GRIT-more than just the "scratchy" stuff on sandpaper

Friday, 20 September 2019

This edition of my blog is going to be about "Grit". It is taken from, and based on a Ted talk originally given by Angela Duckworth in 2013. I have put the link to Dr Duckworth's talk below so you can use the link to view, and hear her talk. Before reading on I invite you to use the hyperlink and view her talk. This will help make this blog post more meaningful and applicable. Here is the hyperlink:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H14bBuluwB8 

To review Dr Duckworth's talk, she begins by defining "Grit" as being:

"Grit is passion and perseverance for long-term and meaningful goals. It is the ability to persist in something you feel passionate about and persevere when you face obstacles. This kind of passion is not about intense emotions or infatuation."(Oct 3, 2017)

Dr Duckworth also states that in her experience and research it is

not the highest IQ kids, or wealthiest kids, or the best looking kids that are successful. It is those kids who have "Grit" who are the most successful. Dr Duckworth, by definition states that Grit is to have a passion and perseverance for your goals. To have have Grit means that you are "sticking with your future, day in and day out". Furthermore to have Grit is to live life like it is a marathon and not a sprint. To have Grit means to have stamina to achieve your goals, or desired outcomes. Her research was done with students in the public schools of Chicago and in other areas around the country. 

Application and Discussion

President Theodore Roosevelt, our country's 26th President once stated: “Far better is it to dare might things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure…than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat”. 

In developing grit a person must be willing to engage in new things, new processes, different challenges and tasks. A person must not fear, or shun performing any given task required. Instead a person must be willing to welcome the opportunity to work at some task that is new, different or foreign to their normal routine. I think President Roosevelt's quote about to "dare mighty things" is appropriate for developing Grit.

As coaches we can help the swimmers develop grit by challenging them, and teaching them to try new events. We should teach them the processes required by the new event. Speak to the athlete about what is expected of them in the proper performance of the new event. It is not good enough to just teach them, and talk to them about going fast. The end result is to go fast, but the processes they need to go through are extremely important in the learning to have grit process. Give the athlete measurable bench marks that make up the process to a successful performance. These can be things like give them a stroke count to hold, or tempo to sustain, or kick beyond flags off every wall on a freestyle race, use 6 instead of three underwater dolphin kicks, be within a certain percentage of a given qualifying time, and so on. A critical thing here in the development of grit is for the athlete to understand their improvement towards a given goals. By looking at benchmark expectations we can help our swimmers develop grit. 

The Art of Using Praise

According to social scientists, the use of praise does nothing more than to feed, or boost the ego. There is little learned from ego boosting feedback and evaluation. If we, as coaches want to see an increase in grit we must teach what is required and then expect those results. as we teach and give feedback, our feedback must be positive and provide sincere evaluations of the performance given. We should praise the athlete's efforts to complete the processes required. For example, a coach who has taught his/her swimmers to do their turns so that they take their first stroke beyond the flags on each wall, and they do 3-6 dolphin kicks off each wall and they are to build the tempo of their stroke into every wall. Now if a swimmer does this on 5 of 8 lengths of a 200 the coach could say something like, "You did a great job with your turns, push offs, fly kicks and tempo into the walls. You made 5 lengths of the race doing everything correct-your turns, push offs, dolphin kicks were right on for 5 lengths and then you struggled with the remaining processes of the race. Next time lets shoot for 7 fo the 8 walls by doing...."  You always want to point out what they did wrong in a positive light, for example, "Hey you had 5 turns where you streamlined well beyond flags off each wall, had tight streamline on push off, and your tempo looked good as you sustained your momentum into the walls. What you need to add now is do these very same things on the remaining 3 lengths of the race, by keeping your focus on doing things right. You can do it." 

The coach should avoid negative feedback, and feedback that feeds the ego.  For example you might want to avoid sayin, "Don't let your tempo drop off into your turns", or "You did not kick 3-6 dolphin kicks of your turns and this is why you did not achieve a better time." Keep all your feedback positive and grit enhancing. Avoid ego feeding feedback like, "You are so great! Your swim was awesome and you looked great". These statements do little to help the swimmer learn and develop grit. 

GRIT Scale

For those who are interested you can use the following link to take a test that will indicate how much grit you have, or on the funny side of things how “gritty of a person” you are. Be honest in taking the test and have a great time exploring your grit level: https://angeladuckworth.com/grit-scale/

The next link is a link to a Ted Talk by Carol Duckworth about Mindset. I addressed this topic a few weeks ago and will come back to it next time and tie Mindset and Grit together. Enjoy.

https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve

Functional Dryland Training-a key tool for the coach's and swimmer's tool box

For many coaches designing and writing workouts is not a challenge given that in water training sessions is something they are very familiar with as they have probably grown up in the water so to speak. However, designing and writing a dryland program for their swimmers may cause some real anxiety, and if left unaddressed it may cause the coach to either drop dryland training, or send the coach to his/her computer to look for resources to help set up a proper program.

The "Why" do it of dryland training

There are a lot coaches who simply leave dryland training to someone else, or will hire someone to come to his/her swimmers and provide them a dryland opportunity. No matter the case dryland training is often neglected simply out of ignorance, lack of knowledge, unwillingness to plan out and commit to the time necessary for dryland training, a belief that it is not necessary, lack of space and/or equipment, and even a philosophical belief that it is not necessary. Whatever the reason(s) for leaving dryland training out of the swimmer's routine maybe, here are five reasons for including it as part of the normal routine:

1. Can be a source of team building
2. Helps swimmers develop a greater sense of body awareness
3. Increases land based endurance and strength
4. Helps develop mental strength and focus
5. Land based strength gains will help improve functional strength and benefits the musculoskeletal system.

Can be a source of team building

A huge benefit of a well designed dryland training program is the opportunity to present to each member of the team a chance to work together to achieve a common dryland training goal. Everyone on the team should be expected to give their very best in performing the designated exercises. For example the coach could challenge the swimmers to set "team records" for doing certain exercises. The challenge could be that the team will do as many jumping jacks as they can in 10 minutes. The coach should then record how many each swimmer performed and then add the total together for a team record. This could be done for any designated exercise. Plus the swimmers will be working on jumping which will translate into better leg strength for push offs the dives and walls. So the swimmers can come together for a common cause, set a new team record and gain strength benefit from the jumping jacks. I once challenged my club team American Fork, UT to do as many jumping jacks as possible in 60 minutes. I think we hit over 10,000 jumping jacks collectively with everyone contributing. It was great as there were swimmers cheering for and encouraging those around them, even the coach got encouragement from the swimmers.

Helps swimmers develop a greater sense of body awareness

As swimmers perform the dryland exercises they are moving in an entirely different medium-air and gravity. Performing exercises on land helps the swimmer to be connected to their body movements in new ways. The have to jump, twist, push. pull, lunge, squat etc working against air and gravity. As they do this they become more adept at moving their body and fighting against gravity. They learn to control their body through a range of movements while working against gravity. They learn focus by doing correctly the movements against gravity in order to be efficient and get the most out of their body movements. A great example is that one time we have a "plank" contest where each member of the team had to hold a plank with head in line and a flat back , no wiggling and bending or dropping the head, or knees. It was great because as they did it you could see the focus in each swimmer's eyes and how they were trying hard to control their body and focus their will on being the longest to stay in plank position. This learned focus translates to help the swimmer keep focus through the length of any given swim, and focus on doing everything correctly.

Increases land based endurance and strength

As the swimmers work against gravity, their natural use of their bodies as weight devises will increase their strength. Exercises like push-ups, pull-ups. TRX inverted pull-ups and push-ups, VASA Ergometer, and VASA Trainer will all help the swimmer gain land base strength and endurance that translates into great water based strength and endurance. Additionally as these exercises are performed correctly the core is also strengthened, which in turn helps to strengthen the back. When the body is used as the weight there is a wide range of benefits for the total body. The core is so very critical in swimming as it serves to keep the body in line, and helps to maintain proper technique in all the strokes.

Helps develop mental strength and focus

When the swimmers are challenged to do a difficult dryland they will have to be focused on doing things correctly. Dryland should be challenging and stress the body's systems to help increase strength and endurance. In order for this take place the swimmers need to keep a focus on the task being asked of them to do. The longer they do a given task, and the increased challenge presented to the swimmers they will have to focus in a challenging situation. If the swimmers are properly challenged they will improve their mental acuity.

Land based strength gains will help improve functional strength and benefits the musculoskeletal system.

There is research to support the need to do exercises that are weight bearing exercises in order to keep proper bone density and muscle tone. It is especially critical for young women to do some type of weight bearing exercises because as they age. The risks of osteoporosis increases after menopause. Besides nutritional recommendations, the National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends exercise on a regular basis to help prevent and diminish the effects of osteoporosis. It is recommended that young women get in the habit of doing some type of weight bearing exercise while young to help prevent bone density loss, especially when combined with the development of proper nutritional habits and preventative measures. Men as they age are subject to osteoporosis but at a lower rate, however weight bearing exercises have been shown to be of help to them as well. This is especially true when combined with Vitamin D and calcium supplementation.

Sample #1 Dryland Team Session-Aerobic

Exercises
1. Jumping Jacks
2. Push ups (modified or regular)
3. 2-4 count Flutter Kicks
4. Breaststroke Squats to streamline
5. Streamlined leapers
6. Regular Crunches
7. Left/Right V-ups
8. Streamlined Lunges
1 minute jog as a team

Directions: do 1 rep of each exercise up to 12 reps of each exercise and then back down again. It will take anywhere from 40 to 60 minutes and complete 1200+ total reps.

This can become a team challenge in that you, the coach could tell the team we will get in 1200 X the number of team members=the number of reps in 60 minutes. Everyone works together and strives to help each other stay focused and helps to build pride in achieving a team goal in that given amount of time.

Sample #2 Dryland Session-Power

Exercises .                                      Partner #1                                       Partner #2

1. Jump Rope                                 Jump Rope                                      Lunge Leapers
2. Med Ball 1 Legged Chest Pass
3. Med Ball Press and Pop
4. Med Ball Russian Twists
5. VASA Trainer (Freestyle Pull or pull-ups)                                         Flutter kick Crunches
6. Planks
7. Med Ball Partner Sit up and Toss
8. Med Ball Lunge and Shoulder Press
9. Med Ball Speed Tricep Press
10. Med Ball Toe Raisers in Streamlined position
11. Med Ball Pilate Toss
12. VASA Ergometer                                                                              Up/Downs (aka Bur-pies)

Directions: For this type of dryland I usually have the athletes do each exercise for 20-30 seconds. The stated goal for them is to do 1 rep each second. On the Ergometer the stated goal is to hold a certain tempo for the 30 seconds. This can be set and seen on the Ergometers digital read out. There are three exercises where the partners are doing different things while the other is doing the primary exercise. At each station there are two 30 bouts with about 15 seconds rest between each exercise. I try to get the athletes through at least 5 to 8 rounds depending on time.

Summary

Dryland that focuses on functional movements helps the swimmer to build gravity built strength and endurance that carries over into the water. This dryland will also help with injury prevention and can serve as a way to bring the team together. The number of types of exercises done is only limited by your thinking and time. The bottomline is that dryland can be challenging and fun and team building.

Today's post is no way a complete answer to the issue of getting more young men and women to love the long races in swimming. The intent, like all my posts are to scratch the surface and help to generate ideas that can be shared to help us as a coach fraternity improve and thus help swimming get better. After you read the post please feel free to share any ides you may have on how we can improve the quality of our distance swimmers.

Thoughts on Coaching/Training for the 1500/1650

"The 1650 is just 16 fast 100's with a really fast 50 at the end." Katie Ledecky

Introduction-Characteristics of a Distance Swimmer

How many of us coaches have taken the time to really watch an 800, 1000, 1500, or 1650 when you do not have anyone entered in the event? What is the typical reaction that fans have at a meet when it is time for swimmers to compete in the 400, or 500, or one of the longer events? A good portion of the fans in the stand head for the rest rooms, or snack bar or even the closest Poke-stop. When it comes to these events being swam for the average, non-involved fan (meaning they have no one that they are connected to) this is the usual reaction. Fans seemingly treat the distance events like it is half time at a football game but without the on field marching band. 

Over the course of my coaching career as I have coached swimmers from the 6 and under beginning swimmer, through to college level and post grad swimmers that have included Olympic Trial Qualifiers. Never at any point have I coached swimmers to be one event, and one stroke swimmers. I have been fortunate to coach young men and young women who became very fine swimmers in all the events and strokes. However what I have experienced, and observed that it takes a special type of swimmer to swim with enthusiasm the distance events. Often have I wondered what type of swimmer is best suited for the longer races  required in distance swimming, or even if there is a "type" of swimmer best suited to distance swimming? As a coach I am not convinced that I can truthfully declare that a givens swimmer's talent,or physical make up, makes the given swimmer best suited for distance events.

Recently I have been reading Volume II of The Swim Coaching Bible edited by Coaches Dick Hannula and Nort Thortnon. In this wonderful book, I highly recommend it, the section of the book about Training Distance Freestyle was written by Coach Bill Rose and Mike Lewis. In this section they describe five characteristics of the best distance swimmers, or what they list the Five D's of Being a Distance Swimmer. These are:

1. Discipline

2. Desire

3. Devotion

4. Determination

5. Dedication

I really like these adjectives describing what a good distance swimmer might look like. However personally, I tend to like to think of just one characteristic of a good distance swimmer-they have a love, or passion for the distance events. They love everything associated with distance swimming. They love the learning, the training and the challenge of being a distance swimmer. The key for us coaches is to identify those swimmers who demonstrate this love by their actions in practice sessions and in competitions. 

I am using the 1500/1650 as the foundation because it is easier train up and then come down than to compete in a 200 or 500. I hope to share my opinions and get feedback so that I can grow, and enlarge my own coaching tool box.

Coaching the 1500/1650-It's all about "the culture". 

The coach who wants to develop swimmers who love longer races faces an uphill battle. Some of the things the coach will face are out of his/her control. Meet and event formats are largely out of the coach's control. Let's face it neither high school, club, or college swimming are entirely organized to foster a feeling that distance events really matter. In high school swimming, for example there are three relays all sprint, plus one diving event and 8 swimming events with only one considered a distance event-the 500 Free. Every event in high school swimming caters to the short distance and middle distance swimmer. Even college swimming caters to the short and middle distance swimmers, however in college the 1000 and 1650 have been added thus making three distance events at a college level conference championship, while in dual meets there are typically two. Most college conferences do not swim the 1000 at their conference championships thus allowing distance swimmers to swim only two true distance events, plus one other event that may be a mid-distance event. For club swimming, which is a lot like college a swimmer can participate in the 500/1000/1650 (short course) and the 400/800/1500 (long course). At the coming Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020 men and women will now be able to compete in both the 800 and 1500 races as they did at this summer's World Championships-about time. Of course a recent phenomenon with the increasing popularity of open water swimming we see swimmers being able to compete in 5K, 10K and 25K distances internationally. It is safe to say that there is not a culture that supports the distance swimming like there is a culture that supports the 50/100/200 Free races. 

In order to change the "culture" of distance swimming, the coach has to teach his/her swimmers a true love competing and training for the distance events. One way to do this is by providing swimmers with learning opportunities to train and compete in the longer events during practice sessions. I am not sure it means that they have to do unearthly sets, or train seven days per week and three times a day. I do believe that there is a time and place for these things on a scheduled and built in basis but not necessarily on a daily or even long term basis. I have been known to challenge my swimmers over a Christmas vacation period to do 100,000 yards in 9 workouts for a specific purpose. Generally I have challenged the swimmers to doing something few swimmers do in a week. I once had a young man, Joshua Patterson who challenged me. He wanted to do 200,000 during the two week Christmas break. In fact he ended up going 212,000 yards in 18 practices. When it came to taper time he had a great end of short course season meet. Josh did go on to swim in college at the D III level which is where he wanted to go. Josh had a pure love for the longer events. As for the extended distances at Christmas time those were Josh's idea, not mine. The last thing I want to do is sit down and plan out workouts that are 12,000 to 13,000 yards and not be considered "garbage yards". Josh led his teammates into these workouts and he was joined by several teammates, but not for the two week challenge. If it is approached in the right way a love for the 1650 can be taught and learned if the swimmers can be connected to the distance events through learning opportunities.

Having an internal support group for distance swimming is very important. Those swimmers who do distances should be recognized for their efforts to swim the longer races. A coach might put together a recognition board for those swimmers who complete a designated open water swim, or compete in and improve an 800/1000/1500/1650 time. The swimmers could be given a t-shirt that recognizes what they achieved, or have their name put on a plaque to be hung in a team trophy case. One time I had five swimmers complete 109,000 yards in nine practices and we had a pizza party for them and put their pictures up in the lobby of our pool. They took a great deal of pride in completing the 100,000 plus yards and they were honored by their teammates. This helped to increase interest in distance swimming and in not being afraid of training for the longer distances. These are just a few things that can be done to change the culture. I am sure if you brain storm with your coaching staff and others around you I am sure you can come up with a few of your own ideas on how to help change the culture. Please feel free to share any ideas you may have in the comments section of the blog.

Training and Learning  

In order to provide learning opportunities to help swimmers learn to love the longer races, swimmers need to feel and see success in their practice sessions. Learning such things as race strategy, pacing, stroke count, tempo, kicking practicing turning on and off the legs for longer sets can help someone have a successful 1650. The coach should create a training plan to recognize the needs of swimmers who show a talent, ability, or just a love for the challenge of training for, and competing in longer races. The coach can also teach a love for longer events by helping swimmers develop race tactics that can be learned and trained during practice sessions. These race strategies will make longer races more "strategic" in nature. I believe that something else that may help is if the coach will blend in some open water during training in a lake or other body of water. This open water training will have a great carry over for the 1500 and 1650.

Learning pacing, stroke count, tempo, and the ability to go to a higher intensity of legs can help the swimmers have some additional tools in their swimming arsenal that will help them in being successful for longer races. In training sessions the coach can provide a variety of training distances, as well as varying the paces in a given set to help prepare the swimmers for competing in the longer races. Regardless of the distances and paces, everything should be done with preparing for the longer races in mind. Something that is important to teach is turns and the push-offs the walls with feet getting beyond flags on all walls. Stress that the walls later in the race will be critical in building the tempo, descending the times by 50s or 100s. The best example of using the walls late in the race is Katie Ledecky. For the perfect example watch her last 200 of her 800 Free final from the World Champioships at this link: https://www.nbcsports.com/video/world-swimming-championships-2019-katie-ledecky-wins-800m-freestyle.

Summary and Conclusion

Outside of Katie Ledecky, swimmers from the US have not been a dominate force in the distance races. In the Men's 1500 Free since our last gold medal, won by Mike O.Brien at the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles. Prior to 1984 it was not uncommon to have two Americans take two medals in the 1500, usually a gold and either silver or bronze. Since 1984 we have generally seen American swimmers win only silver or bronze and most often none at all in the 1500. Comparing the US Men to the US Women, the women have been dominate in the 800 m Free having won gold medals in 9 of the last Olympics since 1968, and frequently there are two American women winning medals in the Olympic 800 M Free.

As a nation we need to address and creatively develop teaching and training plans that will help us change this lack of gold medals by our men. I believe more can be done, and I do not believe it necessarily lies in doing more yardage but using practices sessions to teach and prepare young men and women to develop a love for the longer races. Thank you for reading and please feel free to leave you ideas and feed back.   

Thoughts on Motivating Kids to Stay in the Water

The following is written for the purpose to share and create some thinking about how we as coaches can do better. These ideas are things that I have learned by experience and study, and writing. In no way do I feel that I am an expert. I still need to learn and grow as a coach. I hope that as you read you will be willing to think and share your feelings about how we can help to build great young people so that they become great adults.

Introduction to Self Determination Theory

Every club coach has, at least once in his/her career, wondered how to keep kids in the water and prevent them from moving on to other sports. Perhaps the answer lies in the writings and research of Richard Ryan and Edward Deci who developed the Self Determination Theory (SDT) in 1985. Ryan and Deci were "focused on the social-contextual conditions that facilitate versus forestall the natural processes of self-motivation and healthy psychological development." They postulated that everyone is motivated by three basic innate needs. These are: 1. Autonomy; 2. Competency, 3. Relatedness. Ryan and Deci defined each of these needs as follows:

1.Autonomy is defined as a participant's feeling that they have a choice in what they do. In swimming terms autonomy can relate to a participant being given a choice in what events he/she might swim, or train.
2.  Competency is defined as the participant's belief or feeling that they can do the activity, stroke, or set they are being asked to perform or complete. In a swim training or competing setting it is the perception that the participant has that they are able to successfully complete the task they are being given to complete.
3. Relatedness is defined as the sense that the participant has that connects them to the sport, their teammates, the coaches and so on. It is often described as that "warm and fuzzy" feeling they may develop that they matter to the sport, team or the coach. When the participant feels connected to these entities they feel a heightened sense of willingness to attend and compete at a higher level.

There are volumes of research that indicate when participants have a greater sense of autonomy, competency and relatedness they are more likely to persist in their efforts to attend and be a part of the team. They are more likely to be intrinsically motivated and therefore more willing to learn and grow in the sport. The research also indicates that when these needs, autonomy, competency and relatedness are addressed by the coach(es) the participants are more likely to continue to return and further their participation.

How to (Recommendations) 

Autonomy. The coach is the central figure in helping to insure that these needs are addressed. The coach needs to find ways to allow for autonomy within the practice setting. The coach is the recognized expert in the training process but can allow for autonomy in the training setting. To allow for autonomy the coach can set aside a day, or two,or three where he/she allows for the swimmer to choose their stroke. The coach could also present the swimmer with two sets, both of which can be designed to achieve the desired training outcome, and allow a choice of set "A" or set "B". For swim meets the swimmers can be given their choice of events. The coach can present the swimmers with one required event and then they can choose the remaining two or three, or whatever the maximum number of events might be.

Competency. The coach must become a teacher of proper skills and event requirements. The coach needs to recognize when the swimmer is ready to compete in any given event and distance. There are many requirements for a swimmer in any given stroke, event or distance. Nothing is more frustrating for the swimmer then continually being put into a situation where they may fail at performing by getting disqualified for not doing the proper stroke, or turn, or technique. Perhaps even worse is the feeling of failure that may happen if the swimmer is not able to complete a given swim because he/she has not developed the conditioning level needed for a successful completion of the event. 

Relatedness. Once again the coach here is central to "connecting" the swimmers to the sport, their teammates and even the coach. to do this the coach must reach out to each swimmer and demonstrate that he/she cares about everyone. To do this the coach should daily try to speak to each member of the team or group. Simply saying hello and welcoming them to practice helps to do this, however what is even more important is to thank the swimmers for coming to practice and being a part of the team and swimming. The coach can also create a culture where each member of the group cares for each other. Stressing that everyone is important and helping the swimmers to learn to work with and support each other will help to build relatedness. The coach needs to learn to be a "needs" supportive coach. The coach can still be tough and have high expectations while being needs supportive. 

If you would like to read more you can go the following sites. Many of articles can be found by "googling" Self Determination Theory. 

1.  https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/the-theory/
2.  file:///media/removable/KINGSTON/2000_RyanDeci_SDT.pdf
3. https://psychology.iresearchnet.com/sports-psychology/sport-motivation/what-is-self-determination-theory/
4.  https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/intrinsic-motivation-self-determination-exercise-sport/
5. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nikos_Ntoumanis/publication/11927839_Empirical_links_between_achievement_goal_theory_and_self-determination_theo