Over the last few weeks I have had time to reflect on a lot of things.
Over the last few years I have really bought in to a couple of concepts.
1. Treat each swimmer as an Individual.
2. No 2 swimmers train the same.
3. No 2 or 3 or 4 swimmers taper the same.
4. The more you teach your swimmers about having a Positive Mental Attitude the better they will be. Showing them to take life and swimming 1 day/1 race at a time is the hurdle we all must cross.
So lets get into this.
1. Treat each swimmer as an individual.
Let's face it no 2 swimmers are alike. Yes there are Freestylers, Distance Swimmers, IMers and a like. Yet when you look at your team or teams, there are no 2 swimmers (even identical twins) that are the same. So it is your responsibility to treat each one as a unique and perfect snow flake. You know the story, no 2 snow flakes are alike. Well this brings me to this concept that so many coaches miss. Jeff is not James, Lauren is not Emily, Jade is not Krystal so you have to learn everything about each one then know what each one needs. I make a sheet on each athlete, pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses. I add to it daily it if needed. It is there personality, their habits, quirks, needs, goals and everything else to look at.
2 swimmers who have trained together the entire season get ready for their championship meet. They are similar in style and close in time. Yet knowing each tells you that each will need a different race plan and each will need a different handling after they swim. Good or Bad. Fast or Slow. This is the key. Be the Coach that can coach everyone. I have had teams large and small. It is my job to know them all. In the case above. 1 swam great and 1 did not. I treated them as individuals and they both benefited from it.
This can also be warm up. Each swimmer may need something different. I am not a fan of group warm ups. I like designing a warm up for each swimmer. Recently this really paid off for a lot of the swimmers I work with. I have seen coaches structure group warms ups. Also just half haphazardly just saying do what feels good. I like looking at the swimmers and giving them what they need. I have seen this pay off HUGE.
Know your Student-Athletes. Put them with others that will help them to grow and that they will help the other grow too. I know 2 swimmers right now that because they are friends and teammates are forging a friendship that will help them develop into the heart and soul of their team and help them reach their goals, just by knowing them and putting them in a situation to succeed.
2. No two swimmers train the same.
We are all guilty of this. Putting swimmers with like abilities in the same lane and day after day giving them the same work out. They do what they do but are they getting what they really need. Over the last 6 or 7 years I have been a strong believer in "Floating groups". Johnny trains with this lane for 3 days and then another over the next couple. It works, workout groups are great but a change of scenery can help a bunch. It might not be groups but coaches also. I have seen swimmers get "spent" training with the same coach every day. To the point where swimmers say...Coach I need I break from swimming with Coach X. I have always trained my staff to be able to coach every level kid. It makes them a better coach and also gives the coach and the swimmer a chance at something fresh. Swimmers and Coaches need to get out of thier comfort zones and swim with someone different and get coached by someone different. It isn't a crazy notion. We become better coaches by working with every kids. Then as a staff you can relate to how to help each one out. Swimmers also have personalities that might not meld together in the same lane. Put them side by side and watch the magic happen. And don't be afraid to have kids swim on their own. I had a swimmer years ago that would practice like crazy when she swam by herself her against the workout and the clock.
Think outside the box and try something new.
3. No 2 or 3 or 4 swimmers taper the same.
This is something I have really learned over the last couple of years working with College and High School swimmers. This relates to #1. Know your swimmers. Talk to them. Ask them what their past taper experience has been. How they feel, what they like, what they are used to, what works for them. Then get them to appreciate that there are things out there that can help them more. Don't get me wrong. There are swimmers that are hard headed. They come into your program and if it isn't what they are used to then it is not gonna work. You are not gonna change them. Guess what, it is not your coaching but their expectations that get in the way. Open communication and Goal Setting have a huge play in this. I watched a few swimmers with tremendous potential throw an entire meet away because of their expectations. Everything happens for a reason...training, intensity, and how things progress over a season. Giving each swimmer what they need at taper time can put them in the right mind set to get the most out of them. Too many times it is the swimmer that decides that today I am swimming my fastest. This is at a meet that no one will remember. That is why I have always told my swimmer that you will swim your fast at championship time. Who is gonna remember that you swam your life time best 50 Free at a meet in November that didn't mean a thing. You want to swim fast when it counts. The other thing I have observed is the transition from High School tapering to College tapering. The seasons are different and the intensity in training is different. It can take a year for a college swimmer to get in the grove of the next level of their swimming career. Looking at the big picture and also taking into account that it is just the next step in their career can make this adjustment easier.
Overall, looking at the needs of each swimmer can really make the difference between hitting and missing.
I do sense a common theme here...
4. The more you teach your swimmers about having a Positive Mental Attitude the better they will be. Showing them to take life and swimming 1 day/1 race at a time is the hurdle we all must cross.
Many years ago as told in a previous blog...PMA was given to me. Once you have it all you need to do is pass it on. It is the ultimate "Pay It Forward". Thank you Stephen J. Mahaney. Too many swimmer have a bad race and it ruins the day, the meet, the year.
The idea is simple. The swimmer has their events (100 back, 200 back), they don't swim them too many times during the season (staleness), so they are ready when the BIG meet comes. The idea is that you can't swim that event too often. So that when the time comes you are ready.
A PMA helps to focus all of us on today and tomorrow. Yesterday we can't control. It is one day at a time, one race at a time. I often tell my swimmers they get 5 seconds after their race if they do not like it to move on. They come up to me. Close their eyes. Count to 5. Then that race is gone. Most swimmers love this approach. Others are too self centered to take a chance. Move on. The past is the past. The big prize is up ahead. Each race is a chance to swim the race plan. The race plan is what is going to get you through to that Lifetime Best Time and great swim. Ask Jeff Doser...1:41.18 in the finals of the 200 free at Sectionals, or the 46.68 to win by .01.
It is all about being positive. Looking forward. Today and tomorrow. Be happy. Be excited.
All that training is gonna pay off. Teach them when. Show them when.
So that is it....
Treat each swimmer as an individual.
Train each swimmer as an individual.
Be the best Coach you can be.
Coach Scott
