Plateau's in swimming

Many talk about plateaus as a negative, but really they are part of the process. If you never plateau then have you ever trained hard enough to be as fast as you should? No, because then you haven't gone through muscle break down to get more strength and you have never gone through a stroke change to get more out of your swimming.

Realize that we use the word plateau and not peak. Plateau is a flat period for time drop with the intention that you will resume progression. Many times this means there is a need for a change. Most of the time it is a mental change. A willingness to push outside your comfort zone is typical one. A swimmer can work hard, and then feel like the hard work they did was going to make them get faster beyond that one surge of improvement. The swimmer then trains at a similar level rather than challenge new harder sets in the next season. Willingness to rest more may be another mental block. Those workers of the group feel like they can rest too much, or who train on their own when their coach says take a few days off. For many it is hard to fathom that it is hard for people to take a break, but in the midst of a plateau it can be very frustrating and the last thing you can imagine to make you better is an extra day off or some more rest days in your micro cycle of training.

In younger swimmers, a plateau can occur when they have maxed out their current stroke. This means they need to make a stroke adjustment for future success. This is very hard process, as many times they have had success with their stroke, and now they must go through a 3 - 6 month period of swimming slower with their new stroke before reaping the rewards. Perseverance, it is the ultimate characteristic of a good swimmer. 

The most important concept is that plateaus are not a negative thing. If approaching plateaus as part of the process to long term success, then the swimmer will be better off. More pressure  is the worse thing as it leads to anxiety that makes perseverance more difficult. 

We teach life lessons through a fairly superficial medium. It is a great way to learn these lessons rather than in aspects of life that will affect their entire life. As adults who have lived life, we all know that there are hard times and rough patches. Learning to deal with these times to come out better on the other side. Is this not what a plateau in swimming really is? Don't panic as a parent or coach, but try to guide them through as they learn that continued work and change is what helps them become better at the end of a rough period of time. Submitting, quitting, and unwillingness to embrace change; are things that will only allow them to accept a plateau as a result and creating it into a peak. They must be helped by the adults in their lives on how to not panic and persevere to something greater.

2013

As I see on my reports, is that I have been not so good about posting in the year of 2013. I have been busy with taking on more jobs, as a swim coach has to have multiple jobs to make ends meet. I plan on being better at posting blogs in 2014. I will remain busy through 2013, but I hope to get more posts and on a more regular basis back in the new year.

I will say that I tend to become redundant at times with my posts, so if anyone has any ideas of what topics I could cover, please feel free to suggest. I am always ok with researching and giving my opinion about topics. I just hit a bloggers block there for a bit.

I look forward to continuing blogging and inputting my ideas and perspective out there for all.

Freestyle Progression

I recently heard back from a coach saying that he just got back from ASCA World Clinic. He was excited and enthusiastic about the changes he wanted to implement after attending this clinic. This coach is a relatively new coach to age-group swimming, with a team that he is able to create a new program and culture. I have spent a little time talking to him about things I do, and he has done so with many other coaches as well.

One thing he wanted to implement was stroke development through progressions. Since I failed to talk about progressions with him and I now realize that after he now plans to implement them, I decided to talk about one of my progressions I use for freestyle development. This progression I use even with my more advanced age-groupers during stroke development phase of my season. I like to go back to basics with them towards the beginning of seasons. (Note: My progressions have changed, and continues to change as I develop as a coach still after so many years.)

Freestyle Kick on Side. It is exactly as it says. I emphasize the position of the lead arm and the head position. I also try to get their kicks to be in their bodyline and not just behind them.

6 Kick Switch. Here they take the previous drill and now add a rotation with a single stroke. Emphasizing the hip rotation from one side to the other. 6 Kicks on side with one stroke followed by 6 kicks on the other side

6 - 3 - 6 Drill. The same as above, but instead of a single arm stroke and rotation between the 6 kicks, now the swimmer does 3 strokes. emphasis is still on hip rotation.

Various forms of catch-up freestyle. Utilizing catch-up freestyle in various forms allows them to now try to time the arms with the hip rotation that they have been practicing.

Regular Freestyle ends this progression.

I have 3 other freestyle progressions that I use, but this one I use the most. Kicking evenly with the bodyline; arm position; head position; rotation from the hips; and timing of the arms, are the emphasis for this progression. The drills only emphasize one or two per drill, and they are added upon throughout the progression.

The great thing about progressions is that you build parts of a stroke, and progress to put them together with other parts. This leads with hopefully a good final result.

I hope this helps anyone looking for a progression or starting point of building their own progressions to better develop strokes.

Swim Parent: (Part 4) The Training

Swimming is a year round sport. It is a year round sport mainly due to the fact that the sport is done in a medium that is not normal for everyday life. It is done in water. A persons equilibrium is different; the resistance is different, to create forward motion (propulsion) is different. If you spend time without being in the water you can lose these key aspects to swimming fast.

I remember reading an article from a youth sports coaching journal. The argument was the result of year round training in a single sport. It basically said that short term success did occur, but long term it didn't pan out for the majority of athletes. Of the sports they looked at swimming was not one of them, but the sport with the most success was track. The author believed that it was due to track utilizing periodization as a training method to plan the season with mesocycles to break up the season.

The author probably didn't realize that swimming stole this from track 40 - 50 years ago. Periodization is the key to successful training for long term success. 

Why is this important for parents to know? To understand why practices may be different throughout the season depending of the phase (mesocycle) that they are in. There are times where the swimmers will be doing a lot stroke development. Other times they are doing a lot of just aerobic level yardage. These two are pretty much the two opposites when it comes to the coach interaction. Where stroke development the coach can really get involved shaping and molding strokes to be more effective. Where as the aerobic part the coach is observing more as they don't want to interfere and ruin the aerobic heart rate that they are trying to maintain.

There are other types of phases between the two mentioned that all have different levels of coach interaction. This is all part of us as coaches being prepared with our season plans utilizing periodization for the best long term success.

Swim Parent: (Part 3) Patience

Anyone who has worked with kids knows and understands that one of the main qualities you must have is patience. Age-Group Swimming requires more patience than working with Senior Swimmers, but that still requires patience. The ultimate goal is for the swimmer to reach their potential at the ages of 16 - 18 years old to be able to possibly consider swimming in college. College swimming is not for everyone, but it is a possibility if you are willing to look beyond just NCAA Division 1.

The career of a young swimmer is about development and growth in the sport. Most parents who have their swimmers begin swim team around ages 6 - 10 have this concept down. The years go by and the swimmer becomes better and better at swimming, and the concept of long term becomes much harder. You go to swim meets, and you now have others to compare through the years. This becomes the decline of patience. Parents and Swimmers begin to compare themselves to others, and frustration develops. The best thing to do, do not compare while in developing stages. Kids develop at different rates. One study I read said that a child of the same age can differ in physical maturity by up to 5 years. This physical maturity develops strength and coordination that makes swimmers faster. This is why comparing to another child their own age makes no sense if they are even 1 year more physically mature than your child. If you happen to have an early maturing child, it is best not to compare because the maturity and growth that your child has done, the others around them will go through sometime in the next 5 years, and they will catch your child even if the training is not as good, equal or better than your child's.

As an age-group coach, we must reign in this idea of being on the top when younger than 16 is of up most importance. This doesn't mean that is a bad thing to be on the top. You may be an early maturing child, so you should be on the top. The field will pretty much be equal by 16 (for guys, in some cases it can actually be later).

I had a parent come up to me one time and asked me if their child is fast enough to continue to participate in Club Swimming. The child had just turned 10 years old. The child had only done club swimming for a short amount of time (less than 6 months), and I was taken back by the question. I answered it by explaining that the child is too young to determine such a thing, and that she hadn't been in club swimming long enough to really be able to execute properly consistently. This is the extremity of being impatient. It does illustrate that society in general wants a quick return all the time. We all get caught up in wanting everything now mentality. It is so easy to just fall in line with the masses and being one of the norm. Throughout this series, I have mentioned that it takes work, even for the parent. Let's face it, if it were easy, then we'd athletes coming out of everywhere. Athletes though are developed not by doing the ordinary, but by willing to do the extraordinary. The difference being the added part of ordinary, which is the word "extra". A child, coach, and parent must be willing to do the extra just so the child can become an athlete, and not a participant. Then to be an elite athlete it takes just a little more than that "extra."

Remember that as a parent of a young swimmer, be patient. Ask the child to pay attention, work hard, and do their best. It is not easy to be patient during the roller coaster ride of a swim career, but it is the best way to go about it. Remember that if your child is fast when they are young; others are going to catch up. If your child is slower while young, they will catch up to some their peers if they continue to stay attentive, work hard, and always give their honest best effort.

Swim Parent: Part 2 (Coaching your Child)

Every swim parent has heard it. Almost every swim parent has done it. It doesn't make you a bad swim parent because you tried to coach your child. The thing that we ask is for you to recognize what coaching your child means, and for you to put the effort forth to not coach them. As I wrote in the previous post, this takes work and effort.

The obvious: On deck at practice going up to your child and giving technique advice. This you should always avoid. If you can't help yourself; stay off the pool deck during practice. Young kids have a short attention span. As coaches it is hard to get in a group of their peers. The last thing we need is for them to lose their attention because their parent has something to say. For many kids, the attention towards the coach may be gone until almost the end of practice now.

Also pretty obvious: talking to your child before the race about stroke technique or race strategy. Oh, this can get interesting. I had an 8 year old boy one time made it to Junior Olympics in the 100 IM. He is going in seeded 2nd. His parent told him that he should do a flip turn from back to breast because flip turns are faster. Oh, the anger, I held it in, and told the swimmer to ask the parent why he got DQ'd. Now I know many parents are more aware of the rules than this parent, but it does show that even if I have been coaching a kid for over a year, they will still go to the word of the parent over the word of a coach (up until about 12 or 13 years old).

Not as Obvious: Listening to the coach as they talk to them before the race, then as you walk them to the block you just continue to repeat what the coach said. Yes, it is the same message. The problem is instead of letting it set in and allow them to think about it; you have just pounded a square block into a round hole and it is stuck, and it may not have set in. When a coach says something pre-race and then the kid executes, the coach can praise them on that (despite the result of the race). This will make the swimmer feel like the way to improve skills is by listening and being dependent on their parents to remind them. If they do it wrong, then the coach can say, "What was the one thing I asked you to do?" The swimmer can then see that they must listen to the coach as no one is going to be in the pool to remind you of what the coach said. It's all a learning lesson, age group meets are learning lessons for what will better prepare the swimmer at the higher levels.

Not as Obvious: Analyzing the nights workout in the car ride home or at the dinner table. I'm not saying you can't talk about swim practice, but don't ask questions like, "How many yards did you do tonight?' or, "What did the coach tell you to work on tonight?" These are searching questions to lead into analysis of the workout. Swimmers may talk about practice at times. Some more than others, but just allow them to talk about what they want to about practice. At the end of practice on some nights I tell them a fact about practice. Things like: You did 4900 yards tonight if you didn't miss a single lap; We did a lot of underwater work, and everyone seemed to be a few yards farther by the end of practice; or that main set tonight was one of those challenging sets, and a lot of you surprised me by making it. I don't do it every night because I want to save them for those nights we do something little more than normal. Parents have told me that their kids tell them about practices, and it seems as though the end of practice facts seem to be very much reiterated to the parent.

If you find that you have done these things, that's ok. You haven't ruined your swimmer. You just want to control them in the future. You may catch yourself in the future, and that is ok also. Sometimes recognizing the problem and then fixing it as actually the best way to learn.

Some parents seriously just can't help themselves. I have heard of coaches giving advise to these parents by telling them that the pool deck at practice is bad place for them. Easy fix, make that your relax time with a book or a cup of coffee. They say that it is good for creativity and the brain to have some time in the day that you don't think of anything (Not work, not kids, not family, not chores, nothing; this is also why many people have great ideas in places like the shower where there mind is not on anything). Here is that time. In regards to swim meets, I have heard some coaches advise parents to become an official because you have to analyze every race, so it makes it harder to key in on your own swimmer. As an official, you also give back to the sport that your child enjoys. That is always a good thing.

Swim Parent: Part 1 (Introduction)

I am going to start blogging again with the swim parent in mind. I have studied the swim parent from the very beginning of my coaching. It was made aware to me at the age of 14 that they will be the biggest headache to any swim coach. I was curious how this could be, so I have since paid a huge attention to many swim parents. After years of observing, I began researching and then creating my own opinion, which I then began to preach about being a swim parent through my observations as a swimmer and a coach.

I have noted on many other blog posts about being a swim parent. Sometimes I feel guilty about preaching to parents. When you become a parent there is no manual on how to do it. You learn as you go, and you take lessons learned from your own parents good and bad experiences. Through this method there becomes a problem with every generation, as every generation is different from the next. In the end though many people become good parents, and its many times through the experience of others that helps them do so; maybe not by doing it exactly the same way, but using an experience to help mold their own.

When it comes to swimming it is the coaches who have the experiences, and they have many, and they are both for the good and for the bad. Even if a parent grew up in swimming, they do not understand how things change over time, and sometimes forget about their time as a young age-grouper and all they can recall is their time as a high school or college swimmer. They forget about how different age-group swimming was compared to the higher levels.

In USA Swimming, we have become so much better at developing swimmers. The huge masses that qualify at these high standards now is amazing. One of their goals at USA Swimming was to build the base; when you look at the base in USA Swimming it is quite amazing. The training of young athletes has changed as we do not see young swimmers as little adults, but as developing children and have changed the training regimen of most of the age-group programs. This is a hard thing for many parents to understand, as they want to see their children be the most successful, when in reality we are just developing skills and allowing pure talent dictate who is fast at the early ages of 12 and under. It is the work ethic and the skills learned that pushes them beyond that point of an age-grouper and the best swimmers will be decided at the ages beyond 16 years old.

Parents have become such a large source of swimmers dropping out of the sport and the removal of so many coaches over the years, that there is a slight dislike of swim parents, in general, amongst some coaches. Although I have been burned many times in the past by parents, I still have a true belief that there more good than there are bad parents out there. I believe most conflicts arise from a parents desire to want the best for their child, and have a hard time seeing the long term growth and the role the swimmer gets to play in the success of their swim club rather than the success of the individual. I believe that human nature breeds these feelings and that you must actively be fighting off these feelings to really be able to execute them. A good swim parent isn't just natural, it is something that takes work and effort. You must work to not get mad at your swimmer when they goof off and doesn't listen at practice when they are 8 years old. You must work to not provide feedback on your child's race, and allow the coach to do the developing. You must work to not look at the other child and wonder why they are getting faster and not yours. It takes effort to understand that children develop at different times, and it is not equal based on age alone.

The idea that it isn't about what a swimmer can do to help them get better as an individual, but what they can do to help make their club a better team. This helps kids be able to handle the ups and downs of the swimmer career, and doesn't allow their own performances be magnified and built up. Our club, Conejo Simi Swim Club, utilizes a family volunteer hours system. This system helps the club be able to do special activities that help the club, but it also forces parents to be part of the swim club beyond their own child. It is not popular, but it does get more parents involved who might not be involved if it were not there. Parents get to know other parents on the team that they may never had met before, which in turn creates a closer relationship. When the parents are willing to do what's best for the team, then it is many times easier to get the kids to buy in as well. This is not easy for some parents, where others it is very natural, but like I said in the previous paragraph; being a sports parent is going to be some work.

As I continue with these blog posts, I hope you allow yourself to consider the things I bring up. These things are not to say that you are a bad parent because you do these things, but for you to have an idea of things to consider working towards to improve yourself as a swim parent, despite the fact that you are already a great parent (in my book, you are already a great parent by just putting your kid in the great sport of swimming).

Deck policies

There are different deck policies. There is an Open Deck policy which is great because it makes a team feel welcome to parents, but creates problems at times. A closed deck is definitely more conducive to a better learning environment for the swimmers, but it makes new parents uncomfortable. 

Over the years I have athletes and parents move to other states, and they have kept in touch with me. This has been educational for me as they tell me things are different. I have come to realize that there is no right way of doing things, but that a program must decide what their way of doing things is going to be.

The deck policy has been one of the bigger differences that I have noticed. I have always ran an Open Deck except when the Senior Group was in the water when I coached for my father. He had a closed deck policy for the senior group. I have heard of teams that have a closed deck policy to the point that parents didn't really talk to coaches. Everything was passed through the athlete or they could schedule an appointment to meet with the coach.

Why would a closed deck policy be better? I write this as I know most who read this are probably used to an Open Deck. Think about a classroom. What chaos would be created if every parent sat in the back of the class? It adds another distraction for the swimmer. New young parents think they should add instruction. What they actually end up do is distract the swimmer and the coach must regain the attention. Even when the parent goes back to sit, the swimmer is paying attention to the fact that the parent is still there. When a parent adds there two cents in the middle of a workout they also let the swimmer know that the coach doesn't need to be listened to since the parent will just tell them later. This really hurts the swimmers development in the group as they aren't getting the information that is necessary to advance in the group as they just refer to the parent.

I watched a parent the other day for a private lesson spend half the time yelling to the swimmer what they were doing wrong. That was a waste of money, as the teacher didn't teach a thing as he never got the attention of the swimmer because the parent wouldn't just step back and allow him to teach.

Closed Deck policies though do have problems. First being that new parents like the idea that they can be on deck. The second being that it can lower the amount of parent coach interaction depending on how the facility and policy is setup. A closed deck policy tends to have a "we're trying to hide something" feeling to some people. Even though we are not hiding anything, this does arise from what I have heard.

I like the Open Deck. You see as parents realize that there is no reason to be there, and they are more distraction than not. They tend to disappear without forcing them to with a closed deck. I see removing some situations from new swimmers and their parents with a closed deck because they haven't figured out that they are only hurting their swimmers development. I still like to see the parents improve, so I get more comfortable about how they are away from the pool with their young swimmer.

Reflecting on the article with Aaron Piersol's Mom

It is interesting to hear the point of view of a parent who has been through it. Watched their children develop and experience our crazy world of competitive swimming. The observation that the worst thing about Youth Sports being parents is a generalization. As a coach, you do see the parent who feels like they need to say something to the child, or the parent who thinks that they need to repeat what the coach says. You see the parents who video tape their kids and then analyze the race with them. You see the parents that get worked up over the awards because they need them to fill that section of awards at the home.

It is not all parents though. Some parents do just allow the kids to participate. Allow them to just race and enjoy that moment. It is not about time standards or awards. Obviously this is not every parent as Aaron's mother seems to have not been an over active parent. I remember hearing Kohlton Norys' mother talk about the same things, as she talked about being a swim parent to some TNT parents (Kohlton being one of the most successful TNT swimmers as a NCAA champion and a Team USA representative for the University Games).

I think back about my upbringing in swimming. My brother and I would make little places for our awards when we younger, but we eventually had to clean them up and put them away. By about 11 years old I really stopped collecting the ribbons. I got to the point that both my brother and I just threw them away before even leaving the pool deck. It was a little different for us though. Our summer league had an evening meet from 5:00pm - 10:00pm every Tuesday and Thursday night for 4 weeks straight. We participated since 6 and 7, so the ribbons just added up. Add the ribbons from the USA Swimming meets, and we learned very early on that ribbons were kind of silly.

My father was a senior coach, he was too busy with his own swimmers to really analyze anything of our swimming until we were in his senior group. He never told me or my brother much about swimming until we were in his group. We reported to who ever was our coach at the time (Mark, Dennis, Pokey, Bill, Heidi, Phil, and others that I can't seem to remember all their names).

My mother coached us from time to time when we were age-groupers, but was always more of spectator and fan of us. I think my mom was just happy that we wanted to swim. She'd bring my step dad to meets and laugh at him as he tried to really get into it. I think she spent more time trying to explain things to him than worry about how we swam. She saw us having a good time, and as a former swimmer, she understood the importance of that for us.

I can say that my swimming career belonged to me from the very beginning. In the end, it was hard to deal with it being over because it belonged to me so much. I remember deciding to not pursue college swimming because of my time at Junior College I had fallen in love with coaching. It was hard to make the phone calls to the college coaches who had been watching me since I was a senior in  high school to let them know that I was choosing to not pursue college swimming. The battle in my mind about the decision was hard, but I knew the decision was mine alone, as it had always belonged to me. I am thankful that I was able to own my swimming, as I think I learned more from it, and I really grew to love it. Where I saw many others who swam against me grow to resent swimming because it wasn't theirs, but their parents. I didn't understand it at the time; I didn't get how somebody could grow to hate a sport before they even get out of high school, but now as I have coached club swimming for almost 12 years now I can see how it can happen.

Parent article: Aaron Piersol's Mom

http://www.momsteam.com/blog/may-sports-moms-month/wella-peirsol-hartig-being-mom-2-olympic-athletes-says-no-pressure-on-kids-to-succeed

Above is a URL of an interview of Aaron Piersol's mother. She talks about what she took from being a swim parent, and her thoughts of being a swim parent.

You'll need to copy and paste the address, as I had difficulty with adding the link with the Blogger iPhone app.

Insanity

3rd straight afternoon workout cancelled due to poop in the pool. Still had the 2 morning workouts in the last 5 days. We did a dryland workout. It was supposed to be a sprint workout so we focused on fast hip rotations with ab work.

At the end I had a talk about first dreaming and challenging the impossible. I added some talking about training. I used Einstein's definition of insanity, "To continue to do the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result."

Tied it in to training. If a swimmer continues to swim on the same interval, and swimming the same speed at workout, but expects faster times as a result, would be insane. As a swimmer gets faster they should be able to train faster. 

Tie it all together. How many times does a senior swimmer hear a set and decide that they can't do that, or doesn't want to do that. They are content with their current training with no big challenges and then expects to swim fast. Believe that you can accomplish which once was deemed impossible. Face that challenge with vigor and determination. Go outside your norm and do something amazing at workout, and then you can expect a different and better result.

The time that I progressed the most

Again, this is more for coaches, but may interesting to others.

The period of time that I progressed as a coach the most was very early on. My brother and I were both coaches, as we both are still today. In the summer, he'd come home and coach the Summer League Team that I was Head Coaching. Summer League in the Central Valley is crazy. You have the swimmers for about 2 to 3 weeks. Club swimmers wouldn't come to Summer League Team practices, but they'd compete at meets. These practices were crazy. All these kids not knowing much about swimming, and others who have swam summer after summer. The Season would then start, and we'd have meets that went from 5:00pm to after 10:00pm. This would be every Tuesday and Thursday night. Practice was only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

My brother and I one summer would drive home from these meets that ended at 10:00pm, grab dinner on the way home at a drive thru, and get home around 11:30pm - Midnight. We'd hang out and talk about our summer league swimmers. We'd review many of the performances and our opinions on how they could get better. We'd talk about the club swimmers also. We'd figure things out many times, and we'd argue with each other. We both had opinions, and we were both hard headed and were willing to argue with each other. Funny, we either came up with solutions or we finished with the belief that we were just going to disagree. Either way we ended the argument we walked away with another perspective that we could think about later. We'd finally go to bed around 1:00am or 2:00am, only to wake up at around 6:00am to drive to morning workout for the club swimmers.

When my brother returned home we were able to argue even more. The schedule wasn't so crazy, but we'd still have plenty of time to argue and chat about swimming. My perspective on swimming changed a lot, even his perspective changed. We both grew to realize the value that each of us had to give to one another, even though our worlds in swimming were so different.

Going from Central California to Southern California has allowed me to progress even more. I learn different things by observing my fellow coaches and other team coaches. Dealing with swimmers in this cut throat environment. I feel bad for them sometimes because of how the entry point is so difficult down here. The things that I learned early on in discussions and arguments have been huge for me to accept that things can be different, yet you can adapt to make it work. Open-mindedness. That was what helped my brother and I develop, even though we were willing to make the counter point at times.

His world has changed as well, going from NAIA to NCAA Division 1. I know he is still developing and learning on his journey. Still talking and at times arguing, but using each other to continue to grow is now a habit for us, and as our worlds have now grown, we can probably again have that great time of progression as coaches.

Easy Swimming at Practice develops habits

I talked to my group about how Easy Swimming at practice develops habits. Many times we do recovery type swims in practice, or stetch out aspects of the workout. In this time is where swimmers will develop their habits.

Good and Bad habits are frustrating. The bad need to be broken, the good need to be honed. Easy swims or stretch outs is where the swimmers are relaxed and have not a lot of things to worry about. This leads to them just flopping in the water at times. Broken Strokes due to no focus. The idea of these are not to relax the mind, but to relax the body.

My talk today was more of a lecture. Watching the swimmers execute skills that we have talked about practice to practice, and meet to meet. Easy Swims, this is the best time to think about these corrections. No clock to worry about. No care if people pass you. No interval to have to make. No drill motion to be sure to be doing. Just simply swimming. After some time of telling this for 300 Freestyles between sprints I ended practice with a 200 IM (Long Course). I told them that they need to think about at least one thing that I always talk to them about. That is all they need to worry about the entire lap. They were to take a few seconds on the wall to then think about the next stroke, and then swim the lap with only the one aspect in their focus.

It was some really good strokes. Less frustration on my part because they were all working on things that I have become tired of repeating on a regular basis. I decided they knew what they were to work on, and now I'd just setup the time for them to just focus on those things that they know they are working on. You've repeated this stuff enough times for them, I just finally gave them a chance to work on it on their own. It looked pretty good.

The Journey as a Coach

I was thinking the other day about my time as a coach. I feel like I talk to people about all the accomplishments and the good times. My warnings have always been more about things that happen all the time, and not the hardest of times. Letting people know the problems that arise, and don't worry they happen to all of us.

There are the things that coaches who have done this for awhile might have been through. My events are not necessarily mirror images of what others go through, but just the concept that tough times do happen.

23 years old, and I have had the opportunity to be a Head Age-Group Coach. The team is very small at this point. Each swimmer is a large part of what is keeping the club afloat. I give my all to this small group of swimmers. Physically, Mentally, and Emotionally. The honeymoon period has faded, and like anytime the honeymoon period for a coach fades; people begin to find the flaws. This Spring I had a few swimmers dropped out, more than normal, and I took it very hard. They were swimmers I had since I was just the Age-Group Coach. I found myself parked in a parking lot at about 10:00 at night crying, and making the phone call to quit. My club president didn't let me.

Years later, I had swimmers decide to leave my team to go to another team. Swimmers I had from a very young age, and had built them into fast swimmers. Again feeling very connected I found myself again in an empty parking lot crying and on the phone. This time it was a little different because I also had the stress of being unable to find a job after college and all the savings I had done while in college had now gone to almost nothing. I wasn't quitting after this incident though. I had become stronger.

I have a feeling of being an imposter. The feeling that I wonder if I am only an imposter swim coach. Early in my career this would keep up at nights. Now it becomes nothing but motivation to look and learn for more. I am not afraid to realize that I am wrong. I fix it, and make myself better. Reinvent myself. Realize what I do to be a good coach, and the things I can do to become better. Keep the good and develop that which is not.

The journey is hard, not because of the time put into it (even though theose can add up at times), but because we put our passion and emotion into what we do. They are not merely bumps in the road, but true obstacles that test your desire to be a good coach. Overcome them, and you become better. Leave coaching, and then you pursue your next endeavor, as the next person will come to try the journey out for themselves.

Keeping up with learning

Last weekend I went to a coaches clinic my brother was putting on for new age group coaches. I was more of an off to the side observer, but still listened in.

Even though the target was for new coaches, I found myself thinking like at other clinics. Taking in the information he was saying and seeing if there things he is saying to help me become better, or a way to say something different that can help solve a problem that I have been having.

I took away the concept of finishing the fly kick and a drill I haven't used for years. I plan to use the drill again now to help develop this with my swimmers. A description of where the body should be at highest point of the dive. These are things that aren't new, but there was a reminder and new terminology that can help me become better. 

Education continues, even in places that may be at a lower level, or higher level as well. The accumulation of knowledge. The drive to always be learning. That is how people become good coaches.

Keeping a swimmer in the sport

I was asked about this the other week, as their swimmer is younger and they saw some of the senior swimmers lose their focus and some, their desire. 

It's a hard question to answer as a coach. There are reasons for each individual, but I just read an article that laid out an idea that occurs in youth sports now a days; and I think I can make connection to the question that I was asked.

Young swimmers love to succeed as they see how much joy it brings to the adults in their lives (parents, coaches, friends, and relatives). These people tend to show their support by becoming active in their development. This happens in all youth sports. In adolescence these kids begin to look for autonomy. They want something that is theirs and theirs alone. This puts activities like youth sports at risk because of the activeness in development from the earlier years on the adults part. It's hard to be highly active I their growth, and then step back and allow them to take the reins of their direction in a sport. 

So, we have the athlete now that doesn't enjoy the sport because they have that parent who wants to coach them, or put their two cents in to their training and development. This can also be a coach who tries hard to push them, and doesn't wait for them to make the decision that they want to be good. Here the sport becomes the coaches and not the athletes. The athlete must choose they want to be good, and then the coach can make a bigger difference. As a coach we say things sometimes to envoke this desire, but it is still the athletes decision.

We must allow the sport to belong to the athlete. Yes, some are still going to stray, but those will be reasons not because of parent or coach. 

It is also hard because to be an athlete you must live in the counter culture. That's why there aren't a whole lot of great athletes. To be an athlete that highest level is not easy nor normal. This is the other reason why some drop out. More on the counter culture in a future post.

Building with numbers, prestige, and some fast swimmers

Big Clubs tend to develop fast swimmers. Why is this? The idea that kids swimming within a large group have a better chance of having training partners. You have more swimmers pushing them at practice, so every swimmer working hard is one more piece of the puzzle to making your team faster.crowded lanes and choppy water. It's harder swim in that condition. Think about how great they feel in the race when they have a lane to themselves. Big clubs also have the ability to handle drop out. Retention is not 100%. Kids choose other sports; or just decide that they can't push themselves harder than before, so their times become stagnant. Sometimes a late bloomer feels like they will never catch up to their peers, or a early developed swimmer gets frustrated because everyone is getting closer to their times. Retention is hard for clubs, but a well developed team keeps the kids in the water to continue to keep kids pushing hard to achieve.

Our club will be hosting our Junior Olympics for the 4th time this summer. Our Head Coach and myself believe that that is an indication that we are a developed and organized club. We have things together to develop fast swimmers. This prestige of hosting such a meet, carries into the mind set of swimmers. A belief that we are a top teir team. We believe that this has been a contributor to our development in our team. We take pride that people like to attend our JO's and we always get compliments for a well ran meet. (These comments despite our team realizing all the missteps that we have taken. We are more critical of our execution of a meet.)

In building the team, a team recognizing the swimmers reaching the high levels. These swimmers train together along with others and they should be pushing each other to reach the level of the fastest swimmers in the group. My coaches growing up always coached towards the fastest swimmer, and then we were to try our best to hang in with them. We all became better swimmers trying to keep up with our fastest swimmers.

Big numbers. Hosting big meets with pride. Training towards the top of the group to develop the entire group in general. You build this, and you have yourself a machine. Swimmers come in, they get fast because of what has been laid before them. You need to build it and that takes time, but it does create fast swimmers.

Teaching through 200 Strategy

The 200 Freestyle is an interesting event. At the highest level this event is a sprint, and the best are capable of holding on to that sprint for the 200. Various variations of sprint are utilized, but there is no room in that race anymore for many speeds other than really fast.

Age-Groupers though are not miniature senior swimmers. You can't expect them to have the aerobic and anaerobic capacity to do such a task. I use the 200 freestyle to teach different aspects of swimming that I believe is good for age-groupers to develop. Here is the 200 freestyle strategy I use and why:

I split it into 50's (trying to keep it simple, especially for LCM).

First 50 is Easy Speed (Easy Speed is one of those things that I want the kids to try to develop as an Age-Grouper. This ability becomes a huge tool as they developing). Easy Speed is being relaxed and smooth yet still moving relatively fast through the water.

Second 50 is where they will build speed (mainly through their legs). Changing Speeds is a great tool for swimmers to develop. This is really good when used in LCM. Can they build their speed through the kick within this 50. (I try to have them maintain a tempo in their arms throughout the 200 with a possible increase in tempo on the 2nd 100).

The third 50 is the sprint. This is against most instincts in swimming the 200 freestyle. Most swimmer pull back on this 50 as they are tired, or they are preparing for the last 50. This is where we build character to be able to go after this race. As an age-grouper, the kids will also catch or beat many opponents when attacking this 50. This 50 is about guts, and they have to gain confidence that they can sprint this 50. 200's are determined in the third 50.

The last 50 is the race. Face it, we are a competitive sport and we want to build competitors. No matter how tired they are, we want them to be able to go after and race someone for the win. I talk about digging down deep and finding that desire to finish the race. This is a tool that can become huge if develop well as an age-grouper. The knowledge that they can swim fast even when faced with exhaustion or pain.

4 aspects of racing.After the race, if I have time I'll tell them which of those 4 parts they did well and which parts of the strategy they need to work on. It may not be the way to get the fastest time, but a lot of learning can happen, and they can get those really fast times later as they get older in the senior group.

Coaches: Developing or Changing Culture

Sorry about the lapse of time from my last post. Bloggers Block as well as being busy with the finishing of the High School Season, and maintaining all the other aspects of aquatics that I do. Still a little bit of Bloggers Block, but I thought this seemed close to what I have been thinking and talking about lately.

Read articles for swim coaches about how it is so important that you must develop a culture. You must change a culture that is holding your team back from further growth. They provide all the reasons of why you need to change or develop your culture, and provide the different aspects that are good to be part of a swim teams culture. I always end up asking myself, "Ok, so how did you change your culture?" Some articles hint at things done, and then others just completely forget about telling us ways that we can change the culture. Many times it is in articles not about changing the culture that really give insight on how to change a culture. So, I am going to throw some things about developing or changing a culture of a swim team, by talking about things that I do. I have no idea if these are good ways, but they seem to be somewhat working.

First thing I asked my future Head Coach in a meeting with her was, "What do you want this team to be? and what is the culture you want to define this team?" She said a few things, but the main idea was that she wanted a team that was built around the idea that no matter their talent level; our swimmers were going to achieve by being hard working. I was all for that, and I knew things that I wanted to do to develop this culture.

The main  message I told my group, was that you can't out talent your competition. You can only out work them. Control what you can control, which is ones work ethic. Take pride in the effort even more so than the result. These talks to my swimmers my kids know when one is coming, as they all start telling everyone to start being quiet because it was speech time. That lets you know that I like to take my group to the side and have talks about these kinds of topics.

How else do I develop and change the culture to that which we want. Advancing groups is based upon practice ability. Not age (even though part of consideration) or by performance speed (also considered though), but on what they are capable of doing at practice. I preach that they must earn their way to the next group. Hard work is how to get there, not by just performing and not by getting older. We don't just push you through because you spent your time necessary to be moved up. There are some cases of older swimmers which I make them a deal. These deals normally incude them proving their desire for one season of hard work to move up. Many accomplish this when we make a deal, even though this is exactly what I have been asking of them the whole time. Sometimes, they move up and then they stop working like the previous season, and I recognize that I made a mistake, but there are other times that that one season of hard work leads to more seasons of hard work. That is when we have succeeded.

The next way is by playing favorites. There are many other articles talking about how playing favorites is a positive thing. I am going to explain how it helps build a culture. Our team wanted the work hard culture, so  obviously then as a coach, if you play favorites to the hard workers, then you are perpetuating the culture that you want from the team. If you begin to give time to those that don't put the time and effort forth, then you send the wrong signal to the team. This could cause others to act less like the group of swimmers that you want, and you have now changed the culture in the wrong direction. At the beginning levels, a coach doesn't play favorites at all, as it is more of a learning environment. As they develop in the system and more work is asked of them to perform to the next level, then this method becomes useful. Hardest working is different than fastest swimmer. When first establishing this culture it may not be this way, but soon enough the team will grow to show that the swimmers who pushing themselves out of their comfort zone and beyond their current abilities, are also the ones that are achieving more than those who just depended on talent.

These methods are unpopular and some people are not going to like them, but they are effective ways to develop a culture for a swim team based on hard work. You are going to lose some swimmers along the way, but the hard workers stick around and eventually you end up with a team that is achieving beyond their talent. It is not about creating a champion (waiting around for the talent to come to you), but to create an environment where champions are inevitable (creating a culture of hard work which you can make champions out of those who may not have as much talent). Yes, I stole some lines from Forbes Carlisle who said, "It is not our aim to create champions, but to create an environment where champions are inevitable."

The culture of the team is a continuing battle. I work on it every season with talks and by actions I do as a coach. I haven't converted all my swimmers yet, but I have turned many of them to believe in the idea that they want to out work rather than just take the hand they have been given in terms of talent. In my position, I begin this process of teaching the culture and it is so much fun to see a kid who didn't work hard in the beginning finally decide to make that decision to put the effort in and develop their work ethic. It's as rewarding, maybe more so, than getting the great times. It's more rewarding as you know that you have developed what is needed for long term success in the sport, and the character that breeds success in general.

Remembering: Pool Problems

I write this because many don't realize the pool problems we all face, and some of us experience more than others.

The old Selma on its final legs. It was hanging on by almost nothing. The thermostat didn't work for years. We kicked it on manually hoping that on cold days it would stay on. I remember days that the pool was below 75 degrees, so we'd do dry-land practice. As a swimmer I remember doing a workout where even the main set wasn't enough to make the water ok.

As a coach it was stressful making my 35 minute drive to the pool, and the knowledge that there was a very high chance the pool was not usable.

I remember when the lights stopped working and I had the AD have the tennis court lights turned around and I dragged work lights in the trunk of little car, so that we could practice when the sun went down.

I remember when we forgot to keep the water flowing from the main, and we lost about a foot of water in the pool.

I remember the pump that our pool guy made to feed chlorine into the system because none of the chlorinators worked anymore. We had trouble keeping chlorine up we put a buckets with holes in it with chlorine tablets to help keep up with high traffic days.

Our club had debt and no money for awhile, so we couldn't just go rent time at another pool. We just cancelled or did a dryland workout. When they finally closed the pool to finish the new pool, thank goodness we had financially rebounded to rent another pool.

I remember those days when I hear people complain that we have to move a workout to another pool that we use, or when we have to adjust because of an event. I think people wonder why I don't let that bother me as a coach. It's because what I had to work with before, and what we had to work through even when I was a swimmer. We shook it off and adjusted and made the best of it. Shoot, it was the old Selma Pool, it was always breaking down.

The travel trips

Memories as a swimmer. Almost all are from travel trips. As a swimmer it was exciting to travel. It was fun to hang out with teammates while not at the meet. Memories are what cherish most about my time as a swimmer, and the friendships developed on them.

Being a young swimmer I remember driving to the central coast for meets a lot. I remember some trips into the LA area as well. As I got older the frequency of travel increased. Long Beach, Las Vegas, Irvine were regular trips for us. Yes they included 3 - 6 hour drives, but they included some great memories.

Western Zones was a lot fun. Colorado Zones was great. Made new friends and I got closer to friends I already had. Part of me regrets not going to the Hawaii Zones, but I chose another trip that was amazing as well.

I think sometimes we get caught up in everything in the sport we forget that it is the memories that live on. It's not the good swim or the bad swim, but the memory of the trip. It's hard to explain to those who only look at times swum, and how much they improved at each meet. I feel like those moments are kept from some swimmers now in a culture that looks at how to make everything quick and simple. It's just more convenient to go to that same meet nearby. When it is the travel trip that could provide that great memory that they recall later when they remember how much they enjoyed their time as a swimmer.

I swam for a team that travelled a lot. We always went to swim against new and better competition. We looked forward to the challenge. All over the US we went to meets for the next and different challenge. Maybe that's why I have so many great memories. Shoot, I didn't even go to all of them because I wasn't fast enough. I had a lot though, and the memories are great.

Switching to High School Practice for the season

Last year I had a club swimmer switch from club swim practice to just the high school swim team workout. She admittedly told me that High School workouts were easier, which is normal as High School athletes must start from very little at the beginning of the season. What was the result of this switch.

She began the HS Dual Meets swimming great. She was getting lifetime bests and was feeling great. There was some improvement through the season. In the end though her times began to flatten out. She finished off with the League Championship with faster times than the last few dual meets, but not as fast as the first couple meets.

What happened? I explained to her that during the fall and winter she came to club practice on a regular basis the improvement was there from the work she had put in. When she moved to HS workouts and to about maybe 1 club workout per week, she began lowering yardage and intensity. She essentially tapered. We saw the great swims from that unplanned taper at the beginning of the season, and then she never put the work back in to get herself ready to go best times at the end of the season. She got close to her times at League out of being excited about League Championships, but it would have been great had we been prepared physiologically to swim our best.

It's something that swimmers need to take into account. Every High School practice is different, so you can't generalize this message. The thing was that she knew the practices were easier, so it should have been an indicator that she needed to put in a couple more club workouts in the week. Understand that High School Coaches want the swimmers to be there for a designated number of days, so that they are part of the group, but also be sure that you don't fall into the trap of thinking a practice is a practice. The reducing the number of club workouts you attend could affect the end results.

Taking responsibility

I saw on a teams website about what it takes to be in the pre-senior type group. I saw on there something that I have preached about before, but I feel like we need to do more of with our advanced age groupers and pre-seniors. It was to take responsibility for their own swims.

One of my former coaches use to say to me, "good swim, good swimmer; bad swim, bad coach." We just laughed about it, but we saw it all the time. This mentality creates the path to not taking responsibility for ones swims.

Taking responsibility is big for me. It was one of the biggest things I did when I changed myself for the better during my sophomore in high school. With that experience, I truly believe that taking responsibility for ones actions is such an important thing to do.

I include taking responsibility in the goal setting process I talk about. One step is to review the season. If you didn't accomplish your goal, you need to look at the choices you made that might have prevented you from accomplishing the goal. You don't make an excuse and put it on someone else, but recognize that those practices you missed to do another activity might have been what prevented you from accomplishing the goal. Accept that you made the choice, and realize that to accomplish your goal you may not be able to make such decisions.

I do like quotes, and when I was going through the change of being person of excuses to a person who accepted that the results were merely a culminating result of my many choices. I had a quote always with me, "I am the only one responsible for my success and failure. I accept the challenge."

Psychology: The Totem Pole and the Psych Sheet

Psychology plays a role in our sport. It is important to understand some aspects, and these are ones I have seen and that I have been instructed about from other coaches who have even more experience than I have. I wanted to share these two aspects with my readers.

The Totem Pole:  This idea is based on what I was told while I was coaching in a small LSC, Central California. The idea is that our swimmers face the same swimmers all the time. They get faster than some swimmers and they get passed by some swimmers, but many times the swimmers put themselves in a pecking order or a totem pole of some swimmers of significance. This becomes a problem in development. The solution was to go outside the LSC on a regular basis. Always looking for new people to compete against, but also looking for the next tougher challenge. This made for a lot of travel, and some difficulty selling the concept, but those who did buy in reaped the benefits.

This idea is expanded to the next level of always trying to go to the highest level that you qualify. This is even harder to sell, as soon people ask, "Why are we going all that way to not even final?" Well, first thing is that you have already doomed yourself by not believing you or your swimmer isn't going to final. Next, is that you want to allow the swimmer to see where they want to be in the future, and that there hard work has taken them to this meet, but next you want to be at the top of this meet. Which is the lead into the next concept.

The Psych Sheet:  The Psych sheet is exactly what it is named. It can psych you up, or psych you out. Pretty much this is a piece of paper that swimmer should avoid. It means very little, and for most parents, it is a good thing to avoid also if you are in contact with the swimmer. The last thing the swimmer needs to hear is how they have very little chance of finaling from their support system. This pysch sheet is actually the fundamental base around the previous concept I touched on prior.

I remember going to the Grand Challenge Meet for the first time. I never saw the psych sheet because I never really looked at them much when I swam. I went to check my heat and lane and it wasn't posted yet, so I got to see that I was seeded around 90th. Didn't bother me, it was my first senior meet, I was having a blast just being there. I swam and I had a decent swim, and dropped some time. I looked at the results and saw that I finished somewhere in the 30's. I didn't have an amazing swim, but I realized how ridiculous the psych sheet was at that time. You never know how people at the meet are going to swim. All you can do is swim your fastest and try to make it back for a second swim.

Psychology can play a big role. Try not to allow the Psych Sheet to create your perception of how the meet is going to go. Don't be afraid to travel to compete against new competition. It is actually a good thing. Realize that experience can be important to have success at the same meet later on. Swimmers swim to make it back for a second swim, no matter where they are placed in the meet. Going to the fastest and most competitive meets is a good thing, as the swimmer gets to establish the next challenge by seeing where they want to be in the future; Finals at that next bigger meet.

Begin the training

So, with my team I scheduled a break of meets for 7 weeks. We had a flurry of meets in January and February and we finished off very well at our Coastal Champs Meet.

I looked at my group and saw a whole new group of kids moving up that needed some big stroke work, and my returning swimmers had some body position and pulling work that needed to be addressed. Instead of waiting for August and September when I normally have the long break before a meet. I planned one to begin the LC season.

1st general stroke work; 2nd I worked primarily body position; 3rd was an emphasis on pulling and sculling; finishing off with kick work which also began some aerobic conditioning.

Now we are into training. The yardage and intensity pumped up. Over 4000 on day one followed by a butterfly workout on day two. Already pushed the fastest interval for the group (100 free on 1:20), and those were at the end of the 2800 yard main set.

Still need stroke work, but it will be intertwined throughout the workouts of training now. Like today's butterfly workout had about 600 yards of drill and 400 yards of dolphin motion with fins.

It has been fun to see who the next kids who are going to step forward to be the top of the group. Some surprises already. These are the ones I'll look to see breakout seasons from. These are the swimmers who have now bought into the idea that it is work ethic that will make them better. This will set the groundwork for their success after my group. I allow the swimmers to make this choice, and I just guide them to that understanding. It is best when it is not pushed upon them by those outside of themselves.

Caring as a Coach

It is vital that coach cares about their athletes and how they do. Most coaches are good coaches because they do care. That is normally where it begins and then they develop from that basic foundation.

I have been doing this for awhile now. Not as long as many out there, but 12 years as a club coach and in my 10th season as a high school swim coach. As a young coach I cared so much, almost too much. I learned a lot from these years I cared so much. One of the biggest thing was what works and what just ends with conflict and not so good results.

I figured out that if a coach cares more than the athlete about their performance, it doesn't work out. If a parent cares more about the swimmers performance than the athlete, then it doesn't work out.

Young swimmers want to please their parents and coaches, so this method does work for young swimmers. Many young swimmers don't understand, so it is hard to know what to care about. They look to parents and coaches to what they should care about.

The older swimmer though is where the problems arise. A swimmer must care more than the coach and parent about performance. They must also care more about their practice than their coach and parent. The second of the two is the harder one, and it mainly stems from parent and coach teaching the athlete when young that practice is important. Problems and conflict will come up in the swimmers relationship with parent and coach if they care more than the athlete.

As a coach, I have seen many young coaches go into high school coaching very enthusiastic and full of desire to make their swimmers fast. I've have so many burn out, as they are always at conflict with trying to get their high school swimmer to care more about their practice and performance, and to have their care be as much as their own. A few years, and then they are done, or at least need a break. I made it past these years with some experiences that made me realize the flaw in caring more than the athlete. It keeps you up at night saying, "if only."

After a few experiences, I began to concentrate on the athletes that I had more control of their improvement. Unfortunately, it wasn't always the kids you wanted it to be, but when I put my concentration on those who showed up and put forth the effort you asked of them, it became much more enjoyable. It began to spread. More kids would give their time and effort after I begun this way of looking at coaching. I spent less time trying to motivate the ones I had been trying to motivate for years, and concentrated on the ones who were looking to be motivated. I was able to recognize the ones who were looking for motivation, even without asking for it. I also began to notice the ones that fought against the motivation, and where not there to be athletes, but there to be participants.

My belief is if the athlete cares more about their practice and performance than their coach and parent, then there is more success for the athlete. This doesn't mean that the coach and parent don't care, but that they don't care over and above the older athlete.

Doggy paddle

So now we are on to working the pull. Of course we get some good sculling in, but also like to do some dog paddle.

Head up with freestyle kick. The hands go in a digging motion. I have them try to not move their elbows and dig their hands below the elbow.

This motion helps with creating the EVF (early vertical forearm). Many times the swimmers have a hard time with pressing the hand down to create the EVF and they have some fun with the doggy paddle idea.

This goes right into some freestyle where they now extend and then try to recreate the press they did on the doggy paddle.

Beginning with body position

The Long Course Season begins. I have roughly 7 weeks before first meet, so I begin with the basics again. I used this week to do stroke work with most of it referring to body position.

Floating began this work. Trying to get the kids learn to lean forward onto their lungs. It is difficult to do for most, but I give them time to just play with it. They feel the sensation of trying to tip that body downward.

The next thing is being aware of where the hips are during the strokes. I repeat myself a lot, and most understand the idea that we always want the hips to be at the service. We do drills and swimming with paying attention to where the hips are in the stroke. I try to point typical spots where swimmers push their hips down, or let their guard down and allow an arched back lead to lower hips.

Finished the week with some long aerobic swims, but finished again with the focus being keeping the hips on the surface. It's nice that this year I planned a longer break before the 1st LC meet as I can focus on early season stuff rather than developing speed. One more week of pure stroke development concentrating on pulling, and then back to the work. I am looking forward to this Long Course Season with the new season design.

Our Pool Facilities (Modern Day Issue)

I say a modern day issue because how things have changed when it comes to our pool facilities. Local Governments and School Districts were once able to operate huge financial negative programs for the community, as they were able to use money from the government to cover the money. Now to today. Local governments and school districts are being squeezed in this new economy, and the the programs in the red are being looked at as possible casualities.

I just heard of a high school team possibly losing their pool. The city and school cannot afford to eat that cost which they once were able to do. This is not a new problem, this has been growing more and more, and the last economic crisis just made it worse. Many High Schools and Local Governments continue to run things at status quo saying they are doing just the same as before, but then it sneaks up on them when they say, well it looks like we are going to have to shut down the pool this year.

Sue Nelson with USA Swimming now has worked to help come up with solutions, and trying to communicate to everyone that a comprehensive aquatics program for the facility is needed to be sure that your swim facility does not end up on the chopping block. Every pool is different, so a pool can't offer everything, but people operating pools need to be open to not just programming, but year round revenue.

A Year Round swim club is a way to have year round revenue. We have seasons that keep kids involved and in the programs to be sure that the club can continue to provide revenue. High School Swimming has relaxed the training rules, so now they can train more than before. So, High School teams look to use their pool to develop their team, and push out club teams that can offer development for athletes and also revenue for the facility. They think that they are doing fine, until that day of reckoning of district budget cuts and your facility is one of the biggest red spots on the budget.

I am not against water polo. I was for awhile, but I recognize that there are Swimmers, Polo players, and then two sport aquatic athletes. All of these athletes would benefit greatly from club swimming. The problem with water polo, as told to me by a pool operator, they can fit only so many people into their practice area, and either the program is expensive or they have to get a better rate, which hurts the facilities budget, and putting it at risk later down the road.

My opinion: Water Polo programs should partner with their Club Swim Programs and try to negotiate a rate for the water polo players to train with them for some days, and then rent the pool for their polo practices. It takes advantage of the water available, and also serves both programs while not risking the pool facility.

Community programs like Open Swims. I remember as a Pool Manager and working with another pool manager, I did the math, and it was amazing how much of hit Open Swim and Lap Swim can be to a pools budget. These are good programs for a pool, but without the other programs to help bring in revenue, a pool that is just community based is in for trouble. Swim Lessons is where they get their profit, but those only bring in big revenue for 2 - 4 months. You can't fund a whole year in that time.

Many go for the solution of emptying the pool. I have seen this done, and many times after a couple years you see more big maintenance needed to be done, which ends up being the same cost in the long run. They decide to just cover the pool and not heat it. This one saves money, but you still have to run the filtration system. Yes, you save money, but having a year round program can bring in more than you would save by more than just turning off the heater.

The old problem for USA Swim Clubs was, "how do we get more swimmers?" Now more often, as pools are getting shut down more often the new problem is, "Where are we going to put all of these swimmers?" In October, Southern California Swimming had their Coaches Clinic, and this was one issue no one had an answer. Teams are starting to having waiting lists because they can't put any more kids in the pool time that they have. Then, you hear about a pool getting closed due to budget cuts, and you know that they didn't have a year round swim program in the pool. Many clubs are looking for places to grow, and here clubs and facility operators can help each other out. Instead they remain focused on just providing for their small community and their high school, as the red on their budget remains and possibly grows.

What a shame.

Race Mode

Race Mode, is when a swimmer swims with the a high level of intensity. Hopefully with enough repetition of technique the swimmer can go into race mode without losing complete control of their technique.

At RCA (TNT) I did a lot of timed 25 sprints. They were typically head to head races. I did them enough that my swimmers knew what their best time for 25 sprint of the strokes. At a certain point it does become hard for improvement, and comes down to executing the "little things," while also swimming a little in the out of control area.

The swimmers listened to what everyone was getting because they paid attention to who beat them and who they beat. These 25's created the competitiveness in them.

I still do 25 sprints for time, and most of the time the same result comes from it. The kids understand what is a fast time, and where they want to be when they swim. I look at my swimmers now though, and ask myself, "Am I doing this enough with them?" I used to ask myself, "Am I doing this too much?" Interesting to see how my coaching evolves and changes. Maybe in four to five years I'll be back to asking, "Am I doing this too much?"

I definitely felt like my swimmers were having a hard time into race mode, so tonight, we went to those 25's for time. After the first round, I started to see the competitive juices flowing again. Now, I feel a whole lot better for this weekends Coastal Champs, as they look good at practice in many areas, but the race mode was what was missing. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Being the Developmental Coach

Most Developmental Coaches love it. Some are developmental coaches as a stepping to stone to hopefully being a senior coach. Me, I am a developmental coach. I have had the opportunity to coach seniors, but I passed on it to continue to develop swimmers. It can  be the easiest coaching job, as improvement happens more often than at the senior levels. The lower the level, the more likely your swimmers can drop time, and the drops can be bigger.

As the developmental coach, you win the adoration of swimmers and parents on your team. From the outside, you are just another coach. You are in the job of developing swimmers to a certain level, and then you move them to the next group. It becomes a challenge, as you create a fast top part of the group, and then you move them up, and now your top group is what was your middle part of the group. You're not starting over, but you take a step back to build that group to be at the level of the previous group.

Great thing for me, I knew what my job was in the beginning. I didn't want to be anything more, and knew from experience as a swimmer in a group, that moving kids up was a challenge for coaches. I went into my first Head Age-Group Coaching position knowing what my job was for the team, and I wasn't interested in the next level. Well, I loved the job. I became a Head Coach, and instead of finding a Head Age-Group Coach; I found a senior coach.

I was told once, "You are only as good as the people below you." That makes you understand how important the developmental coaches are for a senior coach. They may not have the track record of having fast swimmers, but they are huge in the development of the swim club as a whole.

Congrats

I wanted to say congratulations to TNT on winning the CCS Junior Olympics. I am glad to see that one of the hardest decisions has come to what we knew that it would.

TNT and RCA had many years of doing a lot together, but competing against each other. I made the decision to finally become TNT after a lot if thought. My departure brought my father and mother back into coaching. The merger and my departure put Phil Black and my father back together on the same team. Like in the mid 90's they are back to JO Champions.

Congrats TNT.

The Abacus Analogy

I teach that on breaststroke that my swimmers need to swim downhill. I use the phrase, "Lean on the Lungs" a lot. I also talk about "Tipping the Body." This works a lot. I have used various ways to portray and give visual pictures of this concept. Tonight as I was referring to this position, I decided to use a different analogy.

I had them picture an abacus. First, I asked if everyone knew what an abacus was. They all seem to know what an abacus is, which worked out for me. I asked the simple question of, " What would happen if I tipped the abacus over slightly towards one end of the abacus? They said that they beads would slide to the other side. "Yes," I responded, "the weight of the beads moved over when I tipped the abacus. On breaststroke we want to take the weight of our hips and slide the weight towards our head, so the oxygen in the lungs will help keep the hips afloat."

Amazing! It worked. Not for all, but it definitely got a good amount of the kids.

This is not something I use regularly. Offering something new to think about the same concept is a good way to try to get to others who aren't grasping the phrases I use regularly. I'll probably refer to the abacus a few more times, and relate it directly to the phrases I normally use. Hopefully make a connection, and get some good muscle memory going through the sets.

Just another tool I can use again later down the line, when I come up with the same problem with a different group of kids who aren't understanding the concept that I teach it, when I begin my seasons. With experience you gain tools, remember them, and you become better because you can deal with problems that may arise. Use any of the tools I mention, I hope I can help you build a tool belt faster than I built my own.

Leave Something in The Tank

This phrase was used at a coaches clinic, and I have heard other times while learning about coaching swimming.

I think some people may not understand, but as coaches we do "Leave Something in the Tank." We don't try to do everything as soon as possible. This would relate to things like heavy yardage, weight training, or even on more developed stroke techniques.

This really applies to Age-Group Swimming. Most swim teams have a program in place that has their built in development program. The program will determine at what point a swimmer adds the bigger yardage, and when they learn certain skills. At the Senior Level, this could many various different things depending on the coach and philosphy.

Many programs have a program that is built around various levels, ours is 6 levels. If a swimmer joins us a 7 years old, our hope is that they are with us for 11 years, so that they graduate at around 18 while still in our program. So, obviously a swimmer isn't going to move up a group each and every year. So, for my group I expect them to be in the group from 1.5 to 3 years. Every season I try to touch everything, but I take certain aspects and emphasize them for specific seasons (which are roughly 0.5 years). This allows for a swimmer with me for 3 years won't be getting the exact same program each and every season. Some seasons I emphasize short axis stroke and flip turns. Others I emphasize long axis, open turns, and underwaters; Then there may be a season that I do a little more aerobic and diving. Even dryland changes from ab focused dryland, to leg focused, to aerobic focused.

I have mentioned many times that swimming can be a rollercoaster ride, and flat spots happen. We as coaches don't want to add onto that by providing the exact same thing the next season, and creating boredom in the training. A change of pace or focus may be the exact thing to help the swimmer get out of a funk. Scott Colby talked about a swimmer he had, an experience that didn't make sense, but funny thing was that it was something that happened to me as a swimmer. The season I wanted to be a better 100 backstroker, I got better at the 50 Free. The year I focused on the 50 Free, I became a better 100 Flyer. The year I wanted to improve my 100 Fly, I became a better 100 Backstroker. The change of focus somehow helped me to always be improving somewhere.

This is not a phrase we advertise to people, as some may not like the concept of leaving something in the tank for future improvement, but when you think about the fact that we are in the business of developing long term success in the sport; it does make sense. Too much, too soon leaves no options to adding to the training regimen. It could leave someone feeling like they are done, and they don't last in the sport. If this happens too soon, then that person will never be able to see what they actually could have been.

For the young coaches out there, Leave something in the Tank. It will serve your age-group swimmer in the future.

Coaching Young Swimmers

My coaching has changed, evolved, and developed over the years. I am not old, but I have done this for a long time. When I began, my brother and I would explain things, and repeat multiple times, and then finally get the swimmers to swim a lap. We did get results, but as I look back on it, did we give them enough repetition to create solid long term muscles memory with this method? I don't think that we did.

We still talk a lot, but we don't explain everything multiple times now. Since I began coaching little kids again this fall, I began a different method. Explain and maybe repeat, but let them swim a lap trying to make sense of what you told them. Observe the lap, and then correct things that went wrong and send them off again. The hope is they correct that part, but of course there is a lot more that they were doing wrong, so now you move to the next part. Make another correction on the other side, and send them off. Correcting pieces, and in the end, they are close to doing something right.

The method means that they will develop slowly, but you are developing them by allowing them to fail (or make a mistake), and helping them learn through making mistakes. Creating an environment where making mistakes is ok, as long as you learn from them. This also allows you to focus on smaller parts and making better corrections that they can think about and create more muscle memory that is linked with cognitive thought.

Are you going to make the fastest 10 and under this way? Probably not, but you are developing a 10 and under for the long term. When you get a talented 10 and under, then yes they'll become fast, but not because of their training, but because of their talent. Your focus is teaching more than training, as they'll have plenty of training later down the road.

I am also helping a new coach as she will taking one of our young groups when I begin with my high school team. She comes from swim lessons, many times private swim lessons. I explained that what we do is develop young people looking at the long-term. This is very different than what she is used to, as private lessons people are looking for tangible results, and want them quickly. I have had my fair share of swimmers that I rushed along in an attempt to make them fast when they were young. It never really panned out well in the end. I learned from those mistakes, and now I try to not do things for their swimming that is in the interest of making them fast now, and not looking at what it may mean for future development. Sure, I'll have the fast young ones come along, but it can't be the focus.

White Water

This was my science talk to my group today.

What is white water? White water is bubbles, which is air in the water.

I use the example of standing on a skateboard and I waive my hands back and forth. I ask the swimmers how far and fast am I going to go. They all realize that I am not going to move very far. So, pushing against air doesn't move you forward  very well, so why push against air while underwater. That is what they are doing when there are bubbles on their hands during the pull. So, bubbles and white water on the hands during the pull is not good.

On the other hand, we want white water on the kick for freestyle. I use the example of jumping into a pool that has no waves in it; it is "glass." Kids realize that jumping into this water hurts more than if there is movement in the water. I explain that when you hit still water it slows you down faster, so it hurts. When you disrupt the surface and create white water; the feet can now move quicker on the surface. I also use the example of watching diving on the Olympics, and the water that sprays out from under the board. The divers dive into this area because it is not still, so they go through the surface easier, and allows for a cleaner entry when a dive is performed well.

So, we want white water on the freestyle kick, and we don't want white water on the pull.

After some 200's freestyle focusing on this, some swimmers recognize how to get the bubbles off the hand after hand entry. They explain it, and then I repeat to the group (as I am louder). Glide on the front arm with arm and hand downhill. It allows the bubbles on the palm to move back, and the bubles on the top to move up the top of the arm, therefore not getting in the way of the portion of the arm creating the propulsion.

Does this help the kids with their swimming? It helps some, as some like to know the scientific reason why something is going to make them faster. It gives more motivation to focus on it besides, the coach told me so.

Response from Parent Ed

From my last parent ed newsletter I send out to my swim team I got a lot of feedback from the various articles I included. The one I heard the most feedback was a simple statistic that I got from USA Swimming. It was showing the current Top 16 for 17 & 18 groups and the percentage for them that were Top 16 in other age groups in the past. Here are the stats:

Ranked Top 16 as a:10 & Under Still Ranked as 17-18 = 11%11-12 Still Ranked as 17-18 = 21%13-14 Still Ranked as 17-18 = 36%15-16 Still Ranked as 17-18 = 48%

The conclusion is that a swimmer doesn't have to be ranked at the early ages to end up being the elite swimmers in the nation. The 48% at the 15 - 16 correlating into the 17 - 18 was the surprising one for me. I have always known that 10 and under and 11 - 12 Top 16 don't always still at the top, but 15 - 16 to 17 - 18 was surprising.

The 10 and under being the biggest one I talk about, as the percent is so low. Fast 10 and unders get caught. They actually don't even get passed up, but by them getting frustrated with less growth as others around them they lose desire to train and/or end up leaving the sport altogether. This is why USA Swimming really pushes the idea of not comparing swimmers with each other. This includes the fast swimmers being compared to swimmers who were once slower than they were.

As I have noted in prior blog posts. Swimming is a roller coaster ride, and no one path will be the same. Enjoy the great sport and all that the swimmer can gain from it.

Breaststroke recovery

So this has been a thing that has bothered me for awhile in coaching. It is the perceived idea that the hands come out of the water for breaststroke recovery. This is not an indicator of a fast breaststroker.

The pull of breaststroke is mainly dependent on the out press portion of the pull. The in press is not that significant in propulsion. As the hands sweep in the body continues to rise. Concentration is on the shoulder rising, not the hands. In rising the shoulders though the swimmer should try to keep their hips near the surface of the water. Drag from the lower part of the torso is going to slow a swimmer down more than their fingers slicing through water.

Young kids do not normally have the core muscles to lift their bodies enough to get their hands out of the water without dropping the hips, or excessively rising the hands. To rise the hands too much delays the kick which is the largest part of propulsion in breaststroke. Lift the hands does not propel the body forward, so the swimmer actually loses speed, and thus the need to reduce drag diminishes (as the faster a swimmer is moving the more reducing drag is beneficial. Reducing drag does create propulsion.)

Lifting the hands also has swimmers bring the hands closer to the chest, and many times allowing the shoulders to roll back; creating a body position so uphill, it takes a long time for the swimmer to get to a downhill position. Younger kids normally will just stay uphill and not take the time to get downhill after getting such a steep body angle. You may see this as they begin ok, but after one or two times lifting their hands too high, they positioned their body so uphill they aren't able to get downhill without a super long glide. They instead swim uphill the rest of the way.

Older, stronger, and more experienced swimmers get their hands up, but not everyone can get up high like Amanda Beard. Most males hands stay low, and if you'd like to see a really fast female not get her hands up really high, check out a video of Liesel Jones.

Get rid of the idea that the kids need to get their hands out of the water for breaststroke recovery. Yes, it makes sense it reduces drag, but what speed are they giving up to do that. Or how much drag are you adding with their body position (which is a bigger aspect to total drag). Remember that little kids can't swim like older kids, and not everyone's stroke is the same.