• Physical: Fitness, speed, endurance, strength, power etc
• Technical: Technique, skills, dives, starts, turns and finishes
• Tactical: Pacing, strategies, racing skills
• Mental: Relaxation, self belief, attitude, focus etc.

Of these four factors, the mental side has the potential to make the biggest impact on overall performance because it has significant influence on the effectiveness of the other three!

Even physical training needs a significant mental component to be effective.

Imagine two swimmers are working on their speed development.

One swimmer stands lazily on the blocks, yawning and not really interested.

The other, stands relaxed but thinking about “exploding” off the blocks and controlling their breathing. They are thinking about making sure their streamline position will be long and strong and tight.

They are imagining how they will start accelerating their feet to top speed as they explode the surface and start their break out stroke.

Which one of these swimmers will get the most benefit from their speed development training????? If you said “the second swimmer”……………good work.

The influence of your mind on the performance of your body can never be over emphasised.

What are the essential mental skills for swimming?

1. Relaxation

Speed, endurance, technique, it all depends on staying relaxed. Tension leads to tightness and tight muscles can’t move fast. Tight muscles fatigue quickly. Tight muscles resist movement. Loose, relaxed muscles embrace movement – that’s what they are made to do – to move.

2. Self belief

Anything is possible. The motivation gurus say this over and over and over in books, on television and on CDs. Why? Because it’s true. Anything is possible.

But it’s only possible if you believe it is.

Think of it in reverse.

Can you imagine Michael Phelps or Ian Thorpe standing on the blocks thinking:

“I can’t do this. There is no way I can win this race. I can’t break the world record. I am hopeless” of course not. No one can achieve anything thinking negatively.

Self belief comes from confidence. Confidence comes from knowing. Knowing, you can, comes from preparing to the best of your ability every day, in every workout.

Preparing to the best of your ability means you can stand behind the blocks and say:

“I can do this. I work at this every day. I have not missed a workout for ten weeks. I have been working on my turns and I feel fast”.

Starting with “I can” leads to “I will” – the belief in yourself and the confidence it brings. Pretty soon “I will” becomes ”I did”.

Try this simple six word mantra, I can, I will, I did.

3. Resilience

One of the most common mental challenges swimmers face is to develop resilience; the ability to deal with difficult moments and disappointments and come out smiling.

Swimmers will aim to swim a PB time, miss it by one tenth of a second and then start “beating up on themselves”, i.e. “I am a loser”, “I am useless” etc etc and other similar negative talk.

This is pointless, destructive and does nothing more than make you feel even worse.

You are not one swim.

You are not a bad person because of a single performance.

You are a person who has trained hard, given their best and for some reason you did not achieve your goals on a particular day.

However, achieving or not achieving your goals is not a reflection on you as a person – it is a reflection on your preparation and it gives you clear direction on what you need to improve next time.

Use disappointments to drive you and to motivate you to work harder at training and the daily focus on attention to detail in your preparation.

4. Keeping Positive

Negatives: Negative thoughts, negative people, negative attitudes do not achieve anything.

• You can win wearing a hand me down swim suit.
• You can win if your goggles come off at the dive.
• You can win if you swallow a mouth full of water with ten metres to go.
• You can win if you get to the pool late and have missed your warm up.

People can win and have won regardless of the things that go wrong. But negative people can not win even if everything goes right.

No matter how well you plan, something can and usually will go wrong. In fact, at big meets you can almost guarantee something will go wrong. However you choose how something going wrong will affect your performance.

For example:

What happened? “I slipped on the blocks at the start”

Your choice:

Negative: I slipped on the blocks. I was so angry. My race was over. What a waste of time. All that training for nothing.

Your choice:

Positive: I slipped on the blocks. If I work my legs a little harder I can make up the time over the first 25. I have to be patient. No hurry – then I will work it home harder and finish over the top of them.

Same scenario, different approach, different result.

Win or Lose, You Choose!

5. Toughness under pressure and fatigue

Swimming fast hurts. There is no getting around this.

However, knowing this and learning how to deal with it are two completely different things. So what is being mentally tough? Every one talks about it – but what is it?

In swimming it is staying relaxed and concentrating on breathing, technique and skills under pressure and fatigue.

Why is this important?

Because whilst you can’t control pain – you can control your breathing and focus in your technique and skills.

The key to mental toughness is control! By focusing on your breathing, your technique and your skills you have more control over the moment – and when you are in control things like pain, fear and fatigue don’t seem quite so tough.

6. Focus on what matters

When you go to a meet and aim to swim fast there are lots of distractions. The trick is in finding a way of being able to focus on what matters and “screen” out all the other stuff.

Develop a critical focus question. A critical focus question is a neat way of helping you decide what is important and what is not.

Example:

Critical focus question: Will this help me swim fast today?

So if you are in warm up and someone says “Hey let’s go and get a soda” – you ask yourself your critical focus question – “Will this help me swim fast today”. If the answer is Yes – then do it. If the answer is No – avoid it – eliminate the distraction and go back to doing the things that matter. All things are important in their own way but learn to focus on what matters.

Train your body, train your brain: there are no limits to what you can achieve when they work together.

Wayne Goldsmith

Somewhere in the world today, the Beijing Olympic champion in your event got out of bed.

They were given the same 24 hours you were given. They saw the same sun and same sky you saw. But for some reason, they decided to choose to use today to prepare better than anyone else in the world in their (your) event.

My question is, why wasn’t it you who made that choice?

Choosing to prepare better than anyone else in your event is not about money. It isn’t about your coach. It isn’t about the facilities you haven’t got. It is about you making a conscious decision to seize every opportunity – training, eating, sleeping, recovering, resting, gym work, flexibility work, starts, turns, dives, finishes……….everything and do it better than anyone in your event anywhere in the world.

So again, I ask the question, why wasn’t it you who made that choice?

Tomorrow is another day. Make the choice. Seize the day. Choose to be a champion.

Championship Moments

95% of swimming is easy. Be honest. 95% of what you do day to day is easy. Your mom drives you to the pool. You do some training with your friends and other positive motivated people like yourself. You get to feel fit and healthy. You get to visit cool places when you race. Swimming – most of the time is a really enjoyable, fun activity.

What makes you special is your ability and tenacity in the other 5% – those championship moments when things get tough and when everyone else backs off.
You know the moments I mean. The 75-85 metre mark in 100 free. Or the last turn in a 200. Or the final 150 of a 400.

Great swimmers master these moments, they face and overcome the moments when pain, pressure and fear strike.

As you prepare for your next race, learn to chase these moments. Look for them in training and deliberately and purposefully seek them out. Embrace every opportunity to challenge yourself during these moments. Learn to love these moments.

Focus 95% of your efforts on mastering these 5% moments. Make your training more challenging and more demanding than any competitive situation you could ever face.

Why? Because you know 95% of your opposition wont.

Most people avoid championship moments. Most people hide from them. Most people go into a meet not knowing if they will succeed or fail because they have not faced fear in training and learnt to overcome it.

That’s why there’s only one gold medal for each event.

Master Championship moments!

Consistency

Let’s assume the performance you want at your next championship meet is a 10/10. You could be chasing that 10/10 swim at the Beijing Olympic trials to make the team and realise your Olympic dream.

You could be targeting a 10/10 swim to break the State record. Or you want a 10/10 swim to get that PR you have been working for.

A 10/10 swim at your next meet will come from consistency across all areas of your preparation, i.e. 10/10 nutrition, 10/10 mental preparation, 10/10 training, 10/10 gym work, 10/10 flexibility work, 10/10 recovery and so on.

A 10/10 swim cannot come from a program of 4/10 sleep, 5 / 10 recovery, 7 / 10 gym and 2/10 training.

Think about a formula one car. To get a winning result takes a commitment to consistent quality across all areas of the car – wheels, tyres, brakes, steering, engine, gear box, aerodynamics, suspension and of course a world class driver.

Just improving engine performance in isolation, will not make the car perform better. Winning comes from attention to detail and consistency in quality in the preparation of the whole car.

The way you do anything is the way you do everything. The 10/10 swim you crave at your next meet will come from the 10/10 effort you put into everything you do between now and then.

Summary

1. Choose to be a champion. Somewhere in the world today, the Beijing Olympic Gold medallist in your event chose to prepare better than their competition. Why wasn’t it you who made that choice? Make it now!
2. Championship moments. Chase championship moments in training and in lead up competitions. Challenge yourself – but more than that – embrace every chance you get to be challenge and learn to Master those moments.
3. Consistency – “the way you do anything is the way you do everything”

Wayne Goldsmith

The great Austrian philosopher, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is reputed to have said, “Success comes from staying in close contact with your goals”.

Every swimmer has goals or dreams. For some the dream is finishing their first event. For others it’s an Olympic Gold. The challenge is turning dreams into reality.

Goal setting is one powerful method of staying motivated and focussed on the achieving of success. However, the actual setting of goals is not difficult. It’s a relatively simple matter to sit down, pull out a pen and piece of paper and write “I would like to beat Susie O’Neill at the Olympics”. The process of setting goals is much more than just writing down a list of things you would like to achieve this year.

The great news is that Psychological skills can be learned, can be trained, just like swimming skills, swimming technique and swimming fitness. Skills like concentration, imagery, self-talk, relaxation, motivation, focussing and goal setting are just some of the mental skills techniques that can be learned and mastered with a little effort.
However, mental skills are not magic – they are not a secret formula for turning ordinary performers into champions. Having a motivation session with a coach or psychologist the evening before a big event is unlikely to make up for months of poor training habits.

Mental skills, like any skills, need to be practised. Knowing about mental skills, but not actually practising them is the same as knowing that long swims increase swimming endurance but never doing more than 25 metres in training. How often have you heard a great athlete comment “Success is all mental” or “It’s 99% mental”? If mental skills are so important it makes good sense to practice them regularly.

Let’s focus on one particular mental skill- goal setting.
Goal setting is part of every day life. It’s the way our minds and bodies operate. We set goals, then do them. Goal – I want to eat that Tim Tam in the fridge. Motivation – I like the taste and I am hungry. Action – Get up and go to the fridge, open the door and get the Tim Tam.

Goals direct behaviour in a particular direction, and if we are motivated to act we move. There is a strong relationship between goal setting and motivation.

Psychologists today tend to talk more about Goal Management than simply goal setting. Goal management is the total process of using goals to focus in on a task and keep motivated in moving towards it.
Goal management is setting goals, evaluating goals, monitoring goals, chasing goals, reviewing goals and adjusting goals.

Having goals and dreams is one thing – being able to stay focussed and motivated to achieve them and work towards them every day is another.

One technique for staying motivated to work towards your goals is to give them a definite time frame.
A goal is a dream with a deadline.
Having a target date for your goal also makes a commitment to evaluation – a time or moment when you will evaluate, review and if necessary adjust your goals.

For example:
Goal: I would like to be a better swimmer this season.
This goal has little direction, is very broad and is not precise.

Alternate Goal: By February 2000, I will aim to improve my freestyle. To achieve this I will have my technique corrected by the coach this week, work on my technique every session and commencing next Monday morning at 6:00 am I will start the day with 30 minutes of stretching and strengthening exercises. Each Sunday I will do an extra swim session and in December I will enter all the freestyle events at three meets race to evaluate my progress.

Same goal – but with more direction and with a clear process of achieving success.

Without doubt, staying motivated means concentrating on Process Goals. Concentrate on the process, the actions taken to actually achieve the performance rather than the outcome goals or performance goals.

For example:
Outcome Goal or Performance Goal: I would like to win the club championship in March next year.
This goal is focussing on the dream of “winning”.

Process Goal: I would like to win the club championship in March next year. My medley and backstroke are my weak events. I will concentrate on improving them by attending swimming sessions more regularly, working on my swim technique, improving my turns and stretching my hips and calves every day to improve my kick.
Same goal, but with a focus on the day to day process of success rather than just on the dream of a future victory.

Effective Goal management leads to confidence. It develops an attitude of “I can do”. Setting goals and achieving them leads to developing a self-belief that anything is possible.

An athlete needs to stay focussed on the immediate, not the ultimate. An athlete needs to have dreams but ask, “What can I achieve in training today?”, “What can I achieve in this training session?”, “What can I do right now to help me achieve my dreams”.
This immediate action to achieve an ultimate success formula is a powerful daily motivator.

You should concentrate on the process of doing a personal best, rather than the actual outcome (i.e. doing the time, winning, getting a medal). Focus on the controllable aspects of the performance like the number of strokes per lap swimming, how far you streamline, how aggressively you attack your turns and so on.
The goal of competing in a race may be to win – come first. However, in most cases winning is something over which you have little or no control. You have no control over the talent of the other swimmers in the race. You have no control over how much training the other swimmers in the race have done. You have no control over the commitment or dedication of the other swimmers.

The only thing you have some control over in terms of the race outcome is your own performance. Therefore it makes sense to focus on those things over which you have control to achieve the best possible result.

Swimmers will often worry about the outcome of a race and stress about winning or losing. By taking control of your performance and reinforcing the importance of concentrating on the skills and techniques you have learned in training, the “freak – out” experienced by many swimmers prior to a swim meet can be reduced. Of course the time to be working on swimming skills and techniques is at training. Getting to the meet and worrying about how to get that great performance is too late. The skills and techniques that will make the dream a reality are the things you practice as part of your daily training routine.

In training , make it happen. In racing on the day of the meet, let it happen! If you concentrate on doing the little things right in training all the time, you can make the success happen. If you just roll through training, not concentrating on great technique, missing out on sessions, don’t stretch etc, but then try to turn it all around on race day, it’s too late!
Make your success happen in training, then on race day, let the skills and techniques you have developed in training every day help you achieve your goal. Success means leaving nothing to chance.

Success means not relying on luck. Success means taking control over your performance by working on doing the little things right in training every day.

Nothing can absolutely guarantee success. But you can increase the likelihood of success by MAKING things happen through your own hard work, commitment and dedication.

Someone once said, “Life has taught me one thing about little things….there are no little things”.
Effective goal management and working methodically towards your dreams by implementing a plan of action and doing the “little things” right each day, will keep you motivated and focussed.
Set goals that are clear, precise and measurable sure, but most importantly, set into action the process of achieving those goals immediately and work towards them daily.

Be an achiever, be the athlete who achieves through careful planning and daily actions.

Wayne Goldsmith

1. Set your self a daily goal to improve by one tenth of one inch. Anyone can improve one tenth of an inch each day. Over a week that’s almost an inch. That’s about 4 inches a month. That’s about 3 feet a year…..and 12 feet every Olympic cycle.
2. If you are in a pace line (i.e. a line of swimmers) chase the feet of the person in front of you.
3. If you are leading the pace line, imagine the person behind you is a shark or crocodile and you need to make sure you stay ahead of them!
4. Promise yourself a small gift or reward for improving your skills and drills – reward excellence in technique – technique is the key to swimming success.
5. Encourage other swimmers, the better your team mates perform the more it will lift you and your performance “a rising tide lifts all the boats”.
6. Keep a training diary and write in it three things you improved each day.
7. Keep a PB record sheet on your wall. Watch how you improve over time.

	2007	2008	2009	2010
50 fly
50 back
50 breast
50 free
100 fly
100 back
100 breast
100 free
200 free
200 IM

8. Remember you are special. How many people are prepared to get out of bed at 5 am, train hard and balance school, swimming and life the way you do?
9. Link your seasons by making your short course PBs this season your long course PBs next season.
10. Make it your aim to have your 100 yard kick time no more than 10 seconds slower than your 100 yard PB swim time.
11. Reward PBs with things that will help you do more PBs. For example, if you do a PB, reward yourself with a copy of swimming world!
12. Understand what motivates you, not anyone else, what motivates you! If you are motivated by winning, then do everything in your power to prepare to win. If you are motivated by learning new skills and challenging yourself, do it. The key to motivation is knowing what it is that motivates you.
13. Make a Partner Promise. Find someone in the team who wants to swim fast and make a commitment to them. For example, make a commitment that you will help each other achieve your goals. Each session say something positive to each other, encourage each other, meet at the pool early and do some extra work together, support each other through the tough times. Sometimes knowing you have made a commitment to help someone else is a great motivator for you.
14. Play imagination games in training like imagining the final lap of every set is the final lap of the 2012 Olympic final and all you need to do is work hard for a few more strokes and you will win the gold medal and break the world record. These imagination games are great fun and very motivating.
15. Make up some unusual, fun and weird goals that mean something only to you. Like how many times can you say “sausages” on a single breath or what’s the weirdest stroke you can come up with. Having fun is the best motivation of all.
16. Find a fast beat song that you enjoy and play it before you get in the water. “Feel the rhythm” and the beat when you are swimming and feel it lift you when you get tired.
17. Do your favourite stretches that make you feel good – as you start to stretch, you will find you begin to relax into the right mind set for fast swimming.
18. Imagine you are finishing a race when you pass someone in the next lane. Thinking about it will ignite the competitive fires!
19. Think about how heavy you thought the weight was when you first started doing gym. How much heavier are you lifting now?
20. How many push ups, sit ups, chin ups do you do now? How many did you used to do? Be proud of all your success. Enjoy the journey.
21. Think of the other swimmers that you have beaten recently that used to beat you. Give yourself permission to be proud of your resilience, your toughness, your perseverance and your character.
22. Imagine how good you will feel when you go home, have dinner and curl up in bed tonight? – Now work hard so that comes quickly!
23. Challenge yourself to turn (or start or finish) better than ever. Before you know it you will feel better and motivated to train hard.
24. Think of each lap as an opportunity: an opportunity to improve in an area of your swimming, which will bypass you if you don’t take it. Remember, someone somewhere IS taking that opportunity.
25. Ask a top swimmer (or successful athlete in any sport) what they do to stay motivated. Learn from them. Copy them.
26. Work hard. Sometimes not thinking about it and just doing it is all the motivation you need.
27. Do the old never ending story routine. Make up a funny story and tell someone in your lane a small piece of it between repeats. See how long you can make the story. It really motivates you to get to the end of the pool fast (and start telling the “never ending” story).
28. Get some support!!! Talk to some friends about motivation and every day support each other, encourage each other and motivate each other.
29. Put some photos of Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin and other swimming greats up on your wall. Imagine about what they would be doing, what they would be thinking and how they would be training each day.
30. Finish off one task every day. Nothing motivates you like finishing something! Might be something as simple as homework. Or a chore at home. Just finish something.
31. Shave down in training, no reason it just feels great.
32. Stay positive. Everyone has tough days, the difference is in how you allow the tough days make you feel. Tough times fade, tough people never do.
33. Say one positive, encouraging thing to every person in the team: coaches, swimmers, parents, pool attendants, everyone. You will be surprised how motivating others will motivate you.
34. Believe anything is possible, never, ever stop believing that.
35. Buy yourself a new, fast swimming costume.
36. Switch your brain on to something else. Focus on improving in another area of your life, school, music, another sport. Success breeds success.
37. Remember the three best things that ever happened to you. Just the thought of these amazing things will change the way you look at life.
38. Put up motivation quotes all over the place. Some good places are next to your alarm clock, on your swim bag, on the top of the bathroom mirror and in your training diary.
39. Get to training early and motivate some of the younger swimmers in your club. They look up to you and admire you the same way you look up to and admire older and more successful swimmers. Being a role model for others will trigger some really great, positive motivation messages in your brain.
40. Be the first. For example, get to the pool first on January 1st and be the first in the team to swim a lap, a mile, two miles, five miles and so on. Striving to be the first is a great driving force and very motivating.
41. Try a new sports drink, sports bar or a new all natural diet. Motivate your “inside”.
42. Do something everyday that is “impossible”. Try kicking 50 metres underwater at maximum speed. Or sprinting 60 metres on a single breathe. Or aiming to do a PR from a wall push off (i.e. no dive). Keep trying one impossible thing each day and sooner or later the impossible becomes reality.
43. Form a triathlon team with two friends at school who cycle and run and enter in a local triathlon.
44. Lead the team cheers at your next meet. Even better, get some of your team together and write some new team cheers and lead them at the next meet.
45. Allow yourself to be proud of you. Look in the mirror and take time to realise what an amazing person you are.
46. Do something away from the pool to help your swimming. Take an aerobics class to improve your fitness. Do a martial arts course to build strength, balance and confidence. Take up dancing to improve rhythm and co-ordination.
47. Play a counting game. Swimmers are great at these. Count tiles, laps, turns, breaths, strokes…you know the drill.
48. Have repeat or two in each set which is perfect. If you are swimming 10 x 50 always make the second, fifth, eighth and tenth ones perfect.
49. Challenge someone much faster than you to a race at the end of training. Nothing motivates like a real challenge.
50. Smile. It is impossible to smile and not feel better.

Wayne Goldsmith & Helen Morris

There is conventional wisdom surrounding competing successfully at any major championship which says, “In order to win one, you first have to lose one”.

In essence, this is suggesting that the difficulties of doing well at a major meet, mean that swimmers need to go to their first national championships or other major event, swim poorly, hopefully learn from the mistakes, then come back next year and do much better.

This belief has several flaws:

1. What if the swimmer qualifies for only one national championship and they only have one chance to get it right?
2. Considering the time, effort and money that goes into qualifying for and traveling to a national championship (unless it is in your home town) “losing one this year” to win one next year can be a costly exercise.
3. If the swimmer has a particularly bad experience at the “learning” nationals, this may leave permanent mental challenges to overcome at subsequent nationals.
4. What if the swimmer and coach lack the ability / capacity to learn from mistakes and come back the following year and make the same mistakes?

Clearly the smart thing to do is to prepare to do well the first time!

Why is it so tough?

Let’s look at the typical home / local meet environment and compare that with the typical national championships environment.

The reality: Perceived Challenge Versus Actual Challenge

The real reason why swimmers often fail at their first national championship lies in the difference between the perceivedchallenge that the inexperienced coach and uninitiated swimmer think the meet presents and the reality of the actual challenge the swimmer and coach face.

Example 1.

Perceived challenge 1: Swim a PB at national championships.

This implies a largely physical challenge to prepare the swimmer to swim a personal best time on a particular day.

Actual challenge 1: Swim a PB at national championships after eating a poor breakfast, having little or no warm up, dealing with the mental stress of the environment and without any friends or family support.

Swimming fast is not the issue. Not all gold medals are won in national record time. Swimming fast is largely the result of a consistent and thorough physical, mental, technical and tactical preparation and the coach’s skills in periodisation and planning.

It is swimming fast in a less than ideal environment, away from home and with little or no support that is the real issue.

Example 2.

Perceived challenge 2: Make it to a national age final.

Ostensibly, this means being able to physically swim fast enough to make it to the top 8 in a particular event in a specific age group.

Actual challenge 2:

Swimming a personal best time – maybe even state record time – early in the morning, completely recovering, coming back in the evening, swimming faster and at both swims dealing with compromised warm up and other inconveniences. This is even more difficult if the swimmer has more than one event in a session.

Also overcoming:

• Local swimmers who have the “stay at home” advantage.
• Swimmers who lift for nationals, i.e. swim far above themselves in the inspiring and emotional environment of a major championship
• Larger numbers of swimmers competing in each event than in most competitions

Success at national age championships is largely dependent on preparing effectively to meet the actual challenges of the competition environment rather than the perceived challenges inexperienced coaches and swimmers imagine they will have to face.

Strategies to prepare effectively for a successful Nationals:

Turning National Age into a National’s Rage

1. Prepare physically

There is no doubt that this is one of the most important aspects of competing successfully. If swimmers are not ready physically you are not ready! No one can expect to swim at their very best without doing the hard yards in training in the months (years) leading into the championship event. This is particularly true when preparing swimmers for multi round competition where physical fitness and physiological preparation plays a major role in the swimmer’s ability to swim fast heats, faster semi finals and even faster finals in one or more events and over several days.

The key principle is:

The physical preparation of the swimmer in Training should be more challenging and demanding than the physical demands of the competition.

In other words, training sets, workouts and preparation need to be tougher, harder, more challenging, more demanding and more uncompromising than the physical challenges the swimmer will face at national championships.

If the swimmer has prepared physically in this manner, there is no challenge or situation they will face at nationals that they can not manage, deal with and overcome.

Another critical aspect of the physical preparation is the taper.

The general rules of an effective taper are:

Maintains Frequency of Training

Whilst it is tempting to give swimmers morning sleep-ins during the taper period, this sudden and dramatic change in their routine is often counter productive. (The challenge is often to convince parents of this!)

Maintain Hard Work Throughout The Taper

Don’t be afraid to include some high intensity training during the taper period. It is important to continue to stimulate the swimmer’s nervous system and energy systems activity during taper.

Significantly Decrease Training Volume

Swimmers can get great benefit from a significant reduction in training loads over the taper period. Volume decreases of up to 60% during the taper period allow the swimmer the opportunity to recover from the hard training and to eliminate residual training fatigue.

In summary:

Training sessions during the taper should be conducted at the same times and on the same days as they were during the training cycle but they should be of lower volume and should include some high intensity work.

Ideally the swimmer and coach will practice the taper during the season at minor lead up competitions to refine the process and to determine what works best.

It is often the case that a swimmer will feel flat, tired, heavy and lethargic during the early stages of a taper which can be damaging to confidence, self belief and motivation.

A good general practice is to plan for rest / recovery training weeks to mirror the first week of the “nationals” taper so that the swimmer can experience what going through the actual full taper will feel like: knowledge and experience provides comfort, certainty and confidence for the nationals “debutante”.

2. Prepare Mentally

Without doubt, the mental aspect of achieving a successful result at a swimmer’s first nationals is crucial.

Many swimmers, coaches, clubs and parents build up nationals to something it is not. This increases the pressure and emotion and in this environment it is difficult for even the best physically prepared swimmers to achieve their goals.

The truth is…Nationals is just another event, surrounded by a lot of hype, expectations, media, fanfare and pressures – but basically it is just another event.

The pool length is the same as any other pool.

The water is still wet and made of hydrogen and oxygen.

The task is the same no matter where you live, where you train or what you wear.

That task is, to compete to the best of your ability as a result of a thorough physical, mental, technical and tactical preparation.

The fact that there are a few more people, a few extra flags and clubs and a bit more noise makes no difference: the job is a simple one: prepare thoroughly for the reality of the nationals environment and you can relax with the confidence of knowing you will swim fast when you need to.

3. Prepare Technically

Championship races are won or lost by fractions of inches / millimeters. The athletes who win at nationals will be those who have prepared to do the little things well under pressure by practicing to do them well in training.

For example:

• Not breathing inside the flags during starts, turns and finishes.
• Not breathing on the final four strokes in freestyle or fly
• Streamlining until feet go past the flags on every push off
• Learning to kick at speed under water in fly, back and free

At nationals……there are no little things. Everything can make a difference.

Under pressure, swimmers will do what they have learnt to do in training and will fall back upon their training “habits”.

If swimmers have been allowed to cruise through training sessions without an uncompromising attention to detail in their technique and skills, these bad “habits” will fail them under competition pressures.

If swimmers are to be successful at nationals, it is essential that their training “habits” be technically outstanding so that when the pressure and pain of racing hits them (usually around the ¾ mark in the event) their “good habits” help them achieve an outstanding result.

On the issue of technique, it is often the case that refereeing, starting and stroke judging may be stricter and different to local competitions. In the weeks leading into nationals, coaches should consider inviting a leading state / national level referee into a training session to report on rule changes and to “judge” the team in training. This simple action can save a lot of pain and frustration at the championship.

4. Prepare Tactically

Tactics play a crucial role in swimming successfully at Nationals.

There are many swimmers competing at national championships that the swimmer and coach do not know and have never raced against. Therefore it is likely the swimmer will face a wide range of tactical situations they have not faced before.

Tactical issues to consider include:

• Does the swimmer have a race plan?
• Is the swimmer able to stick to a race plan regardless of what the opposition is doing?
• Have they learnt to change gears (speed) when needed?
• Are they able to change breathing patterns in free and fly to meet the competitive situation?

Being full prepared tactically means having the skills and ability to deal with any competitive situation the swimmer is placed in. These skills can be developed in minor competitions and in training in the months leading into nationals by practicing and experimenting with a range of tactical options in different situations.

For example: Key event being targeted at Nationals – 100 Fly

Minor Competition 1:

Trial tactics:

• Pacing – Even
• Breathing pattern – Alternating breathing every stroke with every two strokes.
• Underwater technique and break out – 10 metres underwater (at a speed of 1.8 metres per second) then no breathing on first three strokes
• Finishing strategy: No breathing last four strokes.
• Stroke count: 20 (first 50) / 23 (second 50)

Minor Competition 2:

Trial tactics:

• Pacing- Go out fast – PB 50 metre time plus 0.5 seconds.
• Breathing pattern – Alternating breathing every two or three strokes.
• Underwater technique and breakout – 12 metres underwater (at a speed of 1.8 metres per second) then no breathing first three strokes.
• Finishing strategy: No breathing last five strokes.Stroke count: 18 (first 50) / 22 (second 50)

5. Prepare for the worst

If things don’t go to plan, swimmers should learn the skills to adapt to any situation and to deal with difficulties.

Can they learn to race fast without being fully warmed up… do they have contingency plans for late flights, long waits, buses not turning up, lane space not available, forgotten race goggles, lost bags……

A good exercise for coaches to utilize are the What If scenarios. Around a month prior to the national championships, have all swimmers intending to race at the meet sit together and raise issues that concern them. For example:

Swimmer A: What if we get to the pool and there is no pool space to warm up in?

Swimmer B: What if we get to the pool and my mum can’t find me?

Swimmer C: What if we get to the pool and my goggles snap during warm up?

Then the team works through solutions to these “what if” questions and solve the problems as a group.

6. Practice Preparation Strategies in Minor / Lead up Competitions

Swimmers do not have to go into every competition aiming to win! Some minor leads up competitions are the ideal place to practice the physical, mental, technical and tactical strategies that will be utilized at national championships.

For example:

Minor Competition 1 – Two Months before Nationals

• Practice dry land warm up
• Practice eating and drinking between races to see what works best
• Practice recovery techniques like stretching and warm downs
• Practice pool warm up

Minor Competition 2 – One Month before Nationals

• Practice pacing strategies
• Practice any new start or underwater skills
• Practice mental rehearsal techniques
• Practice swimming fast early in the morning
• Practice implementing race plans

7. Have Several Warm Up Strategies and Learn to Swim Fast Using Each One.

Whilst a good warm up can be important to achieve successful swimming performances, there are hundreds of stories about swimmers winning major events and breaking records after less than ideal warm ups. The key is to have more than one warm up strategy.

Warm up problem 1: Limited pool space due to large numbers of swimmers all warming up at the same time.

Solution: Coaches should also help swimmers prepare to deal with infamous over crowded warm lanes common at all age national championships by having all the team warm up at training in the one lane three times per week in the month leading into national championships. To take this further, to teach swimmers how to race fast after warming up in a crowded pool, have them “race” in training immediately after the all in one lane warm up practice.

Warm up problem 2: Can not access the pool for warm up.

Solution: At training and at lead up competitions practice dryland warm ups. This can include jogging, stretching, skipping and a range of general exercises.

8. Go to the Pool Prior to Race Day and Do Some Reconnaissance

Swimmers need to know where the marshalling area is, where they can access the warm-up area and find a good spot for stretching. They should be able to locate a private area for a little “quiet time” before the race. They need to know where the toilets and change rooms are. In short – they need to know the environment they will be competing in.

Confidence comes from knowing and being comfortable in the championship environment….and from confidence all things are possible.

9. Control the Controllable: Sleeping, Eating, Recovery – Manage Yourself

The ultimate responsibility for the performance belongs to the swimmer. Swimmers should be educated on how to implement an effective sleeping, eating and recovery strategy in the months leading into the major event.

Practice and rehearse effective recovery strategies like:

Effective Hydration Strategies, e.g. drinking 1500 mls for every 1 kg fluid lost

• Effective Refueling Strategies, e.g. Immediately post race try High GI Carbohydrates (15-50 gms) and Protein (10-20 gms)
• Learn to Use Hydrotherapies, e.g. Contrast Showers – 3x (3-4 mins at 40 C then 30-60 seconds at approx 11 C)
• Massage
• Mental Recovery Techniques: Learn what works for you and practice them.
• Learn How to Achieve Optimal Sleep Patterns: REM sleep!

Over the week long competition period quite often it is not the best swimmer who wins….it is the best prepared and most recovered swimmer that wins.

10. Learn to Enjoy the Experience.

Confidence at and enjoyment of the championship environment comes from knowing you have had a total and thorough preparation. Go to nationals knowing – that is:

• Knowing you have prepared to the best of your ability
• Knowing the competition environment and actual challenges it presents
• Knowing yourself
• Knowing your opposition
• Knowing the event
• Knowing you can overcome any obstacles or difficulties presented to you; you can relax and enjoy the experience.

Some challenges swimmers will face at Nationals and some strategies to overcome them

Summary:

1. The “lose one to win one” approach has been a popular way of preparing swimmers to succeed at major championships but it is inherently flawed.

2. Coaches should aim to prepare swimmers to compete successfully at the meet being targeted and to be able to effectively deal with the Real and Actual challenges the meet presents.

3. To do this, coaches should fully understand the environment and challenges unique to the meet and prepare effectively to deal with them.

4. Coaches should consider all the challenges – physical / mental / technical and tactical – of the championship environment rather than concentrating on the physical aspects alone.

5. Whilst swimming associations make every possible effort to provide a competition environment conducive to fast swimming, swimmers and coaches should expect the unexpected and learn to overcome any obstacles through prior planning and thorough detailed preparation.

6. Importantly, excuses do not win races. Looking back at a “lost” national age or championship meet and complaining that “if only I had a better warm up” or “if only I had better food to eat the night before” or “if only I would have had more rest” do not bring back lost opportunities. Get it right the first time by preparing to meet the actual challenges of the competition environment.

Wayne Goldsmith & Helen Morris

How many times do you hear a football player or baseballer or basketballer say something like “It was tough out there today, the other team really psyched us out”.

Sportspeople talk about the psyche out as something someone else did to them – that someone somehow did something mystical or magical that impacted on their performance.

Lots of people talk about psyching out, so what is it?

What is a psyche out?

A psyche out is the words, actions and behaviors of another person trying to increase pressure on you and as a result try to negatively influence your performance.

• Pressure is a misunderstood concept in sport.
• Pressure is not the race.
• It is not the crowd.
• It is not the gold medal.
• It is not the opposition.

It is something you put on yourself – it is something you create: it is something you generate.

The psyche out has one goal – to convince you to put more pressure on yourself.

Even the best swimmers will perform poorly if they lack confidence and can not deal with the pressure of competition.

Think about swimming in your home pool on a warm summer morning with your friends. It feels great. It feels relaxed. It feels comfortable.

Now imagine 50,000 people sitting in the stands around the pool watching you swim.

How do you feel? Nervous? Tense? Uncomfortable? Under pressure?

Why?

The pool hasn’t got any longer. The water hasn’t changed. The only thing that has changed is you – and your perception that swimming in front of 50,000 people is different (and more pressure) than swimming in front of a few moms and dads.

Pressure is something you generate in response to your perception of the situation.

Why do some people try to psyche out others?

Nothing impacts on performance like pressure! The main reason people try psyche out others is to artificially create pressure by increasing doubts, fears and insecurities in their opposition and try to erode their confidence.

Pressure Places People in Positions for Poor Performance.

Why are psyche outs such an effective strategy?

Your attitude and your confidence determine your destiny. Anything that impacts on your attitude and destroys your confidence is potentially damaging to your performance.

The psyche out is a tool some people use to attack attitude and kill confidence to get you to increase pressure on yourself.

What kinds of psyche outs are there?

Psyche outs come in two basic forms – the dirty downers and the positive power plays.

Dirty Downers (DD) are those psyche outs which focus on bringing people down through criticism, sarcasm and down right meanness.

Positive Power (PPP) are psyche outs which give you strength and confidence without putting anyone else down.

Dirty Downers

Where do they happen?

Dirty Downers can happen any where – the locker room, at the end of the pool during warm up, in the ready room, in the marshalling area, behind the blocks…….you name it, the Dirty Downer can hit you anytime…anywhere.

Who does them?

Thankfully not many swimmers are Dirty Downer Do-ers!

Dirty Downer Do-ers are often swimmers who lack confidence in themselves and decide their best tactic (and their best chance of winning) lies not in developing their own confidence and self belief but in destroying the confidence of others.

Make yourself psyche out proof.

Here’s the secret……………………..psyche outs only work if you let them! It’s not the psyche outs that are the problem – it’s how you respond to them.

Dirty Downer Do-ers can find fault in your appearance, your clothing, your hairstyle, your club, your friends, your family, your coach, your training program, your swim gear, your body odor, your dog………but the important thing is to learn to control how you respond to the comments and criticisms.

A Dirty Downer Do-er is trying to get you to lose confidence and get you to create pressure on yourself by making you feel inadequate in comparison to them.

Forget comparing yourself to other people – compare yourself with how close you are to your own full potential.

Some of the best (and worst) psyche outs:

A few leading swimmers were asked to talk about the best and worst psyche outs they have ever heard. Here are some real beauts!

• “Is that swim suit really small or have you just put on weight lately”
• “Are you still swimming? I heard you gave up a long time ago”
• “You look really tired – are you ok?”
• “Those goggles are really old. I can’t believe you still wear them”

Regardless of the psyche out – remember the secret – the psyche out only works if you respond to the pressure it is trying to create!

What they say and what they mean………………………….

Often the Dirty Downer Do-er will give hints about how they really think and feel in their psyche outs.

If they are feeling a bit flat, tired and fatigued, they might try to hit you with a “hey you look tired and worn out” comment. Listen to what they say but also listen to what they mean:

For example:

Ten things you can do to respond to a Psyche out-er:

So what do you do when a Dirty Downer Do-er strikes?

• Smile
• Say “thanks”
• Shake their hand and say “I really appreciate your support”
• Laugh and say “Is that the best you can come up with?”
• Tell them, “I am sorry. I really wasn’t listening to you”.
• Tell them an even bigger “exaggeration”
• Walk away
• Say, “Wow – I am really lucky to be racing someone as talented and gifted as you”
• Keep chatting with family and friends

But the best thing of all is to Ignore them and swim your best.

Psyche Out: Practice Dealing with Dirty Downers

You can make yourself “Dirty Downer Proof” by being ready to perform at your best.

The best way to do this is to make sure your training and preparation is tougher and more challenging than the competition you are targeting.

Nothing gives you more confidence than going to a meet knowing you have done everything in your power to prepare fully physically, mentally, technically and tactically for the meet.

If you are prepared to the best of your ability and you know you have done your best in training then your confidence to compete well is high.

Confidence is your Protection against the Psyche Out and Confidence comes from a great Preparation.

Positive Power Plays: PPP’s, Using Psyche Outs to Your Advantage

Yes – you can be a psyche out-er: but you can do it positively and not have to put anyone else down. How?

Nothing psyches out other people like confidence! Confidence works both ways – it can make you impervious to psyche outs AND it can psyche out others. It is your secret weapon!

Confidence comes from having complete faith in your training and preparation.

Faith in your training and preparation comes from working hard, developing all the physical and mental skills that will make you ready to perform and doing the little things right every day.

Body Language: Psyche Out With Your Body!

A lot of communication is non verbal i.e. communication other than speech.

Your body says a lot more than you realize. Your arms, legs, head, body and face often relay messages to other people about how you really feel inside.

For example:

People pick up on your body language and will react to it.

Just as you want your words to convey confidence, strength, composure and certainty, send positive, powerful signals through your body language.

Summary:

1. A psyche out is something that can only happen to you if you let it.
2. A psyche out is the result of not being ready to do what you have to do – Proper Preparation Means No Pressure.
3. The greatest defense against the psyche out is confidence – confidence which comes from your belief in your preparation and yourself.
4. Make training more challenging and more demanding than the competition you are targeting and you can relax and enjoy the challenges of the meet with confidence, control, composure, certainty and calm.

Wayne Goldsmith

What happened?

Someone showed you what to do. You watched and tried it and failed. Then someone showed you again. You tried again. Then you tried again. Then……you did it.

• There was a time when you couldn’t swim.
• There was a time when you couldn’t do butterfly.
• There was a time when you couldn’t do a race dive or tumble turn or do backstroke without bumping your head on the end of the pool.

What happened?
Someone showed you what to do. You watched and tried it and failed, and then someone showed you again. You tried again and again. Then……you did it.

So what do I know about you?

1. You’re special. Special because you learn by doing and by trying. You don’t mind failing because you know failure can be a great teacher.
2. You’re courageous. Because you are not afraid to try new things.
3. You’re tough. Because you are not afraid to try things again and again and again and keep getting up and trying again.
4. You’re persistent
5. You love a challenge

So even though you and me have never met, I believe you are a special person capable of great things.

So if I believe this – why don’t you?

I often get asked to talk to swimmers about self confidence. I think this is a bit crazy because swimmers are walking, talking, living, breathing examples of what self confidence is all about. I can do lectures with lots of pictures and stories and slogans but the key to self confidence is in the word self.

S – Special: You are special. Swimmers are some of the most special people in the world. You get out of bed early. You train hard. You have to juggle school, friends, family and other commitments so you can swim. You give up weekends to go to meets and race. You stand up on the blocks (with next to no clothes on!!!) and swim your best so that all the world can see what you are capable of. How many people have the courage to show the world what they can do? Not many. But you do it every time you race and your time gets put up on the scoreboard for all to see. And what’s more you choose to do it. You have real courage.

E – Excellence: You understand what excellence is all about. You know that the way to improve is to strive to do your best in all things every day. You understand that working on little goals everyday, like improving your kick or working on your stroke or stretching to improve your flexibility will help you achieve your swimming dreams. You are not afraid to work hard to succeed.

L – Learning: Swimming is a thinking sport. It is a technique based and skills driven sport. Think of all the skills and abilities you have learnt already; drills, sets, pacing, techniques, arms, legs, timing, breathing, tactics, strategies, warm ups / warm downs, what to eat, how to stretch, dry-land training, you are a swimming encyclopedia! Legend swim coach Don Talbot once said: “the key to success is the ability to learn. The faster a swimmer learns new things, the faster they can improve their swimming and achieve their goals”.

F – Failure: Is only failure is you don’t learn from it. Failing is when you stop trying. Failing is not giving the things you try your best possible effort. Think back to the first time you tried anything new. It always takes a few tries to get it right. One of the great qualities of successful people is persistence – the ability to try something and keep trying until they get master it: the ability to deal with difficulty and adversity and draw strength from overcoming tough situations and challenging times. You are persistent – nothing can stop you.

If I was the Managing Director of a large company and someone said to me, “I know a person who wants to work for you. They are tough. They work hard. They are not afraid to try new ideas. They are committed to achieving the best they can. They work really well as part of a team. They learn fast. They set goals and then work hard every day to achieve them”- I would hire them in an instant.

What you do everyday – in your training, racing and daily life is a demonstration of the person you are. And you are extraordinary.

So when you think about it, you have every reason to be confident.

• You have courage.
• You have discipline.
• You are not afraid of hard work.
• You learn fast. You are intelligent.
• You are persistent.
• You are resilient.
• You love to face challenges and overcome adversity.
• You choose to face difficulties, sometimes even pain and learn how to overcome them.
• You are not afraid of anything.
• You are………..special – it is my pleasure to know you!

Wayne Goldsmith