Patience - The Key to Developing the Future

Posted by Glenn Mills on Oct 24, 2012 02:26PM

When presented with hundreds of swimmers, who have hundreds if not thousands of parents watching them at each weekend competition, how do you hold back when you (and all those parents) see one swimmer with true potential?   How do you hold back from pushing forward too fast?

This question is based on a specific story of two swimmers, one who matured early and one who is maturing late.  Both swimmers have tall fathers, not always the best indicator, but a good indicator that each has the potential to reach the size that can get them to a higher level than they might have thought possible in the sport.  As a coach, you know that physical maturation is coming.  The question is:  How can you convince both swimmers (and all those parents) that huge patience is needed in order for both swimmers to reach their potential?  This task becomes more difficult when the early maturing swimmer is succeeding despite poor technique and stroke patterns that just aren't the ones used at the top level of the sport.  

The swimmer that is late in development is conscious that he is smaller than his peers, a varied population of 13-year-old boys, some who've had a massive growth spurt and some who have not.   Typically, the ones dominating this age group are boys who have grown, or matured, early.  Even with poor technique, because of size and strength, they can muscle their way to victory.  Our late bloomer is impatient for growth, but has committed himself to improving his technique, to mastering great walls and dolphin kicks.   In his favor is the fact that there is far less pressure on him from the outside environment because he's not as fast as his technique indicates.

The key to working with a late maturer is giving them praise and hope based on the skills they're developing NOW and that will be habit after they grow.  If you can keep these swimmers excited about the sport, you have a winning long-term combination.  The psychology and excitement of improvement makes it very easy to keep a swimmer in the sport for a long time.  When improvement stagnates, so does the excitement.

The swimmer that matures early is seeing the sport from a completely different perspective.  Typically these swimmers are at the top of the age-group, and are generally happy with their victories or results.  They've been able to succeed to this point simply by being bigger and stronger than their competitors.  The one thing we can all be certain of is that, eventually, growth stops for some, and others will catch up and even surpass the early maturers.  The psychological edge and excitement factor that fuel the early developer may fade as the late developers start to grow.  If and when the early developer starts to lose to some of those late developers (the kids he's always beaten), it's a very tough pill to swallow. 

There will always be swimmers who are dominant from age group to senior.  There will also be late-developers who hit their stride at just the right time.  When the psychological and physiological development hit their peak at the same time, it's the perfect storm of long-term athletics.  When the athlete is excited to train and has good technique just as the body starts to mature, massive improvement starts to take place, which typically leads to more training, more excitement, more enjoyment, and more success.

When we see an early maturer start to show promise, we look at the long-term goal and potential of the body type, the attitude, the work ethic, the parental support, and then make a decision of how to move forward.  If an early development swimmer is having success with a sub-par technical stroke, it's our duty as coach to pull them back, even if that means slowing them down, to set them up for long-term success with new technique that opens a new potential for that swimmer.  Early development swimmers have the ability to mask technique flaws through size and strength.  The outward perception of success MUST be overcome by the knowledge a coach and staff has of what is truly a stroke with long-term potential.

To hold an athlete back, just as they're starting to show massive potential, is one of the toughest things that can be done as a coach, parent, or athlete.  This is something that has to be decided upon, agreed upon, with a long-term goal and plan in place.  All parties must understand that for a little while, even if it means sacrificing the trophies of a season or a year, the swimmer must take as much time as necessary to develop a stroke that gives him a new potential.   By sacrificing a spec in time, he could gain a long-term career.

The coach and staff must evaluate each swimmer's stroke, technique, and attitude about the sport.  Then, the swimmer, parents, and other coaches with whom the swimmer will be involved must come to an understanding that the outside world may not understand.  If the swimmer displays technique that hasn't been seen at the top levels of the sport, then the "team" has to buy into the idea that training may need to be paused until technique is corrected.    While great swimmers often have "signatures" or variations in technique that give them an edge, there are some absolutes in high-level swimming:  streamlines, extension, ability to leverage the water, great underwater dolphins, excellent timing of strokes, and awareness of drag.  While there are many ways to go about these things, the "team" must determine if the technique being shown by any young swimmer IS the technique that would be used if they were swimming at Olympic Trials or, better yet, the Olympic Games.

Not every swimmer will make it to that level.  There WILL, however, be members of your team with that potential IF the "team" understands there IS potential, and evaluates each movement based on the end, rather than the present.  Not ever swimmer has the potential, and while EVERY swimmer deserves to be treated in this way, not every swimmer wants to give the commitment it takes to reach their potential.

With the Olympics just ending, there is massive excitement in the sport of swimming.  While some people are sitting back and enjoying the success, others are already diligently working to be (or coach) the next round of people who will participate in 2016.  Others still are working toward those who will participate in 2020 and 2024.

An agreed-upon, planned approach and long-term goal of what COULD BE, has to be used every day, starting today.   Do you have the patience to peer into the future and see the athlete on the blocks at Olympic Trials, with a real shot at participating in another heat?

See the future. BE the future.

Posted from GoSwim.com

“Normal People Don’t Do Deliberate Practice”

Guy Edson, ASCA Staff

First of all, there is nothing wrong with being “normal”--- it’s just that in athletics, and in scholarship, and in arts, and in business, and in charity, and in faith, and in relationships we take note of the EXTRA-ordinary person, sometimes with a bit of envy, but more often with a big smile, being happy for the person and what they have been able to accomplish.  What sets apart the normal from the extra-ordinary is oftentimes the result of deliberate practice.

Psychologist K. Anders Ericsson, a professor of Psychology at Florida State University, has been a pioneer in researching deliberate practice and what it means. According to Ericsson:  "People believe that because expert performance is qualitatively different from normal performance the expert performer must be endowed with characteristics qualitatively different from those of normal adults… We agree that expert performance is qualitatively different from normal performance and even that expert performers have characteristics and abilities that are qualitatively different from or at least outside the range of those of normal adults. However, we deny that these differences are immutable, that is, due to innate talent. …we argue that the differences between expert performers and normal adults reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to improve performance in a specific domain."

“deliberate effort”

One of Ericsson's core findings is that how expert one becomes at a skill has more to do with how one practices than with merely performing a skill a large number of times. An expert breaks down the skills that are required to be expert and focuses on improving those skill chunks during practice or day-to-day activities, often paired with immediate coaching feedback.

One time I said to our senior team, “We are now going to do 39 turns and in between each turn you have about 18 yards of swimming for deliberate, and conscious thought to evaluate your turn and make an adjustment for the next one.”  Most just swam a 1000 free.

Swimming is sometimes too coach dominated taking away the opportunity for the athletes to connect the dots on their own.  Counsilman said, During the initial learning stage the person much use the higher centers of his brain (the cerebral cortex) to perform the movement.  He literally thinks out his task.”

“THINKS OUT THE TASK.”

Over the years I have had a handful of swimmers who deliberately practiced.   They often get in the water early or stay late.  They try new things.  They’re conscious.  They show me things and they ask questions.  They remind me of great basketball players who go to the gym for a few hours when no one else is around and practice deliberate hoop shooting.

Sorry to say that for most swimmers it’s just “swim a thousand free.”  But for the extra-ordinary ones it’s, “39 deliberate turns, thinking and evaluating.”  Ready go.”

Guy Edson has been on staff of the American Swimming Coaches Association since 1988 and is a part time swimming coach with a local club team.

THE COACH-PARENT RELATIONSHIP

BY TERRY LAUGHLIN

Originally printed in Swimming World Magazine July 1989, Adapted and used with permission of the author

Let’s take a look at the coach-parent relationship from the coach's perspective.

It can't be denied that a small per­centage of those who go into coach­ing do so from a desire to feed an oversized ego, for the opportunity to give orders. . . and see them fol­lowed, and that such people can be high-handed, authoritarian and dif­ficult to deal with. Other coaches start out as reasonable people, but harsh experience in parent relation­ships hardens them into an attitude that "It's my way or the highway."

Most coaches, though, are reason­able and responsible souls who enter the profession because coaching can offer a rewarding lifestyle.

Coaching is an opportunity to work with highly motivated, goal ­oriented kids-the cream of the younger generation-to inspire and teach, and ultimately to see the con­crete results of your work. But to earn those rewards, you're asked to work long and unusual hours at far lower compensation than you could earn in the business world. Coaching can be lonely in a way because you give up much of the companionship of the adult world to spend so many of your hours with children; many coaches are reluctant to form friend­ships with parents because of the danger of criticism that you're too cozy with certain "factions." If you have a family, you spend more time with other people's kids than you do with your own.

You may become addicted, as I did, to the sense of mission you enjoy in coaching. . . . and which is lacking in other occupations; but the slings and arrows of dissatisfied parents become painful in light of the sacri­fices you make for what you feel is a basically praiseworthy and selfless occupation. For many coaches, even­tually the negative side of the ledger outweighs the positive side, and good, experienced coaches depart the arena for greener pas­tures . . . to be replaced by younger coaches who lack their maturity, wisdom and developed perspective.

What can be done about it? How can the proper and mutually bene­ficial trusting relationship grow be­tween coach and parent?

The first step is for both coaches and parents to give more than lip service to the philosophy that their shared objective-and that of the entire program-is the multi-dimen­sional development of human poten­tial in children. Second is for parents to make an up-front as­sumption that the coach does, with reasonable consistency, devote his best efforts to that end.

In such an instance, the niggling criticism will all but disappear be­cause those objectives obviously tri­vialize the ordinary contentious is­sues such as who is selected to participate on a particular relay or start in a particular position.

Maybe what's needed is a con­tract to be signed between coaches and parents at the outset of their association. Here are the provisions I'd like to see in such a contract:

1. I as COACH pledge to make the best interests of the children in the program the priority in my heart and mind. You as PARENT pledge to trust that my interests match your own in this common goal, though our thoughts on how it may best be attained will sometimes differ.
2. I as COACH pledge to try to maintain the delicate state of balance between what may be best for the individual (your child) and the needs of the group (the team). You as PARENT pledge to remember that if on occasion your child's interest may seem to be subordinated to those of the group, in the long run the benefits of membership compen­sate for short-term inconvenience.
3. I as COACH pledge to always communicate with you honestly, openly and in a mature manner, and to be approachable and receptive to your reasonable concerns. You as PARENT pledge to broach your con­cerns with me directly, in an appro­priate time and place, and in a spirit of fundamental mutual interest. The PARENT also pledges to refrain from fruitless discussions of such concerns with third parties.
4. I as COACH pledge my best efforts to provide your child with a range of growth experiences-some satisfying and fulfilling, others challenging and frustrating-to develop his or her ability to respond appro­priately to the full spectrum of ex­periences in life. You as PARENT pledge to allow your child those ex­periences fully and completely with­out attempting to filter, protect or insulate the child from those that may be momentarily negative.
5. I as COACH pledge to ac­knowledge my frailties, imperfec­tions, my humanity, if you will, and within those constraints to strive to be consistent and fair in my dealings with team members. You as PARENT pledge to be forgiving of individual actions with which you don't completely agree, while focus­ing on the overall objective-that we're both working to help your child grow up to be a stronger, more self-confident and better adjusted person.

The best analogy I can think of to sum -up is that of baking a cake. Take any individual ingredient ­flour, baking powder, baking soda, etc., and put it on your tongue dur­ing the preparation process and you'll likely grimace at the taste. Mix them all together with care, bake at the proper temperature for the right amount of time, and serve-the result is delicious. So it is with the coach's actions.

Take any one individually-as­signing a child to a remedial practice group, verbally disciplining an er­rant child, making a difficult and occasionally subjective decision on a relay or allowing a child to stew temporarily in the bitter fruits of some adversity-and they might be the cause for parental distemper.

But view them as part of a contin­uum that, balanced with timely en­couragement, congratulations for good effort and the sharing of wis­dom, results in the child growing and maturing, and they seem appro­priate and proper. The best advice I can give to parents is to start each season with a strong commitment to support the aims of the program and the methods of the coach, and remember that commitment when you're tempted to critically examine some action of the coach out of the context of his total relationship and interaction with your child.

Reprinted from www.usaswimming.org