the excellent work she had been doing, I told her that she had to go to the reunion and have fun.  She needed the break.
2. Trust.  It might be the most critical part of an athlete’s preparation.  Her complete trust in her coaches translated into trusting her preparation and it gave her the confidence that she could compete at the level of her dreams.  Whatever we asked her to do, she did it.  Whatever intensity we required, she gave it.
3. Ability to Manage Priorities.  Like most teenagers, she is very busy with many different activities.  On top of her training, she held 2 jobs (assistant coach for WAVE and working at the pool concession stand).  Participating in community service is also one of her priorities and lately she has been volunteering with St. Vincent de Paul.  She made great strides this past season to develop the ability to prioritize her activities and manage her schedule so that she could accomplish all of her goals.

Congratulations to Claudia for all the hard work that you put into your swimming career!