So, coaches are getting some bad press in a couple of other threads, so I thought it might be interesting to talk about who has really impressed us as a coach (masters or open) and what it was about that coach that was so good. Ok, I'll go first.
A fellow named Archie Mckinnon was my first coach in age group, when I was 7-9yrs old & was flat out the best communicator I have ever seen. He let us know why we were doing what we were doing, what we were going to do & consulted us frequently as to what we wanted to get from our swimming (us individually, not the parents). Sounds out of a modern textbook, right? This was 1959-62 I've never had a coach since who came close to him, which had a great deal to do with me leaving swimming when I was fourteen.