SWIMMING GOLD

Wayne Goldsmith

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CHAQUE SEMAINE

Straight talk on swimming coaching from Wayne Goldsmith — 30+ years working with Olympic programs and national federations worldwide. Cutting through the noise on technique, training, race skills and building swimmers who love the sport. swimminggold.substack.com

-2 J

This Year's Backstroker is Next Year's Butterflyer.

By Wayne Goldsmith Let’s get this right from the start: There are NO 7 year old backstrokers. There are NO 9 year old freestylers. There are NO 10 year old IMers. There are just kids who swim — who, at that point in their development, swim one specific stroke a little better than the other strokes. Now I know coaches and parents everywhere are reading this and thinking “He’s wrong. Johnny the 8 year old just broke the club record for 50 backstroke. He’s a backstroker.” WRONG x A MILLION. Little Johnny is just an eight year old kid who, for whatever reason, happens to swim backstroke faster than the other eight year old kids. Coaches — we need to stop referring to young kids as stroke specialists. Why? Because parents and swimmers develop the expectation that: a. My child / I am a “champion” backstroker or freestyler or breaststroker — and there are NO 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 year old champions. b. My child / I don’t need to do the other strokes or learn the other events because I’m a “backstroker” or “freestyler.” The truth is this. A young swimmer could be brilliant at freestyle this year. Then they grow, their limb lengths change, and POW — they can’t swim freestyle very well anymore. Happens over and over all around the world. We know this. As coaches we’ve seen it a million times. Yet it keeps happening. My friends — here are five practical tips: * Do not refer to any swimmer under about 14 as “the butterflyer” or any single stroke specialisation. * Take a balanced approach to development — all strokes, all events, speed training, aerobic work, great skills, underwater kicking, dives, starts, turns, finishes. Balanced. * Discourage parents from entering their kids only in specialist stroke events at meets. “My 8 year old is a breaststroker so we’re only entering 50 and 100 breaststroke” — no. * Build an overall stroke development philosophy in your team. Focus on events like: * 50 metres all strokes (develops real speed) * 200 IM (develops all strokes, turning skills, endurance) * 400 freestyle (develops endurance, sustained speed, discipline) * Relays (fun, team spirit, speed development) * Educate parents and swimmers. Prepare them for the reality that bodies and minds change year by year — and it’s perfectly normal to change stroke focus right up until mid-teens. The bottom line? Don’t build a 9 year old backstroker. Build a 9 year old who loves swimming, learns everything, and becomes whatever they’re meant to become — when they’re ready. That’s how you develop swimmers for the long game. Swimming coaches — if you want to develop swimmers this way but need help making it work in your program, that’s exactly what I do in CoachTED. One-on-one mentoring for swimming coaches who want to coach for the long game — not just the next meet. Contact me through Swimming Gold or email wayne@moregold.com.au Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit swimminggold.substack.com/subscribe

6 min
-5 J

Speed, Speed, Speed.

By popular demand — let’s talk about speed. There’s a lot written about it. A lot talked about it. And a lot of confusion about how to actually develop it. Here are my five fundamentals of going fast, fast, fast: 1. Forget “throw your arms” I’m not a fan of that old drill where kids get on their back and just throw their arms as fast as possible. Some call it overspeed training. I don’t buy it — physiologically, biomechanically or from a skill learning perspective. It doesn’t teach anything except throwing your arms really fast. And our sport isn’t just about moving your arms quickly. It’s about moving your arms quickly with great technique and good skill — under fatigue, under pressure, in competition. All of those things together. Just thrashing your arms isn’t speed development. It’s just thrashing. 2. Speed is relaxation Here’s a core principle I believe in deeply: The faster you want to go, the more relaxed you have to be. So how does a coach apply this day to day? When you’re at the end of the pool about to send them off for a fast 50 — watch your language. Don’t say: “50 metres hard.” Don’t say: “All out effort.” Why? Because we want speed to feel effortless. Easy. Smooth. Try this instead: “This one — as fast as you can go, but easy, smooth and relaxed.” “Maximum speed, no effort, totally relaxed.” You’re marrying two concepts: maximum speed and maximum relaxation. Look at anything that moves fast in the animal kingdom. Look at track and field sprinters. The ones who move really quickly are loose, relaxed, smooth. You can’t swim faster by trying harder. Swimming isn’t an effort sport. It’s a technique sport. A skill sport. A relaxation sport. 3. Speed is speed is speed Just because you’re doing 25s or 50s doesn’t mean you’re doing a speed workout. It’s all about the rest. And the intensity. A real speed set might look like: * 8 x 25 on 3:00 - longer rest if needed. * 6 x 50 on 3:30 - longer rest if needed. Complete rest. Easy, relaxed recovery — static or dynamic, your choice. Short distances. Maximum speed. Lots of rest. Speed is speed is speed. Yes, there’s a case for doing speed work at the end of a session when they’re tired — technique under fatigue. That’s real. That’s what heats and finals feel like. But if you’re trying to develop genuine speed — short distances, long rest, not too many of them, great speed. 4. Fast + Long = Best When kids are starting out, we think about moving arms quickly. Fine. But as they develop, we need them to move their arms quickly with maximum distance per stroke. It’s no good if they can thrash their arms really fast but they’re taking 30 strokes per 50. We’re looking for the combination: fast and long. Fast is good. Long is good. Fast and long is best. Long strokes at maximum speed. Pressure on the water throughout the stroke. Maintaining length while moving quickly. That’s what we’re chasing. 5. Speed work all year round This might be the most important one. I see coaches around the world obsessed with what I call exclusion blocks. The first seven weeks of the season — endurance only. Then pre-competition — a bit of speed, lots of threshold. Then they throw speed in at the end and hope it comes back. I totally disagree. Speed is the most precious thing in our sport. Nobody lies in bed at night dreaming of doing 40 x 100. Kids are lying in bed thinking: how do I go faster? Olympic gold medals. World records. PBs. Qualifying for the next level. This whole sport is about going faster. It makes no sense to kill speed off for months with huge volumes of training and then hope it magically returns. Wishing, hoping and prayer do not represent a solid strategy. Do speed work at least two or three times a week. All year round. Even in the middle of your so-called endurance block. More and more coaches around the world are moving away from exclusion blocks toward holistic, balanced programs that include deliberate speed work throughout the year. The One-Second Test Here’s my rule of thumb: Swimmers should never be more than one second slower than their PB 50 time — at any point in the year. Middle of an endurance block? They should still be able to touch speed. If you kill it off and just hope it comes back — chances are, one day it won’t. Speed is the most precious thing in this sport. Protect it. Over to you What are your favourite speed sessions? How do you talk to your swimmers about going fast? How do you generate real speed in your workouts? I’d love to hear from you. Drop a comment below. Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit swimminggold.substack.com/subscribe

9 min
2 MARS

The Best Coaching Lesson You Will Ever Learn

By Wayne Goldsmith A lot of coaches, when they start out, focus on one thing: physiology. The body. The physical elements of swimming. They spend years looking for drills, workouts, training programs, session plans. They go to conferences. An elite coach stands up and talks about their sets and reps, their periodisation. Everyone writes it down or takes a photo of the PowerPoint. Everyone’s looking for the secret formula, the magic pill, the quick fix that’s going to turn their program into a high-performance machine. Colleagues, that’s not where your advantage is going to come from. Because of the internet and AI, you can get anything, anytime, anywhere — mostly for free. Type “top 10 freestyle drills for age group swimmers” into ChatGPT or Google and you’ll get solid answers in seconds. That stuff is everywhere now. There was a time when coaches guarded their best drills and workouts. Not anymore. You are no longer limited by your knowledge of the sport. You are no longer limited by what drills you know or how much you understand about heart rate or lactate. Those things are not limits anymore because everybody knows what everybody knows. There are no secrets. When I travel, people ask me: “What’s the secret to the Australian program? What are they doing differently?” The answer is nothing. Everybody is doing more or less what everybody else is doing. The one thing that will give you an advantage is YOU. Your coaching. The way you connect with your swimmers. The way you build relationships. The people factors are more important than ever. There is no app, no drill, no download that’s going to fix every problem you’ve got. There is no coach in the world — regardless of how many Olympic gold medals they’ve won — who holds secrets in their workouts. That is not the secret to success. Your edge is your ability to connect with kids. To put smiles on faces. To make them fall in love with the experience of swimming. To create friendship groups so they keep coming back. Some coaches hear this and say I’m getting soft. I’m not. If swimmers love what they do, they work harder at it. They come more often. They commit more fully to training and competition. Measuring VO2 or counting laps is nowhere near as important as you think it is. Coaching is far more important than you think it is. Believe in your coaching. Believe in yourself. Believe in your way of doing things. It’s your relationships, your personality, your energy, your character, your values. The things you already have. Not equipment. Not apps. Not downloads. Not AI. The difference is you. What do you do to connect and inspire the swimmers in your program? Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit swimminggold.substack.com/subscribe

6 min
25 FÉVR.

Confidence = Belief x Evidence

By Wayne Goldsmith Coaches and parents often ask me: “How do I help my swimmer develop confidence?” Here’s the equation I use: Confidence = Belief × Evidence Think of confidence as a can — the Confidence Can. Our job as coaches — and as swimmers — is to fill that can with experiences. Evidence that proves “I CAN do this.” Every quality training session. Every race where they held their technique under pressure. Every time they got back on the blocks after a disappointing swim. Every early morning they showed up when they didn’t feel like it. That’s evidence. And evidence fills the ‘can. But here’s what most people miss: evidence alone isn’t enough. The other half of the equation — Belief — is what parents bring. Your unconditional love. Your complete acceptance of your child, win or lose, PB or DQ. Your child needs to know — with absolute certainty — that they are loved for who they are, not for what they achieve in the pool. Belief × Evidence. When coaches and swimmers fill the Confidence Can with great experiences, consistent training, quality recovery and healthy habits — AND parents provide that most powerful gift of all, unconditional love — something magical happens. Your swimmer stands behind the blocks, in any pool, at any meet, and thinks: I can. I can. I can. Know a swim coach or swimming parent who'd find this useful? Share this post or send them to swimminggold.substack.com Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit swimminggold.substack.com/subscribe

7 min
23 FÉVR.

Swim Faster by Swimming Straighter — The Straight Line Principle

By Wayne Goldsmith I often get asked to do pool deck sessions with swim teams when I travel. Most of the time it’s drills and skills practices or “motivation” talks, attitude talks etc. But there’s one session I love to do because it’s so important: Straight Line Swimming. Swimming is a straight line sport. We start in a straight line: it’s called Streamlining. We swim in a straight line and avoid the lane ropes if we can. We turn straight! We come to the middle of the lane to then accelerate into the turn so we can turn and push off in a straight line. And we finish straight. We come to the middle of the lane and kick powefully to the wall to touch right in the centre of the lane. We start straight - we swim straight - we turn straight - we finish straight. When you think about it, we start and finish in streamline - as every great finish is Head forward, hips high, full kick and full stroke position on the wall. Coaches it is important you teach and continually reinforce straight line swimming. Why? Because under the pressure of competition, swimmers will do what they've practised. If we don’t teach them to start, swim, turn and finish in straight lines, then - when it really matters - they’ll be swimming in circles! Swimming. It’s a straight line sport. Know a swim coach who'd find this useful? Share this post or send them to swimminggold.substack.com Wayne This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit swimminggold.substack.com/subscribe

7 min
20 FÉVR.

The 7 Top Swimming Technique Tips You Need to Know

By Wayne Goldsmith No matter what stroke. No matter the age of the squad swimmer. From “Minis to Masters” - there’s 7 Technique Tips that I guarantee will improve the swimming technique of every swimmer you coach. * Soft hands; * Loose feet; * Head and hips relationship; * Breathing; * Slow to fast; * Relax Relax Relax; * Feel - Connect - Pull. I promise you - these Magnificent 7 work every time! Wayne Goldsmith P.S. Paid subscribers will get a much longer and more detailed video on the “Magnificent 7” next week. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit swimminggold.substack.com/subscribe

10 min
17 FÉVR.

Coach Your Coaching

Write a training session for yourself, coach! We all write workouts for our athletes. We know the repeats, the drills, the distances, the times. We prepare everything in advance for our swimmers. But what about YOUR plan? Add a column to your workout that says: “How I Will Coach.” So when the swimmers’ workout says “10 x ABC Drill” — yours says “Be energetic. Give individual feedback. Change the speed three times.” When their workout says “Cool-down and stretch” — yours says “Connect 1:1 with two swimmers. Ask how they’re feeling.” Plan their workout. Plan YOUR coaching. Then coach WITH them. What would be on YOUR coaching plan today? Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit swimminggold.substack.com/subscribe

6 min
12 FÉVR.

One Session to Change Their Lives.

What would you do if you had ONE session with a team you don’t know, in a place you’ve never been, sometimes in a language you don’t speak, in a culture you don’t understand? I have the best job in the world. I get to travel around the globe spending time with swimming coaches, swimmers and swimming families everywhere. When I travel, coaches will often ask me to come and visit their pool and spend some time with their swim team. Sometimes they ask me to take a session. Other times it’s a talk on pool deck about attitude, motivation, team work or choosing to be exceptional. Or sometimes the coach will ask me to just walk up and down the pool with them talking about coaching, technique, skills and training. But no matter what they ask me to do, I challenge myself around this one question: What can I do in two hours that can make a real and lasting impact on their swimming careers? Here’s my answer: I make them feel good about themselves. I can’t improve their physiology in one session — so I don’t try. I can’t fix their technique in a single workout — so I don’t waste their time or mine. What I CAN do is inspire them to believe in themselves — just a little. Be a spark in their hearts that could change everything. I coach the Power of Choice. Coaches — our job, above all else, is to inspire people to believe in themselves and that anything is possible. Yes, we coach technique, tactics, speed, strength. But the effectiveness of our coaching comes down to one thing: our ability to inspire everyone we coach to believe in themselves — and in us. Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit swimminggold.substack.com/subscribe

8 min

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Straight talk on swimming coaching from Wayne Goldsmith — 30+ years working with Olympic programs and national federations worldwide. Cutting through the noise on technique, training, race skills and building swimmers who love the sport. swimminggold.substack.com

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Wayne Goldsmith
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39
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