TNT Mardi Gras Practice 2010

Level 4 and 5 earned thier beads by achieving goal times.  If they were less than a second away, they earned the regulars.  Less than 0.5 the mediums and faster than goal time, the bigs. They also won beads by figuring out thier pace during 50 yard repeats.  It usually took several tries, but once they figured their pace, they were pretty good at it.  If they guesstimated under 0.5 they got the regs, within 0.2 the mediuims, and if they nailed it, the big specialty beads.  It was a fun way to swim fast.

Level 1 and 2 swimmers got clean up duty.  First though, they had to earn beads the same way level 3 did by grabbing them before they sank to the bottom of the pool. This group started from the deep end and had less distance to cover before the beads hit bottom. The practice finished with an all out bead dive.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a group shot, but they all got a ton of beads and King Cake for all!

First the level 3 kids swam a set of 10 x 250 while collecting beads thrown by coach Jan from the deck.  They could only grab the ones that landed in front of them, but could not go back for any they missed.  Those sank to the pool bottom and were left there for the level 1 and 2 swimmers who came in for the next practice. 

Following that set, they stood on the pool deck at the shallow end and waited for coach Jan to throw beads into the deep end of the pool.  Once the beads were thrown and hit the water, a swimmer could jump in and sprint to the deep end and then dive deep to try to grab the beads before they hit the bottom. The kids sprinted hard and then had to hold their breath at the end of the sprint in order to dive and get the beads. The bigger the beads, the faster they sank and the faster they swam.  It was alot of fun followed by delicious King Cake.

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