Jun
27
On Saturday June 12th I participated at the 2010 Finswimming Championships in Brig. In the midst of final exams at school and not really a great training regime I decided this was the one distraction needed to “recharge” my batteries. As I was limited to one day, my program for this year’s meet looked a bit different from what it probably would have otherwise. And it also marked my first outdoors competition of the year.
I started the morning with the prelims of the 100m FS and placed 2nd with a time of 48.6 which was good considering I was holding back a little and using my soft workout fin. Next up was the 50m AP. I won the silver medal in 19.5 which came rather as a surprise. I used the Glide for this race what probably slowed my down off the blocks, so I was actually pretty happy with that time as well.
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Mar
14
It didn’t look like I would ever get to an end with this post. I started writing on it last summer when I got back from my coaching stint in the Florida Keys. But kept adding and changing things ever since. This post allowed me to sort my ideas and figure out what I want to do in the future. Putting in all of what happened in those now almost four years in Geneva was impossible but believe most of it wasn’t that exciting anyway.
Things have been pretty crazy the last year (and a half) to say the least. From going through the first part of my training in the Swiss Army, coming back to Geneva and working my way back in the pool under the guidance of Benjamin Paris with the Lancy Swim Team, coaching the Florida Keys Swim Team for a summer to again coming back to Geneva to follow a packed study schedule to eventually graduate (by the end of July 2010).
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Dec
23
We left from Geneva airport early in the morning. Our first flight went from Geneva to Barcelona where we had an almost 3 hours layover before we took the next flight this time nonstop to Tenerife North. From there we had a bus ride of about an hour to the other end of the island to our hotel.
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Dec
14
On Sunday Dec 6th I participated at the Copa da Natal hosted by the Flippers Team Locarno at the Centro Sportivo di Tenero. We left around noon on the day before the meet to bring the 6h travel involved in getting from Geneva to Tenero behind us in a more or less stress free and comfortable manner.
Even though I felt tired because my studies kept me busy and up late many nights, I was looking forward to compete in LCM again. Finswimming is just a different beast in SCM with twice as much under water work involved. And of course in the “high-speed” events such as the 50m AP the turn slows you considerable down.
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Oct
12
The 2009 ITU Telecom World Youth Forum has served as platform for the development of global network of youth that truly want to make a difference in the future of information and communication technologies (ICTs).
We are aware of the challenges that stand before all of us in achieving the goal of connecting our world by 2015. However, the dire need to connect the world is too great for us to slow the pace of progress. We urge all UN agencies, national governments, industry and market leaders, educators, and society as a whole support the ITU “Connect a School, Connect a Community” initiative. It will reach those who can most benefit from adequate ICT connectivity and applications: children, and underprivileged groups. The Youth Forum is proud to have been addressed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to support this important initiative and thank ITU Secretary-General Dr. Hamoudon Touré and BDT Director Sami Al Basheer for moving this initiative forward.
The following declaration aims to highlight the most significant challenges related to ICTs today. Our vision is to address these challenges. Our focus is on all ICTs, from basic public payphones and mobile phones to television, Internet and IPTV. We request your kind attention and thank you for taking the following demands for action seriously.
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Sep
29
It’s been two full weeks back to school for me after my three months summer of coaching in the Florida Keys. Mark Hill, former Head Coach of the Florida Keys Swim Club and assistant Race Club Coach, who left the Keys after two years to go back to work for his mentor Mike Bottom, former Race Club Coach, at the University of Michigan gave me this great opportunity to work with his team during the summer.
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Jun
13
This year’s Finswimming Championships were held on Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7 at the Centro Sportivo in Tenero. Unfortunately, the first day of the meet had to be canceled due to heavy rain and thunderstorms. As a consequence of this, Sunday was packed with events as the organizers decided to integrate most of the events into the program of this second day of competition.
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May
5
The 6th round of the CMAS Finswimming World Cup was held on Friday, May 1 and Saturday, May 2 at the Centro Sportivo (outdoor) pool in Tenero. I did only participate on the 2nd day of competition on Saturday but did take on 4 race that same day.
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Apr
29
L’édition 2009 du Meeting de Printemps a eu lieu le samedi 25 avril à la piscine de Tivoli à Lancy. Ceci était la première compétition après les Championnats Suisse en grand bassin et les Championnats Suisses des Clubs. Bien qu’on avait fait une petite pause après ces deux échéances, nous n’avons pas perdu de temps pour reprendre le travail en dehors et dans l’eau.
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Apr
27
This summer I’ll be heading to the Florida Keys once again. Only this time, the main purpose for my visit won’t be my personal swimming but the swimming of the Florida Keys Swim Club athletes. I’m going to do some coaching along with Mark Hill, head coach of the FKSC.
My plane ticket is already booked and my flight is leaving on Sunday, June 14 from Zurich Airport. I’m looking forward to a great summer in the Keys and learning from Mark’s experiences and hopefully bring some of my personal experience to the team. If some of you are in the area, please let me know and we’ll try to meet up and have some fun.
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Nicolas is a Computer Science student living and studying in Geneva blogging about swimming, finswimming and other things in life. 
