Working primarily with age group swimmers these days (ages 11-13), I find myself struggling to teach them to change speeds. It’s not simply that their fast speed is too slow (which it is), but that their fast speed is too close to their cruise speed. To the point where the two speeds are barely distinguishable.
This isn’t a new phenomenon to those who coach young swimmers, 7 through 10. They sort of do warm-up at the same speed they do the set. Coaches across the country yell at them every day to slow down when they do drills. I think there is a reason for this beyond that the young have misplaced energy. Our ability to teach slow swimming is critical to teaching faster swimming.
I’ve never coached track or cross country but I have a suspicion it’s easier to get 11-13 year old kids to run slowly than it is to get them to swim slowly. Why? Because of the basic fact that if you slow down enough in swimming you sink. No one wants to sink, and when you get that sinking feeling in the water you instinctually move your arms and legs faster to stay afloat and get to safety (the wall at the other end of the pool). Remind yourself of this by watching your lesson program for a while. The majority of those kids, and I see it even worse the older they get, are thrashing around in the water, they can’t swim slowly. Or watch some non-swimmer teenage boys at the outdoor pool on a summer day. You’ll see heads whipping back and forth, arms flailing, feet pounding the water. It’s ugly for sure, but those guys have one speed and one speed only, and that is the “get to the other side so you don’t drown” speed.
So what happens when you try to get young competitive swimmers to swim slowly? Well, most struggle quite a bit. I’ve had kids do “super slow” freestyle 25s, which is freestyle with a continuous (so no pausing), but very slow arm recovery. When they get it right, it looks great (put fins on them to start), but some of the kids just cannot slow down (and it’s often the weaker swimmers). “Slow down your arms” “No, I mean really slow down your arms” “No, I mean like ½ that speed” “Come on! GO S-L-O-W-L-Y.” Try it sometime and you will see.
After doing this drill unsuccessfully with different groups and ages on multiple teams, I thought that if the kids I coach can’t swim slowly with good technique, how can I expect them to swim fast with good technique? Here is an anecdote that illustrates the point. When I was coaching at SwimMAC I had a 9-10 group for a bit. Once in a while they would be in the pool at the same time as the post-graduate group, guys like Cullen Jones, Nick Brunelli, Nick Thoman, Josh Schneider, etc. I’d have the little guys and girls go watch them swim for 10 minutes or so. On more than one occasion, from more than one little swimmer, they would watch and say, “How can they go so fast, it looks like they aren’t trying!” At first I just thought they couldn’t tell what their repeat times were, so I would read them off. But it didn’t help, they still thought they weren’t trying. What the kids were noticing was the low stroke rates during the majority of practice and their efficiency. Yes, great swimmers make it look easy, but it’s more than that, it IS easier for them. The non-swimmer racing his buddy at the summer league pool, with his head out of the water, is going much slower with much more effort than a great swimmer.
Well, back to my point about slow swimming. If you can get your kids to slow down many good things will start to happen. They will be able to coordinate the movements of swimming more easily. They will be able to change speeds more dramatically. Going back to track, I love watching the 1,500, 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 on the track because the runners have such dramatic “kicks” at the end where they go from their normal pace (which is way fast for me or you but not for them) to sprint speed on the final lap or two. It’s awesome to watch. If your swimmers can learn to swim slowly, not only will they feel the change of speed when it’s time to go fast, they will have more energy to change speeds.
We tax kids too much with aerobic swimming done at speeds too fast. I’m not an interval driven coach, and from my understanding of the science, 20-30 seconds rest on aerobic repeats of medium length (100s-300s) is appropriate. Tell them to slow down, to relax, get into an “aerobic groove.” And then when it’s time to go fast, they will have the energy to increase their stroke rate, power and ultimately speed. If your athletes are swimming warm-up and pre-sets at roughly the same stroke rates as highly demanding main sets, something is wrong. They are training in a tired gray zone, where they are working too hard for little return.
Another story to illustrate the point, as relayed to me by a fellow coach. One day Ricky Berens was home and stopped by a SwimMAC practice to get in a workout. Early in the set they were doing some 200s, and Ricky was holding 2:00, not a fast speed for him at all. And if you have ever seen him swim, he is very long and at that speed must have been swimming at a low tempo. Well, a high school boy was excited to be training with Ricky and wanted to stay with him the whole set. Coaches, that’s what we want, right? Well, about halfway through the set the kid is just killing himself to keep up, pounding the water, really high stroke rate and he starting to hurt badly. Ricky turns to him and says, “You are trying way too hard.”
Wait a second, I thought we wanted our kids to try hard? Was Ricky advocating slacking off? What Ricky was picking up on was the kid’s level of effort v. the return on that effort in speed. His high level of effort can be seen through too high of a stroke rate or overall fatigue (high heart rate as well no doubt). The high school kid was working too hard, he lacked efficiency, and you don’t learn efficiency by “going hard” the whole workout at a high stroke rate! And the metabolic cost of swimming the wrong parts of the workout or set at too high of a level inevitably result in the fast swimming being too slow.
At the end of the set Ricky can blow by that hard working kid because he has expended less energy throughout the set and has “somewhere to go” with his stroke rate i.e. it isn’t maxed out yet. Go watch Sun Yang’s world record 1500 from Shanghai, look at that change of speed on the final 100! That change of stroke rate! It’s mind boggling, and it looks like what guys do on the track – the “kick.” Don’t we all want our kids to have that kick? Well, slow them down first.
And this is what the faster swimmers in your group are already doing. It’s easier for them to do the first part of workout, they have more energy to sprint at the end. The middle of the group is trying to keep up the whole time, and by “keeping up” I mean working too hard for not enough speed. And then it’s time to go fast at the end of the set and there is nothing there. Ever push a swimmer and get the response, “I’m trying as hard as I can!” And that’s the problem right there, I bet he or she has been trying too hard for too much of the workout. Tell that swimmer to go in the back of the lane for warm-up and pre-set and see what happens on the main set.
If a kid barely descends a set, is the problem the last 100 or the first? I think I’ve made my point. Remember this coaches, do your aerobic swimming slowly, especially in the 11-13 age group. If you give them enough rest, and set them up with good strokes and kicks, in time that slow aerobic swimming will become what you want it to – low stroke rate, low energy swimming that is actually not so slow. Teach them to do dramatic negative splitting: 100s or 200s where they go extra slow the 1st half, and then extra fast the 2nd half. What a confidence builder when they get into a race and blow by people at the end!
One final story. I’m coaching a little 11 year old who loves distance and he only had one event left he hadn’t competed in this season, the 200 breaststroke. So, as his nature, he had to do it before the end of the season. I said ok. After he does the race for the first time he says to me, “On the first 100 I felt like I was dying because everyone was out in front of me. But on the second 100, I don’t know, it was like I was reborn and I caught up.” Teach your swimmers to swim slowly so they can all be “reborn” and swim fast at the end.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Friday, November 4, 2011
Our Brains Evolved to Coordinate Movement
As coaches we are in the business of teaching movement, one of the most complex things in nature:
http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_wolpert_the_real_reason_for_brains.html?awesm=on.ted.com_Wolpert&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=on.ted.com-static&utm_source=t.co&utm_content=awesm-publisher
charlie
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Trying Not to Be Blind to Our Blindness
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/magazine/dont-blink-the-hazards-of-confidence.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&pagewanted=all
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Two Nice Reads
Check these out. First link is to an interesting research study about pushing athletes to perform at their best. The 2nd is to a video interview with the 100 year old man who just ran the Toronto marathon. File that under the "nothing is impossible" column:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/health/nutrition/20best.html?_r=2&emc=eta1&pagewanted=all
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15358137
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/health/nutrition/20best.html?_r=2&emc=eta1&pagewanted=all
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15358137
Thursday, September 1, 2011
The Emotions of Coaching Part 2
In part 2 of this series on the emotions of coaching, I want to explore the issues new coaches face, and the particular emotional characteristics needed to work effectively with teenagers. I think both topics connect around trust, because trust takes time to build and the older the athlete, the longer that process.
As coaches we are often in the position of changing teams, or changing roles within a team. And because of that, the kids we coach, especially the teenagers, have many years of history with other coaches. We do not coach in a vacuum, and their history of good or bad experiences with previous coaches is always at work in the present moment – the past is always with us. For those of you who have been running your system in the same place for 5 or more years, you do not currently face the same challenges, but new assistants may.
A new coach (and by “new” I mean having worked for a team for a year or less) has to win over the trust of the athletes. Do not confuse trust with how much they like you. The swimmers may like you as a person before trusting you as a coach. Until they have a track record with you, or until you have a track record with other swimmers they know, they will be unsure of your effectiveness. This isn’t usually a calculated, cognitive skepticism on their part, it’s emotional. And it’s also historical, they are likely to have had at least one coach prior to you that they succeeded with, and that coach will be their standard. And do we not sometimes do the same to them? We probably have had athletes in our past who did very well under us. Do they not become the standard by which we judge our new athletes? Neither mindset is fair or useful, the more you (and they) can start fresh with a blank slate, the faster a real connection can be made.
The new coach must be aware of this dynamic and appreciate that only an accumulation of good coaching over time will build trust. The new coach must be patient with the kids and not take comments like, “The old coach told me to do it this way” personally. The past is always present, you must understand that as they learn your new ways.
Part of trust building are “tests” the athletes will put you through. I use quotes around tests because they may not be testing you consciously, but they are doing it. They will see if you are consistent in your rules, your promises and your reactions. It’s imperative to be consistent with kids of all ages. Don’t say, “We will start this set over if anyone doesn’t streamline” if you aren’t prepared to start the set over! And if you make that rule not just for today but always, you really better be ready to stop the best set of the season! You can’t lecture them about treating each other with respect and then join in when they are teasing each other or making jokes. You can’t say “no cursing” and then not call someone out after they curse – what you allow, you endorse. Threats or promises that aren’t kept break trust. This is just like the back and forth they have with their parents, testing boundaries, testing resolve, and that is all a natural part of forming their own self-identity. I’ve found the better athletes actually do more of this. The most obedient, most cooperative kids are often lower performing on average. A group of sheep isn’t the best group.
As a side note, almost all of this applies to the parents as well. Their good or bad history with a previous coach (or with the club in general) is always at work in your interactions. Some will be thrilled the old coach is gone, some will be mad, and some will test your resolve. Youth factors into that as well, the younger the coach, the longer it takes for the parents to respect you. Do what you say, and say what you do. Be fair, friendly and consistent.
With the athletes on deck, beware of overcompensation. Say you want to prove to them you are a good coach, so you keep referencing the success of kids on your old team. Do that often enough and they’ll think you don’t value them. Or say you want them to believe you know the science of swimming, so you talk over their heads using big terms. Keep that up and they will tune you out. Or say you want them to like you, so you make lots of jokes and tell funny stories. Too much of that and you have a group that sees you as the “easy coach.” Or say you want them to think you are tough and that they must respect you, so you yell and punish and snap at them. Too much of that generates hatred. Overcompensation is a manifestation of insecurity. Examine that, address it in yourself, and you will be a better coach.
The athletes will also judge you based on how the experienced staff talk about you, talk to you and act around you. You may not be able to control that, but you can control your reactions to them. It’s easy to act friendly toward the other coaches you like, but perhaps the one you don’t get along with was the favorite of the best swimmer in your new group. The swimmers judge you against their histories and the attitudes toward you by people they respect.
There is certainly more to talk about regarding the challenges of being a new coach, but let’s move into the emotional challenges that are particular to coaching teenagers. I’m thinking more senior age swimmers here than the 13-14s. If I had to put my finger on the emotional challenge that is front and center each day with a teenager it is “attitude.” Some of them are blessed with positive attitudes; they smile, they work hard, they make jokes, they listen, they are respectful, which makes them the ones we like to see each day. In others, the attitude can range from grumpy/whiney, to sarcastic/not caring, to downright hostile. What’s a coach to do with all this in his underpaid, over-worked, face every day?
When Bobby Cox, the long-time manager of the Atlanta Braves, retired after the 2010 season, he was asked by a journalist what advice he would give young managers coming up. He had a one word response: “Patience.” You must have great patience. And you must have perspective on where they are at in their own lives. It is a bit cliché but nonetheless true, you don’t know what’s been going on in the past 22 hours at school or at home. They may feel like they deserve a pat on the back for even making it to practice that day, and then when you hammer them on their bad attitude, it’s going to get ugly.
I don’t know about you, but looking back I must have been unpleasant to coach in high school. I won’t get into all the reasons for that, but trust me, I was no ideal swimmer. Were you? Actually, if you were, if you were the apple of the coach’s eye, if you were really fast and hard working and the team captain, and if you won the award for “best guy ever” at the end of the year, I’m not sure you will make a great coach. Well, maybe you will, but you will have to work hard at understanding the rest of us who were jerks as teenagers. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to be you and see all these kids who you were better than as a swimmer, and a person, constantly screwing up, yet again! Empathy will be your goal.
For me, and for most of you, just try to remember what it was like to be that age for a little while. Let all those negative memories come flooding back and you will start to be less reactive to their attitudes. And that’s the key, less reactive in the moment. Accept their failings and shortcomings, accept them as people whose brains are far from fully developed, whose judgment is impaired, whose life experience is tiny, whose identity is not set, and whose main goal is being liked by the other teenagers. If you can do that, then you can relax, be patient, be yourself more fully, and keep the focus on instruction, correction and motivation.
I know some of you are squirming right now thinking, “This is some touchy-feely nonsense. Our job is to make these kids better swimmers, better people, improve all those things you just said to accept. This is sports, you got to be tough to win!” Well, I agree actually. I think the best way to change someone is to bring them closer, not reject them. You accept them as people, with their faults and all, and then you nudge them to be better than they are. You nudge them every day, and if they don’t interpret what you are saying as a rejection and devaluation of them as people, then they will be more likely to change.
When a teenager really gets under your skin, try to take a step back and look at him/her as a child. When I would coach 9-10s, me and another coach of the same age group would always reminder ourselves (and the parents) “they are only 10!” when our expectations would get too high, or our frustration would boil over. Well, that teenager is 16, and don’t forget that while he may be as big as an adult, or try to talk like one, he is still a child.
9 out of 10 kids are doing their best each day, and what we are trying to do is teach them to reach past their current best to find out they can do way more, be far better, and be much faster. The motto of the Leadville 100 mile ultramarathon is, “You are tougher than you think you are, you can do more than you think you can.” Accept, instruct, correct, motivate, and be patient. Repeat daily.
As coaches we are often in the position of changing teams, or changing roles within a team. And because of that, the kids we coach, especially the teenagers, have many years of history with other coaches. We do not coach in a vacuum, and their history of good or bad experiences with previous coaches is always at work in the present moment – the past is always with us. For those of you who have been running your system in the same place for 5 or more years, you do not currently face the same challenges, but new assistants may.
A new coach (and by “new” I mean having worked for a team for a year or less) has to win over the trust of the athletes. Do not confuse trust with how much they like you. The swimmers may like you as a person before trusting you as a coach. Until they have a track record with you, or until you have a track record with other swimmers they know, they will be unsure of your effectiveness. This isn’t usually a calculated, cognitive skepticism on their part, it’s emotional. And it’s also historical, they are likely to have had at least one coach prior to you that they succeeded with, and that coach will be their standard. And do we not sometimes do the same to them? We probably have had athletes in our past who did very well under us. Do they not become the standard by which we judge our new athletes? Neither mindset is fair or useful, the more you (and they) can start fresh with a blank slate, the faster a real connection can be made.
The new coach must be aware of this dynamic and appreciate that only an accumulation of good coaching over time will build trust. The new coach must be patient with the kids and not take comments like, “The old coach told me to do it this way” personally. The past is always present, you must understand that as they learn your new ways.
Part of trust building are “tests” the athletes will put you through. I use quotes around tests because they may not be testing you consciously, but they are doing it. They will see if you are consistent in your rules, your promises and your reactions. It’s imperative to be consistent with kids of all ages. Don’t say, “We will start this set over if anyone doesn’t streamline” if you aren’t prepared to start the set over! And if you make that rule not just for today but always, you really better be ready to stop the best set of the season! You can’t lecture them about treating each other with respect and then join in when they are teasing each other or making jokes. You can’t say “no cursing” and then not call someone out after they curse – what you allow, you endorse. Threats or promises that aren’t kept break trust. This is just like the back and forth they have with their parents, testing boundaries, testing resolve, and that is all a natural part of forming their own self-identity. I’ve found the better athletes actually do more of this. The most obedient, most cooperative kids are often lower performing on average. A group of sheep isn’t the best group.
As a side note, almost all of this applies to the parents as well. Their good or bad history with a previous coach (or with the club in general) is always at work in your interactions. Some will be thrilled the old coach is gone, some will be mad, and some will test your resolve. Youth factors into that as well, the younger the coach, the longer it takes for the parents to respect you. Do what you say, and say what you do. Be fair, friendly and consistent.
With the athletes on deck, beware of overcompensation. Say you want to prove to them you are a good coach, so you keep referencing the success of kids on your old team. Do that often enough and they’ll think you don’t value them. Or say you want them to believe you know the science of swimming, so you talk over their heads using big terms. Keep that up and they will tune you out. Or say you want them to like you, so you make lots of jokes and tell funny stories. Too much of that and you have a group that sees you as the “easy coach.” Or say you want them to think you are tough and that they must respect you, so you yell and punish and snap at them. Too much of that generates hatred. Overcompensation is a manifestation of insecurity. Examine that, address it in yourself, and you will be a better coach.
The athletes will also judge you based on how the experienced staff talk about you, talk to you and act around you. You may not be able to control that, but you can control your reactions to them. It’s easy to act friendly toward the other coaches you like, but perhaps the one you don’t get along with was the favorite of the best swimmer in your new group. The swimmers judge you against their histories and the attitudes toward you by people they respect.
There is certainly more to talk about regarding the challenges of being a new coach, but let’s move into the emotional challenges that are particular to coaching teenagers. I’m thinking more senior age swimmers here than the 13-14s. If I had to put my finger on the emotional challenge that is front and center each day with a teenager it is “attitude.” Some of them are blessed with positive attitudes; they smile, they work hard, they make jokes, they listen, they are respectful, which makes them the ones we like to see each day. In others, the attitude can range from grumpy/whiney, to sarcastic/not caring, to downright hostile. What’s a coach to do with all this in his underpaid, over-worked, face every day?
When Bobby Cox, the long-time manager of the Atlanta Braves, retired after the 2010 season, he was asked by a journalist what advice he would give young managers coming up. He had a one word response: “Patience.” You must have great patience. And you must have perspective on where they are at in their own lives. It is a bit cliché but nonetheless true, you don’t know what’s been going on in the past 22 hours at school or at home. They may feel like they deserve a pat on the back for even making it to practice that day, and then when you hammer them on their bad attitude, it’s going to get ugly.
I don’t know about you, but looking back I must have been unpleasant to coach in high school. I won’t get into all the reasons for that, but trust me, I was no ideal swimmer. Were you? Actually, if you were, if you were the apple of the coach’s eye, if you were really fast and hard working and the team captain, and if you won the award for “best guy ever” at the end of the year, I’m not sure you will make a great coach. Well, maybe you will, but you will have to work hard at understanding the rest of us who were jerks as teenagers. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to be you and see all these kids who you were better than as a swimmer, and a person, constantly screwing up, yet again! Empathy will be your goal.
For me, and for most of you, just try to remember what it was like to be that age for a little while. Let all those negative memories come flooding back and you will start to be less reactive to their attitudes. And that’s the key, less reactive in the moment. Accept their failings and shortcomings, accept them as people whose brains are far from fully developed, whose judgment is impaired, whose life experience is tiny, whose identity is not set, and whose main goal is being liked by the other teenagers. If you can do that, then you can relax, be patient, be yourself more fully, and keep the focus on instruction, correction and motivation.
I know some of you are squirming right now thinking, “This is some touchy-feely nonsense. Our job is to make these kids better swimmers, better people, improve all those things you just said to accept. This is sports, you got to be tough to win!” Well, I agree actually. I think the best way to change someone is to bring them closer, not reject them. You accept them as people, with their faults and all, and then you nudge them to be better than they are. You nudge them every day, and if they don’t interpret what you are saying as a rejection and devaluation of them as people, then they will be more likely to change.
When a teenager really gets under your skin, try to take a step back and look at him/her as a child. When I would coach 9-10s, me and another coach of the same age group would always reminder ourselves (and the parents) “they are only 10!” when our expectations would get too high, or our frustration would boil over. Well, that teenager is 16, and don’t forget that while he may be as big as an adult, or try to talk like one, he is still a child.
9 out of 10 kids are doing their best each day, and what we are trying to do is teach them to reach past their current best to find out they can do way more, be far better, and be much faster. The motto of the Leadville 100 mile ultramarathon is, “You are tougher than you think you are, you can do more than you think you can.” Accept, instruct, correct, motivate, and be patient. Repeat daily.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Quick Thoughts on Being a Coach
This comes from the author John Maxwell. On what a coach should do:
People are insecure . . . . . . . . . . . So give them confidence.
People like to feel special . . . . . . . So sincerely compliment them.
People want a better tomorrow . . . . So show them hope.
People lack direction . . . . . . . . . . So navigate for them.
People are self-centered . . . . . . . . So speak to their needs first.
People get low emotionally . . . . . . . So encourage them.
People want success . . . . . . . . . . . So help them win.
People are insecure . . . . . . . . . . . So give them confidence.
People like to feel special . . . . . . . So sincerely compliment them.
People want a better tomorrow . . . . So show them hope.
People lack direction . . . . . . . . . . So navigate for them.
People are self-centered . . . . . . . . So speak to their needs first.
People get low emotionally . . . . . . . So encourage them.
People want success . . . . . . . . . . . So help them win.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Doing 1 Thing Really Well
I got wrapped up in the end of long course season, didn't have time to post.
I put out a lot of quotes on Twitter but this one, coming from Chris Ritter, has stuck with me more than others: “I don’t fear the man who practiced 10,000 kicks one time. I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times” – Bruce Lee
I used to kid around that I would give up my average abilities in many sports to be remarkably good at one, even if it were something like darts. Just to be that incredibly skilled at one thing held great appeal for me. I have made peace with that fact that my skills are spread evenly across many areas, but I still admire someone who does one thing really well. Why? It's the almost obsessive pursuit of the best, the years of training, refining, perfecting. And the result of that is something extraordinary.
I like the restaurant that is known far and wide for doing one thing really well. Whether it's barbeque, or burgers, or roast duck, or soup, or sandwiches, or high-end french food, the place becomes a mecca. A place like that makes an impact. It's opposite is the diner, where the menu is gigantic and the food is ok but not great.
We are bombarded with knowledge of all there is out there, all the types of things we could be doing. The endless stream of new information, new ideas, new approaches: "You still do/like _that_? I used to, but now I'm onto _this_." The cult of the new, it's like a disease in NYC.
I too don't fear the man who has done 10,000 kicks one time. Take the time to get really good at fewer things
I put out a lot of quotes on Twitter but this one, coming from Chris Ritter, has stuck with me more than others: “I don’t fear the man who practiced 10,000 kicks one time. I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times” – Bruce Lee
I used to kid around that I would give up my average abilities in many sports to be remarkably good at one, even if it were something like darts. Just to be that incredibly skilled at one thing held great appeal for me. I have made peace with that fact that my skills are spread evenly across many areas, but I still admire someone who does one thing really well. Why? It's the almost obsessive pursuit of the best, the years of training, refining, perfecting. And the result of that is something extraordinary.
I like the restaurant that is known far and wide for doing one thing really well. Whether it's barbeque, or burgers, or roast duck, or soup, or sandwiches, or high-end french food, the place becomes a mecca. A place like that makes an impact. It's opposite is the diner, where the menu is gigantic and the food is ok but not great.
We are bombarded with knowledge of all there is out there, all the types of things we could be doing. The endless stream of new information, new ideas, new approaches: "You still do/like _that_? I used to, but now I'm onto _this_." The cult of the new, it's like a disease in NYC.
I too don't fear the man who has done 10,000 kicks one time. Take the time to get really good at fewer things
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