1. BK – SK – FK – SK (Kick Drill)

The trick to great fly kick is to learn to kick with strong, flowing, even power and rhythm in both directions.

Try this drill:
Push off in with your arms by your side. Kick six kicks on your back, rotate to your left side and kick six kicks on your side, then rotate over to your tummy and kick six kicks on your front and rotate over again to your right side for another six kicks.

The aim is to keep a strong, even, flowing kicking movement throughout the drill particularly the first and last kicks after and before you rotate to a new position.

2. Power On, Power Off Drill

Without doubt the single most important concept in FLY. When your arms are under the water it’s Power – feel, catch then pull with power and acceleration. But..as soon as your arms leave the water it’s POWER OFF – long, loping, relaxed, easy arms in recovery.

To practice, put on your fins. Push off in streamline. Do slow motion one arm fly with the resting arm by your side. As you complete the one arm fly say to yourself:

• Power On (on hand entry)

• Power Off (as your hand – little finger first) exits the water.

Get a flowing rhythm going: Power On – Power Off, Power On – Power Off, Power On – Power Off , Power On – Power Off ….you will be amazed how well this works!

3. O’Neil Strength Drill

Lots of variations of this drill but I like Susie O’Neil’s version best.

• 5 x 50 Fly on 1:30 as (25 kick on your back / 25 sprint) – short course pool.
• 1st 50. 25 Fly kick on your back carrying your water bottle with both hands and straight arms. The bottle should be pointed straight up to the sky and your arms at right angles to the water. Leave your bottle at the end of the pool and sprint 25 fly.
• 2nd 50. Same as the first 50 but this time carrying your pull buoy straight overhead – arms at right angles to the water surface.
• 3rd 50. Same as above but this time carrying your fins.
• 4th 50. Same as above but carrying your kickboard overhead – arms at right angles to the water surface.
• 5th 50. Dive sprint 25 fly. At the end where all your swim gear now is, load up your kick board with your water bottle, pull buoy and fins (lay them on top of the board as if it was a table), hold the fully loaded kickboard straight above your head – arms at right angles to the water surface and kick 25 fly on your back.

Do it again if you liked it!

This is a really fun drill and yet it actually helps build strength and kicking ability.

4. Best of All Fly Kick Drill

Dolphin kick with arms folded over your head!

5. Countbacks

Great fly swimming is about combining maximum distance per stroke (long strokes) and speed (fast strokes).

This drill is called countback.

3x (8 x 25 on 1:00). Easy 100 backstroke every 8.

1. Aim to swim 25 fly in 10-12 strokes. Hold 200 metre pace.
2. Do it again and aim to do it in one stroke less – hint: you can go up to 15 metres underwater!! Same pace.
3. Do it again and aim for one less stroke. Same pace.
4. Do it again and aim for one less stroke. Same pace.
5. Now hold the number of strokes you achieved in the 4th repeat and pick the pace up to 100 pace.
6. Repeat.
7. Repeat.
8. Now increase your speed to 50 metre pace but maintain the same stroke count.

The aim over time is to do the same drill but over long distances and with shorter rests, e.g. possible progression might be:

• 3 x (8 x 25 fly countback drill on 45)
• 3 x (8 x 25 fly countback drill on 40)
• 3 x (8 x 25 countback drill on 35)
• 3 x (8x 25 countback drill on 30)
• 2 x (8 x 50 countback drill on 1:30)
• 2 x (8 x 50 countback drill on 1:20)

To make it more challenging, as you improve try to breath every two or even three strokes.

6. Drill, Kick, Swim Combinations

The great swimming coach Einstein said training set designs are only limited by your imagination. Try these fly – kick – swim – drill – speed sets.

• 4 x (4 x 50) fly on 60 Each set of four as 1-2. Drill 25/Swim 25, 3. stroke count. 4. explode first 25 metres.
• 8 x 50 fly drill on 60 (25 fast and with power / 25 easy but long strokes).
• 5 x (2 x 50 fly on 60 as drill 30 / explode final 20 metres with no breathing last three strokes to the wall). Easy 100 free between each 2 x 50.
• 4 x (3 x 50 fly on 60 as 1. Drill 50, 2.Swim (stroke count), 3. 25 Moderate / 25 m Fast)

7. Long Flowing Fin Fly

One of the best ways to develop rhythm in fly is to do long reps with fins. Start with 100 metres. Then add 100 metres per week. Aim to be able to swim 800 – 1000 metres fly with fins easily and with flow and rhythm.

Swim only fast enough to maintain momentum and flow. Breathe every two or three if possible concentrating on a relaxed, neutral head position and the “power on / power off” mantra. Try to hit a consistent stroke count and even pace throughout the swim.

Wayne Goldsmith

Swimming successfully is as much about time management as it is about training hard. Fitting in training, schoolwork, rest and recovery and having some time to yourself is a difficult juggling act even for the most committed and dedicated athlete.

One of the toughest things to do when managing your week is to schedule time to do nothing. For most athletes doing nothing is just as demanding as doing the hard training in the pool and gym.

Rest, relaxation, recovery and restoration – Those times when your body is growing, adapting and developing are fundamental to swimming success. Allocate some time every week for recovery.

Most stress in life is caused by not doing things when you should have done them. The anguish and tension you feel behind the blocks is quite often the result of not preparing adequately in the weeks leading up to the race. The anxiety you feel on the way to an exam is sometimes the result of not doing the necessary study that you should have done before exam day.

Effective management of your time can not only improve your swimming (and your study) but it can help to minimise those nervous moments when you know you should have prepared better.

Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance!

Some Hints for Time Management:

1. Prioritise, put first things first. Do those things you have to do first.
2. Use spare time to make life easier. Get an early start on a school project in your lunch breaks. Read your required school reading in the car on the way to training. Do sit ups and push-ups in the ad breaks when watching t.v. Stretch your neck and shoulders when sitting at school or in front of your computer.
3. Set goals for every week and design a plan to help you achieve them. At the end of the week, (the best time is Sunday afternoon or evening when you are rested) review the previous seven days and evaluate how you went. Plan to do one thing a little better every week.
4. Pick a time that you can put aside every week to plan for the next week.
5. If in doubt – do it now!

Step One: Design a simple weekly schedule. If using a computer it’s easy to do something like this in a word processing program, spreadsheet program or even a database program.

Some swimmers design their own weekly schedule, enlarge it to a full page size (A4) and stick it up on their wardrobe or bedroom door so it’s the first thing they see each morning.

Step Two: Fill in the things you have to do. For younger swimmers this usually means school. For senior swimmers it may mean work or University study commitments. Doing what you have to do when you have to do it means you have more time left for what you want to do.

Step Three:Write in training times and other swimming activities. Include gym and other dryland training as well as club night and competitions.

Step Four: Schedule rest and recovery times. As one Olympian once told me, “It wasn’t until I started scheduling rest periods that my times really started to improve.” Allow extra time for homework, school projects and study.

Step Five: Schedule time for doing the things you want to do, (spending time with family and friends, going to the movies, watching t.v. etc). Part of achieving long term success is maintaining a balance in your life. Scheduling time to enjoy life is just as important as training and racing well.

Wayne Goldsmith

In swimming, effective propulsive movements are slow to fast.

In Fly, you reach long, feel the water, catch then accelerate through the stroke to recovery. Same in back. Same in breast (arms and legs). Same in free.

It starts with an effective feel on entry and a strong catch then…..throughout the stroke it is acceleration that makes all the difference.

2. The relationship between hips and head is critical

There is a critical relationship between the hips and the head in swimming. Simply, when the head is up, the hips go down and if the hips are down three important things happen:

• Hips down means you kick down – instead of back.
• Hips down means your body is in an inefficient position
• Hips down means that your body is not streamlined

Be aware of this relationship and keep your head and hips in the right positions.

3. Soft Hands and Feel!

If someone gave you a rose and said, “feel this – it is so soft” – what would you do with your hands? Cup them tightly? Clench them into a fist? Force your fingers wide apart with lots of tension? Or……..would you relax your fingers and hands and wrist and gently feel the rose?

You can’t feel anything with tight, tense hands. To improve your feel of the water, relax and think soft hands.

4. Think tall, think long

There is no doubt that objects that are long, tall, thin and streamlined move better through water than things that aren’t!

Streamline off every turn. Streamline on entry at each dive and start. Streamlining off walls is important, but think tall and think long all the time!

Believe it or not, an awareness of being tall and long in the water is important. For example in breaststroke recovery, think tall and long as you stretch and reach forward – reach long…..then kick strong.

It is the combination of long and strong that produces the most efficient swimming movements.

This “tall” thinking and awareness really helps your body move and flow through the water.

5. The faster you want to go, the more relaxed you have to be

Watch a little kid running. Now tell him to run as fast as he can…what happens? He clenches his fists. He gets red in the face. He holds his breath. And he lasts about twenty yards!

The faster you want to go, the more relaxed you have to be.

Speed is about relaxation, not grunting, not fist clenching, not tightening up, not breath holding, relaxation.

If you want to go fast, focus on staying calm, relaxed and moving easily.

6. The Power Circle: Power On – Power Off

Swimming has two primary phases – the “propulsive” phase and the “recovery” phase. For many swimmers, the recovery phase is actually an extension of the propulsive phase in that they don’t actually recover. The recovery phase is a time to relax and allow muscles to switch off in preparation for the next propulsive pull. Learning to do this can make a big difference to a swimmer’s ability to maintain a strong powerful stroke throughout a race.

Think Power Circle: Power on / Power off. When the hands and arms are under the water and pulling it is power on. As the hands leave the water to recover, it is power off.

The ability to turn the power off and relax during recovery is an important skill for all swimmers to develop.

7. Finishes: Head Forward, Hips High, Full Kick, Full Stroke

Good finishes in all strokes have four common elements: Head, Hips, Kick, Stroke

Head: leaning forward towards the wall – as opposed to turning and looking at the opposition or the results.

Hips: high and in a strong position – to keep the body in a streamlined position and moving towards the wall.

Kick: still working and driving the body forward at the wall. In fly finishing with a strong down kick and in breast finishing with the feet accelerating all the way to a toes touch position.

Stroke: finishing in a long, strong, tall position at the end of recovery so that the body is streamlined and capable of reaching and stretching towards the finish.

Every finish in training is a race finish and should include these four elements.

8. Starts Key Words: Focused Thinking

There are many distractions at the start of a race – noise, crowd, media, other swimmers, etc. The world is not going to shut down for you. You need to “shut” the world down.

To do this, try the simple “key word” technique.

Find a word that means “start” to you, something like:

• Power
• Explode
• Drive
• Strong
• Relax

Take a long, deep breath and if you can, take 5 seconds to inhale fully. Then on the exhale, say your key word quietly to yourself, taking 5 seconds to exhale fully. Repeat this for about a minute, continuing to breath deeply and slowly (about 5-6 breaths per minute), focusing on the key word every exhale.

This does three things:
1. It gives you confidence and control over the pre race environment
2. The slow deep breathing keeps you relaxed
3. The focus word allows you to eliminate external distractions and focus on a good start.

9. Turns: Tight

Turns are an important part of swimming and invariably great swimmers are great turners.

Turns need to be tight.

• Heels up close to the buttocks.
• Legs tucked up and under the body.
• Arms in close and held near the centre of the body.

Being tight keeps the body in an efficient minimum resistance position but it also allows the swimmer to adopt the “coiled spring” position.

Muscles can contract with greater power after being stretched and put under tension. By pulling the limbs in close to centre of the body, the large, powerful muscles of the legs, shoulders and back are placed on stretch.

Then coming out of the turn, the body can open up with power and explosiveness and use this elastic energy to drive off the wall and get back into fast swimming!

10. Consistency is the Key

The key to it all is to take the first nine tips and practice them consistently – every session – every day – every week.

Consistency provides opportunity – opportunity provides the talented swimmer with the chance to achieve anything.

We are creatures of habit. What we do repeatedly and what becomes habit, is what we do instinctively in times of fatigue and pressure, i.e. racing. If you practice doing things consistently well in training and doing things well becomes your “habit” under the pressure and pain of racing you will always come out on top.

Wayne Goldsmith

In part two we look at three great swimming tests designed to help you measure your improvement in Speed, Speed-Endurance, and Endurance.

Why test?
Testing provides valuable information to you and your coach on your progress of the effectiveness of your training program. It helps to identify areas of your program that need to be changed and modified as you work towards achieving your swimming goals.

Who to test?
Anyone can be tested. Some people shy away from testing early in their swimming career because they are afraid the results may not be very good. Actually the best time to be tested is early in your career because this is the time when you are likely to make you biggest improvements and progress is really motivating!!

When to test?
Generally the best time to be tested is when you are rested. This allows the test to measure your improvement without the influence of fatigue.

Which test to do?
It depends on what you are trying to measure. Let’s look at three popular and widely used swimming tests.

1. Test for Speed

The test:
2 x 25 metres push start on 2:30

You will need:

• 25 metre pool
• Test recording sheet
• Stop watch
• A friend to help you record the information

Test protocol:

• Start in the water.
• Push off and swim 25 metres at maximum speed.
• A friend or team mate records time and stroke count (and stroke rate if available).

Analysis:

• Time
• Number of strokes per lap
• Average of the two 25s
• Difference between the two 25s

What you will learn:
This test is a good basic test of pure speed. Taking the dive out means you are assessing swimming speed rather than diving technique.

As you improve:

• The 25s will get faster (improved speed)
• You will be able to swim at maximum speed with fewer strokes (improved stroke efficiency / technique)
• There will be little or no difference between them (improved speed endurance)
• You will be able to swim faster with fewer (ideally no) breaths per 25 (improved skill and tactical ability)

Variations:
Count breaths – we know that the best freestyle and fly swimmers in the world can swim at maximum speed with only two or less breaths over a 50 metre sprint.

2. Test for Speed Endurance

The test:
6 x 50 metres push start on 2:00

You will need:

• 50 metre pool (if possible)
• Test recording sheet
• Stop watch
• A friend to help you record the information

Test protocol:

• Start in the water.
• Push off and swim 50 metres at maximum speed.
• A friend or team mate records time and stroke count (and stroke rate if available).

Analysis:

• Time
• Number of strokes per lap / stroke rate if available
• Average of the six 50s
• Difference between the fastest and slowest 50
• RPE (Rating of Perceived Exertion)

What you will learn:
The key to this test is to aim to swim at maximum speed right from the first 50. Then try to swim as fast as possible until you have completed all six. This is important because the test is trying to measure your “fatigue resistance” by looking at your ability to repeat maximum and near maximum speed swims.

As you improve:

• The 50s will get faster (improved speed)
• The average will get lower (improved speed endurance)
• The difference between the fastest and slowest will reduce (improved speed endurance and endurance)
• You will be able to maintain good technique and skills as you get tired (improved speed endurance, technique and endurance)

Variations:

• In fly try breathing every four or five strokes
• Experiment with underwater start distances (up to a maximum of 15 metres) to see what works for you.

3. Test for Endurance

The test:
7 x 200 Freestyle push start on 5 minutes

Aim to achieve a target pace of:
1st 200 – Personal Best Time Plus 35 Seconds
2nd 200 – Personal Best Time Plus 30 Seconds
3rd 200 – Personal Best Time Plus 25 Seconds
4th 200 – Personal Best Time Plus 20 Seconds
5th 200 – Personal Best Time Plus 15 Seconds
6th 200 – Personal Best Time Plus 10 Seconds
7th 200 – Personal Best Time Plus 5 Seconds

You will need:

• 50 metre pool (if possible)
• Test recording sheet
• Stop watch
• A friend to help you record the information

Test protocol:

• Start in the water.
• Push off and swim 200 metres at the target speed.
• A friend or team mate records time, splits and stroke count (and stroke rate if available), heart rate and other variables.

Analysis:

• Time
• Splits
• Stroke count on the final 50 every 200 repeat
• Heart rate at the end of each 200
• RPE (Rating of Perceived Exertion)

What you will learn:
This test is pretty much a universal test for endurance. It is called a Step Test because the speed increases in “steps” and you measure how the body is responding at each step.

As you improve:

• The target paces will get faster (improved endurance)
• Your heart rate will be lower at the same speed (improved endurance)

Variations:

If you need more time to achieve the target pace of each 200, try 7 x 200 on 6 minutes.

Regardless of the test you use, remember the three Golden Rules:

1. Consistency: Make sure you control the controllables – do repeat testing at the same time of day, the same day of the week and with as many of the same conditions in place as possible.
2. Common Sense: Do tests that make sense. Don’t use the 2 x 25 to test for endurance or the 7 x 200 to test for speed.
3. Record: Write down everything. If it can be measured it is probably important!!!

And remember: No one wins the gold medal by having the best test!

Testing is simply a guide to give you feedback on the progress of your training and where you are in relation to achieving a specific goal.

Wayne Goldsmith

And there’s one other magical and mysterious experience: peaking and tapering swimmers.

But what is peaking and tapering?

Peak: Prepare Each Athlete’s Kapacity (capacity) to perform at their best.

Taper: Training Activities that Provide Excellence after Rest.

Peaking is about training swimmers to swim at their best. Tapering is ensuring that the swimmer’s can produce their best on a specific day following a period of rest, recovery and regeneration.

Let’s try to unlock the magic and mystery of coaching swimmers to perform at their best when it matters most.

Peaking

In the famous book Alice in Wonderland, Alice comes across a road which splits and leads off in several different directions. She is faced with a choice of which path to take.

She sees the Cheshire Cat in a tree and asks the cat, “Which path should I take?”

The cat smiles and says, “That depends on where you want to go.”

Alice says, “I don’t know where I want to go.”

The Cheshire Cat replies, “then it doesn’t matter which path you take.”

Swimming can be a little like this. Many swimmers and coaches are working hard – stretching, doing dry-land training, gym, etc – without a clear goal and without a clear time-frame.

Remember a goal is a dream with a deadline.

At the beginning of the season, two critical questions need to be answered:

• What does the swimmer need to be able to do?
• When do they need to be able to do it?

Ask each swimmer in your team to complete this sentence:

I want to achieve …………………. On ……………………….. (date).

For example:

I want to achieve a time of 60 seconds for 100m freestyle on the 15th May 2010.

Your job as coach is to plan a program which gives each swimmer the opportunity to achieve their stated goal.

Having the swimmer state their goal makes planning the program easy!

Tapering

There a lot of tricks, tips, magic and miracles written about tapering but there are six key principles that actually work:

1. Decrease the volume of training in the taper period

The single biggest improvement in performance during the taper period is due to a significant decrease in training volume. During taper, as training volume decreases so too does residual fatigue – meaning the swimmer begins to feel light, fast, energetic and strong in the water.

Hint: Decrease training volume between 15-20% during each week of the taper.

2. Maintain the INTENSITY of training in the taper period

Many swimmers and coaches are afraid to work hard during taper. In fact taper is a great time to work hard as the decrease in volume means that swimmers can often achieve race speeds easily during taper.

Hint: Include a small amount of specific race pace work at every session during the taper. This should include race specific dives, starts, turns and finishes and breathing patterns – race speed plus race quality technique and skills!

3. Maintain the frequency of training in the taper period.

One of the biggest mistakes coaches make when designing a taper is to decrease training frequency, i.e. fewer sessions. The motive is a good one – they want to allow swimmers the chance to rest, recover, maybe sleep in and regenerate.

However, allow swimmers time to sleep in and this is what generally happens:

• They wake up at the same time anyway and can’t go back to sleep.
• They stay up later at night knowing they don’t have to get up early and end up having less sleep than usual.
• Their body sleep / wake rhythms become unsettled leaving them feeling flat, tied and lethargic
• Once they experience a week or two of not getting out of bed at 5 am, they start to like it and may not return to morning training
• All of the above

Hint: Have swimmers attend all morning workouts during the taper period. If you like, give them an afternoon off for some free time / social time with team mates.

4. Make the taper swimmer-specific.

Everyone responds differently to a taper. Even swimmers of the same gender, the same age and competing in the same events will respond differently to a taper.

Hint: Practice the taper at a minor competition several months before the major meet. Encourage each swimmer to keep a “taper diary” throughout the “trial” taper recording how they feel, how they slept, if they experienced muscle soreness, was their energy level high or low and other relevant information. Use this to base the major meet taper upon.

5. Don’t introduce anything new

Another common problem is the desperate need for coaches, swimmers and parents to make the taper more than it is and to start adding new things at the last minute. Commonly this means changes to diet (e.g. adding a new super high performance supplement) or equipment (e.g. new pair of the latest super fast goggles). Keep it normal! Don’t introduce anything new during the taper – keep the environment as normal and simple as possible.

Hint: Don’t introduce anything once the taper has commenced – that goes for nutrition, gym work, technique, skills and equipment.

6. Don’t over-coach

The most successful way to coach during taper is the same way you usually coach! Some coaches feel the need to overcoach, by giving too many instructions too late in the preparation and only confusing the issue. Keep it simple.

Swimmers will often feel confused and stressed during taper and the lead in to big meets. What they want from you as a coach is the three C’s; Calmness, Confidence and Certainty. The best coaches demonstrate the three C’s regardless of the level of competition.

The closer you get to competition decrease the number of instructions and coaching interventions and practice the three C’s.

As a general rule during the final week of taper, give the same number of instructions as there are days before the meet, ie with five days to go, coach a maximum of five specific areas, with three days to go, focus on only three areas and on the final day on just one thing.

For example:

Butterfly

• Five days to go: Work on kick, arm pull, hand speed, hip drive and rhythm
• Three days to go: Work on kick, hand speed, hip drive and rhythm
• Final training session: Think Rhythm

One final comment: It’s not the taper that makes the difference, it’s every session.

The key to successful performance is consistency in terms of quality coaching everyday in all things. No matter how well you plan, prepare and prescribe your taper does not make up for months of poor technique and skills in practices.

Successful swimming is not an accident, it is the result of a carefully planned program implemented with quality, passion, enthusiasm and consistency by talented coaches and swimmers.

Wayne Goldsmith

On the surface, swimming seems like an individual sport: One swimmer, one lane. Everyone swims their own race using their own tactics and their own strategies.

But it is an individual sport wrapped inside a team environment.

You train in a team. You all dress in team gear. You work with the same coach. You all train at the same pool.

The old saying “there is no I in team” is wrong. Every team is made up a whole lot of “I”s, individuals determined to achieve their own unique goals. But, the opportunity to achieve your individual goals is enhanced by supporting the goals of other members of your team.

Here’s a few things you can do to create a real team environment.

1. Think Team. The first step in performing as a team is to think like one.

Think about the best professional sports teams you know – Football teams, basketball teams, baseball teams, soccer teams, what do they all do that is unique to team sports?

• They wear the same team clothing, they look like a team
• They support each other on the field or court
• They arrive together (usually a team bus) and walk in to the field or court together
• They praise the efforts of team mates
• They aspire to a set of common goals and behaviours
• They recognize the great performances of individuals within the team
• They provide back up and support for individuals who don’t perform well.

So you know what a team does, now let’s apply that to swimming.

2. Before your next meet, develop a Team Meet Strategy

Get the team together the week before your next meet.

At that meeting develop a strategy for how you can all work together at the meet and help each other achieve success for the team and every individual on the team.
Much of swimming successfully at a swim meet depends on attitude – yours and that of your opposition.

A well executed team meet strategy provides you with a focus to help you with your own attitude and perhaps just as importantly, the presence of a well organised, well prepared, well disciplined team really blows the mind of other swimmers and coaches.

For example:

• Aim to all arrive at the pool at the same time: Set up a meeting place outside the pool where everyone meets at an agreed time.
• Wear team gear: Everyone, swimmers, coaches, families, committee, everyone. Look like a team.
• Walk in to the pool area together: Everyone as one large group led by your team captains.
• Leave your swim gear all in the same place in a designated team area: your team “fortress”.
• Stretch as a team: Ideally practice the team stretching routine before race day and have the swimmers (not the coaches) lead the team stretching. Do this somewhere really public and conspicuous, somewhere the other teams will see you and become aware of how professional you are.
• Warm up as a team: Line up together in one line at the end of the warm up lane. One by one dive in until you create a single, continuous line of swimmers (all with the same caps and swim suits on).
• Team cheers: Develop some team cheers and use them at appropriate times. Some good cheering opportunities are:
  • As the team walks into the pool area
  • As swimmers’ names get announced before swimming
  • As soon as the starting gun goes
  • All the way through the race
  • After they finish
  • As the results get announced
  • As they come back to the team area

3. Find a way to help everyone

The easiest thing to do at a meet is to cheer for and support winners – the swimmers who are winning medals, achieving PB times and doing well. However, the real strength of a team is their capacity to help and support the swimmers who are having a bad day and not swimming well.

Not everyone can swim a PB time or win a medal at every meet, so plan to have a support system in place to provide strength and unity during the tough times.

For example, develop a “buddy” system between old swimmers and younger swimmers so that there are strong bonds within the team if things go wrong.

4. Set team goals and take pride in achieving them

For example:

Total number of medals won by the team

Number of relays won by the team

If you have thirty swimmers in the team, and each swimmer has four swims each, that’s 120 team swims.

Set some goals around these 120 team swims like:

• 80% personal best times = 96 swims
• 75% finals swims = 90 swims
• 100% of swimmers not breathing inside the flags on starts, turns and finishes = 120 swims

This can also apply to other swimming skills.

For example:

The team goal for the next swim meet is to be the best kicking team over the final 50 metres of every race, i.e. the kicking of everyone on your team is the best of any team.

You can do the same for other swimming skills:

• The best starting team
• The best turning team
• The best butterfly technique team (or back or breast or free)
• The best finishing team
• The team who took the fewest breaths in their final 15 metres of fly and free

By focusing on the mastering of skills under race conditions, everyone in the team can improve important aspects of their swimming. And – if you concentrate on technique, skills and working together to achieve team goals, chances are most of the swimmers in the team will also achieve their individual goals along the way.

So remember, team stands for:

Together Everyone Achieves Magnificence

Wayne Goldsmith

Alarm goes off at 5 am. You get up. You eat. You go to the pool. You swim.

You got to school all day then…

You eat. You go to the pool. You swim.

You get home at 6 pm – tired, hungry and…you have homework to do!!!!

To quote Charlie Brown…..AAUUUUUUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!

How do you it? How to work hard and get good grades and work hard and swim fast????

Here are some practical hints:

• You are in control of your study and training program. Regardless of what your school friends say or do, success in the end is your decision. Do the training and study that you need to do to get the results you want. If your friends think studying is not “cool”, get some new friends!
• Talk with your school advisers and ask them for help with designing a study plan. You are a high school and college student only once. The teachers and counselors have been through what you are going through many times and are invaluable in this regard.
• Talk with the teachers and counselors about your desire and commitment to continue swimming training during high school and college. They may be prepared to help you achieve your goals and be more flexible with class and study routines to help you.
• What might happen and what could happen is not as important as what is happening right now. Don’t worry about the exams at the end of the year. Focus on doing the little things right, every day, every class, and each assignment.
• 90% of stress comes from not doing things when you should have done them. The best time to start a study program is today.
• An extra hour study each day is an extra day study each week- You can control time! It’s never too late to be the person you wanted to be.
• Do a course of “How to Study Effectively” or read a book on the same topic. It’s the same principle as getting your swim technique right before starting hard training.
• Try to get out of bed early and study when you are fresh and rested. You can train when you are tired and still get improvements, but studying tired is a recipe for failure.
• Do extra work by yourself or with a group of friends in holidays and on breaks.
• Study in your “spares” – times during the day when you have no immediate and pressing commitments.
• Take care of the immediate and the ultimate will take care of itself – put first things first. Do your most difficult school study at the start of your study period when you are least fatigued.
• No matter what happens there is another way to look at it. Nothing is as bad as it first seems. Getting a C is not a bad thing IF it inspires you to work harder and strive for an A next time. Learn from your mistakes.
• What if something goes wrong? Have a plan, Have a second plan and have a backup plan to the second plan. Don’t plan to fail by failing to plan.
• Never, ever, Give up – there is always a way. Develop an “I can” strategy rather than saying “I can’t”.
• Success is never guaranteed, but you can choose to increase the likelihood of success by adopting a study program and swimming training schedule that will allow you the best opportunity to succeed.
• The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is the little extra. Try 30 minutes less T.V. per day and do 30 minutes extra on math equations. Try 30 minutes less video games per day and learn five extra new words to help with reading and comprehension. Those little extras add up to extra-ordinary results.

The smartest people don’t necessarily get the best high school grades or TEE. scores, just as the most talented swimmers don’t always win. It is more likely that the best grades (and gold medals) go to the students (and swimmers) who have prepared the best, who have committed themselves to a daily routine where excellence is the minimum acceptable standard and who manage their time and themselves most effectively.

Do the little extra it takes to succeed and you will have the choice at the end of the day. Take the short cut or rely on luck and your employer, the university admissions officer and your opposition control your choices.

• Success has little to do with luck.
• The harder you work, the luckier you will get.
• There are a lot of similarities between swimming well and passing exams.

Preparation is important. Planning is crucial. Confidence is vital. Time management – essential. For all swimmers however, none of these concepts are new. They are things you grow up with: things you utilise every day. In many ways your swimming career has prepared you for the opportunity to do well in high school, college and university.

All the attributes you need to be a great student you have already developed as a swimmer. You have a competitive edge. Make the most of it.

Wayne Goldsmith

• 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

Nutrition is an important area of successful sports performance in any sport.

Swimmers need to eat nutritious foods to compete and train to the best of their ability. Coaches need to ensure that swimmers are eating well and re-hydrating to complement their training program. Parents want to help their kids achieve their goals and are keen to support them in every possible way.

Swim Clubs and swimming organisations, selling food and drink at Swim Meets need to ensure that a variety of highly nutritious healthy options that can still generate income and raise funds are available to the swimmers.

Swim Meets, Swim Competitions and Swimming Championships are the places where all the vested interests in swimming nutrition come together: swimmers, coaches, parents and administrators. Everyone is looking for the same thing: how can we maximise the opportunity presented by the competition?

Swimmers want to maximise the opportunity of swimming fast at the Meet.

Coaches want to maximise the opportunities for the individual swimmers and team to compete successfully.

Parents want their kids to make the most of the competitive opportunity and swim well.

Administrators want to maximise the opportunity to generate income from the fund raising activities at the Meet.

Is it possible to develop an overall nutrition strategy to meet the needs of everyone?

Swimmers

A feature of successful athletes in any sport is how they take responsibility for their own performances. As swimmers get older and approach open level competition they should be encouraged to take responsibility for their own diet and nutrition program – to become coach and parent independent as far as food preparation and consumption are concerned.

On Meet day, swimmers should check their own bags to make sure all the fuel they will need over the day has been packed. This includes not only an adequate supply of food and drinks for the Meet day but enough nutritious snacks to cover the crucial post race recovery period. If for example, the last race of the day is 4:00pm and the swimmer is unlikely to eat dinner before 7:00pm, it is important that foods like fruit, sandwiches and other nutritious snacks are available to munch on between 4 and 7pm. (It is unlikely you can “ruin the appetite” of a competitive swimmer!).

Athletes, by their actions, are above average people. They choose to push themselves to their limits and in doing so are “high performance” human beings. Just as High Performance motor vehicles use a high grade, high octane fuel, “high performance humans” need the best possible fuel to perform at their best.

However, athletes do not need to live a hermit type existence and abstain from all Take Away Foods, snacks, nibbles, lollies etc. The pressures of advertising and their peer group will make a totally junk food free existence near impossible for kids in the current times. The goal should be to practice sensible nutrition habits the majority of the time, to understand the basics of high performance eating and to be aware of the link between good food and fast swimming.

Immediately after racing, DRINK. Water is perfect, or try other fluids such as sports drink, cordial or fruit juice. Also eat something light within 10 minutes of finishing the race. This is the time when your body is best able to absorb and utilise new fuels.

If the Meet is two days or longer in duration, recovery nutrition, is an important part of racing successfully. Recovery nutrition is about planning an eating and drinking strategy that helps your body:

• Recover from the physical stresses of racing;
• Prepare for the racing to come.

This is also called the repair, prepare approach to Swim Meet eating.

Recovery nutrition is a technique which provides the swimmer’s body with what they need to recover (eg carbohydrates to replace used up energy, proteins for muscle building and repair) and prepare for the next day of competition. In between races, recovery nutrition is about replenishing energy stores quickly and effectively so that the next race can be completed at maximum speed. Foods that aid in a recovery nutrition program between races include fruit, blended fruit packs, tinned fruits and sports drinks – things that are easy to digest and absorb into the body. To maximise the impact of these “recovery foods” they need to be eaten or drunk as soon as possible after racing.

A key element of a successful Swim Meet nutrition program is eating timing. Swimmers need to ensure that their eating program is as finely tuned as their training and racing schedule. If competing early in the morning some swimmers may find it necessary to rise early (3-4 hours before warm up) eat, then go back to bed for a little more rest. Other athletes may chose to eat, then go for a short walk or jog to start the warm up / race preparation process going.

An Example of a Competition Eating Schedule

An important aspect of being a senior athlete is knowing what foods help you to swim at your best and when to eat them.

In minor Meets and lead up competitions try keeping a Nutritional Diary for the day before, the days of competition and the day after the Meet. Record what you eat, when you eat, how much you eat, how you felt and how you raced. By keeping the nutrition diary, you can evaluate what eating strategy works best for you.

An Example of a typical Meet Nutrition Diary

Coaches

Ensure you understand the basics of good nutrition and plan an effective education program for your swimmers. This includes a program of classroom education, Supermarket visits, teaching swimmers to read food labels and educating them about what’s in food. Senior swimmers need to learn to cook a few basic meals (for example pasta and sauce, vegetarian fried rice, potatoes in their jackets and apple crumble) utilising low fat cooking and food preparation techniques. Parents of young swimmers also need to be aware of how to cook with less added fats and oils.

If you as a coach lack the necessary knowledge to take an active role in the nutrition education program of your club, enlist the services of a qualified sports dietician or sports nutritionist.

If a sports nutrition specialist is not easily available, read one of the many good books on the topic and prepare an athlete and parent nutrition education program that is swimming specific, easy to understand and simple to apply. Alternately approach the local hospital dietician and ask them to help out with your education program.

An important area of nutrition education is to educate parents. Remember that in general Kids don’t shop and Kids don’t cook! Educating young swimmers is of limited value unless the parents are similarly educated and have the commitment to support their children’s healthy eating program.

Do a pre-meet checklist for swimmers and parents to follow AND ask them to sign it before the swimmer leaves home for the pool.

Swimmer’s Swim Meet Nutrition Checklist

As an alternative, have a team breakfast on the morning of the Meet. If competing close to home, have the team breakfast in the Club Meeting room. Away from home, find a pleasant venue for the Team breakfast (beach, park, near a river) with an alternate site nominated in case of cold or rainy weather.

Ask each family to bring something for the team breakfast, (give them a list of what you want) – The Smiths bring cereal, The Jones family brings milk and Yoghurt, The Wilsons bring Fruit and Juice etc. At the very least you can then be certain that the team has had one nutritious meal before competing. For a Medal winning Meet morning breakfast try some of these suggestions:

• Cereals (not the popular Chocolate or sugary ones). Try Weet-Bix, Vita Brits, Sustain, Just Right, Sports Plus.
• Reduced fat milk – e.g. Shape, Physical, Rev, Hi-Lo
• Low fat fruit yoghurt.
• Selection of fresh and/or tinned fruit (in natural juice). Sliced banana goes great on Weet-bix and Vita Brits!
• Selection of bread, toast, crumpets, muffins, and spreads such as margarine, jam, vegemite and honey.
• Drinks – fruit juices, water, and Milo.
• Spaghetti, baked beans or creamed corn on toast.
• Poached eggs or grilled tomatoes on toast.
• Pancakes or pikelets (with small amounts of syrup).

The team breakfast is also a great way to build team unity and go over team strategies for the Meet.

For a few laughs, select a swimmer at “random” and empty the contents of their swim bag in front of the rest of the team to check if they have packed it with all the healthy, nutritious food and drink they will need for the Meet. (By “random” it is a good idea to pre-select someone you know has done the right thing rather than publicly embarrass someone who hasn’t). You can do the same fun educational exercise and check the swimmer’s swim bag for other essential items, eg cap, goggles, towel, sun screen, hat, etc., to ensure they are packing for success!

If travelling to a Meet where you are likely to be arriving early in the morning or late in the evening have swimmers carry their first two meals with them. This reduces the temptation to seek Fast Food for dinner or breakfast. Arriving in a competition venue in the evening means that the only food outlets open will be Home Delivery Pizza and the Hamburger chains. Arriving at the competition venue early in the morning means coffee and donuts or the Fast Food chains.

Weeks of hard work and tough training may all be for nothing if the final two meals before competition are high fat, high salt and high sugar food choices.

Have swimmers follow a set nutrition and rehydration routine around every race. Try the R-D-T-E-R routine (Race-Drink-Talk-Eat-Rest). Swimmers race, then grab their drink bottles and take a sip, go the coach for the post race review, have a bite to eat then rest.

Keep your eyes open! Swimmers who are poorly prepared and have not brought healthy foods from home will be rushing to the Canteen or Shop for high fat / high sugar products early in the day.

Be aware of gimmicks and misinformation. Parents and swimmers can be easily influenced by the media and advertising campaigns to buying items that are not really high performance fuels. Food supplements, vitamins and minerals and fashionable products advertised by successful athletes rarely deliver on their promises of improved performance.

Parents’ vulnerability to a quick fix, instant success products and promises means that coaches need to focus on parents at every stage of their nutrition education programs.

Swimmers don’t always notice it, but sweating occurs when training and racing – even though the activity happens in the water. It is vital that a good supply of cool water, cordial, sports drink or juice is on hand at Swim Meets. Purchase a team 40-50 litre capacity Cooler, give the team captain or a committee member the responsibility for filling it and take it to every Meet (and also for cleaning it AFTER every Meet).

Parents

Parents play a significant role in the nutrition and lifestyle habits of swimmers (their children). Parents can have an important impact on their child’s eating choices in many ways:

By setting an example with their own diet, it is well established that children, particularly young children are influenced by their parents’ behaviours. This applies to social behaviours, beliefs and lifestyle habits. Parents who consistently eat high fat, high salt, high sugar, low fibre foods are setting a decidedly unhealthy example for their kids to follow. (This also applies to smoking and whilst this is not strictly a nutrition issue it is very definitely a health issue).

By purchasing healthy nutritious food, is one key area where parents can directly influence the nutrition program of their children. In most households mum and dad are responsible for selecting and buying the families food each week. In this regard, mum and dad can be positive role models, or quite easily become a negative influence on the family’s eating habits. If you don’t by chocolate biscuits, frozen pizza and sugary breakfast cereals, the kids can’t eat them. It then becomes a matter of a battle of wills between parents and kids. The pressures of television advertising and the influence of their friends and peer group may have children demanding non healthy food choices, but in the family home, parents should take the hard option of insisting on high performance nutrition.

(Try not to go grocery shopping when you are hungry. Research suggests that if you shop when you are hungry you are more likely to make poor food selections – usually of the high fat variety).

By not promising Junk food as rewards for good performances, this is crucial, most diets in Western Society fail. Recent statistics suggest that over 90% of people trying to lose weight do not achieve their goals. Much of the blame comes from the way we approach “treats” with children.

As a child, everyone has had an Auntie or Uncle or Grandparent say, “You’re such a good boy or good girl, here’s a chocolate”, or “Your school grades are so good, let’s celebrate with pizza and garlic bread”. From an early age, this “do something good – eat something bad as a reward” mentality develops.

Adults who fail in their efforts to lose weight often do so because they reward any weight loss with junk food, chocolates, cake etc. This is an extension of the eating habits learned and reinforced in childhood.

Be wary of products promising quick easy results. All parents want the best for their children and as a result are vulnerable to advertising and marketing of sports nutrition products in the belief that they are helping their children.

The Mid Meet Main Meal – MMMM:

Often at two day meets with families travelling away from home, the “Mid Meet Main Meal” is the most important eating occasion. Generally the MID Mid Meet Main Meal is the Saturday evening meal that swimmers and families share after a full day of competition (Day One). This meal is a time for everyone to unwind and talk about swim times, races and the things that happened on day One and to fuel up for the second day of competition.

There are several options for the “MMMM”. If dining out, coaches, swimmers and parents need to be aware of the positives and negatives of their eating options and be prepared to exercise control and discipline where unsuitable foods are available.

Typical food choices (Take Aways) available for Mid Meet Main Meals

Be prepared to ask the restaurant for changes and modifications to their printed menu. For example ask for salads with no dressing (or have the dressing served on the side). Ask for meals to be cooked with less oil and for dishes to be prepared with little or no salt. If you must have salad dressing or salt for taste, adding them yourself means you can control your intake of these products.

Get in the habit of asking waiters and waitresses how the food will be cooked before you order it. Be confident knowing that as you are paying for the food, you have the right to have input into how it will be prepared, (just beware of temperamental chefs!!!).

When selecting the venue for the “MMMM” do not allow swimmers performances to dictate where and what you will eat. The “if you do a PB we will all go to a popular hamburger restaurant” promise made by parents to swimmers may achieve short term success but it leads to long term eating lifestyle problems.

Parents please do not reward great swimming with junk food.

An alternative to eating out with the team for the “MMMM” is the team dinner or team barbeque that is catered by the families of swimmers and by club management. The great positive is that the coach and families have a good deal more control over the quantity and quality of food being selected and eaten by the swim team. The down side is that the parent cooked “MMMM” requires more planning and forethought as foods may need to be transported from home.

This does not present any real problems if travelling relatively short distances to the Meet by car, but is difficult to manage if longer journeys to distant competitions are necessary.

If preparing meals for a team when competing away from home, delegate the responsibility for the various contents of the meal to swimmers’ families, eg John’s dad buys the salads and cuts up the vegetables, Julie’s mum leaves the Meet early to buy fresh seasonal fruit and prepare a fruit platter, etc. Often the MMMM is a last minute, unplanned and uncoordinated meal leaving the swimmers with few options and what options they do have are usually the Fast Food ones.

A little planning will go a long way to ensuring a successful Meet and a sensible high performance nutrition program for the swimmers!

Glucose Tablets. Parents are often taken in by the “high energy” promises and packaging of glucose products in the belief that it will give their child a lift or boost on race day. These products are very high in sugar (the “ose” on the end of food ingredients identifies it as sugar – maltose, fructose, dextrose etc). These products are of doubtful, if any, value.

Sports Drink. The marketing of sports drinks promotes the idea that drinking them will provide a “boost” or make a big impact on the performance of athletes. Whilst sports drinks do appear to have an important role in post race recovery, they are not a miracle product that will compensate for poor dietary choices. If intending to use a sports drink on race day, swimmers should experiment with the different brands, concentrations and quantities in training to see what works best for them.

Chocolate Bars. Another great swimming myth is the “Chocolate Bar rush”. Often parents will give their children chocolate before a race to try and catch a sugar “rush” which will give them an edge in racing. This again is not correct and in fact, the chocolate bars may impact on blood sugars to an extent that the swimmers perform poorly.

Clubs and Caterers

The greatest challenge for Swim Clubs and swimming organisations is to provide healthy food options at swim Meets that also generate profit. For most clubs their single most important fund raising event on the annual program is when they host a swim Meet. The temptation is to sell the foods that are easiest to prepare and can generate the highest profits for the club. Pre frozen pies, sausage rolls, chips and other fried foods can generate a high profit but at what cost to the performance (and health) of the swimmers.

When catering for swim meets try to provide a range of healthy, nutritious foods for swimmers to snack on over the day. This includes providing swimmers with adequate fluids, other than soft drinks before during and after competition.

Typically the foods that are available at Swim Meets are high in salt, high in sugar, low in fibre, high in fat and low in complex carbohydrate are easy to sell, easy to keep warm, easy to store, taste great and make good profits for the club.

One idea for clubs might be to allocate a room (or tent) with a cafeteria / buffet style food serving area for swimmers to access. Athletes pay a small amount (three to five dollars) to enter the buffet area and fill a plate with as much healthy food as they can carry. This is an easy way to provide quick service to swimmers and provide a variety of food choices (and serving sizes). It is also cost effective as the bulk of the food choices can be salads, vegetables and breads.

Some Swim Eats buffet ideas include

Bread and bread rolls, pita breads, Lebanese bread, Turkish bread, and French sticks. Try a mixture of white, wholemeal, multi grain and light rye to encourage choice. Leave the breads unbuttered to try and encourage a low fat approach to swim Meet eating.

Things to put on and in the breads include:

• Lean meat/ham/chicken.
• Reduced fat cheese in slices or grated.
• Tinned fish like Tuna or Salmon. The fish should be in brine or water – not oil or mayonnaise.
• Egg (hard-boiled and sliced).
• Lots and Lots of Salad choices – tomato, lettuce (all varieties available), grated carrot, sprouts, beetroot, coleslaw, cucumber, avocado, pineapple, nuts, dried fruits. Be inventive!!!! Try to limit shop prepared salads that may be dressed in mayonnaise high in fats and oils.
• For desserts:
• Muffins – e.g. oat and honey, Fruit muffins – banana, date and walnut, strawberry, blueberry. Fruit cake, banana cake and carrot cake may be a good alternative – (try to get them made with low fat techniques).
• Fresh fruit – Whatever is in season and lots of it.
• Drinks:
• Water, Fruit Juice, Cordial.

Hot Catering

Swim Clubs often run barbeques or prepare hot foods for sale at Meets. The challenge here again is to provide a wide range of choice, offer a selection of healthy nutritious high performance foods yet maximise fund raising.

Some ideas for Hot Catering at Swim Meets

Other ideas for hot catering include:

Pasta with low fat, tomato based sauces. This is a very cheap hot meal, easy to prepare and has a good profit margin ($1.00 – $2.00 per bowl or plate). Serve with salad and fresh bread.

Rice (using low fat cooking techniques) stir fried with lots of fresh vegetables.

Curries, stews, casseroles with low fat meats, fresh vegetables and cooked with little or no oil. Serve the dish a 1-4 ration with rice, pasta or noodles, eg one scoop of curry, stew, casserole – four scoops of rice. Again this dish is a very profitable one for the club bank balance ($1.00 – $2.00 per bowl or plate).

Kebabs, shasliks, meat sticks – Cooked on skewers with alternating two vegetable pieces, one meat piece, eg slice of red capsicum, slice of green capsicum, piece of chicken (skin removed), small onion, ¼ tomato, piece of chicken.

Apple, berry crumble with low fat ice cream, fruit yoghurt.

Fresh fruit for dessert.

Healthy eating is only part of the total performance package of any athlete. Just as having a great race start is not enough to win races without the skills, techniques, mental strengths and fitness level required to complete the distance, eating well by itself will not make you a great swimmer.

An attitude of high performance eating will however go a long way to making you a high performance athlete.

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