Coaching Swimming

by Tim Magier

           If I were to coach a sport, I would coach swimming because I learnt the most about swimming, competed at the highest levels, and grown the most through swimming.  I use Mark Guthrie's book, Coaching Track & Field Successfully, as a basis for my coaching philosophy because the principles he lays out are very easily translated into swimming and help display my coaching methods.  Throughout my philosophy I present examples of my coaching techniques and tie them back to the principles laid out by Mark Guthrie.

http://www.humankinetics.com/products/all-products/coaching-track--field-successfully

  
            Ever since I was about five years old I have been playing sports essentially all year round, with little breaks between the seasons.  Being twenty years old, I have been playing sports for a decade and a half.  In those fifteen years, I played seven different sports and have been coached by more individuals that I can accurately count.  My favorite sport out of the seven that I played is probably swimming; thus, I would be a swim coach.  I did not swim the longest out of the other sports that I played; however out of all the sports, I learnt the most about swimming, competed at higher levels in swimming, and grown the most as an individual through swimming.  Although the root of my philosophy comes from Coaching Track & Field Successfully by Mark Guthrie, I would translate the principles from track and field and implement them into swimming.  I believe that those principles not only form an appropriate backbone to my philosophy, but also help illuminate the process in which I will coach my athletes.  Throughout my philosophy, I will offer examples of how I would coach and support my examples with the underlying principles from Mark Guthrie’s book.

           Coaching Track & Field Successfully does not mention specifically whether or not to pick a specific age of athletes, however I believe focusing on one age group will allow my philosophy to be more effective.  I would coach a club or college swim team so my athletes would be both male and female swimmers, and most likely eighteen years or older.  This age range would be the easiest for me to coach because my swimmers would be close to their peak physical abilities and I would be able to relate to them better since they’re older.  Furthermore, because the challenges that I’ll face will be age-related, I’ll be able to focus on problems that affect college-age athletes.  Since I was a student athlete myself, I understand the difficulties my athletes might face and I’ll be ready to combat their problems to help them and the team as a whole.  Besides during swim practice, I’ll make myself and my assistant coaches rather available to athletes so that they can access us as mentors for non-swimming related help.  Because one of Mark Guthrie’s principles is to build and nurture good relationships with your athletes, I will try to make myself as open to my athletes’ need as possible.  Through this method, I’ll not only be able to connect with my swimmers better, but also specifically discuss with them how they’re progressing based off of my personal assessment.

           Unfortunately the most common assessment in swimming is your time.  Material on this topic from Coaching Track & Field Successfully translates into swimmer very well because in track too you only have one chance to race and see your timed outcome.  Obviously it is an important indicator on how fast you swam your race, which can tell you how you have progressed since your last race.  However people sometimes put times on a pedestal and become obsessed with them, which causes them to be paralyzed during the race and not do well.  Another indicator that I think is just as important, if not more important, are the times you swim in practice.  These give you a better grounding in believing yourself because you physically have swam those times when you are tired and since you swim less total yardage in meets, you won’t be as tired and will go faster.  Of course I want my athletes to swim as fast as possible in meets, but I’ll use practice times as a base assessment and progress monitor for them as well.  This will allow me to remain open minded when it comes to outcomes in big meets and also work on my athletes’ mental edge.

http://usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=1695

           My work as a coach will not only be focused on the physical aspect such as swimming, lifting weights, and other physical aspects of the sport.  More importantly, I will heavily exercise my swimmers’ mental side of the sport and try to make it their strength when it comes to competition day.  Through this, I can help my athletes manage their stress, another one of Mark Guthrie’s principles, and overcome mental blocks that impede their peak performance.  I have worked with multiple sports psychologists from whom I will use their theory based methods to assist my coaching.  In addition, I have read research and books concerning the mental aspect of sports.  I will implement what I learnt, and what I will continue to discover, to my team and try to base my program off of.  Understanding how the athlete’s mind works and how it functions in specific situations will allow me to be more of a figure to my swimmers than just a swim coach.

           My role as their coach is to guide them in swimming and help them as much as they would like in their lives outside of swimming.  This will allow me to further understand the athletes and grow positively as a coach.  I’ll know if I have grown as a coach when I’ll be able to have a healthy and positive connection with each of my athletes and assistant coaches.  In addition, I’ll constantly be open minded and ready to learn about new techniques and aspects in the swimming world and try to implement them within my team.  More importantly, also one of Guthrie’s first principles, I will be myself so that I won’t have to put on a mask when I coach.  Thus my athletes and assistant coaches can see who I really am without doubting my integrity and leadership.  Through this, I will be able to assess myself in my work and determine how and when I need to improve myself for the team and others.  Finally, to know that I have positively affected and helped many individuals grow in this way is rewarding by itself.