Coaching swimming successfully PDF
Preview Coaching swimming successfully
Page i Coaching Swimming Successfully Dick Hannula Tacoma Swim Club, Tacoma, WA Page ii Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Hannula, Dick, 1928 Coaching swimming successfully / Dick Hannula. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0873224922 1. SwimmingCoaching. I. Title. GV837.65.H35 1995 9410232 797.2'1dc20 CIP ISBN: 0873224922 Copyright © 1995 by Dick Hannula All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying, and recording, and in any information storage and retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher. Developmental Editor: Mary E. Fowler Assistant Editors: Anna Curry and Hank Woolsey Copyeditor: Anthony Brown Proofreader: Kathy Bennett Indexer: Sheila Ary Typesetters: Sonnie Bowman and Kathy BoudreauFuoss Text Designer: Keith Blomberg Layout Artists: Denise Lowry, Tara Welsch, and Kathy BoudreauFuoss Cover Photo: John Kelly Illustrator: Accurate Art, Inc. Printer: Sheridan Press Copies of this book are available at special discounts for bulk purchase for sales promotions, premiums, fundraising, or educational use. Special editions or book excerpts can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Manager at Human Kinetics. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 Human Kinetics Web site: http://www.humankinetics.com/ United States: Human Kinetics, P.O. Box 5076, Champaign, IL 618255076 18007474457 email: [email protected] Canada: Human Kinetics, 475 Devonshire Road, Unit 100, Windsor, ON N8Y 2L5 18004657301 (in Canada only) email: [email protected] Europe: Human Kinetics, P.O. Box IW14, Leeds LS16 6TR, United Kingdom +44 (0) 113278 1708 email: [email protected] Australia: Human Kinetics, 57A Price Avenue, Lower Mitcham, South Australia 5062 (08) 82771555 email: [email protected] New Zealand: Human Kinetics, P.O. Box 105231, Auckland Central 095233462 email: [email protected] Page iii To my wife, Sylvia; our children, Dan, Dave, Dick, and Debby; our grandchildren; and my mother, Katherine. Page v CONTENTS Foreword vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi Part I 1 Coaching Foundation Chapter 1 3 Developing a Swimming Coaching Philosophy Chapter 2 9 Communicating Your Approach Chapter 3 17 Motivating Swimmers Chapter 4 27 Building a Swimming Program Part II 37 Coaching Plans Chapter 5 39 Planning for the Season Chapter 6 49 Preparing for Practices Part III 61 Coaching Stroke Technique Chapter 7 63 Basic Principles in Teaching Strokes Chapter 8 67 Teaching the Crawlstroke Chapter 9 81 Teaching the Backstroke Chapter 10 93 Teaching the Breaststroke Chapter 11 105 Teaching the Butterfly Part IV 117 Coaching Meets Chapter 12 119 Preparing for Meets Chapter 13 129 Handling Meet Situations Part V 137 Coaching Evaluation Chapter 14 139 Evaluating Swimmers' Performances Chapter 15 145 Evaluating Your Program Photo Credits 151 Index 153 About the Author 161 Page vii FOREWORD When it comes to coaching swimming, Dick Hannula is without peer. His record speaks for itself: 24 consecutive boys' high school state championships; a career high school winning percentage of nearly 95%; being founder and head coach of the Tacoma Swim Club; preparing swimmers to earn positions on Olympic, Pan Am, and World Championship teams. One of his best swimmers was Kaye Hall, a member of the Tacoma Swim Club, who went on to win two Olympic gold medals and one bronze. Dick's success as a coach, however, is even more evident in how he handles the intangibles that have let him achieve such a great record over his 40plus years of coaching. His enthusiasm for learning about the new science and technology of swimming, his ability to teach swimmers the information he gathers, his motivation of athletes through positive reinforcement rather than punishment, his development of good people as well as good athletes—these are the qualities that truly set Dick apart. In this book, Dick leaves no stone unturned. He explains the importance and process of developing a coaching philosophy and communicating it, how to plan for practices, how to teach technical stroke information, how to prepare for and coach at meets, and how to evaluate swimmers and an overall program. With Coaching Swimming Successfully, coaches at all levels can benefit from one of the greatest coaches our sport has ever known. Anyone, including swimmers and their parents, who reads it will not only learn more about swimming but will appreciate the role swimming can play in their lives. I encourage you to read and learn from this valuable book. It's a great source of information and insight for coaches and their swimmers. I'll refer to it often, and I'll be a better coach for having read it. SKIP KENNEY STANFORD UNIVERSITY Page ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to the American Swimming Coaches' Association, the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches' Association, and United States Swimming for the many educational and professional experiences that prepared me to write this book. I also thank the many coaches that have shared their time and talent with me to make me a better coach; every swimmer who ever swam for me—your efforts and commitment have made my coaching experience exciting and rewarding; the school administrators and parents who have allowed me the freedom to be myself and coach my way; and, finally, my wife Sylvia, who has always encouraged me in my coaching and who has been my reviewer and helpful critic during the writing of this book. Page xi INTRODUCTION I became a head coach in 1951, when little information was available about the science or art of coaching swimming. So I struggled and learned by experience. Now we have extensive swimming research that provides a wealth of information about the scientific aspects of our sport: training programs, stroke mechanics, fluid dynamics, and so on. In this book, I share with you how the latest scientific principles can be incorporated into your swim instruction. But in Coaching Swimming Successfully I emphasize the art—not the science—of coaching. You'll find good, practical advice: the kind of advice you can relate to and apply directly to your situation, that comes from having spent 40some years of my life coaching swimmers. My reason for writing Coaching Swimming Successfully is to help you accelerate and improve your coaching education—to make you a better swim coach now. I hope that after reading the book you will be more equipped to offer a program that provides each swimmer a positive, exciting, and rewarding experience. Coaching Swimming Successfully shows you how to challenge your swimmers to become better team members and to get their best swimming results. With your help, every swimmer can have a better understanding of his or her role in becoming the best swimmer that he or she can be. We all know that swimming can be a routine, isolated sport. Practice sessions can be long and they may not offer much excitement or variety. It's hard to have interaction with your swimmers when their faces are in the water. But swimming need not be boring. In Coaching Swimming Successfully, I'll explain how you can • make your swimmers excited about each training session, • instill pride and the love of swimming in your athletes, and • help your swimmers get the most from themselves and still have fun. We have a great opportunity in swimming to help develop strong, motivated, capable individuals who can be leaders in all walks of life. Winning, in the pool and in life, is not always being Number 1. Winning is being the best you can be, measuring yourself against yourself, and striving to improve. We are in a position to help our swimmers and their parents understand what success really means. For me, the job of a swim coach is a job in name only. As you read this book, you'll see that I love practices, love the thrill of competitions, and won't ever consider what I do a job. Here's hoping that Coaching Swimming Successfully will make you feel as good or even better than I do about being a swim coach! Page 1 PART I— COACHING FOUNDATION Page 3 Chapter 1— Developing a Swimming Coaching Philosophy My coaching philosophy has a simple foundation: The most important people to me, after my family, are the athletes that I see and coach almost daily. I care about all of the swimmers on our team, whether they are the fastest or the slowest. The faces may change each year, but my philosophy remains the same. A swimming coach's success is measured by the progress and the development of the swimmers. Although you may have a limited talent pool to draw from, the athletes who do make up your team should reflect the teaching, the training, and the discipline you've given them. This reflection is made visible by their actions in and out of the pool. In this chapter I'll present the principles that form the foundation of my philosophy, and I'll describe how I share that philosophy through the goals I establish for my swimming program. Remember that my philosophy influences all phases of my coaching, just as your outlook affects your actions. Every coach must determine his or her own philosophy—the unwavering principles that will provide consistency and clarity in decision making. All of the most successful coaches in our sport, from Peter Daland, George Haines, and Doc Counsilman to Mark Schubert, Skip Kenney, and Richard Quick, have demonstrated the importance of leading a swimming program with a steady and clear vision.
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