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GREEN MOUNTAIN
AQUATICS:
Green Mountain Aquatics is a competitive
USA Swimming member, founded in 1997 by Jim Donoghue to meet a need in Vermont
for a comprehensive swimming program. It has bases statewide, providing a program which encourages both excellence and
retention. Green Mountain Aquatics is currently under the direction of head
coach Laura Matuszak.
GMA
is known
throughout the country as a first-class, year-round swim program. We offer a
guided age-group youth program for children ages 5 and up, meeting the
needs of all swimmers from the beginner to the national level competitor by encouraging excellence and commitment to the team. When a young
person becomes a member of Green Mountain Aquatics he or she learns the
values of sportsmanship, teamwork and personal growth. Swimming with GMA provides physical,
emotional and intellectual skills that will last a lifetime.
GMA
Swimmers may choose to train at Saint Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont
or in the Upper Valley area. The team address is 62 Laurel Hill Drive in South Burlington,
Vermont.
CONTACT GMA:
Please call
Laura Matuszak at (802)
238-9168 to find out more about Green Mountain Aquatics.
GMA Philosophy
The team philosophy is encompassed in the words COURAGE and
PERSEVERANCE. COURAGE is the willingness to accept risks and endure
failures. Courage does not exist without a situation that presents the
opportunity for success. We encourage our athletes to embrace these
opportunities and not fear the outcome.
PERSEVERANCE is the
backbone of success in any endeavor in life. One cannot succeed at the highest
levels without enduring some setbacks. These difficult times can create a lack
of faith, low self-esteem, and an obvious drop in enthusiasm. Perseverance is
the quality that transcends these difficult times. It allows that individual to
find the true strength of his or her character. Green Mountain Aquatics believes
that COURAGE and PERSEVERANCE developed by swimming will
WHY SWIM?
The USA Swimming age group swimming program is America’s largest program
of guided fitness activity for children. Age group swimming builds a
strong foundation for a lifetime of good health by teaching healthy
fitness habits.
Physical Development
Many physicians and pediatricians consider swimming the ideal activity
for developing muscular and skeletal growth by. Why do doctors like it
so much?
• Swimming
develops high quality aerobic endurance, the most important key to
physical fitness. In other sports, an hour of practice may yield as
little as 10 minutes of meaningful exercise. Age group swimming teams
use every precious minute of practice time developing fitness and
teaching skills.
• Swimming
does a better job in proportional muscular development by using all of
the body’s major muscle groups. No other sport does as well.
• Swimming
enhances children’s natural flexibility (at a time when they ordinarily
begin to lose it) by exercising all of their major joints through a full
range of motion.
• Swimming
helps develop superior coordination because it requires combinations of
complex movements of all parts of the body, enhancing harmonious muscle
function, grace, and fluidity of movement.
• Swimming
is the most injury-free of all children’s sports.
• Swimming
is a sport that will bring kids fitness and enjoyment for life.
Participants in Masters Swimming programs are still training and racing
well into their 80’s.
Intellectual
Development
In addition to physical
development, children can develop greater intellectual ability by
participating in a guided program of physical activity. Learning and
using swimming skills engages the thinking process. As they learn new
techniques, children must develop and plan movement sequences. They
improve by exploring new ideas. They learn that greater progress results
from using their creative talents. Self expression can be just as much
physical as intellectual. Finally, their accomplishments in learning and
using new skills contribute to a stronger self-image.
Support GMA Swimmers through the
GMA Booster Club
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