Swim Coaching Brain » Hot Topics

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

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:24:19 +0000

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!

Mental toughness…the old way: training the body to train the mind.

The old way of developing mental toughness was simple.

Swimmers trained and trained and trained…then trained some more.

In the process, they became fitter, stronger and physically “tougher” than their opposition and being physically tougher it was believed they would also be mentally tougher.

We trained the body to train the mind. It didn’t really matter if technique fell apart, or if breathing was uncontrolled or skills like turns were sloppy: just work and work and work until you were physically capable of anything.

There were two fundamental flaws in this approach:

Not all swimmers were capable of completing huge volumes of training and in many cases the long, hard training programs induced illness and injury
It assumed that mental toughness would flow from having the confidence of having completed a long, hard, physical preparation.

Mental toughness…the new way: training the mind to train the body.

The biggest breakthrough in our understanding of mental toughness has come from the realisation that the mind is the master of the body.

Research into the mind-body interaction has consistently demonstrated what many swimmers and coaches have suspected: what the mind believes…the body can achieve.

We also know that with the right mental skills training, the mind is capable of amazing things and can drive the body to achieve swimming performances that cannot be explained by the mechanics of blood, heart, lungs and muscle alone.

In addition, our old thinking on swimming as a sport was that it was a physiology driven activity, i.e. the person who was physically best prepared would win.

We now know that success in swimming comes from the integration of three critical aspects of sports performance:

Physiology: physical factors like muscle, blood, lungs, heart, tendons etc.
Biomechanics: technical factors like stroke technique, stroke length, stroke rate and skills like dives, starts, turns and finishes
Psychology: mental factors like self-belief, concentration, focusing, imagery and relaxation.

In practical terms, this integrated model of swimming performance looks like this:

Thinking differently means swimming differently.

Actions don’t happen by themselves.

They start with thoughts. Thoughts become words – (even words you say to yourself). And those words become actions.

Swimming differently means thinking differently.

For example: A swimmer is in the middle of a really hard, challenging training set. She thinks, “Man this is really tough. But I will push harder and fight harder and get through this”.

With all we now know about mental toughness and how the mind and body work together in pain, pressure and fatigue situations, more effective thinking could be: “Focus on breathing and staying long and loose and relaxed in the water. Focus on each stroke. Feel my hand enter the water and begin to pull. Notice the feeling of pressure on my fingers and hand as I accelerate my arm through the water. Feel the bubbles stream from my nose and mouth as I breathe out”.

We used to talk about mental toughness in terms of “fight” – now it is all about flow.

We thought it was all about being brave – now we encourage breathing.

We believed the secret to mental toughness was to get tougher – now we know it about relaxation: the faster you want to go, the more relaxed you have to be.

Swimming Situation	Mentally Tough Behaviours: The OLD Way….	Mentally Tough Behaviours:The NEW Way….
Training in the Pool	Do as much training as you possibly could believing that the more training you do, the fitter you got and the tougher you became.	Execute everything you do with a focus on relaxation, excellence and maintaining perfect technique and skills under pain, fatigue and pressure situations.
Training in the Gym	Push and drive yourself as long and as hard as possible and do as many repeats as you can.	Integrate your mind and body in all dry-land training activities and focus on staying relaxed and composed, while maintaining great technique in pain, pressure and fatigue situations.
Before Racing	Jump up and down, make noise and try to psyche out your opposition by showing “bravery”, “courage” and “intimidation”.	Adopt some “mindfulness” techniques like slow, deep, breathing and allowing thoughts, emotions and feelings to flow in and out of you without reacting to them or judging them.
During the Race	As the race goes longer and things get tougher, grit your teeth, work harder and fight hard to the wall.	As the race goes longer and things get tougher, focus on breathing, relaxation and maintaining excellence in stroke technique and skills without effort or conscious thought.

Table 1: Mental toughness in swimming: comparing the old way of thinking about mental toughness with some new ideas and better ways of learning how to be mentally tough.

A new direction for mental toughness and swimming: Swimming and Mindfulness:

Mindfulness is a relatively “new” technique in swimming performance psychology. (It has only been around for 2-3 thousand years in the practice of meditation). It has been described as bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis.

Increasingly mental skills practitioners and coaches are looking at mindfulness as a technique to help swimmers manage their mind around training and competition.

Mindfulness can be learnt relatively quickly and once practiced can help swimmers deal with the “moment to moment” challenges they face when training hard and racing fast.

Summary:

Being mentally tough has nothing to do with anger, being mean, feeling nasty or fighting: it’s keeping calm, composed and in control when things get hard;
Anyone can be mentally tough when it doesn’t matter. Being mentally tough in the first three repeats of a 20 x 100 metres training set doesn’t really take a lot of doing. Being mentally tough by maintaining great technique, skills and breathing control when doing the final three repeats – and even asking the coach for one or two additional repeats….now that’s mentally tough;
Don’t confuse physical toughness with mental toughness (although they are related). Just training hard physically is not enough! You need to integrate MIND AND BODY in training and practice so that your ability to stay relaxed and maintain technical excellence in pain, pressure and fatigue conditions is enhanced;
Mental toughness is a skill and like any swimming skill, it needs to be practiced every session, every workout, every day;
Mindfulness is an exciting new direction in mental skills training for competitive swimmers and is potentially the greatest leap forward in our ability to enhance mental toughness since George Thorogood’s immortal words!

Wayne Goldsmith

Super Starts: How to get faster sooner and leave your competitors languishing in the slow lane.

Wayne Goldsmith — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:56:54 +0000

Speed. Speed. Speed. And more speed.

It’s what swimming is all about.

There are no gold medals for the person who can swim the most number of 100s or the slowest 400 or even for the swimmer who has the highest heart rate.

Winning in swimming is about one thing and one thing alone….speed. You swim faster than your competitors…you win. Simple as that.

So if swimming is all about speed, what is speed all about?

Here are four really important things for every swimmer who wants to swim faster to think about:

In sprint swimming, most of the time it is the person who gets to their top speed in the shortest time who wins the race;
Getting to top speed in the shortest time means having a brilliant first 15 metres;
Having a brilliant first 15 metres means having an outstanding dive and underwater kick;
And having an outstanding dive and underwater kick means having a Super Start!!!!!

So….that means if you want to win more sprint races, you need to have a SUPER START and a brilliant first fifteen metres!

The First Fifteen is the critical Fifteen!

For a sprinter, where every fraction of a second can mean the difference between success and failure, what happens in the first fifteen metres often determines the outcome of the entire race.

Want to know how to develop a FFFFF – Fantastically Fabulously Fast First Fifteen?

There are five starting “zones”: five places where you physically and mentally ensure that your first 15 metres are so fast it looks like you are the Space Shuttle wearing a swim-suit!

Let’s work through the Five Starting Zones – The S.T.A.R.T. Zones:

STARTING ZONE 1 “SELF”: In the stands;
STARTING ZONE 2 “TAKE CONTROL”: In the marshaling area;
STARTING ZONE 3 “ATTENTION”: Behind the blocks;
STARTING ZONE 4 “READY”: On the blocks;
STARTING ZONE 5 “TAKE-OFF”: The first 15!

STARTING ZONE 1: In the stands;

Your Super Start really starts in the stands…well before you ever think about getting wet.

This is the “Self” zone – the moment when you put yourself and your needs first.

The “self” zone begins and ends with one question, “What do I need to do right now to make sure I am ready to race?”

For some swimmers that means stretching. For others that means jumping up and down. For some swimmers this “self” zone means putting a towel over their heads and having some quiet time with their own thoughts and emotions.

Whatever “self” means to you, Zone 1 is all about switching your brain on to the business of fast swimming.

Think about the Space Shuttle.

The computers are all on line and ready to go long before the engines begin to fire up to blast off into orbit.

Zone 1 is where you switch your “computer” on, get it on line and begin the countdown towards take off!

STARTING ZONE 2: In the marshaling area “TAKE CONTROL”;

Once you get called to the marshaling area, it is all about you taking control.

Taking control of yourself, taking control of the marshaling area, and taking control of your competitors….Starting Zone 2 is about taking control and making the race your own.

Taking control in Starting Zone 2 comes from the two Big-Bs of pre-race management:

Breathing: Breathe slowly, deeply and with purpose. As a guide aim for 5 breathes per minute. That’s four seconds to breathe in, four seconds to fully breathe out and allow yourself four restful seconds of relaxation before breathing in again;
Body language: Moving into and around the marshaling area with confidence, calm and control: head up, shoulders back and using strong, slow, deliberate movements….make it look like you own the marshaling area;

This is what real “psyching-out” is all about. You don’t have to say anything. You don’t have to put anyone else down.

Through controlled breathing and strong body language in the marshaling area you can “blow the minds” of most of your competitors and you will have defeated many of them mentally without the need to even get in the water and race.

STARTING ZONE 3: Behind the blocks “ATTENTION”;

Behind the blocks in Starting Zone 3, the focus now shifts to “attention” – that is, paying attention to the things that matter, paying no attention to the things that don’t and…..knowing the difference!

The key here is to understand the difference between Thoughts, Words and Actions.

Most swimmers will wait until their thoughts become actions, e.g. uncontrollable nervousness, before they do anything about them.

In the Attention Zone (Starting Zone 3), the aim is to recognise your thoughts but only pay attention to the ones that can help you swim fast: letting all the others just flow through your mind without taking hold.

For example:

THOUGHT: “I am feeling really nervous”.

RESPONSE IN STARTING ZONE 3: “I note I am feeling nervous” – but that’s where it ends. You “hear” the thought, you recognise the thought, you note the thought but just as soon as you notice it, you allow it to drift off without paying it any real attention.

This ability to pay attention to thoughts without judgement and without allowing them to become words or actions is the cornerstone of real
mental strength and emotional control for every swimmer.

STARTING ZONE 4: On the blocks “READY”;

Starting Zone 4 is the “ready zone”: on the blocks and ready to go. The three keys to success in the “ready zone” are P.R.E:

Position (i.e. body position, head position, feet position, hand position): Being in the best possible starting position (which you would have practiced over and over and over in training of course);
Relaxation: (continuing the controlled breathing you started in Zone 2 and the thoughts management technique you started in Zone 3);
Energy: Feeling connected to all the energy in your body.

Starting Zone is the connection zone: the zone where your mind and your body are connected together as one: a unified swimming owerhouse about to unleash everything you’ve got with power and precision.

STARTING ZONE 5 “TAKE OFF”: The first 15!

Bang! The gun has gone and the race is on!

The most important parts of Starting Zone 5 are the “three kicks”:

The first kick: Is the kick you do under the water after your dive. In fly, back and free that means fast, strong, powerful, explosive kicks to maintain the speed from your dive. In breast that means completing the underwater pull and kicks with flow, power and rhythm;
The second kick: Is kicking your body deliberately and with purpose towards the surface.
The third kick: And the most important kick of all is the kick you do to kick yourself into your first stroke on the surface: the breakout!

Speed over the first fifteen metres comes down to a simple equation:

How speed can I generate as I leave the blocks PLUS How much speed can I maintain under the water before I start stroking?

Or:

FAST FIFTEEN = Maximise Speed off the blocks AND Minimise Speed lost underwater.

If you got it right in Starting Zones 1-4, then Starting Zone 5 will take care itself!

After that, you’re on your own…but, if you have worked your way through the Five Starting Zones, and have got to your top speed faster than anyone else in the pool you have given yourself every possible opportunity for a great race, a fast time and a winning performance.

Summary:

In sprint swimming, the first 15 metres often determines the outcome of the entire race: the swimmer who gets to their top speed first most of the time will win!
The start is not just what happens on the blocks. The start begins in the marshaling area, continues to the zone behind the blocks, on to the blocks and over the first fifteen metres in the water;
Start the way you want to finish: if you want to finish first…start fast and go, go, go.

Wayne Goldsmith

Twenty Tips for a Tip Top Taper!

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:42 +0000

: Ladder in the sky from Crestock Stock Images

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?

Here’s twenty tips to turn tapering into triumph:

Try it before you use it! It is really tempting to buy a new suit or a new pair of goggles or some new sporting supplements to give you a special something extra for the big Meet. But time and time again, swimmers who have worked hard and trained hard for a Meet blow it all by reaching for a miracle over the counter super swimming supplement. Find out what works for you and keep doing it;
Don’t add anything new. Another taper trap is to add more work in the belief that if some training is good, then more will work even better. Taper is the time for the four Rs – Rest, Regenerate, Recover and Race - not the four Ms – More – More – More – More;
Work fast, work smart. Tip three is an important one. Taper is the time for speed: training fast to race fast. Once you start tapering the golden rules are: Decrease training volume but maintain training frequency and training intensity or if you like train fast, train often but train less;
No sleep-ins. Lots of swimmers (and their parents) fall for this one. Swimmers will often try to scam a few mornings off during taper by telling their coach they need the rest to swim at their best. Some swimmers – you know who you are – will even get their parents to push the coach for some morning sleep ins. Again the golden rules are….train fast, train often, train less;
New suit – old suit. It feels great to race in a nice new, fast suit but a new suit only works if you have done all you can do in training to make it go fast. A slow driver in a Ferrari is still a slow driver;
It’s all mental. Racing is 90% mental. So practice “mental tapering” as well as physical tapering. During your taper take time to relax, to do things you enjoy, get plenty of sleep, read a book, watch some TV and taper your mind as well as your body;
Dives and starts. During taper – more than any other time – every dive is a race dive – every start is a race start…..every dive is a race dive – every start is a race start……..;
Turns. And you guessed it…every turn is a race turn;
Underwater practice. To go fast above the water, practice going fast under the water. Practice the three big kicks of underwater speed at every opportunity during taper: Kicking fast under water in streamline, kicking fast to the surface and kicking explosively to the surface for the breakout stroke;
Easy speed. A feature of a great taper is easy speed – being able to move fast with little effort. ”Easy-speed” comes as your body recovers and regenerates as the training load decreases. Enjoy this feeling – it is what all the training is about;
Practice several warm ups. Practice your ideal pre race warm up several times during the taper. Be very comfortable with it – know it backwards and try to rehearse it in conditions which are as close as possible to actual race conditions. And practice a few “what-if” warm ups. “What if we get to the practice pool late and I only get five minutes to warm up” or “What if for some reason I can’t do a pool warm up and have to warm up on dry land?”: plans and back-up plans and back-up plans for back-up plans;
Practice several swim downs. And again….”what if they change the race schedule at the last minute and I don’t get a chance to do a full swim down?”. Don’t make the mistake of practicing for a perfect day – be prepared to deal with whatever can (and will) go wrong;
Fast Fuel. Eat “fast” foods – no, not the kind you usually eat. Plenty of fresh fruit, salads, vegetables and quality, nutritious, healthy food. You can’t put low performance fuel in a high performance machine and hope it will race fast;
Swimming bag check list. Make a check list of everything you will need on race day – goggles, cap, suit and back up suit, food, drink, something to read, two towels….write it down, tick it off as you pack your bag and leave nothing to chance;
Spares of everything. Ever had a pair goggles break on race day? Ever lost a suit? Your swim bag should be like Noah’s Arc…everything in two by two;
Don’t do anything dumb…Taper is not the time to take up bungee jumping, sky-diving or professional stunt work;
Relax. Take it easy. You’ve worked hard. You deserve to relax;
Recover. Help your body to help you by committing to a daily recovery schedule. Eat good foods. Drink plenty of water. Do some light stretching and most importantly……….;
Sleep. Sleep is the most under-rated but most important recovery tool at your disposal. And..an extra hour of sleep each night means an extra night’s sleep each week. If you have a three week taper, then by going to bed an hour earlier each night, you get three extra nights sleep to recover and be ready to race like you have never raced before;
Practise everything that can be practised. Perfect practice = perfect performance. As the Meet gets closer, make every aspect of your practice as perfect as the performance you want on race day.

It’s all mental – it really is.

Believe. Believe. Believe. It all starts with what you believe. Think fast, train hard, taper smart, race brilliantly!

The performance equation…..looks something like this:

A great training season plus a consistently professional attitude in and out of the pool plus a well designed and executed taper = Success.

It all adds up!

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Mental Skills Training in Swimming – a new approach.

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:37 +0000

: colored brain from Crestock Stock Photography

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?

The Fourth Variable - Engagement:

In a recent post on my www.sportscoachingbrain.com site I talked about the fourth aspect of designing and developing training programs: Engagement.

In the article I suggested that in traditional programs, coaches write workouts in terms of the “big three” physiology variables: Volume of training (how much to do), Intensity of training (how hard to work) and Frequency of training (how often to do it).

However, this is old thinking…because it assumes that training adaptations are all about physical training and exercise physiology. Coaches and athletes know that there is another key determinant of training adaption…engagement - (how engaged the athlete’s mind is in the training activity).

The central argument is this. No matter how well designed the set and workout might be, it is the athlete’s approach and attitude to completing the workout that largely determines the outcome.

A brilliantly designed training set, sculptured perfectly in terms of heart rate, speed, volume and lactate levels, will not be performed optimally unless the swimmers have engaged in the set and are committed to performing the set to their full potential.

Competitive Swimming is not just swimming fast.

Remember that competitive swimming is not just about swimming fast – anyone can learn to swim fast.

Competitive Swimming is….swimming fast, with great technique and skills, under pain, pressure and fatigue.

If competitive swimming was only about swimming fast – then we would just train the body.

But…competitive swimming is about maintaining speed and technical excellence when the body is enduring pain, pressure and fatigue and it is the swimmers who can best integrated mind and body to work together in harmony in these conditions who prevail.

And it all starts with training set design and workout planning.

How can you integrate “engagement” with the physiology “big three” – volume, intensity, frequency?

Example:

Old way (physiology model):

Training set is 16 x100 metres (volume) on 2:00 minutes holding a speed of PB plus 10 seconds (intensity).

Enhanced Mind – Body way:

Training set is 16 x 100 metres (volume) on 2:00 minutes holding a speed of PB plus 10 seconds (intensity). Key mental skills learning (engagement) – At signs of fatigue, work with swimmers on relaxation under pressure and on breathing techniques to learn how to manage pain under fatigue and pressure conditions.

Find Opportunities to Enhance Mind-Body integration:

In every workout, there are opportunities to teach lessons which can make an incredible impact on the swimmer’s mental abilities for competition.

At times of pain, pressure and fatigue during workouts, opportunities emerge to teach swimmers life lessons and mental skills that can not be replicated in an office or classroom.

This is the key: we all want swimmers to master the mental skills necessary to compete successfully in the pool.

So it makes sense to shift our mental skills training focus into the pool.

If Gold Medals for 100 freestyle were handed out for winning a race around an office, let’s do our mental skills training in high buildings…..but it is all about mental skills mastery in the pool.

Optimal performance in any field of endeavour comes from the integration of the mind and the body working in harmony.

Next time you are writing a training program or training set add in engagement - the critical fourth dimension in training - and teach mental skills at every opportunity.

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Physiology based Training Set Design in Swimming: There must be Another Way.

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:36 +0000

Walk on deck at any pool in the world on a typical Monday afternoon.

There it is – the old whiteboard over there at the end of the pool.

And what’s written up on the whiteboard?

Today’s training program!

“10 x 100 on 1:45 at 75%” or
“20 x 50 on 1:00 holding PB plus 5 seconds” or
“12 x 200 IM on 3:30 holding 2:50 or something similar.

You would think that swimming training, preparation and performance was all about the body wouldn’t you?

The Big Six.

The “Big Six” in swimming preparation and performance are:

Physical abilities;
Personality characteristics;
Playing (tactical) skills;
Performance abilities;
Pedigree (i.e. genetic makeup);
Preparation ((i.e. environment, family, culture).

Look at a set like 10 x 100 on 1:45 at 75% and evaluate it against the “Big Six”.

Does it measure up physically? Sure. It’s all there – volume, intensity, rest interval – all the usual suspects are represented but….

Does it measure up in terms of the swimmer’s personality and mental skills?
How does it fare as far as the development of swimming skills and stroke technique go?
What about the potential for this training set to impact on the swimmer’s ability to race well under pressure? To start? To turn? To finish? And to do it all at race speeds and race conditions?
How much does this set optimise the unique, individual qualities of each swimmer in the team?
How well does this set tap into the swimmer’s preparation environment, family structure and cultural background?

It’s hit and miss.

The fact is this.

The way most swimming workouts are currently written is a hit and miss approach. “Let’s give enough kids, enough work and some of them might swim fast”.

Those days are over.

Client Focused Swimming.

The world has changed. People – and for people read “parents and swimmers” are demanding three things from every service they pay for:

Individualisation -unique, tailored services for each individual;
Efficiency – they want more for less;
Quality- the Internet has ensured that everyone is an expert so they demand higher standards from the professionals they engage (pay) to provide services.

So, in other words, if your workout design does not provide the optimal preparation environment and opportunity for each individual in your team to achieve their performance goals in the shortest possible time, you will go out of business.

The Future.

Ask yourself this next time you are on deck;“Is this workout (and the consistent quality of my coaching), the best it can be? Does it provide the opportunity for each individual in the team to achieve their individual peak performance and realise their full potential?”

If not, chances are, you, your workout - and your overall workout philosophy need to change.

Engage the heart, inspire the soul, excite the mind, capture the imagination and unleash the genius inside every individual swimmer in your team and the blood, bones, tendons, ligaments, muscle and nerves will all come along for the ride.

Or, continue to rely on the “meaningless miles, countless kilometres and years of yardage” coaching philosophy: the “body first” philosophy to swimming coaching: the mass mediocrity approach to coaching large teams of young swimmers and start looking for a new career.

It’s your choice!

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:32 +0000

: Old wall from Crestock Creative Images

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!

A few weeks ago I was at a famous Aquatics complex in a major capital city. As usual, I was drawn to watch the swimming programs in the pool – the coaches, the athletes, technique, skills, performance levels, attitudes….I am passionate about swimming and want to see the sport succeed.

This is what I saw.

A young coach working with about 50 junior squad swimmers, aged 10-14 in very crowded lanes.

He stood at one end of the pool for the whole hour of the training session, most of the time with his leg up on the starting block in Lane one. He yelled workout instructions to the whole group and did not provide any swimmer with individualised feedback. All swimmers – all ages – all levels of ability did the same workout.

Skills and drills were performed poorly and received with little feedback. The feedback that was given was general feedback to the whole group.

The following week, I was at a similarly famous Aquatics complex in another capital city in another country. Again, I spent time observing a junior swim squad in training. Again I saw the same lack of engagement, lack of creativity, lack of passion and lack of quality coaching I had seen previously.

The next week I went to a local swim meet – again out of interest and love of the sport. Guess what?

Swimming is still offering 65 heats of the 7 and under 50 backstroke, still providing little or no interesting competition opportunities for swimmers over 15 years of age, still awarding those stupid colored ribbons to all swimmers from 5 years of age to 25, still being over zealous with breaststroke rules, still doing little or nothing to engage parents, still offering mostly junk food at the shop…………………..I thought I was in a time warp and it was 1973 all over again.

Put yourself in the position of being a swimmer in one of those squads.You have a choice. You can train for football, outside, with your friends, emulating your heroes and enjoying the team environment. You can stay at home and spend time on your computer engaging with your friends and the web. You can play other sports, play music, just enjoy lazing about with family and friends or…

“I can be pushed and driven up and down a pool with no engagement from my coach, receiving no feedback, learning nothing and being bumped and bruised in crowded lanes”.

Put yourself in the position of being a parent of a swimmer in one of those squads. You are paying money for your child to receive professional coaching. You have had to change your work, social and family schedule to be there. And what do you see?

“My child is receiving no quality, individualised instruction, is gaining no learning and receiving no feedback, is swimming mindless lap after mindless lap, bumping into other kids, the end of the pool and the lane ropes and I am paying for the privilege”.

Or what about the parent going to the Meet?

“I sit there for two days to see my kid swim four events, either in stinking heat or inside breathing in chlorine gas, giving up my precious weekend time and paying through the nose to get in to the facility, buy food and for race fees”.

And then the kid drops out of the sport in their mid teens and we all scream “What’s wrong with kids today?” – rubbish: the reason kids drop out of swimming is totally the responsibility of the people who coach, administer and organise swimming training and competitions. Kids and families will stay in swimming if it is engaging, enjoyable, exciting, educational and embraces excellence in all things.

We are offering mass mediocrity, outdated competition formats and inferior coaching quality and expecting people to continue to accept it. Well, have a good look at your registrations, Meets and bottom lines……..people are not accepting it.

The sport of swimming – like many other Olympic sports – is at the crossroads. The very existence of competitive swimming hangs in the balance like no other time in its history.

Now, more than ever we must provide quality, engaging, interesting, enjoyable and challenging training and competition experiences or swimmers and parents will no longer support the sport.

Why would a talented young swimmer, with so many choices available in sport, in social activities, in study programs, in social media and in life, waste time ploughing up and down a black line in a boring, repetitive, monotonous, poorly coached program?

Why would a parent with limited time and limited money pay for a child to be part of a sport which offers mediocre coaching and dull, boring, tedious competitions which typically offer the same events, on the same day, in the same order year after year after year?

If you consider just these coaching and competition issues – without even thinking about the child abuse allegations which are all too common around the world, the swim suit debacle and how that made the sport a laughing stock and concerns over the long term dangers of swimming in heavily chlorinated water and we are in crisis.

To all my friends and foes in swimming around the world – wake up! This is now a matter of great urgency.

Improve coaching standards - do not accept mediocre coaching anytime / anywhere from anyone;
Provide more engaging, interesting and enjoyable training environments;
Create new, interesting, stimulating and enjoyable competition formats;
Stop trying to force all kids into pathways designed to make them Olympic champions - give each individual what they need to realise their potential at all levels of achievement;
Put “fun” before “fast”;
Embrace parents into swimming programs as partners in swimming performance and stop treating them as lepers who pay fees;
And most importantly, stop this “we are different”, “those things will not work in swimming” and “that’s not the way we do it in swimming” thinking that is killing the sport around the world.

C’mon – we can do this!

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Five New Ideas that will Change Swimming Forever.

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:31 +0000

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!

1. Stop Stretching in warm up before training and racing.

Some great new research has really challenged the way we look at stretching in warm ups before training and racing.

Seems that long hold static stretches are actually counterproductive to producing speed and power. Long hold (i.e. 10 seconds or more) static stretches switch off some of the mechanisms within muscles and tendons that help the body performance fast, powerful, explosive movements.

(Note: The exception to the rule is around swimming injuries. If you are injured but continuing to train and race follow the guidelines of your doctor or physical therapist).

The research also says that stretching is still really important for increasing the range of motion around joints and in injury prevention but that stretching should be done as a separate training session away from warm up pre training and competition – at least four hours prior to training or competition!

Another great option is to schedule a team stretching session immediately after workouts when muscles are warmed up and receptive to flexibility improvement training.

Far better options pre-competition are the more dynamic forms of stretching and warm up like jumping, skipping, walking, jogging, using long “drill type” strokes in warm up etc.

So incorporate regular stretching into your overall program but schedule flexibility training at times when it will not impact on swimming performance.

2. It’s not all about technique, technique, technique.

We have all read it or said it over the years: swimming is all about technique, technique, technique.

Researchers have discovered that the old excellence by excess system – that is – repeat a simple skill in training ad finitum until it is mastered is not the best way to improve skills performance in competition.

The idea is that learning skills is a continuum. On one end of the continuum is what is called Stability and at the other end Instability or Chaos.

Where the training environment is reasonably Stable (i.e. constant, unchanging, consistent, the same), the racing environment is Chaotic with swimmers having to execute skills and make tactical decisions in a very Unstable (i.e. rapidly changing, inconsistent, variable) setting.

The research suggests that doing more skills work in an Unstable environment in training, i.e. one that is changing, different and variable, stimulates a swimmer’s brain to learn how to execute those skills more effectively in racing.

With the Internet and the way we know kids are using it and seeking information, the presentation of skills and drills work the same way over and over and over again is counter productive to the learning process.

In practice this means getting rid of the old 40 x 25 one arm freestyle drills etc and instead focusing on achieving a higher standard of quality in each repeat and continuously changing the learning environment to stimulate the swimmer’s thinking.

Chaos drill theory means varying how drills are presented to swimmers to teach them to think and learn more effectively.

For example:

Old Way of doing Drill A, then Drill B, the Drill C:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA followed by BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB then CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Chaos Drill Concept:

ABCBBAACCCAAABBBABABABCBCBCAABCAACCCCAAABB etc.

Try it – use your imagination to vary the presentation of drills.

You need to follow a 5x5x5 philosophy – can you teach the same lesson using five different drills, presented five different ways in five minutes?

3. Physical talent is a poor indicator of long term success.

There is no doubt that swimming is a tough sport physically. But a lot of research across several sports tells us that athletes who succeed in the long term and at the highest level are not just physically gifted and talented.

Just as important are characteristics like:

Self esteem and self respect;
Independence;
Ability to maintain satisfying relationships, e.g. family and friends;
Ability to adapt and solve problems;
Ability to deal with stress and difficult times;
Being happy and optimistic – even in adverse situations.

What this tells us is that working hard in the pool and in the gym is important but no more important than working on mental skills development, emotional intelligence and self confidence.

Yet, in spite of this most swimming programs based their talent identification and development on finding physically gifted and talented athletes, preferring muscles to motivation and strength to stress management ability.

Coaches need to focus on developing the total athlete– and spend time each day building the personality and character of swimmers (in partnership with parents, families and the swimmer them-self).

4. Tapering to swim fast is a fallacy.

Tapering has been around as a concept for a long, long time. However, its importance in swimming has been overstated for almost as long.

The original concept of tapering was developed primarily for adult athletes in weight bearing sports like running and ski-ing. The majority of athletes in swimming are young and more importantly involved in a non weight bearing activity.

The concept is pretty simple. Athletes work hard in training. Just prior to competition they decrease an element of training – usually volume (i.e. the amount of training) they are doing to reduce fatigue and perform at their best.

The record books are full of stories about swimmers who broke records and won titles while still in full training. Swimmers have swum PB times at all phases of their training.

More importantly – many, many swimmers who have had an outstanding taper, often do not swim PB times in competition or win titles!

Have a look at the NCAAs or the World Champs or even the Olympics. Every swimmer would have gone through a taper of some kind – yet very few do PB times at those competitions.

The main reason this occurs is that tapering may make the body ready to swim fast but it does nothing to get the mind ready to swim fast. Tapering does not improve a swimmer’s perception about their own ability. It does not improve their self confidence. It does not improve their resilience to pressure. It does not teach them to manage the stress of competition. It does not teach emotional control or composure in race conditions.

All it does is reduce fatigue levels – and people can race fast even when tired.

Tapering in swimming is over rated, over emphasised and just plain over as a performance enhancement strategy.

Bottom line: DE-emphasise the importance of the taper on performance and work hard to develop a balanced, total preparation– one that incorporates mental, technical, tactical and of course physical elements.

5. Squad Training is Dead.

Now this is a scary one. Squad training is dead.

Let me re-phrase that, Squad training to optimise individual performance is dead.

In the “old days” back in the 50s and 60s, coaches trained their teams as whole. Everyone did more or less the same program regardless of their stroke speciality.

In the 70’s we moved to training specialists – flyers did fly, breaststrokers did breaststroke and sprinters sprinted.

In the 80’s and 90’s we specialised even more – sprint specialists, 50 metre specialists, short course specialists, middle distance specialists etc.

Now we are in the age of the individual – and swimmers are demanding more and more individualised training and preparation.

Competition at all levels is getting tougher and the need for attention to detail with each individual is greater than ever meaning that the old “one size fits all” way of preparing swimmers is outdated and inappropriate.

What do we know about individuals in this century?

They are unique;
They learn differently;
They have different preferences for taking in information;
They prefer to take in little bits of information in a variety of forms rather than a lot of information presented the same way;
They want to have some ownership and engagement in the things they are doing;
They are motivated by different things.

So, given this, how does writing a single workout on a white board and presenting it to 100 unique individuals, with different needs, different learning styles and different learning preferences work? The answer is “it did work – but it is no longer good enough”.

In terms of producing great swimmers, the squad model has to change. Champions are unique. They are different They are special. They are typically A- typical. That’s why they are champions.

How can we treat all swimmers the same way and call it quality coaching?

Times have changed…and they will continue to change

Times have changed. It is no longer a coach driven sport – it is a partnership program: Coach, swimmer and family – working together to achieve success.

We have to change the old squad model and increase the attention to detail with each individual. We need to find ways to inspire young swimmers to take increasing responsibility for their own preparation and performance – and thereby helping the coach to coach.

This is THE greatest challenge to coaches and the sport everywhere. It’s not finding heart rate monitors or lactate analysers or video analysis equipment or copying the latest drill sets from successful programs – it’s finding new ways to inspire the hearts and minds of young swimmers to commit to the sport and realise their full potential.

And how will we do this? By treating every swimmer as an individual and providing them with the preparation environment that gives them the opportunity to succeed.

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 01:30:31 +0000

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

“Dear Wayne.

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 works really hard and she finds it difficult to stay motivated when her team mates - some who do not train as hard as she does – keep doing PBs and winning medals at swimming competitions.

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.

Issue Number 1: Not every swimmer can be an Olympic Champion.

The first thing to accept is that not every child can be or should be an Olympic champion. Some kids are great at mathematics. Some are outstanding writers. Some are brilliant musicians. And some are amazing swimmers. Accept your child for the incredible human being they are regardless of whether it takes them 50 seconds or 150 seconds to swim 100 freestyle.

Solution: Encourage your child to find their passion – to find the thing they love to do. If they love what they do, they will persist with it and persevere during the tough times. If that passion happens to be swimming – great: chances are they will become very very good at swimming. If that passion happens to be music or dance or study or hockey, then give them the same love, support and encouragement.

Issue Number 2: Your child is not a swimmer. They are a person who swims. There is a huge difference.

It is dangerous to define anyone by what they do. The reason for this is simple. If they can no longer do the thing they are defined by, their self image, self confidence and feelings of self-worth can suffer incredible damage. Many teenagers who were very good as young swimmers and who then find they are no longer excelling in the pool in their teens often find themselves grappling with difficult emotional and self-image issues. In the worst cases, this can lead to more significant psychological problems.

Solution: Be reluctant to think of your child as a “swimmer”. Don’t introduce them as “John the swimmer” or “Susie the butterflyer”. Swimming is just one aspect of their life and it is important to keep everything in perspective and ensure that their life is always in balance.

Issue Number 3: Your child is not a freestyler or backstroker or any other stroker if they are under 15 years of age.

Another huge mistake parents and coaches make is to categorise young swimmers as a one stroker too early. There is no such thing as a world class 10 year old backstroker.There is no such thing as a champion 11 year old butterflyer. There are just kids who happen to swim one stroke a little better than they swim the other strokes.

Solution: Forget medals, trophies and accolades. Swimming is something you would like to think your kids will do for the entire lives. It’s a great way to stay fit, healthy and even one day it may save their life (or the life of someone they love). Encourage them to develop great technique and outstanding skills in all strokes then see what happens as they grow, develop and mature.

Issue Number 4: Sometimes you have to accept the fact that it is over.

This can be a tough thing to deal with but sometimes you just have to accept it is over and swimming is something your child did when they were younger.

This can be tough for swimmers, coaches and parents to accept, particularly knowing how many long, hard training sessions, early mornings, weekend swim meets, time and money have been invested to get this far.

Remember that the coach and you as a parent want nothing more than to see your child grow as an individual and become all they can be. Also remember that if your child can walk away from swimming without an Olympic Gold medal but with a great sense of discipline, self-confidence, a life-long affinity for water, a habit for fitness and a healthy life style, then the journey has been very much worth it.

Solution: Make sure that the decision to retire is the right one and it has been made for all the right reasons. “I don’t like the coach” is not a good reason to retire. Nor is “I don’t like Steve the naughty boy in my lane”. Retirement should be the end result of a thoughtful, un-emotional, logical, methodical process which challenges the swimmer to be honest with themselves and others about the real reasons behind it.

Issue Number 5: Sometimes focusing on the problem only makes the solution harder to find.

This is a very common problem. For example, ”Julie” was a great backstroker when she was young. For some reason – (and there are millions of reasons why kids stop improving) – her backstroke times stopped improving. So, the coach added more backstroke to her program. And still no improvement. So he added more backstroke to her program. Still nothing. So she moved to another coach who gave her nothing but backstroke and still her times did not improve. Finally after three years with no improvement in backstroke, she gave up, heartbroken and disillusioned. This performance plateau is very common and every swimmer experiences it at some time.

Solution: If the swimmer has been classified as a “backstroker” for some time and is getting frustrated about not improving in backstroke then don’t-do-backstroke! Encourage them to focus on IM or butterfly and to forget all about backstroke for six months. This “de-pressuring” the situation often is the catalyst to not only great improvement in the other strokes but when they return to their main stroke quite often it has also improved.

Issue Number 6: You might be part of the problem.

Every time I have suggested to a parent that they might be part of the problem I have either been abused, ignored or dismissed as not understanding the situation, told “but Wayne, you don’t know our daughter” and many other things but the facts are sometimes the parents are the source of the problem.

Solution: Stop being part of the problem! An eight year old is different to a three year old. A teenager is different to a nine year old. As your kids change, so too does your relationship with them.

When they are young swimmers your role is to love, guide, help, support, encourage, protect and care for them. In many ways, you are helping to drive their involvement in swimming. However, when they are teenagers, your role as a parent (or coach) changes so that you play a support role and they must take responsibility for and ownership of their own training, preparation and competition. Want to really help your teenage swimmer? Step back, do less and give them the opportunity to drive their own swimming careers.

Issue Number 7: You can’t be objective about your own child.

This is something else which is difficult to convince parents to accept – but you can’t be objective about your own child. You can’t love something so much, care about something so deeply, be attached to something so closely and at the same time be objective when making judgements about the things they do.

There may be one hundred children in the pool all swimming up and down but you only see one of them. In this environment it is difficult to know what is real and what is perception. In the past twenty years I can count the number of parents I have met who have successfully coached their own children to international success on one hand.

Solution: Form a “performance partnership” between you, your child and your child’s coach. In this partnership, each partner has an important job to do. Your child’s job is to prepare and perform to the best of their ability. Their coach’s job is to work with the swimmer and ensure they realise their potential. Your job is to provide a supportive, loving, values based environment which gives your child the opportunity to be all they can be.

Issue Number 8: The Problem is not always a swimming problem.

This is particularly true when you are working with teenage swimmers. Think about what they are going through. Gender issues, growth and development issues, social development issues, sexual issues, studying hard, making the transition to adult-hood, thinking about their careers, learning to drive, building relationships…and trying to swim fast. Quite often a problem with swimming performance is reflection of a problem (or problems) in other areas of their lives.

Solution: Make sure you know your kids and are in touch in some way with every aspect of their lives. Keep in touch with everything they are doing, what they feel, who their friends are, what they are passionate about, what subjects they enjoy most at school etc. It is only when you know your kids that you can know what the real problem may be.

Issue Number 9: Changing Coaches will only help if the Coach was the problem.

Every week I get an email asking me to intervene in a young swimmer’s career and to give advice about how they can improve. And every week I give the same answer…”go and talk to your coach”.

A lot of parents and swimmers will change coaches hoping to find a breakthrough in swimming performance. In some cases, there is no doubt changing coaches can have a positive effect but, changing coaches will only help if it was the coach who was the problem in the first place. If the problem is time management, attitude, a lack of life balance, over-parenting, the lack of a strong work ethic or some other problem, then changing coaches will not help. Swimmers with “baggage” will take that baggage anywhere they go.

Solution: Create and sustain a great relationship with the coach. You should feel comfortable meeting with the coach and discussing your child’s swimming. And be honest about your child’s character, habits, attitudes and values. Changing coaches is sometimes the chosen solution when kids just don’t want to work hard and are looking for an easier option. There can be many reasons for changing coaches – make sure that if you make this decision that it is for the right reasons.

Issue Number 10: What you are experiencing is perfectly normal and natural.

Many of the emails and calls I receive from worried and concerned parents of teenage swimmers are quite emotional, moving and full of frustration and pain. And it is perfectly normal and understandable. In most cases the parents want nothing more than some help, some ideas and some guidance to help them and their child deal with a challenging situation.

There is no magic, miracle solution to dealing with the trials and tribulations of the teenage swimmer. There are no supplements, no creams, no special equipment, no vitamins, no swim-wear, no gimmicks, no gizmos – there is nothing you can do or nothing you can buy which will – by itself solve the problem. It takes patient, perseverant parenting and the commitment to never stop trying to be the best mum or dad you can be.

Solution: Keep loving them.

Summary:

If you are the parent or coach of a teenage swimmer who is going through a tough time and not improving, please be assured you are not alone. I have spoken with hundreds of swimming families around the world over the past twenty years and what you are going through is very very common and very very normal;
The key message is that it is unwise to closely connect your child’s personality with their performance - that is, it is dangerous to define a person by what they do. Your child is not a swimmer. They are a remarkable human being who chooses to swim as one of the things they enjoy doing;
And accept that what happens is sometimes just what happens. We all want the best for our children. We all want them to be happy, successful, healthy and to enjoy every moment of their lives. If they win the Olympic Gold medal great. If they don’t - hey – we will love them just as much and be with them every minute of the wonderful journey that life is.

Wayne Goldsmith – sincere thanks to Debbie, Graeme, Mark and Greg for their input putting this together – that makes it over 100 years of coaching experience behind this article.

Talent ID in Swimming: the Talent Pool!

Wayne Goldsmith — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:05:45 +0000

: swimming-pool from Crestock Photos

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

The W Word: Winning.

Wayne Goldsmith — Tue, 18 May 2010 05:17:24 +0000

: business graph from Crestock Photos

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.

Everyone talks about “doing your best” and “trying really hard” and “never giving up” and “achieving my personal best” but when is the last time you heard someone get up and say, “I am here to win”.

So let’s start thinking about winning, talking about winning and doing things in training, preparation and competition that make winning as certain as night follows day, dogs chase cats, and having too much homework to do on weekends.

Winning. To come first. To be the best. To be better than your competition. To be the leader.

All these things sound really positive and worth striving for but why have they become so difficult to talk about and so rare to find?

Because talking “winning” means putting yourself “on the line”. It means making a clear statement that your intention is to win and that second is unacceptable. Making a statement like “I am here to win” means you have made a commitment that nothing except the Gold Medal matters. It is absolute – it is finite – there is no misunderstanding: you thirst to be first! You want to go for the gold and leave the silverware for someone making a dinner setting.

And that’s why it is so scary and so intimidating for so many people….there is no “out” clause, no excuses, no alternatives – it’s win or it’s lose. When you declare “I am going for the win” there is no ambiguity, no misunderstandings, no confusion…winning means winning.

It’s ok to talk about pushing for the podium, to go for the gold and to want to win…..IF and this is a big IF, your winning thoughts and winning words are supported by winning actions.

Winning thoughts – The process of winning begins with Winning thoughts. Winning thoughts are dreams, and everyone dreams. They are those moments when your spirit soars, when your imagination flies and you dream about achieving great things. They are the fire – the inspiration for all the great things you want to do and will do in the future. Lots of people dream about winning – lots of people can even imagine (visualise) themselves holding up the Olympic Gold, doing the press conference in front of the world’s media and some people even imagine what they will say when they get asked “So what does it feel like to be the Olympic Champion”. Having winning thoughts is not the issue…..it’s going to the next step and saying (and meaning) winning words.

Winning words – If your dreams are the fire – the spark of your winning ways, then your words – your winning words are your fuel. We all use some form of self talk in everyday life – you know that little voice that says “I can do this” or “This isn’t so tough” or “Hang in there – this pain will pass”. Winning is about taking these inner voices and actually giving them a real voice. Letting winning thoughts out and hearing them makes them real. It takes them out of the world of dreams and imagination and into the real world where they can be heard – by you and others. Saying it is one thing…now comes the big step: turning winning words into winning actions.

Winning actions…and the key to it all is action. Winning thoughts are easy to think. Winning words are easy to say. But winning actions….they require something different – they require your energy, your enthusiasm, your commitment and you taking responsibility to make your dreams real. It’s easy to dream “Wow – I really wish I could win”. It’s easy to say “I really want to win”. But the reason why so many people never actually win is that they are not prepared to do what it takes to prepare to win.

Imagine for a moment you were looking through a magic mirror at the swimmer who will be the Olympic Gold medallist in your favourite event in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. They are in a pool somewhere in the world today, doing what you are doing, training, stretching, kicking, doing drills and all the other stuff that you do every day in every workout.

It’s not what they are doing…it’s how they are doing it.

They got to the pool early and did some extra stretching and strengthening work.

They had their own drink bottle and drank regularly throughout workout.

They attacked every turn like it was the final turn of an Olympic final.

They drove off every wall with power and speed.

They finished off every repeat on the wall with race quality finishes.

They completed all their sprint work at maximum speed – holding nothing back in spite of the pain and discomfort.

As soon as workout finished, they immediately started recovering from training and began the preparation process for the next session

They made a decision that they would out-train, out-stretch, out-strengthen, out-kick, out-pull, out-dive, out-turn, out-swim, and out-prepare any swimmer in their event in the world and that’s why they will win the Gold medal in Rio. They had a dream – they spoke it – they believed it – they put it into action and…they will win.

So, my question to you is this…“if you know what it will take to win the Gold Medal in Rio in 2016…why aren’t you doing it now?”

You’ve got the dream. You know the words. You know what actions you have to take….so do it! You can do it.

Summary:

So don’t be afraid of thinking about and talking about winning: winning is a good thing;
But…..and this is the key to it all….it’s only cool to think about and talk about winning IF you then turn your winning thoughts and winning words into winning actions with outstanding, consistently brilliant and uncompromisingly excellent training and preparation;
And, if you don’t win….learn, learn, learn from it. Winning means improvement and improvement comes from learning. So every experience, win, lose or draw is learning. Learn more – improve faster – win more often.
What the mind can conceive, and with words can believe, the body can achieve.

Wayne Goldsmith