Tips
This page will include some tips for swimmers and parents from our coaching team.ADVICE FOR PARENTS
Policy for Parents Watching Training Sessions
The Warrender coaching staff encourage parents to watch training sessions from time to time. It’s probably not best to watch practice everyday, nor is it healthy to never come to the pool. The reality of transporting young athletes and carpools is that many parents are present everyday, however you don’t necessarily need to watch every minute of practice. Here are some important guidelines to keep in mind when observing a practice.
Firstly, young swimmers want their parents’ approval more than anything. If they know you are watching practice, it's only natural for some of their attention to be directed at you. However, for the swimmers to learn as much as possible, it is imperative that the coaches have your child’s undivided attention during practice. We therefore kindly request ask that you try not to communicate with your child during practice and compete with the coach for his/her attention.
Secondly, we insist that parents do not interrupt the coaches on deck while they are coaching. If you need to communicate with a coach, please do so before or after practice (if they are not coaching another group) or during their office hours.
Third, our coaches spend a considerable amount of time planning weekly training sessions for each of their groups. Each training set or instructional drill has a purpose and one practice and/or practice set often builds on another throughout the week. If you have not attended all training sessions, you may not understand the purpose of what the swimmers are doing on any given day.
Finally, please do not try to coach your child based on what you see (or think you don’t see) him/her do. Many times when teaching stroke skills, the coaches ask our swimmers to do things that might not look correct or might actually be illegal according to the rules, but does have an important purpose in teaching skills (ie. swimming one-arm fly or breaststroke with a flutter kick).
With these various reasons in mind, we ask parents to stay off the pool deck during practices and not attempt to coach your child based on what you observe at practice. Your cooperation and support in this matter is greatly appreciated. Please contact your child’s coach if you have any questions.
Firstly, young swimmers want their parents’ approval more than anything. If they know you are watching practice, it's only natural for some of their attention to be directed at you. However, for the swimmers to learn as much as possible, it is imperative that the coaches have your child’s undivided attention during practice. We therefore kindly request ask that you try not to communicate with your child during practice and compete with the coach for his/her attention.
Secondly, we insist that parents do not interrupt the coaches on deck while they are coaching. If you need to communicate with a coach, please do so before or after practice (if they are not coaching another group) or during their office hours.
Third, our coaches spend a considerable amount of time planning weekly training sessions for each of their groups. Each training set or instructional drill has a purpose and one practice and/or practice set often builds on another throughout the week. If you have not attended all training sessions, you may not understand the purpose of what the swimmers are doing on any given day.
Finally, please do not try to coach your child based on what you see (or think you don’t see) him/her do. Many times when teaching stroke skills, the coaches ask our swimmers to do things that might not look correct or might actually be illegal according to the rules, but does have an important purpose in teaching skills (ie. swimming one-arm fly or breaststroke with a flutter kick).
With these various reasons in mind, we ask parents to stay off the pool deck during practices and not attempt to coach your child based on what you observe at practice. Your cooperation and support in this matter is greatly appreciated. Please contact your child’s coach if you have any questions.
