Are All Efforts Good Efforts?
From News for Swim Parents
Published by The American Swimming Coaches Association
5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200
Fort Lauderdale FL 33309
Concern: My 12 year old is a good swimmer who regularly places in
the final 8 in several events at swim meets. The coach, however, is
sometimes unsatisfied with my child's performance. I believe
that all my son's efforts are good efforts, regardless of time or
place. The coach should not be unsatisfied.
Response: Congratulations! You're right on! Your approach is
outstanding for a parent. Why "for a parent"? Because the parental
role is different from the coaching role in swimming. You are doing a
perfect job of parenting -- unqualified support for your
child's efforts. That is exactly as it should be, and your child should
feel loved and respected for his efforts.
The coach, however, has a different role. The coach role is that of the
technical evaluator. That is a role that a parents cannot, and should
not play. As a technical evaluator, it is important that the coach
never appear to be "satisfied" with a swim. The coach will typically
make a "sandwich' of their comments. For example:
"John, that was a good swim, I really liked your turns, and the
streamlining out of them. You were kind of slow on the 2nd and 3rd
splits, then you did a good job of bringing it home."
Positive comment, correction, positive comment. Sometimes, it might be
two corrections sandwiched around a compliment. In any case, this is
the function of the coach. Your coach probably recognizes that
you are already doing a good job reinforcing the positive things
that are happening for your child, and feels free to evaluate the swim
quite honestly.
You want the coach to do this evaluation because it tells the child that
there is more that can be done to improve. What would be the purpose of
telling someone, "John, that was perfect swim!" Perfect means there can
be no more improvement!
The only problem I can see here is if the child is perceiving the
post-race comments as negative only. If this is the case, the coach and
athlete need to sit down and understand mutually what the purpose of pre
and post race comments is.
Congratulations on your approach, its terrific!
