Coaching Philosophy
The North Side Swim Team coaching staff believes all swimmers need to build the skills to be able to be successful in the pool and in life. A foundation of the technical skills of swimming and training, along with the mental skills of focus, commitment, and hard work, will give swimmers the strong base they will need as they grow and develop in the sport of swimming and life.
We will work to develop these in all swimmers in our program, by building relationships and stressing the value of developing the foundational skills needed to be successful through positive coaching interactions and rigorous intentional physical and mental training.
We will measure success based on individual results at both practice and competition and comparing swimmers to themselves to see improvement over time.
10 & Under Swimmers/New Swimmers
10 & under swimmers as well as most new swimmers need to spend time developing the skills mentioned above and building that foundation. Hard training sets and intense competition should be few and far between for these swimmers allowing them the opportunity to test themselves, but not overwhelm them with stress and failure.
For 10 & under swimmers as well as most new swimmers we will focus on technique as well as an introduction to all of the competitive strokes.
10 & under swimmers as well as most new swimmers will swim in our traditional recreational league meets (Central Hawkeye & Two Rivers Conference Meets).
Experienced 11 & Over swimmers
Experienced 11 & over swimmers will still have a focus on completing the foundation that they have already started, however, they will also start to build on their foundation and develop a deeper understanding of racing and training.
This means that we will start to incorporate harder sets more often and to provide an opportunity for swimmers to challenge themselves and push past things that they may have thought were too hard for them to accomplish. This will help them to develop an understanding that failure is an integral part of growth.
We will also expand competitive opportunities for these swimmers that are interested, by providing them the opportunity to participate in USA swimming meets around the state and possibly country.
USA Swimming meets will include more difficult completion, as well as different competition formats and events than our traditional recreational league meets (Central Hawkeye & Two Rivers Conference Meets) .
All swimmers will still participate in our traditional recreational league meets.
The goal of our coaching staff is to produce the most well rounded individual athlete in the water and in life.
NSST and USA Swimming encourage multi-sport athletes. Coaches understand swimmers may participate in a variety of activities that consume their time. However, your coaches' job is to encourage performance in swimming, so please understand coaches will always be stressing participation in as many practices and meets as possible to attain a swimmers individual performance goals.
