The Long Course Season is over, and we will take one more week and finish with the JO Max SC Meet, but my new preparation begins now. I have done some more studying of the spring as I am going to take on the Senior 2 group, and I will be running an actual pre-senior group now. This will involve a lot more planning on my part, and more use of the physiology knowledge, which is the main part of my studying right now. At the same time I have to look at what I have done this season, and what I was able to accomplish and then look at ways that I can make it all work better.
Doing things exactly the same is not always in the best interest of the swimmer. It can become stale, so the Blue Group needs to be ran differently. As a swimmer, my father changed things up every season. He always had a new trick or new concept up his sleeve. Who knows if those little things helped us, but it definitely didn't keep it the same all the time.
I got here, and I didn't like all the stroke mechanics that my swimmers had, so the last year I did a lot more stroke development than I had anticipated. This might have stalled some progression, as when re-developing a stroke a swimmer normally goes slow for a time, and then reaps the benefits after a duration of repetition. The trick here is to convince the swimmer that it is in their best long-term interest to go through this period of time. The younger swimmers are developing in their bodies so are improving in strength and endurance, so stroke development is good because they typically will get a little better in this slump period when re-developing the strokes.
The Summer Season I worked a little bit more, but I have to admit that I need to get better at developing Long Course workouts, as I feel a little lost when designing these workouts. I never trained Long Course so my expectations of interval sets for particular target speeds is a little off, but I think I was getting better towards the end.
So, the first season here I feel like I set the table for my athletes. I developed strokes (and Casey developed strokes very well as well) and then I introduced some training aspects this Spring and Summer, and now I will get into more extensive workout regimen in the fall. It will give the athletes a better base for the remainder of the season. Unlike last fall where I was stroke development when I probably should have been mixing in more base building workouts.
In my studying, I have found that I probably don't do enough aerobic training with the level of swimmer that I have. The group is primarily at the right speed to get the correct aerobic sets done in the time of practice now, but I need to become better at developing an aerobic base for my young swimmers.
Senior 2 will be the same challenge for myself. The aerobic aspect will be the part of my development as a coach. Once we get into November though, that is when I'll be able to get to the part that I think I'll be good at as I begin to develop race aspects and race speed in the swimmers. The blue group will be going into more of a training period here, but the Senior 2 will change into more intense practices trying to develop senior like strength and speed. I am really looking forward to this group, even though I know I have to stay focused and not stray too far from the plan.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Finding Swim Coaches
It is not that easy to find good swim coaches. Sure there are plenty of former swimmers out ther, who may have the knowledge, but knowledge is the least of the worries when it comes to beginning as a swim coach. It is the ability to work with young people. The ability to criticize their race and still make them feel like they want to keep on trying. The ability to work with parents and deal with all the criticism that comes your way. The ability to nicely explain to a parent that their young swimmer doesn't need to swim 3000 yards in a workout. The ability to motivate a swimmer to go to their first meet, and when they get dead last, you know what to say to make them feel like they did an amazing job. This is only what age-group coaches need to know how to deal with. Head Coaches have so many different and difficult hurdles in their way.
I think about looking for a new coach for a young group, and you know that you can't pay them a lot, so there is a great chance you may have them for less than a year, when another job comes available that probably most definitely pays better. It's not that we can add hours as a swim coach. There are only so many hours you can coach young kids with a school schedule.
I believe in the idea that longevity is the best thing you can have in a coach. I had my assistant with RCA, Nicole, who might not have known a whole lot about the technique or training cycles. She was a former club and high school swimmer. She knew a little from those days. What she did though was teach the things that I needed them to know for when they moved on up to me. They all knew how to listen on the wall. They knew how to leave the wall. They knew the four strokes (ok we had some problem getting breaststroke kick with some). They knew how to circle swim. They knew how to properly do air exchange. They had a lot of fun. They knew how to dive. They had a good background of freestyle kicking. The big thing though was that I had her for most of the years that I coached.
Learning the system is the main thing. The coach is taught the system, and they use their own personality and grow in the position. I think that the main thing you need is someone who loves to teach kids, a person who is caring, and someone who can communicate nicely to both swimmers and parents. From there, they must be willing to learn the system of the team. After a few weeks of coaching in the system, they should be free to grow and become their own coach.
It's a job that is driven by passion. It's hard to get started as the first few years you won't get paid a lot, but you spend the time learning and become as involved in every aspect as possible. Gain the experience. I think most of the time a coach must move on, unless they are lucky enough to find a position where a lot of the coaches are close to retiring or close to being out of there. Other wise after a few years experience a coach must move on to move up in the coaching ranks.
So now I am in the position where I and my boss may be looking for a coach sometime in the near future, and we will need to start someone fresh, and begin developing a new coach. If you are out, feel free on contacting me and telling me that you'd be interested if I have another position open. This summer I lost four coaches I planned on using for summer league teams, mainly to other jobs. This was with me telling them that they would be the coaches we would look to to fill coaching roles in the future, but still I lost them all but one, and what do you know, she is going to coach our new satellite program.
Finding Coaches. It is not easy to find them. Parents and others may feel like you need to find new coaches, but sometimes development through experience is the best route to go, compared to starting anew.
I think about looking for a new coach for a young group, and you know that you can't pay them a lot, so there is a great chance you may have them for less than a year, when another job comes available that probably most definitely pays better. It's not that we can add hours as a swim coach. There are only so many hours you can coach young kids with a school schedule.
I believe in the idea that longevity is the best thing you can have in a coach. I had my assistant with RCA, Nicole, who might not have known a whole lot about the technique or training cycles. She was a former club and high school swimmer. She knew a little from those days. What she did though was teach the things that I needed them to know for when they moved on up to me. They all knew how to listen on the wall. They knew how to leave the wall. They knew the four strokes (ok we had some problem getting breaststroke kick with some). They knew how to circle swim. They knew how to properly do air exchange. They had a lot of fun. They knew how to dive. They had a good background of freestyle kicking. The big thing though was that I had her for most of the years that I coached.
Learning the system is the main thing. The coach is taught the system, and they use their own personality and grow in the position. I think that the main thing you need is someone who loves to teach kids, a person who is caring, and someone who can communicate nicely to both swimmers and parents. From there, they must be willing to learn the system of the team. After a few weeks of coaching in the system, they should be free to grow and become their own coach.
It's a job that is driven by passion. It's hard to get started as the first few years you won't get paid a lot, but you spend the time learning and become as involved in every aspect as possible. Gain the experience. I think most of the time a coach must move on, unless they are lucky enough to find a position where a lot of the coaches are close to retiring or close to being out of there. Other wise after a few years experience a coach must move on to move up in the coaching ranks.
So now I am in the position where I and my boss may be looking for a coach sometime in the near future, and we will need to start someone fresh, and begin developing a new coach. If you are out, feel free on contacting me and telling me that you'd be interested if I have another position open. This summer I lost four coaches I planned on using for summer league teams, mainly to other jobs. This was with me telling them that they would be the coaches we would look to to fill coaching roles in the future, but still I lost them all but one, and what do you know, she is going to coach our new satellite program.
Finding Coaches. It is not easy to find them. Parents and others may feel like you need to find new coaches, but sometimes development through experience is the best route to go, compared to starting anew.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Back to the beginning (Breathing)
I remember being a young coach, and my dad hired me as a swim coach, and one of the first things he advised me about, actually one of the few things he advised me about on how to teach young swimmers, was something that seemed so simple. He told, "Make sure that you teach them to breathe first." I thought to myself, ""yeah right, why would have to teach somebody something so simple." I learned a lot that first year, and one was that my dad was right. Teach them to breathe.
All swim lessons begin this progress at the lowest level of lessons. Remember blowing bubbles, that is just to get used to blowing into water, but the big one is bobs. A swimmer must be able to bob in the water and exhale all their air underwater, and then come up and take a single breathe. Without this skill, it is too hard to concentrate on stroke technique and they definitely can't learn how to breathe to the side on freestyle.
I learned bouncies when I swam for the Selma Aqua Bears. Every little kid likes bouncies where they would exhale their air under water so that they could sink to the bottom of the pool to be able to jump off the bottom as hard as they could, and then rise up take a big breathe, and then fall back down under water to blow all their air out again. It was fun, but it also develop a basic skill of breathing, that made it so they could actually learn the other skills that we want them to take in.
It is a skill that seems so automatic to so many of us, you don't realize how important it is for new swimmers. If you are trying to teach a new swimmer and you're getting hung up on their panics that occur on every stroke, or you can't understand why they can't just turn their head to the side without looking forward; consider that they may seem like they are breathing right, but they probably are just holding their breathe and trying to exhale and inhale with their head above water. Coaching the Flying Dolphins now, I am seeing the lack of this skill a lot, and I do some bouncies at almost every single practice. They have trouble getting to the bottom because they won't blow their air out, but they are starting to get use to the drill.
Breathing, don't just assume they know how to even if they've gone through lessons.
All swim lessons begin this progress at the lowest level of lessons. Remember blowing bubbles, that is just to get used to blowing into water, but the big one is bobs. A swimmer must be able to bob in the water and exhale all their air underwater, and then come up and take a single breathe. Without this skill, it is too hard to concentrate on stroke technique and they definitely can't learn how to breathe to the side on freestyle.
I learned bouncies when I swam for the Selma Aqua Bears. Every little kid likes bouncies where they would exhale their air under water so that they could sink to the bottom of the pool to be able to jump off the bottom as hard as they could, and then rise up take a big breathe, and then fall back down under water to blow all their air out again. It was fun, but it also develop a basic skill of breathing, that made it so they could actually learn the other skills that we want them to take in.
It is a skill that seems so automatic to so many of us, you don't realize how important it is for new swimmers. If you are trying to teach a new swimmer and you're getting hung up on their panics that occur on every stroke, or you can't understand why they can't just turn their head to the side without looking forward; consider that they may seem like they are breathing right, but they probably are just holding their breathe and trying to exhale and inhale with their head above water. Coaching the Flying Dolphins now, I am seeing the lack of this skill a lot, and I do some bouncies at almost every single practice. They have trouble getting to the bottom because they won't blow their air out, but they are starting to get use to the drill.
Breathing, don't just assume they know how to even if they've gone through lessons.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Backwards Freestyle and Corkscrew
I remember doing backwards freestyle when I was a club swimmer. I enjoyed it, and I thought it was kind of cool to do. I use backwards freestyle now with my swimmers. Some of them pick up on it quick, where as other it takes time. When I began this with much younger swimmers (ages around 7 - 10) it was for the purpose of just having fun by still doing a swimming activity (I always tried to make swim-like activities fun, and not as much games, as I would eventually want them to enjoy the training and developing as a swimmer).
Why Backwards Freestyle? It focuses on body position and stabilizing the body to be inline. Legs need to stay together and so do feet with toes pointed. The swimmers must "lean on the lungs" to stay afloat better because there is no kick to propel you to assist the body on the surface. The core muscles must stay activated to prevent a bend in the body to help the body flow through the water with a low amount of resistance. This body positioning and activating of the core muscles will help the swimmer realize good body position. If the body bends or the hips sway side to side, they are not keeping the core activated as the bend is occurring at the core. If the legs are sinking the are balancing on the normal center of gravity, and not on the center of buoyancy while in a liquid medium.
The arm motion is purely recognition of what is forward and backwards. It also allows the swimmer to work on catching water and pushing against it. Since the kick becomes a negative force in the stroke, ability to push water with the arms is the only form of positive movement, thus to be good at this drill you must have a good feel for the water.
Forget about breathing. There is no really good spot to breathe, so I really just tell them to breathe in the most comfortable spot. I have thought about using snorkels to just take that aspect out of the equation all together.
The Corkscrew is very widely used as a way to do a fun lap in practice. Kids like it, and they all like the idea of getting a little dizzy in the stroke. This is another activity that I use to avoid just games (I also really like relays). To do the corkscrew really well, a swimmer must be able to to effective rotate in at least one direction (I have done it where I told them which arm is freestyle and which is backstroke and made them change directions, talk about getting them dizzy). If the core muscles stay activated the corkscrew can be done very effectively and quickly. If the core remains relaxed you will see the corkscrew go every which way, as the hips are now all over the place.
For my summer league, I do corkscrew as I want them to get use to the motion. It makes it easier when backstroke flip turn day comes around, and you have them corkscrew into a front flip. They enjoy corkscrew and recognize the motion that it normally makes it easier to instruct the turn.
Like I've said, I am not good at games. I do them on occasion, but I try to come up with stuff that can be fun while in the format of swim practicing. These are two things that I use to accomplish that. They are also fun things that can help the swimmer develop swimming skills and basics.
Why Backwards Freestyle? It focuses on body position and stabilizing the body to be inline. Legs need to stay together and so do feet with toes pointed. The swimmers must "lean on the lungs" to stay afloat better because there is no kick to propel you to assist the body on the surface. The core muscles must stay activated to prevent a bend in the body to help the body flow through the water with a low amount of resistance. This body positioning and activating of the core muscles will help the swimmer realize good body position. If the body bends or the hips sway side to side, they are not keeping the core activated as the bend is occurring at the core. If the legs are sinking the are balancing on the normal center of gravity, and not on the center of buoyancy while in a liquid medium.
The arm motion is purely recognition of what is forward and backwards. It also allows the swimmer to work on catching water and pushing against it. Since the kick becomes a negative force in the stroke, ability to push water with the arms is the only form of positive movement, thus to be good at this drill you must have a good feel for the water.
Forget about breathing. There is no really good spot to breathe, so I really just tell them to breathe in the most comfortable spot. I have thought about using snorkels to just take that aspect out of the equation all together.
The Corkscrew is very widely used as a way to do a fun lap in practice. Kids like it, and they all like the idea of getting a little dizzy in the stroke. This is another activity that I use to avoid just games (I also really like relays). To do the corkscrew really well, a swimmer must be able to to effective rotate in at least one direction (I have done it where I told them which arm is freestyle and which is backstroke and made them change directions, talk about getting them dizzy). If the core muscles stay activated the corkscrew can be done very effectively and quickly. If the core remains relaxed you will see the corkscrew go every which way, as the hips are now all over the place.
For my summer league, I do corkscrew as I want them to get use to the motion. It makes it easier when backstroke flip turn day comes around, and you have them corkscrew into a front flip. They enjoy corkscrew and recognize the motion that it normally makes it easier to instruct the turn.
Like I've said, I am not good at games. I do them on occasion, but I try to come up with stuff that can be fun while in the format of swim practicing. These are two things that I use to accomplish that. They are also fun things that can help the swimmer develop swimming skills and basics.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Summer League
Oh Summer League, It takes a lot of energy to do the summer league practices. The variety of levels that you have makes it hard. Some kids had swim lessons, some have done the competitive stroke class, and others tell me that they learned how to swim from their parents in the backyard pool. It is still fun to do a summer league where the main thing is to just get basics down.
I organized the meets to be similar to USA Swimming Meets, but we added some aid to help the new swimmers and parents. The Staging area being the main one. Everything is pre-seeded, so there is some computer work involved, but that isn't too hard, just takes a little time.
The best part is there is no official times, there are no officials, there are no time standards, there are no ribbons first place. The meets are just to go and race. They all get mini goody bags and the heat winners get a necklace of beads around there neck. No team scores, no winners, no losers, just kids having fun racing. Even the kids who got beat had a lot of fun. We used club swimmers as timers, staging area helpers, announcer, starter, heat winner deliverer. They seemed to have a blast helping out at the meet.
No prior league really existed any longer, so I was able to establish that the purpose of the league is to introduce the sport, and to pursue the sport onward the swimmer would be developed through the club team. A true feeder program that leads kids in the direction to be able to succeed at the higher level of swimming if they choose to do so. The frustration of seeing so many talented swimmers never understand the kind of work necessary to be a national level swimmer, will not be as prevalent as it is laid out, that the club route is the way to reach the highest level.
I think that is my favorite thing about the move here. The CVRSL was a great summer league. The structure had been established over years of being in existence, but it was that tradition that also led so many to never be able to reach their potential. I loved being in the league as a swimmer, but even I had fallen a victim of the CVRSL. Success came as you were talented, and we were led to believe that we worked hard to achieve it. I'm glad that I did work a little under Phil and my father, and was able to have some success, but still so many don't get that opportunity. If only the CVRSL was an actual feeder program to the various club teams in the area, the area would become so much better at swimming, as I know that the talent is there. Only if...
This new summer league is a lot of fun though. It takes a lot of energy, but it is good to teach the beginning levels every once in awhile. Only thing I regret is the short amount of practices. The anxiety to make sure I cover all the main points gets to me at times, and then I let myself overlook some aspects (like when I watched so many of my swimmers touch the wall with one hand on breaststroke). Spending so much time on skills that will help them transition into our first level groups, I forget a simple thing like touching with two hands. The kids are making progress, but they are also getting to know some basic things that I didn't really get to with the Aqua Bears. Those basics will serve them good as they progress, even though I think sometimes the parents wonder why I am not teaching just the strokes all the time, and not having them swim a lot of laps. Oh well.
I organized the meets to be similar to USA Swimming Meets, but we added some aid to help the new swimmers and parents. The Staging area being the main one. Everything is pre-seeded, so there is some computer work involved, but that isn't too hard, just takes a little time.
The best part is there is no official times, there are no officials, there are no time standards, there are no ribbons first place. The meets are just to go and race. They all get mini goody bags and the heat winners get a necklace of beads around there neck. No team scores, no winners, no losers, just kids having fun racing. Even the kids who got beat had a lot of fun. We used club swimmers as timers, staging area helpers, announcer, starter, heat winner deliverer. They seemed to have a blast helping out at the meet.
No prior league really existed any longer, so I was able to establish that the purpose of the league is to introduce the sport, and to pursue the sport onward the swimmer would be developed through the club team. A true feeder program that leads kids in the direction to be able to succeed at the higher level of swimming if they choose to do so. The frustration of seeing so many talented swimmers never understand the kind of work necessary to be a national level swimmer, will not be as prevalent as it is laid out, that the club route is the way to reach the highest level.
I think that is my favorite thing about the move here. The CVRSL was a great summer league. The structure had been established over years of being in existence, but it was that tradition that also led so many to never be able to reach their potential. I loved being in the league as a swimmer, but even I had fallen a victim of the CVRSL. Success came as you were talented, and we were led to believe that we worked hard to achieve it. I'm glad that I did work a little under Phil and my father, and was able to have some success, but still so many don't get that opportunity. If only the CVRSL was an actual feeder program to the various club teams in the area, the area would become so much better at swimming, as I know that the talent is there. Only if...
This new summer league is a lot of fun though. It takes a lot of energy, but it is good to teach the beginning levels every once in awhile. Only thing I regret is the short amount of practices. The anxiety to make sure I cover all the main points gets to me at times, and then I let myself overlook some aspects (like when I watched so many of my swimmers touch the wall with one hand on breaststroke). Spending so much time on skills that will help them transition into our first level groups, I forget a simple thing like touching with two hands. The kids are making progress, but they are also getting to know some basic things that I didn't really get to with the Aqua Bears. Those basics will serve them good as they progress, even though I think sometimes the parents wonder why I am not teaching just the strokes all the time, and not having them swim a lot of laps. Oh well.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
My Development
How much I have tried to help my fellow coaches develop this past 10 months or so that I have been here in Simi Valley, I also feel like I have grown a lot. I always like to look over what I have done over a period of time and how I have developed and evolved.
With RCA I look back and I know that I tried to develop strokes to progress the swimmer. When they reached a point where training was needed I moved them up to my father or my brother. I always found the training aspect of coaching boring. With my new coaching position, I am in the position similar to what I was before, but I realize that I need to do some more aerobic development while they are still developing strokes. This is the biggest change in my coaching. My willingness to train an athlete to get what they need to be a high performing swimmer, despite that aspect being boring, I understand and now believe in the beginning level of training necessary to develop a good swimmer, and develop a work ethic that will help them as they progress along in their career.
I still believe in the stroke develop aspect that I still love to do, but I have opened my point of view of needing to develop ones stroke and not just always developing a stroke. I have had much success since being here, and I think as I get better at training swimmers and understanding the science aspect, I will continue to grow to become a better coach.
I look to see what I have evolved to and where I was, not only evaluate how a season plan worked out. Yes I will evaluate the success of each training season, and improve on it, but I think as a still young coach, I can also improve as I begin to study more about the development of the body through training and not just the studying of how the body can move through water effectively.
With RCA I look back and I know that I tried to develop strokes to progress the swimmer. When they reached a point where training was needed I moved them up to my father or my brother. I always found the training aspect of coaching boring. With my new coaching position, I am in the position similar to what I was before, but I realize that I need to do some more aerobic development while they are still developing strokes. This is the biggest change in my coaching. My willingness to train an athlete to get what they need to be a high performing swimmer, despite that aspect being boring, I understand and now believe in the beginning level of training necessary to develop a good swimmer, and develop a work ethic that will help them as they progress along in their career.
I still believe in the stroke develop aspect that I still love to do, but I have opened my point of view of needing to develop ones stroke and not just always developing a stroke. I have had much success since being here, and I think as I get better at training swimmers and understanding the science aspect, I will continue to grow to become a better coach.
I look to see what I have evolved to and where I was, not only evaluate how a season plan worked out. Yes I will evaluate the success of each training season, and improve on it, but I think as a still young coach, I can also improve as I begin to study more about the development of the body through training and not just the studying of how the body can move through water effectively.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)