Consistent dedication to the mundane like streamlineEveryone has excellent streamline habit (all the time without thought). That to NOT do a streamline would make the swimmer physically uncomfortable.A feeling that excellence is expected with allowance for failure, improvement, and progress.Swimmers feel watched, celebrated, and encouraged to improve through feedback, attention, and coaching. See "Finding Deliberate Practice," "SIP 052: Swimming is a Habit," and "SIP 067: Deliberate Practice." Your framework and routine should reinforce the key things you want to accomplish with your swimmers. My number one goals: Everyone has excellent streamline habit (all the time without thought). That to NOT do a streamline would make the swimmer physically uncomfortable.A feeling that excellence is expected with allowance for failure, improvement, and progress.Swimmers feel watched, celebrated, and encouraged to improve through feedback, attention, and coaching. Coach behavior on deck: If you see something to fix, you must say sometime. Avoid socializing and standing in one spot; unless resting. If you are expecting excellence, then excellence is expected OF you too. Enforce what you want done; non-enforcement = acceptable behavior. Know when to back off; you can still say something without demining or making someone feel bad. "You didn't streamline. Next time streamline." "You forgot the streamline." They nod and agree. "next time." You and they smile. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

Establishing your habits, your consistency, and defining the framework that will lead to better swimmers faster. Why routine is important:SIP 052: Swimming is a habit (swimminglessonsideas.com)SIP 045: Importance of Routine (swimminglessonsideas.com) What is our routine and why do we do it? Warmup: 100 IM K50 Swim2 x 25 Position 11Question of the DayWhat is the order of a 100 IM swim event? Learning Set: Two small groups that switch back and forth Group 1, Skill 13 x SL on BK; stay underwater until you get to the flags if possible.Group 2, Skill 23 x SL + 1 FLY stroke NO KICKING! Do the fly arms at the surface; okay to move yourself backwards Aerobic and Practice what you learned set: All together building on Question of the day and the small group practice. 3 x {1 x 100 FREE with fins2 x 50, 25 BK, 25 2 strokes Fly then fly kick rest of 25, then 25 BK3 x SL + 5 FREE + 1 Breath1 Challenge} --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

This can be that guide for you. But… you need to know where you're going. What are you going to have as your plan? What is your formula for success going to be? How will you structure your swimming developmental program for fun and effective instruction. Fun. Children. Establishing habit. Enforcing excellence. You need to have a plan, a formula, and guide. Where are you going what are you intending to do? What are you intending and what are you pulling from? Define your minimum skill level. - Who will you accept? - What will your tryout be? - What will you be teaching, training, or working on in practices? Define your levels or grouping for developmental swimmers. - Will you be a single practice group or multiple? - What needs to be demonstrated before a swimmer moves out of your group? Define how you will structure your practices. - Which location - Lane size, distance, type - Maximum number of swimmers - How many coaches - What do coaches do in a practice? Define how you will write your practices. - What is important for you? - Yardage vs skill learning - How will you teach new skills in a way that allows failure, but doesn't promote bad habits? - Will there be fun baked in? ○ What do you define as fun? Define what your goals are for swimmers in your Developmental practices. - Fun? - Love of the sport - Drill work and skill focus - What does the coach want to do in the practice? - What do you want the swimmers to take from practices? Define competition - Can developmental swimmers go to swim meets? - Should they compete? - Starts? - Disqualifications. Write it down. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

Document how to run an effective Developmental swim lesson program. What elements do you absolutely need to be effective? - A plan, formula, or guide - Routine - Consistent dedication to the mundane like streamline ○ Establishing habit ○ Instilling discipline (hard work and precise body control) - Balancing the hard work with fun; activity, activity, challenge - Earning respect - Talking with parents - Know your progressions --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

How to come up with a game or a challenge. - Think of a core skill. - Put a roadblock into teaching that skill or performing it well ○ Examples - Evaluate whether it is fun ○ Achievable ○ Simple ○ Too difficulty ○ Teaching the wrong skill ○ Relevant enough to the original skill Games: - Think of a core skill, but in more broad terms like: ○ Streamlines ○ Gliding ○ Movement ○ Buoyancy ○ Pushing on water - Create rules and goals - Goals are objectives: what the people do, ideally doing the skill you want them to work on, or a target by which the swimmers must do the skill you want to work on to succeed. - Rules are the roadblocks, or the conditions that lead to struggle and learning - Evaluate whether or not they're fun. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

Today we look at the lesson coordinator handbook for finding an effective instruction segment on training swim instructors in person. We will do a brief overview of what's included in the workbook as well as any discussion on why certain elements are included and what the activity activity discussion format looks like. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

With all of summers insane madness Are you ready to push through into fall and winter programming? That's right with all the rush, activity, intensity, and pure energy that comes with the summer months where do you find the motivation to continue working on aquatic programming and hiring.?   We're gonna take a look at how to set realistic and specific goals for yourself.   Celebrate your achievements and reward yourself by for hitting specific milestones that you may have set in the spring   Seek feedback and support from staff that may have left already, are still in high school and remaining in town, or veterans that have made a career with you. Seek also your peers and surrounding areas and find out how things went with them. Debrief with your team and any other members of the aquatic community that use your facilities.   Set goals for trying new things and to improve your own experience like new courses, new training, or new opportunities.   Take vacations! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

Why we have a single sheet for repeating parent tot classes. What we used to do: - Follow the lesson plans based on day. - Challenges ○ People missed classes ○ Parents have VERY drastically different abilities, interest, and involvement. ○ New instructors not as familiar. - Have to find which day, which lesson ○ Different ability levels and ages in the classes; why are we resetting for advanced people for the new? What we did: - Used the same lesson plan online using a TV on the deck - Safety and state certification removed the TV from the deck What we're going to do ○ Projector inside against a large white wall ○ Bluetooth music on QR code on the lesson plan Why the repeatable lesson plan works: - Establishes habit - Each activity is narrow and very deep; lots of opportunity to do it in different ways from beginner to master. - Songs still involved - Additional skills. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

We review the swim lessons plans found at www.swimminglessonsideas.com and see how our swim instructors use them including their success and struggles. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

What has it been like? What is our procedure? How do we teach? Challenges: Getting swimmers moving. Handling difficult swimmers. Coaching and commands. Resilience of children and adaptability. Tools: Lesson plans and TV for website lessons. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

What should you do if you are comfortable? What should you do it if you're not comfortable? Covid-19 and the coronavirus pandemic is real. We just saw this week that the president got infected and foolishly hosted events without face coverings that subsequently infected many other people at a White house event. I know. This is insane. Right? If the white house can't stay safe, how can we expect to remain safe while teaching swimming lessons? We live in a world that requires us to go to work. Aquatic professionals need to bring in revenue. We need to have people taking lessons, using the pool, and participating in our programs. How can we make ourselves feel safer? Set up a system.Wear face coverings the entire time you're coaching or teaching.Space participants apart with a good distance.Have regular airflow across the pool surface and expel it.Limit your exposure.Ask your staff what they're comfortable with.Screen your participants.Require parent involvement.Kick people out that don't follow your rules; be unapologetic about your own safety. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

Find out what Swimming Ideas Level structure is and why we use it. Learn the nuances of each level and the progression of skills that takes a 3 year old who doesn't like the water to a competitive swim team swimmer. For all the information covered here go to: https://www.swimminglessonsideas.com/resources/ Level 1: https://www.swimminglessonsideas.com/blog/level-1/ Level 2: https://www.swimminglessonsideas.com/blog/level-2/ Level 3: https://www.swimminglessonsideas.com/blog/level-3/ Level 4: https://www.swimminglessonsideas.com/blog/level-4/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

Today is all about the online course, Teaching Swimming, that comes with the companion PDF of the physical book available on Amazon. This training course covers the crucial skills your teachers need to begin having effective instruction. When your staff is confident, in command, and clear they can expand on having fun. We're going to review the basics of each section and give you a brief overview on how to be a better swim instructor. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

Teach better Parent Tot, Parent and Infant classes with Julia Johnson. Show notes here: https://www.swimminglessonsideas.com/blog/sip-089-safe-children-that-love-swimming-with-julia-johnson/ Julia Johnson grew up in Michigan where she learned to swim during summer swim lessons by going to beaches and pools.  She swam competitively in high school and then completed a few aquatrathons, sprint triathlons and a 5k swim in the years after graduation.  Julia studied mental health and social work in college and realized that her passion was building mental health through swimming and coaching.  Over the last 17 years she has worked for country clubs, community education programs, schools, athletic clubs and finally found her way to the YMCA of Memphis and the Midsouth.  During the last 17 years she's been coaching and leading staff, program design, launching new programs, teaching swimmers 3month-adults in their 90s, adaptive lessons, coaching middle school, age group swim team, and masters.  Julia is passionate about the physical and mental benefits that evolve from swimming and especially enjoys helping the youngest of our learn to swim participants and their parents.  Want more information about Julia? Email her here: julia.johnson@ymcamemphis.org --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

Breaststroke kick is difficult to do. It is an unnatural motion for many swimmers. There will always be that small subsect of people that have learned how to do it on their own and in fact prefer it to the flutter kick motion. I believe these are people that pushed the water in the "breaststroke way" when they were learning and stuck with it because it makes them move. Spent a lot of time watching children swim. For a long time I've been a proponent of "nurture over nature" and that genes are actually an expression of nurture over a longer timeline. Swimmers experience stuff in the water, and they build on what they've felt and experienced. Their swimming is a reflection of their trial and error experiences in the water. We need to replace lots of their habits with better ones through repetition, time, and guidance. Teaching breaststroke kick to beginners is one of the worst things about teaching swimming; its difficult, its hard, its frustrating, and it is the clearest example of a boring struggle to get kids to do something they don't understand, can't feel, and don't like to do. We're going to make it easier. A segment of people have natural breaststroke kick. These are people that have learned intuitively the powerful force breaststroke kick can provide. You won’t really need to “teach” breaststroke kick to them beyond refinement and gliding after each kick. Most people struggle with breaststroke kick. This progression will make it easier. Teaching the breaststroke kick, or the whip kick, is a slog, a long press through swampy struggle that will take significant patience, repetition, and focused feedback and refinement. Do not be discouraged. We’ve made it easier. Begin with “flex.” Want to see the progression and pictures? Get the book online or join the online course: https://www.swimminglessonsideas.com/product/teaching-swimming-fun-and-effective-instruction/ Physical print book from Amazon: https://amzn.to/2XVwqQZ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

I feel like one of the best ways to improve my coaching and teaching is to ask myself, "how can I improve?" We tell our swimmers to self-evaluate during their swimming. This is essentially what meditation is. Ask a question: https://anchor.fm/swimmingideas/message Meditation is training your brain to recognize it's doing something you don't want it to do and realigning it to your will. If we're good at meditating, then we're going to be better swimmers if we know what to look for. It is the coach and swim instructor's job to inform and guide the swimmer's thoughts so they can improve their swimming during a practice or lesson. We do this through feedback and attention focusing. There is two components: Knowledge dump. Learn all the      things. ExposureRepetitionMastery Guided focus Pay attention to       this one thing.Drills that highlight       specific elementsDo it wrong so you know how       to do it rightMantra's, habits, and       allowing mistakes. Did that practice go well? Did it meet the objectives I had in place? What should I change? What were the elements that I struggled with? What are elements of it that my participants struggled with? Be brave to admit failures. If we ask our swimmers to fail and be comfortable in it we should be too. Make small changes to adapt to your swimmers. Are you getting upset with the swimmers, the children, in your lessons or practices? Its's your fault. How can you reset to give yourself a chance to evaluate and reorient? Write it down. Make changes live on website. Make your own lesson plans. Give your staff training opportunities to be self aware. Do it wrong.Give them a teaching task,      but put limitations on it. Can't say the word "okay" or get      swimmers to Streamline without saying streamline.Put a time limit on number of      attempts. Build confidence in your staff and yourself by making changes on the fly and allowing freedom in lessons (contradictory to doing things a certain way. Fences with broad leeway inside those fences). What do you do to self evaluate? Questions? Ask a question: https://anchor.fm/swimmingideas/message --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

What are the essential skills you should be teaching your lesson managers? You can find information at https://www.swimminglessonsideas.com/resources/ Under the Level Description guides. They details the specific needs of each "level" and what to look out for including guidance for lesson managers.  Criteria for an effective swim lesson manager:  - Understanding of level structure, essential skills, and how to teach them. ○ How do you hold a child for supported front and back glides § Why is this so important? § Need to enforce and teach others how to do it. ○ Be outgoing and not afraid to give feedback.  § Through training § Can still be an introvert and anxious. Must overcome through mentorship and direction ○ Familiar with your program's nuances.  - Confident enough in own ability to communicate your programs specifics and procedures to parents.  - Mature enough to make safe and rational decisions in a changing environment.  Ways you can train your lesson managers.  Teaching Swimming Online Course and Wordbook. https://www.swimminglessonsideas.com/courses/teaching-swimming/ Prove mastery.  Information dump and gathering.  Review the Discussion questions with an Aquatic Professional.  (found in the print version and PDF). Have a management training where the aquatic professional directs lesson managers in how to be a leader amongst their peers. - How to run an effective meeting. ○ Have one main speaker.  ○ Avoid the "chime in."  ○ Be clear with your objective. Stick to the task at hand without tangents. Teens are adults when it comes to learning.  ○ Engage as many people at the same time as possible. § Small groups with repetitive training exercises.  § Delegate leadership to trusted staff with specific tasks □ Be clear in instruction, and be clear with expected feedback and expected actions.  ® "run these scenarios, make sure everyone gets a turn, and ensure that everyone gets a chance to participate and get feedback. Focus specifically on this [one thing]. - How to give effective feedback to your instructors ○ Should you intervene in a lesson? ○ Followup before and after the swim lesson ○ Give training materials.  - How to organize swim classes ○ What criteria do you use to group like-level swimmers? ○ Consider location ○ Program specific routines - How to communicate with parents. ○ Lean on your expertise  ○ Remind manager that they are experts in this field and parents are not. They paid to send their kids to swim lessons.  ○ Talk to parents frequently. Meet them. Introduce self, and follow up during the lesson. ○ Give updates on what their specific swimmer is doing. Avoid generalities.  Mentor your managers. Guide and groom them.  Check in on them and make sure that they understand you're there to support them and get them to improve. You're both on a team, you're not there to punish them when they fail; which they will.  How do you make sure they're doing a good job? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

Intro: What are Challenges? Why have they replaced games? QuickerIndividual basedapply to broad ability levelstailored for groupssideways learningthey are gamescelebrated success opportunitiesstriving to "challenge" self improves overall swimming Live use Where you can find them Swim Challenges: The new swimming game standard. Practice Components Premium Swim Lesson Plans – Digital Only Developmental Swim Practices for Teams --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

What can you do at your swim practice and swim lessons to promote Deliberate Practice, and how does mediation teach you to be a better swimmer. What is deliberate practice: https://jamesclear.com/beginners-guide-deliberate-practice " While regular practice might include mindless repetitions, deliberate practice requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance. From https://jamesclear.com/beginners-guide-deliberate-practice> The role of Coaching! How the challenge format promotes deliberate practice: they are specific opportunities to train the brain through stimulating "challenge" to accomplish a task using deliberate though to achieve the goal. Carryover into what we're doing. High volume coach interaction. Constant feedback during lessons Getting the format out of the way (use scaffolding or routines). Encourage self guided activities whenever possible. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support

We're running our swimming during covid in a small 4 lane indoor pool. FansOpen doors7 at a time 2 in each lane on opposite       ends.1 in the ada staircase lane.1 coach; now 2 coaches2 lifeguards Line up outside and walk them      in with a coach chaperoneThey have their own 6 ft      distant places for stuff.Come in their suitsCome wearing masksCoaches wear masks throughout      the practiceWrite practices in advance on      website.Use TV screen with Fire and      internet to show.Practice format: Philosophy: MovingSelf guidedOn rest intervalsAerobic conditioningChallenging funSocializing from a distance WarmupSwim, KickChallenges End. Walk out a separate exit      like a one way street.Repeat hour after hour. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/swimmingideas/support