Coaching, yes or no?

I've had two great coaches; unfortunately, the good ones seem to leave! :( The only coach that's left mainly just puts up the workout and then goes to chitchat with the water aerobics teacher. Her two main pieces of coaching: 1) You should already know how to do that; and 2) How many times do I have to tell you that? Now I swim on my own. My workouts are either from the Workouts section here or workouts I've done in the past. (I wrote down most of the workouts the good coaches assigned). A good coach is hard to find! JIM

Interesting point. Maybe the solo swimmers read and post more frequently here because they're coach-less? I know I do ... Could be, but it could show a hole in the Masters swimming program that so many either can't (in my case) or won't go to a coach.

I think it's just difficult for some people, with busy schedules and kids and whatnot, to get there at the designated practice times. Good point. That's me. I'd love to get to Dynamo, Marlins, or Sting rays (too far) or the Rainbow Trouts (8pm practices). For an early morning workout I can get to most anywhere on the west side of Atlanta and can't find a team or coach. It might show money to be made and/or increased participation in Masters swimming. I think Tris are filling this niche. Less pounding on knees and no real coach needed for the swim to participate (as stated on another thread). As a life-long non-swimmer, I never considered Masters swimming until the desire to get better at Tri's lead me to USMS.:2cents:

I've been swimming with a team for about a month now. At first it was 2x/wk, then 1x and now I'm not so sure as I get more out of my workouts (with much help from swim friends from afar) than I do with the team. The issue is this: the coach brings a single workout, posts it at the of the lane, sits down and never looks up. I've never been asked my name, how long I've been swimming, what I hope to get out of it, what strokes I know how to do, what pace I can keep. Nothing. Of course, all of the above would be fine if I got some help on technique. When I've asked a question, I get "just do what you can." So basically, I jump in the wall lane, all alone, figure out what intervals I should do, and swim alone. I should point out that this is a small team that has some strong swimmers but hardly hard-core competitive. I feel more alone swimming with the team than I do swimming by myself. I have to honestly ask myself what I want out of swimming. I believe it's to become fitter, stronger and if I can gain some speed in the process, I'll be thrilled. I'm not sure how swimming with this group of people fits in with that. I'm hardly motivated swimming a workout I can't swim next to strong swimmers with no one paying attention to me. In fact, a couple of times I've been so bummed that I wonder if I have any business swimming or competing. I've hired someone to coach me a couple of times a month on the strokes I don't know and help me with the ones I do. I have some wonderful swim friends who have answered my workout and goal questions in incredible detail. I think I'll go with that for the next great while.

I wanted join the master swim club in Nanaimo BC several years ago. They told me to come out for a trial swim. I went to the trial swim and the lifeguard looked at me and asked me to perform all of the strokes. I told her I don't do backstroke or breaststroke. The life guard told me that you must swim all strokes. I laughed and did not get in the water.

... The issue is this: the coach brings a single workout, posts it at the of the lane, sits down and never looks up.... that's not a coach, or even a babysitter, that's a bum. try looking for another team if you want to go the team route. but if you just want to be your best without making a major production out of it then hiring a personal coach 1-4x/mo should be fine. if you like workouts w/ variety there are plenty of on-line resources... including this forum. see: Workouts i'm kinda surprised at all the posts i've seen recently about bum coach experiences. maybe i should be a coach, it'd give me a great excuse to tell people how to swim. ...

I needed a "sometimes I have a coach" option since I have a really good coach twice a week, and that's more often than "infrequently." But I wouldn't count it as "most of the time" because I really do need a whole heck of a lot more help than I'm getting, and at the moment, my solo workouts are much more satisfying and intense so I'm more motivated to do them.

I've been swimming with a team for about a month now. At first it was 2x/wk, then 1x and now I'm not so sure as I get more out of my workouts (with much help from swim friends from afar) than I do with the team. The issue is this: the coach brings a single workout, posts it at the of the lane, sits down and never looks up... BethAnne, This is exactly the kind of situations that are very irksome. We had a "coach" like that a while back. He'd go hit on the female lifeguards he was old enough to have fathered instead of sitting around. We didn't even have the chance to ask him for help. While he was only our coach once a week if you swam in the afternoon, he did all the morning workouts, and they've since dwindled significantly. Not good. In certain situations, some of these guys are just not used to coaching masters and take some warming up. Most of our coaches have done the whiteboard-and-sit thing. However, after we slowly start introducing ourselves, ask for help and share our goals, they also start getting into it and getting on our backs about bilateral breathing, body position, 2-hand touches, etc. In our situation, we're much older than our coaches, which can be a bit intimidating, so it does help to be proactive from inside the pool. Unfortulately, it sounds like this guy isn't interested in warming up to you guys at all. Does this team have a Membership Board or program director? Perhaps you, along with other members, can suggest to your representatives some of your wishes for the coach. If he won't listen to your suggestions on deck, the board can either approach the guy and ask him to be more proactive or go out and hire someone new. In the meantime, it sounds like you've got an alternative. If you decide to go back to the team at all, perhaps you and some of your lanemates/lane neighbors can put your heads together to modify the workout to fit your needs. When we had that coach, we'd do whatever we could do do intensify the crap that was written on the board, things like: make intervals tighter (1:20 instead of 1:40 per 100), break up distance things (ie 4x200 instead of 800) when we wanted to work on speedier things, combine things (2x500 descend 1-02 instead of 10x100) when we wanted to work on endurance, do the freestyle sets IM and the shorter IM sets freestyle, do a short kick set pulling kick for a long pull set

I self coach at the moment. I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do to improve. The drawback though is sometimes I don't train things I'm not good at. A coach can catch this. I prefer swimming as a group but only if I can get a good workout.

There was no option for "several coaches". I'm lucky enough to live in an area with big swimming participation. My team is coached and I love the team, but the workouts tend to be very similar. Each lane has a different interval, and workouts are never the same twice a week, but as a group we're able to predict what comes next. We laugh about it in the water, but really, it gets dull. Due to the above, I started to look for alternatives--more motivation, better feedback, and variety. Was able to start working out with my kids' team and got tons of variety. Lots of stroke work, fast intervals, drills with a purpose, and tons of kicking. The coaches are not afraid to make corrections, which is also great. I think my team coach is worried that as adults we will walk away from the team rather than accepting criticism. I also recently started swimming with another masters group with coached workouts. Again, tons of variety and a coach who won't let me be lazy (I tend to like a lot of rest. She makes me swim the faster interval when she sees me on the wall too long.) Major personal breakthroughs this past season are attributed to knowing I needed something more and then finding it. Bottom line is do what works best for you, but if you feel something is lacking you're probably right! Be your own coach and fix it. Dana