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Swimming with Olympians in the Mutual of Omaha Breakout Swim Clinic
Posted by: | CommentsTwo years ago my daughter participated in the Mutual of Omaha Breakout Swim Clinic with Olympians Matt Grevers and Kate Ziegler. She had a great time and talked about it for months. When we got an email last month saying the clinic was coming to the pool she trains at again, she was thrilled! Today finally arrived and she was so excited to meet Olympic swimmers Ian Crocker and Christine Marshall for another Mutual of Omaha Breakout Swim Clinic.
Posing for photo with Olympians Ian Crocker and Christine Marshall
The four-hour clinic was comprised of getting to know the athletes and their swim careers, stroke work in the pool, more stroke work, races with the Olympians (how cool is that?), question and answer time with the athletes, and autograph/photo sessions. Each swimmer got a t-shirt – love the back – “I raced a gold medalist today – what did YOU do?”, a bag, 2 DVDs of swim meets the Olympians, posters, a set of Finis goggles and snacks at the end of the swimming portion. I consider it to be an excellent value for the $75 entry fee!
All the goodies my daughter got from the Breakout Swim clinic.
Both Ian Crocker and Christine Marshall have retired from competitive swimming but it is apparent they both still love the sport and did an excellent job connecting with the swimmers. The drills were clearly presented with actionable instructions complete with high fives and compliments – all things that would inspire a young swimmer to be eager to try their best and bring what they learned back to practice.
Drills and practice for each stroke were done and at the end of the “instruction” for a stroke the athletes got their chance to race the Olympians. Ian and Christine were on the blocks side by side with the young swimmers and depending on how old the swimmers were, the swimmers may have gotten a little head start. It was all in good fun and had my daughter talking about it non-stop.
Olympic Swimmer Christine Marshall
I missed the beginning of the clinic – the part where Ian Crocker told his story – as I was out with friends getting a brisk walk in on a sunny day, but I was there for Christine Marshall’s story at the end of the clinic.
Christine is a young woman who certainly beat the odds when it comes to swimming. She was pretty upfront with the kids that she was not the coach’s dream athlete – she was super talented, but made quite a few bad choices along the way to include skipping school and practice, and not focusing enough on her swimming or her studies.
She must have been talented though!! In high school she was the State Champion in the 100 Free and was recruited by Texas A&M to swim in college. She was only given a 60% scholarship her Freshman year, but in college Christine definitely matured and got her act together earning a full scholarship by her senior year.
She talked about her road to the Olympic team. She was not even ranked in the top 10 in her events leading up to the Olympic Trials in 2008. As a matter of fact, she was ranked 50th. She needed to be in the Top 6 if she even had a chance.
One of the points Christine made to the swimmers is that you need to have Goals and that Goals are what keep you on track. Christine made herself a “death sheet” of the top 50 athletes in her races. Throughout the course of the season leading up to the Olympics she would cross off names as she swam faster than her competitors putting her in a confident spot going into Trials. I don’t think she ever expected to be in the top 2 but a top 6 spot was within her reach.
At the Olympic Trials her dream came true. She was in the top 6 and made the US National Team and US Olympic Team at the same time. While she only swam in prelims in the womens’ relay, her relay team took the bronze medal in finals which meant she got a medal, too.
My daughter asked Christine if she was trying for the Olympics this year, and she said “no, that she is trying to decide what path to take next in life.” For the moment she is managing a retail store and coaching gymnastics part-time.
If your swimmer has the opportunity to participate in one of the Mutual of Omaha Breakout Swim Clinics – go for it!! There is a different set of athletes for each clinic, but every athlete has a story and something to give back.
DegreeGirl Don’t Fret the Sweat iHome Player and Gift Set Giveaway
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The DegreeGirl “Don’t Fret The Sweat” campaign recently awarded $20,000 to five winning cheerleading teams of the Degree Girl Varsity Awards on their Facebook page. These cool and confident teams told DFTS how they were able to come together to overcome sweat-inducing moments and then rallied their communities to vote for them on Facebook. In celebration of the winning teams SportsGirlsPlay.com is hosting a giveaway a Degree Girl gift set for you, too!
The giveaway package includes:
- iHome – inspiring teams to get active before, during or after practice, with quick and easy music access
- Degree Girl Just Dance deodorant
- Degree Girl gym bag to hold gear
- Degree Girl water bottle to stay cool during workouts
The Degree Girl team sent us one of the giveaway sets to keep so we could give you our take on each item in the set. The iHome player is a fun docking station and speaker for your iPod that changes colors as the music plays. It charges your iPod while it plays music – perfect for practices, relaxing in your room or hanging out with friends. My 13-year old daughter immediately took the iHome to her room and it has become a part of her decor.
In addition, the gift set comes with a black gym bag for carrying all your gear to and from practice. The bag is very roomy and has plenty of pockets, too. The Degree Girl is my teen’s new favorite deodorant – according to her, it smells good and after using it for the past few weeks of gymnastics practices she has asked for a second one to keep in her locker.
So, how do you win this gift set for yourself?
Required entry: Leave us a comment on this post telling about a situation in sports that tested your nerves at first, but through determination, courage or encouragement from friends, you made it through! It could be about your first game, a championship meet, learning a new skill – you name it, we want to hear about it!
Bonus entries: Get BONUS ENTRIES by letting your friends know about our giveaway. Get one extra entry for each of the following, but come back and leave a second comment telling us where you shared it:
- Post about it on your own blog, in a forum, tweet about it or share it with your friends on Facebook
- Follow us on Twitter (we are @SportsGirlsPlay) – please send us a tweet letting us know you are following us and introduce yourself, too.
- Like us on Facebook (we are SportsGirlsPlay and Don’tFretTheSweat) – again, feel free to leave us a note on Facebook saying hello and that you are entering the giveaway.
Rules
- Leave your comment(s) no later than midnight January 10, 2012.
- Make sure your email address is right. We only use it to contact the winners and we will NEVER share it or publish it.
- You must be 13 or older to enter. If you are under 13, just ask your parent, grandparent, favorite aunt or uncle to enter for you!
- We will be using the “And the winner is” plugin to select one (1) winners at random.
Disclosure: Degree Girl sent us a gift pack for purpose of review but the opinions of the products are our own!
Next American Girl Doll of the Year Is a Gymnast
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Call it a coincidence or call it savvy marketing, but either way call it $$ signs for the American Girl company as their Girl of the Year for 2012 vaults into the limelight just in time for the London 2012 Olympic Games! That’s right, McKenna Brooks, the star of the year for American Girl is a GYMNAST. Her collection which will include (at a minimum) the doll, outfits, accessories, two books and a movie are sure to be a huge hit with little girls across the nation.
Now, I happened to be a bit biased and know that some people will scoff at the idea of spending $100 for a doll, but her stories will be meaningful for the 8-12 year old set and I am sure the messages will be positive. The book summaries go like this:
- McKenna – Girl of the Year 2012 Book 1 (American Girl Today)
by Mary Casanova – Seattle fourth-grader McKenna Brooks, who lives for gymnastics, struggles with school work until Josie, a tutor confined to a wheelchair, helps her with reading comprehension and much more. (Library of Congress summary)
- McKenna, Ready to Fly – Girl of the Year 2012 Book 2 (American Girl Today)
by Mary Casanova – When Seattle fourth-grader McKenna Brooks’ cast comes off she dives back into gymnastics training in hopes of making the competitive team, but after volunteering at a therapeutic horseback riding center, she considers broadening her interests. (Library of Congress summary)
There is a movie in the works as well, starring Jade Pettyjohn as McKenna. I am not sure if the movie is being released with the doll on January 1, 2012 or will come later in the year to renew interest in the line as the Olympics approach.
For more information about the American Girl of the Year 2012, McKenna Brooks including a picture of the actual doll, visit my other site, www.dolldiaries.com. The official release date of the books is December 27, 2011 and the debut of the doll should be January 1, 2012. It will be interesting to see the various press coverage of her debut and in the week’s after her release.
