The Secret To Acheiving That All Important Cut   THE PROBLEM I was talking to a swimmer just this morning who shared with me a familiar, incredibly frustrating story. She was very close to her Olympics Trials cut for the last Olympics and hoping to make the team to represent her country. Everyone around her – her teammates, coach, parents and even this athlete herself – were convinced she'd qualify. This was because she was easily doing the time in practice.    However, with each meet that went by, she...

Dr. Alan Goldberg-Sports Psychology for Athletes, Coaches & Parents   Your job as a parent is to do your best to continually help them keep the bigger picture in mind. This means that when they have an absolutely dreadful performance, you help them understand that these bad performances are a normal and expected part of the sport, that you can't always be at your best and that in every bad outing lie the seeds for long term improvement. That is, "what can you learn from this that will help you...

GameOn4Kids July All-Star – Brooke Lively CVST's Brooke Lively (13) has been named a GameOn4Kids.com July All-Star.  Game On 4 Kids web site is Tampa Bay's premier source for youth sports.  To view Brooke's article on the Game On 4 Kids web site, Click Here. 

Coach Randy's FLAGS Blog   Thursday, July 17 - 6:48 pm Abby (Forman) added 21 seconds in the 800 Free.  Finished 14th.  She couldn't get up on top of the water.  Eighth in her heat in finals. Friday, July 18 - 1:23 pm Logan (Ingerick) shattered team record in the 100 free by 3 seconds, 107.75 and best his goal time by 1. (Mabry) Bishop drops time in the 100 free but goes up in her 50 back. Abby (Forman) adds a second in her 200 free. Friday, July 18...

U.S.A. vs. The World: How Do We Look So Far? By Katie Arnold, USA Swimming National Team High Performance Consultant As we all start gearing up for this summer’s Phillips 66 National Championships, there is sure to be plenty of discussion about who will make each team’s roster. While there is little use in speculating about these things before the competition because performance can be so unpredictable, there is still value in looking at current benchmarks. Because the U.S. is the only major swimming nation that has not held a...

Five Questions About Quitting Posted by John G. Miller, Author of QBQ I just finished a novel where a rookie cop was the heroine. Throughout the book, as scary people tried to do her harm, she kept herself going by repeating a phrase she’d learned as a child: No medals for quitters! Quitter. Ouch. Who wants to be called one of … those!? Doesn’t “quitter” just drip with negativity? Lazy! Unreliable! Untrustworthy! Bum! Sloth! Are these people bums and sloths? •The 9-year-old who, with hurt feelings and a bruised ego,...

Three DIY Pre-Competition Meals for the Whole Team By Jill Castle, MS, RDN It’s the night before a big meet, and the team is getting together for a pre-competition meal. Should you go out to a restaurant, or stay in? If you’ve got a willing parent and a venue, I say cook! Not only will there be money saved, and greater control over the food ingredients, your team may even achieve a higher level of camaraderie. The whole idea behind these DIY (Do It Yourself) home-style, pre-competition meals is to...

CVST Sends 3 Swimmers To FLAGS   The Carrollwood Village Swim Team (CVST) is sending three swimmers to the Florida Swimming Age-Group Swimming Championships to be held July 17th to 20th at the O’Connell Center on the University of Florida Campus.  The entries are in with over 1000 athletes, making this one of the largest and fastest age-group meets in the country. The four day meet starts off on Thursday, with Abby Forman swimming in the 12 year-old girls 800 meter Freestyle. Abby is the number two seed and CVST’s...

Have You Taught Your Child to Learn? by David Benzel, Growing Champions For Life Mark Twain once said, "A man who does not read a book is no wiser than the man who can't read one." Could it also be said that an athlete who does not listen to a coach has learned as much as the athlete who does not have a coach? The greatest miscalculation about youth sports today can be found where learning is not the top priority; where competition, winning, and rankings are given more attention...

Dietary Supplements High-Risk List Has Been Updated By USADA Stay informed, and educated! The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's Supplement 411 Dietary Supplement High-Risk List contains a selection of products USADA is currently most concerned about that are considered to be of a higher risk to athletes and consumers. The list includes products that meet one of the following criteria. Have been tested and shown to contain substances prohibited in sport by the World Anti-Doping Agency.  Openly list substances prohibited in sport by the World Anti-Doping Agency.  An arbitration panel has found...