coach or swimmer

Terry: How do you know if you've got a really talented swimmer? It seems like I know some coaches who look for the "feel" or a certain physique and others who look for great athletes and, through technique work, transform them into talented swimmers. A 15yo guy in our squad, 51.6 over 100 freestyle, warms up on a 1:20/pace 14 stroke per 25m, swims tall. Could perform, euh well in fact, he used to perform all his 100 races no goggles even short course. He could do it with eyes closed. Just by feeling how he was swimming, he could guess how far he would be from the wall. Used to try to explain me that as soon as he cuts his fingernails, he'd loose enough of this feeling to screw a race up. I never understood this particular fingernail thing, but fortunately for me, I did manage to understand a lot of concepts he taught me. This guy was alone in his camp. While all the others (seniors) were forced to 9-11 sessions per week, he had a special permission for only 5 (week days only). While the others were forced to do a lot of LSD volume, he'd get special permissions to lower the volume. Without knowing it, or having read it in theory books, he was advocating low volume high quality training, against all odds (in our team at least). I was just a little assistant coach back then, with no credibility to loose. So I used to listen to his discoveries and smart kid's theories without arguing. It was absolutely fascinating. I remember him telling me that he'd have difficulty swimming a 100m sprint over 1 minute. That even when trying to slow down, his trials were always under the minute. 100m That's just an example.

Terry: How do you know if you've got a really talented swimmer? It seems like I know some coaches who look for the "feel" or a certain physique and others who look for great athletes and, through technique work, transform them into talented swimmers. A 15yo guy in our squad, 51.6 over 100 freestyle, warms up on a 1:20/pace 14 stroke per 25m, swims tall. Could perform, euh well in fact, he used to perform all his 100 races no goggles even short course. He could do it with eyes closed. Just by feeling how he was swimming, he could guess how far he would be from the wall. Used to try to explain me that as soon as he cuts his fingernails, he'd loose enough of this feeling to screw a race up. I never understood this particular fingernail thing, but fortunately for me, I did manage to understand a lot of concepts he taught me. This guy was alone in his camp. While all the others (seniors) were forced to 9-11 sessions per week, he had a special permission for only 5 (week days only). While the others were forced to do a lot of LSD volume, he'd get special permissions to lower the volume. Without knowing it, or having read it in theory books, he was advocating low volume high quality training, against all odds (in our team at least). I was just a little assistant coach back then, with no credibility to loose. So I used to listen to his discoveries and smart kid's theories without arguing. It was absolutely fascinating. I remember him telling me that he'd have difficulty swimming a 100m sprint over 1 minute. That even when trying to slow down, his trials were always under the minute. 100m That's just an example.