WHAT DO COACHES, SWIMMERS,AND PARENTS DO AND WANT?

By Chuck Slaght, AA, BSB, MA, Med, EdD/ ABD

Swim coaches are a different breed: atough, dedicated breed. Of course thereare some bad coaches, many good coaches,and less than 10%great coaches. Swim-mers have a job description and many ex-pectations to live up to. Parents as a wholeare called upon to support their children,the organization and the coach more so inswimming than any other sport. Look atsome of the craziness involved in this sportcalled swimming.

WHAT DO COACHES DOAND EXPECT?They are up weekdays at 4:00-5:00 AM formorning workouts and are there everydayeven when sick. Some may have other jobsbecause coaches are underpaid, like mostteachers, so they have to maintain anotherjob(s) (parents and athletes could raisemore funds for the coach, why not?).Thencomes evening workouts back somewherebetween 4:00 and 6:00 PMwith workoutsrunning 2 plus hours so at 8:30 PM theyare just leaving or getting home: not exact-ly dinner by candlelight. Some coaches de-velop USMSmastersltriathletes team train-ing also and this may include 7:00-9:00 AM,I 1:30-1:00 PM and 6:00-8:00 PM.Wheredoes administration time come in withweekends for meets or some family-time?Ask some devoted coaches wives whatthey think about swimming in general orespecially problem swimmers and parents(my wife and surely other coaches' wivesall contribute to their husbands' jobs: help-ing administratively for free). Coaches haveto also gain knowledge reading, research-ing, corresponding, ete., and this takes time.Coaches have to politic for pool time oreven to build a facility and then have tohelp run it but then again, coaches wantgreat facilities with all the latest equip-ment. Coaches have to plan workouts, aseason, meets, maybe maintain and run thefacility,develop programs (summer leagues,clinics), communicate with swimmers/par-

ents/coaches, go to meetings, take certifi-cation courses and a slew of other thingstoo numerous to mention (just ask yourcoach for more duties that they have).Theyare also husbands, mothers/fathers, friends,and individuals and, they have to do all thenormal things in life that just eat up moretime (vacuum, wash, shop, cook, drive). Fig-ure this out: it takes 20 minutes to drive tothe pool, a coach must be early to open upand then closes or talks to people, holdsa two hour workout, closes the facility ortalks again with athletes/parents/coaches,and then drives home once/twice or threetimes a day (twice a days equals over 6hours a week with no time for administra-tion). Coaches are social/psychologicalcounselors to swimmers, parents, families,and other coaches/people and have tohold it all together and then know what ittakes for each individual swimmer comemeet time for a good performance; howto get them there on the blocks and howto pick them up from say a dismal swim,which happens. Coaches have to run anorganization with many different person-alities (good and bad), maintain records,run Hy-Tek programs (great system forbillin~ and athlete tracking and meet entryrequirements), enter swimmers in meets,do the billing each month having taken at-tendance all month (hopefully), collect/postmonies and deposit them and raise fundsfor the organization to survive. Coachesare travel agents, booking hotels, flights/bustransportation, planning meal sites andtimeframes (never enough time in the dayto eat, properly, anyway). Coaches have towork with other coaches, instructors, life-guards, administrators, and parents workingfor the organization (officers, workers,officials, ete.) hopefully mentoring themand this too takes time, education, anda lot of communication. When done forthe day at 10:00 PM it's time to go to bed,HA, how does one sleep with all this stuffon one's agenda and the speed at whichcoaches must travel even if just in theirown minds???

Coaches expect swimmers to come toworkouts: on time with a great attitude,ready to train to the best of their ability,ready to learn how to swim better furtherfaster than anyone else, ready nutritionally(hydration and proper foods) to maintainand support the workout requirements forenergy utilization, with outside interfer-ence factors such as school and home lifefactors (communications and chores) all ata minimum, under control and not affectingtheir ability to concentrate and swim effi-ciently, and ready mentally to be challenged.Coaches also expect parents to supporttheir children mentally, physically and emo-tionally for the long haul of training and atall meets good, great, and bad. Swimmershave expectations directed by coaches andexternal expectations placed on them byparents and others leading to undue pres-sure and ultimately to failure and schismsbetween the swimmer, coaches, parents,and others. The term "burnout" comes tomind but this is a misnomer; stressed outmaybe but not a psychological burnout,more a feeling of overburdened, misunder-stood, and a breakdown in communicationswith external controlling elements (par-ents, teachers, peers, and coaches); coachesneed to recognize these factors andcounsel the athlete and parents in stressavoidance techniques. Coaches should notcommunicate with parents during swimpractices: parents should call and schedulea conference for before or after workouts,but by all means talk with coaches on aregular basis. If discipline or stress issuesshould arise immediate communication anddevelopment of a strategy is critical.

WHAT DO SWIMMERSDO OR NEED TO DOAND EXPECT?Athletes attend workouts daily,sacrific-ing valuable irretrievable social time withfriends and parents. They also are requiredto keep up good grades and maintain a

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