Courtesy of Alex Cook
Hours on a hot pool deck. Multiple sessions with prelims and finals. Endless heats of the 200 Free combined with some missed events, a handful of best times, and smiles (hopefully) all around.
The routine weekend meet for many families, swimmers, and coaches quickly becomes a muscle memory activity. Warm-up, race, warm-down, repeat. As a swimmer, my own coaches guided me towards some “best practices” for meets.
As a coach, I now have the fin on the other foot. I don’t race anymore. But being that retired swimmer-turned-coach, I do have some tips shared from my own experiences.
Some of the advice I have given to swimmers and their parents may help you prioritize your weekend meet routine.
1.) Laugh a Bit
This is the old adage. Something along the lines of enjoying what you do and never working a day after. Yet, so many swimmers (myself included) play mental games during meets. We all have conversations with ourselves:
“Did I train hard enough?”
“What if…?
“I’m nervous about racing Mike P.”
“Can I do this?”
None of these questions have real answers. The only answer that addresses any of these is this: enjoy the journey and have fun racing your teammates and friends.
2.) Allow Yourself to Fail
To parents, this may seem counter intuitive. To swimmers, this opposes the reason we train.
At the meet this past weekend, I watched many swimmers, coaches, and parents brush off many missed opportunities for learning and growth. Not hitting a goal time is the best opportunity for swimmers to experience failure and then learn from it. Life is full of failures, and swimming can be a great teacher for how to experience and overcome adversity.
3.) Rent’s Due
One of my favorite phrases is:
“Success is never owned; it is only rented, and the rent is due every day.”
Comparing yourself to another swimmer will rarely produce any fruitful results. Whether comparing yourself to your teammates or your competition, it can be challenging to have a healthy view of another swimmer’s stage of development and speed. Beyond the hype, all success is rooted in working hard consistently. Ask any swimmer who has experienced success and they will respond that the only road to success is working hard on a daily basis.
If you were proud of your races, continue paying rent! Future success will compound on past commitment. If you missed your goals, try implementing any (or all three) of these tips into your next meet. Good Luck!
About Alex Cook
Alex Cook is former breastroker from the University of Pittsburgh. Now a coach with Karishim Swim Club in Boston, MA, he shares his love of swimming with age group swimmers. Outside of coaching and being a software developer, Alex and his fiancé enjoy playing with their dog, Bellatrix.
Indeed..”Stick to the Plan”..
Why would anyone be nervous about racing Mike P(ichette). Totally over rated.
Love the rent is due
Do you mean “love that the rent is due”???