My Experiences with the National Youth Team

2010-06-14T19:12:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys,

Sorry I’ve been meaning to recap my last day in Barcelona but I was exhausted upon getting home and I’ve been super busy since then. Right now, I am in Mexico for some intense training with the Elite Group. So far, I’m getting my butt kicked!

So our last day in Barcelona was a lot of fun. The coaching staff was a little disappointed with the number of people who qualified for the finals on Day #1, but we were more well-adjusted for Day #2. A lot of us were really nervous to be racing people from other countries, but the bottom line is, racing is racing. In the U.S., from age group meets to Nationals, there is never a lack of competition. I think that is something to remember from this experience-- a race is a race no matter where you are or who you are racing. They always should be approached in the same way. I swam 400 IM and 200 Breastroke on the second day. I went season bests in both of them and am way ahead of where I was last year. I fell in the middle of the pack within our Youth team. Some went slower and some went faster. I know I will be faster come end of the season, so I wasn’t too disappointed that I didn’t go any best times. I wasn’t rested for the meet because my main focus is Nationals in Irvine at the beginning of August. I mostly went for the experience and Barcelona didn’t disappoint. Representing team USA was a lot of fun. The coaching staff made sure we all acted very sportsmanly and were very polite to give America a repuation abroad. I made a lot of friends from other countries and especially from Spain. On the last day of competition me and my friend Brett Boston who is going to Ohio State talked to all of the meet volunteers. He traded away his USA warm-up for a kiss on the check from this one pretty spanish girl, it was pretty funny. I traded away my caps and got some pretty cool ones that I am excited to show everyone.

The main objective of our last team meeting was for the coaches to tell us to SHARE OUR EXPERIENCES with those at home. National Youth Team was an awesome experience and it makes me motivated to train hard and hopefully make more national teams. I am the first person who has been with New Trier Swim Club their whole life to make the team, but I hope I will not be the last. Our team is full of talent! Swimming is so much fun because it offers so many unique experiences. Thank you for reading this and I will see you all soon!

Sam

Day #2 in Barcelona

2010-06-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

Dear NTSC,

Today was the first day of competition at Mare Nostrum in Barcelona. I was pretty nervous! My times weren't spectacular, so I'm viewing today as more of a learning experience (man, it was one of those!). I was one of the tough kids who swam three events today. It was really tough because they were all very close together. When you add in warmdown, suitcheck, and the time you need to be in the ready room before they march you out to race, there isn't time for much else. My first event was the 100 Breaststroke and I was kind of confused because it hadn't occurred to me that they weren't going to say "take your mark", it was going to be in Spanish! The race wasn't great. Due to my nerves, I really spun my wheels (for those of you unfamiliar with swimming that means that I took too many strokes and didn't catch enough water in each cycle). I ended up going a 1:07 which is three plus seconds above my best time. I was disappointed because this was my first time representing USA and I felt like I was letting the team down. But 1:07 is my best untapered time and three seconds faster than I went at Bucetto's Open a couple weeks back so I am happy with it. It was hard to think my race was good at the time because everyone at this meet is just so dang fast! It is a humbling experience and makes we want to get back to training when I get home. My next races were the 400 Freestlye and the 200 Fly which I did better in. I did not make it back to finals but we had a kid on the team, Jacob Pebley, who beat Aaron Peirsol in the 200 Backstroke and got second in the event. He dropped a ton of time. Most of the people on our team aren't rested and are adding time so this was really excited.

The night session was really exciting. I started a wave cheer like we do at our high school meets. The Europeans ate it up! Everyone on our team is proud to represent USA and even though we haven't been together long, we are bonding really well. I'm trying to meet a lot of people from other countries because it is really interesting. I've traded a ton of caps and gotten some really cool ones that I am excited to show you guys!

Can't wait to see you guys (some of you in MEXICO!)

SAM

Day #1

2010-06-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

Hey NTSC,

I apologize in advance for this post if it has grammatical mistakes or typos because I have been up for almost thirty two hours. I arrived in Barcelona at 9am this morning and met up with ten other kids who had flight problems yesterday. We went straight to the hotel, then ate and then went on a bus tour of the city of Barcelona. I was sat on top of the double decker bus and had a really fun time seeing the city. There is a ton of culture here, it is right on the water (kind of like Chicago!) and is beautiful. It was fun to be with the team and make up for the time I had lost yesterday. It is really cool that everyone on the team is, suprisingly, human! Sometimes I think that the fastest teenagers in the country must be nothing like me. From a distance they seem perfect, calm and never nervous. It has been good to see that we are all the same in a lot of ways. We are all teenagers who work hard and swim for fun!
After the tour we took the pool to warm up. We got to the pool and the warmup was insane. We walked in all dressed in our USA attire and it seemed like everyone was looking at us. I had a moment right then and realized that I am representing USA Swimming and how cool that is. In the pool, they were blasting this techno-club european music and it was packed. A lot of swimmers swam down the left side of the lane instead of the right (I think that is how they do it in some countries) and there were no organized sprint lanes. People just dive in any random lane where they see space! All these things got me out of my comfort zone so I did our Elite group meet warmup that we always do. I started to loosen up and by the end I was feeling good!
Right now I am sitting in my room with my roommates Kyle Whitaker and Ben Anderson. Kyle is from Indiana and swims IM and Ben is from Texas and swims sprint freestyle. This is Kyle’s fourth trip with the Youth team so he is showing us the ropes. We just got back to the room from a team meeting on the roof of our hotel. It is really cool because you can see the entire city from up there. Aaron Peirsol, Eric Shanteau and Dave Cromwell were all at the meeting to talk to us. Aaron talked about how he was on the Youth team 10 years ago and a bunch of the people he was on it with ended up being the same people he was on the World and Olympic team with! Pretty cool! Eric talked about how none of the medals or races he has won matter as much as the relationships he has made along the way. He has met so many people on our national team and from other countries.
I expected a great experience, but so far this trip has surpassed my expectations. It was such an honor today to represent team USA and wear the flag cap even though it was just warmup. I am so lucky that swimming has given me the opportunity to see Barcelona. Tommorow I am swimming the 100 Breaststroke, 200 Butterfly and 400 Freestyle. Thanks again NTSC!

Until tommorow

Sam

1st Stop New York City

2010-06-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

Dear New Trier Swim Club,

Most of you probably know me, but in case you don’t my name is Sam Metz. I recently graduated New Trier High School and swim in the Elite group for NTSC. I have swam for NTSC since I was seven years old. I am writing this blog because last summer my performances at Jr Nationals were fast enough to be chosen for the National Youth team, which is competing in a meet called Mare Nostrum in Barcelona. My goal is to write every day until I get home. I am extremely excited because making this team has been a goal of mine since my freshman year of high school. I hope by writing to you guys everyday I can illustrate how much fun it is to compete on this National Youth team so others can have it as a goal as well. Every swimmer who is reading this should know that they are extremely fortunate to be part of such an excellent club. We have coaches who care about us as swimmers and as people. I believe in this program 100%. Thank you Bob, Browny and Kyle for helping me achieve this goal and getting me here! I would also like to thank my teammates and the club for supporting me.
OK, now that I have that stuff out of the way, let me recap my day so far. It has been a crazy first day of travel! I arrived at the airport at 11:00 for my 12:20 flight to Newark, which was my connection to Barcelona. Once at O’Hare, I found out that my flight to Newark had been cancelled. Candi, the USA Swimming manager, rebooked me on a different flight which was a good sign, but the flight was delayed about five hours so I missed the team flight to Barcelona. A lot of people missed flights because of weather on the east coast. At first I was upset because I want to be there for every moment of this trip, but I am not too worried because I know I will get there tommorow. An important thing to know about swimming is that you can’t expect everything to go perfectly all the time. Whether your little sister makes you late for warmup, you lose your favorite pair of goggles before your race or you miss your flight to Spain, there will always be something that doesn’t go exactly according to plan. To compete at the highest level, you have to be able to get past this minor setbacks and focus on the main goal- racing!

OK, I will update you all tommorow!

Thanks NTSC!

Sam

PS- If you want to email me or contact me while I am in Spain my email address is sammetz91@yahoo.com