Summer Swimming Strengths

The 2018 Southwest Swim League season are a string of events for young swimmers to show improvement in their swimming over eight weeks and have a fun time. This sounds straightforward and worry free, but for my role-   the eighteen year old coach tasked with organising one of the six teams- it is anything but easy. Between fitting the swimmers into a lineup like jigsaw pieces to working with each swimmer on their stroke and techniques, making it through the event forces one to call on their strengths, no matter what they are.  Luckily for me, my strengths were very central to my journey over the season and most importantly at the Championships meet.

One of the most important tools to building a strong youth swim team is to first build a   strong relationship with the swimmers. This is where my strengths as a relator and in individualization comes into play. By forming a meaningful relationship with each of the swimmers, I am able to push them harder and give them more responsibilities, especially in the areas they might work best. On days such as championships, this is especially helpful for when I need to ask the older swimmers for a favor such as corralling younger kids or communicating with parents. This helped me be able to watch as much swimming as possible and give feedback to whoever was swimming at the time, leading to better swimming in the future.

Along with understanding what traits of people’s personalities are best for certain tasks, it is also vital for me as a coach to understand swimmers athletic strengths. This past year, I had to make decisions on who should swim which event based on my limitations. Part of this task was accepting that certain races needed to be lost in order to get the desired outcome in the meet and score as many points as possible. Here, I can now see that I used my strength in adaptability. Although it was hard to know that some races would have to be lost, this strength allowed me to think past other coaches and understand the concept of losing a battle to win a war. These strengths, in addition to my competitive and achiever strengths, helped me to coach a successful first season as head coach.

In the future, I will be able to consciously use these strengths in a more effective and  purposeful manner. One example is in internships I would like to complete before leaving UC. At an internship, I will be able to build relationships with others and help others like me be successful by highlighting their strengths. In a smaller area, such as a group project, I can make sure everyone is tasked with what is best for themselves and also use my adaptability to look towards the end and not get stuck in the moment. By highlighting what I have done best in my past, I can plan better for the future and contribute as much as possible.