Who's Fault is It?

You’re late to practice, again. This is the 4th time this week and your coach is really starting to get ticked off. So whose fault is it that you’re late? Well let be honest, it is 100% yours.

Sounds tough doesn’t it, but it’s true. You can say that it’s Mum or Dad’s fault because they were late picking you up from school. You could say that the alarm didn’t go off. You could say that you couldn’t find your goggles this morning. But truth be told they are just excuses to show that you didn’t take the responsibility of getting to training on time seriously. If your Mum or Dad is going to be late or can’t get you to training you should arrange to catch a lift with someone else in your squad, catch the bus or better yet walk. After all the training isn’t for your parents, they’re not the swimmer, you are. What do you mean your alarm didn’t go off? Why did you only have 1 alarm set? Nearly every kid above the age of 11 has an electronic device with a built-in alarm clock if you don’t you can buy an alarm clock for about $10. Plus you should have at least 4 alarms, all set to go off 5 minutes apart, that way if you turn all 4 of them off you know who is responsible for not getting to training and it’s not an accident. If you are old enough to stand on a podium and receive a medal then you’re old enough to pack your swim bag the night before, set your own alarms and wake up your parents. You’re old enough find out the local bus timetable and look at the bus routes and times, speak to a friend at school and ask to carpool or catch a ride and basically figure out how to be independent and resourceful enough to get your butt to training on time.

I want to inspire, motivate and challenge swimmers to not only do their best but to go beyond what they think is possible and to set new standards of personal excellence for a more fulfilling life.

Let’s put it this way, you stand alone. When you’re on the blocks ready to hit the water, you stand alone. When you get up to the podium and collect your medal, you stand alone. When history books are written about how you won Olympic gold and your triumphs, you will stand alone. Your mother, coach or best friend won’t be on the podium with you. Sure your parents will get an honourable mention from time to time, but really it’s you who will get the attention. All the opportunities, all the sponsorship deals and the Olympic Gold medal will be hung around your head, not theirs.

Do you really want to know what your coach wants? I can tell you they don’t want to repeat themselves and explain a drill 3 or more times, they don’t want to have people late and then still slowly get organised to get in the pool. Your coach wants you to succeed, they want you to win all your races, set new personal best times and most of all they want you to listen to their knowledge they are trying to share and work hard with them, not against them. 

Nearly every coach on the planet will put themselves out for one of their athletes, the whole point of coaching is to pass on knowledge to others that share your passion. If you’re late to training, talking when you should be listening, not following instructions and not giving your best efforts at training then you really need to ask yourself “Why am I here?”. If you’re there to have fun and socialise, then that’s great, but it doesn’t give you the right to stop others from training hard, paying attention and getting the work done. Remember you are part of a swim TEAM, and teams only work well when everyone works together.

Picture this, 3 lanes of 6 to 8 kids each, in each lane there is that one kid, let’s call him Frankie. Frankie always ducks his head under the water, or talks when the coach is talking, or splashes others and doesn’t try hard when it’s time to do drills and efforts sets. The coach has to continually tell Frankie to listen and pay attention. Then it comes time for the school swimming carnival, everyone in Frankie’s class knows that he goes to swimming practice as well as swimming carnivals. The gun goes off with a bang and off they go down the pool in a flurry of arms and legs going everywhere. At the end of the race, the Frankie looks around and everyone is cheering and clapping, it takes a minute to sink in that everyone isn’t cheering for him. The crowd is applauding the winner, the kid for the other swim school in town that came first and set a new school record. So who’s fault is Frankie swam poorly? The coaches? Should Frankie’s coach have been more strict in training? Frankie’s parents? Should they have watched training from time to time to see if Frankie is misbehaving? Frankie’s teammates? Should they have told Frankie that his behaviour is stopping the team from working harder and learning? I could go on and on and on about all the other factors that affect performance but at the end of the day, the buck stops with Frankie

Sounds harsh right, well, unfortunately, that’s the nature of competitive sport, which is mirrored in life. There can only be one winner. So next time you go to training why not set yourself a goal, a real easy one. Set yourself the goal of not speaking unless you absolutely have too, and telling your bestie about your day is not absolutely necessary while at training, it can wait until later. 

There’s is a poster floating around the internet called “10 things that require zero talent” if you haven’t seen it Google it if you have seen it, print it off and stick it on the wall in your room and put another copy on the fridge.