Swimming Question of the Week - August 4, 2010

Poor plus poor equals a short swimming career. Great swimmers in the absence of a good coach will most likely be looking for another program. Our sport is far too technical, the "natural" athlete still needs fine tuning and critical review in order to thrive. I miss hearing my coach encourage me during practice. Hey Glenn, is it possible to over-dub his coaching to my SwiMp3?

What is a 'poor'/'great' coach? .....is it compared to the skill level of their swimmers? Is it in terms of the program/skills they are offering the swimmer? Is in terms of their swimmers current developmental stage/ goals/ physiology/ stroke/ event and the training/teaching you are offering them? Talent is the building of skills and the ability to perform multiple repetitions at a high level. The coaches ability should be in contrast at a level where they can foster these repetitions and the transference of skills from the short term to long term memory (good habits), at race/training relevant intensities. Maybe the whole swimmer at a higher level than the coach, works when the swimmers 'talent' or motivation gives them the ability to swim at a high skill level without the coaches constant/technical input? Even the whole natural swimmer myth is in reality based on the ability of the coach or swimmer to activate the genes that they may have. To move forward with your swimming or coaching you must first have a realistic perception of where you are at the present and build skills/educate yourself(finding the right person/people/organization is key) to move forward from this level. Make the conscious decision to coach/teach swimmers to your level of expertise, and then provide a pathway for them to move on from you to someone who can provide the skills for them at their next stage. In my mind a poor coach is when they choose not to provide this pathway or choose to not move forward with their skills/knowledge. Maybe in the same light its also the same as a 'poor' swimmer who makes the choice(guaranteed sometimes they are not educated/motivated to understand the choices they can make) not to move forward with their swimming- by doing something better with a bit more concentration/ effort/higher race or technical skills. Choose your coaching/swimming goals wisely/realistically and develop a pathway towards them and if you are continually moving forward and doing something better/more specific/ at a higher skill level, you are succeeding in my books.

o and also i dont really think there are poor or great coaches. sure you may see more improvement with a certain coach but all coaches well coach differently. and sometimes the way they coach will work for you and sometimes it will not.

I know we all want to play nice, and try to pretend there are no "poor coaches" out there, but having been in the sport for more than 40 years, I can tell you... there are many. I'll give my definition of a poor coach: Lazy, uneducated, and unmotivated to learn.

In every profession, these people exist, so let's not kid ourselves into thinking that just because someone is giving kids sets, that they're really involved.

The initial point of this question was fairly simple... to understand that there ARE poor coaches, and that poor swimmers will have to go outside the boundaries of their coach to learn how to improve. It's something I encourage every swimmer I work with to achieve.... study your own stroke SO much, that eventually, NOBODY can tell you something about what you're doing that you don't already know. This includes great coaches.

As far as great swimmers thriving under a poor coach? Absolutely. What is a "great swimmer"? Don't think about this just in terms of how fast someone is, think of it as someone who has reached their physiological potential. I think that's absolutely great, and as I tell my own swimmers again... a monkey can write the practice... a committed athlete will get something out of it.

Not taking anything away from coaches, just making sure we all understand that ultimately, the responsibility for performance lies in the swimmers hands. If they're motivated, they can overcome a non-perfect situation.