Swimming Parents are Awesome

A note from Badger Parent Advocate, Mike Conaton:

We will do anything for our kids – drive them anywhere, cook them anything at any time, buy them countless suits and goggles, and travel long and far for meets to name a few selfless (and expensive) things. We do it because we love our kids and want the best for them, plain and simple.

Please allow me to start this season with a pep talk – You, me, all of us parents are doing an awesome job!

It’s hard to be a swimming parent. Getting our kids to multiple practices a week, on top of helping them with school work and attending to other sibling’s activities while trying to keep our jobs – in and of itself is a huge accomplishment. The weekend meets and eventual morning practices are in addition to all this. It’s not normal!

I just want to say thanks to you all. Please take a step back and realize that you all are awesome and your kids are blessed to have your support.

Being a swimming parent isn’t easy. This week’s article asks the question “is it all worth it?” Of course it is. While the article is written from a baseball perspective, (please insert your own experiences), it reminds us about the life’s lessons our kids are learning through swimming. OUR jobs are to let them learn these lessons and support them as much as we can without interfering too much or getting too overwhelmed with the demands.

My take away from this article is to remember the proper perspective. Of course we want our kids to swim fast (and we will talk about that as the year goes on), but I just wanted to remind myself and hopefully you that we’re also trying to make sure our kids become awesome human beings too…like us!

More articles to come…if you have any comments or questions about this or any other topic please contact me at mikecbadger@gmail.com to make an appointment or call.

Thanks,
Mike

Read the article here: Parent’s Pep Talk– A .pdf article found on TeamUnify.com

 

Michael Conaton, Badger Swim Club Inc. and Badger Swimming Inc. accept no liability for the content of this article, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided.

Badger Swimmer, David Stewart, to Join the Fighting Irish

Swim Swam Reports:

New York’s David Stewart to Join the Fighting Irish

The University of Notre Dame has received a verbal commitment from David Stewart, a senior at New Rochelle High School in New Rochelle, New York. Stewart will join the Fighting Irish next fall. He must have enjoyed his recruiting trip to Notre Dame this weekend, as he made his decision today.

Stewart represents Badger Swim Club, specializing in fly and freestyle (sprint and mid-distance). As a junior, he placed second in the 100 Fly and sixth in the 200 Free at the 2013-2014 New York Federation Championships. He also placed 45th in the 100 Fly and 57th in the 200 Fly at the 2013 Winter Junior Nationals.

Stewart’s Best Times
(SCY/LCM)
50 Free: 21.36/24.91
100 Free: 46.47/53.17
200 Free: 1:41.45/1:57.89
500 Free: 4:44.14/4:16.30
100 Fly: 49.36/57.29
200 Fly: 1:52.59/2:13.58
200 I.M.: 1:55.80/2:15.36

He Is Improving:
Stewart’s best short course times were all achieved during his junior season, indicating that he will continue to improve throughout the next year and beyond. In the past two years, he has dropped five seconds in the 200 Free, nearly three seconds in the 100 Fly, and seven seconds in the 200 Fly. At the rate he is improving, he could be going 47-48 in the 100 Fly and sub 1:50 in the 200 Fly by the time he joins the Fighting Irish.

While his times are not at the ACC Championship scoring level yet, Stewart may be needed in the 200 and 400 Free Relay during his freshman year. The Fighting Irish will be able to tap into Stewart’s potential soon, but his final high school season may prove that he can arrive at Notre Dame as an immediate contributor.

View the article on SwimSwam.com

Badger is going to Barton Orchards- Meet us there!

It’s a Badger family outing for team swimmers, alumni, staff and their families. Meet the crew at Barton Orchards on Sunday, October 5, from 10am-2pm. We hope this will be a fun opportunity for our families to get outside, make some memories and enjoy the fall air.

Barton Orchards is a bit of a drive at just over an hour away, but their apple picking just can’t be beat! If climbing an apple tree doesn’t sound like fun to you, perhaps picking some pumpkins from a real pumpkin patch (not a pile!) sounds even better!

Barton Orchards has something for everyone including a corn maze, farm market, vegetable garden for picking, farmyard animals, a pedal kart race track, exhibits, play areas, a haunted house and so much more!

Information on prices, parking and more can be found on their website. www.bartonorchards.com

We are producing a limited supply of Badger T-shirts to mark this seasonal occasion. Selection of sizing cannot be guaranteed, but we will try! They will be $10 each and available in youth and adult sizes. Reserve yours using the RSVP link below!

Please click here to RSVP if you are interested in meeting us there and we will place you on the ‘Badger Takes Over Barton!’ email list.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Coach John Collins announces appointment of Mike Conaton as the Badger parent liaison and advocate

Mike Conoton
Mike Conaton

Head coach of the Badger swim school and Badger Swim teams, John Collins, announced  the appointment of Mike Conaton as the Badger parent liaison and advocate.

Mike will serve as a resource to current and prospective Badger parents interested in learning more about competitive swimming more specifically the Badger program. Mike is a former accomplished competitive swimmer, and as a parent of three swimmers at various levels today, he has a unique perspective on a child’s swimming development.

USA Swimming is very interested in the comprehensive care of their swimmers. As a Level 4 US Swimming Club, Badger subscribes to this beneficial approach to developing swimmers. The USA Swimming website includes many articles and references available to help parents and their swimmers.  Mike will help navigate and interpret the USA website resources for parents.  Frank Busch, USA National Team Director and one of Mike’s former age group coaches, acknowledged his appointment.

“USA Swimming  is committed to providing programs and resources to our member network.  Swimming parents, and former swimmers, like Mike are perfect ambassadors for our message of long term comprehensive development”.

Mike is very interested in giving back and helping Badger families have the best swimming experience possible. Please contact him directly at mikecbadger@gmail.com to set up a call or visit.

Mike Conaton with his Son, Badger Swimmer, Patrick Conaton

Winter Session Registration details for Pre-team and Developmental

Winter Registration will be first come first serve to allow all families, including those on the wait list, an opportunity to participate in the swim program. We are expecting classes to fill up very quickly and we will once again run a wait list and do our best to accommodate everyone.

Registration will take place on-line only and we will open registration the 3rd or 4th week in October. We are please to announce that we are enhancing our online registration tool to allow for registration and payment to take place in one easy step.

Winter dates: December 1, 2014 – March 2, 2015

We will send out an email with more information as soon as we have final details to announce.

Add your name to the email list today!

Badger Gold Medalist at USA Swimming’s National Championships

Photo via Tim Binning/TheSwimPictures.com

Saturday was a big day for Badger at USA Swimming National Championships. There were five Badger swimmers competing in USA Swimming National Championship Finals.

The highlight of the night for Badger was the 100M breaststroke final. Cody Miller broke 1:00.00 for the first time and won gold in the 100M breaststroke last night with a time of 59.91.  

Lindsay Vrooman placed 6th in the women’s 400M freestyle.
Anina Lund placed 21st in the 400M freestyle with a personal best of 4:14.91.
Ryan Feeley placed 7th in the 400M freestyle.
James Wells placed 8th in the 100M backstroke.

Sunday was another strong day for Badger at Nationals.
The day was highlighted by the women’s 1500M freestyle. Badger’s Lindsay Vrooman and Anina Lund finished in the top eight. Anina placed 8th in the event with a time of 16:36.89, and Lindsay Vrooman placed 3rd with a time of 16:22.83. Ryan Feeley went on to place 6th in the men’s 800M freestyle with a time of 8:01.96. Derek Toomey capped of the day by placing 14th in the men’s 50M freestyle.

Badger placed 11th in the combined team scores.

Congratulations to all the Badger Swimmers!

Badger swimmer Patrick Conaton heading to Youth Olympic Games in China

Badger’s USA Swimming Junior National Championship gold medalist, Patrick Conaton, heads to China next week to compete against the world’s best 18 & Unders at the Youth Olympic Games.

The swimming portion of the Games is scheduled for Aug. 17-22 at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center. 

The three women nominated to represent Team USA in Nanjing include Hannah Moore (Cary, N.C.), Courtney Mykkanen (Tustin, Calif.) and Clara Smiddy (Miami, Fla.).

On the men’s side, Patrick Conaton (Larchmont, N.Y.), Patrick Mulcare (Tigard, Ore.) and Justin Wright (Fresno, Calif.) have been nominated to the Youth Olympic Team.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ARTICLE ON WWW.USASWIMMING.ORG

GOOD LUCK PATRICK!

Congratulations to Badger Swim Club’s Junior National Finalists

From Left to right: Spencer Lafata, Patrick Conaton, Brian Hogan, Maria Oceguera, Anina Lund, Oliver Patrouch, Richard Mannix, Jack Collins. Photo Courtesy of Rob Mian

Four of the seven members of Badger’s Junior National Team placed in the top 24 at USA Swimming’s Junior National Championships last week in Irvine, California.

Led by double medalist, Patrick Conaton, the team rose to the occasion.

Patrick won gold in the 200 meter backstroke and won bronze in the 100 meter backstroke.  He also placed 19th in the 200IM.

Spencer Lafata placed 16th in the 800 meter freestyle.

Leading the women’s team, Anina Lund placed 9th in the 800 and 1500 meter freestyles, 17th in the 400 freestyle, and 20th in the 200 freestyle.

Oliver Patrouch, in his first junior national competition, qualified for finals in the 50 meter freestyle.  He placed 23rd overall.

Senior National Championships begin this week at Irvine, and Badger is sending nine swimmers.  Please follow this link to USA Swimming’s National Championship page

http://www.usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=1418&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en