Looking back over 3 seasons this year I became very reflective over what I really learned from these great experiences. I learned a lot about student-athletes, parents, and the highs and lows of a swim season.
Some things I learned:
- I think one of the biggest things I learned this year was that swimmers still expect to swim a best time when they want to and not when it is designed in their season. While some buy into my feeling that you will swim fast in the biggest meets, there are still some that want to and expect to swim a Lifetime Best Time (LBT) when they want to. That feeling more times than not leads to an unfulfilled race and a negative experience. Do you really want to swim a LBT in a dual meet that you will never remember or in a big meet when your team and you want to shine? Is it selfish to show up with an expectation? No, just make sure that you talk to your coach a head of time to get their feedback and insight. Coaches want their swimmers to swim fast but in the big picture of things when you execute a race plan mid season you are setting yourself up to do the same thing when you are tapered or rested and that is when you will shine.
- One of the my corner stones in coaching is the simple understanding that swimmers need to swim events other than their specialty in order to prevent staleness and burnout. I saw a bunch of swimmers swim their best races 7 to 12 times during their High School seasons and when it came time to taper and swim fast they were stale and had lost the feel for that race. Typically when asked they told me they felt good but just felt they were "going no where" or felt that they were "swimming in Jello". Luckily this season I had swimmers who wanted to try different strokes and distances. My age groupers were given the "Coach Scott Challenge" which is to swim every event in their age group. A couple of my older girls even succeeded in qualifying for States in every event. It makes meets fun, exciting, and of course challenging. Having IMers swim their off stroke(s) to help build their IM worked wonders. Not everyone can swim the 50 Free and 100 Free every meet and trying new things leads to new successes and in the end Fast Swimming when it was needed.
- I watched a lot of swimmers this year of every ability have success because in the end they just wanted to be the best they could be. I preach to my swimmers that it is important that they only worry about themselves. When that truly happens the positive experience they enjoy is incredible. In the end, when their swimming career is over that is all they have and that is what it is all about.
- I learned that it is okay to change things mid practice and more than ever to stick with what you really believe in. My workouts are constantly evolving. Sets change and sets get created. I think making challenging yet well thought out workouts is the key to swimmers success. I think it is important with older swimmers that you explain each set so that they know what they need to do and what you expect out of it.
Fun workouts? They might not all like the workout but they enjoy being challenged and rising to that challenge.
The biggest thing that I learned this year is to appreciate every practice, every swimmer, every race, and every meet because each one of them is precious and the opportunity to do what I do love is a blessing.
PMA!
Coach Scott
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