Words of Wisdom

We were going through some old notes today and found this from a weekend that Ken and Rick DeMont had in Tucson. It is about 5+ plus years old and to our way of thinking is still very relevant today…and so we share.

5-24•10 more from ken/rick

Never ASSUME that any great swimmer knows anything." Re-teach all the time.

"Athletes both Learn and Forget."

"Keep in mind the Power you have to instill the Dream."

"One at my goals is to get a smile out of each swimmer at each practice."

"There are three phases that swimmers will go through Please the Parent, Please the Coach, and Please Themselves. The last is the goal we all should seek."

"You need to have a lot of good swims before you have a Great Swim."

"I love to set up my practices so we have a lot of eyeball to eyeball racing."

"One of my key questions is, "How Important is the success of the Team to you? If it is, then everyone's individual success is important to you." I ask this when I have one swimmer who has a breakthrough and changes the pecking order in training status."

"Who does trash talking in practice help'"

"Sometimes you need to be stern with someone in practice. If you are, come back later and make sure to explain it to them."

"YOU have to challenge your swimmers with specifics on each set."

"The pain you feel now is similar to the pain you will feel in a race. To each race, there will come a point where you either defeat the pain, or you give in to it. Practice is your time to practice defeating that pain."

"Pull someone aside each day and spend time talking to them about life, their progress, and how they are feeling about things."

"Everyone on the team can develop more leadership capabilities."

"Discipline, through structure, is one of the most valuable things we give to the athlete in our sport."

^"Logbooks might be the single thing that can improve a swimmer. They should put in the key sets; not the whole session, stroke corrections that they were given by the coach, and develop a major list of all the ways to improve that the coach has given them. In meets, they should record race splits, race tactics, and comments from the coach."

"Ask "where was I in this meet one year ago?" Taking the long view can change the perspective on a "plateau"."

"Every Team Needs Its Olympic Games. Make one meet that meet. Emphasize that Great Athletes perform their best at the Big Meet."

"Meets are the most important part of training".

"Things I have observed that American Swimmers need to work on more...

1.     Streamlining. (Vertical jumps to streamline off the bottom of the pool.)

2.     Film those vertical Jumps and SHOW them good streamlining.

3.     Learning to avoid looking at the wall on flip turns.

4.     Tighter flip turns. (Especially when wearing the long suits.)

5.     Proper breathing mechanics in all four strokes.

6.     Ankle flexibility and improved kicking. (The future in all strokes looks leg dominated.)

7.     Finishing the race without lifting the head early. Face in until you stop the touch pad. The race goes to s/he who STOPS THE CLOCK first, not who touches the wall first.

Good Swimming!