Well, folks, it is the end of the swim year and time for rest, regeneration and some final messages.

First of all, I want to thank everyone for the incredible warmth and hospitality they have shown me since my arrival in Denmark and at Haderslev. It is not easy to leave your homeland behind and try to make your way in a country where everything is almost the same, yet at the same time so very very different. The families of Haderslev Swim Club took a stranger into their lives and helped make that huge change less overwhelming. I cannot thank you enough for this.

I thank the board and committee members for their hard work this year, for the excellent swim competitions we have hosted and for keeping us all going in the same direction together. I especially want to thank Malene Morsing, K1 Team Leader, for her efforts managing the competition associated issues and needs this year.

I thank the coaching staff for the time and effort they have put into our swimmers this year. We have made some fine steps along the way to regaining the status of a peformance oriented club in Haderslev. There is a way to go still, but we are on the way and I am confident of the future of Haderslev Swim Club.

Finally, I want to thank the club swimmers in general, and my own K1 swimmers. They have faced a lot of changes this year, a whole new way of doing most things. They have learned about the science and mathematics of swimming, biomechanics in action, physiology, psychology and a lot more technical matters that apply not merely to swimming, but to school and life in general. For my swimmers, I have the following message:

Michele´s Rules of Swimming:

1) The Team is your family. Support your team, be gentle with your family members. They will be with you even after you stop swimming. Treat them as you wish to be treated. This is a rule for life.

2) The law states: For ever action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It is good to obey laws. Make sure you remember this one as it is another life lesson, not merely about swimming.

3) Champions do what everyone else is willing to do, then what everyone else is unwilling to do. They do that every day, day in and day out.

4) There are no shortcuts to success. If somewhere is worth getting to, then the way will be long and tough but the reward at the end will be more than worth what it took to get there. It takes months to build muscle, months to change strokes, month to get stronger, faster, fitter. You are all young, my swimmers. You have time. No one cares who the fastest 13-16 year olds in the country are, or even the world. The best coaches want the fastest 18 year olds and older. Be patient now, enjoy your youth, train well and set the foundation for success when you become an adult in body, because that is when you are strongest and THAT is when "real" swimming starts. Everything else is merely preparation.

5) Why do we train? Why do we race? In the end, we train to win and always always remember that winning is very personal. What is a win to me, in my life, probably isn´t a win to you, in your life, and almost certainly is not a win in someone else´s life. Winning is personal. It has to be. It has to be important enough to you to taste it and you have to define what winning means to YOU, personally.

And finally...

6) Swim to live... live to swim. Swim for the joy of swimming, race for the joy of racing! Love what you do in the water, even when it is killer hard and you are exhausted. Remember that you train to race and that racing, beating your time, getting better, stronger, faster feels so very very good.

Know that I shall miss you, swimmers, and know that I shall still be watching over you. I am never farther away than a text or email and I shall always be your coach, in some way. You are part of me now, as I am part of you.

Thank you, Haderslev, and good-bye.

With love,

Michele