Swim Coaching Brain » Swimming Coaching

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

Wayne Goldsmith — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:56:57 +0000

: Children Playing from Crestock Royalty Free Images

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.

What is a winning culture?

It’s about environment and opportunity.

A winning culture is one where everyone in the team – coaches, swimmers, families, staff – everyone – is committed to creating a performance focused environment. A performance focused environment provides the opportunity for the team and every individual on the team – to win.

Developing a winning culture doesn’t mean you stop having fun. It doesn’t mean that swimming isn’t enjoyable. It doesn’t mean that people can’t hang out and be friends.

It means that the primary goal of the team and everyone associated with it is the development of an environment of excellence for everyone.

How do you develop a winning culture?

Empowerment and ownership: culture comes from within:

A winning culture grows from within. It cannot be imposed from the outside. The culture of the team is something which comes from the team members: you own it: it is part of you.

With many clubs, particularly those older established clubs with long traditions, there can be an attitude of “this is the way we do it here” or “that new idea will not work here because we’re different”.

In developing a winning club culture these barriers to success must be broken down. The swimmers, coaches, officials and families need to embrace change and to seek to be the best of the best in all aspects of swimming. Everyone needs to be committed to improving and accelerating team progress – at the same rate and in the same direction.

Respect the history and tradition of the club.

Respect and remember the great performances of the teams and swimmers of the past. But also strive to progress and improve on them. The greatest honor you can do for any club is to make it successful.

Practical Tip One: Before the beginning of the season, bring everyone in the team together for a day of sharing ideas and opinions. Give everyone a chance to speak and share their views. Provide the opportunity for everyone to be heard with respect and dignity. Allow the current team members to feel their views matter and the club is theirs – they are the current custodians of the club – and they are the people who will lead the club into a successful future.

Winning vision – a statement of success:

“if you don’t stand for something – you will fall for anything”.

A Team Vision is a statement which represents the views and opinions of the team which clearly states “this is who we are, what we want to do, where we are going and what we want to achieve as a team”. It is your team’s trademark!

For example:

“our vision is to work hard together and to strive to provide every swimmer the best possible opportunity to achieve their best”.

“our vision is to be the leading swim team in the state by consistently working hard, encouraging and supporting each other and doing everything possible to ensure all swimmers in the team have the opportunity to achieve success”.

Practical Tip Two: Once the team comes up with a team vision, write it up on the team room wall. Have every swimmer write it down in their training diary. Get it printed on t-shirts. The closer you stay in touch with this vision, the more the vision comes to life. The most successful teams in world sport are frequently those who compromised the least on making their vision become a reality.

Winning culture values:

Having a great vision is one thing: bringing it to life is another.

Values are a set of words that team members develop to provide a guide on how to act and live and which help you and your team realize your vision.

For example:

Team vision: our vision is to work hard together and to strive to provide every swimmer the best possible opportunity to achieve their best.

Values to support the Team vision:

hard work (“work hard” from the team vision);
passion (“strive” from the team vision);
team spirit (“together” from the team vision);
unity (“every swimmer” from the team vision);
respect (“every swimmer” from the team vision);
excellence (“best possible” and “best” from the team vision).

These six words become the themes for the team for the season and the guidelines for everything the team does.

Practical Tip Three: Use the values as “code words” for team practices. For example, when things get tough towards the end of a hard set, team members can use words like “passion” and “spirit” to encourage and motivate each other. Living the vision means living the dream.

Winning culture behaviours and standards:

In a perfect world, everyone would live the team values, everyday. However, just as there are “road regulations” to provide a set of rules for people to drive cars and “laws” to provide a set of rules for how to live as part of society, swim teams need to have a set of team rules to provide a framework for how to act and behave at training, competition and other team activities.

Team rules or behavior standards need to be developed and enforced by the people the rules and standards apply to:

The swimmers: team rules should grow from the team vision and team values and be a practical set of guidelines for how the team will behave in a range of situations and circumstances.

For example:

Team value: unity.

Team rule: all swimmers will have equal opportunity to train and compete.

Team value: hard work.

Team rule: all swimmers who have committed to swimming at national championships next season must complete a minimum of seven sessions per week.

In addition to team rules, a set of consequences for breaking team rules should be developed by the team. These are a set of clear, fair, just, reasonable and equitable “laws” which the swimmers in the team believe best represent how they want to be judged and punished for breaking team rules.

For example:

Team value: respect

Team rule: all swimmers will show respect for each other as people and for each other’s property.

Consequence for breaking team rule: team room cleaning duties for two weeks.

Practical Tip Four: Form a leadership group from team members which can be elected by team members or selected by a panel of team members and coaches. The leadership group should consist of swimmers of varying ages and levels of ability so that the views of everyone are listened to, respected and represented. The leadership group needs to be empowered to make decisions, to implement team rules and to administer the consequences of breaches of team standards of behaviours. From leadership comes culture….from culture comes performance.

Living excellence – “not every four years……..everyday” (US olympic training centre motto):

Lots of teams come up with great slogans, team visions and cool team rules. But very, very few teams actually develop winning cultures. Why? Because words which say excellence are easy to come up with – what makes the difference is living excellence.

Practical Tip Five: Develop a team war cry or song which is based on the team values and triggers everyone to start thinking and acting like a winning team.

At the start of every training session, someone in the team should lead the team war cry and everyone joins in signaling the start of training and the commitment the team has made to each other and to excellence.

Keep it relevant – continuous improvement:

Winning once is tough. But a winning culture means you are working to ensure that winning is sustainable – i.e. the culture that you have created is a positive, winning environment which provides ongoing opportunities for swimmers and coaches to perform at their best season after season after season……year after year after year.

It is important that the team sits down at the end of every season and reviews how things went and makes a new commitment to improving, changing and progressing.

Why? Because success in swimming is a moving target. What works this season may not work next season. World records are always getting faster meaning that if you stand still…….you will be left behind.

Practical Tip Six: A simple way of reviewing your performance as a team is to brainstorm the season using three questions:

What are we doing that we should keep doing? or what is working?
What are we doing that we should stop doing? or what is not working?
What are we not doing that we could introduce to improve our performance? or what are some new things we can do that will work?

Ask tough questions, get honest answers and you will lay the foundation for a successful future.

Summary:

Creating a culture of excellence and developing a winning culture does not take a lot more money, facilities, time or resources;
It takes a common desire to work hard and to create an environment where everyone has the optimal opportunity to perform at their best – consistently;
It’s not for everyone – but for some, being part of a winning team which has grown from a winning club culture can be the stuff that swimming dreams are made of.

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:40 +0000

: Man with several telephones from Crestock Stock Images

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.

This score card is a little different. Instead of being awarded points, you lose points for poor coaching standards and mediocre coaching behaviours.

Are you ready?

OK – your starting score is 100 CCs – that is 100 coaching credits.

Take off 5 CCs if you have been late to training in the past month;
Take off 10 CCs if you coach from one end of the pool all the time and another 5 CCs if you ever sit down during workouts;
Take off 5 CCS if you have not given each swimmer in your team one on one quality coaching in the past week;
Take off 20 CCs if you have used a mobile phone during workouts while on deck in the past year (except in emergencies);
Take off 5 CCs if you allow swimmers to breathe inside the flags in free and fly;
Take off 5 CCs if you allow swimmers to finish poorly on the wall at the end of fly and breast;
Take off 10 CCs if you talk to parents, swim club committee, non swimming swimmers and pool staff during workouts;
Take off 20 CCs if you don’t take time to write down the work the swimmers actually completed during the session, i.e. as opposed to what was scheduled to be done;
Take off 10 CCs if you made up the workout on deck as the swimmers walked in to the pool;
Take off 5 CCs if you didn’t give each swimmer in your team at least five quality instructions and / or pieces of feedback during your most recent session;
Take off 100 CCs if you still throw kickboards, fins or pull buoys at swimmers to get their attention;
Take off 20 CCs if you don’t give each swimmer one on one feedback after each race they swim at Meets;
Take off 10 CCs if you don’t wear team gear to training and / or competitions;
Take off 5 CCs if you don’t attend Club Nights;
Take off 15 CCs if you don’t know the first name of each of your swimmers within 2 sessions of them starting training with you;
Take off 50 CCs if you don’t have an individualised plan for each swimmer in your team for the next two seasons;
Take off 10 CCs if you have never scheduled time to meet with the parents of each of the swimmers in your team (i.e. away from the pool deck and outside of training times);
Take off 30 CCs if you have not completed at least 50 hours of professional development, learning and personal improvement in the past year;
Take off 5 CCs if you don’t ask swimmers “how did that feel” (and really listen to their views) after they try new skills;
Take off 30 CCs if you don’t have an outstanding dryland program which engages the total commitment of every swimmer in your team;
Take off 10 CCs if you don’t include mental skills development activities in every session;
Take off 5 CCs if you didn’t smile at least ten times during the team’s last workout;
Take off 50 CCs if you smoke and or / drink alcohol in front of the swim team (i.e. junior swimmers);
Take off 20 CCs if you don’t regularly practice “performance under pressure” – i.e. making training more challenging and more demanding than any competition could be;
Take off 20 CCs if you don’t encourage and embrace recovery during and after every workout.

So, how did you do?

Swimming Coaches Scorecard key:

90-100 CCs: Wow – Amazing. Please stop reading this blog and my articles. Start writing your own – I want to learn from you O Coaching Master.

80-89 CCs: Outstanding work. Do they call you SUPER COACH? If not, they should!

70-79 CCs: Great stuff. Some things to work on but generally you coach like a basketball – plenty of bounce and well rounded.

60-69 CCs: Not bad. Keep working on the little things….the funny thing is that when it comes to poor coaching and the little things…there are no little things.

50-59 CCs: Danger – danger – warning – warning. You need to improve and fast.

40-49 CCs: How did you find this site? Were you looking for help to save your job? Or were you looking for Coaches Anonymous?

30-39 CCs: Have you thought about taking up football coaching? It’s still challenging coaching but at least there is no danger of people drowning.

20-29 CCs: Have you thought about another career? Something not too brain taxing where your unique skills will be appreciated - maybe an Economist at Wall Street? A Government Advisor on the Environment?

10-19 CCs: I think I need to type slower so you can read this….S.T.O.P. C.O.A.C.H.I.N.G!!!!

1-9 CCs: The only job for you I can think of for you is something that requires no skill, no brain power and no effort…Congratulations Congressman!

Zero (or less) CCs: Please return your coaching card to your national swimming authority. Do not go anywhere near water…ever. Stop bathing. Stop shaving. Ask for help when drinking a glass of water. The further you keep away from water the better for all of us.

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Swim Up to Swim Down: Some new ideas on Swim Downs to enhance your Swim Meet Success

Wayne Goldsmith — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 04:27:36 +0000

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.

Why swim down?

We’ve all heard the coach talk about “clearing lactic acid” and “reducing your heart rate” and “recovery”. We all know it is supposed to be a good thing for swimmers to do between races but in recent years what we thought we knew about swim down has changed considerably.

What we used to think we knew about swim down:

Swim down really slowly;
Swim down really slowly for a short distance;
Swim down really slowly for a short distance continuously (e.g. 800 freestyle without stopping);
Swim down really slowly for a short distance continuously and swim only freestyle or backstroke;
Swim down helps your body to recover from the physiological effects of fast racing.

What we think we know now about swim down:

Include some laps in your swim down at a much higher speed than we previously imagined, e.g. around 80%-85% of maximum (approximately lactate threshold speed);
Swim down for as long as you need to experience the “Goldilocks Effect”;
Swim down using intervals of varying distances, e.g. 25s, 50s, 100s, 200s;
Ensure your swim down includes some of the same stroke as your most recent race, i.e. if you just raced 100 breaststroke or 200 fly, include some breaststroke or fly in your swim down;
“Mental swim-down” is just as important as physical swim down.

For example:

OLD Swim down thinking: 800 metres swim down.

Jump in, swim a relaxed, slow 800 freestyle nice and easy and jump out.

NEW Swim down thinking: 800 metres swim down.

Take your heart rate after your race and before jumping into the swim down pool;
Swim a steady but relaxed 300 freestyle around 60-70% of maximum speed. Take your heart rate at the end of the 300. Focus on controlling your breathing and swim with a technically good stroke technique;
6 x 50 metres on 1:30 negative split, the first 30 metres at 60-70% maximum speed and the final 20 metres at 80- 85% of maximum speed and with good technique. Every second repeat should be swum in the stroke you swam in your most recent race. For example, if your most recent race was 100 fly, then your swim down 50s could be: 50 free / 50 fly / 50 back / 50 fly / 50 free / 50 fly. Take your heart rate at the end of each 50;
200 metres easy swim with good technique and controlled breathing. Take your heart rate at the end of the 200 metres and again one minute, three minutes and five minutes after the 200.
Jump out, stretch, refuel, rehydrate and relax.

Repair – Compare – Prepare:

An easy way to remember why an effective warm down is so important is to think about Repair, Compare, Prepare:

Repair – your mind and body from the hard work it has just completed;
Compare – in discussions with your coach consider how your actual race went compared to your actual race plan and preparation;
Prepare – yourself for your next race.

Swim down, like every other aspect of your training and racing is about you as an individual swimmer. It is important to practice swim downs in training and learn what it takes for you to feel refreshed and recovered after swimming fast.

Don’t fall for the trap of getting out of the swim down pool just because a team mate has finished their swim down. Your own swim down is important: stay in the water and get it right and you will appreciate that little extra time and effort when you have to race again.

How do you know when you have swum down enough?

Remember that great Swimming Coach “Goldilocks”?

Well before she went off eating porridge with the three bears, she left us with the perfect way to understand the importance of doing the right amount of swim down.

“This swim down is too hard”: Do too much swim down and you risk dehydration, fatigue and reducing energy stores and you will not swim well in your next event;
“This swim down is too easy”: Not enough swim down and your cardio-vascular, neuro-muscular and hormonal systems will still be stressed after racing and you will not swim well in your next event;
“But this swim down is just right”: Do just the right amount of swim down and you will feel fit, fast, fresh and fabulous for your next event.

Swimming down for your head!

Racing takes a lot of mental energy too so be smart and swim down your “head” as well.

A really great, simple and effective technique for mental swim-down is the “mental-minute”.

Sit or lay down face up somewhere quiet and make yourself still. If the pool area is noisy, gently place a towel over your eyes and ears to give yourself some quiet, personal space.

Take a deep breath and while you do it count to four, i.e. inhale for a full four seconds count. Hold your breath for two seconds, then breath out (exhale) for four seconds. On every “exhale” quietly think the word “re-lax”. Remain still for two seconds, and then breathe in again for a count of four. Do this 5 times.

Slowing your breathing down to just five breaths a minute helps your mind and body to relax, helps you to feel calm and composed and in control and can be a real edge in your racing program.

Give the “mental minute” a try!

Summary:

Try to remember it this way.

When it comes to the perfect swim down think SWIMMING:

Same stroke you raced;
Warm down progressively;
Interval format – 50s, 100s, 200s;
Monitor recovery using heart rate and “feel”;
Mental swim down is just as important as physical swim down. Control your breathing and do some “mental massage” while your body is recovering by incorporating the “mental minute” in your post-race routine;
Intensity – don’t be afraid to work a little in swim down;
Nutrition and hydration are also critical to help post-race recovery;
Get out of the swim down pool at the end of your swim down feeling “just right”: refreshed, recovered, re-focused and ready to race your next race – the Goldilocks Effect!

So Swim up in your Swim down!

Don’t forget to check out our Swim Shop.

Wayne Goldsmith

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

Wayne Goldsmith — Fri, 27 May 2011 01:11:53 +0000

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.

Australian Swimming Coaches and Teachers Association Convention Presentation 2011

View more presentations from CoachingBrain

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

Developing an integrated approach to coaching swimmers;
Engaging with swimmers is critical;
Simplify training for younger swimmers.

Let me know what you think.

Wayne Goldsmith

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

admin — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 01:30:32 +0000

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 Level	Description	Feels like	Used for
P or PACE 1	Practice and Preparation Pace	Easy, relaxed.	Recovery, drills and skills.
A or PACE 2	Air-robic Pace.	Easy to moderate.	Endurance development.
C or PACE 3	Competition Specific Pace	Hard.	Race specific practices with race specific speeds, skills, techniques and breathing.
E or PACE 4	Electric Pace	Fast - 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.

Integration of Mind and Body.

We all know that optimal performance comes from the integration – or harmony if you like – of body and mind. When the body and mind come together to collaborate in competition anything is possible.

The problem is that at the moment, for the most part, we train the mind and body separately.

When we design swimming workouts, it is always done from a physical (volume and intensity), technical (stroke technique and skills) and tactical (stroke mechanics, pacing etc) perspective. Then, we train the mind quite separately by organising motivation talks, personal development sessions and mental skills workshops.

For example, a training set like 5 x 200 metres is typically written:

5 x 200 (volume) at a pace of 75% maximum speed (intensity) on a 3:30 cycle (intensity) – which are all physical variables.

We might add in some technical and tactical elements, for example:

5 x 200 on 3:30 holding 75% maximum speed / stroke count of ABC and stroke rate of DEF.

But again, our instructions to the swimmers are based on the execution of physical performance elements.

The challenge is how can we incorporate mental skills as an integral, core aspect of workout design?

Engagement- the key.

The effectiveness of training programs and workout designs are dependent on how engaged the athlete is in the activities.

A brilliantly designed workout, with skilfully crafted sets and repeat times is of little value to swimmers who are not interested, not concentrating, not focused and not engaged in the workout.

As engagement is such a critical factor in the effectiveness of workout design, it makes very good sense to incorporate a measure or level of required engagement in the workout design itself: hence the Engagement Factor.

The primary goal of incorporating and integrating a mental component into workout design is to have swimmers go “on line” – to engage their brains and switch on mentally when completing important sets and repeats.

As a general principle, the Engagement Factor aims to help swimmers increase their level of engagement as the need for greater levels of technical excellence and higher speeds are required by the coach – or as the demand for excellence in technical execution and speed increases, so too does engagement level.

So,why do this? Why do we need an Engagement Factor?

Remember that the P.A.C.E. system is targeted at young age group swimmers.

Similarly the Engagement Factor is targeting young age group swimmers (aged 8-12 years) and is designed to help coaches working with young swimmers to better “train the brain”.

We have all heard the rhetoric about how “every lap is important” but the reality is young kids can not concentrate or focus for the full 45-60 minutes of an average age group swimming training session.

Our response to their lack of concentration or focus has been to yell and scream and pull our hair out. The Engagement Factor overcomes this frustration by clearly instructing swimmers when to “switch on” and when to “switch off”.

In the same way we instruct swimmers when to speed up and when to slow down their swimming pace using repeat times and goals speed, the Engagement Factor helps swimmers to learn how to control the “speed” of their brains during a training session.

To summarise the Engagement Factor:

Engagement Factor 1: Warm up (early stages) / swim down / recovery: Focus on relaxation, ease of movement and slow, steady breathing;
Engagement Factor 2: Warm up (later stages) / long endurance work: Focus on relaxation, flow, “switching on” to the workout;
Engagement Factor 3: Most conditioning work: Combination of relaxation and rhythm whilst focusing on skills execution and technique;
Engagement Factor 4: Drills and skills work. Focus on attention to detail, purposeful movements, quality in execution;
Engagement Factor 5: Competition preparation work and speed development – i.e. total concentration and focus to stimulate neural adaptation mechanisms and simulate competition conditions.

For example:

Traditional methods of swimming workout design using Physiological variables only (i.e. volume / intensity – P.A.C.E. system):

Warm up – PACE 1 (see table above ): Easy 400 freestyle on 6:30 / 8 x 50 Back kick in streamline on 1:30
Drills and skills – PACE 1 (see table above) 8 x 25 lateral freestyle kicking drill on 45 / 8 x 25 lateral 6 x 6 freestyle drill on 40.
Main set – PACE 2 (see table above ) 8 x 200 metres freestyle on 3:15.
Sprint development – 6 x 50 metres as (20 metres best stroke at maximum speed PACE 4 / 30 metres recovery freestyle PACE 1)
Swim down – PACE 1 (see table above) 400 as alternate 25s backstroke / freestyle

Now look at the same workout using the new concept incorporating the Engagement Factor, i.e. Mind and body incorporated into swimming workout design:

Warm up – PACE 1 (see table above ): Easy 400 freestyle on 6:30 / 8 x 50 Back kick in streamline on 1:30 – Engagement Factor 1-2.
Drills and skills – PACE 1 (see table above ) 8 x 25 lateral freestyle kicking drill on 45 / 8 x 25 lateral 6 x 6 freestyle drill on 40 – Engagement Factor 4.
Main set – PACE 2 (see table above ) 8 x 200 metres freestyle on 3:15 – Engagement Factor 2-3.
Sprint development – 6 x 50 metres as (20 metres best stroke at maximum speed PACE 4 / 30 metres recovery freestyle PACE 1) – Engagement Factor 5 on sprints / Engagement Factor 1 on recovery.
Swim down – PACE 1 (see table above ) 400 as alternate 25s backstroke / freestyle – Engagement Factor 1.

Or in swimming workout design “shorthand”, the shift in thinking means writing workouts this way:

Old method: 12 x 100 metres on 1:45 holding the target intensity level for example PACE 2:

New method: 12 x 100 metres on 1:45 holding the target intensity level of PACE 2 at an Engagement factor of 3 – or 12 x 100 on 1:45 P2 E3.

Summary:

The philosophy behind the Engagement Factor is simple: it is an easy, practical way to incorporate a focus on mental skills into swimming workouts and thereby make workouts more efficient and effective.

When combined with the P.A.C.E. system of managing training intensity, the Engagement Factor provides a simple, practical way for young swimmers and their coaches to ensure the optimal stimulation and integration of physiological and psychological factors in training and preparation.

Let me know what you think.

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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

Wayne Goldsmith — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 06:02:04 +0000

: Adorable child dress of illusionist with hat from Crestock Stock Photo

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?

PEAK – Preparing Each Athlete’s Kapacity (capacity) to perform at their best.
TAPER – Training 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.

Peaking: Preparing Each Athlete’s Kapacity (capacity).

In the famous book ALICE IN WONDERLAND, Alice comes across a road which splits and leads off in several different directions. She is faced with a choice of which path to take.

She sees the Cheshire Cat in a tree and asks the cat, “Which path should I take?”

The cat smiles and says, “The depends on where you want to go”

Alice says, “I don’t know where I want to go”.

The Cheshire cat replies, “Then it doesn’t matter which path you take”.

Swimming can be a little like this. Many swimmers and coaches are working hard, stretching, doing Dryland training etc without a clear goal…..and a goal with a time frame attached.

Remember a GOAL is a DREAM with a DEADLINE.

At the beginning of the season, two critical questions need to be answered:

What does the swimmer need to be able to do?
When do they need to be able to do it?

Ask each swimmer in your team to write this sentence:

I want to achieve …………………. On (date)………………………..

For example, I want to achieve a time of 60 seconds for 100m freestyle (what) on the 15^th May 2010 (when).

Your job as coach is to plan a program which gives each swimmer the opportunity to achieve their stated goal.

Having the swimmer state their goal makes planning the program easy!

Tapering: Training Activities that Provide Excellence after Rest.

There a lot of tricks, tips, magic and miracles written about tapering but there are six key principles that actually work:

Decrease the VOLUME of training during the taper period

The single biggest improvement in performance during the taper period is due to a significant decrease in training volume. During taper, as training volume decreases so too does residual fatigue – meaning the swimmer begins to feel light, fast, energetic and strong in the water.

Hint: Decrease training volume between 15-20% during each week of the taper.

Maintain the INTENSITY of training in the taper period

Many swimmers and coaches are afraid to work hard during taper. In fact taper is a great time to work hard as the decrease in volume means that swimmers can often achieve race speeds easily during taper.

Hint: Include a small amount of specific race pace work at every session during the taper. This should include race specific dives, starts, turns and finishes and breathing patterns – race speed plus race quality technique and skills!

Maintain the FREQUENCY of training in the taper period.

One of the biggest mistakes coaches make when designing a taper is to decrease training frequency, ie fewer sessions. The motive is a good one – they want to allow swimmers the chance to rest, recover, maybe sleep in and regenerate.

However, allow swimmers time to sleep in and this is what generally happens:

They wake up at the same time anyway and can’t go back to sleep;
They stay up later at night knowing they don’t have to get up early and end up having less sleep than usual;
Their body sleep / wake rhythms become unsettled leaving them feeling flat, tied and lethargic;
Once they experience a week or two of not getting out of bed at 5 am, they start to like it and may not return to morning training;
All of the above!

Hint: Have swimmers attend all morning workouts during the taper period. If you like, give them an afternoon off for some free time / social time with team mates.

Make the taper SWIMMER SPECIFIC

Everyone responds differently to a taper. Even swimmers of the same gender, the same age and competing in the same events will respond differently to a taper.

Hint: Practice the taper at a minor competition several months before the major meet. Encourage each swimmer to keep a “taper diary” throughout the “trial” taper recording how they feel, how they slept, if they experienced muscle soreness, was their energy level high or low and other relevant information. Use this to base the major meet taper upon.

Don’t introduce anything NEW

Another common problem is the desperate need for coaches, swimmers and parents to make the taper more than it is and to start adding new things at the last minute. Commonly this means changes to diet (eg adding a new SUPER HIGH PERFORMANCE SUPPLEMENT) or equipment (eg new pair of the latest super fast goggles). Keep it normal! Don’t introduce anything new during the taper – keep the environment as normal and simple as possible.

Hint: Don’t introduce anything once the taper has commenced – that goes for nutrition, gym work, technique, skills and equipment.

Don’t OVERCOACH

The most successful way to coach during taper is………the same way you usually coach! Some coaches feel the need to OVERCOACH – by giving too many instructions too late in the preparation and only confusing the issue. Keep it simple.

Swimmers will often feel confused and stressed during taper and the lead in to big meets. What they want from you as a coach is the four Cs – Calmness, Composure, Confidence and Certainty. The best coaches demonstrate the four Cs regardless of the level of competition.

The closer you get to competition DECREASE the number of instructions and coaching interventions and practice the four C’s.

As a general rule during the final week of taper, give the same number of instructions as there are days before the meet, ie with five days to go, coach a maximum of five specific areas, with three days to go, focus on only three areas and on the final day on just one thing.

For example:

Butterfly:

FIVE DAYS TO GO

Work on kick, arm pull, hand speed, hip drive and rhythm.

THREE DAYS TO GO

Work on kick, hand speed, hip drive and rhythm

FINAL TRAINING SESSION

Think Rhythm

One final comment – it’s not the taper that makes the difference…….it’s the attitude and commitment consistently demonstrated in every training session.

The key to successful performance is consistency in terms of quality coaching everyday in all things. No matter how well you plan, prepare and prescribe, a great taper does not make up for months of poor technique and skills in practices.

Successful swimming is not an accident – it is the result of a carefully planned program, implemented with quality, passion, enthusiasm and consistency by talented coaches and swimmers.

Wayne Goldsmith

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.

Wayne Goldsmith — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 06:02:03 +0000

Never use your mobile phone on deck during workouts.
Smile – it makes a big difference.
Say one constructive, positive thing to every swimmer at every workout.
Be a master of technique: technique is critical in fast swimming.
Be creative – the best ideas win.
Bring parents into your program: parents are your partners in performance.
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.
Be comfortable talking about “winning”. It’s cool to talk about kids achieving their best.
Teach one new swimming skill every week. That’s about 50 new skills a year and around 500 over the career of most swimmers.
Walk workouts: never sit down and coach from a chair. It’s like asking the swimmers to train from showers.
Incorporate mental skills development in the design of every workout.
Engage swimmers and work with them: don’t coach at them.
Be committed to your own learning and development: the faster you learn, the faster they swim.
Review your workouts every day – what worked, what didn’t, what can be improved?
Swimming is an individual sport wrapped in a team structure. Think about both individual and team issues in your training and competition plans.
Remember that every swimmer is different and needs individual attention to detail. To a coach with a hammer, every swimmer is a nail.
Keep yourself healthy – continually work on your own health, fitness and well-being (physical and mental).
Use your imagination – every workout should include some new, exciting, stimulating ideas.
Stay calm, composed and confident at Swim Meets.
Inspire swimmers to want to give their best rather than trying to force them to what you want them to do.
Work hard – there is no other way to succeed.
Be yourself.
Believe in yourself.
Be different.
Be unique.
Speed is the most precious thing in swimming – don’t be afraid to work on it all year round.
Give feedback – often.
Include your assistant coaches in decision making, planning and programming.
Don’t just try to create fast swimmers: build outstanding young people with great self-confidence, values and passion and then teach them to swim fast.
Learn how to use Social media effectively to communicate with your swimmers and families, e.g. Face-book, Twitter, Blogs, and YouTube etc.
Have a clear coaching philosophy: if you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything.
Get to workouts early and welcome the swimmers as they arrive.
Put sarcasm and cynicism in the rubbish bin outside the pool area and never take them to workouts.
Recognise and praise swimmers for improvement in skills and technique.
Have a clear policy on drugs and alcohol in swimming – Just Say No!
Be understanding of the commitments swimmers have away from the pool – e.g. school exams, other sports, family commitments.
Don’t categorise young swimmers as a “backstroker” or “freestyler” etc. Kids change, kids grow, kids develop and last year’s “backstroker” can be next year’s “butterflyer”.
Get out of the A.T. mindset – there is no need to drive kids at anaerobic / lactic threshold pace every workout.
Challenge kids to try one new thing or to accept one new challenge every day. It builds confidence and the belief that they can achieve anything.
Educate swimmers about nutrition – what they eat today, swims tomorrow.
Educate parents about nutrition because kids don’t shop and kids don’t cook!
Teach swimmers that rest, recovery, sleep and relaxation are as important as training and hard work.
Empower swimmers to make decisions, to become independent, to learn through problem solving and accepting responsibility for their own actions.
Regularly connect senior swimmers with junior swimmers in training and at Meets. Coaches coach but swimmers learn from other swimmers.
Plan.
Listen twice as much as you talk – that’s why you have two ears and one mouth.
Look like, dress like, act like the coach you want to be.
Be confident on deck: build a presence which says “I am a passionate, knowledgeable swimming professional who knows what I am doing and who loves working with swimmers”.
Have a clear policy on discipline, make sure all swimmers and parents know what it is and implement it consistently, fairly and with integrity.
Be honest.
Have a passion and interest other than swimming. It keeps your mind healthy, fresh and positive.
Get to know your swimmers – their birthdays, their schools, their favourite movies, their favourite food etc. They are kids who choose to swim with you – not swimming machines.
Teach swimmers to deal with disappointment and to learn from adversity: these are skills for life that you can teach better than just about anyone.
Don’t be a Stop Watch Watcher! Use the watch when you need to, but spend most of your time watching, listening, offering feedback and engaging with your team: the ”clock” will take care of itself.
Teach pacing – teach pacing – teach pacing: it is a critically important swimming skill.
Think long term but act short term: i.e. think about the long term development of each swimmer but ensure the quality of their training environment each day is the best it can be.
Have a sense of humour: life is short and after all it is just swimming.
Be unpredictable. Every so often write a workout up on the board but then do something completely different.
Meet with parents often but away from the pool deck and the training environment.
Have a team selection policy and make sure everyone knows what it is, what is means and where to find it.
Build great relay teams.
Lead.
Understand strength training and how, when and why to incorporate it into your training program.
Be flexible: sometimes you have to change the workout in response to the needs of the team and not try to force the team to respond to the needs of your workout.
Teach relaxation as a fundamental aspect of all swimming.
Do things for a reason and with a lesson in mind: be proactive not reactive.
Deliberately create problems and challenges for swimmers to solve, learn and grow through actual experience.
Encourage late developers (i.e. kids who are small for their age) to persist, to strive and to develop high level technical skills: they often struggle with sustaining motivation.
Develop a great social program around the team and empower the swimmers to make decisions about the social events they want.
Start every session with a race quality dive: it sets the tone for the rest of the workout.
Vary lane structures, e.g. Monday split up the team by swimming speed, Tuesday split them up by stroke specialisation, Wednesday split them up by gender, Thursday by age, Friday mix up the ages with older swimmers in the same lane as younger team members.
Encourage swimmers to drink regularly during workouts.
Encourage swimmers to stretch after workouts.
Encourage swimmers!!!
Make training more challenging and more demanding than competition: this builds “bullet-proof” confidence and self-belief.
Teach nervous swimmers how to stay calm, cool, relaxed and composed at Swim Meets…but teach them these skills in training well before the Meet. Just telling them to “relax” on Meet day does not work.
Attitude is everything – for both swimmers and coaches.
Don’t smoke.
Communicate with swimmers in the way they want to be communicated with: learn how to best connect with each individual swimmer in your team.
Encourage, praise and reward effort, hard work and commitment.
Build leaders: provide the opportunity for your swimmers to learn to lead and to help grow a winning culture in your team from the inside.
Keep on top of the political situation at your Club, the Pool and the local swimming administration. More than one great coach has failed because of ignoring what’s going on around them.
Use swimming equipment (e.g. fins, paddles, pull buoys) appropriate to the level, age and ability of the swimmer.
Avoid fads, gimmicks, tricks and trends: do it your way and avoid quick fixes, short cuts and instant solutions.
Educate parents on how they can help their kids be the best they can be.
Do your slow work slow and your fast work fast: kids respond well to endurance and speed work.
If in doubt, stick with the big five: Dives, Starts, Turns, Finishes and Underwater skills. Building your program around these fundamental swimming skills means your swimmers are always competitive when it counts.
Be the best kicking team in your district, your state and your country: fast kicking = fast swimming.
Find a coaching mentor and speak with them often. Challenge them to challenge you honestly and without compromise.
Review your own coaching regularly – you can always improve.
Take holidays!
If you have a family and or partner, love them, support them and include them in your life: there are far too many “swimming widows and widowers”.
Be a student of swimming – learn from the best coaches in the sport and…..do it better.
Know the benchmarks – know the local, state, national and international standards for all strokes, all ages and all distances: you can’t hit a target if you don’t know what it is.
Build a team of experts and professionals around your team who you know, trust and who you can utilise to help your team when you need to.
Enlist parents and others to raise money for the team: money does not mean medals but it helps with buying equipment, travelling to Meets, providing support services for swimmers etc.
Talk to the Club committee about aligning the Club Racing program and Club Night Competition program with your coaching program: it just makes good sense.
Be enthusiastic.
Be passionate.
Enjoy every moment on deck with your team: coaching is one of the most rewarding, exciting, challenging and fulfilling thing you will ever do.
Life is short: coach often, love being a coach and coach at your best every day.

Wayne Goldsmith (with thanks to the many outstanding swimming coaches and swimmers I have known over the past 22 years).

Top Ten Tips for Swimming Coaching Success.

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 22:31:25 +0000

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.

It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it.Two people given the same box of ingredients, the same recipe, the same utensils, the same oven, the same kitchen are told to make and bake a cake. They get two completely different results. Why? Every one has the same basic raw ingredients: a pool, some swimmers, a committee, parents, maybe a gym and yet some programs succeed and some fail.It’s not what you have or what you do, it’s how you do it.
Engagement is the key - not just hard work. Anyone can turn up and swim laps. That’s not the trick. The real trick is to create an environment which engages the swimmers to the point where they get swim every lap to the full extent of their potential. Potential plus preparation = peak performance but only when the preparation is consistently completed with real purpose, real intent and real engagement.
Coach for Speed all the time. Speed is the most precious element of swimming. It is what every swimmer trains for: to be able to go as fast as possible in their event in competition conditions. Train speed all the time, all year round – even at times when other physical capacities like endurance are being emphasised in program…speed, speed, speed: if you don’t use it, you will lose it and it may not come back.
Stroke Technique, skills and tactical abilities are “free” ways to enhance performance. Most coaches, when faced with the challenge of trying to improve the performance of their swimmers will attack things from a “work” perspective, i.e. not improving…work harder, not winning…work harder. However, peak swimming performance comes by getting the whole thing right: physical training, stroke technique, racing skills, dives, starts, turns, finishes, breathing, warm up, cool down, mental approach and a thousand other things. By focusing on stroke technique, swimming skills, mental skills and tactical abilities, swimmers can improve their performance for “free”. That is, they don’t have to work harder – just smarter, more consistently and with a higher level of engagement to their program.
Attitude is everything. Enthusiasm is like a virus: it is infectious. Want your swimmers to be passionate, driven, enthusiastic and positive?? Have a good look in the mirror and ask yourself, “Do I model and live those same attitudes and behaviours in everything I do everyday”?
Coach from an integrated, holistic, total athlete perspective. Swimming has been traditionally based on a “physical / physiological model” – i.e. mostly focused on the big three variables of frequency, intensity and volume. The physiology based model has many limitations and is a dead end for those swimmers and coaches wanting to be the best of the best in the future. Adopt an integrated, holistic, total athlete approach to performance enhancement and particularly at training the mind and body in harmony - simultaneously – if you want to realise peak performance potential.
Never, ever stop learning. Everyone wants to win. A fundamental part of winning is getting an advantage over your competitors in one or more aspects of planning, preparation and performance. And…gaining a winning advantage comes from learning. Winning and learning are married. Learn faster, improve faster, win sooner.
Passion…because of what it leads to….Passion overcomes adversity. Passion is the fire that fuels performance. Passion helps people achieve the impossible. Passion makes difficulty seem trivial. Passion turns a challenge into a minor obstacle. With real passion, anything is possible.
Never, ever copy anyone: Copying kills coaching. Look, listen and learn from other coaches but do not copy them. Learn from others only to help you make informed decisions and to learn from the mistakes others have made. But do not copy. Understand yourself and your own coaching philosophy. Know what values and passions drive you as a human being and as a swimming coach. Then develop your own way of doing things. The core ingredient in success is uniqueness. It is being different and being prepared to do things that no one else has done or is doing.
Coach by collaboration, co-operation and confidence not conflict, confrontation and crisis. Swimming is a team sport and real success comes when swimmers (and parents) work with coaches as part of a performance partnership.

That’s my top ten tips for swimming coaching success….what’s yours?

Let me know by adding a few of your best swimming coaching tips to this post in the comments area.

Wayne Goldsmith

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

Wayne Goldsmith — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 02:22:55 +0000

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

The Number 1 Reason Why Most Swimmers and Coaches Fail at Swim Meets is…………that they prepare to win the Event: they don’t prepare to win the Competition.

What’s the difference between the Event and the Competition?

The Event is the stroke and distance that the swimmer will be swimming. That is, the 100 freestyle, the 200 backstroke, the 50 breaststroke, the 400 Individual Medley and so on.

The Competition is the total environment the swimmer will face when trying to race the Event against other swimmers at a swim meet, swimming carnivals, championships, galas etc.

So what’s the difference between preparing for the Event and preparing for the Competition?

Preparing for the Event is easy. Learn some basic training physiology, some fundamental bio-mechanics, inspire the swimmer to train consistently and voila……instant 100 butterflyer (just add water).

Preparing to swim the Event fast is just a matter of getting the stroke mechanics and the exercise physiology right.

Preparing for the Competition…now that’s another matter entirely.

Preparing for the Competition means getting the stroke mechanics and physiology right first and foremost - that’s a given – but it also means mastering all other the important aspects of the competition environment.

And that’s the reason why so many swimmers and coaches fail at swim meets: they become too focused on “mechanics and muscles” and not enough on ”mind and management“.

Preparing for a 100 free – the difference between preparing for the Event and preparing for the Competition:

Let’s take a look at the 100 freestyle for example.

To prepare for the Event-i.e. to swim one single repeat of 100 metres of freestyle fast, means planning and delivering a training program with right mix of speed, speed endurance, strength, power, endurance, flexibility and core-stability and ensuring the swimmer’s technique, breathing, timing, kicking etc are fundamentally correct and biomechanically effective.

The Event itself – let’s say in this example is 100 metres freestyle in one minute.

If all the swimmer had to do was to arrive at the pool and swim one 100 metre freestyle Event fast, alone in a lane and with no competition, then the task is relatively easy. Swimming the Event is not the real challenge. Swimming fast is not the real problem here.

Now take a look at the Competition.

The Competition is arriving at the pool, then having to manage the pressure, the noise, the crowded warm up lanes, the lack of swim down facilities, mix ups with officials, losing your way trying to find the marshaling area, slipping on the blocks at the start and still racing fast. And it’s not a matter of doing it just once….it’s:

Racing at or near PB speed to qualify for the Semi Finals;
Racing in the Semi Finals at or near PB speed to qualify for the Final;
Then, when pressure and fatigue are at their greatest – swim at or near PB speed again for a chance to win a medal!

Add relays into the mix and the heats, semi finals and finals of other events and it is clear that the name of the game is not preparing a swimmer to swim one event fast: it is preparing them to excel in Competition conditions.

So, how can you prepare swimmers for success in Competition? Five Tips on How to Prepare for Success in Swimming Competition Conditions:

Understand the physical, mental, technical and tactical demands of the Competition and prepare to perform well in those conditions;
Make training more challenging and more demanding than the Competition environment you are targeting. To do less means relying on luck and luck is not a strategy for winning;
Practice the Competition format in training. For example, if you are preparing for a swim meet with Heats, Semi Finals and Finals all on the one day, then organise some triple practice sessions in the weeks before the Competition and practice racing fast three times in 8 hours;
Practice developing the mental skills required to swim fast in Competition every session: remember its “mechanics, muscles, mind and management”;
Be as professional and diligent in preparation out of the water as you are in it! Pay as much attention to detail on the non-swimming aspects of the Competition, e.g. nutrition, stretching, rest, recovery, sleep, personal management and relaxation as you do to dives, starts, turns and finishes.

The old saying, “failing to plan is planning to fail” - applies very much to this situation.

Preparing a swimmer to swim the Event fast without also preparing them to thrive in the Competition environment is a recipe for disaster and the number one reason most swimmers and coaches fail at swim meets.

Don’t be one of them!

Wayne Goldsmith

A.T. – does it stand for Anaerobic Threshold or A Total Waste of Time?

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:00:50 +0000

: earth from Crestock Creative Images

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.

We’ve all heard the old swimming cliches about kids and training:

“You’ve got to get the miles into the kids.”

“Kids recover fast so you can push them harder more often.”

“Training kids is all about volume – you have do a lot of work.”

The volume of training appropriate for kids 12 years and under is not for debate here (and let’s be honest, no one really knows the answer to that one anyway) – it’s all about intensity – and by and large, we are pushing young swimmers too hard too often: we are pushing them at or around A.T. for no logical or rational reason.

Whilst the evidence for including some quantity of A.T. work in the training programs of senior swimmers is hard to question, the role of A.T. in the training and development of young swimmers is uncertain at the very least.

Here’s the case for pushing kids 12 and under at A.T. pace for extended periods during swimming training:

It looks like they are training hard so everyone feels good about the workout;
It keeps the noisy and disruptive kids quiet.
Their parents like it because the kids are too tired to argue with them, and they sleep!

Now here’s the case against pushing kids 12 and under at A.T. pace for extended periods during swimming training:

They don’t produce a lot of lactate but what they do produce (i.e. by swimming at or above A.T.) they don’t deal with very well;
They don’t race over distances requiring high level A.T. adaptation abilities, i.e. most 12 and under swimmers race 50s and 100s;
Most of the events they race over are approximately 50% dives, turns, underwater swimming and finishes - i.e. skills based – with only around 50% of race distance being free swimming;
Pushing them hard at A.T. for long periods leaves them fatigued and impacts on their ability to swim at max or near speeds in training during speed development training;
A.T. is the proverbial metabolic “no man’s land” for swimmers aged 12 and under. It has the effect of young swimmers doing their slow work too fast and their fast work too slow – developing neither endurance or speed and largely wasting their all too valuable water time.

So why do so many coaches spend so much time bashing and belting young swimmers up and down the pool in the A.T. “no man’s land”?

Because it is easy to do!

The easiest way to coach a large team of young swimmers is to push them as hard as possible as often as possible. It keeps them under control. It keeps them working hard. It makes parents think they are getting fitter and stronger. And…just occasionally, a few swimmers get a good result from the too hard / too often approach if they manage to get a lot of rest during their taper and have some underlying sprinting abilities.

This is of course the old “broken-egg” coaching approach. Throw enough eggs against a wall and maybe, just maybe one or two out of a thousand will survive the impact.

Instead of the other 998 eggs lying broken on the ground…. think!! - is this really good coaching????? And we wonder why so many kids drop out of the sport at 13, 14 and 15 years of age…. they just got sick of being made into omelettes!

So weigh it up in your own mind.

Old way – push the kids as hard as possible at or above A.T. in every workout for a few months, taper them for a few days and hope it all comes together on race day or……

New way – adopt a common sense, practical, sensible approach that helps develop the swimmers’ physical, mental, technical and tactical abilities in a way which is relevant and appropriate to their competition goals.

Hmmmmmm – difficult choice!

Summary and Practical Coaching Tips:

When coaching swimmers 12 years of age and under, stick to the simplicity and practicality of the P.A.C.E. model;
If in doubt, either work very slow (60-70% speed, very aerobically, great technique) or very very fast (100% speed, short distances, great technique, lots of recovery) – and always work in an integrated way – i.e. managing training speed plus mental factors plus technique plus skills;
Break your old habits! The old “let’s push the kids every workout so their faces are red, their shoulders sore and they are out of breath” days are over! Effective training is about balance, adopting an integrated approach and including physical, mental, technical, tactical development activities in every session.

Wayne Goldsmith