Lessons From Coaching

19 Jan 2020

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I have been a active swimmer for most of my life. My parents put me into swimming lessons from a young age and constantly took me and my brothers to the beach. Needless to say I feel very comfortable in the water. This eventually led to me joining a swim team called Manoa Aquatics. By the time I have written this essay, I would have been with the club for almost 13 years. After I graduated, my coaches asked me if I wanted to coach as well since the club only had a few coaches and they could always use the extra help around the pool. I thought it would be a good experience and agreed to it.

Growing Pains

It was a very daunting class at first since I had to try teach the younger generation the technique that I had already built into muscle memory. However the other coaches helped me along the way, teaching me various drills as well as techniques to pass on. Eventually I ended up teaching a small group of little kids. It was a very troubling experience to say the least. They were very wild, some barely listened to instructions but others actually did listen very intently to what I had to say. With these kids I had to change my coaching style as I am a very quiet person, so I started getting more stricter with them and eventually most of them fell in line.

Looking Forward

While most of them listen and are improving its the ones that still mess around that I am still trying to control. It is a very difficult task finding new ways to keep their attention on swimming as well as try to help them improve. Coaching overall has made me more confident dealing with other people as well as more of a critical thinker trying to fix swimmer’s techniques as well as figure out what’s wrong with their stroke.