News For
SWIM PARENTS
Published by The
American Swimming Coaches Association
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The
Marginally Motivated Swimmer
Guy Edson
ASCA Staff
The
other day I was remembering a time when I was a much younger coach and the day
I asked a swimmer to leave practice and �not to come back.� In recalling
and thinking about this incident I believe there is a message for parents of
older, aged 13 and above, lesser committed swimmers.
What
was this swimmer doing that was so terrible? Nothing.
He was doing nothing; and that was the problem. For whatever reason, he
simply decided he wasn�t going to do the set I had prescribed and decided he
was going to leave practice.
This
13 year old had a dismal attendance record making just a couple of workouts a
week and when he did come there was minimal communication with me. He
would arrive seconds before we began the first set and he would immediately
leave after the last set. I only saw the mom one time; the dad,
never. Quite simply, it appeared that he didn�t want to be there.
I
thought about the incident throughout that evening and it was the first thing
on my mind when I woke up in the next morning. I hated kicking a swimmer
out of practice. I asked myself these questions:
Did
I need to permanently dismiss him from the team?
Should
I have just let him go without comment at the time or should I have taken the
time to find out what was bothering him?
Should
I have had a discussion with the parents long before the incident about what my
expectations were and to find out what their expectations were?
Before
I tackle those questions there are a couple of concepts I would like all
parents to consider. First, one of the primary duties of the coach is to
provide adversity for the athletes. That may sound like an unusual way to
describe it but the reality is that a workout is not meant to be easy. It
is meant to be a physical and mental challenge. Good coaches throw the
challenge out there and then attempt to provide the environment where the
athlete�s will to meet the challenge is high. At older ages and upper
levels, say 13 and over at sectional and above level, coaches sometimes design
entire workouts meant to make the athlete fail � temporarily fail. At
lower levels, right down to novice level swimming, swimmers need to be exposed
to sets that are difficult, perhaps so difficult that no one can achieve the
set. Good coaches use these sets to build a desire in the athletes to
achieve higher levels of physical and mental toughness. Good
coaches know that being successful requires a combination of challenge and
success in the workout environment and that the relative amount of each will
change as the swimmer ages.
The
second concept has two parts: the coach�s time and effort; and the
athlete�s submissiveness � best described as the athlete�s willingness to
release themselves to the coach. To whom should
the coach give their time and effort? Answer: to those athletes who
give themselves to the coach. The coach has limited time and energy and
the fairest behavior of the coach is focusing on those who are ready to meet
the adversity. Coaches simply do not have time to coddle and convince reluctant
swimmers to do work while there are other swimmers willing and ready to go.
Now, back to the questions at hand. Did I need to dismiss
him from the team entirely? In this case, Yes. But it should have
been discussed with the parent the next day rather than shouted to him across
the pool. Why dismiss him from the team? He had a poor history of
effort, bad attendance, and it was not worth the team�s time to try change his work ethic. In a case where a swimmer had a
history of good effort, and had shown a high degree of coachability
� well, this situation wouldn�t have been an issue in the first place.
Should
I have let him go without comment at the time? Yes. Running a
workout where emotions are high is not the time to get into it with an athlete
or the parent. It is better to discuss such things in a different
environment at a different time.
Should
I have take the time to find out what was bothering
him? No. That would have been taking time from those in the water who
were doing the work and that is where the coach�s focus needs to be.
Long
before the incident should I have had a discussion with the parents about
�expectations�? Absolutely Yes. This
was a failure on my part � and the parents.
The
bottom lines: There are adolescent swimmers who are of marginal ability
who come to practice for a variety or reasons. Sometimes it�s
friends. That�s a pretty good reason, but there has to be the willingness
to work as well.
Sometimes
it�s Mom and Dad making the child go to practice. There are good reasons
and bad reasons for this. Good reasons include a sincere desire for the
child to be involved in a wholesome activity. Bad reasons include a
parent�s desire for the child to be a champion swimmer and earn a swimming
scholarship when the child doesn�t have that talent.
Whatever
the reasons, it is important for parents and swimmers and coaches to discuss
their respective expectations with each other. Frankly, sometimes
expectations just do not match up with what�s being offered or what is being
done. And then it is time to think about moving on to another program or
another activity.
Guy Edson is a Level 5 Age Group Coach and has enjoyed 5 years
as a part time age group coach, 2 years as a full time age group coach, 8 years
as a full time head coach, and 20+ years coaching novice/intermediate
swimmers. (In that order.) And, 7 years as
high school coach mixed in with the above. He has served as an ASCA staff
member since 1988 where his favorite role is helping young coaches with
everything from teaching techniques to designing workouts. He also
manages ASCA�s Job Service program helping both
coaches and employers with a wide range of needs including contract reviews,
interviews, and relational and club structural issues.