So according to my coach for the Long Course season of the summer of 2008, we have to attend all practices unless we notify him first. There are many rules that are now applied that weren’t applied to the short course season. I mean we will get kicked out of practice if we breath off the wall, if our streamlines aren’t good, and if we aren’t taking the practice seriously. Monday night Bryan told us a story about some seminar that he went to when he was in Massachusetts. Well this seminar had a coach that apparently told a few stories about some of the swimmers that he has coached and this coaches name is Bob Bowman. Now this coach told a very significant story about several years ago he was coaching a twelve year old boy. Apparently the boy came off of every wall and took a breath off of every wall. This child was a good swimmer and he was quite fast even at his age. When the coach continued to yell at him and he never changed his methods the coach started kicking him out of practice. After about twelve times of being kicked out his parents had arranged a meeting with his coach, him, and his parents, his father being a state trooper at the time. When Bob Bowman had told his parents that the reason for him being kicked out of practice was because he was breathing off the walls and that he thought that by kicking him out of practice that he would get the hint that being kicked out of practice will teach him not to breath off of the wall on the first stroke. Well he came back to practice and never took another breath off the wall again. Today, at this very day, he is training for the Olympics in Beijing. This boy would now be a seven time gold medalist with the name of Michael Phelps. So I think that because Bryan(my coach) heard this that he thinks that because Phelps got faster after he stopped breathing off the wall that we will do the same. Maybe we won’t go as far with our swimming career maybe we will, who knows. Although I’m not sure what to make of these new rules. Another new rule is that if you don’t show up to practice without notifying him of where you are and what you are doing, you do have a chance of being kicked off the team. Part of me thinks this is good, and the other part of me thinks that this whole experience is going to be extremely hard, but well worth it in the end.
Swimming April 25, 2008
Prom April 25, 2008
So most likely everyone is writing about prom because it is only a week away. Everyone was really into talking about prom and everything before the new year. Everyone was already thinking about their dress and making limo arrangements. I don’t really see what the big deal is, I mean its just another dance where the girls are paying anywhere between $90-$600 for a dress, not to mention the hundreds of dollars that are being spent on the limo. The guys aren’t spending nearly as much because the only thing that they really have to worry about is making sure that their tux matches the girl’s dress and that costs some money but not nearly as much as the dress, and then maybe they are lucky and are paying for both the girl’s and their own ticket as well as the limo payment as well, that is if they are even getting a limo. I’m sorry but paying a whole bunch of money on a dance that really isn’t even worth it is stupid. Everyone in my family that has gone to prom says that it was a waste of time and money. You aren’t allowed to leave prom until 11:30 and then from there you have the option of going to the afterprom party but apparently that sucks and is a waste of time, oh you aren’t allowed to leave from there until 4:30 in the morning either and most people, like my sister, sleep through the whole afterprom party anyway. What a waste of time and money. Think of the many many hours that people spend on getting their dresses fitted and then the alterations and then the hair, the nails, the shoes, and all of the other shopping that goes along with it. After all that is done you have wasted well over 24hours of your like on a dance that you are going to regret ever going to for the rest of your life.
The NINE kids in Georgia that planned to kill their teacher. April 4, 2008
So what would you do if your teacher punished you for standing on a chair and then put you in time-out?
Would you:
a) say ok and get over it, I mean my god I stood on a chair
b)say something to your mom when you got home so she could deal with it
c) plot to kill your teacher while involving eight other students
Unfortunately nine third graders in a small town in Georgia had chosen choice c, sorry but that was the wrong choice there kids. Anyway, back to the one child who was punished for standing on a chair and then involving their classmates in killing their teacher. Yes, kids at that age may not understand what exactly they are getting involved in, but either way you don’t plot to kill your teacher unless something more is happening there that you don’t really appreciate and that goes against your moral values. Anyone elses thought on this issue would be great seeing as to how this is kinda a mind boggoling issue.
