Good Luck, AW-K State Swimmers!

Good luck to the four fabulous Appleton West-Kimberly swimmers who will be competing at the Wisconsin 13 & Over State meet this week.  We will be rooting for you, Hannah Beckwith, Halee Fritsch, Rebecca Norum, and Megan Rambo!  Swim Strong!

Team Building

Hi AW-K Swimmers and Families,

I love team builders.  Team builders are the best.  I love corny team builders, and touchy-feely team builders, and team builders that force people to step out of their comfort zone.  

Over the course of our five days together, I had the team try at least one of each kind of team builder. We used Crayons and shared our favorite quotes (which will be displayed in the pool lobby), played with Twizzlers (I loved the symbolism, but licorice is way too sticky and breakable), and had relay races with ping-pong balls and straws.  I tied the team together. I made them sit in a "feelings circle". I watched them support each other across a bridge made of kick boards.

No matter what I threw at them, the team had no problem working together to get things done.  It was awesome.

There was a lot of laughter and a lot of sharing. There was not a single thing this group was unwilling to try.

We've got big goals for this season, and we are going to have to work together to reach those goals. We are going to have to rely on each other and support each other.  I am confident that this group is up to the challenge.  I can't wait to get started!

Coach Vicki

PS  I feel the need to let you know that we also did a whole lot of swimming during our contact days (for real).  I took these pictures with my phone, so the quality isn't the greatest, but they were too cute not to share.

Here We Go!

Hi AW-K Swimmers and Families!

Welcome to your new team blog!  It is my hope that you will get in the habit of checking in on this page fairly often--it really is the best way to get info and pictures out to the whole team.  To make it easier, you can subscribe, and each time I post something on the page, you will get it in email form. Just enter your email address in the "follow by email" spot, and you'll be set.

I'd like to thank each and every one of you who have reached out to welcome me to the team.  All of your emails and messages have made my day.  I'd also like to thank all the girls who came out for the contact days.   It was so great getting to know the team a bit during those practices. I absolutely loved having extra time to learn names, do a bunch of team builders, and see some fast swimming.  I feel like those contact days were a little gift to me as a new coach.

Once the season gets started, I will start posting reminders and photos on this page.  I take a ton of pictures throughout the season--feel free to copy any that I post here.  You can also find tabs for our practice and meet schedule, as well as links to the forms that need to be turned in before our first practice.   The coach and captain page will be updated with photos and bios soon--stay tuned!

I can't believe our first practice is only a little over 2 weeks away!  We are going to accomplish big things this season.  I can't wait to get started!

Take care,

Coach Vicki