I recently went to Australia to attend the annual conference of the Australian Swimming Coaches Association and to take part in an Australian Team Development Camp. Australia is the most improved swimming nation in the world over the past few years. At the end of 1993 they had 31 placings in Top Ten World Rankings (Great Britain had six) and had the Commonwealth Games taken place in 1993, Australia were placed to have won 26 out of the 32 individual gold medals. At the conference Don Talbot, Chief Coach of Australian Swimming, outlined the Elite Performance Plan through 1996 to 2000, and explained that Australia was targeting six Olympic golds for 1996 and 10 by 2000.

My lasting impression of the conference is that Australia is an exciting and challenging place to be. The coaches are forthright and outspoken but they are also very supportive of one another and of Australian swimming. They're really working together and have a clear idea of where they're going. We've never had that in this country. So here's my first recommendation:

1. Get organised
I strongly urge that we in Britain need to get organised if we wish to make an impact on world swimming. We have major advantages in our favour - a large population in close proximity, lots of coaches and teachers, numerous training programmes and competitive opportunities - but we need a concerted national effort-to bring maximum benefit from them. The days when club or individual set-ups could compete successfully at world level are going. We need a truly British effort. We must start to plan for national success and put our full support behind it in the knowledge that when our national team is successful every club coach will reap the benefit of greater publicity and greater participation.

2. Long-term planning
This is the first of my training tips for swim coaches. By the nature of the sport, most coaches are involved with younger swimmers from the age of eight to mid-teens. For these younger swimmers, we should constantly focus our aims on long-term goals. The 1993 World Top Ten Rankings in our sport show that, our of 120 Top Ten rankings in men's events, 107 were held by swimmers aged 20 or over. In women's events, 92 out of the 120 Top Ten Rankings were held by swimmers aged 18 and over. So there is clearly plenty of time to go before most young swimmers can achieve their full potential.

In the meantime, coaches and swimmers are bombarded with pressures for immediate success in age-group competitions. Success at young ages is not a bad thing in itself but it needs to be kept in perspective. All development of young people takes place in plateaux. Some improve rapidly and then level off or even regress, perhaps to improve again, given time and encouragement. Others have little or no obvious success when young but develop later. The pressure on coaches and young swimmers to be successful leads to most of our burn-out problems. We need to emphasise the fun and enjoyment to be gained from the sport and from training, along with the allied benefits of competition, travel, socialising, personal development and so on.

Remember that the Olympic medalists of Sydney 2000 could be in your 13-14 age groups today, so you don't want to see them forced out of the sport.

3. A positive attitude is essential
Emphasise the things which you and your swimmers can control. They can control only their own performances, so put the emphasis on good technique and personal best times. Improvements in these aspects are attainable by everyone, whereas winning an age-group gold medal is achievable only by a few. Swimmers will continue to enjoy training if they perceive they are making progress and if those around them are encouraging and praising this progress.

4. Cyclical trailing is vital
Coaches around the world operate a variety of macro cycles, ranging from 6-24 weeks in length. The most common cycle is 12 weeks, allowing 2-3 weeks build-up, 6-8 weeks max work, and 2-3 weeks taper. Within this, you also need to cycle aerobic, anaerobic and speed work as appropriate to the ages and abilities of your group. There are many excellent books which can help you decide the percentages of work most suitable to you, but the important point is to plan for your training to be cyclical in nature.

5. Fluid Intake is essential during training and competition
Even though swimmers work in water and may not appear to sweat, there is still considerable fluid loss in the average two-hour session. Swimmers should have a bottle of fluid with them on poolside and be encouraged to sip regularly throughout a training session and leading up to a competition.

Terry Denison

australian swimming