Every Competition a Practice

Check out the corollary to this column, Every Practice a Competition

What are your goals for the end of this season? How fast do you want to go? What skills will you need to improve in order to achieve your goals? What steps are you taking today to improve these skills?

These are all crucial questions to ask yourself, particularly around each swim meet you attend. Meets represent a chance to test your skills, measure your progress, and hone your strategy. For senior swimmers, at in-season meets where a best time may not be the goal, it is important to have technical or strategic objectives so that the swimmer and coach may determine whether progress is being made. For age group swimmers who more often tend to improve their times dramatically while they are growing rapidly and learning new skills, it is equally important that the coach and athlete stay focused on the athlete's technical improvements, not just the swimmer's time. This approach will allow for continued development of the swimmer's ability and enjoyment of the sport.

Ideally, you have set goals for the end of your season. Use each competition during the season to take a step toward those goals, particularly in the areas of your technique and strategy. In this way, every competition can form a valuable part of your practice.