Transcript
Joining us on coach's corner, KWBG, gonna talk some boom girls swimming today. Chris Mann joining us. We always give him that little bit of a break after the boys season. And then I say, okay, I'll see you in the fall. And holy cow, we're already here. It's fall time, girls got a chance. I know and we're busy during the summertime too. I saw pictures coach and you gotta be real proud about how these girls did in the off season. And I know we'll get to that in a second, but I guess the first thing we need to talk about immediately is what an outstanding group of girls you have already in the pool coach. 30 is an amazing number. Yeah, certainly more than we've had in the past. We kind of got blessed a little bit with a sharing agreement with Perry, their boys swim for us and their girls are gonna swim for us this fall. So eight girls coming over from Perry has really boosted our numbers and our practices quite a bit. So now we have, I think, one from Madrid, one from Ogden, eight from Perry. So you're looking at 20 girls coming from out of town and making, or sorry, 10 girls coming from out of town and that commitment is huge driving every day and we're so thankful to have them and our team atmosphere has been great this first week and a little bit of open swim stuff last week and they've gotten along great. And yeah, it's a big group and really exciting. Chris, I know it's not like this super holy cow how did this story even happen, but still I guess maybe kind of talk to folks about how the agreement with Perry came together and why those girls do have an opportunity to come over here and be a part of the Boone Swim program. Yeah, so like I said, their boys have swam with us forever, sharing agreement with them. They don't have a boys program, but they've always had a girls program and their pools, they're going some major renovations. So their AD reached out and said, hey, do you think that since our boys already go there that our girls could come there because they're not gonna have a pool, not gonna have an opportunity. And obviously as a coach, I don't want kids to not have an opportunity to compete and to swim. And so of course we welcome them with open arms and really have added to all of our classes. They've got freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. So all the classes grew a little bit and a lot more camaraderie around the team. And it's just been nothing but positive since the first day. Well, you did have something new though. And I know Chris Mann has been coaching and swimming for a while, but you had something that hasn't happened since your first year, Chris. What was it like getting into the pool for that first couple of days and going, I've never had you in class. I'm not sure what your last name is, but I'm gonna figure this out. I mean, you're kind of like going the first day of school too there at a new one, my friend. It was, yeah. Since my first year, I haven't really coached hardly anybody that I don't know, whether through swimming or through class, like I said. And it's just been great getting to know them and their swimming background and their lives. I don't know their parents either. So getting to know them a little bit, it's just kind of like adding to our swim family. And it's been, like I said, it's been really great. It's been a bit of a learning curve, but it all clicked very quickly. And I think that it's been very seamless. I was kind of worried about it during the summer and kind of bringing two teams together. And even if it's just for one year, possibly. And the girls have done a really good job. I haven't, I've just been able to sit back and just coach. The girls have just gotten along great. And we just started clicking from the very beginning. Well, something else too, and this is a word that I love to use when I'm talking about athletics because it means that there's a reason for the season. And there's always, of course, a reason for the season. But Chris, the word I'm gonna use is expectation because I have a feeling just with the group you already had coming back. I was told, obviously, who the girls were from Perry that were coming over and kind of looking at their results while we were talking beforehand. Coach, there's some lofty expectations. That's gotta be fair for me to ask, right? Oh, for sure. I mean, last year, we won our first ever conference championship. And so, obviously, the first team goal that popped out of their mouth yesterday during our team meeting was conference champions back to back. And so that's already a lofty goal as it is. We've got a lot of good teams in our conference, especially Decora, Grinnell, Newton. And Decora was right behind us last year and didn't graduate hardly any of their point scores. And we didn't graduate hardly any of our point scores. So it's gonna be another, a good grudge match. So that was a goal and just bringing in more people and more competition around the practice time and into meets and making those varsity lineups. I mean, it just elevates your day to day. It elevates every rep that we do. It elevates every meet that we go to. And so, raising those expectations and throwing out some goals for these girls that, I wouldn't say scared them, but they were a little shock to see some of the goals that I threw out and some of the goals that I said they should be focused on. And they came up with some great ones too. And so yeah, I think expectations are definitely very lofty and we like to find that fine line between a dream expectation and what is manageable. And I think we're kind of finding that line. It's a little bit further than we thought it would be. So I think it's gonna be a great season, yeah. Well, expectations is fun to bring up, but there's another word I love to bring up when it talks about sports and its depth because anybody can have something happen where all of a sudden I can't have you swim on Saturday, I gotta put somebody in. We know it as well as anybody. Chris, somebody gets sick, you know, I'm out on a Thursday meet, I gotta put somebody in. Chris, with 30 swimmers, your depth is, man, I hate to say this because you've had some amazing teams, but could this be a team that has your most depth potentially ever? Yeah, I think without a question, it could be. And you know, when you go to big swim meets, invites and stuff, conference meets, regional meets, whatever it may be. Last year at the conference meet, we only won one event. True. And then we ended up being conference champions because we were putting two or three girls on the awards stand, almost every event, because we had that depth and we were able to spread those girls across multiple events. And you're looking this year, like it's even gonna be deeper. So when we go to dual meets where, you know, it's not just, it's not always about getting first, it's about racking up those second and third place finishes and now, you know, getting your second and third place swimmers to beat other teams first and second place swimmers and just slide in ahead of those. And so really exciting that we're gonna be able to kind of spread out even more. We're also gonna be able to have like a full, really solid JV squad. So not only is our varsity gonna be really deep, but we're gonna be, we're gonna be deep and competitive across the JV levels as well. And really something that we're excited to just be able to compete against across all events and not have really any holes in our lineup. I know we've talked all about the girls that are gonna be swimming. We've talked about, you know, them dealing with each other, them dealing with coach as well. They're also getting a chance to deal with some new toys. Chris, a lot of nice improvements that people are gonna see when they come to meets this year for Boone Girls Swimming. Yeah, thanks to a couple of great donors in our Booster Club for funding a new scoreboard. We got a brand new video board in the pool. That's really awesome. I was talking with Keith Lehman the other day and he said, he heard, you know, girls walking by and they said, you know, for the first time in a long time, it's like we walk into our pool and it feels fancy. It's kind of fun to hear, you know, and we have a video board that's probably, I don't know pool to pool, but it's probably one of the best scoreboards pool-wise in the state. So really thankful for that and the opportunity. That crock plumbing and enterprise electric donated significant amounts of money to help fund that project in our Booster Club and that goes a long ways in not just boosting morale, but just showing off that, hey, this is a program that has been successful year after year and that we are supporting that and making those updates, see our pool. Pool's looking really great and we're really excited to get to use that and for people to see it. Well, and the kids feel that pat on the back too, coach. You can give them the pat on the back all you want. Boy, you've had a great season. You know, this has happened, but when something like that happens, that's a huge morale booster immediately. Yeah, you bet. Anytime the community gets behind our girls or our boys or our athletes in general, it really makes them feel good about what they've done and well worth all of the sacrifices that they made, you know, for this program, for the school. Yeah, and it's fun as a coach to see them feel appreciated. Sometimes you get the smaller sports that, you know, we don't have Friday night lights. Not hundreds of people don't come to our meets, but when the girls do get appreciated like this, it makes them feel really good and it makes coach smile a bit. All right, so my schedule's correct and Chris, you can tell me if I'm wrong. I think we're about 16 days out from heading to Mason City, is that right? Yeah, we kicked off with a big invite up Mason City and we'll actually see Decora right off the bat, which is probably our number one conference competitor. And I mean, it's an early season meet, so we'll see what we got. And, you know, between the first meet and the last meet, definitely see some significant changes along the way, but yeah, 16 days out and we'll kick it off with that invite up there. It'll be really good competition and a good first look. Chris, I'm gonna have to use a little bit of an analogy and you can groan or whatever, but is this almost like with that first meet? We're gonna toss a bunch of girls in the pool and just see who does what. I mean, 16 days is still, you know, it's a good amount of time, but we don't know how we're gonna swim in relays. We don't know how this person's gonna do when the lights turn on. You know, as well as I do, some girls when it comes to practice, okay, she does pretty well, but man, when the lights turn on, she is electric. So is that kind of what we do with Mason City? You know what, it kind of is, especially when it comes to relays. Like as a coach, after, you know, three weeks of practice, I get a pretty good feel. You know, I've been coaching a lot of the girls for a long time, but get a pretty good feel of who belongs where, and we'll run our intra squad meet scrimmage, you know, that Tuesday, probably before that meet and see where we're at, but it also just goes to show the girls that like you have to show up at practice and show me what you can do because we have 95 practices. We only have 12 meets, and so you have a lot more opportunities to show coaches what you can do at practice, but yeah, I'm sure that you'll see a lot of relay changes as the season goes on, trying to mix and match and see who fits where and different things. So we're gonna have a lot of opportunities to do that, and just excited to get that going. 16 days seems a long ways away, but it's gonna be right here, and we need to be ready to go. Are you slipping, Coach? Couldn't find a way to make it 100 practices and make it just a nice, you know, round number or what? What's going on there? I wanted to say 100, but that kind of sounds crazy. We'll just stick with 95. Chris, as always, thank you so much for some time. Best of luck as you guys get ready for Mason City, and we'll talk to you again here in a couple of weeks. Yeah, thank you, Ryan. You bet. Chris Mannigan joining us. Boomgirls Swimming here on Coach's Corner.
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