Coach Swimming

Whether you’re leading a group of little kids or seasoned competitors, being a swim coach is a big responsibility. As a swim coach, you must provide structure and organize team practices, develop meet strategies, ensure the team's safety, and instill a drive to excel. But you also want to make sure everyone has some fun. Before accepting a swim coach position, work on enhancing your general coaching skills, developing your teaching strategies for swimming, and getting any required certification or instruction yourself.

Steps

Being a Good Coach in General

1. Establish your authority. You don’t need to be a tyrant to be a good coach, but your team members do need to listen to you. Starting with your first meeting or practice, set clear rules that emphasize water safety, paying attention, and mutual respect, and specify consequences for failure to follow the policies. Once you’ve established your rules, make adjustments as needed based on your observations and judgment.
   • For instance, if you set a rule that any swimmer who is late for practice without a valid excuse cannot swim a relay at the next meet, hold to it — even if it’s your best swimmer. You can establish proper swimming attire that requires trunk-style swimsuits for boys and/or one-piece swimsuits for girls in order to discourage immodest behavior.
   • However, if you're a college coach, for example, you might see fit to temporarily adjust your lateness rules (for everyone) during midterms or other high-activity/high-stress times for student athletes.
2. Communicate and listen. Establishing authority doesn’t mean you should be unapproachable — team members should respect you, not be terrified to speak to you. When you make a decision, implement a new drill or strategy, or change a policy, explain why in terms they can understand. Regularly ask if they have questions, and listen to and answer them.
   • Consider offering a few minutes before and/or after practice to speak with any team members (and possibly parents) who have questions or concerns.
3. Adapt to your team. Be ready to make adjustments for each team and each season. For instance, team members’ ages will determine their maturity and responsibility levels. It will also affect how you speak to them, how much they can practice, how they will interact with each other, and how they’ll swim during a meet.
   • For example, seven year olds might only be able to focus on practice for a half-hour, while seventeen year olds might handle a full hour.
   • Adjust to your team members' abilities as well. Certain members will thrive at particular strokes but not at others. Some members will thrive in individual races while others will thrive in relays. Learn your team members' strengths and weakness and plan around them.
4. Strive to improve as a coach — even if you win a lot. Experiencing a bit of success as a coach doesn’t mean you have nothing left to learn. Seek advice from fellow coaches, especially ones more experienced than you. Talk to parents and especially the swimmers themselves about their views, ideas, and strategies. Never stop trying to get better as a coach.
   • Search online for coaches' training seminars sponsored by major swim coaching organizations like the ASCA.
5. Have some fun. Unless you’re coaching at the highest levels, the stakes for your swim team’s results probably aren’t sky-high. And, even if you are coaching high-level swimmers, incorporating some fun into practices and even meets can calm nerves and restore flagging motivation. Smile. Laugh. Tell a few jokes. Play some silly games or set up fun team-building competitions to break up the monotony of practice.
   • It’s all about finding the right balance: you’re their coach, not their buddy, but also not a dictator.
6. Be there for your swimmers. Especially when you’re coaching kids, you may become an important role model for your team members. Hopefully they’ll be comfortable speaking to you on swimming-related topics, but they might also come to you with unrelated concerns — grades, relationships, home life, etc. Listen to them and offer encouragement.
   • Recognize when it’s your place to give counsel and when you should seek the assistance of other responsible parties (e.g., parents, school officials, counselors, or even social services or law enforcement). Refer to your training and organizational rules for guidance.
7. Define success as more than just winning. Yes, success in coaching is related to results — and you may need to get results in order to remain as coach. However, wins and losses aren’t necessarily the most important factor, especially when coaching children. Never lose sight of the greater impact you can have on your team members, win or lose.
   • Evaluate yourself by asking questions like: Are your team members improving? Are they giving their best efforts time and again? Are they having fun?

Focusing on Core Skills and Techniques

1. Teach proper technique before emphasizing endurance. Winning swim teams usually demonstrate superiority in both physical fitness and swimming technique. That said, instilling good technical skills in your team should probably be emphasized first. Then, you can try to build the swimmers’ endurance while keeping good technique.
   • For instance, make sure a swimmer has mastered a relaxed, consistent, repeatable breathing pattern in their freestyle stroke before you have them practice endless laps using that stroke.
2. Build one skill at a time. Whether you’re coaching kids who are fairly new to the pool or a team of longtime competitors, it’s usually best to teach one specific skill at a time before moving on to the next. For example, instead of simultaneously trying to instruct a swimmer on arm positioning for butterfly stroke and pushing off on turns, focus on one and then the other.
   • Some coaches advise dedicating about six sessions/practices per specific skill (e.g., proper backstroke arm rotation). If the swimmer(s) can’t get the hang of the skill by then, it's usually a sign that you need to try a different teaching approach.
3. Work your way up the technique ladder. As the coach, you’ll have to decide when and how to teach specific skills to team members, based on their ages, skill levels, and other factors. But, generally speaking, there is a basic hierarchy of swimming skills you can follow:
   • breathing and body relaxation while swimming
   • body positioning for specific strokes
   • body alignment and coordination of arm and body movement
   • arm stroke length and rate
   • kick timing and power
4. Approximate competition speeds during practice. No matter the distance or stroke, you win races and meets by reaching the wall faster than the other swimmers. Slow, steady, endless laps are good for recreational exercise, but your team needs to practice swimming fast in order to compete at similar speeds. It’s difficult to practice slowly, then “turn the switch” to fast swimming during the meet.
   • Practice more slowly when building up initial fitness and stamina, and when introducing new techniques. But make sure the swimmers practice these techniques at speeds that at least approach competition levels. Otherwise, their technique may falter when it’s time to go fast.
5. Be a source of encouragement for your swimmers. Don’t ignore the mental aspects of training, coaching, and competing. Help your team members build their individual and collective confidence alongside their swimming skills. Use positive, encouraging words: “I know you can do it — and we’ll get there next time!” instead of “That’s just not good enough — you’ll never win with that kind of effort.”
6. Visualize success alongside your team. It’s hard to swim your best if you don’t believe in your abilities, or can’t picture yourself succeeding — whether that’s winning the race or achieving a personal best. Use breaks during practice, and time before meets, to lead the team in doing visualization techniques. Visualizing yourself doing your best is a great way to Overcome-Your-Fears-Through-Visualization of coming up short.

Meeting Coaching Requirements and Recommendations

1. Get any required training and certification. Whether you’re a new coach or have many seasons under your belt, make sure you keep up-to-date on any training or certifications required by your league, organization, or sanctioning body. For instance, all coaches affiliated with USA Swimming must complete a two-part, roughly seven hours long Foundations of Coaching series to be certified.
   • Most organizations don't have formal educational requirements (beyond perhaps a high school diploma) for swim coaches, although college coaches often need a B.A. degree in physical education, sports management, exercise science, sports medicine, etc.
2. Study the rules and regulations for your league. As the coach, you’re responsible for knowing the rules specific to the league you are competing in. Once you have studied the rules, ensure your team members know and follow them.
   • This includes league-mandated (as well as common-sense) safety procedures and practices. With swimming and all sports, enforcing safety is the most important step of all. When working with a swim team, for instance, watch for rough-housing and horse-play during practices. This will help to prevent accidents.
3. Join a swim coaching organization. Even if it’s not required by your league or sanctioning body, joining a relevant coaching organization will often give you access to a wealth of online coaching enhancement materials. You’ll also have more opportunities to interact with other swim coaches, with whom you can share and learn about best practices and effective techniques.
   • Check out, for example (in the U.S.): the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCU); the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU); U.S. Masters Swimming (USMS); or the YMCA.
4. Read and watch materials on swim coaching. A quick internet search will reveal dozens of books on swim coaching — use reviews and peer recommendations when choosing which ones to check out. Likewise, members of coaching organizations in particular often have access to online training and coaching enrichment courses. Or, more simply, check out YouTube videos on swim coaching.
   • For instance, U.S. members of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) can order a course series on coaching swimming.
5. Be yourself as a coach. It’s certainly true that you should never stop trying to learn from other coaches, experts in swim coaching, coaching organizations, and so on. But, in the end, you’re the coach and you need to use the style and techniques that work best for you and your team.
   • Some coaches are a bit more gruff, while others are more easy-going; some teach one type of turning technique, while others favor another type.

Tips

• In the U.S., full-time swim coaches often earn somewhere between $25,000 and $60,000 per year, with the latter amount reserved for college or other upper-level coaching opportunities. Professional coaches, especially those who are in-demand, can also work on a freelance basis and earn possibly $50 - $100 per half hour session.
• There are four basic swim strokes you’ll be coaching in practices for individual and relay races: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. You will need to know the mechanics of each stroke to ensure your team is performing at its best.
  • Freestyle is swum by alternating an overarm stroke while flutter-kicking. The swimmer's face is in the water, turning side to side to breathe every two to three strokes.
  • Backstroke is swum by floating on the back with an alternating overarm stroke and flutter kick.
  • Breaststroke is swum by moving both the arms and legs in a circular motion while bobbing the head in and out of the water to breathe.
  • Butterfly is the hardest of all strokes. It is swum with a dolphin kick while throwing the arms forward in a keyhole shape.

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