NOVA News
October 16th, 2023
Gratefulness for Hard Work
November leads to thoughts of thankfulness as we prepare to gather with friends and family. I hope NOVA’s November social media moments have warmed your hearts, as it has mine. I also like to pause in November and remember those who helped make me the coach I am today; those with the vision for our first NOVA owned facility, our second pool and now our second facility, and those who work day-in and day-out to support NOVAs swimmer’s and help the NOVA program reach new heights. I am grateful for their tireless efforts.
Our swimmers have been working diligently since September to lay a strong foundation for the upcoming Winter champs meets. In the coming weeks you will find NOVA swimmers competing across Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio. Now is a great time to recognize the effort undertaken, the lessons learned, and the opportunities that lie ahead. I hope you are excited as I am to see what we can accomplish as individuals and as a team! Dream big, stay focused, put in your maximum effort and reap the rewards!
Go NOVA!
NOVA's Thanksgiving practice schedule will run November 22-26th. All practices groups have changes so please check both times and LOCATIONS!
Click HERE to find your swimmer's practice schedule.
Charlie Swanson
Charlie is currently a USA Swimming National Team member chosen for the 200 breast. Charlie has represented NOVA at two Olympic Trials and numerous National level meets. He has competed on TEAM USA at the Pan American Games (2 gold medals), twice at Jr Pan Pacs and the 2022 FINA World Championships. He is a 6 time USA National Team member. Charlie will compete at the Toyota US Open Meet 11/29-12/2!
When did you swim for Nova?
I swam for NOVA from 8th grade - Senior year: 2011-2016 (well actually I still swim for NOVA today!)
Were you always a swimmer? If not what age did you decide to focus on swimming?
I played baseball through middle school and soccer. After 8th grade I decided to go all in on swimming I probably really started focusing on swimming when I was 15.
Where have you swum since you graduated from Nova?
5 years at Michigan, 2 years at UT, and now I'm back at Michigan.
We love it but…why do you choose to still represent NOVA at the national and international level?
Because I feel like it is important to represent where you started out. Even though I didn’t start out at NOVA (Charlie began year round swimming at the Richmond Racers), its where I focused in on swimming and got better pretty quickly. Everyone knows where you swim in college but not everyone knows where people grow up and especially with NOVA being such a big team, it’s nice to keep the NOVA name out there.
What’s your favorite NOVA memory?
The friends I was able to make - my best friends - still close with them after 7 years.
What was your favorite NOVA tee shirt?
The Chiquita banana shirt
What’s your favorite event? What’s your “best” event?
Favorite events: 100 Breast and 50 Free cause its over quick and technical, Best event: 200 Breast
How much USA swimming swag do you have?
A lot - half my t-shirts are from trips. I can’t imagine how much Olympians have
Why do you still swim?
Because I am still improving, I still have the potential to improve. I feel like I am still able to accomplish certain goals I have and I am still confident in myself!
November 11th and 12th- NOVA swimmers had an amazing Cranberry Contender meet. It was an ALL NOVA meet and the swimmers raced hard, supported each other, and earned some cans of cranberry sauce.
Please click the group name to see meet reports:
Novice Bronze/Novice Sliver, Novice Gold, Age Group Dev. Bronze, Age Group Bronze, Age Group Silver, Senior Bronze, Senior Silver
November 11th and 12th - NOVA swimmers headed over the river to CSAC to race at the WAC Fall Classic. Our swimmers raced hard, had fun and saw huge time and technique improvements.
Please click the group name to see meet summaries:
Age Group Dev. Silver, Age Group Gold, Senior Dev. Bronze, Senior Dev Silver
November 11th and 12th- Select NOVA National and Senior Gold swimmers headed down to Charlotte NC to compete in a LC prelim session and a SC finals session. The swimmers raced hard and worked on race strategies all while swimming fast and having fun.
Please click the group name to see meet summaries:
Nov 18th-19th NOVA swimmers headed to CSAC to swim in the BASS meet. The swimmers raced well, cheered loudly and had a great time in this mid season meet.
Please click the group to see meet summaries:
Age Group Dev. Gold, Senior Dev. Gold, Senior Gold, National
Group coaches: Lead MC Banks, Assistant Matt Bailey
How many swimmers are in SG? 33
What skills are you working on this week? SG is working on UW kick counts for individual races and being able to hold those kick counts in practice.
MC, what's you favorite part of working with SG and how is coaching older swimmers different that coaching the younger ones? My favorite part of working with SG is getting to coach high school kids after coaching them as 12 and unders. In the 2-3 years it has been since I coached them, they have changed so much and I love getting to know the swimmers all over again! Coaching Senior swimmers is very different than coaching AGG or AGDG. With those 12 and under group, there is so much learning and growing week to week: coaches have more teaching opportunities. With Senior swimmers, they have already learned so much about swimming. Now I'm just reminding them of all the little things they already know and convincing them it is worth the time to work on it!
Matt, what's your favorite part of work with SG? As always the swimmers! I've REALLY enjoyed getting to know all the swimmers I never got to meet before in our program. I also enjoy getting to see swimmers I've previously coached or taught lessons for who are now swimming at a higher level has been an absolute blast.
MC, How many groups have you and Matt coached together? We have coached AGG and SDS together before working with SG.
MC, what's your favorite part about working with Matt? Matt and I are a great team- we complement each other 's strengths and weaknesses really well. I love being able to give Matt a technical problem I see and have him figure out the cause as well as 10 ideas on how we can fix it. He has a calculator in his brain along with the ability to get so creative.
Matt, what's your favorite part about working with MC? There is no one on the team I like to talk though ideas with more than MC! She'll let me know if they're crazy, have potential, or if she just doesn't know. I also really enjoy how she problems solves for certain sets in really creative ways. Many of my favorite sets or ideas are either straight up stolen from her or a modified version of an idea she had.
Matt, you coach groups that can feed into each other, how does this effect your relationship with those swimmers? I believe it's helped me visualize the long term benefits of devolving the right habits and mentality oat the Senior Dev. level. Being fearless on challenging set/swim/days, encouraging your peers while holding them accountable, and being self disciplined on attendance and effort all seem even more vital now moving forward in the program. Mike J does a great job of teaching these skills to SDG and working with both groups helps me reinforce their importance.
MC, if you had to design a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade what would it be and who would be on it? If I had to design on it would be Baby Shark riding a Fire Truck. Those are currently my daughter's two favorite thins so she would go crazy for "truck" and "shark" all in one place!
Matt, if you had to design a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade what would it be and who would be on it? Oh easy, we'll do Davis Hasselhoff from that scene in The SpongeBob Movie (20 years ago) where he kicks across the ocean really fast with SpongeBob and Patrick on his back. Afterwards well throw all of Senior Gold on it and see if it will help them make that pesky 1:40 interval!
NOVA will join other non-profits and participate in Giving Tuesday - the global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate and celebrate generosity. On Tuesday Nov 28th, donate to one of NOVA's 4 main areas - General Fund, Capital Campaign, Outreach or Scholarships through our user friendly on-line link HERE
100% of your donation will be counted towards your fundraising obligation, and 100% of your donation is eligible for a corporate match if your place of business matches your charitable giving.
12 and Under
Our 12 & under PPOW is Abigail Ferguson from Age Group Dev. Gold. Abigail has been rockin it in practice for a while now. She has a great attitude and has been placing a lot of importance on the details especially fast underwater dolphin kicking! All that hard work has been paying off at meets. Congrats Abigail!
The Virginia Swim Shops are here to help you get ready for the holidays with gifts that every swimmer would love. Backpacks & parkas are big sellers for this time of the year and really help keep the swimmers organized and warm. We also have the new velour NOVA custom woven towels in stock, plus lots of ideas for stuffers and small gifts, including our new acrylic NOVA logo ornaments.
If you have items that need to be embroidered for holiday gifts the deadline for purchase is December 10th.
