In one of the other threads the topic of season planning was brought up. In one of the coaching courses I took they covered season planning with respect to learning the fundamentals, and I can envision a season plan for an individual, but how to create a team season plan is still somewhat of a mystery for me when I think about the diversity of experience levels and stroke and distance variations and the other factors that can vary widely on a diverse masters team.
Are there good resources available somewhere that would lead an inexperienced masters coach through planning out a season?
Parents
Former Member
Thanks Solar, I don't have any Bompa in my personal library, and the only one in the NB library is strength training. I used google to find this set of articles on the topic:
swimming.about.com/.../trainingplan_hs.htm
If you know of other good online material please post a link! hmmm.... this article is what. 6 page long? The 4th Edition of Bompa's bible is more around 300 pages long. And I insist. It's worth reading this book at least once. Can be ordered out of any site (chapters, amazon) for little over 50$.
I'm pretty sure that none of my club coaches has been working from a season plan... I'm pretty sure too.
Does anyone have opinions on splitting the pool season into two complete cycles (with open water being a potential third cycle) versus one cycle spanning the complete pool season? Up north here I don't thing we have well defined short and long course seasons. If I had been planning for the season 2009/2010, I would have make two cycles: One that leads to Spring Competitions (Provincials in April, Nationals early May) then a second cycle starting after the Nationals to cover summer casual barbecue competitions, which for a few distance swimmers include OW competition.
Summer's cycle would probably be aimed at preparing triathletes to compete.
What sort of training do you fit the non-competitive swimmers into? Or do you just let them pick between sprint, mid-distance, etc? If enough pool availability, it could be better to create a plan for these guys. The benefit is that psychological elements that can help them deciding to try competitions can be included.
I remember when I was coaching masters in a University. My goal was to put a strong competitive team. For this to happen, you need all available resources. So my goal was to bring non competitive people to try a competition. With this in mind, it's even possible to write a Single-Cycle plan that ends with a very casual outdoor just-for-fun competition held somewhere in the summer.
Thanks Solar, I don't have any Bompa in my personal library, and the only one in the NB library is strength training. I used google to find this set of articles on the topic:
swimming.about.com/.../trainingplan_hs.htm
If you know of other good online material please post a link! hmmm.... this article is what. 6 page long? The 4th Edition of Bompa's bible is more around 300 pages long. And I insist. It's worth reading this book at least once. Can be ordered out of any site (chapters, amazon) for little over 50$.
I'm pretty sure that none of my club coaches has been working from a season plan... I'm pretty sure too.
Does anyone have opinions on splitting the pool season into two complete cycles (with open water being a potential third cycle) versus one cycle spanning the complete pool season? Up north here I don't thing we have well defined short and long course seasons. If I had been planning for the season 2009/2010, I would have make two cycles: One that leads to Spring Competitions (Provincials in April, Nationals early May) then a second cycle starting after the Nationals to cover summer casual barbecue competitions, which for a few distance swimmers include OW competition.
Summer's cycle would probably be aimed at preparing triathletes to compete.
What sort of training do you fit the non-competitive swimmers into? Or do you just let them pick between sprint, mid-distance, etc? If enough pool availability, it could be better to create a plan for these guys. The benefit is that psychological elements that can help them deciding to try competitions can be included.
I remember when I was coaching masters in a University. My goal was to put a strong competitive team. For this to happen, you need all available resources. So my goal was to bring non competitive people to try a competition. With this in mind, it's even possible to write a Single-Cycle plan that ends with a very casual outdoor just-for-fun competition held somewhere in the summer.
