News For
SWIM
PARENTS
Published by The American Swimming Coaches Association
5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200
Fort Lauderdale FL 33309
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What Motivates The Coach?
It's obvious that it's the coaches job to motivate the swimmers, but the
question has come up as to who or what motivates the coach on a daily basis?
We asked Coach Steve Bultman, ASCA Level 5, what motivates him. His
answer:
"One of our problems has been that lots of good coaches have left the sport for
various reasons and loss of motivation is a big part of that. I've found
motivation in various places. First, I think the swimmers, above all,
motivate the coach. One of the neatest things about our job is working
with outstanding young individuals to help them reach their goals. When
you have that kind of relationship, it's highly rewarding.
"The performance of the team also motivates the coach. There are days
where you just have a great practice and everything goes well, and it's a great
feeling.
"Other things also help keep a coach happy and involved with swimming.
Parents who really believe in what you're doing and pitch in and help out where
they're needed definitely make the job go better. I've also found that
going to the ASCA Clinic gets your batteries charged and fills you with energy
and ideas.
Another way to motive your coach is to give him or her a chance to be an
"explorer"; a chance to maintain or improve their creative ability. Roger
Von Oech, author of A Whack on the Side of the Head and A Kick in the
Seat of the Pants spoke at the ASCA World Clinic in 1987. He said:
"I believe that in order to create anything, whether it’s an idea for a new
swimming project, or a new business, or a new recipe for chicken, or a new fund
raising idea, you have to have the materials in which to create. That
means having facts, information, concepts, knowledge, experiences. Now, I
find that a lot of people tend to look for information only in their own area.
I do a lot of work with computer companies and I find computer people spending
most of their time talking to other computer people. I work with bankers
and they spend most of their time talking with other financial people.
"I would imagine there is some of the same thing in the swimming community.
That's fine initially. Talk to your colleagues and peers, that is what
this clinic is all about. Early on, I also encourage you to do this:
put on the hat of the explorer and get outside your box. Venture off the
beaten path and look for ideas in other fields, other sports, and other
industries. Again and again, I've seen people poke around in outside
areas, find something and bring it back to their own sport, give it a twist, and
come up with something highly innovative.
Too often we expect coaches to be coaches 24 hours a day. Not only should
we allow them time to be explorers, we should actively encourage them to seek
activities, hobbies, and professional seminars to help them be better coaches.
(Why not send your coach to a sales seminar?)
In addition
to encouraging and financially supporting coaches to attend seminars, coaches
appreciate and are motivated by the Board of Director’s respect for their well
being. Due to competitive schedules and over lapping seasons coaches often
go weeks and sometimes months without a single day off and some coaches rarely
take vacations. This week after seeing University of Florida’s highly
successful football coach Urban Meyer step aside from his duties as head coach
to attend to personal health and wellness issues is a reminder that our coaches
need time to renew, re-energize, relax, and recreate. There is an
excellent column by USA Today’s Mike Lopresti in today’s newspaper regarding
Meyer. You can read that article here:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/2009-12-27-meyer_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip