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.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
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.
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.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
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."
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."
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)