The Starting Block

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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Key To Goal Setting:  Parent Support

The goal of goal setting with young swimmers is to learn how to set goals.  With 10 and unders it is important that they are successful at achieving the goals that the coach and parents help them set. 

However, part of learning how to set goals, and also a part of growing up, is an occasional failure at achieving a goal.  Failing to meet a goal can have disastrous effects, or, can be part of a healthy growing experience, depending on the support of parents and coach.  While it is probably not a good idea to allow 10 and unders to set goals that they probably cannot reach, with 11 and 12 year olds, one approach is to give them more freedom in selecting goals thus allowing them an occasional "opportunity to fail".

When properly guided, a young person who fails to achieve a goal can learn that success is often built upon failure.  What would be the parent, coach, swimmer relationship for goal setting for 11 - 12's?  For parents this can be a very challenging time.  These young people are beginning to experiment with independence.  You may find that your influence does not have the immediate impact that you are accustomed.  When suggesting goals to your young swimmer, regardless of how appropriate the goals are, you are likely to find some resistance.  However, the emotional support a young swimmer needs at this age from you is as great as ever.  While the swimmer may not want to hear your suggestions for what to do in the pool, they sure need your support for what they are attempting to do, and sometimes fail to do.

Here are some questions you might ask your goal setting young swimmer.

n  Have you and Coach Andersen talked about your goals for the season?

n  What are the goals you have decided on?

n  Did you write them down?

n  What did Coach Andersen say you needed to work on in order to reach your goals?

n  Did you get any closer to your goals today?

The coach begins to take on a more influential role in the swimming development of the young swimmer at this time.  Swimmers sometimes think, eat, breath, sleep, and swim according to the direction of the coach and they may respond better to suggestions made by the coach than those made by you.  For example, you may be trying to improve the nutritional aspects of your young swimmer's breakfast only to find a typical bit of standard 11 and 12 resistance.  However, when the coach suggest the exact same advice to your swimmer he is ready to change his breakfast routine the next day. For this reason, plus the fact that the coach best knows the swimming abilities of your child, the primary influence in goal setting for 11 - 12's is the coach.

The coach acts as a guide, asking your swimmer appropriate questions to help him decide on goals.  When your child has a goal in mind and is convinced he can achieve that goal, coaches (and parents) should accept it as a goal even if it seems too ambitious.

What happens when he fails to meet the goal?  From you, he needs unconditional support and careful guidance.

Let's consider a situation where 12 year old Bobby has a best time of 1:07.5 in the 100 free, a "B" time.  He has several "B" times in other strokes but no "A" times.  His coach feels that a good goal for Bobby would be to make an "A" time in the 100 free, 1:03.19.  However, Bobby has set his own goal of breaking a minute in the 100 free in the final "B" meet of the season.  He knows if he breaks a minute he will qualify for the Junior Olympics and gain a spot on the relay.  Contributing to Bobby's desire to qualify for Junior Olympics this season is the fact that he turns 13 shortly after the meet and he knows it will take a 55.3 to qualify for the next Junior Olympics as a 13 - 14 year old.  Bobby also set three other goals which fall within the coaches expectations so the coach allows Bobby this "opportunity to fail". 

During the season, Bobby makes steady progress as he drops his time in the 100 free to 1:04.0 and he is still hoping to break a minute.  At the final "B" meet he goes a 1:03.0, a new "A" time, and wins the event.  The coach and Bobby's parents are very pleased with his performance.  Bobby, however, is dejected because he did not make his goal of breaking a minute.

Bobby's parents, sitting in the bleachers, observe him speaking with his coach.  His mood does not noticeably change despite his coaches' congratulatory gestures, smiling face, and reassuring words.  Now Bobby is on his way up into the bleachers to visit his parents.  What's important to say to Bobby?

n  First, attend first to Bobby's physical needs, "Are you warm enough?  Please put on your warm ups.  Do you need something to drink?"

n  Then, do not deny him the opportunity to express his disappointment and do not minimize his feelings.  You know it was a best time, and you know it was a good race, but you will not be able to MAKE him feel better by contradicting his feelings. Listen to him.

n  Empathize with Bobby.  Say, "I know how disappointed you must be."

n  Allow Bobby to find the solution to his disappointment.  "Why do you think you didn't make your goal?"  Bobby can respond to this question in one of several different ways and your follow up will be based on that response.  It is hard to generalize a conversation here, but what is important to remember is that through your questions and his responses, you want Bobby to realize that while his goal for breaking a minute is a good goal, his timetable for breaking a minute was too short and there are more things he needs to work on.

n  Support Coach Anderson.  Ask Bobby, "What did Coach Anderson say?"  "That sounds like a good idea, do you think you can do that?"

The desired net result of the parent and athlete relationship in this type of goal setting situation is that the athlete receives support for his feelings and he comes to realize how to adjust his goal setting in order to be more successful next time.  With this result, you'll find your young swimmer better equipped to establish his next set of goals with the knowledge that he has your unconditional support.

News For

SWIM  PARENTS

Published by The American Swimming Coaches Association

5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200

Fort Lauderdale FL 33309

___________________________________________________________________

What is Long Course, What is Short Course?

“One of our pools is 25 yards wide by 50 meters long.  Why isn't the pool 25 meters by 50 meters or 25 yards by 50 yards?”

For years the "American Standard Short Course" pool has been a 25 yard pool.  Almost all high school pools and most college pools are 25 yards long and most high school and college meets are run as short course meets.  USA Swimming Club teams generally swim short course meets from September through March. 

The international standard is meters.  The Olympics, Pan-American Games, and World Championships are held in 50 meter pools.  In this country, most 50 meter pools are outdoors due to the cost of building an indoor 50 meter pool.  For that reason our long course season is generally from March through August.  As more and more indoor 50 meter pools are being built and as the United States focuses more on international swimming the distinction between the "short course season" and the "long course season" becomes less distinct and more meets are going to the long course standard throughout the year -- with the exception of high school and college swimming which will generally remain short course yards.

At this time (April) many teams are training short course but are preparing to go to long course when the outdoor pool is ready.  Some lucky teams are located in a climate and have access to long course pools all year around.  And some lucky teams have indoor 50 meter water all year around. 

Eventually we all will be at swim meets during the spring and summer that are long course.  This will cause some confusion about times.  The times will be slower because a 50 meter swim is approximately 5 yards longer than a 50 yard swim.  Another factor are turns.  There are less turns in long course swimming and generally, turns are faster than swimming -- we can push off the wall faster than we can swim.  (Although for some of our swimmers who have not yet mastered a turn, the turning process is slower than swimming!) 

Some people attempt to "convert" a short course time to a long course time or visa versa.  The conversion factors are not precise due to differences in turns, strokes, and individual's ability to swim the extra distance at speed.  Conversions can lead to unrealistic expectations and disappointments, or to a false sense of achievement.  For those reasons we do not convert times.  We simply say that each swimmer has two sets of best times, one for long course and one for short course.

News For

SWIM  PARENTS

Published by The American Swimming Coaches Association

5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200

Fort Lauderdale FL 33309

___________________________________________________________________

Stunned, Shammed, Thankful, and Finally… Helpful

[Editors note:  a letter from a club’s newsletter]

My Fellow Parents:

The word “ignoramus “ comes to mind, but then I realized I wasn't sure what an ignoramus was.  After consulting Webster’s, I confirmed that I was one.  You see an ignoramus is a person who simply doesn't know.

My wife and girls have been involved with the team for almost two years.  With all their coming and going, I occasionally found myself tagging along, usually reluctantly, timing a race, helping out at the snack bar for a few hours, but not much else.  It wasn't until our last home meet when I offered to help cook at the concession stand and do some prep work Friday night before the meet, that I realized how much of an ignoramus I really was.

I was amazed at how much work went into simply setting up the concession stand, and the shade areas for timers and judges.  That night I got home at 10:30 p.m.  After the meet on Sunday, all the stuff that got set up had to come down.  I spent at least 3 more hours helping there as well as all day cooking and selling at the concessions.

That weekend left me stunned, shamed, and thankful all at once.  Stunned because of the tremendous amount of man hours required to put on an event like that.  Shamed, because where was I in the past when a dedicated few could have used some help to shoulder the load?  I was also thankful for these people who were fun to work with and who had quietly and diligently served my children those past two years.

Well those of you who were like me, you can't be an ignoramus anymore because I just blew your cover.  Maybe you'd like to come along at our next home meet and pitch in?  There'll be plenty to do and there's a chance we could have some fun doing it.

SWIM  PARENTS

Published by The American Swimming Coaches Association

5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200

Fort Lauderdale FL 33309

___________________________________________________________________

The Marginally Motivated Swimmer
Guy Edson
ASCA Staff

The other day I was remembering a time when I was a much younger coach and the day I asked a swimmer to leave practice and “not to come back.”  In recalling and thinking about this incident I believe there is a message for parents of older, aged 13 and above, lesser committed swimmers. 

What was this swimmer doing that was so terrible?  Nothing.  He was doing nothing; and that was the problem.  For whatever reason, he simply decided he wasn’t going to do the set I had prescribed and decided he was going to leave practice.

This 13 year old had a dismal attendance record making just a couple of workouts a week and when he did come there was minimal communication with me.  He would arrive seconds before we began the first set and he would immediately leave after the last set.  I only saw the mom one time; the dad, never.  Quite simply, it appeared that he didn’t want to be there.

I thought about the incident throughout that evening and it was the first thing on my mind when I woke up in the next morning.  I hated kicking a swimmer out of practice.  I asked myself these questions:

Did I need to permanently dismiss him from the team?

Should I have just let him go without comment at the time or should I have taken the time to find out what was bothering him?

Should I have had a discussion with the parents long before the incident about what my expectations were and to find out what their expectations were?

Before I tackle those questions there are a couple of concepts I would like all parents to consider.  First, one of the primary duties of the coach is to provide adversity for the athletes.  That may sound like an unusual way to describe it but the reality is that a workout is not meant to be easy.  It is meant to be a physical and mental challenge.  Good coaches throw the challenge out there and then attempt to provide the environment where the athlete’s will to meet the challenge is high.  At older ages and upper levels, say 13 and over at sectional and above level, coaches sometimes design entire workouts meant to make the athlete fail – temporarily fail.  At lower levels, right down to novice level swimming, swimmers need to be exposed to sets that are difficult, perhaps so difficult that no one can achieve the set.  Good coaches use these sets to build a desire in the athletes to achieve higher levels of physical and mental toughness.   Good coaches know that being successful requires a combination of challenge and success in the workout environment and that the relative amount of each will change as the swimmer ages.

The second concept has two parts:  the coach’s time and effort; and the athlete’s submissiveness – best described as the athlete’s willingness to release themselves to the coach.  To whom should the coach give their time and effort?  Answer:  to those athletes who give themselves to the coach.  The coach has limited time and energy and the fairest behavior of the coach is focusing on those who are ready to meet the adversity.  Coaches simply do not have time to coddle and convince reluctant swimmers to do work while there are other swimmers willing and ready to go.

Now, back to the questions at hand.  Did I need to dismiss him from the team entirely?  In this case, Yes.  But it should have been discussed with the parent the next day rather than shouted to him across the pool.  Why dismiss him from the team?  He had a poor history of effort, bad attendance, and it was not worth the team’s time to try change his work ethic.  In a case where a swimmer had a history of good effort, and had shown a high degree of coachability – well, this situation wouldn’t have been an issue in the first place.

Should I have let him go without comment at the time?  Yes.  Running a workout where emotions are high is not the time to get into it with an athlete or the parent.  It is better to discuss such things in a different environment at a different time.

Should I have take the time to find out what was bothering him?  No.  That would have been taking time from those in the water who were doing the work and that is where the coach’s focus needs to be.

Long before the incident should I have had a discussion with the parents about “expectations”?   Absolutely Yes.  This was a failure on my part – and the parents.

The bottom lines:  There are adolescent swimmers who are of marginal ability who come to practice for a variety or reasons.  Sometimes it’s friends.  That’s a pretty good reason, but there has to be the willingness to work as well. 

Sometimes it’s Mom and Dad making the child go to practice.  There are good reasons and bad reasons for this.  Good reasons include a sincere desire for the child to be involved in a wholesome activity.  Bad reasons include a parent’s desire for the child to be a champion swimmer and earn a swimming scholarship when the child doesn’t have that talent. 

Whatever the reasons, it is important for parents and swimmers and coaches to discuss their respective expectations with each other.  Frankly, sometimes expectations just do not match up with what’s being offered or what is being done.  And then it is time to think about moving on to another program or another activity.

Guy Edson is a Level 5 Age Group Coach and has enjoyed 5 years as a part time age group coach, 2 years as a full time age group coach, 8 years as a full time head coach, and 20+ years coaching novice/intermediate swimmers.  (In that order.)  And, 7 years as high school coach mixed in with the above.  He has served as an ASCA staff member since 1988 where his favorite role is helping young coaches with everything from teaching techniques to designing workouts.  He also manages ASCA’s Job Service program helping both coaches and employers with a wide range of needs including contract reviews, interviews, and relational and club structural issues.