The Benefits of swimming AM practices w/Raiders

Benefits....? Of waking up before the crack of dawn to go jump in a cold pool? 

Absolutely, here are several benefits that come with swimming first thing in the morning. Some of these apply just for the Raiders athletes and some apply to every one. 

1. Swimming at the King George YMCA early allows the coach to be able to really see what's happening under the water. The YMCA leaves their lights off in the morning and only has lights on in the pool. This allows everything under water to be illuminated with out any glare on top of the water and allows a great view for the coach to see exactly what their swimmer is doing and needs to work on. 

2. Swimming early allows you to start your day off right. When you complete practice your body is releasing endorphins into the blood stream. Endorphins are hormones that helps you feel good. Also, completing practice early frees the rest of your day up to do as you wish! Athletes leave practice feeing accomplished and happy.

3. Swimming early may be a good way to get free food when coach brings doughnuts in!

4. Swimming early is not for the faint of heart. Raiders early practices are very low in numbers and eases up on the coach to swimmer ratio, giving the swimmers more one on one time and more feedback. 

5.Morning Practice preps you for Championship preliminaries. If you can swim fast at 5:30 in the morning, then 8:00am on a Saturday or Sunday morning should be easy. You HAVE to swim fast the morning in order to be able to swim fast at night!