A Day In The Life

A Day In The Life Of A Swim Coach

The pool is teaming with moody teenagers. They are swimming up and down the pool. It is a long set. They will be tired and moodier when they get out. They don’t know how wonderful their lives are. I am speaking to several of them through headsets they are wearing. This nifty piece of equipment allows coach to be their “voice of god,” so to speak.

I am speaking to them individually and collectively about their swimming technique and the things I see from the side. “Coach sees everything,” I speak into the microphone with my Darth Vader voice. Reminding them to make sure they stay focused on swimming pretty. I watch to see if they are streamlining well off the walls and how the mechanics of each stroke is being applied.

Of course, these things are important, their technique and focus etc., yet I know how they feel. Some of them are feeling great and strong, with very little worries; some of them are feeling a little overwhelmed with their lives and can’t concentrate on the set. As the set wares on - the feelings, good or bad - intensify. I am there to help them through the set. I am not a schoolmaster or a disciplinarian, I am literally a voice in their heads. What I say matters.

So, I have to be careful what I say and how I say it. I decide to start singing. I am a crap singer, but I love poetry and can string some ryhming words together to a phoney rap tune. The silly things that i am singing make little sense and have no connection to swimming or what I am seeing my swimmers do or want them to do. It is merely a delightful distraction. I notice that my ‘headset’ swimmers seem to straighten up a little in the water, their tumble turns and streamlines become a little cleaner and they swim a little better. Between sets, I see them all smiling at me and each other. They are having fun and so am I.

Many years later, I meet one of these swimmers again and we talk about how they are doing and it feels very familiar. They tell me that one of their lasting memories was not the personal bests they swam, or the many hours of grueling training, but the times I was singing away like a madman into their headsets.

Honesty

Kids are pretty honest. Young kids especially. Through them my Dutch was put under the microscope and they let me have it when my grammar was wrong. I loved it. There is that saying in English right, “Take as good as you give.” I was giving them feedback on their swimming, and they were giving me feedback on my Dutch. A fair swap, I think. What I learnt from these delightful kids was, one: not to take myself too seriously and two: coaching is a two-way process. A feedback loop between coach and coached. Being the coach means nothing if you are not willing to listen, be challenged or criticised from the people you are training.

 Feedback

Receiving feedback is not easy. I think easier for kids, than for adults though. When giving feedback, I use the same formula every time. I look for what the swimmer is doing well. This is my standard approach. I will stop and ask myself, “What is this swimmer doing well?” This creates a positive vibe and when I give feedback I start there, then I move on to the focus point. It opens up communication channels in a respectful way.

“What is the swimmer doing well?”, is the mantra I keep in my head. If you ask this question, you will always frame people’s effort, not only swimming, but human effort, in a totally different light.

It is the realisation that everybody is trying their individual best. The swimmer in front of you is not doing what they are doing on purpose to piss you off. They are doing what they are doing because it is their best effort at this moment and do not know any better.

From this point of view, I start the correction process. Carefully and gently, reminding the swimmer what they are doing well and what is holding them back from becoming faster and more accomplished as a swimmer. The responsibility for change is then where it belongs, squarely on the shoulders of the swimmer.

Toilet Breaks

Travelling on holiday in the car to the coast was a nightmare for me. My dad tried to drive the seven hours from Johannesburg to Durban without stopping. If I needed the toilet, I would have to hold it in until my dad decided to stop or we had reached the destination. It was hell. I developed a toilet anxiety from this. I do not envy this on anyone.

In the swimming club where I gave training for many years, the head coach frowned upon swimmers who wanted to go to the toilet midway in the training. It was something I was always strongly opposed to, given my own memories.   

The head coach saw the need to go the toilet as a weakness or ill-preparedness for the training on the side of the swimmer.

My belief in this assertion was tested one day in training. One of the teenage girls asked to go to the toilet midway in a crucial set. I felt a little irritation come up, because this was the second time in the training. There was a moment where I wanted to say no and spout the vitriol of the head coach, but the boy in the car bursting to go to the toilet spoke up. The girl got out the pool, walked to her bag and retrieved a tampon.

I never had any doubt again about my decision to let swimmers go to the toilet.

 NOTE: Amsterdam counts three free public toilets accessible to women, men’s urinals dot the landscape at regular intervals. This is clear sign who designed the city and that there is no thought given to a woman’s experience of the city. Something I mentioned in my blog Feminism, where to now? Being forced to go into a restaurant, pay for the toilet or a beverage to access a toilet is simply wrong. Something that is a basic human right, should not be monetized. This is a clear gender bias gap.

Don’t Change Your Swimming Cap Without Letting Coach Know

Competitions are stressful for coach and swimmer alike. I am dealing with a million things at once and swimmers are nervous, excited, disappointed and everything in-between.

The one thing a coach needs at a meet is predictability. Getting the right swimmer to the start block at the right time and then focusing on the hundred other things that are going on around us.

So, when I looked up expecting to see a certain swimmer on the blocks, I was horrified to see that another swimmer was in their place. I remind you that lots is going on and I wouldn’t have made this mistake in training.

I yell out to the swimmer that they are in the wrong heat. The meet referee and starter don’t blink an eye. The parents in the stands all look at me like I am crazy and how could they have entrusted their kids to this madman. The starter continues unabated. I am sweating by this stage because I think, “Oh my god, this is going to be a disaster.”

“Hey coach, when do I start?” I look down at the owner of the voice who I think is on the starting block . My eyes must’ve popped out of my head. “What’s wrong, looks like you seen a ghost?”

I then up look up as the gun goes off and see a completely different swimmer set off down the pool.

I look down at the swimmer again quizzically. She smiles her crooked smile and says, “I leant her my swimming cap. Hers broke and she forget to bring spares.”

I could have throttled someone in that moment. You see coaches become conditioned, just like their swimmers do. If you see the same swim cap day-in and day-out in practice on the head of a swimmer, you automatically assume things.

I had a good laugh about it after the meet.

 A God Among Mortals

I literally do see everything. It is a superpower that I have and many other coaches too. It is difficult to describe. I guess it’s because I love the sport and practice being focused on the swimming movements that I do notice everything.

I can be focused on a swimmer in the foreground and yet see something happening at the other end of the pool.

One becomes so attuned to the swimmers’ movements that it becomes a language in itself. That minute change in the way a swimmer recovers over the water is an indication that the swimmer is thinking about something else.

A swimmer dipping their head with each hand entry is struggling with the pace. I can tell from looking at a swimmer and how they warm up how hard I can push them in the training.

I see the eyes of swimmers widen when I tell them exactly how they are feeling. No, I cannot read minds, but it’s close. I know what I know from what I see. It is wonderful to be able to work with people in this way. Speak into their sporting lives with positivity and power and help them achieve their swimming goals. It is so satisfying to be a swim coach.

Everyday is so varied and an affirmation of human effort.

 Becoming Conscious

The most curious thing about being a swim coach is learning that people swim unconsciously and by default move their bodies in pre-determined ways that they know nothing about. I see them as they really are. Describing this is tricky because generally people won’t recognize themselves in my description of them swimming. They think I am describing a stranger, only to be surprised when they realise differently. Words are complicated, pictures provide clarity. When I show them the videos of themselves swimming, the scales fall from their eyes.

We think we are right until we know we are wrong. This old adage holds true for swimming too, but changing the technique is a little harder. Consciousness is the first step. It goes a long way to helping swimmers let go of their old swimming self’s. It isn’t easy.

It is my greatest pleasure in life to have a drill ready to help them become conscious of what their bodies are doing. Consciousness brings attention and attention brings change.

May we all be the change we want to see in the world.

Clocking Away

A day in the life of swim coach is also clocking times, writing swim sets and managing the swim trainings. This is the hardware of swimming. It stays constant and is scientifically based. It is the place where things feel controllable. Yet they too change from time to time. The complexity of the swimmer is the software and is programmable.

A day in my life is varied, intense, physically draining and yet indescribably fulfilling. Drawing the best out of people is so rewarding. It is the place where love resides. Not a phony love that lasts for only as long as the words are on the lips, but a genuine love that sees others grow and become something more than themselves. They grow out of their old swimming skin and into their new one.

I love it.