What do your coaches do?

Thanks. I wanted to see how it worked at other Masters. I learned to swim as an adult and we pay like 1300 a year for masters if not more. We get what you get for the most part--a workout on a kickboard and we are off. If people do their own thing coach barely notices or says anything. It is very disheartening because swimming tons of meters and repeating mistakes will not improve any of us....imho. Thanks.

My coach is great! He tailors workouts (written on whiteboard) so that fastet and slower ppl get similar challenges. (I'm in latter group.) This could involve varying the number of repeats or the distance per interval. He also goes back and forth between lanes, giving feedback to all of us, regardless of speed. I did at one time go to a group where the coach just left copies of the workout on kickboards at the end of each lane and then read his newspaper. I was at the time fine w the latter group since it meant I had a quality 2 hour workout which I needed b/c I was training for a long o.w. swim, and simply adapted his wotkout to my speed (fewer repeats usually). But after a while, I needed more, and my current coach offers much more! Probably worth your while to try other masters groups in your area b/c I can't imagine that guy is the only game in town. Or maybe talk w him about your goals and needs. Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

I'm a novice (at age 68), so have no team and no experience with racing, etc. Here's what I found last winter. Our high school has a continuing education program which includes everything from basket weaving to ballroom dancing to masters swimming. There are four different swim sessions one can sign up for. Adult learn to swim. Open swim with no coaching, just a life guard on duty. Stroke improvement with a coach to give you advice on whatever you need, stroke, kick, turns, etc. And masters swimming which was a set workout as others have indicated, distances and intervals written on a whiteboard with timing goals. I signed up for the masters swim to have others to do the workout with even though I'm too slow to do some of it. If I couldn't do the repeats in the time specified, I merely did fewer with longer rest intervals. So while others might have done a 2500 yard workout, I did 2000. It worked for me. Now, brace yourself, because the price for a 10 week session of any of the above is $30, or $10 for senior citizens. Right, I'm paying $1 a week. I did also sign up for a few swim clinics from a private coach at $20 per session this fall which was of the stroke improvement type. There were two coaches for about a dozen people. They fixed my stroke mechanics and I learned to do nice smooth open turns. Though it did not speed me up a whole lot, I feel much more comfortable in the water now.

oh goodness. I had the same problem. I signed up for a Masters Swim class at my gym, she printed out some workouts, but while I was doing it, she would be texting or disappear. She didn't tell me what I was doing wrong or paid any attention. I was completely discouraged, I didn't understand why I was still so slow. I found another Masters Swim club at the local middle school. Its $160 for 2 months, 4 times a week. It's with a legit coach, as in he won the coach of the year according to USMS. I will start in 2 week, very nervous, but I will come back to this thread and let you know what his coaching style is.

Hi there! My coach puts the workout on a whiteboard, but adjustments are made for those who are slower or freestyle specialist (our tri/OW peeps). We usually warm up on our own according to the workout, then do at least one of the sets together as a team on the same time. For instance, we may do 15x100s on 1:40 and some folks will adjust down to doing 75s or wear fins. He does work with individuals for stroke technique/tweaks as he sees them. Very occasionally, if we have someone with an upcoming race he may do a separate workout for that person - printing it out so we can put it on a kickboard and work off of it. He did this for me as I was upping my mileage for the last OW race. He'll still check in on occasion to see how you're doing or modify a bit. We're lucky we have a smaller team so he's able to keep doing this for now.

I started swimming in April, the lap swimming is free for seniors, and I make my own schedule.

Thanks all for your responses. I am thinking of finding another masters team--though I will miss my friends. This is a new coach and he gives us NO feedback--we just swim. And, yes, I love it when coaches sit on the deck and send emails or text messages all through practice. Thanks all. The new year may call for a new masters team.

when i coach (that would be thursday mornings at 5:30am) i do the following: i provide 2 types of workouts - competitive and fun & fitness i explain the workout so that it is done as intended i offer stroke corrections and advice on some days i even video strokes to show the bad examples to the swimmer i offer encouragement for the "fast" parts -- now, my coaches dont always do this...actually i have only had 1 coach video me in the last 8 years and it was 1 time at my request -- what i find the most interesting is when someone wants to argue with me about technique

Adding to my earlier comment, my first Master's coach I thought was pretty good, then after about a year in, I realized that he had his favorites and would cater to them. He'd almost completely ignore the others. Then he'd have a string of bad days where he'd just give us a long set and then sit on the bench and text or just pout about something. I nearly quit the team, then he left, thankfully. The coaches we have now are fantastic! They're engaged with all levels and genuinely enjoy what they're doing. They definitely work to make us the best that we want to be. I feel very lucky to have stuck with the team through the rough period so that we could get these two.

I've gone from one extreme to the other with Masters coaches in the past year. My first coach was an accomplished swimmer (Olympic goal medalist) who was a great stroke technician. She knew the goals & objectives of each swimmer and would set individual send-off times for each individual based on their own abilities. She actively coached from the deck and would have a "theme" or point of focus for each practice. She knew my goals and would push me in practice. Our current coach usually makes up two different practice sheets: one IM-stroke based, and one for our triathletes that is composed of longer freestyle sets. The yardages on the workouts are written for the top performing members of the group and are unachievable by most members of the group within the scheduled practice time. The coach leaves it to the individual swimmers to edit or modify the printed workout to their ability level. He does no proactive coaching from the deck, but will answer individual questions if asked. Some folks like the more laid-back approach of our current coach, as the previous coach could be more "in-your-face" at times. Not saying one is right or wrong. Different strokes for different folks as they say. Personally, I'm still working to improve and preferred the previous situation. Quite frankly, most of the technical "coaching" I get these days is from Ernie Maglischo's and Sheila Taormina's books and Bob Bowman/David Marsh/Richard Quick videos.