Watching Your Child at Swim Practice

If you want to see your swimmer improve and watch their development - my best suggestion is not to watch every swim practice. Improvements happen over the course of days, weeks, months, and in some cases years. Even a coach has to step back and remind themselves the little improvements that are going on. If you watch practice everytime your swimmer is there, it can lead to your frustration.

You are more than welcome to come watch your swimmer in practice though, but when doing so please sit in the stands (not on the deck) and please try not to speak with your swimmer or the coach (unless an emergency arises and you and your swimmer needs to leave early). The reason I ask this is so I can have all of the swimmers attention on the task at hand or a coach. If you were to observe your child in their classroom at school, it normally goes on by you sitting in the back of the room watching. When Susie Swimmer is doodling or Billy Backstroke is talking to his neighbor instead of listening, would you yell at them to pay attention then during the class? It would be a distraction to them and everyone around them. The same applies to swim practice.

I know I used this article at the beginning of the year last year, but it is a well written one by a swim coach who is also a parent of a child who participates in sports. I think they give great persepective into both worlds.

News For Swim Parents

Published by The American Club Swimming Association
21 01 North Andrews Ave., Suite 107Fort Lauderdale FL 33311

Watching Your Child at Swim Lessons or Swim Practice

For over four years I watched my daughter swim under the direction of other coaches. I have also watched her at basketball practice and games, and dance, and figure skating. I know the joy of watching her in these activities. I also know and understand the overwhelming desire to direct, correct, encourage, and sometimes scold my child at practice. But those are not proper
parental behaviors once I have released her into the care of a coach or teacher. As a parent, am not to interfere with the practice or attempt to talk to my child during the practice session.

In our swim program, we want the child’s attention focused on the coach and the tasks at hand.
Occasionally children miss an instruction, or have a goggle problem, or are involved in some other distraction, or are simply playing and having fun – which is all normal behavior for young children. We view these little difficulties as part of the learning process and we allow the children an opportunity to develop the self discipline and self reliance needed to overcome these difficulties without the help of moms or dads.

We know it is common in many other youth sports for parents to stand at the sidelines and shout
instructions or encouragements and sometimes admonishments to their children. However, in our swim program we ask you not to signal them to swim faster, or to tell them to try a certain technique, or to offer to fix a goggle problem, or to move away for some other “menacing” swimmer, or even to remind them to listen to the coach. In fact, just as you would never interrupt a school classroom to talk your child, you should not interrupt a swim practice by attempting to communicate directly with your child.

What’s wrong with encouraging your child during practice? There are two issues. First we want your child to focus on the coach and to learn the skill for their personal satisfaction rather than learning it to please their parents. Secondly, parental encouragement often gets translated into a command to swim faster and swimming faster may be the exact opposite of what the coach is trying to accomplish. In most stroke skill development we first slow the swimmers down so that
they can think through the stroke motions. Save encouragements and praise for after the practice session! This is the time when you have your child’s full attention to tell them how proud you are of them.

What’s wrong with shouting or signaling instructions to your children? When I watch my 9 year old daughter play in a basketball league I understand the overwhelming desire of parents to shout instructions to their children because that is what I want to do. But those instructions might be different from the coach’s instructions and then you have a confused child. Sometimes you might think the child did not hear the coach’s instruction and you want to help. Most of us do
not want to see our own kids make a mistake. The fact is that children miss instructions all the time. Part of the learning process is learning how to listen to instructions. When children learn to rely on a backup they will have more difficulty learning how to listen better the first time.

As parents, many of us want our children protected from discomfort and adversity and we will
attempt to create or place them in an environment free from distress. So, what’s wrong with helping your child fix their goggles during practice time? Quite simply, we want to encourage the children to become self-reliant and learn to take care of and be responsible for themselves and their own equipment. Swimming practice is a terrific place to learn these life skills. Yes, even beginning at age 6 or 7.

If you need to speak to your child regarding a family issue or a transportation issue or to take your child from practice early you are certainly welcome to do so but please approach the coach directly with your request and we will immediately get your child out of the water. If you need to speak to the coach for other reasons please wait until the end of practice or call the phone number listed above.

I have been coaching young children for over 30 years. I appreciate the opportunity to enjoy their enthusiasm and energy and wonderful personalities. I coach each of them with care for their safety and concern for their social, physical, learning skills, and life skills
development. Thanks for bringing your children here as we both teach and direct them to become more responsible and confident young people.

A Letter To Swim Parents Pt 2 - A Journey of a Thousand Miles

In the beginning of the season it is tough to sit there and think wow all my swimmer did was kick today, or wow it looks like they did not do too much at practice. Keep in mind for 10 & Unders are championship meet is not until February/March. Besides all of the time til then, I am looking to make all of the swimmers in my group ready and prepared for aging up with skills they will need in the Age Group and Senior programs. I always talk about the basics. This month is about the basics.

Like I told AG3 last night at practice, I love how hard they work in the water! They are truly a great group, but we need to learn how to work hard when we are on the wall and all the things that go on besides when we swim. When we achieve these things, then we will be amazing.

A great series of articles written by Michael Brooks from NBAC.

A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES

THE patience of Job. Your swimmer’s career in the program is a long haul, with many peaks and
valleys. Usually, the new parent and swimmer come to the sport with little experience, so the first sign of a problem looks like the Grand Canyon, impossible to get across, and the first sign of success looks like Mount Everest – we’re on top of the world. It’s best not to get too worked up. You will see this again, over and over.

TAKING the long view. The training that will make an eight year old the area’s fastest 25 freestyler is not the training that will benefit that swimmer most in the long run. Making decisions now that will benefit the swimmer over the long haul of a swimming career calls for prudence, and it means sacrificing some speed now for huge gains later. Now we make them beautiful in the water, now we make them fit, now we teach them to expect great things, and later we make them super fast. Our destination is not two weeks down the road, but several years.

McDONALDS v. Michelin Three-Star. The fast food mentality, the attitude that “I want it NOW!” (even if it tastes like cardboard) is anathema to what we are about. Think of the swimming program, and your swimmer’s career in the program, as a fine meal in the very best French restaurant: more courses than you can count (phases and seasons), served in a very particular order (developmentally determined), each patiently savored (the cumulative effects of years’ worth of daily training), completed by dessert and coffee (Nationals). We are not in search of a quick Big Mac. We want the best, and we are willing to wait.

A Letter To Swim Parents Pt 1 - Teaching Values

A great series of articles written by Coach Michael Brooks out of NBAC.

WE all want what is best for the child. That is sometimes hard for coaches to understand. That is
also sometimes hard for parents to understand. Much of the historical tension between coaches and parents can be avoided if we agree on two golden rules: first, let’s cut each other some slack and not jump on and over-react to the first unsubstantiated third-hand rumor that comes down the pike. And second, let’s communicate, often, and not just when we may have a problem.

TEACHING VALUES

YOU are key to your child’s swimming. A parent’s attitude toward swimming, the program, the
coach, and his child’s participation, is key towards the child’s attitude and success. The young
swimmer takes cues from his parent. If the parent shows by word, deed, facial expression, etc., that he does not value swimming, that he doesn’t appreciate having to drive to practice or sit in the stands during meets, that “it’s not going to matter” if the child skips practice, that morning practices are just “optional” and that the child would be better off with the extra sleep, then the chances are very good that the child will lack commitment, have little success, then lose interest in swimming. Support your child’s interest in swimming by being positively interested.

ALLOW your swimmer to be resilient. Failure, and facing that failure, doesn’t cause kids to melt.
Failure isn’t such an evil thing that parents should try to shield their kids from it. Allow them to fail, then teach them to get up off the canvas and try harder to succeed the next time. If parents are continually sheltering their swimmers from the storm, cushioning every fall, making excuses for them, finding someone else to blame, the children never learn anything. Even worse, they never learn that they are responsible both for their failures and for their successes. Allow them to stand on their own, and you will be helping them immeasurably down the road.

MOLEHILLS really are molehills. At times I may appear unsympathetic or even harsh because I
won’t let kids stop for “emergencies”: for leaking goggles, for kids passing them, for side-aches, for stretching, for repeated bathroom breaks, etc. Many kids think that the slightest obstacle is an overwhelming reason to stop and should be listened to and followed as the voice of God. I think not. I am trying to teach focus. When a swimmer is in the middle of a set, the only thing in life that matters or is worthy of attention is the set. Little “bothers” are to be overcome or ignored. And once a swimmer gets in the habit of overcoming these “little bothers,” he finds that they aren’t so overwhelmingly important after all. If we are continually stopping for “emergencies,” we will never get anything done. If a study session is continually interrupted for sharpening pencils, then getting a better notepad, then getting a drink of water, then taking a little break when a favorite song comes on the radio, then answering the telephone, almost miraculously the math assignment doesn’t get completed.

DON’T worry, be happy??? I don’t want a swimmer doing cartwheels after an awful performance. It’s okay for them to be upset about, disappointed with, even angry about having done poorly. Feeling lousy for a few minutes won’t kill them, it won’t forever damage their self-esteem, and if they are thinking correctly it will motivate them to try harder and do better the next time. I want to teach them standards of good and bad performance, so that when they really do well, they will feel appropriately pleased. If they are simply showered with praise willy nilly, they never know the difference.

TEACH them to dream big – a world of infinite possibilities. If you try to temper your child’s
dreams, if you teach her to settle for the ordinary, you may indeed save her from many a heartache and many a failure. But you also rob her of the opportunity of achieving great things, and the opportunity to plumb her depths and realize her potential. Winning big means failing many times along the way. Each failure hurts, but these temporary setbacks create the strength for the final push. Instead of having children avoid failure by never taking risks, teach them how to think correctly about failing: risk-taking and failure are necessary for improvement, development, motivation, feedback, and long-term success.

WHAT success is. Only one swimmer can win the race. Often in the younger age groups, the
winner will be the one who has bloomed early, not necessarily the swimmer with the most talent or the most potential to succeed in senior swimming. It is expected that every parent wants his child to succeed, wants his child to have a good and learning and valuable experience with swimming. Every child can succeed – only make sure you define success correctly: being the very best you can be, striving for improvement in every aspect of swimming. That leads to lasting success. And lasting enjoyment.

DON’T reward success by bribery. “Bribing” your swimmer to perform well by promising
presents, money, special meals, etc. for meeting various standards is highly discouraged. While
bribery may work in the short run – the swimmer may indeed swim fast this afternoon – the long term consequences are never good. You have to keep upping the ante, and you must ask yourself: why does my swimmer want to swim fast? What is really motivating him? Is this good? What is a twelve year old going to do with a new car?

FUN, fun, fun. If “fun” means mindless entertainment and sensory bombardment, then wasting
hours playing Nintendo is loads of fun, and swimming is by definition “not fun.” If “fun” means
working hard and challenging yourself, taking pride in accomplishing difficult goals, and discovering talents you didn’t know you had, then swimming is fun and Nintendo by definition is “not fun.” The meaning of fun is very much an open question for children, and one where parents and coaches have much influence over their charges. Are we building a nation of energized achievers or lifeless couch potatoes?

WORK, work, work. Persistence and work ethic are the most important qualities leading to success in swimming and everything else. And if a work ethic is not created and cultivated when a swimmer is young, it very likely will never appear. It is so rare as not to be an option that a kid who is a slacker from ages seven to fourteen will suddenly change his spots and become a hard worker. Love for and pride in hard work MUST be inculcated early on, and again parents and coaches have much influence in creating this attitude.

NO little league parents. Kids sometimes make mistakes at meets. If your child is disqualified at a meet, don’t complain, don’t whine, don’t make excuses. Your child’s DQ is not a reflection of the quality of your parenting. The official is not blind, he does not have a vendetta against your child or your family or your team, and he is not incompetent. In fact, he has a much better vantage on your child’s race than you do, and he is looking on dispassionately. You are sitting up in the stands where you can’t see precisely, and you are paying attention to everything except the exact angle of your child’s left foot as he kicks in breaststroke. If a DQ is questionable, as sometimes is the case, the coach – and not the parent – will take the proper steps. And even then, DQ’s are almost never overturned, so don’t get your hopes up.

By the by, most DQ’s aren’t surprises to the coach. If a swimmer rehearses an illegal turn forty
thousand times in training despite a coach’s remonstrances, then that illegal habit will likely show up under the stress of a race. As Joe Paterno said, “Practice good to play good.”

BURNOUT. So many times parents and kids will say, “I don’t want to commit to
swimming because I don’t want to get burned out.” But for every one case of “burnout” caused by a swimmer’s spending too much time in the water and working too hard, we will see a hundred cases of “pre-emptive burnout”: in order not to be burned out, the swimmer only comes to practice when she feels like it, doesn’t work out very hard, skips team meets with regularity, and generally makes no commitment to the program or to the sport. Not surprisingly, the swimmer swims slow, makes little to no improvement, and sees her formerly slower competitors whiz right by her. Then we wonder why she “just can’t get jazzed about swimming.”
Sitting on the fence and remaining lukewarm on principle has nothing to recommend it.
Discipline and commitment are good things, not things we should downplay, hide, apologize
for, or (worst of all) stop demanding because it may be unpopular. If you want to enjoy
swimming even more, commit more of yourself and swim fast! You do not become excited
about an activity you don’t do well at.

HOME and pool must dovetail. Traits of discipline, respect, high expectations, and commitment at home directly relate to the child’s characteristics at practices and meets. This is yet another area where family support is crucial to the success of the swimmer. Parents should review, carefully, the Credo and other formative memos about the values the team espouses. If the current at home is flowing in the opposite direction from the current at the pool, there will be big problems. If a family does not buy into the program, they will be very unhappy here.

Practice Schedule First 3 Weeks of the Season

The first 3 weeks of the season's schedule runs slightly different for all our swim groups.

For Green and Gold, the only change is there are no Friday practices until September 11th.

Age Group 3 practice schedule for the next 3 weeks is as follows:

Week of August 17th: Monday through Thursday 5:30 - 7:00 PM, no practice Friday and Saturday.

Week of August 24th: Monday through Thursday 5:30 - 7:00 PM, no practice Friday and Saturday.

Week of August 31st: Monday through Thursday 5:30 - 7:00 PM, no practice Friday and Saturday.