Importance of Goal Setting
Every time you train, you should have a goal. Whether it’s a warm up, drills, aerobic or race pace training, you need to swim intentionally during practice. Don’t throw away an opportunity to improve by simply going through the motions. All Olympians, world champions, and world record holders use goals to keep themselves on track to achieve greatness. They weren’t born to swim fast, they worked hard to get there and used goals to guide them.
What is a Good Goal?
A good goal has 5 basic components. The athlete’s goals related to swimming should be SMART.
- S = specific. A specific goal would be, I want to improve my backstroke finish rather than just saying, I want to improve my backstroke.
- M = measurable. How will you know if you’ve reached your goal? I want to be able to approach my backstroke turn without having to look around for the wall.
- A = attainable/achievable. Make sure that your goal is something that you can realistically achieve.
- R = Realistic. Use a timeline or more specific steps to achieve your goal. Is it realistic to aim to break the team record if you must swim a 1:40/100m and currently you are swimming a 2:00/100m. You can do it but take the necessary steps to get to your goal. Try to take some time off at each meet by addressing parts of your swim that you want to improve like the start, turn, the number of breaths per length.
- T = and have a timeline. Give yourself time to achieve your goal but not too long. You should be able to see progress to your goal if not at every practice, at least at each swim meet. If you set your goal too far in the future, you may get bored and forget about it.
Stay Focused
Below are some process goals for you to think about as you train. Pick one or two before each training session and practice from the beginning of warm up to the end of the swim down. Don’t limit yourself to just these – feel free to add your own!
- Tight streamline every start, push and turn off the wall.
- Take two strokes from every start or turn before breathing on fly and freestyle.
- Finish each distance as if it were a race.
- Practice drills perfectly.
- Take 6 or more dolphin kicks off of each start or turn for fly, free and back.
- Get past the flags on every turn.
- Leave on time for every interval.
- Look at the clock at the start and finish of every interval.
- Count your strokes at regular intervals.
- Touch with two hands on all Fly and Breaststroke lengths.
- Go to the toilet before practice or between sets.
- Make sure your equipment fits securely before the start of the session (no unnecessary goggle fiddling).
- Stay hydrated.
- Work both the down and the upkick in each set.
Sharing Your Goals With Your Coach
In order to share your goal progress and preparations as an athlete, it is important to understand how you feel. Are you feeling some stress from school work? Are you exhausted from working out every day? Are you getting to bed early enough to be ready to swim at 0530 each swim day? Stress, exhaustion, fatigue, energy, hydration, and sleep, all play a role in your motivation and your ability to achieve your goals. The training log asks you to consider these items and how they have affected your swim training and meet performance.
2025/2026 Training Log
This is to be filled out after each swim meet. Your responses will help the coaches gear the workouts to each individual swimmer and their group based upon your feedback. Training Log
2025/2026 Goal Sheet
Each swimmer is expected to email their goal sheets to their coach by Saturday, 25 September. You and your coach will review these during “goal days” at practice. These practices have already been outlined on our annual plan and will be the priority on those days. The EXAMPLE and fillable PDF Goal sheet have sent out via email.
Other Ways to Track Your Progress
Please download the On-Deck APP to access extra workouts, top times, attendance records, and other information. For information on how to download the app, please see the link below.
