Sunday, September 1, 2013

My First Coaching Experience

Our team in a college swimming intramural competition harvested six (6) gold, two (2) silver and three (3) bronze medals from twelve swimming events held at Philippine Marines-Navy Swimming Pool-Manila. I guess, this was a great start for a beginner like me as a coach in a swimming competition.  There were nine teams competed in the different swimming events. At the end of the competition, our team dominated the league.
(photo source: mashable.com)
The summary of events and our medals are as follows:



Male Place Female Place
Freestyle 25m Gold Freestyle 25m Bronze
Freestyle 50m Gold Freestyle 50m Silver
Breastroke 25m No place Breastroke 25m Gold
Backstroke 25m Silver Backstroke 25m Gold
Relay Medley Bronze Relay Medly Gold
Relay Open Bronze Relay Open Gold















My Swimmers! (photo courtesy of Ms. Cheryll Villareal)
The freestyle event (photo courtesy of Ms. Cheryll Villareal)



In this event, I realized that coaching is really a challenging task. A combination of hardwork, passion and love for the sports is really important. I was blessed because my swimmers are dedicated and fast-learners. It was very hard in the beginning because forty (40 %) percent of them are zero knowledge in swimming when we started the training. But, in four weekends of practice, they improved a lot. And the result is really great.

In coaching, It is a must to know your swimmers in order to maintain their focus and performance during the training and in the actual competition . Let me share some of my personal tips in coaching.   

1. Timetable. It is important that your swimmers are ready and skillful enough on the day of the competition
2. Proper nutrition. Performance is optimized when proper nutrition is included.
3. Proper execution versus speed. Speed is maximized if the the swimmers are used to executing the proper swim stroke.
4. Assignment. Take-home task could help them improve even when they are not in the water. There are body exercises that will maximize the muscles for better swimming performance.

Question:

What do you think is the formula of raising a champion swimmer?

(photo courtesy of www.swimswam.com)
































6 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. a swimmer must be compassionate at all time, in ups and downs, this swimmer must always maintain the quality of sportsmanship. Raising a champion swimmer, you must be disciplined at all times. observe a healthy lifestyle and maintain proper diet. Raising a champion is not that hard as long as you are dedicated in what you do. Be with the people around you who helped you in achieving your dreams. you must have the desire in yourself too. this swimmer must always train and posses good attitude too. don't think negatively but instead, think positively always. have the strategy in yourself so that you could achieve your goals. avoid negative things that come in your life so that one day you could be a champion. focus your mind on something else, and that is your goal being a champion swimmer. don't get nervous. do some relaxation mentally, and physically. also, exercise daily. visualize the perfect swim method in your mind.try to observe and watch other champions in swimming do their roles so you'll have an idea on how to become one. :)

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  3. a potential swimmer must have self discipline in following instructions of his adviser and choosing a healthy lifestyle to maintain his body to be not only physically but also mentally fit.he/she should also have a good adviser that gives him/her a good training program to have a stroke of a champion. -Jumpei Abe

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  4. -A champion swimmer must be following his/her coach. He or she must have discipline in him/herself especially when he/she is in the pool. He/she needs to be physically fit in order to perform well. A champion swimmer must show sportsmanship when competing with other swimmers have some new friends. Self confidence must always be present to a champion swimmer in order for him/her to be prepared on what will happen to him/her. Everyday practice may help a swimmer to become better swimmer. And lastly, dedication. This may help a champion swimmer to perform his/her best in the pool.

    -Timothy Seña

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  5. The techniques of the champion its have been recently discussed in past tips - the enormous benefit of visualizing the perfect swim in your mind, and also getting into the mental state known as the zone by clearing the mind of all thought and simply allowing the body to operate on pure instinct. These are the practices of champions, and they are powerful techniques which work. It's a good idea to master this first in training, in addition to the conscious training sets where you are concentrating on something specific. :)


    -Christian Botin

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  6. What do you think is the reason behind raising a champion swimmer? I can’t give the exact formula but based on my opinion it depends on how he/she was raised, but most of them were trained in their early age because it is the development stage of were they can absorb the things easily. For instances like they were enrolled in swimming classes or hire a trainer. In addition to this most of them were exposed by their parents in swimming competition because in this case the child is going to think of a way how he/she can win or finish the race he is in.

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Thank you for sharing your opinion.