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August, 2012
A.T. – does it stand for Anaerobic Threshold or A Total Waste of Time?
A.T. – what does it stand for?
Anaerobic Threshold? Yep – for senior athletes, elite swimmers, swimmers 13 years of age and older – absolutely.
For swimmers 12 and under what does A.T. stand for? A Total waste of time. Read more
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August 12, 2012 | 4 Comments
Tags: Elite swimming, High Performance Swimming, Mental Skills and Attitudes, Swim, Swimmers, Swimming, Swimming Coaching, Swimming Competition Tips, Swimming Racing Tips, Swimming Science, Swimming Technique, Swimming Training Tips, Training
Talent ID in Swimming: the Talent Pool!
Talent is Harder to Hide than it is to Find.
When looking for the characteristics, traits and abilities that may indicate a swimmer’s talent, the most obvious things to look for are the physical ones.
However, swimmers with real physical talent are harder to hide than they are to find!
How many times have you been to a Swim Meet and seen the ten year old who is built like a fifteen year old blitz the opposition and break the Meet record? Finding physical talent in very talented swimmers is like telling people you discovered the Pacific Ocean-someone was going to find it sooner or later – hiding it would have been a far greater challenge!
And…ultimately, physical talent is only one indicator - and not a particularly good one - of performance potential.
It’s more than merely muscle.
Real talent is a far more complex thing than merely muscles, tendons, nerves, blood and ligaments. It’s an integration of mind, body and spirit: a combination of physical, mental, technical, tactical, genetic, cultural and personality factors that come together in a pair of swimming costumes that may one day break the World record or win the Olympic Gold Medal.
So what are the Top Ten Talent ID Techniques for Swimming: how do you find the most talented swimmers in the talent pool?:
- Parents – (genetic material): choose your parents carefully;
- Parents- a supporting, loving, caring environment, where parents or carers provide a swimmer’s core needs in nutrition, time management, sleep, rest, education and family support;
- The Ability to learn fast – learn more in a shorter period of time = faster progression and improvement;
- The Ability to deal with difficulty, adversity and change – the path to greatness is never straight or smooth. Many Olympic Gold medalists have had to endure set-backs, surgery, illness and disappointment and fight hard to achieve their dreams;
- Physical talent- you have to have at least one “weapon” – speed, size, strength, power, flexibility….having at least one physical gift is useful;
- Self confidence / self belief – they can who believe they can;
- Passion – the love of swimming is the driving force of so many great swimmers and great swimming performances;
- The ability to get along with other people - swimming is an individual sport wrapped up in a team environment. The ability to work well with team-mates in often tough, hard, high pressure situations, e.g when touring with a representative team, is a critical skill and a much under-estimated talent;
- The ability to keep a sense of humour and balance about life – after all it is only swimming and you are so much more than just a swimmer;
- Time availability – whilst not strictly a measure of talent, the amount of time available to train, prepare, rest, recover and compete are critical determinants of the level of swimming you can achieve.
Or if you like…
- Talent is….
- Attitude to train to your full potential everyday;
- Love of the sport;
- Enthusiasm – particularly in the tough times;
- Nurturing – unconditional love and support at home from a family who cares;
- Toughness – being able to persevere and keep giving your best when your feel so tired you can barely lift your arms;
- Inherited characteristics – choose your parents carefully;
- Desire – never give up.
Putting it all together.
So when looking in the talent pool for talent in the pool, keep your eyes, ears, heart and mind open.
It’s a lot more than just being the biggest, the strongest, the tallest or the fastest…..talent is a total package: a combination of factors that, when combined with consistent hard work, dedication, commitment and an uncompromising devotion to perfect preparation, turns potential into performance.
Wayne Goldsmith
Republished by Blog Post Promoter
August 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: Elite swimming, High Performance Swimming, Mental Skills and Attitudes, success, Swim, Swimmers, Swimming, Swimming and Parenting, Swimming Clubs and Swimming Associations, Swimming Coaching, Swimming Science, Swimming Technique, Swimming Training Tips, Training, winner, winning
Flying into Fly: Five Tips for Swimming Brilliant Butterfly.
Is there anything better in swimming than swimming great fly?
When you get it right, everything seems to flow, arms and legs working in rhythm – no wonder they call it FLY – it feels like you are flying through the water: not swimming – but actually flying.
But like anything that looks easy and feels that good, it takes a lot of hard work to turn the basics of the stroke into the fundamentals of flight! Read more
Republished by Blog Post Promoter
August 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: Swim, Swimming, Swimming Coaching, Swimming Science, Swimming Technique, Swimming Training Tips
Swim Up to Swim Down: Some new ideas on Swim Downs to enhance your Swim Meet Success
In the old days it was simple.
You raced. You did your best.
You spoke with the coach about your race, you swapped ideas about dives and turns, you listened to feedback, discussed splits and stroke technique etc etc.
You drank a little water or sports drink.
You jumped (or maybe slumped) into the swim down pool, did a few laps at a speed your grandma would consider too slow and climbed out three minutes later ready to go for your next race (or so you thought).
That, as they say was then and this is now – and now, more than ever, swim down is a critical element of every swimming competition. Read more
Republished by Blog Post Promoter
August 12, 2012 | 2 Comments
Tags: Coaching, Competitive Swimming, Elite swimming, High Performance Swimming, Mental Skills and Attitudes, Swim, Swim Meets, Swimmers, Swimming, Swimming Coaching, Swimming Competition Tips, Swimming Racing Tips, Swimming Science, winning
The Ten Myths of Swimming.
The dictionary says:
myth (noun)
- a traditional story of unknown authorship, ostensibly with a historical basis, but serving usually to explain some phenomenon of nature, the origin of man, or the customs, institutions, religious rites, etc. of a people: myths usually involve the exploits of gods and heroes
- such stories collectively; mythology
- any fictitious story, or unscientific account, theory, belief, etc.
- any imaginary person or thing spoken of as though existing
There’s the Yeti.
There’s the Sasquatch.
There’s the shopping cart with four good wheels.
There’s the low fat, great tasting chocolate cake.
And there’s these….the ten myths of swimming. Read more
Republished by Blog Post Promoter
August 12, 2012 | 2 Comments
Tags: Coaching, Competitive Swimming, Elite swimming, High Performance Swimming, Mental Skills and Attitudes, success, Swim, Swimming, Swimming Coaching, Swimming Competition Tips, Swimming Science, Swimming Technique, Swimming Training Tips
Improving Swimming Performance Free Podcast
Recently, I did a long interview for a group called Effortless Swimming. Click here for the FREE podcast where I discuss a range of issues including:
- Swimming technique development
- Swimming skills
- Swimming speed
- Important concepts for every swimmer like “the faster you want to go, the more relaxed you have to be”, how keeping your hands “soft” helps with feel and distance per stroke and how relaxing more in the water is the key to swimming faster.
August 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Tags: Feel of the Water, Mental Skills and Attitudes, Swimming Skills, Swimming Technique, Swimming-for-triathlon
