What's The Deal With Parents? I think that any athlete can think of an example where a parent has gone over the line when it comes to their child's involvement in sports. I know personally that I have seen everything from a parent yelling at a coach during a game to heated confrontations in the locker room after practice. Parent s need to learn to relax and let their child enjoy the sport that they are playing and just let them play. As it says in "Towards an Understanding of...

13 Steps to Being a Winning Parent If you want your child to come out of his youth sports experience a winner (feeling good about himself and having a healthy attitude towards sports), then he needs your help! You are a vital and important part of the coach-athlete-parent team. If you do your job correctly and play your position well, then your child will learn the sport faster, perform better, really have fun and have his self-esteem enhanced as a result. His sport experience will serve as a positive model...

A successful athlete relies on good nutrition to provide the body with a competitive edge. These nutrition tips will fuel success in the pool: Energy Due to rigorous training, energy needs for a swimmer can be quite high. Plan for regular meals and snacks. Always bring snacks (energy bars, trail mix, bagels, juice boxes and fruit) to eat before and after practice. Carbs Your muscles use carbohydrates as fuel during physical activity. Swimmers can deplete carbohydrate stores after every practice. Consume carbohydrates on a regular basis to keep muscle stores...

Have you ever said mean things to yourself like, “You are awful. You are the slowest person in the water,” or “There is no way I’m going to get better, I should just quit?” If so, imagine how you would react if someone else said those things to you. You would definitely be angry and possibly push them in the pool. My point is, don’t say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t let anyone else get away with. Tips for helping you quiet the negative talk in your head: Be...

the reason why most people’s legs twist and cross is because their legs are trailing the body rotation, instead of moving with the hips and body. The key to fixing it is making sure to get good range of motion with the entire leg, not just from the knees down. Make sure to control the kick all the way from the hips/upper thigh. That way when the hips rotate, so will both legs at the same time. This is definitely not mentally or physically easy if you’re not used to...

Probably the very best way for a captain to motivate teammates in practice and at meets is to directly model the behaviors that you want them to take on. For example in practice, if you as the captain work hard, go all out on every set, closely follow the coaches’ instructions and do so with enthusiasm and a positive attitude, then you will be doing a lot to get your teammates on board following your lead. How you act as the captain will always speak much louder and more powerfully...

Attending a youth sporting event may provide a view of both positive and negative behaviors exhibited by parents. Influences such as level of play, availability of models to emulate and existing team policy often affect conduct at an event. Examples from my personal youth sport experience at differing levels of competition provide examples of factors that affect behaviors of parents. One example is a recall from my personal experience in club level softball and the other is from a spectator perspective at a local youth basketball league. Each scenario describes...

Your focus of concentration on the days leading up to a big meet and right before or during your races will always determine whether you swim fast or not. What’s most important for you to focus on behind the blocks and in the water is what I call the “NOW.” That is, you need to focus on what you are doing in the moment, one race at a time, and in that race, one stroke at a time. If you’re worried about your last big meet, this is a PAST...

PST Entries Events 1-32 Saturday Feb. 12 Warm Up @ 10am Events 33-72 Sunday Feb. 13 Warm Up @ 10am Directions to the Swimming Hall of Fame: Take I 95 or the Turnpike to I 595 East. Exit to US 1 North. Go North oon US 1 to SE 17th St. Turn right (east) and follow SE 17 St past Port Everglades, over the Intracoastal Bridge, through the residential section to (which will become A1A North) Hall of Fame Dr. Turn left one block to the Complex.

1. Arched Back Coaches often notice freestylers arching their backs, a crucial indication that their body isn’t in its most efficient position. Focus on keeping “your head, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles aligned.” Tightening your abdominal muscles will help prevent your back from bowing. 2. High Head Position Breaststrokers sometimes keep their heads raised during their recovery glide, causing drag and throwing off timing. To help correct this error, Coaches suggest doing one-pull-two-kicks breaststroke drill to encourage neutral head position during your glide. 3. Over-Rotation in Backstroke Coaches notice that...