Counties are finally over for another year and as usual its review and reflect time.
I haven't had time to do a full statistical analysis of the results, so this is done on feel, impressions, feedback and knowledge of the swimmers prior to and during the event.
In my 10 years as head coach at Long Eaton I have had the privlage to work with some of, Long Eaton's best swimmers as well as Britain's best. Whilst this may not of been our biggest medal haul in that time, this was one of, if not the proudest counties I have coached at.
Recently we have lost a lot of our senior swimmers for a multitude of
reasons so the club is in a transitional period, this is normal and is
to be expected, so, as with Arena league this was our youngest ever
group of swimmers competing in the County Championships, many for the
first time.
It wasn't the estimated pb ratio of 73%, the numerous finalists and medal winners or the new regional qualifying times achieved that impressed me.
What impressed me was the development of all the swimmers on an holistic scale. We preach a lot about our holistic approach to coaching within the club, where we develop the swimmer as a person and not just an athlete and this is now bearing the fruits of success.
Whilst this is County Championships, where it sits in the season and given it is short course from a coaching point of view it is a frustrating and awkward competition, It takes up the whole of February as you cant compete around it because of the need to train and the level is wrong for the event. Ran over two full weekends, it is a very tiring meet for all concerned, swimmers, volunteers, parents and coaches so performance levels are never at there fullest potential. So with all those factors we took the decision to not focus on this event and train through it once again.
In previous seasons this has caused swimmers to be upset, because lets face it, they want to perform at their best, not just for themselves but in front of their peers and family, especially as they tend to race their county opponents more than any others.
This year however felt very different, for the younger swimmers not by much as they really don't need a tapper and the first time swimmers would know no different anyway, but the bottom end youth (13-15) and senior (16+) swimmers handled themselves with professionalism and determination throughout the competition. It makes it easier that parents are now understanding the "process" more and letting the coaches coach for the most part. I cannot stress how much this helps your swimmers relax and enjoy the sport knowing the clock is not the only measurement parents are looking at.
Despite being in what we coaches call a "hole" due to a heavy workload in training, swimmers stepped up in every race, they listened to the advice of coaches and executed race plans and tactics, most worked, whilst, some were basically a learning curve as the swimmers don't have a history of racing the event. The swimmers did this time and time again, showing the day one race one mentally and toughness we have been reinforcing in them in abundance.
Swimmers are starting to appreciate more and more that what they do off pool is as important as what they do in the pool, looking their hydration and nutrition in particular this was a massive improvement. I would still like to see better pre and post pool done especially as there was no warm down facility, but even this was better with less reminders given. Following team mangers instructions was better but again still needs improving, the team managers are following the coaches guidance and therefore should be listened to in the same way, but this was only an issue for a couple of swimmers.
All in all this was one of our best counties ever, race craft, tactics, self awareness and understanding all massively improved. It wouldn't be me if I didn't want more though, faster turns, stronger under waters and smoother transitions all need working on every opportunity you get in training, as with many of the disqualifications, which we didn't have a lot of, these were mainly down to poor training habits and not practicing things right.
As swimmers you have set a high bar over the last two weekends and I am proud of that and you, however, I expect that bar to be raised every competition from now on.
A massive thank you to all who helped out and ran the galas.
I am proud of this club and the direction we are going in. Well done to you all.
**thats the line drawn, now time to move forward :) phahahaha **
55 entries this year, lets make it 100 next year.
