Issues & Advice

As anyone in the youth hockey world knows, the players and the families both need to be dedicated to make the season work. In the recent years ice hockey in California has taken off. Players from the state are getting drafted and playing in the NHL at a rate that I am sure that the […]

There may not be the bond of a small team where all the swimmers know each other, their siblings and parents. When parents are researching teams for their kids, there are many factors to consider. One is location, the coaches, if the team’s goals and objectives match their swimmer’s — and also the size of […]

Yes, my body is failing. But my mind is not giving up. The way I look at it is, as I lose physical abilities, that strength doesn’t leave me. It just gets transferred Dear 22-year-old Tim, I want to tell you some things I think you, a senior linebacker at Penn State, should know — […]

The phase of the season, the match and the personnel. My role, typically, is to maintain stability, so the tone is typically calm and action oriented. Player development is high on the list of coaching responsibilities. Hours are spent crafting practice plans that help athletes improve. But coaches must remember that their own skill development […]

Close races, comebacks, back and forth relays. These types of things make the race itself compelling. Uncertainty about the outcome throughout makes a race exciting. Last Friday, SwimSwam published our Swammy Awards Top 10 Swims of the Year. The number one race was the men’s medley relay at the Asian Games. In a year when so […]

Just buckle down, get after it and remember every expert was once a beginner. But it’s only the dedicated beginners who become an expert. One of the most intimidating things we can do as human beings is start something new. Especially when that something has been around for a while like, say, fastpitch softball. We […]

To challenge and therefore grow processing and decision-making skills, coaches often need to stretch the athletes. The three most common and easiest to use stressors are: space, time and numbers. I have been writing a good bit about how sporting actions are preceded by a movement or skill choice. In the article “The vision-decision-action cycle […]

“To inspire swimmers and test limits successfully, you have to create a group culture looking for certain goals.” Inspiration and motivation to complete a task in swimming, indeed life, can come from many different sources. It can come from within, a family member, coach, teammates or some other external source. Once swimmers are inspired to […]