The Never Ending Quest

As coaches we are forever striving to hit the correct phrase to flip the proverbial switch with our swimmers…the switch that leads them to the promised land of success and fulfillment…sounds a little like snake oil but what the heck…

This week we came up with the following…

There are really only 3 types of swimmers

1 – The swimmer who works diligently and is in darn good shape

2 – The swimmer who refines her skill set and has fabulous technique

3 – The swimmer who has both skills and conditioning

Those who fall into group 3 are far more often than not the ones swimming up front. No single athlete is in the third group all the time. Life gets in the way and they move around and yet we have on our team – and so do you! – those who consistently live in group 3. By far the largest group is probably group 1. We have very few in group 2…that one requires a fair amount of brain power and connectedness.

As club coaches we never give up striving for large percentages in group 3. We have found that once a swimmer experiences group 3 they won’t want to leave…and that is the Promised Land.

Footnote: there is a group 4…those who have neither but our experience is that by 13 or 14 they self-select out of our sport because it takes too much work and so group 4 usually only exists in 12 and unders