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.”