Reading Continued

Finished up "Until it Hurts" over the break. The author seemed to really want to express the fact that what he did and what many tend to do seems to be wrong. He does kind of say that youth sports coaches (volunteer or professional) normally do things not that benefit the kids. I think his interview early in the book said a lot though. He was talking about club volleyball and how many burnout young, but the college coach he talked to admitted that he recruited mainly out of the club system.

I think that youth sports does need to look at what they are doing and evaluate what they are doing. Is there ways to make it better for the developing athlete? Parent Coaches are always going to have trouble. Even a professional coach at my former club asked the question about how to coach their own child because she recognized the problem with the situation. The idea that the parent is not the extension of the coach, but the caring and always supportive one, while the coach is positive yet critical to help growth. A young athlete needs both, but if a parent is the coach, it is hard to play two roles at the same time. As a professional coach, we may end up with this problem, and I still don't know a good answer on how to do both.

I also recognize his observation of how parents have become involved and have seen the competition aspect added to recreational sports. Club sports are designed for competition as it is designed more for kids who have began to enjoy the sport at the recreational level and want to reach to be their very best. I have seen these beginning level sports leagues try to one up the club level by making their league more competitive, and ultimately losing their recreational design. These are the leagues that we are beginning to miss in some sports and in some areas. I know club swimming has tried to create more environments where both are available within a club, and I think that it is successful with some slips along the way (but nothing is going to be perfect).

All in all, this authors cautionary story does bring forward some things to consider, but definitely over generalizing youth sports. Each sport has its pros and cons and each program or team has its pros and cons. Some people are able to successful with one program or sport and others will succeed with another.

Now I am starting on Mind Gym. So far it is enjoyable. Somewhat redundant at times, but I really enjoy a lot of the context of the book.

Who do you swim for? (and control what you can control)

I was reminded of this talk as I went back home for the holidays and my father mentioned that he wanted to give this talk to his swimmers. This was a talk that I tried to do every year with my group after swimmers have been for me a little while. I have some new kids and some kids who were still young, but it still is good for them to hear.

"Do not answer the question, as I know your response already if you do not take some time to think about it. Who do you swim for? Do you swim for your parents? Do you swim for your coach? Do you swim for your friends? Do you swim for yourself?" Most swimmers having heard this cliche before will normally quickly respond that they swim for themselves because they know that is the right answer. But knowing the right answer doesn't help them, but realizing the real answer can help them. If they do swim for something else, they need to try to refocus and begin swimming for themselves.

Swim Meet performances: they'll have bad times at meets on occasion, but that isn't where the biggest disappointment should be. It is when they touch that wall and they feel like they still have something left in them, that should be the frustration. Bad times are going to happen it is part of the sport, but not giving 100% of your effort in a race is cheating yourself. The swimmer puts in all that time and effort and then to go to a race and not be completely spent, why did you train all that time for? to only put in 90%. It's cheating themselves, and that is the thing you don't want to do if you are swimming for yourself.

Enjoyment of the sport is the idea of being the best that you can be. That means 100%; at practice, during warm-ups, during cool downs, during races, during boring coaches talks, 100% attention and effort. Don't worry about what you can't control and make excuses. Just worry about yourself and make sure that you give it all you got.

You can't control what the other swimmers do. I once told my swimmers that I rooted for other swimmers in our area to go faster. They looked at me weird. I told them that if the competition gets better then there is someone pushing you to the next level. Of course I wanted my swimmers to win, but in reality for age-group swimming, I really didn't mind seeing a swimmer from another team get faster. I am looking for my swimmers to step up and push themselves to work harder to outperform that swimmer the next time they meet. But again, the swimmer must understand that they can only control their own swimming and not that of their competitors.

From my own experience, I began enjoying swimming when I started swimming for myself. My father aided this as although he had swimmers winning Junior Nationals, making Olympic Trials, making the Goodwill games and other international teams, he let me choose my own path. I chose when I wanted to be able to compete with my peers and went to the Pre-Senior Group at 12, and I made the choice to be a one sport athlete when I was a Junior in High School. It probably held me back from being the swimmer I could of becoming dedicated so late, but it left me in love with the sport of swimming and now look, I coach it. I hope that my athletes love the sport, and fulfill their potential in a way that I am not sure that I did.

So, who do you swim for?

Winter Championships now done. Reflection

What a way to end the season. Two great championship meets, and a really good December meet for many of our other swimmers who didn't make one of the championships. All together, a really great season.

I enjoyed seeing such great swims out of CSSC at Sectionals. It was a rough season, as our team competed at a lot of meets, and it seemed that we were telling the senior swimmers that they were doing good in season times, and they needed to trust the plan and the training. I'm glad Lauren stuck to her guns and followed through; I think it really paid off. I still think some senior kids allowed the season to get to their heads, and even though they performed well, the next time through a season and they trust the plan, they'll be even better.

I spent a lot of time at Sectionals with my brother as we love to talk swimming. I was able to hear him talk to Bobby and Cheyenne (Both who swam awesome) and it was cool to hear them talk about how they had to just, "trust their training." I think it is probably the hardest thing as a senior swimmer, as you go to meets and they're like run through's. Did you put forth the effort? Did you accomplish the little goals? like hitting the number of kickouts. And then, all those run throughs come together as you hit your taper and all the preparation through the in season swims all pay off. It's not like being an Age-Group swimmer anymore (where through stroke development and repetition you improve), as you put forth effort for a training season, where your body breaks down and can't swim at maximum speed, then you reap the rewards at the end.

I think with my swimmers I did well, maybe more than in the past, as I didn't let them back off too much, and didn't try to change a lot, stroke wise, at the end. I trusted my plan and watched the results. It was probably the least nervous I was going into a championship, but there was still that anxiety to see what was going to happen. I was very sure that they would swim fast, and they did, actually, many of them did above even what I thought (and I am pretty optimistic). Can't wait to see what we can do in the future.

Great Job CSSC swimmers.

Goals (When they are utilized)

“The time to prepare isn't after you have been given the opportunity. It's long before that opportunity arises. Once opportunity arrives, it's too late to prepare.” -John Wooden

One of messages to my swimmers is that you need to be goal oriented, and I hand out a sheet that has a goal setting process. I know many people do this, as the sport of swimming consists of so much goal setting. I do talk to my swimmers about when the thoughts about the goals should be, and not be.

I believe how much goals are a great way for us to progress, sometimes they can become burdensome and be quite stressful. So, one thing that I try to get across to the swimmers. Let the goal come into thought at that practice that all you want to do is slow down for a second and miss that interval for rest, or that descend set that you decide it can be a lot easier if you start off super slow, and make it easier to descend. Those times when you need that little extra motivation at practice allow the goals to help push you to give your all.

Do not be walking around the swim meet with your sheet of goals. Don't stress about the goals at the meet, but believe that you have prepared well at practice to have given yourself a chance to accomplish those goals. For senior swimmers, maybe the meet is in season and that you aren't going to accomplish a goal at that meet, but being able to be disciplined and put forth the effort needed is the preparation for the rest or taper meet that will be at the end of the season.

I feel like this is important for athletes to know as much as the goal setting process is important to know about. They're young people and shouldn't have the stress of the goals at the time that they are trying to perform at their best. Trust that you have worked hard enough and have stayed disciplined at practice to be ready to perform.

Sectionals

Just wanted to add. Good Luck to the Senior Swimmers from CSSC who went to sectionals. Can't wait to hear how you guys do (I know that I'll get texts from Lauren with swim by swim updates). I don't need Live Results when I have Lauren.

Also, Bobby Yribarren, you are still my hero. I know what you have overcome, and where you were on that day in May of 2009 as you rode your bike up to the old Selma Pool. I didn't even recognize you as you went to go talk to my dad. I also remember the state of mind you were in as we drove up to our team camp at Heartland. I want the rights to your story so I can write a book no matter how the career ends up. The destination is just the result at the end of the journey, and that the journey is what really defines the person.

This past week of practice

Have gone to more swimming fundamentals, and trying for the swimmers to become more aware of there bodies and their positions in the water. Going to move on to some more swimming and various drills with no interval and allow them to adjust their positions and fix body movements (Deep Thinking from the book Talent Code). Focus was mainly on Freestyle and Breaststroke, and after the break we'll focus more on Backstroke and Butterfly.

Thursday night I pushed the strength of the arms as we did bench dips and deck-ups during the practice, and also did some windshield wiper sculls in there. We need to develop upper body strength and Thursday displayed it. I knew the new ones were going to need it, but the returnees surprised me a little with how much upper body strength they lacked.

Friday was a short practice as the field where we run was a bit slippery and muddy, so I opted to just go right in the water. Got done early because of the no running. The kids seemed to enjoy the different drills that made them think about balance and position a little more, along with some "surfing" the front arm drills. It was a good relaxed practice as many said they were sore from the previous day.

The group has made such strides. The other Casey commented that they look like swimmers. Now that I got them to that point, I can't wait until we rev it up again to see what they will be able to do now.

"Until It Hurts" (The State of Youth Sports)

I did get the book Mind Gym as I have really enjoyed the blog for Rose Bowl's National Group. I am looking forward to reading that book, but I also picked up another book called, "Until It Hurts." The book is about the state of youth sports in our culture.

I remember reading about a year ago or so I remember reading in a youth sports magazine how medical experts had arguments on how year round sports were actually hurting our young athletes and also not producing great results later down the road. In the article they did acknowledge though that track and field didn't seem to have the same negative effect as many year round track programs utilize, "periodization" training methods. Well, had they actually looked at our sport of swimming they would have found that many of our programs use this training model as well, as swimming actually can attribute many of its early training methods to track and field.

Despite this knowledge, I was intrigued by the book because as a coach my main concern is with my young athletes, and if there is something I can do to not be a negative influence on their growth and career as a swimmer and a person, and actually provide a positive impact then it is worth reading a book that seemed to be ready to bash my profession.

I am only a chapter in, but contrary to my original thoughts on getting the book, I actually see how the book promotes what we do as a professional coach. He chronicles about how sports began at the educational level and coached by professionals and educators. He referred to as the "great blunder" when the educators released the school athletic programs and private parent-coached teams arose. The huge difference between a coach running a team, compared to a parent-coach has led to the over competitive nature of youth sports today which is hurting our young athletes.

As I read I am curious to find his opinion of professional youth sports coaches.

Interestingly enough at my groups Christmas party last night I had a conversation with a parent, and her husband coaches some other sports, and commented on the difference between swimming and other sports and that she can tell the professionalism of my coaching style which seems different from what she is accustomed to from other sports that their children have been involved in. This made me think about it, and that our sport is one of the few that have professional coaches at the youth level. Other individual sports do as well, but many times it is not done as a team practice as much as a lesson.

Again, I ask myself, "I wonder what this author would think about our structure?" I'm almost positive that he has very little idea of our structure, as he is much more involved in football and baseball. He writes in his book about how he perpetuated the intensity of youth sports with his own children, and now sees his young sons baseball career ended with a bad elbow in high school.

I may not get a lot out of this book, as it is based more on the more popular team sports, but still am curious about the key concepts that one author views as plaguing youth sports today, and if there are things that I can do better to not perpetuate the tendencies that lead to young people not getting the lessons available from sports.

Reading

Just re-read "Wooden" The first time I read it I feel like I got a lot out of it, but the second time (years later) I got even more. It's amazing what life experiences do to alter your thinking. John Wooden was a great coach and a great thinker. To everyone I recommend this book and if all you want to do is read over it quickly in a bookstore or library the Maxims at the end of the book are great to sum up some of his beliefs and thoughts. Now to go find a new book to read. I've read some Jeff Julian's blog and I like the quotes he is including from "Mind Gym" it may be the next book, but also on the list is "Coaching the Mental Game." We'll see which one I can find at the store first.

Using physical Tools

This week I started back to do a lot of stroke work. Had a meeting where I took the tool of Steve Haufler's, the model head. With this model head I also used a noodle to represent the spine.

This group I have is very new to me as I have only coached here since September, and they were pretty raw despite being older than what I had expected coming here. 13 - 15 year olds who I had to teach circle swimming to and how to hold a position to kick on their side. The one 10 year old in the group was probably the best prepared in terms of practice etiquette and various positions.

So I had a lot of kids who still swam with their vision forward, and actually, maybe slightly upwards. They have improved so much, but now was a good time to iron some stuff out. One was this head position. I put the model head with the eyes forward, and then the noodle I bent and made it horizontal to the ground. I asked them, "So who feels a pain in their neck when we swim a decent amount of breaststroke or butterfly?" They took a look at the Head and the noodle (representing the spine), and they all gave me looks of agony, as they were able to see why their necks might feel a little tension.

Of course none of them are as extreme as the demonstration now after numerous reminders of eyes down and head down during practice, but they seem to really grasp the concept when they saw that curved noodle.

I went on and showed how they need to "lean on their lungs" and show that the head is dependent on the spine, and not to make the spine dependent on the head.

The other visual tool was simply a tennis ball tube with one tennis ball in it. I showed them the three body positions (Uphill, Downhill, and Neutral). The Tennis Ball was to help them understand the transfer of body weight in the various positions. They seemed to grasp the concept of staying uphill is bad as the weight would be dragging as the tennis ball couldn't back to center without going at least to neutral. They also seemed to start to see the idea of swimming down hill and the transfer of body weight could actually assist them forward.

Of course there were some kids who didn't seem to take in anything as they stared at me blankly, but seemed to do better as we applied these concepts in the water in group floating with the swimmers helping each other try to get neutral. Older kids who that are still learning practice skills had trouble with the group stuff but the young ones seemed to really try to make adjustments in the water.

The tools really seemed to work though. Visual demonstration. I've always done it, but it seems to work better with the different physical tools that I used. The group below mine has also seemed to do well as we have incorporated the model head in that group also especially with freestyle breathing. I am looking forward to the future as we are going to try to make an effort to up the usage of different tools for specific skills.

Stay tuned as we experiment with some stuff, and feel free to send some my way through comments.

Over Coaching at the End

As a young coach I remember how I used to talk to kids at meets. I remember throwing the kitchen sink at them. I also remembering trying my best to go over all the details in the weeks leading up to a big meet. Its like cramming for a test the night before; it doesn't all get taken in, and tends to just overwhelm.

I remember being a young Head Age-Coach at RCA and going to the ASCA Age-Group Clinic put on by John Leonard. He noted about not over-coaching at meets, and many of the coaches there seemed to already understand that you don't do this. I recall evaluating myself truthfully and seeing that I had this tendency. I fixed this, and have had much better culmination meets, and less stressed about big meets.

John Wooden talked about how being successful is preparing successfully. The success to prepare that is the true accomplishment not the result of the competition. Looking at how I approach culmination meets now, is that the preparation has been done and I trust that I prepared successfully therefore you don't need to do a whole lot of coaching towards the end.

I'll admit that I have had a hard time with sticking to this discipline as I want to just review and teach some more. I think I did well for the Holiday Meet, and now on to the week before WAG where I plan to just keep the bodies active and repeat the importance of doing the little things, and not trying to adjust strokes and skills too much this week.

I trust in my plan and believe that I have taught the things that I needed to teach. I coach Age-Groupers, so of course they might not have grasped everything that I wanted them to grasp, but I put it out there, and hopefully they picked up most of it.

Holiday Meet

Tomorrow is the Holiday Meet that CSSC hosts. For most of my swimmers it will be the last meet until Mid-January. For some of my swimmers next weekend at WAG will be the last meet until Mid-January.

Tried to really not over coach tonight and yesterday as I am looking at this meet as a collection of the season. The work is already put in. Can't wait to see what happens. Looks like the weather is going to hold up better than Rose Bowl. Should have some really good swims.

Still get really excited over swim meets. Even though we have been to a lot during this fall, I am still really excited about what the results are going to bring. I always feel like we have done just a little more, and that it is another great opportunity to get best times.

Looking back over the Season, I like what we did this Fall. I feel like there was a lot to learn for the kids, and they did very well. I probably didn't do as much fun stuff as I had hoped, but hopefully next season, now that have more of the basic skills down going into the season, we'll have more time to get to some more interesting, challenging, and fun stuff. Decided to make a mini-season until JO's and JO Max Meet, as I'd like to review a lot of the stroke techniques, and then begin a 23 week Long Course Season.

Bumpers (well, a version of Bumpers)

If you have swam for Phil Black before, you probably know of bumpers. I can't remember all the details of the game, so I made up what I think that I remember of Bumpers.

It's like King of the Hill. You first spread out the group into the lanes into heats. The first heat being the fastest heat and every heat after being slower. One lane is the fast lane, and then subsequent lane is slower. The Heat would do a sprint for time, and then the faster swimmers would bump each other down. The swimmers could also bump themselves into the faster heats.

Last nights practice included bumpers with 50 Free from a push. After the first round the picked up the concept and the racing really began. We went four rounds and the kids moved up and down the order. With five heats the swimmers got around 8 to 10 minutes rest between sprints (similar to the rest you'll get if you were just doing timed swims off the blocks).

Most kids enjoyed the game, some didn't pick up the competitive resolve and didn't seem to have as much fun as the rest. This game does need a little competitive edge to really enjoy.

I remember really enjoying this game swimming for Phil Black, but also some teammates who didn't enjoy the game as much. It worked out the same way with my group.

Had some kids though go faster than their meet times, and we were going from a push! Can't wait to see what happens at this meet this weekend.

Going Back to review body position

We spent a little time lately going back over body position. My group is made up of some older kids, so I take a chance to explain to them more of the science part of body position. Some will grasp it with the discussion, and then some will hopefully grasp when we get into the water.

Explaining about Center of Gravity in the water, and explaining that gravity still effects us in water. The added force to our body is buoyancy which is dictated by oxygen. They grasped the concept that the oxygen is mainly held in the lungs and a drawing on a white board to show how this would effect our body position in the water compared to on land with a human on a scale.

We discussed what it would mean to "lean on the lungs" to adjust the body position in the water. Also talked about how many swimmers resort to trying balance on their center of gravity rather than their center of buoyancy and we talked about what position that would result in while swimming in the water.

My challenge to them was to adjust their body positions to try to find their own center while swimming. Many made adjustments. Although not all of them have found that center, they seem to understand a little more about changing their body position and how to do it. Noticed much better undulation in butterfly and breaststroke as they know the desired position, and now they know how to adjust that body position they have tried to make adjustments to get to those desired positions.

Freestyle has been harder to make the adjustment, but I have noticed many of them attempting to make that change. Hopefully as they struggle with obtaining the desired body position, they learn this skill into their muscle memory or myelin (whichever one you believe in).