For Swim Coaches

The Truth About Coaching

You’ve probably done it for many months/years and you were probably a pretty decent swimmer, at some point, to boot.

And you know you are not only doing it for a paycheck- there are better ways to make money.

In essence, you love what you do at some level and we hope that you want to get better at it.

So, how do you get from being a good coach to being a great coach?

First thing you should know is that there are differences between KNOWING, DOING and TEACHING.

Some people know and teach with-out ever really doing it themselves, for whatever reason, some valid, some not so much. It can work, because some people are just really good at relaying knowledge. Some people know and do, but never really want to teach, which is OK on our books, the world needs both kinds of people- teachers, and doers. And some do and teach, with-out really knowing anything about the subject- usually a major disaster on both fronts.

Some people have all three- they know how it works (knowing) at the deepest level, they have done it themselves (doing) and they love to teach it to others (teaching). These people usually make the best coaches, but they are very rare and hard to find. Who these days has time/inclination to dedicate themselves to one thing for all their lives?

At the end, however, what it means, is that we can almost always get better at something if we are willing to learn and share. You can learn and you can pass on the knowledge you’ve gained. And that’s how you become a great coach. Having that personal experience helps, but is not always necessary as long as you communicate well what you know.

Anyway, enough of pontificating. Here are some points that have made coaching easier and more effective for us (especially when teaching young kids in the beginning of their swimming journeys):