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Keep your head in the lane : Monday, 3 September 2007 
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Mental Focus at Meets This week’s Speedo Tip
of the Week comes from Dr. Alan Goldberg, a sports psychology consultant who has
worked extensively with swimmers. Dr. Goldberg offers some advice on focusing
mentally at meets. Copyright ©2004 United
States Swimming |
Goldberg's Tip: There are a lot of
reasons why swimmers regularly freeze up at meets. Probably the main reason for
swimming slow under pressure is having the wrong focus of concentration both
before and during your races. If you go into your meets and races with an
“outcome focus,” that is, you’re worried about breaking a certain time or
beating a particular opponent, then chances are very good that you’ll freeze
up and swim way below your potential. There are two reasons
for this: First, focusing on your time or an opponent before a race will get
you too nervous and too tight physically to swim fast. |
One of the keys to
swimming fast when it counts the most is staying loose and relaxed pre-race.
Second, focusing on your time or where an opponent is during your races will
not only make you more nervous, but it will distract you from concentrating
on what’s important: your stroke and what you are doing in your lane.
Remember, to swim fast at meets, you have to leave your time and place goals
at home and focus on what you are doing in the water. |
Born (to swim) in the
|
Two southland swimmers
Natalie and Joyce Wiegersma along with coach Jeremy Duncan and team manager
Esther Price traveled to the The team will be
training alongside and competing against some of the top Irvine, Nova Age Group
Championships One of the top age group
meets, will give good hard racing and good lead into the meet the next
weekend. One of the top meets in
the world, one that a number of world records have been set, traditionally it
attracts good international competition. The two Southlanders
competed first at the Mission Viejo Nadadores Club, Meet of Champions in This large USA Open
National meet is supported by up to 600 of the top swimmers from the Joyce 800 Free 9.07 23rd 400 Free 4.26 19th 200 Free 2.06 16th 100 Free 59 56th 1500 Free 17.34 8th All faster than her New Zealand Opens times and on track
with her goals for this period in the season. Natalie 800 Free 8.59 6th Southland Record 400 Free 4.25 14th 200 Free 2.08 30th 200 Fly 2.18 14th 100 Fly 1.03 7th 200IM 2.17.71 First New Zealand 17yrs Age
Group record previously held by Helen Norfolk 2.18.06 from 1999 also
Southland Open Record and two seconds short of Helen Norfolk's New Zealand
Open record. |
The highlight from the meet
was watching American Swimmer Kate Zeigler break a world record in the 1500m
freestyle by 10 seconds. Joyce Wiegersma was swimming in the same race and
came 12th overall in the final. Jeremy Duncan noted that
the California Summer is very hot especially coming directly out of a
Southland Winter and these meets are in outdoor pools which presents a new
challenge for the team. Joyce and Natalie
Weigersma had an impressive finish to their The small Results for the two
Southland sisters from the previous two meets were impressive however they
showed they were saving the best for last. Joyce broke her
Southland Records in the 1500M and 200M freestyle by 15 and 2 seconds
respectively. Recording these personal best times at this point in the season
is a great achievement. Younger sister Natalie
continued to show her versatility and dominance in the Individual Medley and
Butterfly. She qualified in first
position in the 200M individual medley winning out over a strong field
including Helen Norfolk and Australian breast-stroker Liesel Jones. Natalie
went on to swim fourth place in the final in a New Zealand Open Record time
of 2:15.10 eclipsing Helen Norfolk's mark set in March 2005 by half a second.
Natalie also broke Helen
Norfolk's Prior to this she had
set a New Zealand 17 year age group record of 1:02.02 in the 100M butterfly
finishing 14th overall swimming in the B final. This race was won by 100m
backstroke world record holder Natalie Coughlin. With the 800M freestyle
result still to come the two sisters have broken sixteen Southland and three |
Natalie ready to go in the 400IM final at |
No fools at Ribbon Day : Monday, 2 April 2007
|
It may have been April 1st
but there were no fools at Ribbon day is the
highlight and final meet of the season for a lot of our young and developing
swimmers. It was a great day and
the swimming was of a really high standard. It was great to see how well the
new competitors swam and coped with all the rules. There were very few DQs
and all the entrants knew the finer points of over the top starts etc. which
is a testament to all those club coaches out there. |
This year Swimming
Southland was trialing a different qualification standard with development
swimmers also allowed to swim in some Southland Champs events. We would
welcome feedback from clubs on how you thought it worked, and any suggestions
for next year. The top club on the day
was Central Southland with Hokonui in second place. It was great to see all
clubs supporting the meet and we hope to make it bigger and better next year. |
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Small people, Big results : Monday, 19 February 2007
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The competition was
“full on” at the NZ Junior Swimming Champs last weekend as the top Southland
12 and unders took on the best in the country. The southern section was
held at QEII in Realys sometimes bring
out extraordinary performances and the boys medley relay was one of those
times for Aila Tuhua who clocked a 36.20 second Southland under 12 record for
his lead off 50m backstroke leg. The previous record has stood since 1996 set
at the same meet by William Rogers-Hoff. Just to show girls can
do backstroke too Molly Tomlins took over 2 seconds off her 50m backstroke pb
to smash the Southland under 12 record by over a second. Her time of 36.07
eclipsing Jesica Elders previous mark of 37.57 set in Jan 2000. |
Those finishing in the top 8 nationally were. ·
Boys
12 and under Medley Relay team 7th ·
Mark
Evans (12) 5th 50 Breast, 8th 100 Breast, 6th
50 Free and 9th 200 IM ·
Emma
Prattley (12) 5th 50 Breast ,
7th 400IM and 7th 400 Free ·
Molly
Tomlins (11) 6th 200 Back and 5th 50 Back (SR) ·
Aila
Tuhua (11) 7th 200 Back and 8th 50 Back Team coach David Pratley
said “the team of 11 had a great meet with all swimmers performing their best
gaining 38 personal best times from 50 starts. The team achieved 13 National
top 10 results while taking 6 firsts, 7 2nds and 6 3rds in the The Spirit of Southland
Team was, Taylor Archer, Amy
Dickey, Mark Evans, Anton Huisman, Dylan Lovett , Eden Millan, Kate Morris,
Emma Prattley, Molly Tomlins, Aila Tuhua, Lydia Ward. The team coaches were
Dave Prattley and Aiden Withington with Southland team manager Fiona
Prattley. |
Special thanks to Tony Millan official team
photographer. |
Southland invades
Queenstown : Monday, 12 February 2007
|
The South Island Country
and Town competition is a new meet spawned from the original South Island Country
Champs. The idea being to open it up to become a development meet for all
South Island clubs with qualification criteria rather than being based on a
provincial selection of 1 swimmer per event. This year the meet was
held in Queenstown over two days with 191 swimmers from throughout the In summary the team did
228 events resulting in 119 personal best times. A great result following on
from a successful Southland Championships a fortnight earlier. Highlights at the event
for the Southland team were; Southland 10 and under
mixed relay team coming 1st in both the medley and freestyle relay Southland 13-14 mixed
medley relay team coming in 2nd place Top 3 individual
placings were; Robert Huisman (14) five
1st placings from 6 starts 200m, 100m and 50m freestyle ,100m backstroke,
200m medley and 3rd 200m breast-stroke Braden Stark (15) four
1st placings from 4 starts; 50m and 100m breast-stroke 100 medley 50m
freestyle Marrissa Johnson (10)
1st 50m breast-stroke, 2nd 100m medley and 100m breast-stroke, 3rd 100m and
50m backstroke Blake Kemper (13) 1st 100m
butterfly, 2nd 200m medley, 3rd 100m medley and 50m butterfly Peter Hamilton (10) 1st
100m and 50m breast-stroke, 2nd 100m medley and 50m butterfly Thomas Hamill (13) 1st
50m backstroke, 2nd 100m backtroke Bradley Catto (10) 1st
in 50m freestyle |
Tom Macfarlane (10) 1st
50m backstroke Nicholas Harris (13) 1st
200m backstroke Andrew Bester (12) 2nd
50m and 100m backstroke, 50m freestyle Kate Stiven (14) 2nd in
100 medley and 3rd in 50m backstroke and 200 medley Courtney Guise (14) 2nd
100m freestyle and 3rd 50m butterfly Christina Gray (14) 2nd
50m butterfly and 3rd 100m medley Alice Richardson (13)
2nd 100m butterfly Troy McAlister (12) 3rd
100m backstroke Phillippa Dean (12) 3rd
100m butterfly Southland assistant team
coach Edward Barron said " Being the first time a meet of this type has
been held we were not sure what to expect. This was a great meet for young
and developing swimmers. It has given them some firm targets to aim for
during the season and then a fantastic meet for them to attend, being the
first representative meet for many of them." "The Southland team
environment is very supportive and encourages good fun and good results.
Other provinces who travel as separate clubs were I'm sure a little concerned
when they saw 53 kids warming up on the playing field as a single team. The
pool side support for Southland Swimmers was a real point of difference if
not a little deafening at times." "Swimming Southland
has targeted initiatives for developing a deeper pool of competitive swimmers
in the province with the appointment of Aiden Withington as a full time
development officer. Aiden was appointed head coach for this meet and he sees
our large participation in Queenstown as a key part of this initiative." Special thanks go to
Glenda Sadlier and her assistants Jo Sandford, Wendy Adams as well as all the
Parent Helpers for making this daunting logistics exercise run like
clockwork. |
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Records fall at Gore : Saturday, 2 December 2006
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Thirteen year old
Rebecca Smith of the Waverley Swimming Club set a new mark in the girls Under
14, 400m Freestyle short course recently at Hokonui's Age Group Meet held in
Gore's Multisport complex . Her time of 4:41.06
shaved just over one second off Southland's longest standing record , the 29
year old record was held by Gore's Iona Condie set back in 1977. |
|
Earlier in the day
Rebecca swam in the 800 freestyle again setting a new Southland short course record
in a time of 9:28.77 taking an amazing 17 sec off the old time 9:45.09 which
was held by her club mate Natalie Wiegersma. Coach Oscar Van
Stekelenborg said he was happy to see Rebecca performing so well as she
builds for National Age groups in March. |
|
Orca Labour Weekend 2006 : Tuesday, 24 October 2006
|
The Orca club was set up
as the amalgamation of three smaller town clubs Southern Kiwi, St Mary’s
Ex-pupils and Foveaux in 1994 at the time the new pool opened The Orca Labour Weekend
meet represents the 21st annual event for the club run previously by Foveaux.
While several of the Southland Officials are still on deck from the original
Foveaux days Jarred Sandri will be the only swimmer competing from that time. The carnival has always
attracted a high quality field from throughout the South Island including in
the past Olympic and Commonwealth swimmers such as Danyon Loader and Lydia
Lipscombe as well as the current Swimming Southland coach Jeremy Duncan. This year was no exception with NZ selected
swimmers attending – Bryn Murphy, Joyce and Natalie Wiegersma, Jared Sandri,
Becky Dooley and Carrie Smith. |
|
275 swimmers competed
representing 26 clubs, 180 travelling from out of Southland from as far North
as The swimmers ranged in
age from 7 to 25 years with many pressing for qualification times to national
and international events as the timing of this long course event fits well
into the swimming season. The club relays are
always hotly contested with such a strong field. Students from the
Southern Institute of Technology took the opportunity to try out their
massage skills on willing participants throughout the meet. This service was
kindly provided by Sponsors SIT at no charge. |
Hokonui swimmers focussing seriously on the events to
come ! |
New Zealand Spring Short
Course Competition : Tuesday, 26
September 2006
|
The Southland swimming
team are back in the medal hunt at the
New Zealand Spring Short Course Competition underway in See SNZ Live
results page Day 1 - Sunday Cody Ball gained bronze
in U16 100m butterfly 59.67 and set a Southland short course record. Joyce Wiegersma bronze in 400m freestyle 4:18.99. Day 2 - Monday Cody Ball silver in U16
50m butterfly 27.03 just 2 splits off Jared Sandri’s record. Adam McDonald in the
same race gained bronze being just touched out by his team mate in 27.09. Joyce Wiegersma silver in 800m freestyle 8:58.85. |
|
Beckie Dooley bronze in
U16 200 breaststroke 2:40.35 Natalie Wiegersma bronze
in 200 breaststroke 2:32.58 a new Southland short course record. Natalie Wiegersma gold
100m Individual medley just piping Helen Norfolk by 3/100ths and setting a
New Zealand age group short course record of 1:04.04. Day 3 - Tuesday With only 3 swimmers in
the finals session Beckie Dooley continued her great form picking up a bronze
in the U16 100 breaststroke in 1:15.58. Day 4 - Wednesday Cody ball finished 4th
in the U16 200m butterfly setting a new Southland short course record for his
age group at 2:13.43. Natalie Wiegersma again
topped the podium gaining a gold in the open 200m individual medley after
breaking her own Southland open record at 2:15.99 in the heats during the
morning session. |
Cody Ball grabs Southland Record |
Swimming Southland Administration
Officer : Tuesday, 19 September 2006
|
20 September 2006 Swimming Southland is
proud to introduce our new Administration Officer Lisa Harris. Lisa’s appointment
commences on 20th September and from this date she will be
transitioning into the role. The administration
officer role has been created to undertake all administrative duties
previously done by the secretary. In time other duties performed by convenors
will also be transitioned to Lisa. |
|
We have taken this
opportunity to change our email address. This became necessary during the change
so was unavoidable. The new address for all correspondence with Swimming
Southland should now be.. We will advise Lisa’s
telephone contact once this is established, but in the meantime please email
or use the PO box for all correspondence. |
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Southland winter series concludes
: Monday, 4 September 2006
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4 September 2006 Invercargill, The palace
The Swimming Southland
winter series concluded in the weekend with the Southland Winter
Championships. This was followed by a prize giving for the Ascot Park Hotel
Winter league series. 86 swimmers representing
9 clubs slugged it out in what was a quick fire program. Lower numbers as a
result of less Otago swimmers did not dampen the competition. For a full results printout click here |
|
At the conclusion of the
meet many swimmers and supporters adjourned to the luxurious surroundings of
the Ascot Park Hotel. After a long hot day at the pool nothing better than to
kick back with a beverage. Southland Olympic
cyclist Matt Randell wasted no time in getting the prize giving under way
handing out prizes, vouchers and cash money to the place getters for League 3
and the overall league series points place getters. The prize pool totalled
$3250 The overall points
results are posted on the Swimmers page Check out the pics Winters & League Prize Giving |
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Southland represented at FINA
world youth champs : Friday, 25 August
2006
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24 August 2006 Rio Southland Swimmer
Natalie Wiegersma (16yrs) has become a world youth champion winning the 100m
backstroke final at day 2 of the FINA World Youth Championships currently
underway in Rio de Janerio, After qualifiying 2nd
fastest in the semi-final yesterday in a personal best time of 1:03.35 she
went on to beat top seeded Russian Anastasia Zueva by 0.42 seconds. Natalie
swam 1:02.41 in the final, setting a new Southland Open record and a NZ age
group record for 16 year olds. This time also faster than the 17 and 18 year Natalie will be
competing in the 200m Individual Medlay, the 100m butterfly and the 200m
freestyle on days 3,4 and 5 of the competition. |
|
Swimming Southland coach
Jeremy Duncan is at the meet as assistant coach of the Swimming "We have taken a
very young group to "We set the
selection standard at the 18 years level so they did very well to qualify. I
expect this to be a very competitive competition. If we are able to get
swimmers through to finals it will be an outstanding performance. " More information on Rio 2006 |
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Regional
Assessment Days : Friday, 28 July 2006
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Regional assessment days
is a Swimming New
Zealand program aimed at assessing our younger elite swimmers on a national
basis. National high
performance director Clive Rushton has set up the program to be undertaken as
three 1 day camps held in each centre throughout the country. |
|
Oscar van Steklenborg
has been appointed the Swimming Southland RAD coach and will be holding the
camps on 25 June, 27th August and 19th November. 17 Swimmers have been
selected to take part from the 14 and under age group. More information on RADs |
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Flume visit : Friday, 2 June 2006
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Sometimes it’s easier
when the swimmers stay in one place so the coach doesn’t need to walk up and
down. Well easier for the coach anyway. That’s just what happens
when Jeremy Duncan takes swimmers to the Flume at the Dunedin School of
Physical Education. Think of the flume as a
treadmill for swimmers – that’s a 4 million dollar treadmill. |
|
By observing the swimmer
swimming against a controlled and laminar flow of water it is a great deal
easier to spot subtle stroke faults. Flume operator Dave Pease assists in
stroke analysis and each swimmer takes home a tape covering 4 different
viewing angles – including 3 underwater. Swimmers can feel what
its like to swim at a known speed or crank it up to world record pace and
just hang on. |
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© 2006 Swimming Southland. All rights reserved