Do You Make Things Harder Than They Have To Be?

Ran across a great article for young entrepreneurs recently, titled "8 Things I Wish I Knew When I Was 22".  http://goo.gl/fG1BF  I especially liked point #3, "Nothing Complicated Ever Works Out".  I have told my sons and swimmers a variation of this for year, so much so that my sons hate hearing it (they can also predict when I'm going to say it, so that tells me the lesson has sunk in).  What do I say?  "Don't make things harder than they have to be."

How does this apply to swimming?  Obviously I'm not talking about a hard practice set, heck fire, there is no such thing.....  I'm talking about our administrative duties here.  How often have we over thought things?  Do we make a bigger deal of an issue than what it actually is?  Do we create unnecessary work for ourselves?

Most of these 8 lessons are valuable for coaches.  Let's look at them individually:

1.  "Know What You Don't Know."  Well, one of my favorite pet peeves about coaches.  Too many do not admit that they still can learn.  They want to present that image that they are in charge and don't admit that they don't know everything.  Coaches can learn from each other on deck and at meets, not just at clinic from nationally known speakers.  Sometimes that kid straight out of college can teach you something about drills they use and why.  Listen and learn.  When you stop seeking knowledge as a coach, you should retire.

2.  "Being Busy Destroys Your Value."  Ok, I'm going to apply this to on-deck activity either in practice or meets.   How?  Turn off your cell phone, put up a rope to keep the parents away from your side of the pool where you coach.  If you are too busy talking to someone, checking text messages, checking emails, etc., then you are not doing your job as a coach - which is to keep eyes on swimmers and giving feedback, encouragement, correction, and motivation to those you have accepted responsibility to do so for.

3.  "Nothing Complicated Ever Works Out."  Covered above, and worth repeating.  "Don't make things harder than they have to be."

4.  "Treat Everyone Well."  The Golden Rule.  Do you treat the slowest swimmer like you do the fastest swimmer?  Do you smile and give equal consideration to that quiet parent that has been there 10 years as you do to your board members?  You get the point.  Treat everyone well, just as you would like to be treated.

5.  "Specialize to Win."  This can be done by constantly learning, focusing on what you do well, recognizing what the coaches do well on your team and get them involved with your group.  Are you a jack of all trades, or are you a specialist?  I was a decent distance coach, I sought help on sprinting issues, and other coaches asked me about distance training.

6.  "Quit the wrong stuff.  Stick with the right stuff.  Have the guts to do one or the other."  How many times do we change things due to parental pressure, or the swimmers having a bad meet?  Do we give our plans time to work out, or do we jump around rapidly trying to find things that work in order to satisfy the instant gratification need of today's parents?  Parents need to be firmly told that when their child changes training groups, they need to give a coach a good year before they rush to a decision that it is not working out.  And we as coaches need the conviction to do so as well.

7.  "Profits Matter."  Kind of simple, if you are the head coach, you need to turn a "profit" in order to achieve long term stability.  I do know that many clubs are non-profit, however any "profit" can be taken and reinvested back in the team or kept in a rainy-day fund.  Plan for growth, plan for contingencies.

8.  "Service Based Businesses Suck for Young Entrepreneurs."  Ok, I'm at a loss here.  Is coaching a service or do we produce a product?  I can make an argument either way.

Finally, how many of these can we teach as life lessons to our teen swimmers?  You can plant the thoughts in their brains now.

Evaluating Coaches

I've coached for two USAS teams, and in neither one was I ever evaluated in a formal process, and any informal evaluation was very minimum. I wonder if that is the norm, or is it the exception. The first club was a questionably run developmental club, who made up their policies on the spot and with selective enforcement. The second was a large board run team, ranked nationally.

In my day to day job with large national companies, evaluations of my performances occurred every 6 months, a mid-year and year-end reviews. Written, documented evaluations are a great tool to gauge current behavior, as well as an equally important measurement of development and progress as an employee based on successive evaluations.

In a prior life I was a member of a branch of the Armed Forces. And we were evaluated there once a year, whenever there was a change of command, and whenever we left a command.

So, in response to these three different experiences in three different industries, I have come up with some Evaluation Documents to evaluate the Head Coach by a Board Run Team, and/or to evaluate Assistant Coaches by the Head Coach. In a Board Run team the immediate supervisor should evaluate those that report to them. So, the Board should not evaluate the Assistant's, the Head Coach should do that and submit the evaluations to the Board.

These Documents are formatted in Google Documents. Once you open them in Google Documents, you may then go to "File", select "Download as" and choose your favorite format (i.e. PDF, Word, etc). If you choose Word, you may have to make some changes to appearances in Word (formatting may not convert exactly as originally seen).

Document #1 is the Head Coaches Evaluation, to be filled out by a designated Board Member and presented to, and reviewed with, the Coach. The Coach can then fill out their portion with their comments (including any disputes), and sign the document.

Document #2 is the Assistant Coach Evaluation, to be filled out by the Head Coach, with the same review and comment procedure as in Document #1, with the Head Coach conducting the review with the Assistant Coach. Note that in a club with multiple Assistant Coaches, there is a ranking system here, similar to the Military way of ranking those of equal rank.

Use them as you wish, make changes as warranted by your particular club situation. These are guidelines.

Of note, what to do with a Coach Owned Club where the Head Coach reports to no formal entity? Well, the Head Coach would only use the Assistant Coach form. The Head Coach/Owner is ultimately judged by the turnover of the swimmers.

Finding Garcia

Ask one of your teenage swimmers "Who is Garcia?"  and see what answers you get in response.  I would be surprised if one of them answered correctly.  Then tell them the next time they are on deck you want them to find Garcia and tell you the story.  Most of them will say "how", and your answer should be "my point exactly".

To read the story of "A Message to Garcia" click here: http://www.birdsnest.com/garcia.htm

After you read it, ask yourself how many of your teenage swimmers would be able to take the initiative and do something on their own without having to ask a bunch of questions, have guidance through what they do, and involve a bunch of other teammates.    How many of them could find Garcia?

In the 2009-2010 school year, I coached a High School Boy's Team.  I made my Captains a shirt that read: "Finding Garcia: 2010 - JP2 Swim Team".  They had to read the story and tell me what they took away from it.  As they told me their take, I had to ask clarifying questions in order to make sure they learned the lesson.  Now, 17 months later, my oldest son who was one of the Captains, still wears the t-shirt, the only one from his High School career that he still wears.  He is also now a 3rd Class Cadet at the United States Air Force Academy, retired from swimming, and still seeking Garcia.

If you want to buy a copy to give to your swimmers, click here:  A Message to Garcia.

Are you developing swimmers who excel in the pool, or are you developing swimmers who will excel in the pool and excel in life?

For the Real Life tale by Lt Rowan about his mission to find Garcia, click here:  How I Carried the Message to Garcia

Coaching with Tablets

Tablets are hitting the shelves at such a rate it is dizzying.  Sales are expected to go from $0 in 2009, to over $49 Billion (that's $49,000,000,000) by the end of 2011.  You've got several different operating systems, the Apple iOS, the Android, the system from Research in Motion (Blackberry), and the WebOS (the old Palm system bought by HP).  

The question as coaches we face is how can we utilize this new technology to help our swimmers?

For this blog, we will focus on the Android since it allows Flash, whereas the iPad does not.  In particular, we will focus on the new Toshiba Thrive, which comes with a SD Card Slot, USB Connector, and HDMI Connector.

Here are my thoughts

1.  Many coaches and/or clubs have libraries of DVD's from various coaches or companies.  A simple google search will turn up many different titles.  So, if you have DVD's how do you get them on a tablet that does not have a DVD player built in?  Well, you could connect a DVD player that has a USB connection, or... you could download some DVD ripping software, and using a desktop or laptop that plays DVD, you can rip a copy to digital format (i.e. the .avi format).  Search CNET.com for good free software, or ask one of your teenage swimming techies for advice.  Once you have the DVD in a digital file format, transfer it to a SD Card and play it on the tablet.  This allows you to pull a swimmer out of the pool, watch a segment of a demonstration with them, and put them back in the water.

2.  Most inexpensive compact digital cameras now have video capability as well.  You can get a fantastic one for $100 to $150.  Make sure it has a SD flash card for easy transfer to your SD equipped Tablet.  Film a swimmer from the deck, transfer the SD card to the tablet and in a timely manner you can give the swimmer visual feedback on stroke corrections.

3.  The GOSwim.TV website offers an App for Androids.  Visit: http://www.goswim.tv/entries/6048/go-swim-android-app-available.html.  This will allow you to link to their server and stream videos to help your swimmers.  There may be a cost associated with their content based on what you want to use.

4.  Access the built-in browsers in Android tablets and visit www.swimsmooth.com to show an animation of swimming technique.  They do not have an Android App yet, so this will not be fully utilized on a tablet, however on a laptop you have the ability to download the software and change the viewing angle.  Particularly effective for teaching high-elbow pulling in freestyle.

5.  Future App developments????  Here is hoping that ASCA, NISCA, and Fina develop Apps for Android or iPhone that will allow coaches to access content from their website.  You can always use the tablet's web browsers to visit those sites.

6.  Hy-Tek?  Hy-Tek needs to get on board and write Apps for Team Manager and Meet Manager.  Need a work-around until they wake up?  From your Hy-Tek software save any data you need (workouts, swimmer's best time files, etc) into PDF format, and use a PDF reader App to view it on your tablet.

I'm sure there are more uses that coaches will discover, I've just listed what came to mind in the past 10 minutes of typing.

Downside?  You need WiFi in range of the pool to fully utilize the on-line features of the Apps, or have 3G/4G built into the App.  That would require a monthly service plan.  

I've got the Toshiba Thrive Tablet on order.  One of the least expensive out there, however they have the SD Card port for viewing of ripped DVD files or just taken videos.  The downside of the Thrive?  Weight, it weighs as much as the first gen iPad.

Race Strategies, High School Swimming

Below are some of the race strategies I routinely gave my swimmers to follow during specific events at meets.  They worked well for me and my charges, however that may have been affected by my personality and style of coaching.  Modify them to use with your specific coaching style.

General Race Strategies

These are Coach Barnes’ primary strategies for High School swimmers, other coaches have their own.

50’s – All 50’s regardless if it is the 50 Free as an individual event or relay leg, or one of the 50’s of another stroke in the 200 Medley Relay, should be treated as a pure sprint.  The base strategies are to get up and moving after the start, minimize your breathing (on Free and Fly) during the race, to over-kick the race, and to keep a high tempo of the arms, and to slam into the finish.  Don’t stop yourself, let the finish wall stop you.

100’s – Contrary to what some believe, the 100 of any stroke is a flat out sprint.  If you take out the race slow, you will have a slow time.  I frequently tell swimmers that “A slow first 50 is a slow 100”.  With my swimmers there is no negative splitting strategies in the 100’s.  See strategies above for the 50, the only exception is that you want to breathe more on the 100 Free and Fly.  If you are in shape, your time in the 100 should be double your 50 time + 10% of the first 50.  If you go out in a 25 and come back in a 30, you do not have the aerobic conditioning you need, and it shows a lack of proper conditioning.  

200 Free – The 200 Free is a middle distance event in High School swimming.  How should you swim it?  Each 50 is a separate race.  During the first 50 you want to take it out fast and easy (called easy speed), your effort level should be a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10.  The second 50 should have an effort level of an 8 (common mistake is to back down to a 7).  The third 50 should have an effort level back up to 9 (most all swimmers slow down too much and this is their slowest 50 due to lack of effort).  The last 50 should be an effort level of 10.  Basically on the last 150 yards your effort level has to increase each successive 50 to compensate for your body tiring.  What do splits tell us?  Well conditioned swimmers should pace themselves to be only 2 seconds over their best 100 time at the 100 split, and only add another 2 seconds on the last 100 split.  Example:  Your best 100 is a 1:00.00.  Your goal for the 200 is therefore 2:06.00 – your first 100 split should be 1:02.00, and the last 100 split should be 1:04.00.

200 IM – Each 50 is a separate sprint, since each 50 is a different stroke.  Stroke specific strategies:  Fly – breathe early and often and concentrate on a powerful kick with high hips.  Do not hold your breath and swim a bunch of strokes without breathing.  That will negatively affect your later strokes due to oxygen depravation too early.  Back – get your arms moving, this can happen by rotating your body (dipping hips and shoulders together) at a higher tempo.  Breast – concentrate on a powerful finishing kick, do not separate your arms out of streamline too early.  Quick tempo of both arms and legs while holding that streamline during kicking.  Free – all arms and legs.  Get the arms spinning and sprint home.  Splitting:  Free and Fly splits should come close to matching up.  Back split should be closer to Fly sprint than Breast split.  If you are a natural breaststroker, you should concentrate on sprinting your backstroke leg.  Breaststrokers tend to hold back on the backstroke leg and they don’t need to, the opposite should occur.

500 Free – This is a distance event in High School.  Break this down into 5 separate 100’s.  The first 100 is easy speed, the 2nd and 3rd 100s are maintaining your rhythm and pacing.  The fourth 100 is building into the last 100.  The last 100 is again building, where you end in a sprint.  Looking for a split around 3 to 4 seconds over your best 100 time on the first 100.  #2 and #3 100s should be about 3 to 4 seconds over the first 100 split.  Anything slower and you reset your muscles to a slow tempo and it is hard to finish properly.  #4 should be trying to bring the split under #2 & #3, with the last 100 back down to within a second or two of the first 100.  Common mistake is saving your energy for the last 50.   If you are holding 36’s per 50 split, and then on the last one you do a 31, that tell me that you had way too much energy left at the end.  Don’t be afraid of spending that energy earlier, you’ll be surprised at how much better you will be.

Glossary of Terms, High School Team

Below is a list of terms, and explanations that I gave out one year to the swimmers of a private High School I coached.  It was a little more detailed than the one I gave to the year-round squad, most High School swimmers in our area have no year-round experience, so a couple of more "definitions" were needed, especially for differentiation between Spring and Distance.  (Many summer league only swimmers considered 100's as a distance event... .  Was a nice hand-out for them to review.  Revise to fit your own definitions you have shared with your swimmers.

Glossary of Terms

Broken – This means that the repetition is broken into sub-distances with a small amount of rest in between.  Whenever you see “Broken” that means you are to sprint the sub-distances the main distance is broken into.  For instance, a Broken 100 set may be written as:

                                                8x100 on 2:15 Free – Broken 25/5, hold 1:50 (1:35)

• This means that you sprint a 25, wait 5 seconds exactly, sprint 25, wait 5 sec, sprint 25, wait 5 sec, sprint 25.  At the end you subtract 15 seconds (the cumulative time you had between 25’s) and you have your subtracted time for the 100.  If you need to hold 1:50 that means come in by the 1:50 mark, then subtract your 15 seconds and you get the (1:35) as noted above.  The above is only an example; some lanes will be expected to go faster.  Also, the distance swam and amount of time rested will vary (50/10, 50/5, some will be broken 200 IMs, etc.)  Broken swims train your body to sprint at speed for greater distances.

Descending – This means that each part of the set gets faster than the previous part.  For instance:

 6x100 Free on 1:45 - descending 1 to 3

• This means that on the first 3 100’s you swim the second faster than the first, and then the third faster than the second.  Then repeat that pattern for the second 3 100s, with the fifth being faster than the fourth, and the sixth being faster than the fifth.  What this does not mean – do not swim the 3 100’s as slow, medium, and fast.  It means swim them as fast, faster, fastest.  Descending sets train your body to push harder each 100 in events like the 500 Free. 

Distance Events – In High School swimming, the 500 Free is the only distance event.  In year round swimming, the 500 Free is a middle-distance event, with the distance events being the 1000 Free and 1650 Free.

FKOB – This is a practice abbreviation meaning “FLY KICK ON BACK”.  To be done in a streamline position on your back, with the fly kick being generated from your abs and hips – dolphin like motion.  This is not done as a kick from the knees. 

High Hips – Term used during Butterfly drills and swims.  Sometimes I will say that I want to see high hips, sometimes I will simply say “butt up”, both mean the same thing.  Your bottom needs to be breaking the surface of the water each time your chest and head are pushing into the water during the portion of the arm stroke where your hands are entering the water.  It’s a simple pivot motion (think back to your physics classes).  If you hips do not come up, your kick is not reset and your finish kick will be weak and inefficient.  Lack of high hips is due to breathing too late in the stroke, keeping your head up too long during the arm stroke over water, or not pushing down with your chest at the right time in the stroke.  Those three problems are usually done all together and are interrelated to each other.

Middle Distance Events – In High School swimming, the 200 Free is a middle-distance event.  In year-round swimming the 200 Free is a sprint event, and the 500 Free is a middle-distance event.

Negative Split – This simply means that you swim the second half faster than the first half.  Commonly used on 200s and 500s.  This does not mean swim the first half slow, it means to swim the second half faster, so your effort level needs to go to a different level.  Coaches can tell when you dog the first half to try to save too much for the second half.  Dogging the first half defeats the purpose of the strategy of negative splitting a practice repetition or race.

Sprint Events – In High School swimming the sprint events are: 50 Free, 100 Free, 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Fly and 200 IM.  Why the 200 IM?  Because I want every 50 treated as a separate stroke event and each stroke sprinted.  Remember this comment for your 100’s: “A Slow First 50 is a Slow 100.”  The 100 is not a distance event in High School swimming, you will be expected to attack the race and keep attacking until the final wall.