It takes three people to swim fast:
1. A talented, committed, hardworking and dedicated swimmer.
2. A passionate, experienced, innovative, engaging and enthusiastic coach.
3. A supportive, loving, caring and believing parent.
These three people – these “partners” - each play an important role in helping the swimmer to achieve swimming performance success.
As partners in the swimmer’s performance, each person – the swimmer, the coach and the parent has a role to play and a clear set of responsibilities to ensure they perform their role to the best of their ability. The Key to a well-balanced partnership: Understanding each other’s roles
The Swimmer’s Role
Swimmers must take ownership over their performance. They are the one’s doing the work, setting personal goals, etc. The actual performance is largely the result of the talent, commitment, passion, drive and determination of the swimmer.
The Coach’s Role
Coaches foster motivation through constant feedback in regards to goals while empowering the athlete to make better decisions. All of our coaches love the sport of swimming. Swimming fast is fun and we want to share that with the swimmer. But this is secondary to developing them as a person.
Coaches serve the athlete not only as a positive influence, but as an enabler as well.
Our role is to guide the swimmer by providing structure, feedback, education and support. We do this by mentally stimulating the athlete and encouraging them to be creative in finding a way to reach their goal.
Most of all, it is our job as coaches is to keep communication with swimmers as black as white as possible. Sugarcoat nothing. Integrity has not no need of rules. A coach will do what is right because it is right. It is not our job to conform to anyone else standard of behavior. It is our job to be as honest with our kids as possible.
In doing so, build an honest relationship with our swimmers while allowing them to take the reigns of their own swimming destiny. We inspirethe athlete to push beyond their boundaries.
The Parent’s Role
I’ve known many parents who share the same goal – to provide a healthy opportunity for their child to grow. This goal can only be achieved through trust in each other. Trust isn’t something that is given. Trust is something that has to be developed through continual communication and a firm understanding in each other’s role and cohesive cooperation in supporting each other’s role.
A swimming parent is responsible for helping their child to develop values like integrity, humility, respect, courage, discipline, and excellence. A swimming parent can help a child develop time management skills as well as independence. A swimming parent can teach an athlete to be more responsible for their own behavior.
Parents must understand that no two kids are the same. All kids respond, react and develop differently. Comparison is the thievery of joy. Never compare your kid to another under any circumstance.
Instead let the coach do their job and give your kid their independence. This will allow them to develop self-management skills and allow them to prepare for life.
Parent Expectations:
- All parents will engage in positive fan behavior. This includes volunteering to time at meets and serving on the board.
- Parents must never interfere with training sessions. This creates a liability issue with our team and USA swimming.
- Let coaches’ coach
- Let officials officiate the meet
- Never compare your athlete to another.
- Coaches and athletes set performance goals, when appropriate needed. NEVER SET PERFORMANCE GOALS WITH YOUR SWIMMER.
- Be a fan, not a FANATIC
- What happens on the pool deck, stays on the pool deck.
Most of all, to be a great swimming parent, love your child unconditionally, give them all the love, care and support that you can and leave the coaching to the coaches.
Teach them to be honest and to take responsibility for their actions.
Teach them to be sincere and respectful to their coach.
Teach them about perseverance. Winning means never giving up.
Teach them to never compromise on their goals.
If you do your job really well as a swimming parent, and the athlete does their job (i.e. that they try to do their best every day and in everything they do) as an athlete, and the coach does their job, the three of you together are capable of doing amazing things.
