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Catch the Spirit
Submitted by Susan Lecza, Camp Director
Connecticut Swimming played host to an LSC "Catch the Spirit" camp on Saturday April 26, 2003 at Wesleyan University. The 51 swimmers were treated to a day filled with swimming, meetings, games and lots of prizes. Ben Michaelson spent the day working with the kids in the water on their strokes and showing off some of his talents. He also entertained the campers with stories of his experiences and signed lots of autographs.
Connecticut Swimming would like to thank the camp coaching staff for making the camp a success, the staff included Tom Behn (SHEL), Christine Pelham (MCC), Ed Steinnagel (LEHY), Omar Cruz (ZEUS) and Cathy Topping (UN).
The main goal of the camp was to give the kids a fun day of swimming. It was designed to be motivational and educational and accomplished all of those goals. The evaluations that came back from the kids were positive; they enjoyed everything about the camp and most rated the coaches a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. When asked, "I wish we did more ..." most answered more swimming and prizes (even though there was a prize for everyone). When asked, "I wish we did less..." most answered talking. When asked what about the camp motivated them to be a better swimmer, most answered listening to Ben talk. This camp was held for 10, 11 and 12 year olds and below are the campers' evaluations.
1. THE BEST PART OF CAMP WAS:
Swimming, learning new things, when Ben showed us his swimming, the raffle, eating, getting free stuff, when Ben talked to us, having fun, games, meeting new people, talking with Ben, “I liked the black float you could walk on”, “You people should make one for older kids for next year”
2. I WISH WE HAD DONE MORE OF:
Swimming, listening to you guys, nothing-everything was perfect, eating, games, activities, prizes, starts, breaststroke, turns, freestyle.
3. I WISH WE HAD DONE LESS OF:
Talking, swimming-the water was cold, butterfly, papers & work, nothing-I liked it all, sitting in the uncomfortable chairs.
4. EVALUATE THE COACHES ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10, WITH 1 BEING THE LOWEST AND 10 BEING THE HIGHEST:
The average was 9.2.
5. HOW DID THE COACHES HELP YOU?
Helped improve my technique, by telling me what I did wrong, helped my streamline, told me good nutrition, taught me new drills, they motivated me.
6. HOW DID THE CAMP MOTIVATE YOU TO BE A BETTER SWIMMER?
It just did, it encouraged me, it motivated me, it showed a better and more fun view of swimming, Ben taught me lots of stories that motivated me, the coaches did it, it made me more confident, Practice-Practice-Practice, by the man from Team USA, telling us what we are capable of, helping with technique, having Ben there really motivated me because he is a really fast swimmer, by working hard and listening to the coaches, to see that Ben started out bad but is now the best swimmer, it was fun, taught me to be a team, Ben showed me that anything can happen, how to set goals, made me a better swimmer by improving my strokes, Ben’s speech, “I learned that – I guess everything”
Connecticut Swimming's Board of Directors would especially like to thank Sue Lecza for the wonderful job she did organizing and running this camp. It was a huge success!