Coaches Perspective: What Kind of Athlete are YOU?

I was really excited when my brother Tyler and I talked about me writing some coaches blogs for his website.  My name is Elliott, and I am currently the Head Men’s and Women’s Swimming Coach at Eastern Illinois University.  I was never nearly as fast as my brother, but as I found my swimming career dwindling down I realized that maybe my talent wasn’t in the water, but rather on the deck…as a coach.

The idea of having me join my brother in writing this blog is to provide a coach’s perspective on swimming.  Sometimes I am going to provide practice ideas or technique tips, and other times I am going try to provide you with some mental or life advice.  What we hope to do is to help athletes and parents learn a little bit more about how your coaches might think about things.  Hopefully this will help you grow as a person and an athlete.

So, to start!  I am going to ask you to follow my directions in this next paragraph as we go through a short exercise:

I would like you to start by pinching your cheeks with both hands.  For five seconds begin to make sounds like a cow and wiggle your cheeks at the same time!  Ok, so now I want you take right arm, stretch it across your chest, lift your arm so your bicep is right by your mouth…and for five seconds I want you to make a fart noise with your mouth!  Fun right??

Now some of you did those things, and some of you just read it, right?  Either way, did you find yourself asking, “What was the point of me doing that?”  There was no point.  Neither of those things serve any purpose what so ever!  But some of you did it anyway, without ever having met me, without knowing what was going to happen afterwards, or even without knowing if I am a good coach or not!  You just did it!  But let me ask you athletes this; is that how you are with your coach?  Or do you hesitate, question things, or just go through the motions until you are more confident it will work?

If you are willing to make a fart noise, that serves ZERO purpose to anything in this world, then why is it that sometimes it is so hard as an athlete to do something you know will make you better?  I’ll tell you why, because it is HARD!  So next time you get to that point in practice, or while studying for a test, or while doing anything that does serve a purpose of making you or someone else better, remind yourself of one thing…You made a fart noise, for no reason, so why not do this for a reason?

Then to wrap up, what about those of you who just read that paragraph instead of doing what I asked?  Ask yourself, are you that way at school or at practice?  Do you wait until you think you know what is going to happen to “buy in” or trust?  Do you wait to see if someone else does it first, before you join in?

Imagine if you let yourself go a little bit, and maybe trusted a little more without questioning.  Not everything you do in life is going to serve a purpose, and sometimes you’ll do something that should serve a purpose and it will fall flat.  But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try something different or not trust that what we are doing will benefit us someday!

So when you’re having a hard day, or not able to focus at practice, or not having a good set… make a fart noise or doing something silly!  It will remind you to get back on track, push through, and do something that will help you!  And if it doesn’t do that, it will at least make you smile and laugh and sometimes in life that is all we need.

If you every have questions about college swimming, training, mental approaches, or just want advice email me at mcgillelliott@gmail.com .

Reposted from Tyler McGill’s website.

Staying Loose and Calm Pre-Race

10/1/2013

By Dr. Alan Goldberg//Competitivedge.com

Why are races won and lost before the start?
As I've said many times throughout this series, the BIGGEST secret to swimming your best when it counts the most is having the ability to stay loose and calm behind the blocks, right before your race. Far too many swimmers waste precious energy the minutes leading up to their event by thinking about and focusing on all of the wrong things. Because of this, they unknowingly undermine their confidence, get themselves overly nervous and set themselves up for failure.

The Devastating Effects Of Out Of Control Pre-Race Jitters
Ever wonder how you can run out of gas at the 150 mark of your 200, the very first race of your big meet? You've worked hard all season, you've got a solid training base, yet your arms and legs feel like lead and you're totally exhausted! What gives? You go 7 – 8,000 yards easily in practice and after a mere 150 you're wasted?! This is a direct result of a swimmer being far too nervous pre-race! If you're “over-amped” behind the blocks and thinking about the time you need, who you have to beat or, “what if you don't?,” then your breathing will get faster and shallower, your muscles will tighten up and the end result of these physical changes will be this feeling of premature exhaustion.

Controlling Your Eyes & Ears To Stay Calm Under Pressure
If you want to consistently swim to your potential under big meet pressure and avoid the devastating physical effects of excessive nerves, then you have to learn how to keep yourself physically and mentally composed at race time! One important way that you do this is by controlling your eyes and ears behind the blocks. This means that what you LOOK AT and LISTEN TO behind the blocks has to be only things that help keep you calm, loose and confident. For example, if focusing on another swimmer and how big or fast they look gets you nervous, you control your eyes by looking at spot behind the blocks or by defocusing your eyes as you look out across the pool. If listening to a conversation between one or more swimmers is getting you anxious, you control your ears by turning up the volume on your iPod or finding someone else to talk to about non-swimming related issues. Controlling your eyes and ears means that you need to establish set things that you look at and listen to right before your races.

How do you control your pre-race focus?
Every great athlete has a repeatable, familiar pre-performance ritual that they use leading up to the start of the action which helps them systematically control their eyes and ears. Your pre-race routine and what you do behind the blocks can help you stay in control of your focus and keep you calm during those critical minutes just before the start of your event. Your pre-race routine will give you very specific things for you to look at, listen to and do that will help distract you from the normal, anxiety-producing distractions that every swimmer has to face right before the start.

What You Need To Know To Develop An Effective Pre-Race Routine
There are several key points that you need to keep in mind whenever developing and using a pre-race ritual.

• Keep your ritual SIMPLE. The less complicated, the better!
• Make your ritual CONTROLLABLE. You should only have things in your ritual that you know you will always be able to control. For example, if your pre-race ritual depends upon looking at certain other people (coach/parent), they might not always be there for you and therefore are out of your control. However, stretching and adjusting your cap and/or goggles a certain way will always be in your control.
• KEEP your ritual the SAME. You never want to change the steps of your ritual right before the race. Keeping things the same and familiar will help calm you down and keep you loose.
• Build in VISUAL, AUDITORY and/or KINESTHETIC FOCAL POINTS to your ritual. Be sure that your routine has specific things that you look at (the back of the blocks, your goggles, your feet), listen to, (certain music, sound of your breathing or specific pre-race self-talk) and feel/do, (stretching a certain way, feeling your inhalation and exhalation, adjusting your cap and goggles).
• Do what you're doing MENTALLY while you do it PHYSICALLY. Rituals are most effective when you keep your mental focus on the steps of the ritual while you go through them. In other words, while you're stretching behind the blocks, your concentration needs to be on the feel of the stretch. Rituals will not help you calm down if, while you go through them, your mind is elsewhere!
• Understand the SOLE PURPOSE of any good ritual is to give you specific things to look at and listen to, which will distract you from the distractions. You don't do your pre-race ritual just for good luck. This is NOT about superstition. You go through this pre-race routine to calm yourself down, and most important, to help you control your eyes and ears. This means that if, for whatever reason, you have to leave a step out of the ritual, and you can't do what you always do, you understand that you can still perform your best in this upcoming race. The key is that you use whatever steps you do go through to keep yourself focused, loose and calm!

As a sports psychology consultant, Dr. Alan Goldberg works with swimmers at every level. A presenter at the Olympic Training Center, swim coaches clinics and clubs around the country, Dr. G specializes in helping swimmers struggling with performance problems, get unstuck and swim fast when it counts the most. He works over Skype, providing one-on-one consultation with swimmers and other athletes around the world. Dr. G has written over 35 mental toughness training programs and books. In addition, he is a regular contributor to Splash Magazine.
For more FREE mental toughness tips and swim articles, go to Dr. Goldberg's website, www.competitivedge.com and click on “choose your sport” and then “swimming.” You can also visit him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter and sign up for his free, monthly mental toughness newsletter.

Want to get a head start on your mental toughness training? Dr. Goldberg's BRAND NEW 7 CD Swim Program with track-by-track Training Guide now available! All products in his store at a 10% discount for USASwimming.org. readers. Coupon Code at check-out: USASwimming. FREE SHIPPING NOW AVAILABLE.
Questions? I hope you'll feel free to contact Dr. Goldberg at Goldberg@competitivedge.com or call directly (413) 549-1085.