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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?:

1. Parents – (genetic material): choose your parents carefully;
2. 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;
3. The Ability to learn fast – learn more in a shorter period of time = faster progression and improvement;
4. 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;
5. Physical talent- you have to have at least one “weapon” – speed, size, strength, power, flexibility….having at least one physical gift is useful;
6. Self confidence / self belief – they can who believe they can;
7. Passion – the love of swimming is the driving force of so many great swimmers and great swimming performances;
8. 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;
9. 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;
10. 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

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.

Go to: http://effortlessswimming.com/featuredpost/12-the-one-about-improving-performance-with-wayne-goldsmith/

 

The Trials of Teenage Swimmers: A Guide for Parents and Coaches.

Every week I receive at least one email from a frustrated parent or coach that goes something like this:

My daughter (or son or swimmer if the email is from a coach) is in her mid teens. She has been swimming for over five years. She was successful as a freestyler when she was younger but she has not done a PB for some time and as result she is now feeling down, un-motivated and frustrated.

She is talking about giving up.

What can I do to motivate her and keep her swimming?

Signed,

Concerned Parent (or Coach).

This article is a summary of what I have learnt about this issue over the past 20 years. I sincerely hope it helps you. Read more

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Pregnancy and Swimming

This post was written with my wife, former elite swimmer, coach, teacher and mother of four Helen Morris who continues to amaze me every day.

So you’re pregnant. Congratulations!

That’s no reason to stop exercising!

Pregnancy and Swimming: some simple, practical advice from an experienced mother and swimmer. Read more

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Message to Swimming – you still don’t get it!

Six years ago I wrote an article called “Changing Times” about the Sport of Swimming and the challenges it faced all over the world.

You can find the full article at numerous sites (or just email me for a copy).

In short, I challenged the swimming community to work together, to strive to create new, exciting, interesting training and competition environments, to put away petty political and personality conflicts and work together in the best interest of kids, athletes, families, coaches, Clubs and the sport.

Now, Six years later…..Most of You still don’t get it do you! Read more

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Mental Skills Training in Swimming – a new approach.

What is your experience with sports psychology and mental skills training?

Is it meeting a psychologist or mental skills professional at an office and talking quietly about attitudes, anxieties and ambitions?

Or is it having a mental skills professional come to the training centre and do a “motivation” lecture or a mental skills training session on relaxation, focusing, visualisation / imagery and attitude?

Time to take mental skills training out of the office, away from the training room and into the pool.

How?  Read more

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Twenty Tips for a Tip Top Taper!

Tapering is fun, it’s fantastic and above all its about feeling fast fast fast.

It is the time when you feel light, loose and long in the water as your body regenerates and recharges after weeks of hard work.

And above all tapering is one thing – one simple thing that everyone already has in their possession but it is one thing most people use very often….common sense.

Think about it this way.

Imagine you were telling someone – someone who knew nothing about swimming, “I have been training for months and months for a big Meet coming up in two weeks”.

And then you told them, “And for the next two weeks I am going to change lots of things, get little or no rest, stress out a lot and worry about things that may not even happen, eat strange foods that I have never eaten before, buy some different swimsuits to wear on the day without trialling them and I will not spend anytime practicing exactly what I want to do at the Meet”.

They would probably tell you, “Well good luck with all that and here’s the number of a good psychiatrist!”

So how do you have a tip top taper? Read more

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Getting Mentally Tough (or How to be Tougher, Rougher, Meaner and Nastier than your Opposition while still smiling and being a generally nice person)!

On the day I was born, the nurses all gathered ’round And they gazed in wide wonder, at the joy they had found The head nurse spoke up, and she said leave this one alone She could tell right away, that I was bad to the bone Bad to the bone Bad to the bone

(George Thorogood)

 

In this old classic rock and roll song, George Thorogood is telling the world he is “bad to the bone” – that he is tough, rough, mean and nasty and you had better not get in his way.

A lot of people think that mental toughness in swimming is a bit like this: being mentally tough means being rough, tough, mean, angry, rude, crude, nasty and that you enjoy bashing, bullying and belittling your opposition.

Guess what….real mental toughness is the exact opposite! Read more

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The W Word: Winning.

Winning. Winning. Winning. There, I said it.

That felt good. I’ll say it again. Winning.

That felt so good I’ll do it again. Winning!!

It’s time we made the “W” word fashionable again. Read more

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Five New Ideas that will Change Swimming Forever.

They say that “success is a moving target”.

This is so true in swimming where new ideas, information and innovations are constantly being thrown up to challenge, inspire and stimulate the thinking of swimmers and coaches.

Recently a wave of exciting and challenging new scientific research has come forward which has sparked some new ideas and forced the swimming world to sit up and take notice.

Here are five new ideas that will change our swimming world…………..forever! Read more

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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• About this Blog

  Expert advice, ideas, innovation and inspiration for all sports coaches and team managers - from 'grass roots' through to elite and high performance levels. All posts are written by Wayne Goldsmith, AKA the "Sports Coaching Brain". If you have a question or comment about any post, please add it to the comments section.

• Recent Posts

  • Free Booklet: Coaching Essentials for Every Sports Coach
  • Swimming Psyche Outs. How to be in control, confident and composed when faced with psyche outs (and how to use them to your advantage!!). Part Two.
  • Performance Practice: Integrating Swimming Skills into Training and Practice with a Performance Focus.
  • A.T. – does it stand for Anaerobic Threshold or A Total Waste of Time?
  • Talent ID in Swimming: the Talent Pool!

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