Learning (Talent Code)

I have blogged before about reading the Talent Code. I really have tried to incorporate parts of this way of learning into my coaching. Of course the book doesn't tell you exactly how you can apply the concept, but that you have to see if you can create a way to use their concept in what you do. The idea is of self-correction and not just repeating what you are told, but realizing what you are doing. What you are doing right, and what you are doing wrong. The coach helps you along the way, but they allow you to mess up repeatedly to get to what you want to accomplish.

So, for my group I try to make the swimmers first aware of their body and their muscles. I talk about the muscles in the body and what muscle you use with certain motions. In the beginning, this is hard because some of the kids have no idea what the muscles are called so you as a coach have to teach this. Now, I talk about correcting motions by also referring to muscles that they may not be utilizing which has created the motion to be incorrect.

I also do an occasional drill which is designed for the swimmers to focus on specific movements, and situate their eyes in a position so that they can watch their hand motion in the water. (Finis Inline Snorkels is a great tool for this, but sometimes you need to just tell them to watch their hand and breathe when they aren't pushing against the water). Trying to get the swimmers to recognize when they are doing something wrong. They can feel when they drop their elbow, or when they allow the hips to sink because they arched their back. These are things that I can repeat myself all the time, but if they realize it, they can make a correction, and with the theory behind The Talent Code, that is when the athlete would actually be doing the learning (by correcting their own error.)

Even when I talk to my swimmers at meets, I'll ask them what were they doing wrong. Some can answer correctly, some just make up something that they've been told over and over again, some have no response. If a swimmer can tell what went wrong, then I'll ask them when do the mistake start happening in the race (what lap). Some of my swimmers can now tell me what and when. These are the swimmers who are doing the most learning at practice now, as they have developed this skill of recognition. It doesn't happen in a short amount of time, but something that needs to practiced. The swimmer must also always being paying attention at practice to the coach and to their body (movement and muscle), to really begin developing the skill.

I believe this is the skill that is required for success at the senior level, and a level of training that can lead them to be very successful in the future. It takes time to develop this awareness, and that is why I try to develop in my group which is before going on to the pre-senior and senior level of training.