How Should I Make Cuts?

I personally was not into "cutting" when I coached and at some times I had over 100 swimmers (not in one session) and their parents to deal with. I felt it was my responsibility to get the kids excited about swimming. Plus, with the obesity epidemic here in the States I really hated to turn anyone down. Some specifics that worked for me - I held team meetings on the first week. I made it VERY clear as to what my expectations were of the kids (I had ages 6 to 18) - both in and out of the water. I usually had 3 to 5 rules (they will forget any more than that) that HAD to be followed. Although the rules may seems silly (like NO talking while I was talking; raise your hand if you have a question; respect your teammates and NO horseplay; etc.), they WORKED. BTW, I made sure the parents knew these rules as well via communication to them in person or via email/ flyers. As the season progressed and the group gelled, the environment would be a bit more relaxed rather than military based. Punishments would be physical in nature and would include push ups, sit ups, duck walks, press outs, pull ups, and even water based sets. Punishements could be individual or group based. RARELY would anyone be thrown out of practice. As the kids found that they had a lot of fun at practice, they wanted to attend and stay the duration. I noticed as the season progressed, fewer and fewer *punishments* would be doled out. I could be a bit *boot-campish* with the older boys and would literally get in their face while I did the push up punishment with them and they struggled to complete it. They learned quickly to follow directions. Who wants to be shown up by an old woman? On being able to demand respect, I would get in and race the kids at the end of practice or on special days. They were sort of like USMS "gridges" come to life. I would also do demonstrations. Not sure if that's an option for you. . . but it really works. I made most everything a game while incorporating physical challenges with skills. Kids love to play so I made sure to have plenty of silly stuff in with the real stuff. I'd have them do a lap of their worst free followed by 2 laps of their best freestyle stroke and so on. Kids love fins so we did some fin work (SDK and no breathers.) There were lots of relay races and team based competitions each practice. Gosh darn it if my 10&Us couldn't SDK better than me at season end! And, depending on how motivated the group was (and my groups REALLY varied in motivation and skill), I spelled out to them their goals/ skills that they would be expected to acquire by season end. I had a huge board with the swimmers' names and the skills to be learned and I charted their progress. Everyone REALLY got into it. Was really cool to see the 8&Us to older kids learn how to do the 4 strokes legally along with racing starts and SDK no breathers. Skills included not only water based skills but flexibility and dry land goals. Not sure if you're into this but I was accessible via email and phone to my swimmers and their parents. I created a group/ team web site which recognized accomplishments and communicated administrative issues. Good communication got every more excited about swimming. I had NO qualms picking up the phone and calling a parent if there were issues. I found parents to be VERY receptive. I planned out my practices so that there was ZERO spare time for anyone to play around. However, I would be able to alter the workouts depending on who showed up, what kind of day people were having and so on (that's where the experience in swimming comes in.) Run a tight ship and they will respond. I'm off to my tightly run ship headed up by Coach Landon "Laying Down the Hammer" Harris. Avg age of swimmers are 14 to 18. And then me. LOVE my swimming boot camp practices. :) Hope this helps someone out there.

I personally was not into "cutting" when I coached and at some times I had over 100 swimmers (not in one session) and their parents to deal with. I felt it was my responsibility to get the kids excited about swimming. Plus, with the obesity epidemic here in the States I really hated to turn anyone down. Some specifics that worked for me - I held team meetings on the first week. I made it VERY clear as to what my expectations were of the kids (I had ages 6 to 18) - both in and out of the water. I usually had 3 to 5 rules (they will forget any more than that) that HAD to be followed. Although the rules may seems silly (like NO talking while I was talking; raise your hand if you have a question; respect your teammates and NO horseplay; etc.), they WORKED. BTW, I made sure the parents knew these rules as well via communication to them in person or via email/ flyers. As the season progressed and the group gelled, the environment would be a bit more relaxed rather than military based. Punishments would be physical in nature and would include push ups, sit ups, duck walks, press outs, pull ups, and even water based sets. Punishements could be individual or group based. RARELY would anyone be thrown out of practice. As the kids found that they had a lot of fun at practice, they wanted to attend and stay the duration. I noticed as the season progressed, fewer and fewer *punishments* would be doled out. I could be a bit *boot-campish* with the older boys and would literally get in their face while I did the push up punishment with them and they struggled to complete it. They learned quickly to follow directions. Who wants to be shown up by an old woman? On being able to demand respect, I would get in and race the kids at the end of practice or on special days. They were sort of like USMS "gridges" come to life. I would also do demonstrations. Not sure if that's an option for you. . . but it really works. I made most everything a game while incorporating physical challenges with skills. Kids love to play so I made sure to have plenty of silly stuff in with the real stuff. I'd have them do a lap of their worst free followed by 2 laps of their best freestyle stroke and so on. Kids love fins so we did some fin work (SDK and no breathers.) There were lots of relay races and team based competitions each practice. Gosh darn it if my 10&Us couldn't SDK better than me at season end! And, depending on how motivated the group was (and my groups REALLY varied in motivation and skill), I spelled out to them their goals/ skills that they would be expected to acquire by season end. I had a huge board with the swimmers' names and the skills to be learned and I charted their progress. Everyone REALLY got into it. Was really cool to see the 8&Us to older kids learn how to do the 4 strokes legally along with racing starts and SDK no breathers. Skills included not only water based skills but flexibility and dry land goals. Not sure if you're into this but I was accessible via email and phone to my swimmers and their parents. I created a group/ team web site which recognized accomplishments and communicated administrative issues. Good communication got every more excited about swimming. I had NO qualms picking up the phone and calling a parent if there were issues. I found parents to be VERY receptive. I planned out my practices so that there was ZERO spare time for anyone to play around. However, I would be able to alter the workouts depending on who showed up, what kind of day people were having and so on (that's where the experience in swimming comes in.) Run a tight ship and they will respond. I'm off to my tightly run ship headed up by Coach Landon "Laying Down the Hammer" Harris. Avg age of swimmers are 14 to 18. And then me. LOVE my swimming boot camp practices. :) Hope this helps someone out there.