News
For
SWIM
PARENTS
Published by The American
Swimming Coaches Association
5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200
Fort Lauderdale FL 33309
___________________________________________________________________
The Myth of an Overnight
Success –
Real Success
is a Result of Establishing Building Blocks Over a Long Term Development
By Nancy
Hennessy
ASCA Level 3
Age Group Coach
Gator Swim
Club, Gainesville, FL
When Mary
was 12 she qualified first in the preliminaries at the championship meet.
Never before had she qualified for a championship final.
“WOW!”
“That
came out of nowhere.”
“Unbelievable.”
Such were
the comments that Mary received. Her coach, though very excited, was not
at all surprised. Mary’s “overnight success” had been a long term
developmental process in the making for 6 years. Only now had Mary begun
to tap into her potential.
Mary
began swimming at the age of 6. When she turned 7 she began swimming at
the local year round club. In her first year, Mary swam 2 days a week with
the beginners’ group where stroke technique was the primary focus. The
group was designed with a lot of kicking and drilling and FUN!
In the
summer Mary swam primarily with her summer club but still continued to practice
with her year round club 2 days a week as her parents and year round coach were
seeking consistency in coaching and the continued encouragement of the year
round coach. Mary remained in this group for 4 months following the end of
the summer season building upon her skills and aerobic base while laying down
the first block of her foundation.
In the
early spring of her second season, Mary moved to the next developmental group in
her year round program. She was now legal in all four strokes and
displayed the strength, desire and ability to move up. At this time she
began swimming 3 days a week. The emphasis remained on kicking and stroke
drill work with a bit more intensity aerobically and lots of FUN! Most of
the stroke drills were repetition for Mary. As she grew stronger and more
aerobically fit, Mary was able to do the stroke drills for longer durations with
greater proficiency. In a sense, this was a review for Mary, only a bit
more demanding. She spent 2 years in this group. She maintained very
consistent attendance during both the short course and long course seasons while
still being able to enjoy her rewards in summer league swimming as well.
The second layer of cement was drying.
In the
fall of the next season, Mary moved into the next developmental group. Due
to her consistent attendance and much repetition in the previous group, the
transition into this group went smoothly. It was quite challenging, but
with sound fundamentals, she was able to take on the new challenges and up the
ante aerobically. She was now practicing 3-4 days a week for 1 and ½ hours
per practice. Most of the stroke drills were repetitious in nature but
there were added steps to each drill and more conditioning while performing the
drills. In her first season with this group, Mary had 100% attendance over
the holiday training period. With this commitment she immediately added
another block to her foundation. At this level Mary was now becoming more
accountable for her swimming, more frequently making stroke corrections without
a coach’s request, knowing and staying on intervals and beginning to keep a log
and knowing her best times.
During
the long course season, Mary, again regularly attended the recommended number of
practices, continued to improve and learn stroke drills, and aerobically
improved her ability to train due to the challenges of long course training.
She repeated this cycle in her 2nd year with this group adding one
day per week more consistently. The foundation was growing ever stronger.
In Mary’s
5th season, she entered the top group in the age group program.
Her stroke drills were very proficient though she continued to improve them and
make stroke corrections. She was aerobically very fit coming off a summer
of long course training and high attendance percentages throughout her time in
the sport. Because of these, she was very well prepared for the rigors of
the training at this level. At this time she stepped up her attendance to
5-6 days a week and in her first year in this group won an award for 90%
attendance for the year. This was a big goal and accomplishment for Mary.
Now in
her 6th season and a top 3 finisher at a championship meet, it comes
as no surprise. All of Mary’s coaches have participated in her “overnight
success” over the past 6 years. Each season she has made all the necessary
adjustments and raised her level of commitment. Some came more easily than
others, mentally as well as physically. As she grew and matured, as she
became more aerobically fit, and as she faithfully built her blocks and securely
cemented them into place, Mary’s “overnight success” could only be explained as
PREPARATION.
Mary
always participated in meets along the way and usually improved yet never set
the pool on fire for many to notice. She was patient, she had very loving
and committed parents, and she listened to her coaches. She quietly and
cheerfully built her blocks, with a broad base, one on top of another, that has
become a solid foundation for many successes to follow.
Congratulations!!