Hosting my first masters practices this week.... variety of skill levels. Hour long practices. Any tips for good first week practices?? (new to coaching masters, but have been swimming/coaching for 35 years)....
any and all advice welcomed!
Mahalo!
All the above and play good music. I broke out the 1970s lite rock last week just to annoy my swimmers. Nothing like Muskrat Love (also known as wookiees mating song) to get the day rolling at 5:30 am.
Yeah, but you were stuck listening to it, too! :lmao:
A while ago I posted a long reply in the coaching section to a similar question.
Here's just a small part of it...
Make no doubt about it, the diversity of typical masters groups the world over, in age, ability, experience and motivation, guarantees that the coach's resourcefulness will be stretched to the limit. One point you (and the rest of us, as coaches) should always be aware of, is that these swimmers have chosen to join your club. They had a choice. They also have the choice to leave at any time. The head coach must rise to the challenge of meeting their diverse needs. You will be rewarded with a constant show of appreciation. I’ve found that masters swimmers of all abilities are grateful when someone takes an interest in them. Furthermore, they are thrilled when the coach goes the extra mile in terms of finding the time, over and above of what is expected, to make them feel that their contribution to the club is valuable. Coaching masters can be the most rewarding challenge a coach can undertake.
Adults are generally hungry for information, and although they will keep you on your toes with questions about anything that doesn’t make sense, or isn’t applicable to their needs, they generally understand the reasons behind what is being asked of them. I’ve also found that the beauty of masters swimmers is that they don’t expect the coach to know everything!
All adult swimmers in the squad, from novice masters to the experienced, are always very keen to learn how to improve and I have found that they listen intently to advice and instruction.
Thanks everybody! These are all values I have as a coach (albeit when I was coaching kids or giving private lessons). I am definitely a "hands-on" coach. Always watching technique and ways to help someone, and myself, to improve.
The biggest challenge that I foresee is trying to pack a good practice into only an hour's time....
many, many mahalos!
Hosting my first masters practices this week.... variety of skill levels. Hour long practices. Any tips for good first week practices?? (new to coaching masters, but have been swimming/coaching for 35 years)....
any and all advice welcomed!
Mahalo!
There's *not* a whole heap difference between MS coaching and age group coaching.
One very clear difference is that your typical Master Swimmer, the one who likes to improve, has received a lot of stroke correction feedback of all sort. Some may have seen more than 10 coaches already. They hear this, then its opposite, etc...
Therefore structure your feedback as much as possible. Get to know what the swimmer is working on, what he believes in, etc. If you feel that one believes into something you find dead wrong, be careful in not discrediting the previous way 100%, whilst justifying your own point.
And more importantly, be consistent. I think every single stroke correction feedback should be followed up at least once, on the same element I mean. All too often we see a coach issuing a feedback on something, with no follow up, then another feedback on something else, with no follow up etc..... This, for some Masters, kind of sucks. After a while, they don't tell; but they don't care (and I'd do the same).
Also, keep in mind that 90-95% of all masters lack on the flexibility side, and even more sad, they don't do much to improve it. They read books, go on the Internet to find clips, they try to modify their stroke to mimic the greatest swimmers, but can not achieve the range of motion due to (often severe) flexibility limitations.
Plenty of stroke feedback if they want it!!!
I'm so tired of asking and asking and begging for feedback from coaches who are reticent to give adults advice. And then when I finally extract a gem or two - they forget to watch me trying to implement it... maybe this should go on a rant thread....?
Longer warmups are sometimes missed by new masters coaches - us old folks simply take longer.
Also, good transition sets of active recovery. I usually cramp up when an eager new coach puts a heavy kick set right after a pull set. Maybe the kids can do it, but not this swimmer...:)!
Wow! I never expected such great feedback... And all of it very constructive and what I would want from a coach.
I really wish I could play music during our practices..unfortunately I don't have that option. :(
