PARENT INFORMATION
EVENING
Steven Ong
Coach Liaison Officer
28 February 2016
Introduction
Who am I?
• My background
• My interest in club – history, character of club
• My perspective – swimmer, coach, parent,
committee member
What does this talk cover?
• 4 parts
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Club participants & roles
Swimming & Training
Competing
Outlook
• Aim is to enhance understanding of the club and
the sport
• General in nature
• Questions at the end
Club Participants
The Committee
• All unpaid volunteers. Wide range of skills – many with high
level management & finance experience, also people with
specialist skills like HR, IT, working with children
• Primarily the high level management and finance of the club
• Similar to school governors except many committee members
have hands-on functions (e.g. events, meet secretary, website)
• Not easy – effectively running a decent sized business with
added responsibility for young people
• The committee has no specialist coaching skills or role in
coaching matters. The coaching side is run by qualified
professional coaches
The Coach Liaison Officer
• Committee member responsible for oversight of
coaching matters
• Acts as main interface between with coaches &
committee
• Not involved in daily coaching maters
• Can be approached about high level issues or
exceptional cases of coaching related problems which
are not Welfare
• On the latter, normal sequence is squad coach –
section coach – head coach
• Sometimes fills in gaps!
The Welfare Officer
• Specific position – attend & participate at
committee meetings but non-voting
• Held by Ruth Loveman
• Ruth to say a few words about the scope of
welfare
The Coaches
• Mike Cole – head coach, Daniel McDonald –
lead junior coach, Kate Chadwick –
foundation/reception are the section coaches
• Squad coaches
• Support & cover coaches
• Poolside helpers
The job of the coaches
• Physical safety, working with children - training
& compliance
• Senior Coaching demands total dedication unsociable hours & weekends, paperwork &
records behind the scenes, planning, not highly
lucrative
• Physically and emotionally demanding
• Additional responsibilities often required e.g.
coaches forums, seminars, talent programmes
The Swimmer and their Parents
• Young people – growing, school, peers
• Different challenges at different ages
• Juggling other demands, can be logistically
challenging
• Training & competing can be demanding
• Complicated & bewildering structure &
language for newcomers
The Officials
• Unpaid volunteers - parents of swimmers, parents of
ex-swimmers, occasionally swimmers themselves
• Thus would be linked to a club
• A limited resource pool – need to bear in mind, eg
where meets on the same weekend
• ASA qualifications:
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Timekeeper
Judges 1, 2
Starter J2(s)
Referee
• More later
Swimming &
Training
Why is swimming such a good thing?
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Whole body
Fitness, skill & flexibility
Low impact
Lifelong
Measurable
Life skills
Co-ed
Key swimmer success components
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Fitness – of different types
Motor Strength
Core Strength
Flexibility
Skills
Mental attitude – training
Mental attitude – competing
Why do swimmers train so much?
• Because they can!?
• Low impact
• Unfamiliar environment to body - need to
generate force in unstable medium while
moving against resistance & be able to
breathe
• Complex skills necessary
What is training designed to achieve?
• Importance of technique
• Particular importance of technique in early years
• Long Term Athlete Development phases
– SwimSkills: Late Childhood (Building Technique)
– Training To Train: Adolescence (Building the Engine)
– Training To Compete: Early Adulthood (Optimising
the Engine)
– Training To Win: Adulthood (Maximising the Engine)
Training components
• Skills & drills
• Working in different energy zones
• Specificity
“Do some 5O’s”?
• Swimmer with a 50m PB of 32”
– 30 x 50m on 1.00
– 20 x 50m on 50”
– 20 x 50m on 1.30, target time 1/4 of 200m PB
– 6 x 50m on 4.00, max effort
• Many different outcomes depending on
effort level, rest, mental approach
More about training
• Periodisation –different phases through a
season, not like team sports
• Prep – Main – Race – Peak
• Cyclical
• Land training
Coaches’ tools
• Coaches therefore needs a great deal of
technical knowledge
• Mental database of different speed & skill
levels, turnarounds, progression rates etc
• Land training alone is a specialist area
Progression
• Not a straight line
• Progression vs promotion, multiple
pathways to success
Competing
Competitions
• League meets – about points for the club
• Club run meets – internal, invitational or
open
• County – Regional – English National – GB
National
• Licensed times needed for entry
• Lower and upper QTs
• Not guaranteed entry – oversubscription
Competing considerations
• Needs to be considered alongside training
and fit within season plans
• LTAD
• Not advisable to compete too often
• “Self-tapering” short-termist, may not help
especially younger children
Challenges to competing
• British Swimming structure
– Certain meet levels (1 – 4) required for licensed
times
– Ranking for nationals based on Level 1 LC results
– Qualifying windows
• Officiating requirements to entry
Minimum requirement for officials
ASA qualification
Referee
Starter J2 (s)
J2
J1
J1 in training
Timekeeper
Unqualified finish
judge
Level
meet
1
1
1-2
4
12
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3 Level
meet
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1-2
3
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12
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4 CoStA
active
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3
3
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3
17
NC
Officials – reality check
• Need to consider officials not just for every meet but
for each session
• We could barely run our club champs at Level 4
• We are already in deficit at the favour bank for
borrowed officials
• All of our few active J1 and above officials are Senior
squad parents, most will be leaving over next 12-18
months, notably at the senior end
• League galas require 2-3 officials incl 1 J2+ for County
per team. Reliant on Senior squad parents even for
Peanuts
Officials – open meets
• Host clubs usually stipulate that a club should provide a
minimum number of officials (e.g. 1 per 10 swimmers, 1
per 5 swimmers, 2 per session)
• All officials must be at least J1 in training for Level 3 meet
• All officials must be at least J2 for Level 1 meet
• Getting into open meets is difficult with a high number of
swimmers, prejudiced further by the lack of officials
• On the reverse, an abundance of well qualified officials
will increase the chances of getting into meets & the types
of meets we can host
What can we do?
• More than anything, urgent need for TKs to start J1,
followed by more people upgrading to senior levels
• More new officials
• You can do it! No swimming background needed, J1
not onerous
• Advantages
– free admission with no queuing, free meals, ringside
view, active participation, make contacts
– can also include guaranteed swimmer entry, free parking,
thank you gifts
Outlook
Why is CoStA a great place?
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Experienced, skilled & dedicated coaches
Skilled committee
Great facilities
Good pool time
Large membership
Sporty area, talent pool
Family club with strong volunteer tradition
Multiple pathways for swimmers incl excellent Masters club
Starting now from a good level of success in league rankings,
representative levels
The future for us
• Some history – we have come a long way
• Last few months had some turbulence – new
structure to bed in, personnel changes &
shortage, new committee
• But – swimmers continuing to perform well,
great camp, excellent Counties, representative
team selection – need to celebrate
• New structure bedding in – new coach arriving
Wednesday good time to look forward & reset
• Great potential for a very successful club
A proposition for success
• Aspire for highest swimming achievements
while retaining inclusiveness and family club
character
• Helping all swimmers reach potential
• Keeping swimmers in the sport
• Celebrate achievements in swimming and in
all areas (charitable, officials etc.)
Success is a team effort
• Committee, parents, swimmers & coaches
pulling together as a team
• Each of us of us can contribute & do better in
our role
• Awareness & appreciation of challenges each
role faces
Best chance of success
• Inclusiveness & valuing every person
• Good communication
• Positive behaviour & attitude – positive
reinforcement
• Questions