Team Building Exercise

This season the individuals in my Gold group have had a difficult time finding their roles within the group.  Leaders have not emerged and no one seems to want to step up and take a chance.  Some followers are simply looking to the person next to them for guidance while others are completely in "la-la land".  This is somewhat normal for 9-10 year-old children, but I still expect the group to balance itself out by finding its leaders and developing great followers.
Earlier this week, I kicked my Gold group out of practice 30 minutes early for this exact reason.  I had talked quite a bit about leadership and being a good follower in the pursuit of developing a great team atmosphere where each individual worked to help the team.  Unfortunately, my kids were missing the point and perhaps underestimating my passion for the importance of teamwork and leadership.  Sometimes it is important to SHOCK the system and create an unmistakable and very dramatic point.  While I believe I accomplished that goal by sending them home early for the first time in their swimming lives, I wanted to back it up with a positive experience that would help bring the group together in a fun way.  So, the following day I had them go through a team building exercise which forced them to work as a team to accomplish a singular goal.

First, I gathered up some paper plates.  Second, I thought of a phrase that the kids would recognize.  In this particular case I decided on "What team do you swim for?", which is a little team cheer we have.  I took the plates and wrote the phrase, one letter at a time on the back of the plates.  Then, after mixing and shuffling them up, I numbered the plates on the opposite side.  I added some dummy plates without letters on the back to add to the total number of plates.  I then cut the phrase up and broke them up into four stations.  Station 1 consisted of the plates that spelled out the word What, station 2 had Team, 3 had Do You and 4 spelled out Swim For.  Each station ended up having 8 plates each, some with letters and the remainder were the decoys.  From that point all I needed to do was place the plates number side up on the ground in random order and space them out about 3-4 feet away from each other for each station.
The kids picked one "runner" per station to run the course and tag each plate in numerical order while the remaining kids cheered and helped direct the runner to the correct plates.  Once all the plates were tagged they could gather them up and start on the second station.  This went on until all the stations were complete and all the plates were gathered.  At this point, the kids took the plates, flipped them over to reveal the letters and started working on deciphering the puzzle.  Once they figured out the sentence and lined up the plates to spell it out, they were done.
They were told that if they could do all this in less than 10 minutes, they would be rewarded.  They did great, worked together as a team and spelled out the sentence in under 4 minutes.  They were all very proud of themselves and their teamwork.  The natural leaders took their place, the followers were helpful and important, and the sense of accomplishment was felt by each one of them.  It was a lot of fun!

Use Tivo for Instant Video Feedback

For a couple of weeks now I have been using what I call instant video feedback during skills work for my groups. This form of video feedback involves a monitor (in my case a 27 inch TV), a Tivo series 2 DVR, and a video camera. I set up the video camera to film the turns or starts we are working on and use the Tivo to delay the playback. Once the kids have executed the desired skill, they exit the water immediately and review with either myself or my assistant and get instant visual feedback.  This also allows the coaches to analyze and give verbal feedback on what they can do better for the next round. We do this for about a half hour each week with great results.  I have noticed some great improvements with this form of video technology application.  The kids can see what they are doing right and wrong and quickly get a chance to re-do and improve on it. The kids love it, the parents think it is the best thing on the planet, and the coahces get a chance to use yet another tool in the toolbox.
Any ideas on how to improve on instant video feedback? Comments are welcome!

Coach Bryan Dedeaux Wins Top Accolades for Age Group Coaching

http://www.mvnswim.org/NewsShow.jsp?returnPage=/Home.jsp&id=86132&team=scmvn

30 Minute Fly - It's Not What You Think.

I have a great group of flyers in my 10 & Under Gold group.  These kids have great form and are extremely efficient.  I felt that they could handle a 30 min. fly.  No, not 30 minutes of straight butterfly...that would be....dumb.
For 30 minutes, I had my kids swimming single laps of fly with the best form they could show.  They were only allowed to go one lap at a time and they were able to determine their own rest periods between laps.  If they felt that they were slowing down or feeling sloppy, they would take more rest.  If I saw them loosing efficiency or just getting lazy, then I would ask them to take an extra 30 to 60 seconds on the wall in order to recover and get back to form on the next one.
I was very proud of my kids and their ability to recognize when they were loosing form.  Many of the kids were taking enough rest to make each lap as good as possible for their own stroke.  Some were rushing through the set and were asked to take more rest.  Once they did, they got back to form.
It was easy for me to walk through and just talk to each kid about what I wanted to see from them.  It was easy for them because there was no rush to make a base or keep their position in the lane.  Everything was based on technique and form.  If a kid did 50 laps in 30 minutes and 25 of them were sloppy...they failed the objective of the set.  If a kid did only 10 laps but they were all as good as possible for their specific stroke....they passed.  Success was determined by how good their form was and not how many laps they were able to get in.  Good stuff!

Nadador Tribute to Fran Crippen Pt. 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqqn0OGKI3U

Nadador Tribute to Fran Crippen Pt. 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fErqAuP7Hjk

Good Memories of Fran Crippen

Fran was a great swimmer, coach and human being.  It is not only the swimming world that has lost an amazing person but the entire world and anyone who ever met him.  He was beyond approachable and made every person feel important.  The way he would validate your presence before you even spoke a word is something that I have never seen in another individual and in my opinion was the key to his popularity and success.  He simply was a likable guy and his positive personality was contagious.  If I could sum up what he was to us in one word it would be SUPERMAN. 

I want to make sure that he is remembered for the great person he was and not just for the fact that he could swim better than most people on the planet.  I would love to share stories about Fran and keep his memory in our hearts forever.  If you have a story or just simply had a moment with Fran, please leave your positive memories of him here by posting a comment. 

I remember a funny story that happened during the Gold group practice one day.  Fran had gotten out of National Team workout and came straight over to coach.  He disappeared to use the restroom for a minute and came back with the funniest look on his face.  I could tell just be looking at him that something had happened.  He says, "You'll never believe what I just did."  I started laughing and then he busted up.  He continued to tell me the story.  He was in the mens room when this little girl walked in.  She must have been 9 or 10, semi-long hair and a feminine face.  Fran, washing his hand, says to the little girl, "hey little girl, you are in the boys room."  The kid turns around and says, "but I am a boy".  Fran walked straight out of the restroom and told me what had happened.  We laughed for a good 20 minutes.  

In this clip, Fran was accepting a "thank you" from the 10 and Under Group that we coached.  This was a send off party for Olympic Trials and the gift was quite generous.  I think it surprised him a little.  He was always grateful.  We had good times!