Her: "So did you swim here at UC-San Diego?"
Me: "No, I didn't swim in college. I ran track and cross country at the University of Nebraska."
Her: "Did you swim in high school?"
Me: "No, I was too busy with track and cross country."
Her: "So how can you coach swimming?"
Me: "I learned it. I know the technical aspects, and I understand training stimulus, specificity and periodization, how to read athletes, follow data to see how to adjust the stimulus."
Her: "But you never swam?"
Me: "I swam for years as an adult, ma'am, training for triathlons."
Her: "But how can you coach swimming if you never competed in swimming?"
Her: "But you never swam?"
Me: "I swam for years as an adult, ma'am, training for triathlons."
Her: "But how can you coach swimming if you never competed in swimming?"
There is an old school belief that if you didn't come from the sport at a young age, and grow to be some elite athlete at it, you can't know how to coach it. When I was a youngster, I was learning, but I wasn't learning at the rate I have been as an adult. I know what it is like to compete at a high level in many different sports, from running to cycling to triathlon. I know what it is like to suffer through a large training load, and commit to high goals. I have been mentored by some of the top coaches and athletes in all of endurance sports, from Peter Reid, Greg Welch, Joe Friel, Bobby McGee, Gerry Rodrigues, Mike Holman, Bob Seebohar, Cliff English and many more.
I coached the Elite Women's National Winter Tri Champion a few years ago, and I have never cross-country skied or snow-shoed a day in my life. But I understand training stress, specificity and how to monitor for those two to match.
It's not about what I did as a kid, it's about what I know as an adult. It's actually an advantage, I believe, (and I was also told this once by Gerry Rodrigues), that I didn't come from the background of a swimmer, because I see the world of swimming differently than those who did. I come with a different skill set, and I'm not stuck in old school beliefs like the woman had.
So far the girls swim team at UC High is enjoying probably it's best season ever, undefeated and just clinched the Eastern League Championship this week, which is only it's 3rd since 1992. We've had one school record broken twice, (100 freestyle in 56.31 and 55.80), and there very well may be more records to come. The boys have a ways to go, they mostly swim as water polo supplement training, but the improvement is clear so far.
I took the UC High swim coach job because I was confident I could apply the principles I've learned about training effect, specificity and periodization, and apply them to swimming as a single sport. Would I be perfect and make all the right decisions? No, but that's a standard no coach can meet in any sport or at any level. But you only get better with experience, and training decisions seem to be easier once you have that experience to draw on. I challenged myself with swimming, and it seems I had good reason to be confident.
I was confident because it's not about I did as a kid or in the past at all, it's about what I'm doing right now. As an athlete, you should have the same confidence, especially if you're using your experience to draw from.
Good luck.
Coach Vance
I coached the Elite Women's National Winter Tri Champion a few years ago, and I have never cross-country skied or snow-shoed a day in my life. But I understand training stress, specificity and how to monitor for those two to match.
It's not about what I did as a kid, it's about what I know as an adult. It's actually an advantage, I believe, (and I was also told this once by Gerry Rodrigues), that I didn't come from the background of a swimmer, because I see the world of swimming differently than those who did. I come with a different skill set, and I'm not stuck in old school beliefs like the woman had.
So far the girls swim team at UC High is enjoying probably it's best season ever, undefeated and just clinched the Eastern League Championship this week, which is only it's 3rd since 1992. We've had one school record broken twice, (100 freestyle in 56.31 and 55.80), and there very well may be more records to come. The boys have a ways to go, they mostly swim as water polo supplement training, but the improvement is clear so far.
I took the UC High swim coach job because I was confident I could apply the principles I've learned about training effect, specificity and periodization, and apply them to swimming as a single sport. Would I be perfect and make all the right decisions? No, but that's a standard no coach can meet in any sport or at any level. But you only get better with experience, and training decisions seem to be easier once you have that experience to draw on. I challenged myself with swimming, and it seems I had good reason to be confident.
I was confident because it's not about I did as a kid or in the past at all, it's about what I'm doing right now. As an athlete, you should have the same confidence, especially if you're using your experience to draw from.
Good luck.
Coach Vance
