I am currently attending Masters swimming sessions at a local swim club. The coach appears to be a strict, no nonsense coach and will not hesitate to chide and yell at swimmers who can't perform a drill properly. For instance, he lambasted at me and said I was a terrible swimmer when I performed poorly during the drills. I am new to Masters swimming so my hand and leg coordination is not that good compared to more seasoned swimmers. Furthermore, he did not allow me to go to the restroom and even forced me to finish a 500m set with a full bladder before I can even think of leaving the pool.
Is my coach being too unreasonable? Should I switch to a more lenient coach? I have to admit that my coach is excellent in correcting one's stroke and provides tons of useful tips. He will also praise swimmers for their good performance.
I am currently attending Masters swimming sessions at a local swim club. The coach appears to be a strict, no nonsense coach and will not hesitate to chide and yell at swimmers who can't perform a drill properly. For instance, he lambasted at me and said I was a terrible swimmer when I performed poorly during the drills. I am new to Masters swimming so my hand and leg coordination is not that good compared to more seasoned swimmers. Furthermore, he did not allow me to go to the restroom and even forced me to finish a 500m set with a full bladder before I can even think of leaving the pool.
Is my coach being too unreasonable? Should I switch to a more lenient coach? I have to admit that my coach is excellent in correcting one's stroke and provides tons of useful tips. He will also praise swimmers for their good performance.
It solely depends on you. Personally I'm a kind of person that will never tolerate anyone yelling at me. For me it doesn't matter how good coach is. I've got through it when I was a kid but at that time I had no choice. Now I would never allow that to happen to me again. At the same time I know some people who are totally fine with such type of coaches, moreover, this type of coaching works well for them. I just can wish them a good luck.
So it's completely up to you. If you don't feel well working with that person, change the coach. You may try to talk to the coach and explain your concerns, but in most cases that doesn't change anything. People rarely change.
Not allowing you to go potty? Does not even happen at high level swimming in college.
Not sure about that and I'm very confident virtually every college coach would yell at anyone getting out in the middle of a set.
Not sure about that and I'm very confident virtually every college coach would yell at anyone getting out in the middle of a set.
Agreed... I think by the time you're in college it's expected that you know your body well enough to be able to either time your bathroom breaks or "hold it" 'til an appropriate break time.
Obviously excluding things like an IBD flare or something.
As for the coach's behavior... I have a hard time imagining a coach of hobby-swimmer adults treating those individuals like poorly-behaved age groupers, though I may be short on perspective there. I wonder if some of this is misunderstood ribbing, perhaps the coach doesn't understand that you don't see it that way.
Masters and swimming should be fun, not stressful. I had a real a$$hat of a coach for the first 2 years and finally gave up on him and his mood swings/berating/misogyny and quit the team. I really liked my team mates, but it just wasn't fun going anymore. You have to figure out what your threshold is and vote with your feet when the time comes. You're an adult, so you get to make up when you need to leave practice for other needs including having to hit the head.
berg,
i think a LOT of masters coaches are off in the deepend when it comes to being to harsh/strict and especially unreasonable!
if they equal out the praise with the harshness that can be semi ok. but just harsh? ug move on and tell them so!
PimerLugar
Though I only had a few experiences with masters coaches, I have never seen the attitude desrcibed. The 4 coaches I have met were professional and have always went out of their way to help.
Name the coach or it did not happen. That kind of behavior is not only unacceptable, it is stupid (if it happened at all).
Some coaches are very demonstrative and loud, the theory being that showing special attention will get special results from the swimmer.
Not allowing you to go potty? Does not even happen at high level swimming in college. Of course, they prepare for workouts more efficiently (pee before getting wet) than Masters. The BS flag is ready to be dropped.
Something doesn't sound quite right in this story, but I'll assume for now it is "the straight dope".
Some coaches think yelling, insulting, playing favorites and other anti-social activity is motivating, or has whatever virtue, so consider this:
I have to admit that my coach is excellent in correcting one's stroke and provides tons of useful tips. He will also praise swimmers for their good performance.
Are these positives, (and they are indeed good qualities in a coach) sufficient to endure the harassment? Can you filter out the gems and let the junk pass you by? Also, is there an element of playful ribbing that you are missing in what you take as lambasting?
Lambasted you and called you a terrible swimmer for not performing a drill to his liking? Wouldn't allow you to go to the bathroom? I'm not sure if this is a joke or not, but I wouldn't tolerate this sort of thing from a coach. For certain, he wouldn't dictate when I was permitted to leave the pool for a restroom break.
Do you pay $$$ to be on/in this masters group? If so, then he works for you! Maybe get out and pee on his leg. If this is seen by others, what do they say? I would not put up with this stuff at all!
