The Starting Block

SWIM  PARENTS

Published by The American Swimming Coaches Association

5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200

Fort Lauderdale FL 33309

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Developing Swimmers Progressively

We develop our swimmers progressively with great patience.  Winning is not an issue with our younger age groups.  We want swimmers to be their best in their later teen and college age years.  We spend the majority of time with our youngest swimmers developing technique, some time developing endurance, and very little time developing speed.  As swimmers become older and more skilled we increase the amount of endurance work, continue to develop technique, and introduce “race preparation.” Racing preparation means learning how to race more than it means high volumes of quality speed work.  At older ages and higher levels of skill the emphasis is on racing speed and competition while continuing to build long term endurance and continuing to refine technique and race strategy.

On the mental side we want the swimmers to learn to take responsibility for their own performance and to learn the importance and the thrill of meeting challenges straight forward.  We also teach swimmers to; learn to read a pace clock and understand time relationships; learn about setting goals and the relationship between work and achieving goals; learn that everyone on the team contributes to each other's performance; and learn a sense of control in pacing swims, sets, and practices.  Control allows for the highest levels of work without counterproductive out of control struggling.  We feel this learned sense of control is applicable to other areas of life as well.

News For

SWIM  PARENTS

Published by The American Swimming Coaches Association

5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200

Fort Lauderdale FL 33309

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Learning To Prepare For The Best

John Leonard

     As I write this in early January in Fort Lauderdale, the air temperature is a “balmy” 42 degrees….well, balmy if you’re from Green Bay, Wisconsin, maybe.  Here in South Florida, that’s a cold wave.  We swim outside, and the water temperature is 75 degrees…..the heaters can’t keep up when the air is this cold.  The wind chill factor, according to Channel 7, is…well, we don’t want to know the wind chill with a nice brisk 20 mile an hour wind coming off the Everglades. 

     My phone rings at 5 AM  and a small voice on the other end asks plaintively, “Do we really have swim practice, Coach John?”  Yes, we really do. 

     WHY? Is the next question, which I wrestle with myself on the 15 minute drive to the pool….why put teenagers in the water on this cold and nasty morning  when both they and I would prefer to stay snuggled in at home for another hour or hour and a half. 

     Now, I KNOW why, but can I express it to my swimmers?  Yes, I’ll try.  Everyone, on the day after the high school state meet, vows that “next year” they will A) make a final, B) Make the meet C) win an event or D) write in your own goal here.

     It’s easy to vow to do something the day after, when you are excited, full of the promise of life and get up and go. It’s a lot harder to REMEMBER what you wanted to do in early January when it’s 5 AM and cold outside.  Then it’s a lot harder and a lot easier to rationalize, “it’s just one workout”.

     The problem is, when teenagers begin to learn to rationalize, they get really good at it really fast, and pretty soon, the ACTION required to fulfill the commitments to those goals/dreams, falls prey to the rationalization.  And after you rationalize the decision you want to make the first time, it’s so much easier to do it the next time, and the time after that, and pretty soon, the goal is just a dream, because you’re rationalizing yourself into thinking, “I’d like to do that if everything could be perfect for me, and it would never be cold in the morning, or no social events would ever conflict with practice,  and time with my friends always went the way I want it to.“

     But things never go perfectly.  The ONLY thing you can successfully predict is that obstacles to your goal WILL come up, and little or nothing will go smoothly.  And that consistency in preparation is the only way to raise the percentages of the chance you will reach your goal.

     Read that again….”raise the percentages of the chance…”  Not a guarantee.  If it’s a good goal, there are no guarantees, EXCEPT that if you don’t prepare correctly, according to the plan, you won’t raise your chance of success, you’ll lower it.

     So why go to practice at 5 AM in the cold? Because it’s part of the plan, and it raises your chance of success.  But most of all, because you have told yourself that you will commit to doing it.  And if you let yourself down, who won’t you let down?  Prepare for a chance for success.  And feel really good about doing that.

Because not very many people do.   

SWIM  PARENTS

Published by The American Swimming Coaches Association

5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200

Fort Lauderdale FL 33309

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What Motivates The Coach?

It's obvious that it's the coaches job to motivate the swimmers, but the question has come up as to who or what motivates the coach on a daily basis?  We asked Coach Steve Bultman, ASCA Level 5, what motivates him.  His answer:

"One of our problems has been that lots of good coaches have left the sport for various reasons and loss of motivation is a big part of that.  I've found motivation in various places.  First, I think the swimmers, above all, motivate the coach.  One of the neatest things about our job is working with outstanding young individuals to help them reach their goals.  When you have that kind of relationship, it's highly rewarding. 

"The performance of the team also motivates the coach.  There are days where you just have a great practice and everything goes well, and it's a great feeling.

"Other things also help keep a coach happy and involved with swimming.  Parents who really believe in what you're doing and pitch in and help out where they're needed definitely make the job go better.  I've also found that going to the ASCA Clinic gets your batteries charged and fills you with energy and ideas.

Another way to motive your coach is to give him or her a chance to be an "explorer"; a chance to maintain or improve their creative ability.  Roger Von Oech, author of A Whack on the Side of the Head and A Kick in the Seat of the Pants spoke at the ASCA World Clinic in 1987.  He said:

"I believe that in order to create anything, whether it’s an idea for a new swimming project, or a new business, or a new recipe for chicken, or a new fund raising idea, you have to have the materials in which to create.  That means having facts, information, concepts, knowledge, experiences.  Now, I find that a lot of people tend to look for information only in their own area.  I do a lot of work with computer companies and I find computer people spending most of their time talking to other computer people.  I work with bankers and they spend most of their time talking with other financial people.

"I would imagine there is some of the same thing in the swimming community.  That's fine initially.  Talk to your colleagues and peers, that is what this clinic is all about.  Early on, I also encourage you to do this:  put on the hat of the explorer and get outside your box.  Venture off the beaten path and look for ideas in other fields, other sports, and other industries.  Again and again, I've seen people poke around in outside areas, find something and bring it back to their own sport, give it a twist, and come up with something highly innovative.

Too often we expect coaches to be coaches 24 hours a day.  Not only should we allow them time to be explorers, we should actively encourage them to seek activities, hobbies, and professional seminars to help them be better coaches.  (Why not send your coach to a sales seminar?)

In addition to encouraging and financially supporting coaches to attend seminars, coaches appreciate and are motivated by the Board of Director’s respect for their well being.  Due to competitive schedules and over lapping seasons coaches often go weeks and sometimes months without a single day off and some coaches rarely take vacations.  This week after seeing University of Florida’s highly successful football coach Urban Meyer step aside from his duties as head coach to attend to personal health and wellness issues is a reminder that our coaches need time to renew, re-energize, relax, and recreate.  There is an excellent column by USA Today’s Mike Lopresti in today’s newspaper regarding Meyer.  You can read that article here:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/2009-12-27-meyer_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

SWIM  PARENTS

Published by The American Swimming Coaches Association

5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200

Fort Lauderdale FL 33309

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Eating on the Road

By Linda Houtkooper, Ph.D., R.D.   Linda is a Food Nutrition Specialist at the Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Arizona.  She was once the author of a question/answer column in Swimming World magazine and she gave a presentation on nutrition at the ASCA World Clinic.

What should swimmers eat when swim meet or vacation takes them on the road?  Should the foods for best performance be sacrificed for popular, convenient, fatty foods or is there something else they can eat?

Swimming success depends on ability, top-notch training, coaching, and good nutrition.  Proper nutrition for swimmers includes foods that provide all essential nutrients in the proper amounts for good health and performance.

Nutrition-conscious swimmers know that they need high carbohydrate, low fat foods to perform their best.  The best diet for training and performance is the VIM diet.

V= Variety of wholesome foods that provide the proper amount of nutrients to maintain desirable levels of body water, lean body mass, and fat.  These foods will also maintain good health.

I= Eat foods that are individualized.  Foods should reflect personal like.  They should also make it possible to follow religious food preferences.  Avoid foods that cause allergic reactions, and those the body can’t tolerate.  Only use nutritional supplements recommended by your doctor or registered dietician.

M= Eat moderate amounts of foods that are high in fat, sugar, or sodium.

Use the suggestions below to maintain your top-notch VIM diet “on the road.”

Breakfast

Order pancakes, French toast, muffins, toast, or cereal, and fruit or fruit juices.  These foods are all higher in carbohydrates and lower in fat than the traditional egg and bacon breakfasts.  Request that toast, pancakes, or muffins be served without butter or margarine.  Use syrup or jam to keep carbohydrate high and fat to a low.  Choose low fat dairy products, milk, hot chocolate, etc.  Fresh fruit may be expensive or difficult to find.  Carry fresh and/or dried fruits with you.  Cold cereal can be a good breakfast or snack; carry boxes in the car or on the bus.  Keep milk in a cooler or purchase it at convenience stores.

Lunch

Remember that most of the fat in sandwiches is found in the spread.  Prepare or order your sandwiches without the “mayo,” “special sauce,” or butter.  Use ketchup or mustard instead.  Peanut butter and jelly is a favorite and easy to make, but remember that peanut butter is high in fat.  Use whole grain bread and spread more jelly, while using a small amount of peanut butter. Avoid all fried foods at fast food places.  Salad bars can be lifesavers, but watch the dressings, olives, fried croutons, nuts, and seeds; or you could end up with more fat than any super burger could hope to hold!  Use low fat luncheon meats such as skinless poultry and lean meats.  Low fat bologna can be found in the stores, but read labels carefully.  Baked potatoes should be ordered with butter and sauces “on the side.”  Add just enough to moisten the carbohydrate-rich potato.  Soups and crackers can be good low fat meals; avoid cream soups.  Fruit juices and low fat milk are more nutritious choices than soda pop.

Dinner

Go to restaurants that offer high-carbohydrate foods such as pasta, baked potatoes, rice, breads, vegetables, salad bars, and fruits.  Eat thick crust pizzas with low fat toppings such as green peppers, mushrooms, Canadian bacon, and onions.  Avoid fatty meats, extra cheese, and olives.  Eat breads without butter or margarine.  Use jelly instead.  Ask for salads with dressing “on the side” so you can add minimal amounts yourself. 

Snacks

Eat whole grain bread, muffins, fruit, fruit breads, low fat crackers, pretzels, unbuttered popcorn, oatmeal raisin cookies, fig bars, animal crackers, fruit juice, breakfast cereal, canned meal replacements, and dried and fresh fruits.

SWIM  PARENTS

Published by The American Swimming Coaches Association

5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200

Fort Lauderdale FL 33309

___________________________________________________________________

Competition and Children

Here are some thoughts on competition and children from Rainer Martens, founder of modern sports psychology.  Martens, Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois, founded the American Coaching Effectiveness Program, and is one of the leading authorities on children in sports.

The Early Years

According to Martens: “Competitive sports evolve out of the process of social evaluation.”  Children begin competing with each other from a very young age, but focus mainly on their own efforts.  Each can happily claim to have “won,” simply meaning they have done something well and are satisfied.  These games are very healthy growth experiences because there are no “losers.”  At 5 and 6 years of age they begin to compare their efforts with others.  In other words, they learn to keep score.  Martens says this process of competing and comparing is part of what helps kids “find out what they can and should be.”

Problems emerge when winner/loser comparisons overshadow the importance of competing with oneself to do things better than they have been done before.  At this point, competition stops building character and confidence and begins to tear it down.

Can Competitiveness Be Taught?

All coaches are familiar with the idea that some youngsters thrive on competition, while others shrink from it, but Martens thinks that in the right environment, children can learn competitiveness by being taught to concentrate on mastering specific techniques.  This not only improves the mechanical aspects of performance, but is also the best way to reduce competitive stress.  “If people focus on mastering specific acts they can learn to control their performance.” On the other hand, the thing over which a young swimmer has the least control – how fast competitors swim – is the greatest source of anxiety in competition.

Martens advice to coaches and parents of young athletes is to concentrate on how to improve performance rather than on what happens if the child wins or loses.  “Focusing on smaller, more solvable technical challenges increases physical efficiency, and reduces anxiety and stress,” Martens says.  “This increased the number of potential winners because skill instead of the final score has become the immediate objective.”

Every Child Is A Winner

In this scenario, an age group swimmer’s final instructions before a race would focus on successfully doing something he or she previously had difficulty with – keeping the hips up on the last half of a butterfly race; or pressing through to the hips in the freestyle stroke -- rather than on “beating that kid in lane 5.”  After the race, the child could then be congratulated on his or her technique improvement, no matter where he or she placed.  In this way, a race with 30 contestants could potentially yield 30 winners rather than 1 winner and 29 “losers.”  This gives life to the credo “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game that counts.”

Martens thinks the competitive climate for youth athletics is steadily improving as more youth coaches learn to teach mastery of sports skills, and understand why it is advantageous to do so.  “At the recreational level there is more and better, more useful and pleasant competition going on than ever before.”