WTFC Swimming Coach Summer 2012
Throughout the summer of 2012, I acted as one of three coaches for the Western Tennis and Fitness Club on the west side of Cincinnati. This was my second year serving in this position and I was excited to bring my knowledge and experience back for another year in order to help younger swimmers learn more about the sport. I decided to turn this opportunity into an Honors Experience because it would allow me to focus on developing my leadership skills. Throughout the summer, I worked with children ages five to fifteen at practice and meets five days a week. I designed practices that would allow the team members to improve technique, build strength, and improve competition times throughout the year. As a whole, the experience taught me that strong organization, effective communication, and encouragement are key qualities of being a leader. From my experience as a coach, I hope to always remember to set a good example for all those I meet because people look up to you, both those younger than you and yours elders.
Daily Practices: Two practices were held on a daily basis, a session for ages 10 and under and a session for ages 11 and older. Below is a link to a typical weekly practice schedule. Learning to structure practices allowed me to develop my organization skills and at the same time, ensure that my practices has a purpose in improving the swimmers technique. As a coach, not only are you responsible for supervising the sporting activity, but you need to help the team members improve their skill level within the sport. Therefore, it is important to set goals and have a structured plan that will allow this growth. Available link below for example.
Meet Line-Ups: Each week, the team participated in a well structured competition against another team in the Southern Ohio Swim League. Each meet is made up of over 70 individual events for swimmers to participate in. As a coach, one responsibility is developing a meet line up so the team members know which events they are participating in. In order to accomplish this task, I had to work together with the other two coaches, parents, team members, as well as the coach of the opponent's team. I had to coordinate with parents as to whether or not their children would be available each week to participate, take team members preferred strokes into consideration when assigning events, and communicate with the opponent's coach to make sure each had a copy of the other's line up. Learning to keep all separate parties satisfied while still completing the main goal of creating a line up challenged me to find a balance in responsibility. I learned that it is important to take extra steps in order to keep organization. Additionally, there can be times when personal sacrifices need to be made in order to put the team, those you are leading before yourself. Available link below for example.
Daily Practices: Two practices were held on a daily basis, a session for ages 10 and under and a session for ages 11 and older. Below is a link to a typical weekly practice schedule. Learning to structure practices allowed me to develop my organization skills and at the same time, ensure that my practices has a purpose in improving the swimmers technique. As a coach, not only are you responsible for supervising the sporting activity, but you need to help the team members improve their skill level within the sport. Therefore, it is important to set goals and have a structured plan that will allow this growth. Available link below for example.
Meet Line-Ups: Each week, the team participated in a well structured competition against another team in the Southern Ohio Swim League. Each meet is made up of over 70 individual events for swimmers to participate in. As a coach, one responsibility is developing a meet line up so the team members know which events they are participating in. In order to accomplish this task, I had to work together with the other two coaches, parents, team members, as well as the coach of the opponent's team. I had to coordinate with parents as to whether or not their children would be available each week to participate, take team members preferred strokes into consideration when assigning events, and communicate with the opponent's coach to make sure each had a copy of the other's line up. Learning to keep all separate parties satisfied while still completing the main goal of creating a line up challenged me to find a balance in responsibility. I learned that it is important to take extra steps in order to keep organization. Additionally, there can be times when personal sacrifices need to be made in order to put the team, those you are leading before yourself. Available link below for example.
swim_practice-june_2.doc | |
File Size: | 23 kb |
File Type: | doc |
wtfc_vs_phillips_line_up_2012.doc | |
File Size: | 173 kb |
File Type: | doc |