A few years ago I wrote about the incredible difference in impact on an athlete between having an expectation, and setting a goal (see here). Setting and working toward an achievable goal can be a powerful tool for an athlete, and often involves milestones along the way. On the flip side, an individual's expectations for… Continue reading Olympic Expectations versus Goals: How Australia, Britain and Japan Play This Game
Tag: MTAC
Swimming Canada’s Strange New Road Map
Swimming Canada has recently completed a review of national and international competitions, and has come up with recommendations to improve national level swimming. You can find the document here. Some of these recommendations are, in my opinion, potentially detrimental to Canadian Swimming. Gap Analysis The basic premise is that the review identified gaps in… Continue reading Swimming Canada’s Strange New Road Map
Swimming By The Numbers: Age Analysis of Olympic Trials for 6 Countries
It's been a little while since I've done a Swimming By the Numbers blog post, and the recent Canadian Olympic Trials sparked an idea. We had incredibly strong performances from the women, and NOT incredibly strong performances from the men. A lot of theories were thrown around, one being that we are abandoning our older… Continue reading Swimming By The Numbers: Age Analysis of Olympic Trials for 6 Countries
My Week in the Canadian Olympic Trials Media Room
Now I know that this post won't excite a lot of people, and to tell the truth, before I spent a week in the Media Room it wouldn't have excited me. It's not that I thought that what they do in there is boring or easy or whatever. It's that I've NEVER had a single… Continue reading My Week in the Canadian Olympic Trials Media Room
Notes From a Championship Meet
Now, I should warn you that this is a local championship meet (Central Region - Ontario) with qualifying times. Basically a regional meet for Toronto and surrounding area. It's the most crowded portion of Ontario (and probably Canada), and has a very high swimmer density. This meet also had dequalification times if they made provincial… Continue reading Notes From a Championship Meet
Diary of a Coach on a Christmas Break
We don't do Christmas training camps, or hell weeks (see here and here), so we trained this year until Dec. 23 (morning and afternoon). Then 12 glorious days off! Below is my unofficial diary of how, as a coach, I handle the time off. Dec. 23: Evening This was a long day. Morning practice (everybody… Continue reading Diary of a Coach on a Christmas Break
When a Good Swimmer Leaves Your Team
If you've been around swimming for any length of time, then you've witnessed the impact of good swimmers leaving a team. It could be because the family moved, or the swimmer went to college, or even that the swimmer quit the sport (worthy of its own post - see Gary Vandermeulen's recent post here). But… Continue reading When a Good Swimmer Leaves Your Team
Quality versus Quantity
I know this is an age-old question, but it became fresh in my mind this week when one of my swimmers asked me why we weren't doing the high mileage that so many other clubs are doing. As I explained to him, our philosophy is to prioritize technique and race pace over lengthy but slower… Continue reading Quality versus Quantity
Reflections on the Value of an Early First Meet
Last week we had our first meet of the year. It may not seem that early for most teams, but it is for us. Most of our swimmers had their last meet of the year in late June, and we could only get back into the pool in mid-September. This meant we had just 5… Continue reading Reflections on the Value of an Early First Meet
Strength & Conditioning for Swimmers
Not too long ago I wrote about Mount Stupid (you can read it here), and how I and so many other coaches apparently. Well this year I climbed partway down from Mount Stupid and decided to ask a real strength and conditioning expert to handle what I’d been so confidently messing up for years. Wow,… Continue reading Strength & Conditioning for Swimmers
Coach Rick - Mighty Tritons Swimming 