8 Insights Every New Coach Needs to Know

Courtesy of and written by Chad Castillo – A.K.A “Coach C.” Read more of Chad’s Work at SwimCoach.org.

I knew I was going to get yelled at. Only question was by whom. I had told two athletes that they could both swim the leadoff in the 400 freestyle relay at our team’s last high school invitational before the state meet. Both needed a faster 100 free time to have a chance to make state and this was the last chance of the season. I knew the right decision for our team. But instead of making the decision quickly I stewed on it for hours. My mind was preoccupied during every race. I’m sure my athletes could sense the mood and I must have missed valuable teaching moments in the final meet before our biggest meet of the season.

I got a tongue lashing by the athlete’s parent who was not going to watch their daughter swim the leadoff in the 400 free relay. Lesson learned.

I had 200 kids ready to swim in the first meet of the summer league season and my Meet Manager file was not set up correctly AT ALL. I started to panic because an already long meet was about to be made even longer due to my lack of organization.

Luckily, monsoons hit early that year and started rolling in with lightning and rain. The meet was called and nobody knew the true depth of the mistake. Lesson learned.

To tell you the truth, if Bob Bowman had come up to me at the beginning of those seasons and said, “Chad, never promise a swim to an athlete on your team”, or “always check your gear before a meet”, I probably would have made the same mistakes. I would have said “yea, yea Bob, that stuff is common sense,” and been on my way.

Or, playing devil’s advocate, maybe I would have remembered the advice, made a better decision, saved myself some grief, and ultimately been able to give my athletes more of my attention. Who knows? . . . I may need the pain of a poor experience to etch the lesson in my mind so deep that I will never make the same mistake again. Needless to say, It would have been nice to have had some advice from a trusted coach rolling around in my noggin during those early years.

Below are some of the insightful pieces of advice I wish I would have heard as an up and coming coach. Each has a story behind it. (If you ask me nicely I may divulge). Hopefully I can save you some grief in the future and allow you to spend more time with what really matters, your athletes. Please share any of your major pieces of advice for new coaches!

8 Insights Every New Coach Needs to Know

1. Relationships:

“They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”

Teddy Roosevelt had it right. Building relationships is the most important aspect of being a coach. If your athletes believe that you don’t have their best interests in mind, you could be Michael Phelps and still not get your team to buy in. Form relationships with your athletes by: asking about their day; finding out about what your athletes care about outside of the pool; coach everyone as if they were the best swimmer

2. Plan with the end in mind

Starting with how you want your athletes to perform at their final meet and working backwards from that goal gives you a starting point to plan everything else in your season. I plan with the end in mind using 3 steps.

1st: Brainstorm specific skills that you want to see implemented at your final meet of the year

2nd: Find the major themes in your brainstormed ideas

3rd: Plan season, by plugging in meets, the monthly focus and your weekly training schedule that is based on your major themes.

I explain my 3 step process in more detail in my blog @ swimcoach.org

3. Simplicity

Stick to 3 or 4 simple themes that help guide your team and training. Sticking to these themes will help you determine what should be focused on and what should be discarded.

The 13th employee in at Facebook, Noah Kagan, said that the one thing that he learned during his time at Facebook was to focus on one core goal. In his mind this helped Facebook grow from a few colleges to the social media behemoth it is today.

For example; If one of your main goals for the season is for your athletes to have an amazing body line throughout their race, you are going to prioritize drills and training methods that focus on that goal. You will focus on the execution of appropriate bodyline during hard sets, and your athletes will know that body line is something that is important that season. If you come across a new set or drill you will automatically ask yourself the question “Does this help improve body line?” If it does you will do it, if not you will pass.

4. Help your athlete’s build their unique stroke, not assign them one

Every athlete has their unique strength in the water. Build your athlete’s strokes around their unique strength. Whether it be a great kick, tempo, catch or ability to train hard, let your athletes realize their great potential as themselves. This strategy will help your athletes find their individuality in our sport and allow them to express themselves.

5. Be consistent everyday

What time do you show up to the pool? What is your attitude when you speak with/coach your athletes? Does your attitude change from day to day? If you are consistent with how you carry yourself and interact with your athletes they will respect you. If they respect you and know what to expect from you everyday you can build a relationship, and what is the most important part of coaching?

6. Communicate. Communicate, Communicate

If the athlete, parent and coach are all on the same page then great things can happen. The coach has to take the initiative here. Provide weekly outlines, training goals, seasonal meet outlines for the athletes and parents. Encourage your athletes to self advocate and for parents to speak with their child. The more that everyone feels heard, trusted and supported the better.

7. Check your equipment, before you use it

Really tho . . . do it. Does your starter work? Do you have enough stopwatches, pencils, clipboards? Did the software you are using properly import the meet entries? The list goes on and on. Most teams are lucky enough to have a go to parent that has everything under control. If you don’t, assign one. If you can’t find a reliable parent then it’s on you.

8. Information about each stroke can be found at:

Sometimes you need some new ideas, or to verify that what you are doing is on the right track. There a a few great free resources for swim coaches. A few of them are:

USA swimming coaches page

The Race Club Video Series

I wrote about 5 great free resources in one of my latest SwimSwam posts.

Whether you heed advice or are like me and attend the school of hard knocks I hope that my 8 insights help you along your way. I feel that the goal for us coaches is to get rid of all the distractions and put as much time into our athletes as possible. I wish you smooth water on you way.

Coach C

Courtesy of Chad Castillo “AKA Coach C”