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News For
SWIM
PARENTS
Published
by The American Swimming Coaches Association
5101 NW
21 Ave., Suite 200
Fort
Lauderdale FL 33309
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Speaking Up
to Grow Up
By Coach Bryan Davis
Your swimmer has a multitude of things that they
could improve technically to get just a little faster. You know it,
your swimmer knows it and your child’s coach knows it. The
coach however knows which techniques are the priorities at any
given time. The swimmer should have a pretty good understanding of
what they are supposed to be working on. Although, your swimmer
will not know what the coach has possibly not brought to the
swimmers attention yet. The coach may omit technical corrections if
there is a technical focus of high priority at the time. It may be
that the swimmer is struggling with another high priority focus,
then the coach may feel the need to not overload the swimmer with
too many technical corrections.
If there is something specific that your swimmer
does not understand, is struggling with or just curious about, you
should encourage your swimmer to ask the coach to explain it better
or for extra attention in that area. When a parent brings the
request straight to the coach outside of the presence of the
swimmer, it cuts the responsibility of the swimmer out of the
equation. The goal of the coach is to get their swimmers to need
the coach as little as possible. This frees up more time for the
coach to focus on the finer details of your swimmer as an athlete.
If you want to help your swimmer become more self-sufficient, then
encourage your child to take the responsibility of approaching the
coach personally on all aspects of the sport. If you know your
swimmer is apprehensive about this type of interaction with the
coach. Please stand there with your swimmer and support them as
they speak with the coach. With this approach the swimmer will be
practicing the skill of speaking up for oneself. The sooner your
child takes the wheel the better. Remember, youth sports are
about personal growth competitively but also for growing up in
general, not always just about getting a little faster.
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