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.
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