By Coach Bill Volckening, Oregon

The objective of this particular written exercise is to explain the essential conceptual similarities between my education in the visual arts and my occupation coaching swimmers. The practices of coaching and the visual arts would seem to have very little relationship to each other at first. Although they are seemingly unrelated, both are grounded in the same conceptual framework. Both coaching and art disciplines require acutely developed observation, description and communication skills.

Photographs, paintings and sculptures are all visual products. Subscribing to the aesthetic framework for teaching swimmers presented by Terry Laughlin requires a belief that swimmers are visual works in progress. Just as the act of making artwork is an act of observation and description, so is the act of teaching a swimmer how to move efficiently through the water. Since coaches have a variety of educational backgrounds, few coaches are specifically cognizant of this philosophical framework. However, the truly great coaches rely on their own vision to guide them through the process of teaching stroke mechanics. Because good communication is the vehicle for success in coaching and in the visual arts, it is, necessarily, the string of continuity between the two disciplines.

Along with the visual observation/description/communication process I routinely apply to on-deck coaching, the nature of my educational background has given me enormous creative advantages. Creative problem solving is one of the significant ideas in a visual communications education. Students are given challenging projects and asked to find creative solutions. The following assignment points out another significant idea found in the business world. It is important to meet deadlines. This concept applies to club administration, season planning and general conduct.

On the first day of class in my freshman foundation study at college, the teacher arrived with a stack of flat pieces of corrugated cardboard and a violin case. He placed the cardboard on the table and opened the case to present the class with a rare Ferdinando Garimberti violin. He proudly described this extremely valuable instrument and began to play a movement from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. He finished playing and said

"Each of you will take only one piece of corrugated cardboard. Using a utility knife, you will cut and score this cardboard creating folds and tabs in such a way that it will fold up and become a replica of this violin. When the violin is unfolded, the cardboard must remain in one piece. Here’s the punchline: the project is due tomorrow." We were presented with an unexpected challenge, some specific guidelines and a deadline, but ingenuity was allowed. Having to create a replica of a Garimberti violin in corrugated cardboard was a bizarre idea to me, but I found a way to do it, and I had it done the next day.

This type of project is specific to the type of education offered to visual arts students in undergraduate studies. The project demonstrates how certain basic skills and tools are required to achieve good visual communication. More importantly, it illustrates how creativity and ingenuity are essential for success in any project. Graduate studies allow students to magnify some of the key concepts, such as: creativity, discovery, resourcefulness, selectivity and focus. These ideas provide a specific basis for implementing the general principles of visual communication. Because my education in the visual arts has delivered the conceptual framework for observation, description and effective communication, it has also established an excellent foundation for becoming a successful swim coach, on deck and in the office.

Up to this point, I have had no formal coaching education. Very few individuals actually enter college with the intention of coaching. The most outstanding coaches are those who have the ability to extract useful information from whatever educational background they have. I now have a strong desire for the coaching education provided by ASCA, although I have been able to experience a certain measure of success without it. In extracting the basic concepts of observation, description and communication from my visual education, I have literally defined myself as a coach. The examples are evident throughout my resume and support materials. My list of accomplishments forms a definitive statement about how well my education has prepared me for success in coaching and in life.

Experience: Developing Leadership
The following list includes five of the most significant experiences in my coaching leadership development.

1. Founding a Team: In 1994, I founded the Peddie Aquatics Association Masters Team. It was the first USMS club ever at the Peddie School. In the first year, we had about 20-25 members. In the second year, we grew to 100 registered swimmers, accounting for 75% of the growth in the New Jersey LMSC. During this time, swimmers reached the levels of Zone Champion, USMS National Top Ten, USMS National Champion, USMS All American and USMS Long Distance All Star.

2. First-Timers at Nationals: Between 1995 and 1998, I encouraged five new swimmers to attend the USM Nationals. Each of these swimmers returned home with at least one medal. More importantly, each returned home with greater confidence and higher self-esteem because they had reached their goals.

3. "I’ve done it, and you can do it, too!": There aren’t too many events I haven’t tried in Masters Swimming. This "I’ll try anything" approach is amusing to others, but it has helped me to lead groups, because I have the experience of having done the things I am trying to promote. When I joined USMS I decided to try everything, because in my previous experience I was always told by coaches what I should swim. In trying everything I discovered a lot of new things and received some unexpected recognition. I tried the Check-Off Challenge, which allowed me to "go down the list" of pool events, checking them off as I did each one. I tried Open Water and discovered that I didn’t have to be good at something to enjoy it. I tried all different events at USMS Nationals and scored in the top ten for each of the four competitive strokes, plus individual medley and relays. I made USMS Top Ten. I tried the One Hour Swim. I earned gold medals at the FINA Masters World Championships and USMS National Championships. I won the Minnesota Masters Postal Pentathlon and the February Fitness Challenge. In trying all of these different things, I have the uncommon ability to say "I’ve done it, and you can do it, too!"

4. "http://www.whitewaters.com": Although I had no previous knowledge about how to create a web page, I created a web project for Whitewaters Swimming, Princeton. During my time as webmaster, the site was among the finest local club web sites in the world. I pursued recognition and received more than 20 web design awards in the first month. The site was eventually awarded the STROKE AWARD for Best Youth Swimming Website of 1998.

5. Getting involved with USMS: When I arrived at Tualatin Hills in September as the new Head Coach of the Masters Team, I set out to become more involved with USMS. This goal of getting involved has allowed me to show leadership in a variety of different ways: a) I am a newly appointed member of the USMS Coaches Committee, and I am in charge of On-Deck Coaching Program at Nationals and Convention. This program offers assistance to swimmers during the early morning warm-ups at Nationals and during workouts at Convention. So far, I have developed a new registration form (available on-line at http://www.usms.org) and a design for T-shirts to promote the program and allow greater visibility for coaches who volunteer. Our goals include: continuing to encourage a high level of involvement, making others aware of the program and developing open water workouts at the 1999 Convention in San Diego; b) I ran a NIKE Champions Clinic at our pool with Olympic Gold Medalist Anita Nall. Of the three NIKE Champions Clinics held in 1998, ours was the most well attended. We reached ou r goal of doubling the size of each of the other two clinics. We intend to hold other NIKE Champions Clinics in the future; c) I am the Event Director of the February Fitness Challenge. This event is the largest postal fitness swimming event in the world, and it involves hundreds of swimmers from all over the United States and abroad. So far, I have prepared an entry form and workout brochure containing workouts written by some of the leading USMS coaches from around the US. I have also prepared a huge mailing, which arrived between Christmas and New Year’s Day —just in time for people to make their New Year’s Resolutions. This year, for the first time the entry form is available as a fully formatted on-line document (at "usms.org"). Future goals for the event include: upgrading the design of the T-shirts, caps and medals, developing more significant sponsorships and getting more people involved; d) Our team newsletter, the Barracuda Bulletin is now among the first fully-formatted, full-color newsletters available on-line. Future goals include: increased number of pages, higher quality printing and nomination for USMS Newsletter of the Year.n

Copyright © 1998-1999 American Swimming Coaches Association.