Rust Never Sleeps

Rust Never Sleeps is an album by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young and American band Crazy Horse. It was released on July 2, 1979, by Reprise Records.^[3] Most of the album was recorded live, and then overdubbed in the studio. Young used the phrase "rust never sleeps" as a concept for his tour with Crazy Horse to avoid artistic complacency and try more progressive, theatrical approaches to performing live.

We took our team to a ½ day conference meet with 3 other teams today. We haven’t been on the blocks since early August. We have some rust and it showed today. However, we need not fret since we are, like Young, avoiding complacency by being more progressive in our approaches to racing.

All of our racing is formed by our training. We have been working on instilling new techniques taught to us by Bob Gillett for the effective use of underwater dolphin kicking. We are far from proficient yet many of our swimmers are discovering the wisdom and value of “getting it right.”

And yes, like Young, we have a few theatrical approaches by our swimmers…life is never dull around kids!

Back to the rehearsal studio – oops, we mean pool – tomorrow.

Goals – Something Old, Something New

Nothing really new here on this topic. It is that time of the year again when we think individually and collectively about what our goals are. Goals, of course, are the map to the destination. No map, you just end up driving around. We saw a card once that said “to be sure of hitting your goals, shoot first and whatever you hit, call it your goal.”

And this isn’t really news to any of you either. When you hear something you have a small amount of retention. When you read the same thing, your retention goes up somewhat. When you write your goal your success rate goes up quite a bit. When you see your goal daily, or even more, your success rate improves dramatically.

Why? Because we humans move toward and become like that which we see, hear, feel and envision being true about us. If you examine your spot in life right this moment you will see that this is indeed true. You get, most of the time, that which you actively seek.

We had a chat with a friend today who asked, “So what’s your team look like for the coming season?” We said, “It sure looks different than it did last year and we lost some firepower due to graduation. However, we have willing and able athletes and we know how to coach so we will be fine.” That is a goal statement.

But this is perhaps newsworthy. What do most young people (at least teenagers and up) look at 30-150 times a day? Yup, their phone. What if they put their goals on the screen saver? Potentially a game changer…

Fort Lauderdale & Rio

We spent the week in Fort Lauderdale at the annual ASCA Coaches Clinic. If you are a coach and not yet a member we urge you to become one…invest in your profession, education and get inspired all for way less than a cup of coffee a day. The clinic was of course anchored by the accomplishments of Team USA at the Rio Olympics.

A few impressions from that theme are as follows:

Look at the swimming IQ of your team – watch, react and appreciate all the swimmers work and their workout swims…Team USA built on those swims in training camp

Learn to touch the wall ahead of the others…this was a key mantra if you will…USA garnered something like 12 of its total 33 medals by a combined 2.7 seconds…they were extremely focused on touching the wall ahead of as many as possible

Ask the question of your team “When did the switch go on for you?”…every swimmer at the top has an identifiable moment in their career when that has happened…know when that was for you

Don’t assume anything – cover all the bases

As a coach you must fight for excellence for your swimmers. It isn’t cheap. You must commit to it and as a club coach you may not get the credit or the limelight.

In its ad on this month’s back inside cover of Swimming World, Arena has a quote from Mahatma Gandhi that pretty much summarizes the difference between podium swims and the 5 other swimmers…a harsh assessment but more often than not true…

“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”

Getting It Right

We are a little bit like proud parents after watching our offspring do something remarkable. The following came to us last week from Mitch. We know we did right by him and that he got “IT”…so proud of our efforts and his progress…pats on all the backs all the way around. Thanks for sharing Mitch…You got it right!

“Hey Don!

Just got out of my first college practice...still hasn't set in that I'm swimming at D1 school. Seemed like yesterday I was sitting in your car wondering if I should even swim. I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me over the past 3 years. I still remember the night I came as a scrawny/moody kid to the Bay Area to check out NorthBay. I knew immediately that NBA was the place I wanted to be because everyone was so happy. Ken was poking kids with a noodle...and he was the head coach. It was such a weird concept for me that people could actually swim fast and have fun. I definitely had my fair share of pity parties and screw ups as a Tuna, but you were always there to talk me off the ledge. I've still got some work to do in that department, but I can't thank you enough for helping me grow up. You made me realize that nobody really remembers how fast you went in our sport or in life. What they really remember is what kind of person you were. You helped me to understand that my role is to be not Mitch the superstar, but Mitch the leader. For this, I will be eternally grateful. I can't wait to see what NBA's gonna do this year - I'll most certainly be keeping tabs. Keep in touch and all the best for this year mate.”