As coaches we expect our athletes to set goals, work towards accomplishing them, and reset them when the goals are achieved. As coaches and roll models we should follow the same plan for success. Performance goals are always an easy start...How fast do we want swimmer "A" to swim the 100 Free by the season ending championship meet? It makes sense and gets you started in the right direction. But you must also consider setting more personal goals to help you stay focused on the bigger picture.
Last season was one of the most successful seasons in recent memory when you take the total number of swims, the total number of improved swims, and do the math. It was the highest improvement percentage that I think I have had since coaching my summer league teams in the 90's. Yet, I let the pressure of winning and scoring points at the big meet get to me. I felt I had had a disappointing season based on my perception of the last meet. That doesn't even make sense because, my kids were awesome at the last meet. For whatever reason, I saw the mistakes, the losses, all the negative parts of the meet, while I had kids swimming best times, breaking team records, and swimming times that were ranked highest in the nation. It took a combination of some great support from my co-coaches, my wife, and my own swim families to finally look back and see all the great things that took place all season.
I knew I wasn't seeing the big picture. So, I started this season by sitting down and thinking. REALLY THINKING. I thought about the BEST seasons that I had as a coach and why those seasons were successful. It seemed the best seasons were a combination of summer league and early career club seasons. That's weird. Aren't I getting better as a coach? I certainly know more and have more experience than when I coached those kids back then. I came to the conclusion that those seasons were the ones that I had no expectations. Thats right....No expectations. No pressure to win. No outside factors to dilute what makes a great coach do his thing. What makes me successful is my passion for teaching kids to be good people and good athletes. I coach to put the passion of swimming and sports in to kids who are willing to work hard to become better athletes and people.
With this enlightened thinking, I set some personal goals for the new season. And looking back, I think I did a great job of following the plan. The most significant goals that I set were self improving goals. The kind of goals that make you a better person. I figured that I needed to get back to that "summer league" mentality where each kid looked forward to the next day and what fun and exciting things they were going to get to do with their friends and coach.
As a summer league coach, I never yelled. As a club coach, I yell a lot. I need to stop yelling so much. As a summer league coach, I never threatened to kick a kid out of practice. As a club coach, I threaten to kick kids out of practice for not working hard or not paying attention. I need to stop threatining kids for any reason. As a summer leage coach, I was never grumpy. As a club coach, I get grumpy sometimes and the kids pay for it and that makes me feel terrible. I need to find a way to love what I do EVERY DAY and feel good about the way I treat my kids. Why was I such a good summer league coach? Because I came to the pool each day with only one expectation...HAVE FUN! We never kept score at meets so there was no pressure to win and the focus was on improvement. My best personal goal for the new season was to "Keep the summer league mentality". The next personal goal that kept me thinking on the positive side of things was to "Never use, IF YOU DON'T, sentences. You know, the kind of sentences that start with, "if you don't", and end in, "I'll kick you out of practice" or something that a child fears. Threatening may work for awhile, but it works through negative chanels that create fear. It is soo much nicer to have kids that work hard, pay attention, and listen to your every word because they love what they do and they are passionate about learning and getting better.
After the amazing season that we just had, it is clear to me that I have regained sight of the bigger picture. To keep young athletes in this gruelling sport, we must feel good about ourselves first. Then we can teach and share our passion for the sport of swimming in positive ways that create amazing results.
