So how did our guys look? The results look great. Was their any breakout swims we didn't expect?

http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=1749858&forum_id=10

Not really much that shocked anyone. Just a solid meet with some solid swims. Lots of emphasis on "racing" versus specific times.

not having Boris this year is going to HURT. I realize we have a different team this year, but how did the boys individual races compare to the rest of the nation last year at this point?? were we THIS far behind? (this due to our emphasis on different training philosophy?)
our head-to-head time comparisons in the individual events, against everyone else, are very discouraging.

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our head-to-head time comparisons in the individual events, against everyone else, are very discouraging

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for the most part, this has been the case every year for as long as I can remember. like Blastoff said, the emphasis in-season is, has been, and always will be on RACING rather than swimming smoking fast times. fast times are nice, sure, but the coaches wont sacrifice anything in their training plan to get them. the goal is to have those guys racing their guts out, swimming beat up and tired, so that when they get their rest end of season they know how to get the job done. any fast times in season are just icing on the cake. how many years have the Ags gone most of the season "unranked", only to finish in the top 20? Quite a few...

The A&M men have historically not rested in mid-season like most of the elite teams do. Texas for example rested for the recent UT Invite and swam some very fast times. Lots of these teams hope to earn some of their NCAA cuts early, so they can swim through conference championships to peak at NCAAs.

I think it is a simple truth that A&M is fast, but not super-fast, and Jay and Doug believe they can't afford to ease off for two weeks in December. So they train to peak at Big12s, earn their NCAA times, then try to hang on to their taper and speed for NCAAs.

Spicewood probably hit it on the head. I'm sure Jay and Doug would be the first to tell you that there are differing coaching philosophies, especially when it comes to rest meets, and that nobody has yet proven empirically which was best. I imagine that their feeling is that the way they do it works the best for the type of swimmer we have. If we were recruiting the swimmers that Texas or Cal or Stanford has routinely done 4 deep at every stroke, who knows, maybe they'd do it differently. But I think we can all agree that they seem to come pretty close to maximizing the abilities of the team, and that's about all you can ask from a coaching staff.

Different athletes react to training different ways and a single method isn't the best for everyone. It's kind of like in football...Rich Rodriguez isn't going to recruit a pocket passing QB. Our coaches probably pick up something in these kids that makes them believe that the swimmers perform better on this type of training schedule, and I think this is why we really mine some really underrated swimmers who wouldn't necessarily develop the same at other programs. Similarly, some of the guys at Texas and Cal and Stanford might not develop the same way in our program.

I think it's one of the big misconceptions of swimming that there's one way to do it. "Michael Phelps swims his freestyle this way, so that's how I should do it." There's some underlying ideas that we know work, but swimming is such a training-intensive sport that it's silly to assume that everyone's body and physiology will react the same way. We know what doesn't work (cough Kim Brackin), but there's more than one thing that DOES work.

[This message has been edited by AGBlastoff (edited 12/14/2010 9:55p).]

wow...I'm speechless...I definitely agree with Blastoff on those points, and very well said.

(no sarcasm intended there, just honest truth)

Once again somebody points out that Loncaric is out and thinks the world is going to crumble.

Look at the wider picture here:Henrik Lindau came in with times faster than Loncaric did his freshman year. The coaches are making INVESTMENTS with swimmers to make sure they can step up and get the job done IN THE FUTURE. Loncaric maybe out, but all this means is that some people need to step up sooner rather than later and they have guys to do that.
The work is cut out for them so just let them get it done.

If you know ANYTHING (chances are, you don't), and if you've been WATCHING (chances are, you haven't) then you would know that the Aggies don't taper in the Fall.
Let the other teams taper early, I'm sure its of no concern to the Coach Holmes and Boyd.

looks like the freshman discovered the internet again!

goosfraba

aggieswimfan, we're all friends here now. No need to be angry. Though, we haven't had a good message board blowup in a while...thanks for giving us a nostalgic little hint of the good old days. :-)