2.07 Free Choice Blog

Five Reading Selections from Splash Magazine:

Mark Gangloff
by: Bonnie Moss

Summary:
This article was about the two time Olympic gold medalist, Mark Gangloff. He is now 28 years old and is comparing the differences of swimming at his current age to the times he swam before and during college. His practices now consist of less yards. Though that is so, he is still training for the 2012 Olympics. Gangloff's best stroke is breast stroke and he is perhaps the best in the world in the 100, 200 breaststroke. He describes how swimming has such an impact on his life and how much he enjoys it.

Personal reaction:
My personal reaction was that Mark Gangloff is really talented to be swimming for so long and still remaining consistent in speed.

Notes I would Use:
I would use a thought bubble because it lets me be creative in my own thoughts and opinions about this subject.

Summer Session: 10 Things about Big Summer Meets to Ponder
by: Casey Barret

Summary:
This article describes ten different big meet senarios to give examples of what it is like to swim in big summer meets. These meets can be competitive, nerve-racking, contain new qualifiers to contend with, increased exposure for swimming and media attention. All of these qualities makes swimming in national summer swim meets a challenge.

Personal Reaction:
My personal reaction of this article was that I felt the article was true. From personal experience, I know that big swim meets can be mindblowing. The pressure is intense.

Notes I would Use:
I would use a web because it's easy to local all the goals and events you need to focus on.

Athlete Activists
by: Mike Watkins

Summary:
This article was about four Olympic medalist swimmers who are fighting for their causes. Cullen Jones is open about supporting a foundation to raise awareness about child drowning. Cullen, almost drowned once so that makes him very passionate about the cause he's fighting for.

Amanda Beard and Garret Weber-Gale support a healthy lifestyle. That includes staying physically active and eating right. Beard, a mother herself,  is a focused on healthier school meal choices.  Weber-Gale, comes from Texas which is one of America's most obese states. He is the founder of Athleticfoodie, a health buisness.

Kicker Vencill supports  anti-doping. Due to his personal experience, drug safety is close to his heart. His pills were once contaminated and he got caught and was banned from competition for four years. He is an advocate for the Supplement Safety Now coalition.

Sprint Freestyle
by Chelsey Walden Schreiner

Summary:
This article was about sprinting freestyle. It talked about Coach Adam Mania who coaches Schroeder YMCA swim team in Brown Dear, Wisconsin. He describes drills that he makes his swimmers do to practice sprinting. There is a drill called 'quarter-quarter-quarter-quarter drill". That is when you begin in streamline position and have a heavy kick, then add arms, then streamline position with an all out kick, then lastly swim the final quarter. Practicing this repeatedly will get you prepared to sprint well in sprint races in an official swim meets.

Personal Reaction:
My personal reaction to this article was that how I can relate to drills and practices. From personal experience, I recognize improvements in my swimming from performing my coaches drills.

Notes I would Use:
I would use a list because there are different examples of drills listed in the articles.

Tuck to Streamlines
by Michael Mejia

Summary:
This article is about teaching you how to improve your streamline and flipturns. It tells you the ways to exercise your core so you can improve those techniques. You have to sit on an exercise mat and balance your buttocks. You crunch up together, arms grabbing your legs. You want to do this in a slow, controlled movement so you can exercise you abdomens correctly.

Personal Reaction:
My personal reaction to this article was that it's making me debate to perform these exercises and discuss them with my coach.

Notes I would Use:
The notes I would use is, again a list, because it chronologically lists steps to follow.

1.03 Materials and Free Choice

WHAT KIND OF READER ARE YOU?

I took the quiz for assessment 1.03. It determined that I am a fiction reader. I completely agree with this result because I'm interested in stories with feasable concepts. I like reading about people's issues that could perhaps relate to mine.



WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU READ THAT YOU ENJOYED AND WHY?
The last thing I read and enjoyed was most likely a Facebook.com status comment. The comment read "Congrats for winning the event! You did very well and made your team proud." The comment made me feel very proud and accomplished. I don't get compliments about swimming that often so it made me smile and laugh.