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A note from the
coaches:
Parents, please remember that we all have
the same reasons for being here. We all want to see your
child succeed in this sport. Although we are trying to build
a strong underlying team concept to motivate our Killer Whales, we
must realize that this is the most individual sport in the
world. While we race others it is preached to “swim
your own race” and compare yourself only to your best
times. To become a great swimmer one must spend and
unbelievable amount of time in the water, and must have great
courage and perseverance. The athletes cannot praise, blame
or criticize anyone but themselves for their own successes or
failures. While this is wonderful in the respect that we are
teaching our athletes to take control of their own work ethic and
sense of responsibility, this can innately cause a tremendous sense
of pressure.
Coaches often have high expectations. We can sometimes bark;
we let it show when we are displeased, and we sometimes make
mistakes. When our swimmers learn how the coach/athlete
relationship works, and how much we truly care about them and their
efforts to improve, they will soon learn to have high expectations
of their own. We can play with them like a friend, we can
discipline and show concern for them like a parent, we can laugh
and cry together in the pool and out, but for this relationship to
work there must be a deep understanding that we cannot be a friend
or parent. What we have is a partnership. An athlete
can only go as far as they dream and work, and only as far as their
coach is willing to take them. I cannot do my part without
the athlete and their families doing theirs, and my athletes can
not do their job without me fulfilling my obligations passionately
and to the best of my ability. As coaches we have no goals of
our own… all this work gives nothing to us but the
satisfaction of passing on our years of experience in the sport we
fell in love with, and the excitement of seeing someone we care
about do well. Please help your swimmers to believe in us as
coaches, and in our means and methods as part of the
‘process’ every swimmer must go through to reach their
fullest potential.
Parents, please be careful to take a step
back and let this be “their thing”. Let your
children know that you support them wholeheartedly. Learn
their times, learn how to recognize when to congratulate
them. Please understand that learning to take a loss is as
important as learning to win gracefully, and that learning from our
mistakes is as important as seeing hard work pay off. This is
how we help our swimmers to become true athletes in life, and that
is what our wonderful sport is all about.
Welcome to the Killer
Whales.
The Ten Commandments for Swimming
Parents:
This is the time to teach your child good
sportsmanship, patience, the necessity to obey rules, the
responsibility to a group, and the value of hard work. If you
value winning a race for your child more than any of the above
qualities, you are selling your child and age group swimming
short. There are things to be learned about losing as well as
winning. To young children, especially, it will take your
guidance to teach them to handle both situations. One aid is
to keep a chart or record of his times so that he can compete
against himself and note his progress and set his own goals.
The rewards of hard work, friendship, and travel are all available
to your child. Take advantage of them to build your
child’s self-confidence and speed his
maturation.
1. Thou shalt not impose your
ambitions on thy child. Remember that swimming is your
child’s activity. He will progress at his own
speed, Nothing is worse than a parent coercing a child to do
something he does not want to do. The nice thing about
swimming is each person can strive to do his or her personal
best. It doesn’t matter whether they come in first or
last, they can all improve themselves.
2. Thou shalt be supportive no matter
what. There is only one question to ask your
child “did you have fun?” If meets and
practices aren’t fun, your child should not be forced to
participate.
3. Thou shalt not coach your child.
You have taken your child to a professional coach, do not undermine
that coach by trying to coach your child on the side. Your
job is to support, love and hug your child no matter what.
The coach is responsible for the technical part of the job.
You should not offer advice on technique or race strategy.
This is not your area. This will only serve to confuse your
child and prevent that swimmer/coach bond from forming.
4. Thou shalt only have positive things to say at a
swim meet. If you are going to show up at a swimming
meet, you should cheer and applaud, but never criticize your child
or the coach.
5. Thou shalt acknowledge your child’s
fears. It is totally appropriate for a child to be
scared to death at his first swimming meet, of her first 500 free
or 200 IM. Don’t yell or belittle, just assure your
child that the coach would not have put her in that event if she
did not feel she were ready.
6. Thou shalt not criticize the
officials. If you do not have the time or desire to
volunteer as an official don’t criticize those who are doing
the best they can.
7. Honor they child’s coach. The
bond between coach and swimmer is a special one, and one that
contributes to your child’s success as well as fun. Do
not criticize the coach in the presence of your child, it will only
serve to hurt your child’s swimming.
8. Thou shalt not jump from team to
team. The water is always bluer at the other
team’s pool. This is not necessarily true. Every
team has it’s own internal problems. Even teams that
build champions. Children who switch from team to team are
often ostracized by the teammates they leave behind for a long,
long time. Often times swimmers who do switch teams never do
better than they did before they sought the bluer water.
9. Thou shalt have goals besides
winning. Encourage your child to do her best.
Giving an honest effort no matter what the outcome is much more
important than winning. One Olympian said, “my goal was
to set a world record. Well, I did that, but someone else did
it too, just a little faster than I did. I achieved my goal
and I lost. This does not make me a failure, in fact, I was
very proud of that swim.”
10. Thou shalt not expect thy child to become an
Olympian. There are 225,000 athletes in United
States Swimming. There are only 52 spots available on the
Olympic Team every four years. Your child’s odds of
becoming an Olympian are about 1 in 4300. Swimming is about so
much more than the Olympics. Ask your coach why he coaches,
chances are that he was not an Olympian, but still got enough out
of swimming that he wants to pass that love for the sport on to
others. Swimming teaches self-discipline and sportsmanship;
it builds self esteem and fitness; it provides lifelong friendships
and much more. Most Olympians will tell you that these
intangibles far outweigh any medal they may have won.
Swimming just builds good people and you should be happy your child
wants to participate.
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