Having been involved in quite a few different sports, I can state that athletes generally dislike stretching after practice. Others may disagree and say that athletes don't dislike stretching, they HATE stretching, but you get my point. (I should point out that many athletes appear to love stretching before practice, but I think that's just… Continue reading Athletes and Their Dislike of Stretching
Tag: MTAC
6 Rules For Becoming a Better Swim Parent
The start of a season is a good time to review some of the basics. And the first one is the role of a swim parent. Before I start, I should point out that most swim parents are actually pretty good when it comes to interacting with their kid’s competitors, officials and coaches, at least… Continue reading 6 Rules For Becoming a Better Swim Parent
A Glimpse Into the Future: Comparisons of Junior and Senior World Championships
A few weeks ago I wrote about US dominance and international parity in swimming, and how it has changed over the years (here). For the last decade or so we've pretty much had status quo, with 30-35 countries typically making finals, and the US only slipping slightly in terms of percentage of swimmers making finals.… Continue reading A Glimpse Into the Future: Comparisons of Junior and Senior World Championships
Deconstructing Lochte’s Underwater, and FINA’s Rush To Disallow It
Although it’s not officially called the Lochte Rule, it might as well be. Ryan Lochte’s now famous dolphin kicking on his back on the freestyle leg of the 200 IM final at the World Championships is the only possible reason for FINA’s announcement that it will soon disallow it. You can see the race HERE… Continue reading Deconstructing Lochte’s Underwater, and FINA’s Rush To Disallow It
My Favourite Swim Race Videos of 2014-2015 (and Some Earlier Years)
The 2014-2015 season is basically behind us now. Below are some of my favourite racing videos from the year. Since this is my first time doing this annual review, I've also added some of my favourites from the past as well. Unfortunately, some of the races I watched during the World Championships feed are not… Continue reading My Favourite Swim Race Videos of 2014-2015 (and Some Earlier Years)
Is the Swimming World Catching Up to the US?
Those of you who watched the recent World Championships results were probably as shocked as I was with the Day 1 news that both the US and Australian Men's teams missed making finals in the 4x100 Freestyle relays. Both did as they always do – swam 4 slower swimmers in the heats to rest up… Continue reading Is the Swimming World Catching Up to the US?
Chasing the Dream: The Pros and Cons of Professional Swimming
Professional team sports are known for their incredibly high-paid stars. Just look at the money thrown at the top names in the big team sports, such as soccer, baseball, football, basketball, hockey and cycling. And not just for the top tier leagues. Many good players in lower leagues can make decent money. There are only… Continue reading Chasing the Dream: The Pros and Cons of Professional Swimming
The View From Mount Stupid
As coaches we are often expected to act as mentors, technical experts, motivators, physical diagnosticians, nutritionists, strength trainers, statistical analysts, etc. There are an incredible number of roles we play, and there is no conceivable way we can be experts in all of them. And yet, we have to take on these roles to do… Continue reading The View From Mount Stupid
Deconstructing Fly-Dive Butterfly
The FISU Men's 200m Butterfly video from a few weeks ago quickly make the rounds for a quite surprising reason. The 2nd place finisher from Japan, Yuya Yajima, basically swam a legal version of the Fly Dive drill. If you haven't seen it, it's best if you view it (here) before reading ahead. Yajima is… Continue reading Deconstructing Fly-Dive Butterfly
Team Culture: How Do You Handle Mistakes?
In the last few weeks I've read two excellent pieces about how organizations handle mistakes, and they came from two complete different worlds. The first is a fascinating book, Creativity, Inc., by Ed Catmull, President of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation. He talks a lot about company culture, and how it's critically important to the… Continue reading Team Culture: How Do You Handle Mistakes?
Coach Rick - Mighty Tritons Swimming 