The Top 8 Christmas Gifts for Swimmers (and 1 for your coach)

...and you don't even have to go out on Black Friday!

For the gift that keeps on giving, get The Original Backnobber II ($28.95)and help your swimmer get rid of those tight back and shoulder muscles by making him do it himself.  Or, if you really want to pamper your swimmer and save a little cash, get the Original Palmassager ($7.95). While relaxing, your swimmer can watch The Three Styles of Freestyle DVD ($39.95).  Mike Bottom is the world's preeminent sprint freestyle coach, and his philosophy on freestyle technique can help swimmers improve at all distances.  To help your swimmer figure out what style is best for him, get The Athlete Village video review ($49.99 or use this discount code for 10% off: RW21846) Have an elite coach review your swimmer's stroke remotely through the internet.  The best part - it's 100% guaranteed money back if you aren't satisfied.  For a little inspiration and a dose of history, put The Great Swim by Gavin Mortimer ($6.40) under the Christmas tree.  After all that therapeutic massage, education, and inspiration, it will eventually be time to get in the water for that post-holiday training.  The Finis Tempo Trainer ($31.99) is the ultimate tool for the precision-oriented athlete.  A yardage monster who swims for fitness might be more interested in the SwiMP3 ($149.99). And don't forget to get Games, Gimmicks, and Challenges by Bob Steele ($29)for your coach who may need a few ideas for games to break up those New Year's distance sets.

Fun

Today at practice, the quote on the top of the workout read: "It's kind of fun to do the impossible." - Walt Disney

A swimmer walked up to me and said, "but coach, impossible is nothing," parroting a phrase I have uttered once or twice.

"That's correct," I said, proud that my words were sinking in.

"That means it's kind of fun to do nothing, so we should do nothing."

Ha ha! Clever. Made me laugh.

Coaches Are Thieves

That statement is true of every good coach I have ever known. We are thieves.
We take training ideas from each other, borrow a saying, or use a set that we saw or heard from another coach.

And this is a good thing. Stealing from another coach's idea stash keeps our training fresh. It helps keep the athletes and the coach motivated. In the most successful eras of American swimming, coaches openly discussed, shared, contributed, and stole training ideas. In my experience, just one idea from another coach has often been the inspiration of many new sets, workouts, or training exercises.

I want to make this exchange of ideas among coaches (and swimmers) easier. There are a ton of brilliant minds, great sets, and fantastic drills out there that we can all benefit from. To that end, I have created the Swimming Wizard at swimmingwizard.blogspot.com. It is an open-sourced blog designed to collect ideas, bounce them around, and inspire new innovation.

Coaches, check it out. The Swimming Wizard would love to hear from you.

Stop Wasting Your Walls

You are a fast swimmer. But are you a fast turn swimmer? There is a difference, you see. Many swimmers have been defeated by slower competitors who simply have superior turns, thus gaining an advantage that leads to victory. Most likely, we have all faced someone who turns faster than we do. The solution, in part, lies in your mental approach to your walls.

Without realizing it, you may have subconsciously allowed yourself to believe that the turn is a place where you get a little rest. You push yourself really hard when you swim, and you are so happy to get to the wall that you take an extra few fractions of a second to reverse your direction. It is an easy habit to fall into, but a very bad one.

To reprogram yourself for new turn habits, begin thinking of each turn as an opportunity to accelerate, to pick up speed, and to gain ground on your competitors. With this approach, your eyes will be opened to how much faster you can be. So stop wasting your walls and start making the most of every opportunity!

The Junior Year Myth

There is a belief common to many swimmers and their parents that one's junior year of high school is the "make-or-break year." They view the junior year as a swimmer's final opportunity to earn a spot on a college team. I won't argue that the junior year isn't important, but here are a few concerns I have with emphatically taking this approach:

1) Whether they mean to or not, when parents frame it as the "make-or-break year," it places an undue pressure on the swimmer to perform. Often, high-achieving parents have high-achieving kids, and the parents just want to make sure their swimmer understands what is at stake. Inadvertently what the parents are really doing is turning the pressure up a few notches. More often than not the result: A swimmer who shifts his focus from the reasons he joined the sport (fun, self-improvement, competition) to a new goal; earning a college scholarship. This makes swimming feel like a job for many, and takes the fun out of it. Some swimmers even tighten up under the pressure at meets, causing poor results and increasing the pressure again. Parents, please understand that if your swimmer is a high-achiever and is planning to swim in college, he probably already realizes the importance of his penultimate year as a club and high school swimmer.

2) This approach emphasizes the swimmer's short-term performance rather than her long-term athletic development. A swimmer's performance isn't merely a function of how hard she trains that year. Rather, it is the sum of the years of well-planned and committed training that have progressively improved a swimmer's skills. Yes, it will help the swimmer's college prospects if she swims well. Ideally though, the coach and swimmer have been focused on steady improvement all along. The junior year will just be another step forward from that firm foundation. I am glad to have anything that motivates a swimmer, but I am skeptical when I hear "it's my junior year, I am REALLY going to work hard now!" Welcome to the party, you are a few years too late.

3) Rarely does the prospect of swimming in college serve as a proper motivator. Just as paying employees more on the job has been shown not to increase productivity, earning a scholarship spot on a college team does not always bolster a swimmer's motivation to compete well. My theory is that this happens when the athlete's primary motivators have been intrinsic and outside influences counsel him to trash those in favor of the extrinsic motivation of a college scholarship.

4) What then becomes of the swimmer's senior year? If the junior year is the make-or-break year, what comes after that -- the made-or-broken year? From the standpoint of the athlete, if he now has it made, then what's the point in trying to improve? If he has blown his chance to swim at the college program of his choice by not posting the necessary time, then his drive to improve may be even lower. As a coach on both the club and collegiate sides of the recruiting fence, I have seen this happen too many times. The athlete has a great junior year, signs a letter-of-intent to swim collegiately, cashes in his chips during his senior year, and then suffers the consequences well into his collegiate career.

Don't buy into the Junior Year Myth. Though parents (and coaches) may have the swimmer's best interests at heart, the high school junior year should be just another step in a long-term program emphasizing continual improvement toward individual excellence. Making it out to be much more than that is often counterproductive.

Top 10 Ways to Impress Your Swimming Coach

10. Don't miss practice. Want to be the best swimmer you can be? Showing up is a good start. As a coach, our primary chance to help you is at practice. If you are not there, we simply cannot help.

9. If there is a legitimate reason why you will miss practice, contact your coach beforehand, explain the circumstances, and ask how you can make it up. Connecting in advance of your absence suggests you care about the practice and more importantly, about your own training.

8. Show up on time. Don't be that swimmer who is perpetually late to practice. You'll anger most coaches and frankly, even perturb your teammates. If you think your fellow swimmers are forgiving of your tardiness, you're mistaken. Most dislike it or conclude you feel like you deserve special treatment or consideration.

7. Be prepared for practice. When the coach is planning your training, he is expecting that you will have the necessary items to perform as instructed. Not having your mesh bag, swimming equipment, water bottle, shoes for dryland, etc. is just plain sloppy and makes him wonder whether you really intend to improve or if you are just showing up hoping to get better.

6. Give your best effort consistently at practice. We are not asking nor expecting every swimmer to be a world-beater every day. We merely expect you to perform at your capability and be willing to push that boundary every once in a while. Your effort will determine your results. Even the best coach does not bring magic swim-fast fairy dust to practice.

5. Listen and ask good questions at practice. Coaches like swimmers who are attentive and focused. If your coach constantly has to repeat himself, it wastes your time and his. If you have a question, find the right time to ask it--not 2 seconds before you are supposed to push off the wall, but during the explanation of the set or after practice.

4. Understand that every day is an opportunity to improve and once it is over the opportunity has passed. Be sure to get the maximum benefit each day. Be willing to make changes and seek the coach's insight on how you can do this. Don't just keep doing what you're doing and hope that your hard work will overcome your other mistakes. We know that many of you dream of achieving at the highest levels of the sport, so we have to work together to get you there.

3. Set awesome goals. Make them reasonable yet challenging, clear but flexible. Not only are they important to help you focus your energies, but goals can also help inspire your coach. A good coach is motivated by a swimmer with high goals and the drive to achieve those goals.

2. Let your coach know if he's doing a good job. If the practice engaged and challenged you, tell him. If you enjoyed the new exercise you tried for the first time, let him know. If you're a better swimmer or person at the end of the season, send him a handwritten thank-you note. The flip side to this, of course, is helping him improve. Is he unclear in his instructions on a set? Did he misunderstand your question or put you on an easier interval than you are capable of? Is there something that you are missing in your training? A good coach is responsive to your feedback and will look to improve.

1. Be a leader and make your personalized contribution to the team. The best compliment a coach can give any swimmer is that "you made everyone around you better than they would have been without you." If you hear your coach say that, know this: we were indeed impressed. Be THAT swimmer.

This post was adapted from 10 Ways to Impress Your College Professor

The Promise

To: The Swimmers I Coach

If you give me a commitment composed of your presence and your effort. If in your effort you deliver determination and persistence. If your determination is driven by goals of achievement. If your goals are truly your own. If every day you strive to be the best you.

I promise my commitment composed of my daily presence and my intense effort. I promise my determination and persistence in the face of obstacles small and large, expected and unseen. I promise to steer you toward achieving your goals. I promise you a training program to give you confidence, preparedness, and unassailable fitness. I promise to strive to be the best me to help you be the best you.