Swimming Coaching

Creating a Winning Swimming Club Culture – excellence, environment, everything, everyday, everybody.

Every swimming team has a unique culture.

Some teams have a culture of fun, enjoyment, family and friends.

Some teams have a culture of hard work, discipline, dedication and training.

Some teams are based at schools, colleges and universities and their culture is a reflection of the culture of the institution.

The culture of some teams comes from their location, the ethnic background of the people in the team, the climate or the city they live and train in.

Every team is unique and every culture is special.

But for many teams, there comes a time when the coaches, swimmers, families and supporters decide they want to become a winning team. They decide to set some serious competitive goals and work together as a team to achieve them.

And to become a winning team requires the development of a winning culture. Read more

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Swimming Coach Score Card – a must for all coaches (and swimmers and parents).

Coaches – ever wanted to know how you rate as a coach?

Swimmers – ever wanted to know how your coach rates as a coach?

Swimming Parents – ever wanted to know how your kid’s coach rates as a coach?

Then look no further than….the Swimming Coach Score Card. Read more

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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

L.T. Losing Time: Presentation to the Australian Swimming Coaches and Teachers Association Convention 2011

I just had the great honor and privilege of presenting at the Australian Swimming Coaches and Teachers Association Convention on the Gold Coast, Australia.

For those of you who missed it, here it is for you to check-out.

The presentation brings together three of my key swimming coaching concepts:

Let me know what you think.

Wayne Goldsmith

The Engagement Factor – the essential element in designing training sets and swimming workouts.

In my last post, I introduced the P.A.C.E. system – a simple, easy to use, practical way of managing training intensity in young age group swimmers.

P.A.C.E. System LevelDescriptionFeels likeUsed for
P or PACE 1Practice and Preparation PaceEasy, relaxed.Recovery, drills and skills.
A or PACE 2Air-robic Pace.Easy to moderate.Endurance development.
C or PACE 3Competition Specific PaceHard.Race specific practices with race specific speeds, skills, techniques and breathing.
E or PACE 4Electric PaceFast - explosive.Speed development.

Now, let’s build on the P.A.C.E. system by introducing the Engagement Factor: the first training prescription system which incorporates a mental skills focus in swimming workout design.

Everyone talks about the importance of the mental side of swimming and how important it is for swimmers to train both their bodies and minds in training and preparation.

Talking about it is one thing.

The next step for coaches is to make mental skills and the integration of the mind into every session and the way to achieve this is to incorporate mental skills in the workout design itself.

Introducing the Engagement Factor.

Read more

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Peaking and Tapering Strategies–Getting it right the first time.

There’s Harry Potter.

There’s Star Wars.

There’s Disneyland.

And there’s one other magic and mystery experience……………Peaking and Tapering swimmers.

But what is peaking and tapering?

  • PEAKPreparing Each Athlete’s Kapacity (capacity) to perform at their best.
  • TAPERTraining Activities that Provide Excellence after Rest.

Peaking is about training swimmers to swim at their best.

Tapering is ensuring that the swimmer’s can produce their best on a specific day following a period of rest, recovery and regeneration.

Let’s try to unlock the magic and mystery of coaching swimmers to perform at their best……when it matters most. Read more

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

101 Super Swimming Tips for Super Swimming Coaches: 101 Ways to Be the Coach You Want to Be and the Coach your Swimmers want to See.

  1. Never use your mobile phone on deck during workouts.
  2. Smile – it makes a big difference.
  3. Say one constructive, positive thing to every swimmer at every workout.
  4. Be a master of technique: technique is critical in fast swimming.
  5. Be creative the best ideas win.
  6. Bring parents into your program: parents are your partners in performance.
  7. Understand the basics of swimming science: get a “PhD” – a “Practical Human Degree” – i.e. learn enough about sports science to work effectively with people.
  8. Be comfortable talking about “winning”. It’s cool to talk about kids achieving their best.
  9. Teach one new swimming skill every week. That’s about 50 new skills a year and around 500 over the career of most swimmers.
  10. Walk workouts: never sit down and coach from a chair. It’s like asking the swimmers to train from showers. Read more

Top Ten Tips for Swimming Coaching Success.

  

the number ten at the ocean - 3d illustration

ten from Crestock Images

Here are my best ever Top Ten Tips for Swimming Coaching Success.

Whether you coach men or masters, toddlers or triathletes, females or freestylers, babies, breaststrokers or butterflyers, these ten tips will help you make a success of your swimming coaching career and more important help you to help every swimmer turn possible potential into peak performance. Read more

The Number 1 Reason Why Most Swimmers and Coaches Fail at Swim Meets.

Want to know the Number 1 Reason Why Most Swimmers and Coaches Fail at Swim Meets? Read more

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

Content Protected Using Blog Protector By: PcDrome.