How to Become a Swim Coach

Unlike a lot of professions, coaching does not require a specific degree. Coaches succeed with natural abilities to communicate, motivate, encourage and instruct. Many of these traits are also found with good teachers, which is why a lot of coaches also teach and many have teaching degrees. There is no absolute formula to become a swim coach. However, these steps can only help.

Instructions

    • 1

      Gain experience with swimming. Most coaches are former athletes of the sport. Swimming is no different. However, you do not have to be a former professional swimmer, Olympic qualifier or even college swimmer to become a coach. You just need some first-hand experience with swimming as well as knowledge of the sport to help teach it to others.

    • 2

      Work on your communication skills. Coaching is very similar to teaching and other leadership positions in that you must be an effective and clear communicator. You must be able to translate your thoughts into words, which in turn makes the athlete you are coaching better. Sound public-speaking skills are required. An ideal voice is one that is loud and bold.

    • 3

      Study psychology and sociology. No, this is not college all over again, but an attempt to understand people and their wide range of personalities and attitudes. Like an effective manager or boss, coaches must work with a wide range of personalities and find a way to make them chase after the same goals. Swimming is more personal than football, for example, so learn how to work well with one-on-one situations. Different people learn differently. Some respond well to yelling, while others struggle to handle it. Understanding the human mind and emotions will serve you well as a coach.

    • 4

      Serve as an assistant coach before becoming a head coach. This step is almost forced upon you rather than an option. Even at a lower competition level such as high school, schools will rarely hire head coaches without any previous assistant coaching experience. Most aspiring head coaches must serve as an assistant for years before landing a head coaching gig.

    • 5

      Start low with little responsibility and pressure. Professional swim coaches usually have years or even decades of coaching experience. They slowly learn to become a better coach and how to handle pressure and distractions. Start out coaching young kids for fun. Put in some time and energy as a volunteer. If you swam in high school, contact your former high school coach about landing a job as an assistant. If your former high school coach doesn't want to hire you, who else will? Start at the high school levels, progress to college, and someday you may work on the Olympic level.