Hello-
I am my team's Swimming Chair (we have water polo and tri too). My team has a lot of new people (and some stubborn people) who don't seem to want to follow our coached workouts. They just want to do their own thing or do the workout at their own pace regardless of the rest of the lane.
So far, I have kept pretty quiet on this issue.
- We have some coaches that are more strict than others.
- I don't want to have to create a strict "age group" atmosphere.
- We sometimes have a compressed number of lanes at our facility, where different levels may get squeezed together in one lane. We are a larger team.
However, I'm a slower-medium swimmer, and I have left some practices because they have turned into such "**** shows" with people doing their own workouts. (Yes, I could say something to my lane mates or coaches, but I would be so bitchy in the moment).
After returning form our end-of-summer break, I'd like to kindly explain the logic of why we order lanes from fast to slow, why it is important to follow the workouts as written by the coaches and that there is no shame in moving up or down a lane depending on speed. Does anyone have any guidelines on "practice etiquette"? In my position I could just be blunt, but I'm looking for a kinder approach, especially for people who may not have swam age group and may just not "get it" Thanks!
Sara,
You need to come back down to Peachtree City, where we are all friendly and always follow the coach's instructions!
Otherwise, it is kind of up to the coach to hold the practice together. One suggestion is to have a designated do your own thing lane, where those who don't want to follow the workout can congregate and not do the coach's workout.
The "coach" runs the ream/practice not the swimmers. It would be fine for you to let others know of the format of lane speed and level.
As far as the doing there own workout --- what is the coach doing when he/she sees this?
:wave: I (Georgia Masters Killer Whales :cheerleader:) teammate! Since I train on my own and always have my own lane, I have absolutely nothing to add to this thread except a warm welcome to the Forums! (I see you have posted before, but I missed those posts.)
Good luck!
Elaine-iaK
Otherwise, it is kind of up to the coach to hold the practice together.
Agreed. Every coach is going to handle that situation a bit differently and no one way is necessarily better than another because so much depends on team dynamics.
I don't have that problem because the facility charges just enough (too much if you ask me) for the practices that you really need to want to attend and get the benefits to join. There are always open swim lanes, so they can always do their own thing over there. Only once in the past year has someone shown up for practice and gone directly into an open swim lane but that was because she had a very specific set she wanted to get in for a 40mile race training plan and her schedule was hairy that week. Sometimes, if there's space available in the open swim lanes I'll send someone to lane 3 and 3/4 to alleviate the pressure off of too many speeds in one lane.
Lane 3-3/4 is sometimes called the Lane to Hogwarts because it's a sorta in-between lane. The master's team has 3 regular sized lanes but the open swim have 4 narrow sized lanes resulting in an awkward lane that isn't exactly lane 3 but its not lane 4. But I digress because I think I'm hilarious...
I'd talk to the coach BEFORE a practice to let them know you find it frustrating and weren't sure if there was a way you could help.
I got into a masters class as a newbie (age 68) last winter and not only didn't I understand the jargon, I couldn't keep pace or complete what was being asked. The "warm-up" was pretty much a full workout for me. After a couple weeks, one other old timer and I sequestered ourselves to the last lane and did as much as we could at our own pace. The coach would say, here's the workout, do whatever you can. What I really needed was a session on stroke improvement, not a race workout. I had and have no interest in sprint distance racing. I want to improve, but I'm not about to get competitive at 50 or 100 yards.
I would think the head coach should send out a friendly worded email before the season resumes stating the policies of the team workouts. This way, no one is singled out, and everyone should be on the same page on day one. The idea of a dedicated "do your own thing" lane sounds like a viable option.
Our previous coach was pretty intense and demanded close adherence to the posted workout and would get personally offended if someone wanted to "do their own thing". That led to some occasional ugly, uncomfortable confrontations, with both the coach and swimmers walking out on occasion.
Our new coach has a more laid-back approach.
We have four broad unofficial categories: fitness swimmers, triathletes, developmental swimmers, and the elites.
The fitness swimmers normally use the first two lanes and either loosely follow the coach's workout or do their own thing (some are rank beginners, just learning to swim).
The "developmental" swimmers use the center lanes and try to follow the workout, but may adjust their send off times and rest periods to fit their individual skill level and/or condition. If you watch them from the deck, they may appear to be out of sync with each other relative to the posted workout.
The "elites" generally hammer out the workout exactly as written on some pretty tight send-offs.
Our coach normally makes out a separate distance-oriented workout for the triathletes and they usually will cluster together in one or two adjacent lanes and do their workout.
Most of the regulars gravitate to lanes where they know they'll fit in. Occasionally new folks will cause some disruption, but most often someone will politely suggest that they may fit in better in another lane. Ironically, it's usually the slower swimmers suggesting that a newbie move to a faster lane rather than the other way around.
It all seems to work relatively well for our mix of swimmers.
This isn't a problem that we've ever had, but we certainly couldn't cope if people just did their own thing. I'm also chair and would advocate a formal communication along the lines of:
This is a club environment
We have to accommodate relatively large numbers per lane
This only works if a) people observe lane etiquette and b) follow the session.
Lane etiquette means... (5 seconds rule etc)
Following the session means... (doing it the best you can - by all means adapt but do so within the parameters of the structured session e.g. don't sprint if you don't want to on a sprint set, but go to the back, miss a rep but don't get in the way...)
If people just want to swim in their own way, they can go to a public session.
I'm far from speedy, so I go to coached workouts to help improve my speed. If for any reason a group isn't a good fit, I don't stay. But if I'm going, I wouldn't want to just do my own thing without regard for the posted workout. That seems odd. My current coach is great b/c he moves around to the different lanes, adjusting speed and number of repeats according to the skills of those in a particular lane. He's really good too at moving people around in lanes when he thinks they need to be pushed more or when they might be struggling w a skill.
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