FAIL BEAUTIFULLY!!!!

What does it mean to “Fail Beautifully”?  Isn’t failing bad?  How can something you think is bad be beautiful?  If I were to fail in school, I could get in trouble.  How can I fail and not get in trouble? These are all questions I get on a regular basis.

First, it is important to know that the failing I am referring to is not failing because you give up. It is not failing because you did not study for a test.  It is not failing because you did not try. Instead, I am talking about failing in spite of your best effort.  Have you ever worked so hard in a class that you struggled with only to barely earn a B or C?  You did all the homework.  You got tutoring.  You had the opportunity to drop the class, but instead you spent hours upon hours trying to grasp the concepts.  And eventually you did, but despite all the effort you still only got a B or C in the class.  Yet, that B or C was possibly the most fulfilling grade you ever received.  Why?  Because despite all the challenges and difficulties you faced you never gave up.  In fact, you likely proved to yourself what hard work looks like and you now understand what a sense of accomplishment truly mean.  And it felt good.

To “Fail Beautifully” you must take a risk. You must put yourself out there.  You must push yourself to the point of physical failure.  You make yourself vulnerable by going outside of your comfort zone.  This might mean being a little more aggressive earlier in the race than you normally would, doing a couple of extra dolphin kicks off the wall, or putting your head down into the finish before you normally would.  These are all skills we work and talk about in practice.  These are the skills we want to implement in our races. But many times swimmers are too afraid of being uncomfortable and pushing their limits that they ignore everything we do in practice.  These are the swimmers that swim the same races every meet and wonder why nothing ever changes.  However, to “Fail Beautifully” we must step outside of our comfort zone.  We must push ourselves to our limits.

My swimmers and I talk about making ourselves uncomfortable every day.  Because if you never push your self to the point where you fail (physically), you will never know your limits.  If you never know your limits, you will never grow and learn how to push those limits even further.  That is what makes failure beautiful.  The beauty is knowing you have given 100% and understand your limits and you are continuing to expand your limits.    

The idea of failing has become so stigmatized.  However, I try every day to help my swimmers understand that failing is not a bad thing.  When we fail, we learn.  When we push our body’s to their limits, we grow.  When we do this repeatedly, we become better athletes.

Who remembers Michael Jordan?  I know many of you will laugh because I asked this question, but most of my swimmers are familiar with LeBron James or Kevin Durant and there are some who had never heard for Michael Jordan. However, to me Michael Jordan is the epitome of someone who “fails beautifully.” Jordan was once quoted saying the following, “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.  I’ve lost almost 300 games.  26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.  I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life.  And that is why I succeed.”

Does anyone look at Michael Jordan as a failure?  Instead, almost 20 years later we are still referencing Jordan as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.  

The truth is, you will fail far more than you will succeed.  You will stumble along the way.  You will make mistakes.  You will choose to follow comfort instead of testing your limits.  You will win races you should have lost.  You will lose races you should have won.  Instead of looking at these situations as setbacks and true failures, find what you can learn from it.  In failure you can learn more than in success.  You can learn to be better.  You will learn humility.  You will learn resiliency.  You will learn that you are far stronger than you every imagined.  You will understand the true meaning to “fail beautifully.”

If you never take risks and constantly avoid failure you will never know your true potential.  Michael Jordan said it best, “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.”

So I will end with this…I challenge each of you every day whether at practice, a swim meet, dryland session, school, work, whatever it may be to make yourself uncomfortable and take risks.  Do not run away from challenges, rather embrace them.  Allow yourself to fail and when you do fail, both figuratively and literally, do so with dignity and respect. Because than you will have “failed beautifully.”

What is Developing the WHOLE PERSON?

It has been over 5 years since I have added anything here.  I have been feeling inspired the last couple of weeks so I decided to try diving back into writing.  Please share with anyone you feel could get something out of this.

Coaches talk about developing not only the athlete, but the WHOLE PERSON.  Have you ever sat back and thought about what that meant?  I am going to try and explain what it means to me in 10 simple parts.

1. Time management/Punctuality – It is not just about being able to manage your time with all of your different responsibilities, it is also about being on time.  “Early is on time, and on time is late, and late is unacceptable!” -Unknown
2. Goal Oriented – Understanding how to set not just BIG long term goals, but also set short term SMALLER goals that help you continue to work towards that long term goal.  A good example is I (Coach Anthony) am trying to walk 1500 miles in the calendar year.  Each month I set a goal of what mileage I want to be at by the end of the month in order to ensure I will succeed if not supersede my goal.  
3. Responsibility – Being accountable to yourself and others.  When you say you are going to do something, follow through.
4. Teamwork – Swimming may seem like an individual sport, but it actually requires a lot of team work. This means developing friendships, mutual inspiration and admiration, and respect amongst team mates.  Great examples of teamwork would be cheering on everyone swimming in your lane as they finish a long set, providing words of encouragement throughout a long set, or challenging each other during a tough set.
5. Confidence – Having belief in yourself AND the group.  Believing in your coaches, leaders and team. 
6. Courage – The ability to “Fail Beautifully”.  During points of failure is where you can learn the most about yourself.  If you are not willing to take the risks, you will never know your true potential. Despite what you may think, no one succeeds at everything they do the first time.
7. Communication – Being able to communicate with your teammates, coaches, parents, teachers and anyone else in your life.  You need to be able to communicate your goals, schedule, and conflicts.
8. Honesty – Being 100% honest with yourself. 
9. Diligence – Being able to continue working towards long term and short term goals even when obstacles or setbacks happen.  Working towards a goal is never a straight line.  Life will get in the way.  It is how you work your way through the hard times that you will begin to thrive and grow not only as an athlete but as an individual.
10. Leadership – Not everyone is a vocal leader. I was not a vocal leader growing up.  I would lead by example, meaning I would know the whole set, know the intervals and when we were leaving and I was going to push everyone by pushing the pace every day.  Vocal leaders need to be a positive force that rallies their teammates towards their own goals.  Leaders are about the “WE” not the “ME.” As cliché as it sounds “There is no I in TEAM.”  Leaders look for the glory of the team, not just themselves.

If as coaches we are able to help hone each one of these skills and traits we will be doing a tremendous job.

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

Dealing with Injuries!

Managing swimmers with injuries is sometimes the most difficult part of coaching. As a coach you get frustrated, are bummed because of setbacks, yet determined to make sure your swimmer heals as needed. As a swimmer (or any athlete in most cases) you are just frustrated because the healing process is never quick enough.  You feel you are going to miss out, be left behind and never recover.

I have a swimmer who recently got injured in an Advanced PE Class at her high school. How did the injury occur? Well that is the tough part. I do not know exactly how or what my swimmer was doing when the injury occurred and the truth is they are not 100% sure what they were doing either. This doesn’t surprise me because athletes are stubborn by nature.  I sure know I was when I was still swimming.  We think we are invincible and can push ourselves through anything with no repercussions. 

My swimmer did not say anything to me to start.  I noticed a few times during a tough aerobic set that this swimmer kept grabbing her shoulder.  I asked the swimmer if everything was okay and she said that her shoulder was a little sore.  As she kept swimming I started to notice the pain on her face.  So, I pulled her out of the water and started to ask more thorough questions. 

As an athlete it is very important that you are honest with yourself, your family and your coach.  The injury I mentioned above turns out it is not as serious as it could have been had, but mainly because we caught it so early.  As a coach, you need to be aware of each and every one of your athletes to the best of your ability. You need to pay attention to signs that indicate something is wrong…physically or emotionally.

As a result of my discussion with her we decided to take a couple of days of rest to see if it was just something minor. However, and the pain remained.  The swimmer was able to go to the doctor and after x-rays and an MRI they found one of her tendons was beginning to fray in the rotator cuff.  Yikes! This sounds bad, but it is not nearly as bad as it could have been. 

Based on my swimmers PT requirements and MRI results we have completely shut her down from using her arms. We decided since being out of the water is not an option for her that our focus would turn to her legs while she completed about 6 weeks of physical therapy. This allowed her to continue her cardio work and let the shoulder recover.  She is also supposed to ice and take an anti-inflammatory medication (talk about a challenge) daily to help promote the healing. 

In the long run, this has turned into a learning experience for me as a coach.  I can do everything to pay attention to all my swimmers and stay aware of everything going on in the pool, but unless they physically and obviously show signs of injury I do not know unless they tell me.  As an athlete it is important that they are aware of what their body is telling them and that they be their own advocate if something is not right.  I have mentioned the importance of communication between athlete and coach. But the truth is, a good athlete wants to push themselves no matter what.

 I read an article today about an NFL player (Russell Allen) that hid his injury that drives the point of communication home. (Here is the link to the article about Russell Allen)  There was a football player that took a hit that looked like nothing, but described it as getting his bell rung.  He hid it from the coaches and it turns out shortly after the hit he had a stroke.  He also was lucky, but his injury was much more severe.  He can no longer play football but he is alive.  Now in my case, my swimmer’s injury was nothing life threatening but it serves to make my point. 

As a coach, in a highly competitive sport, it is sometimes hard to try and not push your athlete through an injury. And many injuries athletes can push through with any side effects or repercussions. But when an injury potentially sidelines one of my swimmers I find myself  telling my swimmers, and myself, this is a marathon not a sprint.  There are going to be bumps in the road, mountains to climb, plateaus to cross, but in the end the most important things are to be happy, healthy and have no regrets!

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

Technical Suits

Technical suits have become common place at every swim meet level in recent years.  I have seen them at local recreation meets/summer league meets all the way to the highest level of competition.  I was at a meet recently and saw $4000 worth of suits in a 10 & under heat.  Yes you read that correctly…. that is $4000 worth of suits.  That value in suits in that one heat was more than the cost of my first car and possibly more than the cost of those swimmers parent’s first cars.

So now you may be asking why I am putting so much emphasis on the topic of “tech suits.”  After the 2008 Olympics when numerous world records were broken tech suits were given all the credit and became the “must have” item almost overnight. Yes, the suits those Olympians wore gave the swimmers a lot of advantages from buoyancy to reduced drag, but they have all since been banned.  This does not mean the suits that are out there today do not give you an advantage, but they are much different than what those in 2008 were wearing.  Today’s tech suits offer compression, reduced drag, water repellency, etc.

The truth is, despite the changes in tech suites, I still have “fights” with my swimmers and parents at almost every meet about which suit they should wear.  Here is the truth about tech suits and where I pull my rationale from…First, these suits are expensive. Second, you only have a couple of swims in your suit before it has become too stretched out, loses their water repellency and compression. Third, the advantage the suit gives an average age group swimmer is minimal.  At your non-championship level meets there is no reason to wear one of these suits.  A tight textile/practice suit is perfect.  You are not rested and probably had tough practices leading up to your meet.  So why waste the few swims you have in a tech suit in your less competitive non-championship meets?

The reality is for many swimmers wearing a tech suit is just a mental game. They get in their head that they need the suit to swim fast and without it they have no chance.  It is all part of this new mentality they get by simply putting on the suit.  I am a big believer that the swimmer needs to learn to swim fast and not rely on the suit. If they are successful without the suit they will be successful with it and their swimming becomes less about what they are wearing and more about the technique they have been working on.   

From my standpoint, a tech suit should be saved for meets when you are tapering, which for my swimmers would be three meets a year.  We have a taper meet normally at the beginning of December, and then we have Championship meets in March and July/August.  These are the only meets these suits make sense.  You want it to be a “special occasion” to wear the suit.  If you wear it to every meet there is nothing special about putting it on and any mental advantage you would feel is lost as a result of the redundancy of wearing it too often. 

Picking your suit

There are several different brands and styles of the tech suit.  However, before you choose your suit you should go to FINA and make sure the suit you are looking at is approved.  The suits now have a logo that says FINA Approved and looks similar to this:

 

Having this logo is really important as there are still a lot of banned suits out there and you do not want to be the swimmer wearing a banned suit. 

Once you find approved tech suits and are narrowing down your options make sure you try them on. The biggest mistake a swimmer makes is not having a suit that fits properly. Every suit is cut differently and you need to find what works best for you and your body. You also need to make a decision if you are going to wear a Kneeskin or traditional style suit.  And boys need to consider if they want a high waist suit or not.  Lastly, when considering a suit always remember “the most expensive does not always mean it is the best suit for you.” Just because one suit costs more than the next does not mean it will help you swim faster. It simply means it is more expensive. Price should weight very little in your decision of what to buy.

As championship meets are approaching if going the route of wearing a tech suit is your plan you need to start thinking about what you want NOW. Why? Because suit retailers cannot keep tech suits (especially the most popular ones) in stock around big meets. 

And my last and most important suggestion as you start to consider what tech suit to purchase is to talk to your swimmer’s coach. You are making a pricey investment and your coach will likely have some invaluable insight of what he/she thinks will best “suit” your swimmer.

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

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.

Who am I swimming for?

Over the years I have seen swimmers come into the sport, swim really fast at a young age, and they leave before they even graduate high school.  I have always found this an interesting phenomenon, though I am sure it is not limited to just swimming.  However, I believe this happens for a couple of reasons. 

The first reason is that these swimmers commonly develop strength at young age and they are much bigger and stronger than their peers.  They may not have the greatest technique, but they swim fast times and can do so on strength alone.  These swimmers eventually are caught by their peers because not only have they gained strength but do so while gaining better technique in order to be more competitive.   As a coach, I see this every year. I try to work with swimmers like this, but they are normally only successful if I can get them to buy in to the importance in developing their technique to go along with what is sometimes natural strength.  Yes, their peers do catch up to them, but they normally have started to work on their technique in order stay competitive.

The second reason is because they begin to see swimming as a job. Many times I associate this with the swimmer whose parents push them to the point where swimming is no longer fun.  This is the swimmer who swims because “Well my Mom wants me to.”  This same swimmer after a race comes up to me and says, “My Dad is not happy because I lost to (insert name).”, or “My Parent’s are upset because I added time.”  I have heard this more times than I can even count and it still makes my blood boil.  This swimmer is not swimming for them; they are swimming for someone else.  This is in my opinion one of the most difficult athletes to work with.  The only way they are motivated is by the repercussions of how their parent might reacts.  Over the years I have spent a lot of time trying to educate parents on expectations and explain in detail why we are doing what we are doing in practice and meets.  This is still a challenge as these parents believe they have their swimmers best interest at heart. I understand this, but parents have to learn and trust in the plan of their child’s professional coach.  Because despite what some parents think, the coach normally has their swimmers best interest in mind.  If the swimmer is only swimming to please their parent and not themselves they will only get so far.

The truth is swimming is very much an individualized sport.  You have to have the desire and drive to achieve the highest levels. Swimming needs to be something that you want to do. Yes, you swim with a team, but ultimately your success is not determined on how well your team does in a given meet like most sports. The swimmer spends hours upon hours immersed in water staring at the black line on the bottom of the pool.  You rarely hear anything else that is going on around you other than the thoughts in your own head.  I remember some days wondering how many tiles were on the bottom of the pool and trying to count them.  (I never found out the answer to that question, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t try to figure it out.) 

The question ever serious swimmer needs to ask themselves is… are you swimming for yourself or someone else? 

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

A Swimmer's Diet

A swimmers diet is equally as important as their training.  Your diet plays a much larger role than most think in overall performance.  If you are not fueling your body properly throughout the day you can affect yourself more than you can imagine.  An improper diet can lead to tiredness, slow recovery and compromised immune system.  And improper eating during a swim meet is normally the #1 reason for poor swims and results. I just wish swimmers would believe me when I say they need to be constantly eating throughout the day. 

What do you think is the most IMPORTANT part of your diet?  Making sure you drink plenty of water.  NOTHING, I mean NOTHING replaces water.  And do you know how many times a swimmer says “but I am surrounded by water, why do I need to drink water?” Truthfully I just laugh to myself because that just shows how little younger swimmers get it. The truth is being surrounded by and swimming in water does not mean you get hydrated through osmosis. Swimmers need to drink more water than most people.  This is not just during training but throughout the day.  If you get dehydrated it will make you feel like you have to work harder and at the same time it will decrease your overall performance.  There are plenty sports drinks out their (ie. Gatorade and Powerade), but none of them replace water.  I tell my swimmers if they bring a sport drink to practice they should also bring and drink twice as much water.  I am not saying there are not advantages to sports drinks as they help replenish your electrolytes and also give you so much needed calories during training.  But sports drinks should never replace water.

As for the food you should consume…There are a couple of rules of thumb everyone should follow.  The first is to snack often.  Every hour or two you should eat something small.  Something like granola bars, fruit or nuts.  You should snack during training as most practices are longer than an hour.  Now I know some swimmers who if they eat during practice, they get sick to their stomach.  My suggestion is to try different things.  If all else fails this is a good time for a sports drink as it will help supply the energy needed to complete the workout.  At the end of workout it is just as important to consume something with protein to aid in your recovery as to hydrate.  This should be done within 30 minutes of finishing your activity.  That means if you have a 30 minute drive home you should bring something with you to eat at the end of practice.  You also need to make sure you are getting plenty of protein throughout your day as well.  

Now as we get close to a competition your diet should become comprised more of carbohydrates.  These include things like pasta, potatoes, fruits and breads.  This will act as your fuel during competition. One of the most common things I get asked at a meet is “what should I eat?”  One of my favorite things to suggest to my athletes is to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  This gives them the protein to recover (peanut butter), the simple sugar for immediate energy (jelly) and complex carbs (bread) they need to sustain their energy.  Other great things are bananas, apples, cheese & crackers, granola bars, and trail mix. Food such as wheat thins, cheez- its and gold fish are not great sources of nutrition, but I see them all the time at meets with the assumption they are “carbs”.

But despite what you eat,  at meets hydration is still key.  I tell my swimmers I want to see them with a water bottle in their hands at all times.  I expect them to bring their water bottle with them when they are warming up, warming down and heading behind the blocks. 

Now the last thing and probably the most controversial thing I need to talk about are supplements.  Supplements are not regulated by the FDA.  What this means for you as an athlete is you can never know 100% what is in the supplement.  Of course there are two different levels of supplements.  There are your high risk (stay away from):  Muscle Builders, Weight Loss Supplements, and Mega-Doses and there are your low risk (use at your own risk): Carbohydrate drinks, Iron/calcium, and Vitamin D.  I always tell my swimmers when I am asked about supplements to talk to their physician as there are just too many variables involved and I would never want to be responsible for suggesting something that could be potentially harmful. However, the truth comes down to the fact that I am a big believer if you cannot get what you need out of the foods you are eating, you need to change what you are eating. 

Ultimately, I hope that if you get anything out of this it is that you need to eat throughout the day and drink plenty of water as those are probably the two most important things to starting a successful nutritional plan. But as a swimmer you are responsible for taking control over what you eat, how you eat and learning how to create/manage and prepare a proper swimmers diet.

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