What would you do if you had ONE session with a team you don’t know, in a place you’ve never been, sometimes in a language you don’t speak, in a culture you don’t understand?

I have the best job in the world.

I get to travel around the globe spending time with swimming coaches, swimmers and swimming families everywhere.

When I travel, coaches will often ask me to come and visit their pool and spend some time with their swim team. Sometimes they ask me to take a session. Other times it’s a talk on pool deck about attitude, motivation, team work or choosing to be exceptional. Or sometimes the coach will ask me to just walk up and down the pool with them talking about coaching, technique, skills and training.

But no matter what they ask me to do, I challenge myself around this one question: What can I do in two hours that can make a real and lasting impact on their swimming careers?

Here’s my answer: I make them feel good about themselves.

I can’t improve their physiology in one session — so I don’t try.

I can’t fix their technique in a single workout — so I don’t waste their time or mine.

What I CAN do is inspire them to believe in themselves — just a little. Be a spark in their hearts that could change everything.

I coach the Power of Choice.

Coaches — our job, above all else, is to inspire people to believe in themselves and that anything is possible.

Yes, we coach technique, tactics, speed, strength. But the effectiveness of our coaching comes down to one thing: our ability to inspire everyone we coach to believe in themselves — and in us.

Wayne Goldsmith

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