Does a child need lessons, or are they ready for the swim team?

I am coaching our teams summer league program this summer, and it is amazing what you get when you run a program like this. We are a swim club that doesn't provide swim lessons, but we have several programs that we recommend in the area. I think one of the biggest questions parents have is whether a child should continue to take lessons or move to the swim team.

Some things to take into a account in regards to skills needed:

• Have they learned proper air exchange? Knowing how to properly bob (or bounce) in the water between 15 - 20 times without holding on to a wall is very important. They need to be able to blow their air out when they are fully submerged and allow themselves to go to the bottom and push off of it to go back above water, and take only one breathe (very important) and then re-submerge and go again blow the air out in the water allowing them to go feet first to the bottom to push off of it. This may seem simple, but there are kids who can't do this.

• Can they float? They should be able to float on the stomach and back with ease. If a kid freaks out, and prevents them from floating, they're going to freak out when swimming making swimming very difficult. They must be willing to relax and be comfortable in the water.

• Can they perform a flutter kick? This means they do not making a running or bicycle motion in the kick. Does the lift and press motion start by moving the whole leg from the hip flexor or does it start with driving the knee forward and then pressing the foot downward. (Yes the latter does create propulsion from the downward foot press, but the amount of resistance created from the knee movement, and the shortening of surface area, length wise, has reduced that created propulsion to go very far with a whole lot of effort.)

• Can the child jump in deep water without hesitation and then swim to the other side without touching a wall? If a child can't jump into the water without hesitation, it is really hard to teach a kid to dive. Already to have your body stretched out with your feet above your head is a strange sensation, but to add on the fear of just jumping. Teaching diving becomes close to impossible. Jumping is a very big part of diving, so they need to be able to jump high and far freely.

• Can the swimmer do big arm circles while on back and stomach? Sure this is not great form for freestyle, but at least they have begun a good elbow movement over the water. Learn High elbow after they learn arm circles. 

• Can they do a streamline (supine) and push off submerged? At the lowest levels of swim lessons they teach front glides and back glides. Kids should be use to gliding on their stomach and back. If they can do the bobs as described earlier, then they should be able to submerge then push off in a streamline position.

The swim team can refine strokes and get kids to be able to swim the strokes better, but if a swimmer can't do the basics, which can be learned from most swim lesson programs, they are going to take a long time to teach proper strokes. You must create the foundation before your build a stroke. Age does not distinguish when a swimmer is ready for the swim team, it is the skills. Some kids start lessons as early as 3, and others as late as 11, but once they have the basics of swimming, the development of strokes will be much quicker than years of struggling how to learn strokes on the swim team; when what really is stopping their development is lack of developed basics that the swimmer or parent felt like was just a waste of time to do.

Who won the race in the end, the tortoise or the hare?

Grit

Just read through the new ASCA Newsletter. They reprinted one of my favorite articles titled, "Nation of Wimps." Re-read it, and enjoyed just as much, even though the article is now about 7 years old. I think it still applies, and actually think that it may be getting worse.

The article I really enjoyed was titled, "True Grit." I had an idea of what Grit meant, but in the article it defined it, and I think that it may be my new favorite word because of the articles definition. From the article, "...grit - defined as endurance in pursuit of longterm goals and an ability to persist in the face of adversity - is a key part of what makes people successful."The article continues with, "In a culture that values quick results - this quarters numbers, this week's weight loss, this month's clickthroughs - grit can be an underappreciated secret weapon."

Anyone who has gone through a swimming career can relate, and understands what grit is. Swimmers at the highest of levels have gone through those times that nothing is improving, and there is a point of possibly even getting worse. But as swimmers continue their career as swimmers, they believe that the work they do is going to pay of and continue to persist, and continue to try to train harder. Those who have stuck through with it have reaped the rewards, and came out the other end better than they were as a swimmer, but as this article eludes to, the person has actually come out as a better person, as they understand grit, and can then apply it to life situations as they try to succeed in other avenues of life.

The purpose of the article was to "explain why some of the biggest victories are won an inch at a time," as the article states. The article refers to how people in our society are looking for the big moment, and want a big moment all the time, but in reality most success is gained through grit. It is tough to go through it, but one step at a time could very well get you farther along than taking one big step and stopping there.

I also enjoyed the analogy in the article. (I am going to include the whole paragraph) "Grit is not synonymous with hard work. It involves a certain single mindedness. An ungritty prison inmate will formulate a new plan of escape every month, but a gritty prison inmate will tunnel his way out one spoonful of concrete at a time." My guess is that the gritty inmate slowly but eventually accomplishes his goal, where the ungritty inmate, although comes up with some great plans, never really accomplishes his goal.

Grit is the probably the best word for any swimmer who is going to be successful. I have seen so many talented swimmers achieve success early, and once the success is over and there becomes obstacles in the way, they choose to bow out rather than persist to see their full potential. Grit is also a great way to see an age-groupers career, as they must see there growth as progress an inch at a time, and that every swim is not going to be the big moment.

End on this note, GRIT!

I selected this post to be featured on my blog’s page at Swimming Blogs.

The Heep

I may be pretty noticeable on deck, as I have a signature call to my swimmers.

The loud, low pitched cheer that sounds like I am saying, "Heep."

What is up with that?

Well, my age-group coach, Phil Black, had his whistle that penetrated through water and you could here as you raced. All other sounds in my swimming career have been inaudible; it was just a blur of sound. I can't whistle to save my life, so when I became a coach I knew I needed a signal that you could hear under water. It began as me just yelling go and hup, but I lost my voice a lot, and my throat became very scratchy, so I tried to figure out something better. I remember hearing my grandmother sing, and by herself she could fill the church chapel with her voice all alone. It was amazing how she was able to push out beautiful notes so loudly. So, I thought to myself that I have some of her genes, maybe I could find a good note that I could put out that swimmers could hear and wouldn't kill my vocal chords. That is when I find a deep note that I could do just that, and not only did my swimmers tell me that they could hear me, but those around me told me that I vibrated the ground around me. I had found it.

What is the purpose?

First of all kids love it, that they can recognize it, and they get excited to hear me belt it out. Being a young kids coach, this became a great tool to really enjoy competing as they knew eventually they were going to hear that loud, "heep." Swimmers also began to realize that I just do it whenever I want, but I do it when I am looking for my effort, or when more push is needed. I don't tell kids this, but they seem to understand without explanation.

To those around me, is it annoying? Maybe, but I really don't care. For around ten years, I have used this call and my swimmers love it. That is what matters. Do I lose my voice for over doing it? Yes, on occasion, but it's all worth it when I know the kids like it.

It has become a signature, and it is one of those things that many remember about me.

Does everyone need a signature call? No, but I created myself one, and I have had a blast with it, and probably will continue doing for years to come.

One More Note: Raisin Country Swim School

Swim Lessons is the beginning of our sport. It also teaches a vital skill for all people. I have seen bad lessons for so long in the area I came from (around Fresno), and I feel good that I was able to come with a program that I hope can become a better opportunity for those in the area. Lessons before were so boring, and the instructors were not engaging. The idea was to get more teachers who wanted to be engaging and demonstrate their enthusiasm for learning to swim. To get away from teach one while the rest on the wall, but develop group involvement in the lessons. Get away from creating a learning environment, but to create a fun environment where learning is done. I hope that the lesson program can still become that which I envisioned.

I also hope that those lessons will feed directly into the Raisin Country Aquatics swim team, as was the purpose. To get away from making an emphasis on Summer League, and begin to develop a culture where Club swimming is more important, and Summer League as only a step. It will make it so that the swimming in the area will become better, and even the high school level of competition will become better and more competitive.

I think that the good relationship with the city of Selma was crucial, and we now offer a better product, and the city doesn't see it as a loss on their books. Now the Raisin Country Aquatics has relieved the city of an expense, and it has become a revenue on a year round basis to the school district for a facility they were going to have to pay for anyways. One article I read talked about swimming programs getting cut, and how in these hard economic times, the best way to keep programs has been to establish relationships and become partners. It was a hard thing to do, and it took a long time, but I feel like I helped setup many of those relationships for that program to work and I am so happy that I did that. Sure the relationships still aren't great, but they are growing, and I hope that the City, the school, and the team realize the importance of their working relationship to help keep a good program going.

Although I left, I still hope that the program can succeed, and that they are better off now than before I was there.

Young Coaches Development

Went home for the weekend for a funeral as my great grandmother died.

The rest of the time I spent mainly with my immediate family. We are an aquatic family, as most of them are very involved in aquatics, and our conversations pretty much revolve around swimming. (It drives some people around us crazy though).

During the conversations, I got to thinking about my path and where I once was to where I am now. My mother is running the Learn to Swim Program that I designed last year, but since I moved on to become a full-time coach, I was unable to follow through with the program. But she talks about some of the teachers, then I am doing a bunch of ASCA stuff and reading articles, and I begin to relate and put things together.

The first thing a young coach should do is find a mentor, according to ASCA. Well, I did this without even thinking of them as Mentors. I always asked questions of my father and paid attention to how he did things. I also asked many questions to my age-group coach, who is now a head coach, Phil Black. I also ran by a lot of things by my brother and we would discuss ways to go about things as well. I also spent a lot of time at swim meets trying to over hear other coaches talk. So, I had many mentors I guess. I never really thought about them as mentoring me but they were.

Another thing for young coaches to know is that the more you do it, the better you get at it. You will learn lessons along the way, and you find out that you didn't really know as much as you thought when you were younger. The more you're willing to accept that you don't know exactly what you are doing as a young coach, the more you learn, and the better that you can become because you are more open to taking in things. Remember though, you don't have to take everything you hear as the only way. Fast swimmers are created through various different ways, take in the knowledge and apply it to your coaching.

All coaches need to coach the lowest levels to really get it. You can see how to then construct a stroke, and then you can learn how to tweek a stroke. If you don't know how to construct a stroke, how can you tweek a stroke? It takes time to develop into a good coach. Some have a head start as they took in knowledge through being in an age-group program and a senior level program. I didn't have a full experience in an age-group program, so I didn't have much of a head start. The thing I had though was willing to to learn and adjust. Those with experience sometimes lack this, and I think that I might have passed some that had a head start on me from the beginning.

Even though I now have around 12 to 13 years of coaching some sort of swimming, I am still thirsty for more knowledge. Still study and read, and look for ways to advance myself.