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Presented by Bill Sweetenham, Notes by Laura Matuzak
Saturday, September 8, 2001

I.                    Australian National Youth Coach works with the best 18 and younger talent.

A.     Working to have better prepared athletes moving into the National Team.

B.     Make sure the next group of athletes don’t have the same weaknesses of the current seniors.

C.     State Camps and Event Camps.

1.      Resting simulator camps - get used to the regimen of the Olympics for the next group of Olympic hopefuls.

D.     It is the job of the National Youth Coach to make the transition from age group swimming to youth swimming to national swimming as difficult as possible.

1.      Training camp – three practices a day, as hard as possible.

2.      Preparation camp – swim meet at the end, swim hard all week and then race.

E.      Visit the home programs and help them with their problems.

1.      Talk to the swimmers.

2.      Talk to the parents.

F.      Swimmers moving onto the National Team should be better prepared than the previous group of swimmers was.

1.      Feedback on athletes to assess their preparedness.

2.      Younger athletes should be setting higher standards that what currently exists on the team.

3.      Coaches who are world leaders get the athletes prepared to lead.

G.     250 days on the road, away from home.

1.      Commitment to visit the clubs.

2.      Spend two to three days at many clubs.

3.      Ask lots of questions and challenge the coaches.

4.      Receive more requests to visit than can grant.

5.      Take a sports physiologist or a strength trainer.

6.      Intensive club evaluation.

7.      The coach is briefed on what they are expected to do.

a)      Bill will evaluate the club and then relate the evaluation to the parents.

b)      Bill will give constructive feedback to the coach.

8.      Trouble shooting is done with the coach.

H.     It is always a challenge to innovate coaching.

1.      300 years from now, how will we remember the last 100 years?  The only true invention has been plastic.

2.      Swim coaching is a great profession.

a)      There is diversity in the profession.

b)      There is a great opportunity to work with a lot of great coaches.

c)      Gather a range of tools to use.

3.      The job of the Australian Youth Coach is to fast track knowledge and experience to the younger coaches so that they can avoid the trial and error that many older coaches experienced.

4.      The average age of an Olympic Coach is 55-65 years.

a)      The Australian Youth program tries to get coaches to achieve a greater level of success at a younger age.

I.        Sponsorships.

1.      World Championships on television in Australia (not in America.)

2.      The Swimming World Championships received the largest viewer ship ever in the history of televised sports!

3.      No one thought that this could be possible, but it is!

J.       Lactate Removal Set.

1.      10 x 100 @ 1:45

a)      30-40 minutes of work in a 40-50 minute period.

b)      First 3-4 repeats should be slower than 200 but faster than 400 pace.

c)      For the next 30 repeats, the men should be 20-28 beats below max. heart rate and the women should be 15-20 beats below max. heart rate.

d)      The last 3-4 repeats should be at race pace.

e)      Follow the set with 800-1600 meters of an over-distance descend set.

f)        You cannot get the same benefit if you don’t do the fast swimming first or the distance swimming last.

K.    Males and females should train separately.

1.      Single sex workouts help kids excel.

2.      Males and females are mentally and physically different.

3.      Males and females should be raced differently at meets.

a)      Meets with males and play sports after the meet.

b)      Meets with females and go shopping after the meet.

4.      Males train because they like the comradry with the other males.

5.      Females train because they like you and the social structure.

L.      Challenge the coaches and evaluate the programs based on :

1.      Top 3% of the swimmers in prelims

2.      Top 2% of the swimmers in semifinals

3.      Top 1% of the swimmers in finals

4.      Top 1 % of the swimmers on relays

M.   Meet participation should be based on the 3, 2, 1 philosophy.

1.      3 meets at the swimmer’s level of proficiency.

2.      2 meets below the swimmer’s standards.

a)      Pressure to do things RIGHT.

b)      Practice WINNING.

c)      Be very critical of the swimmer at these meets.

3.      1 meet above the swimmer’s ability.

a)      Swim in higher age group.

b)      Swim in off events.

c)      Do only 1 event.

d)      Praise the swimmer at these meets.

4.      When the swimmer faces the ultimate challenge, praise a lot.

5.      When the swimmer competes in a meet at their level of proficiency, praise a little.

6.      When the swimmer competes in a meet below their level of proficiency, criticize.

N.    Look for 3% improvement a year.

1.      At 13 years of age, swimmer at 83% of the age group record.

2.      Should be at 86% of the record at 14 years of age.

3.      Should be at 89% of the record at 15 years of age.

O.    The Australian National Youth Coach works with the more talented and the more remote clubs.

1.      Take a look at the athlete and make sure that the coach has the tools to make it all the way with the athlete.

a)      If the coach does not have the tools, then educate the coach.

b)      Invest in the coach to get to the athlete.

2.      Australia has a small population and they do not want to lost athletes.

3.      Australia identifies 20 coaches and tries to make them top National level coaches.

II.                 Coach Sweetenham’s Plans for Great Britain’s Swimming Program.

A.     2001 Records

1.      Long Course.

a)      2 European Records set.

b)      8 Commonwealth Records set.

c)      41 British Records set.

d)      6 British Junior Records set.

(1)   Junior records should outnumber senior records.

(2)   The age group system in Britain is not working.

2.      Short Course.

a)      4 World Records set.

b)      5 European Records set.

c)      3 Commonwealth Records set.

d)      24 British Records set.

e)      3 British Junior Records set.

B.     Britain must find more junior swimmers and be better prepared for National level swimming.

C.     Olympic medals will be won in 2002-2003.

D.     Developmental Process for Swimming in Britain.

1.      Determine success.

a)      Facilities.

(1)   Fewer than 10% of the facilities than in Australia.

(2)   They cost more than in Australia – 20-25 pound per hour per lane.

(3)   Long course for training and competition.

(4)   Team camps are impossible to run.

b)      Budget.

(1)   The bottom line is non-growth.

(2)   Pools are more expensive and salaries are more expensive.

(3)   45% of the budget is for facilities.

c)      Coaching.

d)      Competition.

e)      Rewards.

2.      Government.

a)      We want you to win the race but we won’t give you the fastest car.

b)      Great Britain needs a sponsor if they are going to make it.

c)      If they want to improve, they have to make efficient changes.

3.      Target.

a)      World’s best competitive schedule.

b)      World’s best coaches.

c)      Long course training and competition.

d)      Accountability – they give out a lot of money each year, about 75,000 – 200,000 pounds per year.

e)      Major sponsor.

4.      Coaching.

a)      All accredited.

b)      All BSCTA members.

c)      Best in 2003.

d)      New accreditation and education system based on theory (clinics) and practice (camps).

e)      National coach, Male coach, Female coach, and 7 event coaches.

f)        Long Course Performance – results from the Commonwealth Games, the Olympic Games, World Championships, and European Championships.

g)      Coaching model practiced and perfected.

5.      Great Britain has success with fewer resources and facilities and fewer swimmers.

6.      2 month competition free zone from January through February to TRAIN.

a)      3 months away from major competition for sprinters (compete in March.)

b)      2 months out from major competition for distance swimmers (compete in January.)

c)      Trials for National team are in April with 15 weeks preparation after trials.

d)      Orientation camp to meet the other coaches.

7.      National Event Camp.

a)      Best senior and junior athletes.

b)      Learn from the best.

c)      Eliminate the negative seniors.

8.      Tough athletes and tough coaches.

9.      Men’s and women’s camps to address their individual needs.

10.  Standard cycle.

a)      2 months competition free.

b)      15 weeks of training.

c)      Major competition.

d)      National Competition.

e)      International Competition.

11.  Coaching staff structure.

a)      Head National Coach.

b)      Male Coach.

c)      Female Coach.

 }  Stroke coaches are part-time club coaches

d)      Free Coach.

e)      Back Coach.

f)        Breast Coach.        

g)      Fly Coach.                                     

h)      I.M. Coach.

i)        Sprint Coach.

12.  Don’t want to lose any fish.

13.  Long terms goals for coaches and athletes.

Questions.

1.)  How come there are no age group records in Great Britain?

The Senior Coaches are doing a great job with less talent.  The athletes are aging.  There are very low learn-to-swim standards.  Are the age groupers peaking at the right time?  There are lots of sprinters.

2.)  Are there problems with the young male swimmers in Great Britain?

Yes, they all want to do the 50.  They haven’t been nurtured and developed into other events.  They are adding more 11-12 events and in order to score in the meet, the swimmer must race at least one 200 meter event.

3.)  How do you handle coaching issues in the clubs?

By providing a good report for their review, by asking the coaches how they can get better and by addressing their strengths and weaknesses.  They have 4-5 years to make the necessary changes and are given lots of support.

The U.S. sets the trends for World Swimming.  Other countries try to take what the U.S. is doing and improve upon it.  Smaller nations need great coaches and more control.  The athletes are superior in every way.