Hello everyone! The email is quite long, so please bear with me. I want to provide you with all the information you need but all in one place.

Over the last two weeks, many of you have probably been wondering, “who is that young woman yelling at those children right now?” Well, in case you haven’t met me yet, my name is Catharine del Carmen, and I am the interim head coach for the Forsyth Flyers. I’m extremely excited to introduce myself to you all and tell you a bit about my coaching style.

If you don’t already know, I am the daughter of the Aquatics Director, Caroline. My swim career went on for about 10 years, and my mom coached me for half of it. My best and favorite events were the 100 Butterfly and 200 IM. My coaching career began at age 15 when I began working with the local YMCA summer swim league swim team. This sport has been a part of my life for most of my life, and I absolutely love it. I’m blessed to have another opportunity to share my passion for swimming with you all these coming months.

I set high expectations for my teams, and all who set foot on the pool deck and whose names appear on an official roster are expected to uphold such. I’ve kept it simple, 

“The Four Pillars of Success: Punctuality, Preparedness, Perseverance, and Team Players”

1. PUNCTUALITY
   • If your swimmer is attending practice that day, they are expected to be on time.
   • There is a limited amount of time and space on the pool deck. It’s extremely important that all swimmers arrive on time so that everyone can get the most out of practice. It is disruptive to the flow of practice and disrespectful to the other teammates when swimmers are trickling in at different times.
   • Punctuality is not walking through the door at 4:15/5:15/6:30 PM. It means being completely prepared, on the pool deck with swim cap and goggles on, and jumping into the pool when practice begins.
2. PREPAREDNESS
   • To reiterate, swimmers should be in their swimsuits, on the deck, equipment ready with goggles on, and jumping into the water at the time of their practice.
   • Communication is key. More on that further in email.
   • Fuel and hydration are crucial because I want your swimmers to push themselves. I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE that all swimmers start bringing a water bottle to practice. It is a good habit to always have water with you, especially while exerting yourself. Furthermore, the best way to prevent injury is to ensure your body is properly fueled with enough nutrients to push through challenging practices.
3. PERSEVERANCE
   • Practice is supposed to be hard. My main role as coach is to challenge and push your swimmers past their limits. I want to see them improve and succeed in this sport.
   • Your children signed up to be athletes. I will treat them as athletes and coach them as athletes. I firmly believe that hard work, perseverance, discipline, and a drive to improve are qualities that will transcend outside of the pool. Therefore, my goal as a coach is to teach and instill those qualities into your swimmer, so they can apply them to any passion they choose to pursue.
4. TEAM PLAYERS
   • Swimming is an individual sport, but swimmers train as a team. Teammates push each other to be better, lift each other up on hard days, and hold each other accountable. Swimmers compete against themselves and their old time while representing their team and teammates. Team spirit is important, even in individual sports.

I would like to note that Perfection is not a pillar of this team. I do not expect perfection from your swimmers because I know that is unattainable. Sometimes, things happen out of their control, so I prefer to instill perseverance in athletes. In many disciplines, technique matters the most when tired, so perseverance is key.

ACCOMODATIONS:

As parents of athletes, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of your role in the success of your swimmer. I understand that things happen: the bus was late, other lessons ran long, traffic built up, parents/guardians were running late, etc. However, as stated under PREPAREDNESS, communication is key. If you think your swimmer will be habitually late due to any circumstance, please let us know in writing, preferably ahead of time.

If there are any other accommodations you believe need to be made for your swimmer, please do not hesitate to bring those up. I aspire for you all to get the most of this experience.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM ME:

The Four Pillars also apply to me just as much as they apply to your swimmers. I am trying to coach this team as if it were a USA Swimming Club Team, but I am meeting your swimmers where they are at in order to build them up. I am teaching them training terminology, technique, lane etiquette, interval training, and endurance building. If they choose to move up to a club team and/or high school team, my hope is that I prepared you all enough to jump in with confidence and without hesitation.

Your swimmers have my full attention when they’re in the water. Even though my practices are pre-planned, I’m still watching their technique, taking notes of where the group is at as a whole, and thinking of ways to help them improve individually and as a team. Unless it’s urgent, I will only be able to “drop-in” with parents before the first practice at 4:15 PM or after the last practice ends at 8:00 PM. Due to the schedule, it’s best if we handle important matters by scheduling a time to meet in person or discussing the matter through email.