|
July 26, 2010
News For
SWIM
PARENTS
Published by The American Swimming Coaches
Association
5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200
Fort Lauderdale FL 33309
___________________________________________________________________
Speaking Up to Grow Up
By Coach
Bryan Davis
Your swimmer
has a multitude of things that they could improve technically to
get just a little faster. You know it, your swimmer knows it and
your child’s coach knows it. The coach however knows which
techniques are the priorities at any given time. The swimmer should
have a pretty good understanding of what they are supposed to be
working on. Although, your swimmer will not know what the coach has
possibly not brought to the swimmers attention yet. The coach may
omit technical corrections if there is a technical focus of high
priority at the time. It may be that the swimmer is struggling with
another high priority focus, then the coach may feel the need to
not overload the swimmer with too many technical
corrections.
If there is
something specific that your swimmer does not understand, is
struggling with or just curious about, you should encourage your
swimmer to ask the coach to explain it better or for extra
attention in that area. When a parent brings the request straight
to the coach outside of the presence of the swimmer, it cuts the
responsibility of the swimmer out of the equation. The goal of the
coach is to get their swimmers to need the coach as little as
possible. This frees up more time for the coach to focus on the
finer details of your swimmer as an athlete. If you want to help
your swimmer become more self-sufficient, then encourage your child
to take the responsibility of approaching the coach personally on
all aspects of the sport. If you know your swimmer is apprehensive
about this type of interaction with the coach. Please stand there
with your swimmer and support them as they speak with the coach.
With this approach the swimmer will be practicing the skill of
speaking up for oneself. The sooner your child takes the wheel the
better. Remember, youth sports are about personal growth
competitively but also for growing up in general, not always just
about getting a little faster.
|
