What makes a good masters coach?

I'm willing to bet these kids are intimidated. They probably do not understand what the goals are for each individual. Some people don't want advice, some do. Some people only want to swim distance freestyle and they complain if they aren't doing that and some people complain because the want to sprint. A lot couldn't care less...they just want a good workout and some social time. A lot of masters swimmers are a total pain in the neck and not very coachable. They already know what they want to do and they want you to do that. (I used to coach a lot of masters swimmers.) I think the best masters coaches are the ones who focus solely on masters. they are not kids who still swim. they are professionals who swim and compete themselves. they understand the goals and objectives of the masters swimmers. These people are hard to find because there is no money being offered. Which is a shame because there is money to be made. In a reasonably populated area a good coach can grow a pretty big masters program. My advice to the original poster is to tell the coaches what your goals are and ask them if they can help you achieve these goals.

I will add one more thing... A good masters coach listens and understands what the goals of the individual are, they are experienced in coaching, and then the coach tells everyone to shut up and exclaims "this is what we are doing and this will help you achieve your goals, regardless of what you think you need to do".

These people are hard to find because there is no money being offered. Which is a shame because there is money to be made. In a reasonably populated area a good coach can grow a pretty big masters program. Agree here. Reason why teams still cut on MS program expense is that they use the profit made to finance other less profitable activities. My favorite master squad at the moment doesn't belong to any organization. It's a master squad period. They can afford a decent coaching staff and great pool availability.

You know what? In order for me as a coach to manage feed backs, I had to write them on papers. You're raising a very interesting point, hence the fact that it got me reacting. While I was sharpening up my coaching philosophy several years back (I was coaching Varsity and Master and AgeGroup levels, my bosses were Olympian athletes coaches and high level varsity coaches), I addressed the point you're referring to by making sure of the following: - No orphan feed back. That is no feed back that I can't make a follow up on - Follow up MUST include measures such as impact on either DPS (distance per stroke) SR (Stroke rate) combined with time - Feed back will often include slight video session. I used to always coach with a VCR/Video Cam all the time (I really mean all the time here...) - Never a second feed back related to something else without having first sorted out the first feed back I really had a log with notes about all I would say to anyone at anytime. Before issuing a feedback, I'd check in this log. But this, I am telling you, is an attitude/philosophy that is very rare. Even in varsity teams or other high performance organizations you'll often see coaches throwing disorganized and unmonitored feed backs. Do this. Then no follow up. Then Do that, or put your elbow like this. Then no follow up then an other unrelated feed back. I find it stupid, I forced myself not to do it, but I have to admit that you can't expect the same from most coaches you'll meet in your life. So the swimmers (children of these coaches) just mimic what they had witness during their swim career. It's a vicious circle that had always made me feel at the right spot as a coach, even if I never really performed at the level of the folks I was coaching back then. Being a swimming is one thing, being a coach is another thing. But at the moment, I'm sure if you make a survey, you'll notice that good swimmers are often picked first for coaching job, even if over the years I came to the conclusion that they often suck. So on this aspect, I join my voice to that of other members, your feed back is your responsibility. You have to make sure you get the follow up yourself. And more importantly, when you receive a second or a third feedback about things other than that you are working on, just tell the coach: Remember this thing you said to me last week? I am still working on it.

I forgot to mention, the main coach in my second masters swim club is the assistant coach of the varsity team, so she does have a mass amount of experience and the other coaches are the swimmers in the swim team. I guess I am intimidated by them, don't know why. There are times when I constantly ask the student coaches if I am doing my strokes properly, they provide good advice, after that, they don't monitor me UNTIL I ask or remind them. BTW: There are times when the head coach is not there... and her student coaches who assist her are are different from time to time. So it's hard to keep a consistent relationship with the other student coaches. Okay, I'll will try to ask her directly rather than keep quiet to her.