How to Become a Great Swimming Coach

In this article, we’ll provide advice, hacks and tips on how to become a great swimming coach.

The primary role of a swimming coach is to impart their knowledge and experience, to help develop the swimmers in their charge to reach their full potential.

So how can swimming coaches achieve this, and while doing so, develop into a great swimming coach?

Developing a coaching style

There are many different types of swimming coaches. Aspiring coaches should take time to think of the great sporting coaches they admire or may have worked with, during their own sporting career. What are/were the qualities that make/made them a great coach?

An aspiring coach should take time out to study coaches from all sports on TV, social media or at your pool. There may be things they like about a particular coaching style, and there may also be things they don’t like, or they feel uncomfortable coaching in that style. The important thing is that they start to get an idea of the types of coaching attributes they admire.

Coaching attributes

Listed below are some attributes that an aspiring coach may admire in a great swimming coach:

• Caring: A compassionate coach, who puts the welfare of their swimmer’s first.
• Charisma: An open, friendly and sociable coach.
• Commitment: A coach who is committed and focused on helping to achieve their squad’s swimming goals.
• Communication: A great communicator who can effectively deliver their swimming programme to their swimmers during training and competition.
• Dedication and Determination: A coach who consistently and persistently delivers great training sessions.
• Honesty: A coach with great integrity.
• Innovator: A swimming coach that keeps up to date with the latest developments, and is never afraid to try something new.
• Knowledgeable: A coach with a vast range of swimming knowledge.
• Motivator: A coach who can motivate their swimmers to ever-higher levels of performance.
• Organiser and Planner: A swimming coach who leaves nothing to chance. Always pays great attention to detail, whether its formulating training plans or monitoring and recording swimming performance.
• Visionary: A coach who has a long-term view, and drives swimming development plans.

Your key coaching attributes

Aspiring coaches should make a list of all the coaching attributes they admire. Once completed, the next step is for them to practice these good attributes while coaching. This should also be the time that they start to remove any bad attributes, that they may have observed in other coaches or that they do themselves.

If they are unsure of their coaching attributes good or bad, they could ask a coaching colleague to observe them while coaching.

Coaching cornerstones

As well as adopting key swimming coaching attributes, an aspiring coach should also focus on key ‘cornerstone’ coaching development areas, such as:

Swimming technique

For many coaches continuing the pursuit of effective swimming techniques is the key to a successful training programme.

• The simple truth is that swimmers need to master a series of excellent techniques before they can train and compete effectively.
• Therefore, the ongoing pursuit of swimming excellence should be a key coaching cornerstone.

Communication

Coaches need to be able to communicate effectively with their swimmers, in order to successfully deliver their training programme.

• Swimmers usually have a mix of learning styles, but often some may have a more dominant style of learning.
• Therefore, it’s very important that aspiring coaches use both of the most common learning styles (visual and verbal) when coaching.
• A common communication problem is that of poor communication between coaches and parents.
• A vacuum of information can sometimes lead to gossip, rumour, exaggeration and half-truths.

Commitment

For a swimming programme to be successful there should be focused commitment from both the swimmer and the coach, to perform to their optimum in training and competition.

• To help with this, most of the world’s top swimmer set swimming goals and keep swimming logs.

Related article on setting swimming goals

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Related article on keeping a swimming log

We have produced a related article on the benefits of keeping a swimming log. Which you can view by clicking this link: swimming log

Knowledge

Competitive swimming continues to evolve, with often new rules, new techniques, new types of equipment and new swimmers to coach.

• There are many learning opportunities for an aspiring coach to develop their coaching knowledge, keep up to date with the latest swimming innovations and add variety to their training programme.

There are many different swimming information sources which grant access to a wealth of experience and technical information from many of the world’s top coaches and swimmers.

• These include websites, blogs, social media, books, magazines, DVDs, training camps, training courses, coaches’ meetings, observations of other coaches, conversations with other coaches and your observations at training sessions and competition.

Coach Arthur says: “It’s very important that coaches make the time for themselves to regularly develop their swimming knowledge”.

A mentor is an experienced and trusted swimming adviser. These can be a very valuable resource for any swimming coach.

• In my own experience, I was very fortunate to have a number of excellent mentors, particularly when I first started coaching and when I was studying for my coaching qualifications.
• I have found that not only are most head coaches and coaches from within my club willing to pass on their views and experiences, but also those from other clubs.
• It’s therefore important to any coach to develop a mentoring network, either face to face or via social media.

Establishing a coaching philosophy

With an idea of the coaching attributes they admire and the coaching cornerstones that they believe are important, the aspiring coach should be able to develop their own coaching philosophy.

• A coaching philosophy contains a set of key beliefs and principals that should determine what type of coach they are going to become.
• This should become an essential reference point for them as they develop as a coach.

Developing a coaching philosophy

Developing a coaching philosophy is an on-going task. As a coach becomes more knowledgeable and experienced, they will develop and refine their set of beliefs and principals that will help them become an even more effective, consistent and focused coach.

My coaching philosophy

Listed below is my coaching philosophy.

Swimmers need to master a series of excellent techniques before they can train and compete effectively.

• We have all heard the saying: ‘practice makes perfect’
• In fact: ‘practice doesn’t make perfect’ – it only makes it permanent.
• Only ‘perfect practice makes perfect’
• How a swimmer performs a drill will be stored in the swimmers ‘muscle memory’.
• If the practice is perfect then the muscle memory will store perfect technique, however poor practice results in the muscle memory storing poor technique.
• Once stored, the brain will convey to the swimmer how it thinks the technique should be performed.
• Coaches, therefore, should ensure they coach, develop and maintain excellent swimming techniques.

• Communicate individually with each swimmer during training and competition.
• Wherever possible provide both verbal and written communication.
• Explain to the swimmers why they are performing particular sets or drills.
• Conduct a pre-race brief and post-race debrief with every swimmer.
• Give positive and constructive feedback whenever possible.
• Communicate regularly with swimming parents and club officials

• Swimming requires long-term commitment to drill, train and compete at the optimum level.
• There is no substitute for hard work.
• The consistent and persistent effort by swimmers and coaches is a prerequisite for achieving anything worth-while in our sport.
• Although swimming is about commitment and hard work, try your best to make it interesting and fun.
• As you expect every swimmer’s best efforts in training and competition, so every swimmer has the right to expect the same from you.

• Competitive swimming changes. Rules, swimmers, techniques and equipment are all liable to change.
• It is your responsibility to keep learning and to stay up to date.

Takeaway

The primary role of a swimming coach is to impart their knowledge and experience, to help develop the swimmers in their charge reach their full potential.

So how can swimming coaches achieve this and while doing so, develop into a great swimming coach?

• They should take a little time to think of the great sporting coaches and what are/were their qualities that make /made them a great coach?
• Next, they should collate a list of the coaching attributes they admire.
• Then they should focus on key coaching ‘cornerstones’, such as technique and communication.
• Finally, they should develop a coaching philosophy that should become an essential reference point for them as they develop into a great coach.

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