Managing Expectations

As the group I coach is getting older I have started having to work on managing expectations.  This is a very interesting and touchy subject with my swimmers and families.  As swimmers grow and mature the expectation of a best time every time in a race is impossible to achieve, but what they always seem to expect.  However, I look at each meet as a stepping stone towards their goals not  as a race for best times. 

 Right now we are in the heart of our training cycle for our Short Course season building towards our Spring Championship meets.  So as part of this training cycle I have sat down with most of my swimmers to discuss goals, their calendar (practice and meet schedule), and my plans leading into our championship meet.  During our discussions we talk about the opportunities to race at any upcoming meets over the next few months and what our strategies will look like during practice and those meets.  One of the most important topics that I discuss with them is my expectations for each meet.  I am not always expecting best times at every meet, but what I do expect to see are the skills we have been working on in training implemented into their racing.  A perfect example was over the past few weeks we have been working on our turns and under waters.  We had a meet this past weekend and that is what I expected to see my swimmers focus on during their race.  However, what I found was, despite what I have told them, some of the swimmers felt that if I am not expecting best times they did not have to put forth their best effort.  And this is completely wrong.  I am looking for each swimmer to give 100% effort during a race while also focusing on those skills we have been training to improve. 

Why do I not expect best times? Simple.  At this point in the season as we are not tapering for these meets.  These meets are meant to hone certain skills so when the big competition meets come up in the spring my swimmers are in the best shape and form they can be in. The goal is for everything to become second nature so come spring championship meets we are no longer worrying about turns and under waters, but concentrating on best times.

I know swimmers are not going to be perfect at every meet or every race but we are striving for that perfection in the long run.  

For more information on tapering check out: What to expect during taper  

Disclaimer:  These are my opinions and are not to be a reflection on anyone other than myself.