We are as good as our word.

When you tell someone you're going to do something, you do it!.

By Jackson Leonard

Our swim club learned a lesson last week that is worth sharing. John is a great 13 year old boy who has recently found enjoyment in chopping wood and hauling water. It took four months, but he is no longer the stereotypical 12 year old boy and is now a real young person who is loving training  (vs swimming) and has taken completely to hard work. Occasionally he says something that reminds me he is barely 13, but for the most part, he's becoming a great guy.  Two Fridays ago, we finished practice with 25's underwater dolphin kick with fins. I made a point to say we were going to make all of them NO BREATH. Immediately before we left, John asked if he could go without fins. I hesitated, unsure if he actually could make it the whole way, never mind no breath. I nodded though, and said, "Only if you make ALL of them, underwater, no breath, on interval."   John accepted these conditions. 13 under waters into the set, John realized how tough the set really was and how uncomfortable he was. He asked, "May I put my fins on to finish?" I said, "No. You told me you would finish them without fins. This is a lesson that applies to everything, not just swimming- if you tell someone you are going to do something, you do it. Period. Do you understand?" He nodded reluctantly and went on his way, uncomfortable for the rest of practice. I went home disheartened and unsure if he had received the message. (He had...) Rose is a 12 year old girl in the group, who is conscientious, hard working, and good person. She has normal insecurities and concerns about her swimming, but overcomes them most of the time. A week and a half before our Mile Meet, her parents take her to Georgia on a family trip. She doesn't swim while away. Her first practice back, she goes 90x100@1:25 with the group and averages 1:09's (very good for her). Three days later at the Mile Meet, she is nowhere to be found, even though she signed up and told me she was going to be there only days earlier. I went home disappointed she hadn't swam it; it is likely her best event. Monday, after the Mile Meet, during warm up with everyone at the wall, I quietly asked Rose why she wasn't at the Mile Meet. "Because I didn't think I was ready to swim it," was her reply. As a coach, a million irate thoughts raced through my head- as if it was up to her to decide if she was ready to race well! Before I could get a word out, thankfully, John cut in and said- quite forcefully- "You said you were going to be there Rose, you should have been. When you tell someone you're going to do something, you do it!" and quickly dipped underwater. I was momentarily stupefied and just nodded and said, "He's right."  I have been growing more and more worried about how the group will swim at Champs. But if John's reply is any indication of how the group is growing and learning, I'll be okay with anything. As I remind the AG coaches in our weekly meeting (partially to remind myself)- we need to be infinitely more interested in the swimmers as human beings than as athletes.

Jackson Leonard is a full time age group coach in the SouthEast.   I like this little story, a little disturbed by the 90 x 100s on 1'25 though, I hope they only do this once a year! Marc

Looking For Teaching Moments.

The Biggest Question....

By John Leonard

In all of age group sports, the biggest question for every parent is..."How much to be involved." In every sport from tennis to golf, to gymnastics and swimming, there are horror stories of absolutely awful parental interference, with tragic consequences for the career of the young age group athlete. Yet every one of us loves our children like nothing else in the world. So, how does this happen? I think it's because as parents, we're all looking for a singular rule that will make our role as parents "successful". And it does not exist. In fact, exactly the opposite is the truth...the rules change all the time, as the child matures, and only experience can tell the parent that. Here's a classic example. Jill is 8 and very enthusiastic about her new swim team....most of the time....but on a given Friday, her friend is having a sleepover party and Jill wants to go and skip practice.  Perfect role of her mom? "Jill, get in the car, you made a commitment to swim team and you will keep that commitment. I'll take you to Sally's for the party right after practice." Mom reminds Jill of her commitment..no if's, and's or but's. And enforces it, without depriving the child of the fun party. Perfect. Now Jill is sixteen...another friend is having another Friday evening party and once again, Jill is debating where she "should be". She discusses it with her Mom. This time, Mom simply raises and eyebrow and says "your choice, you know what you should do."  Again, perfect. But totally different. And that, I believe, is the point. When our children are young, we are really and truly "herding them through the process" and making decisions for them, as we should be.....And the goal, is to gradually and systematically, based on successful demonstration of competence, to hand over to them, the decision making power. Athletes who have been in a sport for years, invariably have the same comments..."my parents let it be "my sport", not theirs," "they were interested in what I did, but it was mine," "they didn't interfere at all in my teens, it was up to me to get out of bed to go get them to take me to morning practice. If I chose to sleep in, oh well, my loss." The hard part is judging that "letting go process" and deciding when it's "right" to let go of what. Like most things in life, it's never completely straight-forward..instead, it's two steps forward, one step back, etc. In the case of most children though, by the early to middle teens years, it should be parents just sitting back and enjoying watching their teenagers make decisions and experience the consequences. I have a friend named Lynn Offerdahl. Lynn is a former collegiate All-American diver and her husband John, a former All-Pro linebacker for the Miami Dolphins. Lynn has two children who swim and two who play football.  Lynn says "Every time you do something for your children that they can do for themselves, you make them weaker. Every time you chose to "let them do it," you are choosing to make them stronger. I want strong kids." It doesn't get any wiser or better than that.

John Leonard is the director of the American Swimming Coaches Association and an active coach.

Smile when it hurts

Good little story about attitude and how it affects people around us.    Smile when it hurts

by LisaDiane Mercado Etheredge  Published on Saturday, September 1st, 2012  http://www.etherlimits.com/2012/09/smile-when-it-hurts/

Several weeks ago Billy and I began attending Body Pump classes at Gold's Gym.  A couple of our teachers mentioned that they enjoyed having me in class because I smiled all the time.  One of the teachers even noted that I seemed to smile more during the harder parts of the workout.   After hearing these observations, I began thinking about why I smiled during Body Pump classes.  The most obvious reason is that I enjoy the class, which has upbeat pop music and movements matched to the beat of the songs.  There is a large group of people participating, and an instructor shouting instructions and motivation throughout.  All of the above are things that make my workout experience more convivial.  But it occurred to me that there is another reason I smile when my workout gets tough.   I swam competitively throughout much of my growing up, including my first two years of high school.  During the first few weeks of school each year, we did not swim during our workouts - we had what we called dry land training.  Running, pull-ups, bear-crawling up the stadium steps, sit-ups, push-ups, any crazy exercise you can imagine that doesn't involve water... basically torture.   The coach who oversaw these parent and school sanctioned torture sessions was a man named Bill Thomas.  I am smiling as I type his name.  Coach Thomas loved to have us go through an obstacle course which we alternately called the Tour de Force, Tour de Torture, or Tour de Thomas.  I actually cannot recollect if it had any official name, or maybe those were the official names!  At any rate, Coach Thomas relished making us swing from the monkey bars, do pull-ups, inverted push-ups, and probably a lot of other exercises that I have blocked from my mind.   Here is the thing.  We complained at the time, and I am complaining now, but the truth is, it was excellent training, and I am absolutely certain that it made me stronger and ultimately a better swimmer.  Frankly if Coach Thomas had continued to be in charge of my exercise regimen beyond high school, I would not need Weight Watchers or Body Pump now, because I would be completely fit already!   So back to the smiling.  Coach Thomas would assign additional exercises if you looked too pained while you completed any task he had set for you.  I actually trained myself to smile when he looked my way, so he would not get the idea that I needed anymore sit-ups with the medicine ball, or whatever.  Basically, I taught myself to smile when I had exercised to the point of hurting.  It seems that I learned the lesson so well that I am still smiling when it hurts twenty years later.   Coach Thomas, thank you for teaching me the value of grinning through the pain, and pushing myself to accomplish more than I thought I could.  This lesson has served me well in the gym and in life.

LisaDiane Mercado Etheredge is a native of San Antonio. She swam for Alamo Area Aquatics from 1983 to 1993, and attended Taft and Clark High Schools. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Texas, Mrs. Etheredge settled in Austin, where she works as a training specialist for PPD, Inc.

Swim Parents Can Learn About the Developmental Process in Sports...And Respect It.

Nice article from Coach Leonard. Certainly something all coaches and parents (regardless of the sport) deal with. It's always good to bring some perspective to anything. Marc Swim Parents Can Learn About the Developmental Process in Sports...And Respect It.

By John Leonard

One of the most frequently asked questions in swimming is "how come I'm not as fast as "those guys?" Sometimes this can come from child to parent, or child to coach. Occasionally, and unfortunately, it can come from Parent to child (pretty destructive, though unintentionally so.)  Living in the USA, there are as many ways of training young athletes as there are coaching devising the training. Most are based on sound developmental principles that result in long term appropriate development and physical progress. Occasionally, someone drifts off into some inappropriate training for a particular age. Quite often, since all children develop differently, some children are under-served by a particular type of training. But the most common correct response to the question is "they are physically developed earlier than you are."  "They" may be bigger, taller, more coordinated, and most importantly, STRONGER than another swimmer.  Children develop at different rates, hence the concept of chronological age and biological age. You can be 12 with the "look" of a 10 year old boy, or you can be twelve with a need to shave every other day and the build of a late teenager. And the difference in girls of the same chronological age is even more pronounced.  The point being, children can be "spot on" in terms of age and development, they can be "early developers" and they can be "late developers".  As a vast generalization, those children whose genetic heritage comes from closer to the equator, tend towards early development. Those near the northern latitudes for their heritage, tend to be late developers. One is not "better" than the other". They are simply, different. And of course, whatever developmental "advantage" or "disadvantage" they are at early in life, tends to even out quite dramatically in the later teen years. Humans all wind up looking very similar. The danger is that the slower developing child may become discouraged by their lack of competitive success, despite great practice attendance, great skill development and hard work. Size and strength DO matter in the sprint events. One solution that is highly long term satisfactory, is for the late developer to focus on the event distances that especially reward diligence in training and diligence in learning...the 200's of the strokes, the 400 IM, and the distance free events. IF our slow developer eventually has a growth spurt and shows promise in the sprint events, they will have the best possible background preparation by having spent time in the 200-400-1500 range earlier in their career. A second issue is that parents of fast -developing children may become incorrectly focused on "winning races" since that is what their child may do...rather than on the real business of age group swimming...the perfection of technique and solid aerobic training background.  It's easy for any of us as parents to dream dreams of the Olympic Games when our 10 year old is dominating his local opposition, or even national competition.....but they are biologically advanced, which, by definition, will later "even out". Very important for parents to recognize that your child will develop at their own time and rate.....and comparing them (favorably or unfavorably) with others does them (and the others) a serious dis-service.  The only valid comparison that is also meaningful, is the child swimming against their own best times. And may they make steady progress in that measurement! All the Best for Good Swimming! JL

John Leonard is the Executive Director of the American Swimming Coaches Association and is an active coach of senior and age group swimmers.