Maybe I am to comfortable with this. I remember with the old Selma Pool making my 30 minute drive to practice wondering to myself, "I wonder if the kids can get in the water today." This thought happened way to often with that pool.
Today at Rancho-Simi we played Capture the flag and dryland took over 30 minutes, planned mainly because I knew there was a polo game and the Senior Group was in the water. I had no idea that when getting in 40 minutes in practice that I still wouldn't have any lanes to swim in. So, let's improvise, throw the practice out and come up with something. I remember doing the train swim in the diving well at Selma, and Jay from Canyons did it at our Holiday meet at the Rancho Pool. Well, there you go let's just flow with it.
So it took a little while to explain to the kids exactly what we were doing, but finally they kind of grasped it, and they tried it. It worked, but didn't work. I recognized the problems, and then thought about something that I already wanted to address the team about working as a team, and how to better communicate with each other, especially the faster swimmers who should be the leaders of the group. I talked about how getting mad at your teammates and yelling at them is not the solution, but working out the problems as we go along. The train put the swimmers in an awkward position as they were basically swim on each others feet to make it work, but the second time around the did do a little better. (Still heard some groaning about how someone almost kicked them in the face or how one person swam so close to them that their arms hit each other).
Totally unplanned, but out of chaos and just making a workout work, I actually was able to address something that I wanted to address the group about anyways, and it was with a different approach than just doing a team talk like I normally do. So, I didn't get the yardage or the intensity that I wanted, but the talk I had with them might have helped a few in the group practice better, and that normally means better performances as they prepare better. Come away with one victory as I told one of my age-group coaches in our one-on-one meeting the other day. We coach these kids year round, we have time to come away with one victory a day when they are young in their swimming careers.
Coaches be ready. There are going be times when you are not given the best circumstances. Just make something out of what you are given. You don't have pool time for a week. Figure out ways to utilize dryland, maybe do some things that you wanted to do, but you felt obligated to get more water time in. Sometimes it leads to the best results you've had. Learn to be on your feet and go to plan B even if there was no plan B written in advance.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Trying out the Wiki to get coaches together
So when I got here I heard all kinds of problems that came up. One big thing was that when we had different sites, there was a some complaints about better coaching at one site over another. This was very possible as coaches meetings were limited and communication was about non-existent between younger coaches.
We are having monthly meetings now, and now I am doing individual one-on-one meetings with all of my age-group coaches. Another tool we are trying is creating our own wiki. On the wiki all the designated members can edit their pages by adding their workouts to it, and for them to include emphasis' they spent time talking about with the swimmers. They can add any other notes that would like to add.
With this tool our coaches will be able to see what they are doing at our different sites, and they can also get an idea of what our other Age-Group practices are doing. I will be able to monitor the practices now, and as we expand our program (as we really wish to do) we can hopefully prevent the big difference in coaching within the groups. This will also allow us to share different things that we do with our swimmers, and possible give even our older kid coaches different ideas for their own group.
Haven't got all coaches to record on the wiki yet, but eventually this will be a good tool for our team for what wish to accomplish in the future.
We are having monthly meetings now, and now I am doing individual one-on-one meetings with all of my age-group coaches. Another tool we are trying is creating our own wiki. On the wiki all the designated members can edit their pages by adding their workouts to it, and for them to include emphasis' they spent time talking about with the swimmers. They can add any other notes that would like to add.
With this tool our coaches will be able to see what they are doing at our different sites, and they can also get an idea of what our other Age-Group practices are doing. I will be able to monitor the practices now, and as we expand our program (as we really wish to do) we can hopefully prevent the big difference in coaching within the groups. This will also allow us to share different things that we do with our swimmers, and possible give even our older kid coaches different ideas for their own group.
Haven't got all coaches to record on the wiki yet, but eventually this will be a good tool for our team for what wish to accomplish in the future.
The Mixer
Friday night I wanted to mix it up a little. I decided to do a set that I remember as a Senior Swimmer that we did. (I did choose to shorten it though).
We did a 600 yard Mixer. In the mixer you must do something different every single lap. So, if you do freestyle one lap, then you cannot do freestyle the remainder of the 600. You can do kicks, drills, strokes, and you can be creative. Some kids chose to be straight forward as in the 600 you can easily do, where others decided to be very creative. Some began basic, but explored into the creative side. The kids had a lot of fun with it and it was good after a 1200 pull set that was really monotonous and boring.
Next time though I am going to put a time limit on so it limits the creativeness to more things that have more forward motion (The 25 yard handstand walks took a little too long). It took a little longer than I wanted and many didn't finish the whole 600.
We did a 600 yard Mixer. In the mixer you must do something different every single lap. So, if you do freestyle one lap, then you cannot do freestyle the remainder of the 600. You can do kicks, drills, strokes, and you can be creative. Some kids chose to be straight forward as in the 600 you can easily do, where others decided to be very creative. Some began basic, but explored into the creative side. The kids had a lot of fun with it and it was good after a 1200 pull set that was really monotonous and boring.
Next time though I am going to put a time limit on so it limits the creativeness to more things that have more forward motion (The 25 yard handstand walks took a little too long). It took a little longer than I wanted and many didn't finish the whole 600.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Just a tangent
Like I said on my first post, I have no idea what the purpose of this blog is, but I would just add stuff to it as I go. Some of it may be useful while other posts are purely just thoughts. Who is my target audience? I don't know. I kind of like looking back though to see some of my thoughts and things I did. I wish I kept a log like this when I was younger, so that I could look back on it and laugh at myself, as many things I once did and were probably not right and were quite off base. I am wondering if this blog will just be good for me to look back on to help myself to evaluate myself and improve, as that is something I try to do after every season.
Now to the tangent,
Its crazy to think back on the past and where it all began. I listen to young coaches, and some of them have no idea what some other coaches have done. I couldn't imagine what some of the coaches had to go through before me.
I started coaching club swimming at 18 years old as I was attending Junior College with no aspiration of being a swim coach. I coached one hour for three days a week with kids who ranged in ability by quite a bit. I think I had 8 or 9 kids at the Kingsburg Pool. My first Paycheck from RCA after taxes was less than $80 for the month of September. Crazy thing was that I loved it. I had some fast kids in Sammy and Bianca, but most were just ok, and then I had Zack who was the kid in the group that I kicked out all the time, and seemed like his whole purpose was to drive me crazy.
Before Club Coaching I had coached the Aqua Bears, a summer league team. At 16 I got my own Age-Group to coach, the 11 - 12 boys and girls. Around 28 girls and 11 boys on that team. 39 kids all to myself to coach with 3 lanes. I had kids who were Top 8 finalist at Finals going around a 26 low in the 50 free, and then I had kids like Walter, the kid who could barely make across the pool, and his first 50 free was around 1:30.00 I believe. Talk about range in ability inside of a group. Walter ended up going under 55 seconds in that 7 week season, and Bradley did win the 50 Free at Finals.
Despite how difficult it was to try to make a workout to help all of those swimmers, and the low amount I got paid, I loved it. I hear young coaches complain about stuff telling me these things as though demanding me to feel bad for them. Yeah, I may feel bad for them, but I understand it. Sometimes you have to go through the grind to make it where you want to be.
Simple message to beginning coaches. The job may seem stressful and that you aren't making a lot of money, well those are probably both true, but if you love it and you can make it work in your lifestyle, then the job is awesome. I'm sure I didn't have it that rough compared to some others. I will say this though; that the journey has not always been easy, but I sure have enjoyed it so far.
Now to the tangent,
Its crazy to think back on the past and where it all began. I listen to young coaches, and some of them have no idea what some other coaches have done. I couldn't imagine what some of the coaches had to go through before me.
I started coaching club swimming at 18 years old as I was attending Junior College with no aspiration of being a swim coach. I coached one hour for three days a week with kids who ranged in ability by quite a bit. I think I had 8 or 9 kids at the Kingsburg Pool. My first Paycheck from RCA after taxes was less than $80 for the month of September. Crazy thing was that I loved it. I had some fast kids in Sammy and Bianca, but most were just ok, and then I had Zack who was the kid in the group that I kicked out all the time, and seemed like his whole purpose was to drive me crazy.
Before Club Coaching I had coached the Aqua Bears, a summer league team. At 16 I got my own Age-Group to coach, the 11 - 12 boys and girls. Around 28 girls and 11 boys on that team. 39 kids all to myself to coach with 3 lanes. I had kids who were Top 8 finalist at Finals going around a 26 low in the 50 free, and then I had kids like Walter, the kid who could barely make across the pool, and his first 50 free was around 1:30.00 I believe. Talk about range in ability inside of a group. Walter ended up going under 55 seconds in that 7 week season, and Bradley did win the 50 Free at Finals.
Despite how difficult it was to try to make a workout to help all of those swimmers, and the low amount I got paid, I loved it. I hear young coaches complain about stuff telling me these things as though demanding me to feel bad for them. Yeah, I may feel bad for them, but I understand it. Sometimes you have to go through the grind to make it where you want to be.
Simple message to beginning coaches. The job may seem stressful and that you aren't making a lot of money, well those are probably both true, but if you love it and you can make it work in your lifestyle, then the job is awesome. I'm sure I didn't have it that rough compared to some others. I will say this though; that the journey has not always been easy, but I sure have enjoyed it so far.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Post Rio Mesa Meet
I changed gears after WAG. I felt like we needed more stroke work. We dropped yardage significantly, and went back to pure basics for a week, then developed stroke technique for another two weeks, and had one week of strength and conditioning going into the meet.
With this format I knew we didn't have enough conditioning for the Rio Mesa Meet and not enough speed work to be at Top Speed. Going into the meet though I had the swimmers who had cuts, and others who would have to drop amazing percentage of time to make their JO cuts. I was very curious to see how the kids would respond to meet where we looked so much better stroke wise, but physically not fully prepared.
Wow, they swam amazing for the most part. Even my few swimmers who had a rough fall season began to start taking time off again at this meet. They're beginning to develop strokes that make swimming easier, and actually swam long hard events like the 1000 Freestyle, 400 IM, 200 Fly, 200 Back, and the 200 Breast really well, despite the lack of conditioning up to this point.
Time to get back to full conditioning mode with some speed work and see how we can take these new developed strokes into JO's and the Coastal Championship Meet. They should be fully prepared for those meets and swim really fast.
With this format I knew we didn't have enough conditioning for the Rio Mesa Meet and not enough speed work to be at Top Speed. Going into the meet though I had the swimmers who had cuts, and others who would have to drop amazing percentage of time to make their JO cuts. I was very curious to see how the kids would respond to meet where we looked so much better stroke wise, but physically not fully prepared.
Wow, they swam amazing for the most part. Even my few swimmers who had a rough fall season began to start taking time off again at this meet. They're beginning to develop strokes that make swimming easier, and actually swam long hard events like the 1000 Freestyle, 400 IM, 200 Fly, 200 Back, and the 200 Breast really well, despite the lack of conditioning up to this point.
Time to get back to full conditioning mode with some speed work and see how we can take these new developed strokes into JO's and the Coastal Championship Meet. They should be fully prepared for those meets and swim really fast.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Dryland Work
For dryland we used the Vasa Trainer and the stability balls. On the Vasa Trainer we focused on only establishing an early vertical forearm. On the Vasa Trainer the swimmer laid on the bench with hands on the paddle handles. Arms are fully extended. I placed my hands on their elbows trying to not allow them to push their elbows down towards their sides. Emphasizing getting the hands to press downward to get the hands below the elbow creating a vertical forearm. This is as far as I had them go, and they repeated this very small motion 10 times.
After the Vasa Trainer they moved to the stability balls which they did butterfly strokes on the stability balls trying to re-create the motion from the vasa trainer to the butterfly strokes done on the stability balls. Also emphasized that the arms extended forward and the arms end up above the ears when the arms extend and then repeat 2 sets of 10 on the stability balls.
In the water, we did 50's Fly on the 1:00 which allowed them to stretch out and work on their strokes. I started off by instructing them to try to re-create the motions that we had worked on during the dryland portion of the workout. Only added one more instruction towards the stroke of butterfly and that was that the hands needed to pull under the body inside of the elbows. I did have to tell a few of them this during the Vasa Trainer exercise, so it wasn't too surprising to see a few pull their hands on the outside. I few diamond pulls with the butterfly stroke helped a few feel this difference, and it seemed to click as we went back to do the 50's working on stroke.
Altogether the Vasa Trainer worked out. Even though I didn't have them use it as a strength building tool as it normally is used, it really helped them just feel a few of the muscles that we want them to activate during the butterfly stroke as they get the vertical forearm in the front of the underwater pull.
After the Vasa Trainer they moved to the stability balls which they did butterfly strokes on the stability balls trying to re-create the motion from the vasa trainer to the butterfly strokes done on the stability balls. Also emphasized that the arms extended forward and the arms end up above the ears when the arms extend and then repeat 2 sets of 10 on the stability balls.
In the water, we did 50's Fly on the 1:00 which allowed them to stretch out and work on their strokes. I started off by instructing them to try to re-create the motions that we had worked on during the dryland portion of the workout. Only added one more instruction towards the stroke of butterfly and that was that the hands needed to pull under the body inside of the elbows. I did have to tell a few of them this during the Vasa Trainer exercise, so it wasn't too surprising to see a few pull their hands on the outside. I few diamond pulls with the butterfly stroke helped a few feel this difference, and it seemed to click as we went back to do the 50's working on stroke.
Altogether the Vasa Trainer worked out. Even though I didn't have them use it as a strength building tool as it normally is used, it really helped them just feel a few of the muscles that we want them to activate during the butterfly stroke as they get the vertical forearm in the front of the underwater pull.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Another Blog
I am slacking a little bit on my blogging.
Practices: We had a short time of pure back to basics for two weeks over the holidays, and then last week we still did some stroke work, but definitely focused more on strengthening the skills. I also added some conditioning in to make a good transition into this coming up week. I enjoyed my Friday and Saturday practices as there were times that they were doing some longer swim sets where I was able to step back and watch all of the swimmers and focus on what we focus on during the prior two and half weeks. I felt really good about the progress. The 4 new swimmers from the local swim school and the YMCA definitely not up to par when it comes to stroke mechanics, but I hope I am starting to get them to break there old strokes, and learn a different way to swim.
Last week, I also passed out ribbons and medals to the group. I talked to the whole group that I am not a fan of ribbons and medals (I actually haven't been a fan of them even when I was a swimmer), and reminded them of what my focus is, and that is personal individual development. You can't control the other swimmers, so just looking at the place on a ribbon doesn't really tell the whole story. Not to take away from the awards as they are significant and indicate one aspect, but it is missing the other aspects of what we are out to accomplish. I think it went over well; not completely sure though.
Dryland Game: Friday did some Crab Walk and Bear Crawl Relays. Kids enjoyed them and I got to see them use other muscles. Definitely need to watch out for the prickly stuff on the ground next time I setup the relay spot though. Lauren got some dryland stuff, and I may try to utilize these tools later on (Stability Balls, Vasa Trainer, and Med Balls). Can't wait for sun to stay up a little longer and get the kids a chance to play capture the flag again.
Practices: We had a short time of pure back to basics for two weeks over the holidays, and then last week we still did some stroke work, but definitely focused more on strengthening the skills. I also added some conditioning in to make a good transition into this coming up week. I enjoyed my Friday and Saturday practices as there were times that they were doing some longer swim sets where I was able to step back and watch all of the swimmers and focus on what we focus on during the prior two and half weeks. I felt really good about the progress. The 4 new swimmers from the local swim school and the YMCA definitely not up to par when it comes to stroke mechanics, but I hope I am starting to get them to break there old strokes, and learn a different way to swim.
Last week, I also passed out ribbons and medals to the group. I talked to the whole group that I am not a fan of ribbons and medals (I actually haven't been a fan of them even when I was a swimmer), and reminded them of what my focus is, and that is personal individual development. You can't control the other swimmers, so just looking at the place on a ribbon doesn't really tell the whole story. Not to take away from the awards as they are significant and indicate one aspect, but it is missing the other aspects of what we are out to accomplish. I think it went over well; not completely sure though.
Dryland Game: Friday did some Crab Walk and Bear Crawl Relays. Kids enjoyed them and I got to see them use other muscles. Definitely need to watch out for the prickly stuff on the ground next time I setup the relay spot though. Lauren got some dryland stuff, and I may try to utilize these tools later on (Stability Balls, Vasa Trainer, and Med Balls). Can't wait for sun to stay up a little longer and get the kids a chance to play capture the flag again.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
New Years Eve Morning Practice Biathlon
Kids were more excited about this biathlon. They knew it was coming and I had two from another group who decided to participate in the biathlon as well. This one ran a little smoother and I had more participants (mainly because the kids knew in advance this time). I run the biathlon on a honesty policy now though. I try to keep track of all the kids laps, but with the format, I think all the kids can count. I think some chose to short change the biathlon, and it will probably come back as they do the biathlon a couple more times and the inconsistencies will show. The idea is similar to that of a race, looking for improvement and giving 100% effort (this includes the effort of being truthful).
Again the Format: 10 laps around the soccer field at Rancho Simi (I'm starting to think that it is closer to a 2.9 mile run and followed by 2500 yards in water (100 Free, 100 IM, 200 Free, 200 IM, 300 Free, 300 IM, 400 Free, 400 IM, 500 Free). It is a continuous clock so all transition and changing time is included. Below are the results of the New Years Eve Biathlon.
Monika: 56:01.60
Chantel: 57:12.30
Abby: 57:18.31
Roger: 58:11.81
Alex: 58:36.66
Bekah: 59:00.56
Camryn: 59:03.18
Dennis: 1:02:08.63
Olivia: 1:02:48.88
Bertini: 1:03:13.23
James: 1:03:18.90
Julia C: 1:03:28.80
Jake: 1:03:32.06
Dominic: 1:07:16.38
Paige: 1:07:16.38
Denisse: 1:07:34.20
Chloe: 1:07:35.53
Megan: 1:07:41.52
Julia H: 1:08:13.06
Great Job to all of you participated. Can't wait to see how we do next.
Note: I really like the format as it shows a lot of conditioning on the fact that it is right around a one hour race against the clock. It also shows development in all four strokes, especially how the strokes hold up once tired. It was interesting to hear talk about how the hardest part of the biathlon is the 100 IM, as they are tired from the run and haven't fully adapted to the swimming. This change from leg base aerobic exercise to an exercise that is demanding on the upper and lower body seems to cause the most difficulty. I've tried different versions of this biathlon, but I think I like this one best. Its kind of a IMX Biathlon.
Again the Format: 10 laps around the soccer field at Rancho Simi (I'm starting to think that it is closer to a 2.9 mile run and followed by 2500 yards in water (100 Free, 100 IM, 200 Free, 200 IM, 300 Free, 300 IM, 400 Free, 400 IM, 500 Free). It is a continuous clock so all transition and changing time is included. Below are the results of the New Years Eve Biathlon.
Monika: 56:01.60
Chantel: 57:12.30
Abby: 57:18.31
Roger: 58:11.81
Alex: 58:36.66
Bekah: 59:00.56
Camryn: 59:03.18
Dennis: 1:02:08.63
Olivia: 1:02:48.88
Bertini: 1:03:13.23
James: 1:03:18.90
Julia C: 1:03:28.80
Jake: 1:03:32.06
Dominic: 1:07:16.38
Paige: 1:07:16.38
Denisse: 1:07:34.20
Chloe: 1:07:35.53
Megan: 1:07:41.52
Julia H: 1:08:13.06
Great Job to all of you participated. Can't wait to see how we do next.
Note: I really like the format as it shows a lot of conditioning on the fact that it is right around a one hour race against the clock. It also shows development in all four strokes, especially how the strokes hold up once tired. It was interesting to hear talk about how the hardest part of the biathlon is the 100 IM, as they are tired from the run and haven't fully adapted to the swimming. This change from leg base aerobic exercise to an exercise that is demanding on the upper and lower body seems to cause the most difficulty. I've tried different versions of this biathlon, but I think I like this one best. Its kind of a IMX Biathlon.
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