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Schwimm-Ratgeber

Coaching eines erfolgreichen Teams

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COACHING A WINNING TEAM

Ken Wood coached the Aitkenvale Club in Townsville from 1972 until he went to the Institute of Sport in Canberra in 1981. During this period, the Aitkenvale Club was the top country swimming club in Australia. In nine years, his swimmers won in excess of 200 State Championship gold medals and many Australian Age and Open Titles. Three swimmers made Australian Teams, including Lesleigh Harvey, 1976 Olympics and Michele Pearson, 1978 Commonwealth Games.

Each coach in every swimming pool in Australia, I think, dreams of producing top swimmers and having a strong team, but, in reality, this is not the case. The fact is that very few coaches produce top teams. Some have a talented athlete in their program but fail to develop strong teams, and the talented athlete moves on to a stronger programme. I have in this paper endeavoured to highlight the problems, obstacles, situations, locations and lack of facilities, that face many of our coaches, and to suggest that success is there for every coach, wherever they are, provided they are the ones that want to succeed first – the athletes and parents will follow.

I have listed as many reasons that come to mind why it may be thought to be hard or virtually impossible to build a strong competitive and motivated swim team in remote areas. There are sure-fire methods of turning those so-called disadvantages into positive achievements.

  1. My pool is situated in an isolated country town.
  2. The Swimming Club is not interested in elite champion swimmers. It is just a social club.
  3. The population is not big enough to compete at the top level of competition.
  4. The pool is closed for three months and is not heated.

Let us go through these points one at a time, keeping in mind if a sporting club is to become successful, then you better believe it. The coach is the catalyst in these situations.

My pool is situated in an isolated country town

Action: Advise your State Association and the Region that you are taking over the pool or coaching position in that area. When you arrive in town, take a few days to become acquainted with the pool and the club president, etc. Obtain the names of all the coaches who coach in your particular region. Write to them stating that you are looking forward to meeting them, and pledge your support to making the region strong. Offer your services to any camps or seminars that may be held during the season. Also contact other sporting clubs etc letting them know you are there.

The Club is not interested in elite or champion swimmers ... it is more a social club for everyone, not just a few

Action: As soon as possible after you have had time to become acquainted with the surroundings arrange a meeting with the Club Committee and members, preferably at a barbeque or similar social gathering, outline your coaching philosophy, making it clear that while your aim is to have the best team in the local region, you are very aware that strong teams need to have the support and encouragement from all team members and parents. Emphasise the importance of having a strong teaching and learning base that develops into strong tadpoles and junior squads. Be sure to highlight the fact that you cannot achieve this alone. You will need their help. Be sure to involve as many parents as possible. I mentioned this in my first paper in this magazine. Create team spirit – insist that all your team wear club uniforms at all meets – update this if necessary. Kids like cool gear; it is your job to see that they get it – go find a sponsor if you have to. Everyone wears the Club swim cap in warm up – no cap, no warm up. Everyone wears the Club tracksuit top or Club T-shirt on presentation. It may take some effort, but winning usually does.

Whatever you need to do, don’t waste time in getting it done. If you need some more ideas to create a positive environment, contact your coaching Association. That’s what we’re there for.

Although you want to make many changes as quickly as possible, you can also run into plenty of opposition that can frustrate your efforts if you don’t handle it right. If you are not sure of your club committee, then stay behind and hire someone who knows the territory. Someone was in favour of appointing you or you wouldn’t be there. People are some times more comfortable and receptive to change with someone whose styles are local and trusted.

The population is not big enough to compete at the top level of competition

Action: The key in this situation is to increase the involvement of the local youngsters in the swimming club. Contact all the local high schools, primary schools, kindergartens and child care centres and personally tell them of your plans. It is good to add an extra attraction to your program like a Saturday or Sunday morning water polo or aqua ball competition to create an interest.

Offer the preschools and kindergartens free assessments for their pupils and issue a certificate with the assessment together with your class times and fees etc. Contact the local service clubs … e.g. Lions, Apex, Rotary. They may be interested in subsidising a Learn-to-Swim program.

Remember, if you give yourself a reasonable work program and relentlessly follow it, you will hit the top of the charts. Most of us know ourselves well enough to know that our real capacity far exceeds the average expectations others have for us.

The pool is closed for three months and is not heated

Action: It does not take much to work out the huge disadvantage a coach faces when he does not have access to heated winter water, This is probably the major problem facing not only country coaches, but many city based coaches as well. Here are some possible solutions.

a. If you think that you can be happy in your present position and your family (if you have one) is happy enough, and you can see the area has prospects for you, approach the local council if it is a council pool and suggest the possibility of them heating the pool. Do your homework first. It is a public facility and their prime interest is how many people will use it if it is heated. Have some figures to give them … e.g. solar, gas, coal, electric, etc. If you have all this at your fingertips it will show the council you are genuinely interested.

b. If the council are not interested in your first proposition, ask them if they would be prepared to give you say a five or ten year lease in lieu of your financing the heating. You would, of course, need to do your homework in regards to the viability of a 12 monthly operation. Finance would not be difficult to obtain for this.

c. If both of the above fail, try for corporate sponsorship, remembering a proposal for sponsorship, if it contains 10 points, at least seven of them have to be what the sponsor can gain from the deal. It is their money, and the guys who are in the position to give decisions are not philanthropists.

d. There is one more avenue open to the coach. That is to raise funds for the heating costs through the Swimming Club. Probably the best way to do this is to form a sub-committee specifically for this purpose. The success of these projects usually depends on who is the sub-committee chairman. You, as coach, would need to be a member, but not the chairman. This preferably needs to be a well-known local businessman who has the right contacts and can get your message across to the people who can help your case.

e. It is also very important to create what I call a Bubble environment that is closely aligned to the standards that exist in the metropolitan areas. By this, I mean all your selection standards for State Championships should be based on the previous year’s State results. It is better to offer your swimmers some incentives other than just the State Qualifying times. This can be the criteria for competing but it is better if there are further incentives such as free travel or free accommodation to those who achieve a Top Eight time based on the previous year’s Championships. Obtain every Metropolitan Meet result that you can, and put them on the Pool Notice Board so that your team bases their goals on those times rather than the local records and meets.

I hope that some of these points and ideas that have been put forward here can help some of our coaches to attain better results and more satisfaction from their efforts and can turn what is just a job into a successful career. Then we can only become a stronger swimming nation.

Many years ago, I read Dale Carnegie’s book "How to Win Friends and Influence People". There were two paragraphs in this book that have helped me every day through my coaching career. These were headed Decision and Persistence. Here they are…

DECISION – The Mastery of Procrastination

(Which means putting things off until later.)

A recent analysis of over 25,000 young people who had experienced failure disclosed the fact that Lack of Decision was near the head of the list of the 30 major causes of failure.

This is no mere statement of theory – it is a fact. Putting off what you should do today until tomorrow is a common every day occurrence which practically every person must conquer.

People who fail to succeed in life have the habit of reaching decisions, if at all, very slowly and of changing these decisions quickly and often. The majority of these people are generally easily influenced by the opinions of others. They permit others to do their thinking for them. Opinions are the cheapest commodities on earth. Everyone has a flock of opinions ready to be wished upon anyone who will accept them. If you are going to be influenced by opinions when you reach a decision, you will not succeed in swimming or any other thing you may undertake in life.

If you are influenced by the opinions of others, then you will have no desire of your own. History has shown us that many decisions made by men in the face of disaster turned defeat into victory, poverty into riches and failure to success.

One instance of this was the decision made by a leader who was at the head of a fleet of his country’s ships who were re-entering their country, which had been overrun by their enemies, who outnumbered them, two to one. When they landed on the beach, he called his army together and told them of his big decision. He said, "I am going to burn the boats … we will win or die!" They won!

Those who reach decisions promptly and definitely know what they want, and they generally get it. The successful ones in every walk of life decide quickly and firmly. That is the major reasons why they are successful.

PERSISTENCE – The sustained effort necessary to succeed

Persistence is the essential you need to transform your desire for success into reality. The basis of persistence is the power of will. Will power and desire, when properly combined, make an irresistible pair. The majority of us are ready to throw our aims and purpose overboard and give up at the first sign of opposition or misfortune. A few carry on, despite all opposition, until they gain their goal.

Mark Spitz went to the 1968 Olympics in Mexico holding two World records, the 100 metre and 200 metre Butterfly. He ran last in both races! But, he did not give up. Four years later, he won seven gold medals at Munich and broke world records in all individual swims and anchored the American Relay Teams – which also broke world records.

Today, he is a millionaire because he did not give up. He made his decision and persistently backed it up.

Think about this … imagine yourself in the same position. What would you have done?

Lack of persistence is one of the major causes of failure – not only in swimming – but in life. Lack of persistence is a weakness common to the majority of us. It is a weakness that can be overcome by effort. The ease with which lack of persistence may be overcome will depend entirely upon the intensity of your desire. The starting point of all success is desire – keep this in mind. Weak desire brings weak results … just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat.

Failure is attracted to those whose minds are favourable to it, just as success is attracted to those whose minds have been deliberately prepared to attract it.

PARALLEL THOUGHTS BRING SUCCESS

Every year, around September or October, thousands of swimmers in hundreds of squads begin a new season, or start their first one, yet some end up making it and many doom themselves to failure.

1. Why is this so? And…

2. How can we, as coaches, improve the percentage? The answer to the first question may vary from swimmer to swimmer. However, I feel that the answer lies in the twelve points that appear below.

When we first kick off the new season, everyone is keen and anxious to go! The coach outlines his season’s program and highlights the team’s goals. It all looks so simple, but, as the team get four weeks – six weeks – eight weeks into the program the swimmers’ goals and desires, which started off running parallel to those of the coach, start to widen – the lines are no longer parallel. Right at this point is where the coach needs to stoke the fire. I believe to have a successful team you need to meet with your athletes on a weekly basis, reinforce the team directions making all team members aware that they need to train their minds as well as their bodies instead of just exercising towards it. More on this later.

I recently read an article by Bronco’s coach, Wayne Bennett, who said, "I often wonder what it is that brings one man success in life and failure to his brother. The difference can’t be in mental capacity. There isn’t the difference in our mentalities indicated by the difference in performance."

In short, I’ve concluded some men succeed because they cheerfully pay the price of success. Others, they may claim ambition and desire are unwilling to pay that price.

We have all heard what Coach Bennett says before in one context or another, but he also quoted what I believe many of us, as coaches, tend to overlook. He said, "The point is if you’re in a losing club or losing team, you have to be part of the problem." What he is saying is that we can’t blame everyone else. I have set out below a number of points that are all directed towards the individual, but can be used perhaps as the subject of the coach’s weekly or fortnightly meetings. We have found they have played a significant role in any success our team has enjoyed. I hope they are of help to you.

1. Know what you are going to do, and how you will go about doing it before you begin. Make that goal specific in your own mind or you may lose sight of it during the tough times. An experienced coach quickly sees those who lose sight of their main goal. "Winners make commitments – losers make promises!"

2. Be specific and predictable at Workouts. Use the right formula for the right results. A mathematical problem cannot be solved with any formula picked out at random and swimming cannot be successful unless you go about it in the proper way, using the proper formula for the predictable result – Success! Your day to day work should relate to your goal so that it is real and our training is always appropriate, if a certain stroke drill or set given by the coach will help solve your problem of dropped elbows, a weak recovery or underwater pull etc, then include it in your minds as part of your formula for success. Don’t fight the workouts or coaching techniques, you might be rejecting the right formula for the problem, while instead using your own formula, which may feel more comfortable but is not producing the desired results.

3. Take one day at a time. It is good to think about the big picture and the overall goal, but the daily workouts and goals are just as important. In order to achieve the ultimate goal at the end of the season, you need as many successful daily goals as you can manage of out the 365 available each year. The daily goals will support the ultimate goal and draw you closer to it – if you make them relate to it and work them as if your ultimate goal depended upon them – in fact it does!

I have often put it this way to my swimmers. When you are cleaning your teeth at night, look into the mirror and ask yourself the question … What positive step did I take today towards my ultimate goal? If you can’t think of at least one, then perhaps you have wasted a day!

4. Be patient. If you aren’t, you shouldn’t be trying to achieve any goal, whether it be in swimming or in life. Mistakes, problems and set backs will be part of trying to really make it in competitive swimming. I have just this season seen an example of this first hand in my own squad. I have one of the smallest 13-year-old Breaststrokers you could ever see, but with a huge desire to win a medal at the 1995 Age Nationals in the 100 metre Breaststroke. In October 1994, she was involved in a school ground accident that saw her with torn medial Ligaments and a dislocated knee. Doctors told her six months minimum before she could swim Breaststroke again. I told her get it right and perhaps next year will be for you. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and said, "I want to go this year. I will be right by the State Championships in January." Although she travelled 40 kilometres twice a week to the physiotherapist and did he exercises twice a day she did not make State. In fact, she went only 10 or 12 kilometres a week Freestyle with a pull buoy, but it was progressing.

In February she was swimming 40 kilometres a week, all Freestyle and some Butterfly. The physio told her no Breaststroke – be patient I again told her the 13-year-old Breaststroke Age Group this year is probably tougher than it has ever been. She replied, "I am tougher than most of them, aren’t I?" I couldn’t argue. In March, she swam her first 100-metre Breaststroke at a school meet. I had told her she needed to be under 1.22 before March 16th to have a chance of going to Adelaide. She swam 1.19.22 ten days later at Chandler 1.16.1 and a week later at Chandler 1.14.90. Perhaps she will make her goal in a very tough event in a very tough age group, but she made her major goal to be there and she was certainly patient. There have been others who have done similar, but we need more.

5. Don’t worry about not receiving recognition for your own achievements. Many people, swimmers included, lose sight of a goal or lose interest because others have the spotlight. Make your own spotlight shine on your own goal, even if others don’t happen to be noticing at the time. After you keep plugging away successfully it will be hard for others not to notice the fire, which began as a mere flicker of light when you started swimming.

6. Learn to work with other people and not always against them. It is best to swim shoulder-to-shoulder rather than head to head. This is an attitude of holding up another rather than trying to push another down – so that one might look better by comparison.

7. Be a sponge and absorb anything that relates to your goal. Make sure you sort out the good from the bad so that you will be developing good habits, good ideas and good outlooks, and good techniques – rather than harmful traits.

By doing this, you will also make a positive contribution to the team, your family, the human race and to yourself. You cannot limit your knowledge and understanding without limiting yourself and your goal.

8. Learn to give as well as receive praise and to reward yourself and others. Praise and rewards can be positive reinforcements needed in pursuit of a goal. An encouraging remark hurts no one, but negative comments, teasing, arguing and similar pull everyone down.

So learn to encourage, praise and influence positively yourself and those around you. If we are two feet tall and try to push others down to two inches, this has no effect whatsoever on our height – we are still short! But if we try to make everyone feel six feet tall, and at the same time make ourselves feel the same, we all stand taller.

9. Learn to accept correction. Take constructive criticism and apply it and you will move toward you goal more rapidly. Accepting correction readily can save time and effort and point you in the right direction. You must take yourself wherever you want to go.

10. Learn to accept pain. There is not a doubt that if success is your goal then you are going to have to learn to live with some discomfort, both physical and psychological. No matter how we look at it, to be successful is to accept that we will from time to time experience some pain. Your level of acceptance will determine you success. There is another alternative – you can be invincible if you never enter a contest where victory is not in your power.

11. Train for your goal. Don’t just exercise towards it. Exercise can be defined as a change in body physiology from rest to activity. When you stop exercising, the body goes back to its resting state. To train, on the other hand, means to change from an untrained state to a trained one. Training produces a lasting result on the body, which doesn’t disappear when the work stops. It involves the mind as well as the body. When we do not find peace of mind ourselves, it is useless to look for it elsewhere.

12. Stick you neck out for your goal. Assertiveness is one of the prime requirements of success. Don’t be frightened to say out loud to everyone and anyone what your goals are. It usually ensures commitment. Another of Coach Bennett’s remarks was "Losing drives me mad, even if I don’t show it. I don’t throw pool cues, kick the family dog, but I certainly retreat to the cave, if I ever have to accept losing, then I am out of this caper."

In conclusion, I feel strongly that competitive swimming is not all there is to life, but I also feel that it can be a valuable asset in the hands of the young in attaining more out of life than the average person is capable of attaining. All of the things in this paper can be successfully applied to swimming or to life, so that goals become more realistic, more meaningful and hopefully, more attainable. I hope the coaches who have read this can find it useful – for their programs and their swimmers, in not only competitive swimming, but also in the game of life!

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