A Coaching Philosophy for Swimming

By Austin Pu

This summer I will be working in New York, coaching and teaching kids swimming. I chose to present this assignment because I learned a lot through this assignment, and it will be directly applied to something that I enjoy doing. In the assignment attached below, I will explain my passion for the sport, and explain how I want to share this passion. I believe that it is time for me to give back to the sport of swimming.

Source: https://www.teamunify.com/Home.jsp?team=meaqua 

My teaching philosophy:

I started competitive swimming 14 years ago when I was only 7. Throughout the years, the sport became more than just a sport; it became a lifestyle. The sport of swimming transformed me both physically and mentally as I embedded myself in the culture of the sport. The culture of the sport provided me with an identity along with a community. Swimming and its culture have taught me many life lessons that applies beyond the pool. To list a few, it has taught me discipline, goal-setting, and time-management. It has also helped me develop my identity throughout the years. The reason I am introducing this assignment informally is because I want to truly describe my passion for this sport, my sport. The sport has given me many positive experiences to which I feel I need to give back to the community of swimming. I am going into my senior year of college, which will be my last year as a swimmer. Although my career as a swimmer is almost over, my career as a coach has just begun. In this proposal I will talk about how exactly I will provide to others what the sport has provided me throughout the years.

This summer I will be teaching and coaching kids in New York City. I will be working with mostly two general age groups: 7-12 and 13-17. As a coach I will have goals for both my pupils, as well as goals for myself. As I mentioned before, swimming is more than just a sport as it is a lifestyle. I believe that as a coach, it is my job to both teach this sport and this lifestyle. As both a coach and an athlete I understand that I am working with two different age groups. Even within the two age groups, I will encounter kids at different developmental stages. Erickson’s theory of development states that from infancy to adulthood people will have different virtues, psychosocial questions, relationships, and existential questions. I will be working with school age children (6-11), as well as adolescent teenagers (12-19). According to Erickson, school age children have a virtue in “competence”, and deals with “Industry vs. Inferiority”. School age students are trying to find themselves, and are asking “Can I make it in the world of people and things”. This means that it is important for school age students to explore and find their talents, as they are learning about themselves. Adolescents have to deal with “Identity vs. Role Confusion” as they ask themselves “Who am I, and Who can I be”. Adolescents already have done their fair share of exploring, and are ready try on new roles. As a coach, noticing this distinction between the developmental stages is crucial as the coaching style for the different age groups will be different. For instance, with younger age group, I will create a more explorative environment in which kids will find what they are good at as well as what they need to work on. Younger kids need to work on exploring swimming as an activity while developing good technique. It is also important to develop the younger kids’ passion for the sport so that when they get older, they are able to work on discipline and training. The adolescents will be coached more rigorously as they are developmentally ready to be trained. With the adolescent group, I will not only teach them self-discipline, but it is developmentally appropriate to teach them the culture of swimming, as well as teaching them to incorporate themselves in the culture. Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) is a theory that works in parallel to Erickson’s theory, as it suggests age appropriate focuses for the athletes. For instance, the younger group will be in between the “FUNdementals” as well as “Learning to Train”, while my older group will be “Training to Train”.

As a coach I will be very energetic and engaging. I will be stricter with the older age group and much more lenient on the younger age group. The younger age group needs positivity and encouragement in order to explore the sport in a motivating way. The older kids will hopefully already have developed the motivation, and needs to work on disciplining themselves. As a coach I want my athletes to achieve a few things. I want to educate my athletes in Sports-Education. I want to teach the kids as much as possible about the sport as well as a healthy life style that will benefit them alter in life. I will teach them about eating healthy, the mechanics of the sport, physical therapy, history of the sport, and knowledge /skill of swimming. I then want my athletes to set their own goals. I want my kids to be intrinsically motivated and set appropriate goals that is appropriately challenging. Finally, I want my kids to persevere as they reach for the goals they set. I will incorporate these goals differently with both of my age groups as once again, these groups have distinct needs.

As a coach I have goals of my own too. I want to establish a strong team culture in which the kids will work well with each other and hold each other accountable to making practices and having good work ethic. I want to be a role model for these kids as I will motivate the kids so that they achieve their set goal. I want my kids to be self aware and present, as I want them to learn both about themselves, the sport, and each other.

Overall, I think swimming teaches individuals many life lessons about oneself that can be applied outside of the pool. Teaching the sport as well as the techniques is only a part of the sport. In order to succeed in the sport, one must learn all the aspects of the culture of the sport. By teaching my kids both the physical sport as well as the culture of the sport, I believe that I can not only make my kids better athletes, but prepared individuals for the future.

General Overview:

I applied Erickson’s theory and LTAD theories to coach my different age group kids in a developmentally appropriate manner.

I want to teach more than just the skills of swimming, as swimming is more than a sport; it is a culture.

I want to develop skills that apply both in the pool, and beyond the pool.

Source: http://canadiansportforlife.ca/resources/ltad-resource-papers?page=1


Click here to learn about LTAD for parents:
 http://www.coach.ca/files/CAC_LTADFORPARENTS_JAN2012_EN.pdf

Click here to learn more about Erikson's theory of development: 
http://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html

Click here to learn more about intrinsic motivation:
https://mmrg.pbworks.com/f/Ryan,+Deci+00.pdf

Take a look at Alfie Kohn's punished by rewards to learn about rewards and punishment:
Get the book here: http://www.amazon.com/Punished-Rewards-Trouble-Incentive-Praise/dp/0618001816


Take a look at USA swimming's take on coaching philosophies:
http://www.usaswimming.org/ViewMiscArticle.aspx?TabId=1781&mid=7897&ItemId=5047