It’s been a while since I last posted something and I’m not positive that my time with the Swiss Army is a great excuse. I did have a few ideas for new content during the last weeks and started working on several of them. But I have to admit that life in the army is different and writing wasn’t always a top priority. So for now an update on what I’ve been up to this summer before reporting to the Swiss Army and some things that happened during that time.

I’ve been assigned to a troop called “Mob Log Ber Kp 104-1″ or simply the Mammoths. Compared to my first experience with the Swiss Army I did have a better time but I’m glad it’s over now. We still had to go through some training but it was more specific to the mission we had to accomplish during those weeks.

There’s really not much more I can share with you other than the news that put a smile on my face during the time with the Swiss Army…so keep reading for some swimming related news.

In 2009 I spent my summer working for my friend Coach Mark Hill with the kids of the Florida Keys Swim Club and helping the Coral Shores High School Swimming team to kick off their season. This summer I was again on deck with the CSHS as I was already in the Keys working with The Race Club.

Although I had to leave the team only a few weeks after the season started and with promising results in our first few dual meets I knew they’re going to have a successful season. They finished 3rd at Districts went on to Regionals and all did extremely well with the boys ending up going to States for two relays. At the Florida 1A – 3A State Championships those four boys represented the Hurricanes well and finished 13th in the 200 medley relay and 14th in the 200 freestyle relay.

At the end of the meet Coral Shores placed themselves as the best public High School in the state…Go Canes! Even with only the boys going to States this was a total team effort. But I still would like to highlight one of the seniors, Matt Herum. During our first practice Matt approached me to let me know his goals for his last season and tell me that he wanted to make the most of this last chance to represent the Hurricanes.

The day before I left the local Masters swimmer organized a small social at the Green Turtle and Matt (and his team mate Brett) showed up as well. It was getting late and people started to leave so I gave Matt and Brett a last pep talk and challenged them to show up for early morning practice the following day (morning practices were planned to start the following Monday). Matt set the bar high but the next morning both of them showed up and this was the moment I knew he fully committed himself and will succeed (same goes for Brett who also had a extremely successful season). He made States for an individual event, the 100 yard breaststroke. Just missing the Championships Final, Matt won the Consolation Final!

All of the seniors will be missed next year but our team is growing bigger and we have new people ready to step up. Coral Shores will rock like a hurricane again!

The CSHS Girls and I posing at a dual meet.

Like the CSHS Swim Team on Facebook. Check out the results from the Florida 1A – 3A State Championships.

First away meet for the Hurricanes will be at Westminster and also include Marathon High School Swimming Team.

The second dual meet of the Coral Shores High School Swimming and Diving Team will be at Founders Park. Warm-up starts at 4pm and the meet at 5pm.

The Coral Shores High School Swimming Team will be bagging groceries at Win Dixie in Tavernier on Saturday and Sunday from 1pm to 5pm to raise funds for the upcoming season.

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.

Swimming is my passion and I was fortunate enough to live it. Especially, after spending time serving in the Swiss Military and getting some classes for my Computer Science degree done over the last two years this was the single thing I was looking forward to for a long time. And once I was there and running the time went over way to fast. But it also was the one of the best things I did so far in my short life. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mark and the FKSC for the trust and support they gave me over those three months.

I was working with the kids from the FKSC, kids from the newly created Learn to Swim program as well as with the Fighting Manatee Masters. And for the first few weeks of their season with the Coral Shores High School Swim and Dive Team, one of my personal favorite. We went to simple meets and Championships, even got some Masters to compete for the first time in their life. And I even went to my first ever High School Dual meet with the Hurricanes the day before I left. To cut a long story short, we had a ton of fun (although we didn’t always have the same definition of the word)!

And I have to admit, it wasn’t always easy and there were times where I was close to failure to function. But in the end we always got the work done (creativity was key sometimes) and kept working towards our goals. Some of the kids may have seen big improvements, others may not have seen those same improvements yet. Believe me, I may know this better than a lot of other athletes. Swimming is a very demanding sport and you have to put in a lot of work, even to achieve only some of your smaller dreams. But as we told you, no one is going to remember what you did on a given day this summer (aside from your mom and dad). You did put in the work so people will remember the things that are still to come for you in the future.

I also want to let you know that the kids are in good hands as my former coach and friend Jon Olsen took over the reins of Florida Keys Swim Club once again.

If you visited my site over the summer you may also have noticed that aside from the work with the FKSC, I was also doing some work for The Race Club. Having the opportunity to be involved in what could possible be one of the greatest swimming projects is a big honor and an even bigger challenge to life up to the standards The Race Club stands for. And of course I would also like to thank the Hall’s and all the campers I had to opportunity to work with for their trust in my abilities.

To finish up, I have to repeat myself … this summer was an invaluable experience and a blast! There are some things cooking and I’m looking forward to the point where I will return back “home” to the Sunshine State once again.

Photos from the first dual meet for the Coral Shores High School Team in Miami against Gulliver.

Photos from the first morning practice for the Florida Keys Swim Club and the Coral Shores High School team of the 2009/2010 season at Jacobs Aquatics Center in Key Largo.

Get up to date on all the latest FKSC news. Read on the success our athletes had at Junior Olympic Championships and Zones and the welcome back to Jon Olsen as Head Coach for the FKSC. As well as some news for the Coral Shores High School squad with their season kicking off on September 2nd with the first dual meet at Gulliver.

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.

Update:

Here are a couple links to content related to my time in the Keys:

• International Age Group Invite in Fort Lauderdale (Gallery)
• International Age Group Invite (Summary by Coach Mark)
• Division II Championships (Summary by Coach Dan)
• Junior Olympic Championships (Gallery)
• FKSC Water Polo workout (Gallery)
• FKSC Intrasquad meet (Gallery)
• Latest news on Junior Olympics, Zones and Jon Olsen
• Last Chance Masters Meet in Coral Springs (Gallery)