How to Coach High School Swimming

A high school swimming coach does more than instruct students on how to swim. Some might want to coach for the love of swimming. Others might recognize that by being a coach, they can help high school students develop into high-functioning individuals. Either way, you'll need to know how to plan workouts and set up swim meets before you can be a high school swimming coach.

Instructions

  1. Make a Season Training Plan

    • 1

      Know the abilities of your high school team. Learn if there was a swimming team last year, and if there was review their win/loss record to see how they did competitively. Also find out if any of the athletes are returning to compete this year. By knowing the level of your team, you can figure out whether you should coach in swimming technique or just work on muscle and cardiovascular workouts.

    • 2

      Determine what resources are available to your team. Find out if your high school has a weight room and if your swimming team will have access to it. You might also want to know whether your high school will provide money for the swimming team to travel to competitions.

    • 3

      Develop a training plan. Training plans should have many different types of workouts. The most difficult workouts should be at the beginning of the season. Then the workouts should get slightly easier midway through the season. This keeps the students from getting burned out.

    • 4

      Ask last year's coach about the training plan he used. Be sure to ask what he liked and didn't like about it. Were there exercises the coach wished they did more of? Were there exercises the coach thought were not very good?

    • 5

      Find a coach of a local, non-high school team to help you. A coach of a private team might be interested in helping you plan or assess your swimming team. A more experienced coach might also be able to give you tips or feedback on your ideas.

    Make a Competition Schedule

    • 6

      Find teams that are within your team's level. You want to make sure that your swimming team will not win too easily nor lose too badly.

    • 7

      Talk to coaches of other sports at your high school. Learn what schools they normally play against.

    • 8

      Call other high schools in your area to try to arrange practice swim meets.