Some Honest New Year’s Resolutions for Swimmers and Coaches

The problem with most (all?) New Year’s Resolutions is that they tend to be forced, vague and impractical. As an example, Get Fit is a common one, and so in early January we see gyms and pools filled with eager and resolute individuals. And as little as 2 weeks later we’re back to the same old crowd.

So in the spirit of practicality, I’m providing some honest New Year’s resolutions for Coaches and Swimmers. And who knows, we may even become better at what we do if we achieve these!

Coach’s Resolutions

• I will occasionally accept a snow storm as a valid reason for being late,… assuming there has been a snow storm
• I will try not to say a poor breaststroke looks like the twitching of a dying frog. Even if it does.
• I will only choose the races for upcoming meets when I’m in a good mood. Or in an OK mood. Or not in a really, really bad mood.
• I will try to not yell the same advice to a swimmer over and over.  And over.
• I will try not to laugh when I enter swimmers in a hard event for the first time.
• I will try to make it less obvious that coffee is the only way I can stay awake during morning practice
• I will be nice to my fellow coaches, and not enter very slow breaststrokers in the 200 breaststroke

Swimmer’s Resolutions

• I will spend less than 1 minute pretending to play with my goggles before getting into the water at practice.
• I will learn how to read a clock, so that I don’t have to make up times when the coach asks
• I will learn how to take my pulse accurately, so that I no longer report heart rates over 300 bpm
• I will do the dryland exercises, and not just pretend to do them only when the coach is looking my way
• I will do drills thoughtfully, and not visibly enjoy the fact that I’m not physically working hard
• I will learn how to count lengths, so that a few more of my repeats are the proper distance
• I will bring water or nutrition / hydration drinks to practice, and will actually drink them
• I will remember that the water is transparent, and the coach can see me when I go underwater to hide

Happy New Year Everyone!