PODIUM SWIM

What is a podium swim? 

During the last few years, I've come to realize that when our athlete's race, they need to do just that - RACE. Remember when they first started summer league as a 10 & under. When they touched the wall what did they want to know? Their time? No. It was "Did I win or what place did I get."

As an athlete gets older, they place more emphasis on the time they swam and less on what place they got.

Why is that?

We know the older and faster an athlete gets the more pressure there is to perform faster times than before. Pressure from within and from the outside occurs. I am guilty as much as anyone of thinking they should go faster every time they race. Realistically, that's not the way anything works in life, otherwise, we would all be perfect.

So as we go into our first Championship competition, I am reminding my athletes to RACE and no matter what heat you are in, make it a "PODIUM SWIM" - Top 3 in your heat.

If that occurs, they'll probably get the best time too.