From the Head Coach
Long Course
This week's episode of the Weekly Updates features a segment with Coach Benji going over some of the small differences between short and long course seasons. While there are a couple of differences that are important to know the two seasons have far more in common than they differ. One important distinction that we should always remember is that Long Course is the world standard for swimming. The United States is the only country in the world that has 25 yard meets so any of our swimmers that may go on to swim internationally will be competing in meters (and almost always Long Course). Here in the US, we are all awaiting the release of the 2028 Olympic Trials cuts which will be of course, all in long course. So while long course represents a much shorter season in USA Swimming, it's still excited and very important.
Table of Contents
- From the Head Coach
- Long Course
- Next Three Weeks
- Nutrition Crner
- How are we stacking up?
- Excel Weekly Update
- Have a questions for a coach? Feel free to reach out.
- Sponsorship Corner
Nutrition Corner
Life as a student-athlete is BUSY! Between practices, meets, schoolwork, holidays and a social life, when are you supposed to sleep? Sleep should be at the top of every swimmer's priority list. Without a consistent sleep schedule, your recovery and performance can and will suffer. You might be asking what nutritional steps you can take to promote good sleep? There are many strategies, but here are three that have worked best for our swimmers. 1. Magnesium Whether you are taking a magnesium supplement or eating magnesium-rich foods (like almonds, cashews, black beans, spinach, kale), it has shown to raise your seritonin levels and supports relaxation. 2. Tart Cherry Juice Tart Cherry Juice is a natural source of melatonin and can help encourage quality sleep while reducing inflammation after a hard training day. It is important that you choose a juice that is not from concentrate. If you are looking for a good brand, my personal favorite is Cheribundi. 3. Eating Enough Throughout the Day! As swimmers, fueling is not only essential for optomizing practice performance, but also for sleep! If you wait until right before bed to do most of your fueling, you limit sleep quality because your body is focused on digestion. The best way to avoid this is ensuring you have a plan! Map out your meals at the beginning of the week so you can maintain proper balance leading into bedtime.
Excel Aquatics Swim School
As you may know, Excel Aquatics has a swim school that offers lessons in multiple locations. While "creating" new swimmers is a nice benefit, the true purpose is offering what may be a life-saving skill to as many new swimmers as possible. In that vein, we are looking to expand our teaching staff and that's where our parents come in! If you are one of the many of our parents that are already at the pool during practices we would love to recruit you! While there is no prior teaching experience necessary, this will be a paid position that even comes with a 50% discount for monthly dues for your swimmer at Excel (or for the highest level swimmer for families with multiple children). If you are interested in signing up, please contact our Swim School Director Dawn Van Ryckeghem at coachdawn@excelaquatics.org
How are we stacking up?
Throughout the short course season, we will be carefully following our team's national ranking as we aim to break into the top 40 for the first time every. You can follow along here!
Excel recognition programs
Over the course of the short course season, our club will be tracking a series of recognition programs to help motivate our swimmers to succeed un a multitude of events. While ultimately these programs do reward success, they are designed to be achievable by any level of swimmers, not just those with the most experience. You can always find the running totals for each on the "Running Total" report.
Heat Winner: Place in the top three swimmers in your age group for number of races won throughout the year. This award tends to favor those athletes that are attending meets, swimming a lot of events, racing hard but most importantly, improving throughout the year. Winners will receive a "Heat Winner" bag tag. IMX Awards
- IMX Bronze- Earn an IMX score between 1,000-1,999
- IMX Silver- Earn an IMX score between 2,000-2,999
- IMX Gold- Earn a minimum score of 3,000
IM Hall of Fame
- Level 1- Attain a Southeastern Championship Qualifying time standard in every event available for your age group.
- Level 2- Attain an Age Group Sectionals Championship Qualifying time standard in every event available for your age group.
- Level 3-Attain an NCSA Junior National Championship Qualifying time standard in every event available for your age group.
Want to become a swimming official?
All of our parent volunteers play a vital role in hosting meets. We simply could not host meets in your absence. While most jobs take little training or experience, meet officials go through an educational and training process that enables them to help officiate at all meets. In fact, our own Excel officials have outnumbered the host team officials in both our first two meets. We are very grateful to our officiating crew but are always looking for new members. What do officials do?
- Ensure a safe and fair competition for all our athletes
- Satisfy all their volunteer requirements
- Have the best seat in the pool
- Have access to hospitality
If you have any interest in becoming a USA Swimming Certified official, please contact Laura DeMotte at officials@excelaquatics.org
Excel Weekly Update
Our Weekly Update for 4-3-26 has been released so check it out! You may have noticed that we are receiving intros from a wide variety of sources. Olympians, SEC Champions, officials, swim moms and vendors are just some of the folks who have made an appearance. If you are traveling and want to send us an intro from a unique location, we'll be sure to include it. Interested in seeing where they all come from so far? Check out Excel Aquatics from around the world below!
Check out where our intros have come from on this World Map
Have a questions for a coach? Feel free to reach out.
- Brentwood High Performance: Steven Murry- Head Coach
- Brentwood Senior Groups: Benji DeMotte- Site Coordinator
- Brentwood Varsity Groups: Brennan Riddle
- Brentwood Junior Groups: McKenna Morello
- Brentwood Teal & Bronze: Daun Lutz
- Gallatin All Groups: Andreea Ianoli-Mitrofan- Site Coordinator
- Murfreesboro All Groups: JJ Langhals- Site Coordinator
- Spring Hill All Groups: Carrie Vaughan- Site Coordinator
- Muletown All Groups: Lynn Powell
- Administration: Shannon Oliver- Team Administrator
- Meet Director: Lori Biller
Sponsorship Corner
We are so grateful for all of our partners whose support of Excel Aquatics makes much of what we do possible. You can visit each of our sponsors using the links below.
Interested in becoming a sponsor of Excel Aquatics? Contact: Sponsorships@excelaquatics.org