Future Olszewski Swim Team

Senior Workout on Dec. 23

Senior Swimmers put in a great workout today.  It was IM and the kids knocked out a challenging 4000+ yard main set.

I was completely spoiled by my group with Christmas love (by AG3 & Senior)...I'll probably gain about 5 pounds from chocolate, cookies, fudge, pumkin loaf, egg rolls etc.

It was great as seeing my college swimmers.  Some of you guys are beat up from winter training camps and heavy training....Keep going!  You can make it and you will persevere and get a great pay off.  Believe for fast swimming the next time you race.  Don't be afraid to be fast "in season"...expect it!!!

Thanks for the gifts and spoiling everyone!  Enjoy your time off...try and do a little exercise and we'll see you on Monday!!!

Swimming with no fear...

This last weekend I had the great opportunity to watch some very fast swimming at the local 14 & Under LSC Championship.  One of my girls, Cathryn was having a good meet, but by the third day she was getting tired.  Her time in the 200 Back was 2:20 coming into the meet and in prelims she went 2:19, which was good enough for the consolation final heat.  We talked after the race about being much faster in the evening and how it would happen.  Her attitude at that point was great and I expected her to easily drop 1-3 seconds in finals.  By the time finals arrived though everything had changed.  Cathryn was completely exhausted and dreading the swim.  I told her before the swim to just go out as fast as possible and then deal with the back half.  This might not seem like great advice for a 200 Back, but I just thought that if she was going into the race conservative, then she would have time to think and talk herself out of a fully committed swim.  At the end of a long meet I think athletes are more susceptible to mental issues that limit performance.  I also told her that if she broke 2:10 she could throw a pie in my face...

I'm not sure if it was the pie factor or the fact that she just followed the plan, but she went out in 1:03 and ended up going 2:12.  I was blown away by the result...it was amazing.  After reflecting, I was amazed that a tired 14 year old put fear of pain aside and threw herself into the swim in the crazy way I recommended.  Sometimes I think we need to challenge ourselves to swim our races with more commitment.  Someone once pointed it out to me that professional water skiers don't cut across the wake with their shoulder skimming the water by trying to avoid falling.

Later in the meet I decided to push my luck with the pie motivator...I lost.  Stay tuned for a video documentary of the results!

SSC Girls Display Holiday Spirit

On my way to practice last Thursday I had the good fortune to catch several of my swimmers delivering a bag of groceries and supplies to a local homeless woman.  As a coach it's my job to inspire my swimmers, but in this case it was my kids inspiring me.  I'm really proud of them and the parents for making the purchase.  As swimmers and coaches it's easy to be self-consumed...our sport requires a certain level of this kind of focus.  Watching this act of kindness was a good reminder for me to stop and take a look around and consider whose life I can touch.  

Thank you Hannah, Ella and Shelby!

Coaching Contacts...What to Fight For - Part 1

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've heard coaches say things like, "I don't coach for the money, I just love the kids".  OK great, do these people really think that loving the kids is a reason to not get paid as a professional?  Do these coaches think that they love the kids more than a coach who is paid well in their profession?  I say loving kids and getting paid well for your expertise is the best of both worlds.  In fact, I think that the better coaches are paid in their profession the better it serves to improve the sport and ultimately this helps the kids the most.

Here are some of my thoughts.  A lot of times the people who say they don't coach for the money are not Head Coaches and they have no idea what it's like to actually build a top notch swimming program.  Running a successful program is a FULL TIME job.  You've got to be extremely well rounded and have skills that extend way beyond just showing up on the pool deck and working with kids for a few hours (in my case a few hours is 5 per day M-F + Saturday workouts and meets, which are most weekends).  In my day I've got staffing, scheduling, facility relations and contracts, budgeting, reports, coordination of swim meets, communications, program planning, marketing, workout planning for several groups, professional development and a host of little things (like writing a letter of recommendation on short notice!) that I'll lump into "admin".  If there are "problems" along the way (and there always are) you've got to layer this into your work day and it can take a lot of time.

If stability is important (and I think it is) then a club wants the coach to be able to grow roots in the community.  This means being able to raise a family and support all the things that go along with kids and houses and life.  A coach that is balanced in this way will have more energy and focus to grow their swimming program.  As the coach grows their program and is devoting more and more time and energy to the team, it's only fair that the coaches finances grow as well.  This is a tangible way the coach knows their team values their work.

More thoughts to come in Part 2...