The Milwaukee Panthers swimming team just returned home from its annual 10-day training trip down in Florida. While in the Sunshine State, the team practices in an outdoor pool, on the beach and even in the ocean.
This year, sophomore Sara Bentley documented the trip, giving people back home a small taste of just what the training trip is like.
Showing posts with label swim/dive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swim/dive. Show all posts
Friday, January 15, 2016
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Panther Diver Featured On Sports Weekly
Milwaukee senior diver Rachel Margis was featured on the most recent episode of Sports Weekly with JP Cadorin.Margis, who has established herself as one of the top divers in the Horizon League during her time at Milwaukee, has helped the Panthers to one league title and a pair of runner-up finishes at the league meet.
To watch the entire story on Margis, click here.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Fun In The Sun: Part VII
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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Tuesday's entry comes from freshman Nick Menninga:
A beautiful sunny morning accompanied the team today as we started off this morning with the annual biathlon; a mile swim followed by a three mile run. After an average of about 45 minutes straight racing, all of us were exhausted. Back at the hotel it was time for the beach, as it was the last day to soak up the rays. After a couple of hours on the beach, most of us were tired and went back to our rooms to watch TV and take some well deserved naps.
After dinner we were back to the pool for the "senior practice." Instead of having to listen to our normal coaches, we got to do a practice run by the seniors. Starting with a snake warmup, which took us through all the lanes doing a variety of things from corkscrew stroke to front flips to sliding down a pad on our stomachs into the pool. We were then split up into lanes and we did trivia about the seniors. If your lane got it right you had an easy drill or fun swim, while it was a tough one if you were incorrect. After the trivia we went on to split up into classes; freshman, sophomores, and juniors. We had a short time to make a water ballet routine which the seniors judged, giving the juniors the victory, meaning they were done with practice. The freshman and sophomores then moved onto round two which was to create a new cheer relating to the team. The seniors discussed who the victor was for a while as it was a close battle, which the sophomores lost out, and were required to get back into the pool for another 500 yards.
This concluded our last practice in the pool for the trip and some went out to eat afterwards, while others went to the hotel to pack and get ready for the day of travel tomorrow.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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Tuesday's entry comes from freshman Nick Menninga:A beautiful sunny morning accompanied the team today as we started off this morning with the annual biathlon; a mile swim followed by a three mile run. After an average of about 45 minutes straight racing, all of us were exhausted. Back at the hotel it was time for the beach, as it was the last day to soak up the rays. After a couple of hours on the beach, most of us were tired and went back to our rooms to watch TV and take some well deserved naps.
After dinner we were back to the pool for the "senior practice." Instead of having to listen to our normal coaches, we got to do a practice run by the seniors. Starting with a snake warmup, which took us through all the lanes doing a variety of things from corkscrew stroke to front flips to sliding down a pad on our stomachs into the pool. We were then split up into lanes and we did trivia about the seniors. If your lane got it right you had an easy drill or fun swim, while it was a tough one if you were incorrect. After the trivia we went on to split up into classes; freshman, sophomores, and juniors. We had a short time to make a water ballet routine which the seniors judged, giving the juniors the victory, meaning they were done with practice. The freshman and sophomores then moved onto round two which was to create a new cheer relating to the team. The seniors discussed who the victor was for a while as it was a close battle, which the sophomores lost out, and were required to get back into the pool for another 500 yards.
This concluded our last practice in the pool for the trip and some went out to eat afterwards, while others went to the hotel to pack and get ready for the day of travel tomorrow.
Fun In The Sun: Part VI
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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Monday's entry comes from freshman Emily Roche:
Monday January 13th:
Another sunny day in Florida for the Panthers as we hit the pool for a two hour morning swim practice after our day off! While all the Panthers enjoyed a relaxing day off from practice and the pool, the coaches are ready to get back to work. Dave was all business giving the sprinters their final push pace set of the trip, while Kyle had an aerobic set waiting for the others. After practice a majority of the Panthers chose to take advantage of the beautiful sunny day and crowd around the beach and pool until the sun went down. Luckily it was a sting free day from the jellies and the Panthers enjoyed playing in the waves, tanning, climbing trees for coconuts, and playing frisbee in the ocean. The day passed by quickly and the Panthers were soon back at the pool with a split practice. An hour in the weight room with Heidi helping the Panthers get "swoll" and then an hour of a circuit swim from Kyle the Panthers found themselves tired out and ready for much needed big night sleep before they conquered the dreaded biathlon the next morning.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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Monday's entry comes from freshman Emily Roche:Monday January 13th:
Another sunny day in Florida for the Panthers as we hit the pool for a two hour morning swim practice after our day off! While all the Panthers enjoyed a relaxing day off from practice and the pool, the coaches are ready to get back to work. Dave was all business giving the sprinters their final push pace set of the trip, while Kyle had an aerobic set waiting for the others. After practice a majority of the Panthers chose to take advantage of the beautiful sunny day and crowd around the beach and pool until the sun went down. Luckily it was a sting free day from the jellies and the Panthers enjoyed playing in the waves, tanning, climbing trees for coconuts, and playing frisbee in the ocean. The day passed by quickly and the Panthers were soon back at the pool with a split practice. An hour in the weight room with Heidi helping the Panthers get "swoll" and then an hour of a circuit swim from Kyle the Panthers found themselves tired out and ready for much needed big night sleep before they conquered the dreaded biathlon the next morning.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Fun In The Sun: Part V
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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Sunday's entry comes from freshman swimmer Kiersten Seidel:
FINALLY! Today is the day that all of the Panthers have been looking forward too. It's Sunday, our first and only full day off from swimming on training trip. While some of the Panthers woke up early to go out onto the ocean to catch some fish, others, including myself and my roommates (Nicole Hutchins, Hannah Lucas and Kaela Ropson) used the morning to catch up on our sleep. Once we finally woke up, we changed into our swimsuits and hurried down to the beach. Most of the team was already there or arrived shortly after. The UWM Panthers spent the day outside soaking up the beautiful Florida sun. The girls laid out while the boys played football in the sand. Whenever it got too hot, we would all go into the ocean to cool off and play in the waves. Some Panthers enjoyed the food at the Tiki Bar, which of course included freshman Noah Dalluge, who has eaten every single meal at the Tiki Bar. His excuse: "I'm on vacation, why not enjoy it?" Once the sun went down for the day, all the Panthers went back to their rooms to get ready for our annual training trip dinner. The dress code for the women's team was dresses and skirts, however the dress code for the men's team was "anything but dryland clothes." I guess that's the difference between girls and boys. The women's team went to Aruba for their dinner while the men's team went to Ernie's Bar-B-Q. Kyle, Heidi, and Molly joined the girls team at dinner and Dave, Kelly and Kira went with the boys team. Both the teams had good food and good laughs. After we got back from dinner, my roommates and myself played Cards Against Humanity with freshmen Kristin Zablocki and Sarah Grieve. It was 11 o'clock at night by this time and we all decided we should call it a night to prepare ourselves for what Kyle has in mind for us in the morning…
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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Sunday's entry comes from freshman swimmer Kiersten Seidel:FINALLY! Today is the day that all of the Panthers have been looking forward too. It's Sunday, our first and only full day off from swimming on training trip. While some of the Panthers woke up early to go out onto the ocean to catch some fish, others, including myself and my roommates (Nicole Hutchins, Hannah Lucas and Kaela Ropson) used the morning to catch up on our sleep. Once we finally woke up, we changed into our swimsuits and hurried down to the beach. Most of the team was already there or arrived shortly after. The UWM Panthers spent the day outside soaking up the beautiful Florida sun. The girls laid out while the boys played football in the sand. Whenever it got too hot, we would all go into the ocean to cool off and play in the waves. Some Panthers enjoyed the food at the Tiki Bar, which of course included freshman Noah Dalluge, who has eaten every single meal at the Tiki Bar. His excuse: "I'm on vacation, why not enjoy it?" Once the sun went down for the day, all the Panthers went back to their rooms to get ready for our annual training trip dinner. The dress code for the women's team was dresses and skirts, however the dress code for the men's team was "anything but dryland clothes." I guess that's the difference between girls and boys. The women's team went to Aruba for their dinner while the men's team went to Ernie's Bar-B-Q. Kyle, Heidi, and Molly joined the girls team at dinner and Dave, Kelly and Kira went with the boys team. Both the teams had good food and good laughs. After we got back from dinner, my roommates and myself played Cards Against Humanity with freshmen Kristin Zablocki and Sarah Grieve. It was 11 o'clock at night by this time and we all decided we should call it a night to prepare ourselves for what Kyle has in mind for us in the morning…
Fun In The Sun: Part IV
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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Saturday's entry comes from sophomore swimmer Nic Halverson:
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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Saturday's entry comes from sophomore swimmer Nic Halverson:
Saturday, January 11th
Today we started out the day by practice, of course. It was an hour in the weight room then an hour in the pool for the guys. For the girls it was an hour in the pool then and hour lift. In the weight room we did a circuit two times though that worked all of our muscles. In the pool we did and hour of aerobic recovery. It was the first day that was super nice outside. The sun was out and there were no clouds. Once we got back to the hotel, many people went straight to the beach. It was nice to get in the ocean to cool off from the sun. Once the sun faded behind the tall buildings, many people went inside - most people had sunburn after the long day of sun. We then went to our second practice which was pain train. It was good to do that set at night so the sun wasn’t beating down on us. Everybody successfully made it through the pain train. After that many people had plans to do something that night since we didn’t have practice the next day.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Fun In The Sun: Part III - Women's Team
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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The third women's entry comes from senior Chloe Lewis:
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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The third women's entry comes from senior Chloe Lewis:
The
morning of January 10th began with the pleasant surprise that
instead of the previously forecasted rain, it was going to be a beautiful sunny
day. The panthers proceeded to practice excited that the sun was
finally shining. The lady panthers started out with dryland while the manthers
warmed up the pool for us. In Kyle’s classic dryland we did a combination
of sprints, push-ups, leg lifts, burpees and the dreaded four corners running
set. With the sun beating down on us for the first time since
we arrived, the lady panthers sweated through dryland and were looking forward
to hopping in the pool. With the manthers completing their set, the lady
panthers swooped in to start their practice of one of our timeless kick sets -
animal kicks. With our legs and hip flexors burning from dryland, we
pushed through the animal kicks encouraging each other along the way. We
concluded practice tired, but excited to finally be able to enjoy the sunshine
state!
After being dropped back off at the hotel, a large group went over to dunkin donuts where breakfast sandwiches, coffee and of course donuts were enjoyed. Immediately after finishing breakfast I went and changed into my swim suit ready to finally lay in the sun. Arriving down by the pool, many panthers had already set themselves up next to the pool and on the beach enjoying the sunshine. It was a little overcast at first, but every once and a while the sun peaked through. Avoiding jellyfish, Collin and I ventured down the beach picking up seashells and the biggest piece of coral I have ever found before. Unfortunately some swimmers were not so lucky at avoiding the jellyfish when they were in the water.
Exhausted from laying and playing in the sun, I later went inside to rest up and work on my winterim class, Child Psychology. In my classtoday I worked on raising my virtual child, Olivia and found out that I would be having another child to raise. Some other swimmers who have already taken the class informed me later that in the virtual child program I would also end of getting divorced and have to raise my children, so I have my work cut out for me. After spending a good amount of time on homework I went back upstairs to join my roommates in more nap time, before getting ready for night practice.
Night practice was set up to be a dual meet, Coach Kyle versus Coach Dave. All of the panthers were split up into teams by Kyle and Dave and we competed against each other in an all relays meet. Kyle put a lot of time into writing his lineup and putting people in events, whereas Dave was thrown for a loop at the last second and had to rearrange his lineup completely. In Dave’s new lineup some people were not in their normals events which was interesting and different to race. Battling neck and neck Kyle’s boys team came out victorious while there was a tie on the womens side. It all came down to a 4X100 IM relay. Both teams put up their strongest relay, but Dave’s girl’s team brought home the gold. Overall the day was eventful and it was nice to finally spend some much needed time in the sun.
After being dropped back off at the hotel, a large group went over to dunkin donuts where breakfast sandwiches, coffee and of course donuts were enjoyed. Immediately after finishing breakfast I went and changed into my swim suit ready to finally lay in the sun. Arriving down by the pool, many panthers had already set themselves up next to the pool and on the beach enjoying the sunshine. It was a little overcast at first, but every once and a while the sun peaked through. Avoiding jellyfish, Collin and I ventured down the beach picking up seashells and the biggest piece of coral I have ever found before. Unfortunately some swimmers were not so lucky at avoiding the jellyfish when they were in the water.
Exhausted from laying and playing in the sun, I later went inside to rest up and work on my winterim class, Child Psychology. In my classtoday I worked on raising my virtual child, Olivia and found out that I would be having another child to raise. Some other swimmers who have already taken the class informed me later that in the virtual child program I would also end of getting divorced and have to raise my children, so I have my work cut out for me. After spending a good amount of time on homework I went back upstairs to join my roommates in more nap time, before getting ready for night practice.
Night practice was set up to be a dual meet, Coach Kyle versus Coach Dave. All of the panthers were split up into teams by Kyle and Dave and we competed against each other in an all relays meet. Kyle put a lot of time into writing his lineup and putting people in events, whereas Dave was thrown for a loop at the last second and had to rearrange his lineup completely. In Dave’s new lineup some people were not in their normals events which was interesting and different to race. Battling neck and neck Kyle’s boys team came out victorious while there was a tie on the womens side. It all came down to a 4X100 IM relay. Both teams put up their strongest relay, but Dave’s girl’s team brought home the gold. Overall the day was eventful and it was nice to finally spend some much needed time in the sun.
Fun In The Sun: Part II - Men's Team
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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The men's second entry comes from sophomore Joe Chokran:
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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1/9/2014
Today the Panther swim team started out the day with a practice that included small groups at stations with different intense workouts at each one. The weather still wasn't cooperating with us, but we made the most of it after practice. A large group of us went out into the ocean around noon even in the extreme wind and raininess. The waves had to be 10-15 feet and more than half the team was out there playing in them and body surfing for the entire afternoon. By the time we were done with the waves, we were all too exhausted to do anything before our second practice so we relaxed until then. At night practice we did a standard Panther swimming test set; goal 50s. It's a set that challenges you to beat your average time from the last time you did it on every single 50 that you swim. Needless to say, it was easy to fall asleep at the end of the day.
Today the Panther swim team started out the day with a practice that included small groups at stations with different intense workouts at each one. The weather still wasn't cooperating with us, but we made the most of it after practice. A large group of us went out into the ocean around noon even in the extreme wind and raininess. The waves had to be 10-15 feet and more than half the team was out there playing in them and body surfing for the entire afternoon. By the time we were done with the waves, we were all too exhausted to do anything before our second practice so we relaxed until then. At night practice we did a standard Panther swimming test set; goal 50s. It's a set that challenges you to beat your average time from the last time you did it on every single 50 that you swim. Needless to say, it was easy to fall asleep at the end of the day.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Fun In The Sun: Part II - Women's Team
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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This entry comes from senior Diana Diel:
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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This entry comes from senior Diana Diel:
January 8,
Finally, everyone has arrived and we’re already to tackle our first day of TT(training trip) as a whole team. With our AM practice, Coach Kyle decided to do something a little different with our workout. But oops, it didn’t go over too well, it was a little chaotic and everyone was on a different page. So you can imagine Kyle was frustrated. He made it clear, “no more of this frilly, cutesie crap tonight”. So there we had it, “don’t eat any more donuts” according to Coach Dave and take care of your body.
So with the 8-hour day that was a head of us, there were plenty of clouds to go around and lots of rain. But that didn’t stop our little Panthers. They headed to the beach to take on the waves and fight the rip tides. Sophomore JJ got stung by a jellyfish, and didn’t even skip a beat to fling it off him and continue riding the waves. With that we headed back to the pool for PM practice. We knew it was going be a hard one with Coach Kyle’s reaction from morning practice, but these are the workouts that make us better. The Mid Distance group had some guest appearances from some of our sprinters and everyone had a awesome practice that went down with some great memories.
Fun In The Sun: Part I - Men's Team
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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The men's first entry comes from senior Jeff Maxwell:
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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The men's first entry comes from senior Jeff Maxwell:
Day one in Florida started out with a beach dryland session. After the late flight the night/morning before, morning practice was not an option. In general, you could see the team was excited to be in Florida and on the beach, while also coming to the realization that the coaching staff was not fooling around and this trip was business. After dryland, the team headed to the grocery store to stock up for the week. Many team members also took a nap, but for some, the ocean was on their mind. After the team reached its full numbers with the arrival of the women's team, we began our swimming part of the trip with Kyle’s spin on a well known test set - 5 threes, 3 ones. After long travel days and minimal sleep it was off to bed for most of the team shortly upon arrival back to the hotel.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Fun In The Sun: Part I - Women's Team
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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The first two entries come from junior Anna Yontz:
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pine Crest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 16th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against IUPUI on Jan. 17.
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Monday January 7th
Our Journey Begins
The Lady Panthers began their long journey to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida by heading to the Milwaukee General Airport in the late afternoon. After what seemed like several hours of checking in and security, the girls, headed by Coach Dave Joyce, finally found their seats amongst the many passengers to Georgia. Rumor had it, via SnapChat, that the men’s team was still stuck in their airplane with maintenance problems, just a few gates away. Once both teams hit the air in a race to GA, some Panthers caught up on some sleep and some pretzels, of course. Freshman Kristin Zablocki ate more homemade cookies than I could hand her. In Atlanta, we said a quick goodbye to the men’s team as they waited for their delayed flight to Florida. Envious while standing in the 11 degree weather, we grabbed some shuttles and headed to our luxurious hotel to order pizza and eat ice cream for the night. Loud noises were heard from the freshman room as they anxiously awaited their order of two large pizzas. Some would say they heard cries of pain. Then the Lady Panthers fell quickly asleep.
Tuesday January 8th
Almost There
After a good night’s slumber, a great breakfast in the hotel and some complimentary Starbucks coffee enjoyed by seniors Chloe, Brianna, and Mary, the Lady Panthers grabbed a few shuttles to head back to the Atlanta Airport. Since no bags had to be checked, we had too much time on our hands before the flight. Many Panthers headed to the gate to relax (sophomores Nicole, Kaela, and Hannah), while others had some fun riding the trains between concourses, obviously Hilary, Emily and me. An extra half hour delay at the gate caused a hair braiding session and a snack binge right before our final descent. After a rough plane ride with crying babies, claims Natalie, we finally touched down in Ft. Lauderdale. Upon the sight of our bags to our eager arms, we headed to wait for our vehicles. Finally! Coach Clements appears in our sight. Relieved and excited, we headed to the hotel to prepare for the night. At 8pm, filling 5 vans of swimmers, we headed to Pine Crest on the short but dreaded journey of our first training trip practice…
Our Journey Begins
The Lady Panthers began their long journey to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida by heading to the Milwaukee General Airport in the late afternoon. After what seemed like several hours of checking in and security, the girls, headed by Coach Dave Joyce, finally found their seats amongst the many passengers to Georgia. Rumor had it, via SnapChat, that the men’s team was still stuck in their airplane with maintenance problems, just a few gates away. Once both teams hit the air in a race to GA, some Panthers caught up on some sleep and some pretzels, of course. Freshman Kristin Zablocki ate more homemade cookies than I could hand her. In Atlanta, we said a quick goodbye to the men’s team as they waited for their delayed flight to Florida. Envious while standing in the 11 degree weather, we grabbed some shuttles and headed to our luxurious hotel to order pizza and eat ice cream for the night. Loud noises were heard from the freshman room as they anxiously awaited their order of two large pizzas. Some would say they heard cries of pain. Then the Lady Panthers fell quickly asleep.
Tuesday January 8th
Almost There
After a good night’s slumber, a great breakfast in the hotel and some complimentary Starbucks coffee enjoyed by seniors Chloe, Brianna, and Mary, the Lady Panthers grabbed a few shuttles to head back to the Atlanta Airport. Since no bags had to be checked, we had too much time on our hands before the flight. Many Panthers headed to the gate to relax (sophomores Nicole, Kaela, and Hannah), while others had some fun riding the trains between concourses, obviously Hilary, Emily and me. An extra half hour delay at the gate caused a hair braiding session and a snack binge right before our final descent. After a rough plane ride with crying babies, claims Natalie, we finally touched down in Ft. Lauderdale. Upon the sight of our bags to our eager arms, we headed to wait for our vehicles. Finally! Coach Clements appears in our sight. Relieved and excited, we headed to the hotel to prepare for the night. At 8pm, filling 5 vans of swimmers, we headed to Pine Crest on the short but dreaded journey of our first training trip practice…
Friday, January 13, 2012
Fun in the sun...part VIII
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pinecrest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 15th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against Carthage College on Jan. 14.
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The eighth entry is from freshman Kelly Theis:
Dear Diary,
Today was the last day of my first training trip with the UWM swim team, and let me tell you, it was one to remember. It has been said that I am the team’s best runner and I proved it so in this morning’s biathlon. The team woke up the same as every morning, loading the vans at 7:15. Tensions were high as everyone prepared for a mile swim followed immediately by a three mile run. No time was allotted for a clothes change, resulting in many boys running in only their speedos. The competition was fierce. Brittany Walsh took the gold for the girls and Sam Niesen pulled out a win for the guys, with Kyle Trelka and Nathan Welchlin hot on his tail. It was a valiant effort by all, especially those of us who aren’t so talented on land. After the banging biathlon, we all packed into our vans and headed back to the one and only Ocean Manor.
Within an hour of practice ending, almost the entire team was down on the beach, soaking rays as bathing beauties. We all knew it wasn’t going to be a difficult practice in the evening, so even Finke skipped his daily nap to play in the sun all afternoon. Today was the perfect day for Liz, Chris and I to show off our Soul Surfer moves to the team. (Rent the movie if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth it.) Brian Verink dug his annual hole in the sand, deep enough to cover the head of any boy on the team. Anna and Mic were then buried in the hole, covered in sand up to the neck. Can you say photo op? The afternoon was filled numerous photo opportunities; I would even go as far to say that there were a few beach photo shoots. Hands down Brady Huemann is the model of the team, that kid’s got a future. Around four in the afternoon everyone headed in and prepared for the senior led practice.
Coaches Kyle and Brittany got the night off, kicking back and relaxing as the seniors wrote and led our last practice in Florida. The practice consisted of trivia questions, all based solely on the all so interesting seniors themselves. Getting a trivia question right resulted in an easy set and a wrong answer landed a lane something a little more difficult. My team, “Team Slackers”, was filled with all of the team’s biggest gossipers so we never had to do the “hard sets”. As things go, the freshmen were the last out of the water, ending the night with a doggie-paddle relay race where each swimmer needed to bark like a dog while paddling. Interesting noises were made by all freshmen. Each freshman’s personality came out with their individual barks, Mic was a yippy Chihuahua whereas Finke was a powerhouse bulldog. The night ended with laughs, giggles and a massive team picture.
We had the hardest workouts of the season this week, but my abs received an equally difficult workout from laughing so hard with all of my teammates and best friends. Diary, I am so sad to leave Florida and the constant interactions with all of these swimmers. I don’t want to go back to Wisconsin, winter boots, and mittens. I wish we could stay in our bikinis and speedos just a little longer. The memories made over these past tens days are by far some of the best of my freshmen year of college.
Sincerely,
Kelly Theis
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pinecrest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 15th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against Carthage College on Jan. 14.
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The eighth entry is from freshman Kelly Theis:Dear Diary,
Today was the last day of my first training trip with the UWM swim team, and let me tell you, it was one to remember. It has been said that I am the team’s best runner and I proved it so in this morning’s biathlon. The team woke up the same as every morning, loading the vans at 7:15. Tensions were high as everyone prepared for a mile swim followed immediately by a three mile run. No time was allotted for a clothes change, resulting in many boys running in only their speedos. The competition was fierce. Brittany Walsh took the gold for the girls and Sam Niesen pulled out a win for the guys, with Kyle Trelka and Nathan Welchlin hot on his tail. It was a valiant effort by all, especially those of us who aren’t so talented on land. After the banging biathlon, we all packed into our vans and headed back to the one and only Ocean Manor.
Within an hour of practice ending, almost the entire team was down on the beach, soaking rays as bathing beauties. We all knew it wasn’t going to be a difficult practice in the evening, so even Finke skipped his daily nap to play in the sun all afternoon. Today was the perfect day for Liz, Chris and I to show off our Soul Surfer moves to the team. (Rent the movie if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth it.) Brian Verink dug his annual hole in the sand, deep enough to cover the head of any boy on the team. Anna and Mic were then buried in the hole, covered in sand up to the neck. Can you say photo op? The afternoon was filled numerous photo opportunities; I would even go as far to say that there were a few beach photo shoots. Hands down Brady Huemann is the model of the team, that kid’s got a future. Around four in the afternoon everyone headed in and prepared for the senior led practice.
Coaches Kyle and Brittany got the night off, kicking back and relaxing as the seniors wrote and led our last practice in Florida. The practice consisted of trivia questions, all based solely on the all so interesting seniors themselves. Getting a trivia question right resulted in an easy set and a wrong answer landed a lane something a little more difficult. My team, “Team Slackers”, was filled with all of the team’s biggest gossipers so we never had to do the “hard sets”. As things go, the freshmen were the last out of the water, ending the night with a doggie-paddle relay race where each swimmer needed to bark like a dog while paddling. Interesting noises were made by all freshmen. Each freshman’s personality came out with their individual barks, Mic was a yippy Chihuahua whereas Finke was a powerhouse bulldog. The night ended with laughs, giggles and a massive team picture.
We had the hardest workouts of the season this week, but my abs received an equally difficult workout from laughing so hard with all of my teammates and best friends. Diary, I am so sad to leave Florida and the constant interactions with all of these swimmers. I don’t want to go back to Wisconsin, winter boots, and mittens. I wish we could stay in our bikinis and speedos just a little longer. The memories made over these past tens days are by far some of the best of my freshmen year of college.
Sincerely,
Kelly Theis
Fun in the sun...part VII
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pinecrest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 15th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against Carthage College on Jan. 14.
****************************************************************************
The seventh entry comes from a pair of Panthers. The first version, from junior Mike Schalla:
Wednesday's morning practice was a bit different than most days. Both the men’s and women’s teams were given the choice of whether to go the pool to do a normal workout or do an ocean workout. The ocean workout consists of swimming to different buoys in the ocean and running along the beach. The combination of the long distances between buoys, the waves, and the tides made it difficult to swim fast and in a straight line. On top of that, many of the younger swimmers and even some of the older ones were very nervous about the possibility of swimming into jellyfish and other ocean animals (Brady Huemann, Nathan Welchin, Rob Miller).
We started with a warm-up of swimming out to a buoy, then along the coastline to a different buoy and then back in to the beach. We stuck together and everyone soon realized that there weren’t any 20-foot sharks and that we had nothing to be afraid of. About half way through our ocean workout the wind picked up and before we knew it, we were swimming in what felt like 15-foot waves. In reality, they weren’t close to that size but the waves did make swimming much harder and we left the ocean feeling tired and a bit sandy. The team members who didn’t choose the ocean workout didn’t get off easy either, they had a tough pool workout that helped build their aerobic capacity.
With clouds in the sky and a chilly wind, mostly everyone decided to stay indoors and get a little nap in.
We arrived to the pool that evening with the sky having a beautiful orange sunset, a nice start to the evening. Night practice was an hour of dryland and an hour of swimming. The theme tonight for swimming was shorter sprints, working on top-end speed rather than longer aerobic training. Everyone was doing something fast off the blocks with freestylers doing 50 and 100's and stroke swimmers doing multiple 25's. Dryland was a test set where we had to do max pushups, sit-ups, and pull-ups. The goal was to beat the amount we had done earlier in the season. We left the pool looking forward to completing the biathlon the coming morning.
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Junior Mike Brady's version:
Daybreak, Wednesday, January 11th. We awake to a calm Florida morning though we all know that that it is just the calm before the storm that is the Ocean Swim. A majority of Panthers took the challenge of taking on the Atlantic in all of her glory. She fought back with large waves jostling those like Nathan Welchlin and Ryan Finke.
After the Panthers had conquered the great Atlantic, mother nature frowned upon us with an overcast day, though as we all know you get the best bronze on with overcast UV rays so the joke's on her.
Later that day, and with only four practices to go, the Panthers went to Pine Crest high school with an air of mystery and wonder on what the coaching staff would comprise for another day of guts and glory.
The practice: an hour of dryland and an hour of swim. The men started off with a short warm up and then a stand up set that both tested physical and, more importantly, mental toughness. The freestyle men dominated six 50’s while the ironmen of distance tackled six 100’s.
Then the men took on a classic Panther test set: two minutes of push ups and sit ups, followed by one minute of push ups and sit ups and then finally a max pull up. Every press of the earth and crunch of the abs meant we were one step closer to a "3-peat" as the Panther men left one of the nicest looking high schools in Florida.
One day left….get ready, Cleveland ;)
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pinecrest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 15th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against Carthage College on Jan. 14.
****************************************************************************
The seventh entry comes from a pair of Panthers. The first version, from junior Mike Schalla:Wednesday's morning practice was a bit different than most days. Both the men’s and women’s teams were given the choice of whether to go the pool to do a normal workout or do an ocean workout. The ocean workout consists of swimming to different buoys in the ocean and running along the beach. The combination of the long distances between buoys, the waves, and the tides made it difficult to swim fast and in a straight line. On top of that, many of the younger swimmers and even some of the older ones were very nervous about the possibility of swimming into jellyfish and other ocean animals (Brady Huemann, Nathan Welchin, Rob Miller).
We started with a warm-up of swimming out to a buoy, then along the coastline to a different buoy and then back in to the beach. We stuck together and everyone soon realized that there weren’t any 20-foot sharks and that we had nothing to be afraid of. About half way through our ocean workout the wind picked up and before we knew it, we were swimming in what felt like 15-foot waves. In reality, they weren’t close to that size but the waves did make swimming much harder and we left the ocean feeling tired and a bit sandy. The team members who didn’t choose the ocean workout didn’t get off easy either, they had a tough pool workout that helped build their aerobic capacity.
With clouds in the sky and a chilly wind, mostly everyone decided to stay indoors and get a little nap in.
We arrived to the pool that evening with the sky having a beautiful orange sunset, a nice start to the evening. Night practice was an hour of dryland and an hour of swimming. The theme tonight for swimming was shorter sprints, working on top-end speed rather than longer aerobic training. Everyone was doing something fast off the blocks with freestylers doing 50 and 100's and stroke swimmers doing multiple 25's. Dryland was a test set where we had to do max pushups, sit-ups, and pull-ups. The goal was to beat the amount we had done earlier in the season. We left the pool looking forward to completing the biathlon the coming morning.
****************************************************************************
Junior Mike Brady's version:Daybreak, Wednesday, January 11th. We awake to a calm Florida morning though we all know that that it is just the calm before the storm that is the Ocean Swim. A majority of Panthers took the challenge of taking on the Atlantic in all of her glory. She fought back with large waves jostling those like Nathan Welchlin and Ryan Finke.
After the Panthers had conquered the great Atlantic, mother nature frowned upon us with an overcast day, though as we all know you get the best bronze on with overcast UV rays so the joke's on her.
Later that day, and with only four practices to go, the Panthers went to Pine Crest high school with an air of mystery and wonder on what the coaching staff would comprise for another day of guts and glory.
The practice: an hour of dryland and an hour of swim. The men started off with a short warm up and then a stand up set that both tested physical and, more importantly, mental toughness. The freestyle men dominated six 50’s while the ironmen of distance tackled six 100’s.
Then the men took on a classic Panther test set: two minutes of push ups and sit ups, followed by one minute of push ups and sit ups and then finally a max pull up. Every press of the earth and crunch of the abs meant we were one step closer to a "3-peat" as the Panther men left one of the nicest looking high schools in Florida.
One day left….get ready, Cleveland ;)
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Fun in the sun...part VI
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pinecrest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 15th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against Carthage College on Jan. 14.
****************************************************************************
The sixth entry comes from freshman Sierra Townsend:
To begin our eighth day in Florida, the team traveled to the pool with nothing but a vague idea as to what our practice would contain. After a long team warm up, coach Kyle Clements instructed us to split up into groups. To the upperclassmen on the team, this meant one thing: stations. As a freshman, I had been told many horror stories of training trip: the pain train, goal 50's, tough dryland practices, animal kicks, a biathlon, and much more. However, stations was the one practice that was rumored to be somewhat enjoyable.
Stations consist of – you guessed it! – different stations. Each lane contained either a set or a drill that focused on one specific aspect of swimming. For example; one lane dealt with breath control, another with our underwater kicking, and a third with IM. The practice was a nice differentiation from the standard practice format we were used to. It was also nice to swim with teammates outside of our usual practice group; my group enjoyed a hauntingly beautiful rendition of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep as performed by Maggi Beck, Brady Huemann, and Evan Green.
After practice, a large majority of the team headed down to the beach to improve our tans (or, for some of us, our sunburns). We caught a glimpse of a few manatees and an odd-looking fish. We also showed off our famous Panther dance moves to make a music video under the direction of the birthday girl, Sophia Schmidt. Some of the team then retired indoors to take a nap and recuperate for the evening practice.
This practice consisted of the classic animal kick set. Animal kicks (I realize this is a peculiar name for a set and I am afraid I do not know of its origin) are simply ten 100's on 1:40 kicking as fast as possible. The women’s team tackled this set in the first hour of practice while the men’s team lifted weights. Throughout the set, the team was encouraging each other to persevere, despite our collective fatigue. This positivity makes it much easier to forget about the soreness and pain of the set and focus instead on putting forth all you have.
For the second hour of practice, the women’s team lifted while the men took to the pool. Our lifting was divided into three stations in which there were four or more individual lifts. The practice ended with everyone doing sit ups and passing a medicine ball down the line we were formed in – a tough exercise developed by captain Heidi Niespodzany.
To end the day, the women’s team was surprised with pizza provided from the Panther favorite, DaVince’s Pizzeria. As a way of releasing some stress from the past week, we also stood in a circle on the beach and all shared one or more positive aspects of our training trip thus far. It was a great way to refocus as a team before the final stretch of our time here in Ft. Lauderdale.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pinecrest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 15th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against Carthage College on Jan. 14.
****************************************************************************
The sixth entry comes from freshman Sierra Townsend:To begin our eighth day in Florida, the team traveled to the pool with nothing but a vague idea as to what our practice would contain. After a long team warm up, coach Kyle Clements instructed us to split up into groups. To the upperclassmen on the team, this meant one thing: stations. As a freshman, I had been told many horror stories of training trip: the pain train, goal 50's, tough dryland practices, animal kicks, a biathlon, and much more. However, stations was the one practice that was rumored to be somewhat enjoyable.
Stations consist of – you guessed it! – different stations. Each lane contained either a set or a drill that focused on one specific aspect of swimming. For example; one lane dealt with breath control, another with our underwater kicking, and a third with IM. The practice was a nice differentiation from the standard practice format we were used to. It was also nice to swim with teammates outside of our usual practice group; my group enjoyed a hauntingly beautiful rendition of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep as performed by Maggi Beck, Brady Huemann, and Evan Green.
After practice, a large majority of the team headed down to the beach to improve our tans (or, for some of us, our sunburns). We caught a glimpse of a few manatees and an odd-looking fish. We also showed off our famous Panther dance moves to make a music video under the direction of the birthday girl, Sophia Schmidt. Some of the team then retired indoors to take a nap and recuperate for the evening practice.
This practice consisted of the classic animal kick set. Animal kicks (I realize this is a peculiar name for a set and I am afraid I do not know of its origin) are simply ten 100's on 1:40 kicking as fast as possible. The women’s team tackled this set in the first hour of practice while the men’s team lifted weights. Throughout the set, the team was encouraging each other to persevere, despite our collective fatigue. This positivity makes it much easier to forget about the soreness and pain of the set and focus instead on putting forth all you have.
For the second hour of practice, the women’s team lifted while the men took to the pool. Our lifting was divided into three stations in which there were four or more individual lifts. The practice ended with everyone doing sit ups and passing a medicine ball down the line we were formed in – a tough exercise developed by captain Heidi Niespodzany.
To end the day, the women’s team was surprised with pizza provided from the Panther favorite, DaVince’s Pizzeria. As a way of releasing some stress from the past week, we also stood in a circle on the beach and all shared one or more positive aspects of our training trip thus far. It was a great way to refocus as a team before the final stretch of our time here in Ft. Lauderdale.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Fun in the sun...part V
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pinecrest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 15th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against Carthage College on Jan. 14.
****************************************************************************
The fifth entry comes from senior Brady Huemann:
After an eventful afternoon off on Sunday, our luck had run out and the Panthers had to enter the pool once again on Monday morning. We woke up to find that our muscles were still aching and we were about to embark on another day of tough practices. Even the sky was weeping for us as we walked outside and were welcomed by a warm Florida mist. Although it was raining and we were tired and sore, nothing was going to stop us from getting into the pool and training like the champions that we are.
Our challenge for the morning was a grueling set of 5 x 300 freestyles best average. The pain reached from our shoulders down to our feet and the intensity of the pain increased as the set went on. We lost some swimmers due to injuries during the set but for those who toughed it out, the accomplishment of completion was rewarding. After morning practice, my van led by coach Brittany Sayler enjoyed a delicious breakfast to fill us with energy for the afternoon practice.
Once the sun came out, many people went down to the beach to get their tan on and splash in the ocean. I would like to say that I enjoyed this fun but that would be a lie. I accidentally took a much needed three-hour nap instead, which interfered with my usual card games with Maggi, Evan, and Chris. Before we knew it, our fun in the sun was over and we had to prepare to go back to Pine Crest for our afternoon practice.
We mentally and physically tried to prepare our bodies for our test set of goal 50's (or 100's if you are lucky enough to be a distance swimmer). The 50's seemed more difficult than ever and it seemed nearly impossible for me as well as many others to reach their goal times. Each 50 became harder and harder as my arms and legs began to give out. Eventually, we finished our 20 x 50's and coach Kyle gave us the good news that we didn’t have to do a third set. I was so happy that I embraced some of my lane mates with a hug (I am not sure if they necessarily appreciated it though).
After a rough day of practices, our van was in a good mood and we celebrated with our usual after-practice ritual of singing and rocking out in the van. We ended the night in a heart-wrenching performance of Bohemian Rhapsody where everyone joined in and sang with the voices that God gave them. It was truly a moving performance. Maggi, Chris, and I then enjoyed a delicious meal at Burger-Fi, which for those who don’t know, has probably one of the coolest pop machines in the world. We created many different concoctions of our favorite drinks.
Well, everything is going great here down in Florida and both the guys and girls teams are working harder than ever in order to be the best once conference rolls around.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pinecrest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 15th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against Carthage College on Jan. 14.
****************************************************************************
The fifth entry comes from senior Brady Huemann:After an eventful afternoon off on Sunday, our luck had run out and the Panthers had to enter the pool once again on Monday morning. We woke up to find that our muscles were still aching and we were about to embark on another day of tough practices. Even the sky was weeping for us as we walked outside and were welcomed by a warm Florida mist. Although it was raining and we were tired and sore, nothing was going to stop us from getting into the pool and training like the champions that we are.
Our challenge for the morning was a grueling set of 5 x 300 freestyles best average. The pain reached from our shoulders down to our feet and the intensity of the pain increased as the set went on. We lost some swimmers due to injuries during the set but for those who toughed it out, the accomplishment of completion was rewarding. After morning practice, my van led by coach Brittany Sayler enjoyed a delicious breakfast to fill us with energy for the afternoon practice.
Once the sun came out, many people went down to the beach to get their tan on and splash in the ocean. I would like to say that I enjoyed this fun but that would be a lie. I accidentally took a much needed three-hour nap instead, which interfered with my usual card games with Maggi, Evan, and Chris. Before we knew it, our fun in the sun was over and we had to prepare to go back to Pine Crest for our afternoon practice.
We mentally and physically tried to prepare our bodies for our test set of goal 50's (or 100's if you are lucky enough to be a distance swimmer). The 50's seemed more difficult than ever and it seemed nearly impossible for me as well as many others to reach their goal times. Each 50 became harder and harder as my arms and legs began to give out. Eventually, we finished our 20 x 50's and coach Kyle gave us the good news that we didn’t have to do a third set. I was so happy that I embraced some of my lane mates with a hug (I am not sure if they necessarily appreciated it though).
After a rough day of practices, our van was in a good mood and we celebrated with our usual after-practice ritual of singing and rocking out in the van. We ended the night in a heart-wrenching performance of Bohemian Rhapsody where everyone joined in and sang with the voices that God gave them. It was truly a moving performance. Maggi, Chris, and I then enjoyed a delicious meal at Burger-Fi, which for those who don’t know, has probably one of the coolest pop machines in the world. We created many different concoctions of our favorite drinks.
Well, everything is going great here down in Florida and both the guys and girls teams are working harder than ever in order to be the best once conference rolls around.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Fun in the sun...part IV
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pinecrest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 15th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against Carthage College on Jan. 14.
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The fourth entry post comes from junior Maggi Beck:
Today is Sunday, so we have been in Florida for six days now. Everyone was sore and tired going into the morning practice but our hopes were high because we had the afternoon off. The whole team was together for the first hour of practice and we did a quick kick/sprint set. It was a good set to get our heart rates high in the little amount of time that we had. After an hour, the lucky people that lift weights three times a week, which is over three-fourths of the team, got out and went to the weight room. I am not sure what they did in there, but I heard it was hot and packed with people. The distance and IM swimmers continued to swim in the pool for an hour. We did Melvins, which is a stand-up set that a guy named Melvin used to do and he did really well once so we copy him. The set was pretty hard but because the sun was shining it did not seem as bad.
After practice, we had so much time so I got my suit on and headed toward the beach. There were a lot of activities to choose from during the day. One group of twelve people and coach Dave Joyce went deep-sea fishing and were lead by a crazy captain. Another group went shopping at the mall; Chloe bought a really nice Nike jacket that was worth the trip. Some people had relatives living in the area so they went and visited them. The last group went with Coach Kyle to a place called Pramanti Brothers. I went along with this group but I did not get their number-two seller, which is a burger with coleslaw and french fries on it.
Then Brady, Evan, CJ and I played hearts by the pool for a while. The game was intense, but Evan won and Brady lost by quite a bit. It was time to go to our team dinners. The boys went to Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Co. and the girls went to Aruba for our second year in a row. It was nice to get dressed up with all of the girls. The food was really good and so were the conversations.
After supper, Brady and I were trying to get into some trouble. We searched for a good hour for some, but we ended up just chatting with some friends at the cabana by the pool. I went back to bed and got locked in the bathroom because the door is off its hinges and Randee had to save me. Overall, it was a very successful day for the Panthers in Ft. Lauderdale.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pinecrest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 15th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against Carthage College on Jan. 14.
****************************************************************************
The fourth entry post comes from junior Maggi Beck:Today is Sunday, so we have been in Florida for six days now. Everyone was sore and tired going into the morning practice but our hopes were high because we had the afternoon off. The whole team was together for the first hour of practice and we did a quick kick/sprint set. It was a good set to get our heart rates high in the little amount of time that we had. After an hour, the lucky people that lift weights three times a week, which is over three-fourths of the team, got out and went to the weight room. I am not sure what they did in there, but I heard it was hot and packed with people. The distance and IM swimmers continued to swim in the pool for an hour. We did Melvins, which is a stand-up set that a guy named Melvin used to do and he did really well once so we copy him. The set was pretty hard but because the sun was shining it did not seem as bad.
After practice, we had so much time so I got my suit on and headed toward the beach. There were a lot of activities to choose from during the day. One group of twelve people and coach Dave Joyce went deep-sea fishing and were lead by a crazy captain. Another group went shopping at the mall; Chloe bought a really nice Nike jacket that was worth the trip. Some people had relatives living in the area so they went and visited them. The last group went with Coach Kyle to a place called Pramanti Brothers. I went along with this group but I did not get their number-two seller, which is a burger with coleslaw and french fries on it.
Then Brady, Evan, CJ and I played hearts by the pool for a while. The game was intense, but Evan won and Brady lost by quite a bit. It was time to go to our team dinners. The boys went to Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Co. and the girls went to Aruba for our second year in a row. It was nice to get dressed up with all of the girls. The food was really good and so were the conversations.
After supper, Brady and I were trying to get into some trouble. We searched for a good hour for some, but we ended up just chatting with some friends at the cabana by the pool. I went back to bed and got locked in the bathroom because the door is off its hinges and Randee had to save me. Overall, it was a very successful day for the Panthers in Ft. Lauderdale.
Fun in the sun...part III
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pinecrest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 15th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against Carthage College on Jan. 14.
****************************************************************************
The third entry comes from senior Nathan Rahe:
"FINNA QUAD RUNNERS!!" This is the war cry that is shouted by the five members of the group of guys that always warm-up together before breaking up into the separate groups.
To begin this rough day of training, the men's team began with an hour of football field suicides, sprints, and abs. The intensity that was brought out during these dreadful 100-yard dashes pushed everyone to the max, gaining the most effort toward the workout from everyone. At the conclusion of dryland, we quickly changed into our ratty, tight speedos and hopped into the pool for another hour-long “fun activity.” This set began with a few hundred yards of warm-up, then quickly turned into our main set that was a total of 2,250 yards long and max effort. It consisted of a 500 swim, 250 kick, 400 swim, 200 kick, 300 swim, 150 kick, 200 swim, 100 kick, 100 swim, and a 50 kick. It took the majority of us about 26-27 minutes to finish. Even though it was a long, hard, straight swim, we all put forth our best effort to swim as quickly as we could to get our best times.
After a rough morning practice, the team went to the beach to bask in the lovely Florida rays, swim in the ocean and have fun on the beach. Others….were too tired to come to the beach and just wanted to rest before the infamous “Pain Train” set we had to come later that evening.
This set is Coach Kyle’s favorite set to give us during training trip. This was the last time I was going to have to swim this distance IM set (THANK GOODNESS!). 5x 400IM’s + 100 Fly was the challenge of the night to complete on various intervals. Many of the sprinters were given the option to do the set short course instead of long course, and many stepped up to the challenge. This was the first time we did this set in a two hour practice, which many of us seemed to like better than lifting before hand. The team all successfully completed Kyle’s mental challenge and all the seniors cheered to it being the last time we ever had to do that set. It was indeed a great day to be a Panther.
Lastly, from Mike Brady’s infamous words of wisdom, Finna Quad Runners went above and beyond for today's rough day of training.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pinecrest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 15th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against Carthage College on Jan. 14.
****************************************************************************
The third entry comes from senior Nathan Rahe:"FINNA QUAD RUNNERS!!" This is the war cry that is shouted by the five members of the group of guys that always warm-up together before breaking up into the separate groups.
To begin this rough day of training, the men's team began with an hour of football field suicides, sprints, and abs. The intensity that was brought out during these dreadful 100-yard dashes pushed everyone to the max, gaining the most effort toward the workout from everyone. At the conclusion of dryland, we quickly changed into our ratty, tight speedos and hopped into the pool for another hour-long “fun activity.” This set began with a few hundred yards of warm-up, then quickly turned into our main set that was a total of 2,250 yards long and max effort. It consisted of a 500 swim, 250 kick, 400 swim, 200 kick, 300 swim, 150 kick, 200 swim, 100 kick, 100 swim, and a 50 kick. It took the majority of us about 26-27 minutes to finish. Even though it was a long, hard, straight swim, we all put forth our best effort to swim as quickly as we could to get our best times.
After a rough morning practice, the team went to the beach to bask in the lovely Florida rays, swim in the ocean and have fun on the beach. Others….were too tired to come to the beach and just wanted to rest before the infamous “Pain Train” set we had to come later that evening.
This set is Coach Kyle’s favorite set to give us during training trip. This was the last time I was going to have to swim this distance IM set (THANK GOODNESS!). 5x 400IM’s + 100 Fly was the challenge of the night to complete on various intervals. Many of the sprinters were given the option to do the set short course instead of long course, and many stepped up to the challenge. This was the first time we did this set in a two hour practice, which many of us seemed to like better than lifting before hand. The team all successfully completed Kyle’s mental challenge and all the seniors cheered to it being the last time we ever had to do that set. It was indeed a great day to be a Panther.
Lastly, from Mike Brady’s infamous words of wisdom, Finna Quad Runners went above and beyond for today's rough day of training.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Fun in the sun...part II
With the UWM swimming team down in Florida on their annual training trip, we thought it would be fun to have a member of the team share their thoughts each day on the UWM Blog.
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pinecrest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 15th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against Carthage College on Jan. 14.
****************************************************************************
The second entry post comes from sophomore Brianna Huth:
The Panthers swim team started out day three of the training trip looking strong at the duel meet against the Tigers. The men held strong leads in all of their events and finished 1-2-3 consecutively, while the women swam outstanding relays and really brought it home in all their individual events.
Day three also brought along some excitement, starting with a break in of one of the team vans in the Jamba Juice parking lot, which lead to a search for the van members' belongings that had been taken...which were later located by the local police in near by trash cans...guess they weren't happy with the swim bag contents of wet towels, practice suits, caps and goggles, SORRY.
Later, after a lounge by the beach in the beautiful 70 degree Florida weather, a group walked off to Burger Fi, a new "high-tech" burger joint with touch screen soda dispensers where you could add any flavor you wanted to your sodas! Very, very exciting. On the walk home we passed the team's old hotel for training trip, Lauderdale By The Sea, and were shocked to see "KEEP AWAY, HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS" signs located all over the exterior of the building. Way to go coaches on finding our new hotel, Ocean Manor.
Starting to bring the day to a close, fire alarms directed the team out of the hotel and then informed them of the false alarm, which was followed by a show off down on the beach between Jordan Diel and Mike Schalla in a 200IM ocean swim which brought a crowd. Panthers then brought it on during their second practice of the day swimming through a tough practice and weight session.
Three days down and much more excitement to come on the Panthers Training Trip 2012, stay tuned!
The Panthers are in sunny Fort Lauderdale, training at Pinecrest Academy, both short and long course.They will be on the trip through the 15th of January before resuming the regular season schedule second semester against Carthage College on Jan. 14.
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The second entry post comes from sophomore Brianna Huth:
The Panthers swim team started out day three of the training trip looking strong at the duel meet against the Tigers. The men held strong leads in all of their events and finished 1-2-3 consecutively, while the women swam outstanding relays and really brought it home in all their individual events.
Day three also brought along some excitement, starting with a break in of one of the team vans in the Jamba Juice parking lot, which lead to a search for the van members' belongings that had been taken...which were later located by the local police in near by trash cans...guess they weren't happy with the swim bag contents of wet towels, practice suits, caps and goggles, SORRY.
Later, after a lounge by the beach in the beautiful 70 degree Florida weather, a group walked off to Burger Fi, a new "high-tech" burger joint with touch screen soda dispensers where you could add any flavor you wanted to your sodas! Very, very exciting. On the walk home we passed the team's old hotel for training trip, Lauderdale By The Sea, and were shocked to see "KEEP AWAY, HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS" signs located all over the exterior of the building. Way to go coaches on finding our new hotel, Ocean Manor.
Starting to bring the day to a close, fire alarms directed the team out of the hotel and then informed them of the false alarm, which was followed by a show off down on the beach between Jordan Diel and Mike Schalla in a 200IM ocean swim which brought a crowd. Panthers then brought it on during their second practice of the day swimming through a tough practice and weight session.
Three days down and much more excitement to come on the Panthers Training Trip 2012, stay tuned!
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