From Kimi Davidson, the SwimMAC Carolina South Dolphin 3 and Shark 2 Lead Coach.
For championship season, we decided to do something with the South Shark 2 group at SwimMAC Carolina that was learned at the National Diversity Select Camp in 2013. We did Post Race Interviews, like they do at nationals and the Olympics. We watched a couple to get an idea of how out of breath, yet prepared the swimmers are when they answer. Then we did 3 x 50 all out, then 1 x 50 easy. Swimmers would be pulled out individually on the 1st and 3rd 50s when they were tired.
Coaches acted like a live interviewer, and had them answer on camera. Some questions were “Can you describe what just happened during your race?” “For all those kids watching, what would tell them about the sport of swimming?” “What’s a good post race meal?”
Not only was this fun, but it helped the swimmers understand that social media can last forever and what they say can be turned into a meme or used to help them become America’s sweetheart.
After we discussed each person’s interview and understood what was good and what they can work on (eliminating “like,” “um,” and various other things of that nature), we put together a fun little video based on what was caught on camera. This is the result.
Loved seeing the kids speak on camera, but the video was a little overproduced.
Love this. Every year in college, we had a seminar about being careful with social media. No reason to put it off until that long. Stakes are becoming higher and higher at a younger and younger age. Clubs are great at teaching dedication, teamwork, etc. etc., why not social media awareness? Good on SwimMAC.
At an even higher level, it allows these kids to have practice in interviewing, which will be valuable even if they don’t have to give post-race interviews after winning a gold medal (but it certainly won’t hurt swimming’s image if they do get to that level and are able to speak well and with substance and further the sport).
I love it. It’s awesome that these kids get to be on swimswam.
Unless I’m missing something, there does not appear to be a video attached to the story.
CT Swim Fan – it’s a known WordPress glitch – all videos take a few minutes to process after the article is posted before they go live. Just give it a minute and refresh and you should see it.