Reading the Swimming Times I came across an article about the "Groundbreaking" development system launched by British Swimming to identify potential in swimmers and monitor their progress. Whilst I'm sure this system has been brought in entirely independently by British swimming is it always pleasing to see we as a club are ahead of the curve.
This system has many of the hall marks that our Prestige programme has (launched October last year). Swimmers will no longer be put forward just on times for the Podium Potential Programme but will have all aspects of their training monitored and assessed. The assessment areas will include Food Diaries, Attendance, Attitude to training, land training and social life, all of the areas which we monitor in the Prestige programme. The more swimmers we have on our Prestige programme that follow the guidelines given and improve these areas the stronger our club will be. Whilst this will eventually mean more work for myself and Alex, in terms of going through log books and food diaries, it is vital that swimmers understand the principles of good habits in and out of the pool thus giving them more of an opportunity to progress to the highest level.
If you wish to start the process and set up good habits prior to being put forward to Prestige please do not hesitate to contact me via email and I will explain all that is needed. Those that are already doing the Prestige requirements will find themselves advancing quicker as this type of monitoring really does help swimmers.
