The Important Motivation

We just finished the Winter Age-Group Championships in Las Vegas. It is meets like this where many of our transitioning athletes have an opportunity to learn more about developing as a higher level swimmer.

There are all sorts of motivation in a child's life, and it is the same for the young swimmer. I was told once that 10 and unders are most strongly motivated by pleasing their parents and the other adults such as teachers and coaches. After this stage in life, they begin to try to develop some form of independence. Then comes the part where they try to develop their own autonomy, and fight against all who try to tell them how to do things. This seems to be similar in the developing swimmer.

The most important motivation for a swimmer needs to be within themselves. The coach is there to try to assist that motivation and steer it in the right direction. Most coaches care deeply about the success of their swimmers, but when the coaches motivation is greater than the swimmers it seems to be formula for failure. This also works with parents as well. When the parent tries to be the main motivating factor at the older ages it seems to work in the wrong direction.

Coaches do put perspective to many things, and provide motivation through various methods, but many times it is indirectly motivating, and not always through the rah-rah speech.

In the end, the swimmer will make choices, and those choices will show in the results. These choices will be: How much will I listen to my coach? How much will I push outside my comfort zone at every practice? Will I eat correctly to be best prepared? Will I get enough rest so that I am best prepared? Will I warm-up and cool down enough to be best prepared? Will I try to execute a smart game plan? Will I race to beat others in my heat? Will I execute disciplined skills on a regular basis at practice?

Coaches and parents can yell at their kids all they want, but it will ultimately be up to the swimmer.

I think that if you look at the motivating factors for a child, it makes a lot of sense when certain things begin to not work with kids when it comes to getting them motivated in swimming. (Of course, maturity differs from kid to kid, so the exact age is different in all swimmers). The most successful swimmers that I know have this amazing inner drive inside of them, and so many swimmers I have seen have tried to rely on everyone around them to motivate them through, only to lose focus and desire for the goal at hand. It is vital that the swimmer is allowed to learn to motivate themselves, and at about 11 or 12 they need to start finding that inner desire, and not need someone else to create that motivation.

Swimmers: You need to start asking yourself about how you train and how you prepare to perform. It will be your inner desire that will ultimately take you to your potential.

Parents: You will not be there motivation as they grow older, and they begin to try to develop their own autonomy. Try to allow them to make choices, and have to deal with the results of those choices. Let them not want those results repeated and they then motivate themselves to better their practices and preparation. It is easier to learn this at ages 11 - 13 than it is for someone 14 and over.

Coaches: If you coach 10 and unders you will make a big impression on the swimmers. You must be positive with these swimmers. The older they are the more you need to direct them to have the desire to accomplish goals, and talk to them about being prepared. Allow them to make mistakes, but explain to them about bad performances that are result of lack of preparation. Hope that they will learn from bad performances. Older swimmers will see more bad performances in-season, so it is better to teach this during the time that they are making a lot of improvement.

Good luck to Everyone on developing that inner motivation in our swimmers.