This morning I am musing on yet another coaching experience. It is not a new one really, but last night pushed me toward a stronger desire than ever to be a clear translator on deck and in the pool. This also means if I have a swimmer on deck I need to have them able to translate for themselves. First I have to visualize and then translate. Translate what? Concepts, ideas, movement.

My TI coach training was very helpful with firming up the idea of clearly seeing and feeling. Since I wasn’t a swim kid (perhaps?) my ability to translate horizontal, in-water feelings to upright, on land feelings and vice versa was, and still is, a real challenge. Ten years ago I could not feel on land what a coach would try to show me. I stood there and felt it, of course, but as a coach would rotate my body or move my arms around I’d say "uh huh" and maybe get it for a minute and then it would disappear. I would be encouraged that my body would remember later, to just start and it would come back. Fortunately when I got into the pool it was somewhat true. I would remember what drills to do once I started. But clarity, able to see it in my head or be able to describe it? There was too much to process at that time. System temporarily down for maintenance.

Oh! But back to last night. Boy do I see a lot of coaches on deck not showing correct form. Now I understand that, in this case, we were talking to kids but…shouldn’t we illustrate a proper backstroke pull even if they aren’t fully integrating it yet? Shouldn’t I be showing a straight arm in front of my body and a hooked/bent arm for the catch when I would be in the water? Then when the kid does it you have to intelligently chose which dragon to go after first or which important point to clarify. All I saw on deck was a non-rotating, straight arm windmill. So I get what she was showing but shouldn’t we be more accurate so as to implant a complete picture? When we walk we aren’t showing kids the simplified version. OK. Stand. Move the right leg. Move the left. But we do that in swimming. Hmm. OK again. I get that we are land animals. But personally I think we should all be as crystal clear as Terry, Shinji and Shane when they make us practice our swinging recovery arm on land. And how many times have I had to stop myself from combining a stand up posture and swim posture? I’m standing up and trying to drag my arm across the horizontal water surface.Yikes! Stop. Face the swimmer. "I’m the line on the bottom of the pool," I announce, as much for me as for them. Then they are feeling the right muscles. 

I went to a presentation by Steve Haufler last fall and had the good fortune to be seated next to him when he wasn’t presenting. At one point I was illustrating backstroke to him. He grabbed my hand and said,  "No. This way." I thought I was doing pretty well but obviously there are still deeper levels of understanding of swimming and teaching that I want to bring to the water every time I show up.

All of you more deeply knowing of swimming and teaching coaches, what have you found? Students of swimming (that is probably everyone here), what have you experienced as your understanding has expanded? I had one coach years ago advise me not to watch videos as I would not understand what I was seeing and would translate incorrectly. But I think back to a child learning to walk or–wasn’t it the Inner Game of Tennis that described the value of watching someone who is very good at something? You get a clear vision. So, I think clarity in the coach’s mind and clarity in visualization and translation is more important than a lot of folk think. It’s that TI thing again. :)