One of the most common questions I get from coaches: “How do I motivate my swimmers to work harder?”

My response: “You can’t. Don’t try.”

You can’t motivate anyone to do something they don’t already want to do. It’s not your job to make them do it — it’s your job to create an environment where they can be all they choose to be.

In this video, I’ll show you how to connect with, engage with and inspire the hearts and minds of every swimmer you coach.

Wayne Goldsmith

If you found this useful, hit subscribe — it's free.

By Wayne Goldsmith

One of the most confusing parts of learning about swimming coaching is training zones.

When you attend your first ever swimming coaching course or when you open a swimming coaching textbook for the first time, you’ll see a table full of words like “alactic” and “aerobic” and “anaerobic” and percentages, sample heart rates and effort ratings.

Often there will be six, seven or even more different training zones listed on those tables and the course presenter will tell you that it’s important you learn the training zones and apply them in your training programs precisely to help your swimmers develop specific physiological adaptations like speed, endurance, VO2 max etc.

The current models of training zones are impractical, overly complex and most importantly not workable for the majority of age group coaching programs where one or two coaches are coaching 10, 20, 30 or more swimmers at any one time.

Coaches - it is unrealistic - bordering on impossible - that you, me or any coach - can know for certain what training zone 30 kids are working in at any one time with any degree of accuracy or precision.

When I teach training zones to swimming coaches, I start with big, simple, easy to coach zones e.g.

* EASY, RELAXED, WARM UP PACE

* AEROBIC PACE

* RACE PACE

* SPEED DEVELOPMENT / MAX SPEED PACE

I then encourage coaches to “play” with the precision of the zones and add training zones if / where they need to make the training paces and workloads more accurate.

In this video - a must watch for all swimming coaches - I suggest an alternate way of applying a common sense approach to training zones in your coaching programs.

Wayne Goldsmith

COPYRIGHT WAYNE GOLDSMITH - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

SWIMMING GOLD is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

By Wayne Goldsmith

Every swimming coach will tell you that kicking is important and that they include kicking practice in all their practice sessions.

Every swimming coach will also tell you that it’s difficult to inspire kids to complete kicking practice with a high level of engagement, intensity, accuracy and precision.

I was talking with an elite coach over a coffee and he asked me an interesting question “How do you make kicking practice (in his words)“sexy”?

TO BE VERY CLEAR - in this context using the word “sexy” - he meant how can swimming coaches make kicking practice interesting, engaging, enjoyable and fun so that they do it well: so that they do it with the same accuracy and precision as they complete their swim sets.

Today’s video is all about making kick practice the highlight of every swimming workout.

In short - use the C.I.C. (Kick) model:

* Competition specific;

* Intensity relative to a goal;

* Competitive.

If you’ve got other ideas about making kicking practice “sexy” that work in your program, please share them with our Swimming Gold Community in the comments.

Wayne Goldsmith

COPYRIGHT WAYNE GOLDSMITH - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

SWIMMING GOLD is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

By Wayne Goldsmith

One of the most common questions I get asked by coaches is how to inspire swimmers to complete their workouts with the precision, accuracy and attention to detail that the coach feels is important - i.e. don’t count the laps, make the laps count.

My answer is YOU DON’T AND YOU CAN’T.

What I mean by that is, you are wasting your time if you believe you can stand at the end of the pool yelling at your team and make them / force them / motivate them to do the workout exceptionally well.

A far better option is to coach the swimmers to look at THE workout and choose to make it THEIR workout.

In this video, I share a story about the late and great coach John Carew and the lessons I learnt from him early one morning while he was coaching the brilliant Olympic Gold medalist, World champion and World record holder Kieren Perkins.

The bottom line is this colleagues: Coach your swimmers to choose to swim their practice exceptionally well - make it all about them - and inspire them - believe in them - to take ownership of and responsibility for the standards of their own workouts and your world - and theirs - will change forever.

Wayne Goldsmith

COPYRIGHT WAYNE GOLDSMITH - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

SWIMMING GOLD is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

By Wayne Goldsmith

SWIMMING GOLD is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

One of the most common issues I get asked to comment on is Aerobic Base development in young swimmers.

To be honest - I don’t remember ever meeting any coach or any sports scientist who’s got a definitive answer on how much to do at what age at what intensity for how long. Lots of people think they know but most of it is based on their own experience and coaching beliefs.

From my perspective - I think we waste way too much time arguing and talking about aerobic base development when there’s a far greater issue to deal with - teenage drop out rates.

The only swimmer who can’t get better is the one who’s not coming.

How many kids do you know who were “champions” at ten years of age (and my friends there is no such thing as a champion 10 year old), and who did lots of aerobic base training that are now, as teenagers, sitting at home playing with their mobile devices, hanging out with their friends and who never want to swim again?

Who cares how many capillaries they’ve got - if they hate the sport.

Who cares how amazing their VO2 max is - if they never want to come to training.

We have all got to move past this obsession with developing the right physiology and realize that if we don’t coach exceptionally, if we don’t build great relationships with kids and families and if we don’t inspire kids with interesting, engaging training environments, then this alarming rate of teenage drop out will continue.

Let me know what you think.

Subscribe if you’d like to - but please keep watching!

The future of this remarkable sport is in our hands.

Wayne Goldsmith

Thanks for reading SWIMMING GOLD! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Welcome to 2026 and welcome to Swimming Gold.

This year I’ve made a commitment to do a lot more video. There’s a lot of Ai generated text out there - and a lot of it is rubbish. So in response, I’ve decided it’s time for me to record videos most days and strive to help more coaches, more teachers, more swimmers and more swimming parents around the world.

I believe our sport is at a cross-roads.

There’s no way to spin it: in many places around the world, the number of kids in organized, competitive swimming is on the decline as it has been for well over a decade.

We can look blame a lot of things for this decline…Covid…Pool closures…the cost of being involved in the sport…Meet formats… and 100 other things, but in the end - as coaches and as teachers - let’s focus on one thing - the one thing WE can control: how can we do what we do better.

If you’re still standing at the end of the pool yelling numbers at kids for two hours morning and night five days a week and wondering “Where have all the swimmers gone?” - this is the year to re-think and change the way you coach.

I strongly believe the future of this sport is in the hands of coaches and teachers.

If we do what we do better, if we coach with energy, passion, enthusiasm, engagement and if we do all we can to inspire the hearts and minds of every kid we coach, this sport will grow and flourish for another 100 years.

If we don’t - if we stand back and wait for more pools to be built, for the Federations to change Meet formats, for the sport to become cheaper to be involved with - my friends - we’re in trouble.

Let’s make 2026 the year when we grab hold of the destiny of this remarkable sport, lift our coaching every day in every thing we do to extra-ordinary levels and together inspire every child in the world to fall in love with the experience of being in and around water.

We can do it!

SWIMMING GOLD is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

By Wayne Goldsmith

SWIMMING GOLD is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Three Important Things to Remember:

* Traditional “400m easy” type warm-ups prepare swimmers for mediocrity, not excellence;

* Your warm-up should activate the skills you're about to practice, not just the muscles;

* Elite swimmers warm up their technique first, their fitness second.

Many swimming sessions in the world starts the same way: "400 easy swim, mix your strokes." Twenty minutes later, swimmers are "warmed up" but their technique is scratchy, their focus is scattered and their stroke feel is non-existent.

Your warm-up should prepare swimmers for what's coming next, not just get their heart rate up. If you're working on underwater dolphin kick in the practice, warm up with some underwater dolphin kick. If it's stroke technique day, warm up with stroke technique work.

I've worked with great swimmers who spend their warm-up finding their stroke rhythm, connecting with the water and activating their technique. They leave the pool knowing exactly how their stroke feels and what they need to work on.

Meanwhile, most swimmers complete their warm-up knowing they swam 400 meters at a slow speed with little or no thinking involved. That's it.

Your warm-up is your first coaching opportunity of every session. Use it to prepare minds and technique, not just bodies. Make every stroke count from stroke one.

Summary: Effective warm-ups activate technique and focus, not just the cardiovascular system and muscles. Start the way you want to finish!

Two Practical Tips:

* Technique Activation: Include 50-100m of stroke technique focus in every warm-up - underwater dolphin, catch work, body position drills.

* Progressive Preparation: Structure warm-ups to gradually prepare swimmers for the main set's demands, not just general movement

Wayne Goldsmith

COPYRIGHT WAYNE GOLDSMITH - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Check out Wayne's new book THE TALENT MYTH - WHY TALENT ISN'T WORTH SH&T - available now on AMAZON BOOKS https://www.amazon.com/Talent-Myth-Isnt-Worth-S**t/dp/0987155733/

By Wayne Goldsmith.

SWIMMING GOLD is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

If you’re a swimming coach - you probably love it.

Sure there’s early mornings, difficult parents, long slow boring days at swim Meets and your feet that always seem to be cold and wet - but - for the most part - working with young athletes every day and helping them realize their potential while pursuing their dreams is a pretty good way to earn a living.

You’d do anything to help your swimmers and you encourage them to eat well, rehydrate, get plenty of quality sleep, rest and recover on weekends, take care of their mental health and generally live a healthy lifestyle.

But do you expect and demand the same of yourself?

If you’re like most swimming coaches I know, the answer is no.

Legend Coach and good friend Bill Sweetenham tells the “transfer of energy” story.

Bill says, “In the morning, the kids walk in to the pool - generally moving slowly and quietly. The coach on the other hand is upbeat, full of energy, greeting swimmers, joking with parents….setting the scene for a great workout. The swimmers eventually get moving and reluctantly jump into the pool, while the coach is running around, organizing lanes, encouraging kids, writing fine details of the workout on the board and trying to lift and inspire everyone and everything. For two hours the coach never stops - walking, moving, running, talking, yelling, inspiring, giving feedback - giving everything they’ve got to everyone. Then at the end of workout, the swimmers are all upbeat, positive, motivated and excited and high five the coach on the way out of the pool……and moments after the final swimmer leaves practice….the coach slumps into a chair completely exhausted and drained because they’ve transferred their energy, their happiness and their passion to each and every member of the team”.

Coaches - we need you.

The sport needs you.

Your team needs you.

And your family need you. Your friends need you and YOU need you.

You can’t keep giving everything you’ve got to everyone else and not take care of your own physical and mental health. It is not sustainable.

This video is one I’ve been wanted to do for a long time.

I’ve outlined some practical, real-world ways you can take care of yourself and give as much time and energy to your own wellbeing as you do to that of the people you coach.

Take care of yourself my friends.

Wayne Goldsmith

COPYRIGHT WAYNE GOLDSMITH - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

By Wayne Goldsmith

SWIMMING GOLD is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

You know how swimming coaches love repetition?

Say this to yourself 100 times…

“Swimming is a straight line sport”.

“Swimming is a straight line sport”.

“Swimming is a straight line sport”….you get the idea.

In this sport, in training - and of course in competition, you dive and start straight, swim straight, turn straight, push off straight and finish straight….everything about swimming is straight lines.

Yet, I often see swimmers in practice dive, start, swim, turn, push off and finish in “circles”, owing to the fact that most swim teams have to squeeze many swimmers into each lane and avoiding colliding with each other is of paramount importance.

However, in competition, being able to swim in straight lines is a critical swimming skill and it contributes significantly to achieving PBs and swimming fast.

Here’s three practical tips for straight line swimming:

* As much as possible dive, start, swim, turn, push off and finish in straight lines. It’s not always possible - but try to remember to keep coming to the middle of lane throughout practice as often as it’s safe to do so.

* When swimming multiple laps, as soon as you’ve passed the feet of the last swimmer in your lane, come to the centre of the lane and practice turning, pushing off and finishing in a straight line.

* Try to avoid pushing off in diagonals! If necessary give swimmers a little more distance between each other so that when they get to the flags at each end, they can come to the centre of the lane and practice turning and pushing off straight!

Safety is of course our number 1 priority! There will be times when the lanes are full and it’s almost impossible to swim straight - but try to create training environments which prepare swimmers to be successful in competition and a big part of that is learning to swim in straight lines.

Wayne Goldsmith.

Copyright Wayne Goldsmith. All Rights Reserved.

By Wayne Goldsmith

A lot of coaches get to a point in their coaching where they want to lift the standards of their teams, become more performance orientated and reach for higher and higher goals in the sport.

A common scenario is where a Club coach decides that the team could achieve success at State or National level championships and to do that, the team needs to train harder more often.

This leads to the coach considering the introduction of “minimum attendance rules” - e.g. to be in the National Age Group team you must attend a minimum of 6 sessions per week.

A coach recently wrote to me and expressed his frustration in trying to introduce new attendance standards in his team. He said, “It’s (minimum attendance rules) caused me a lot of headaches. Kids want to skip sessions but still be in the top squad. I don’t know what to do”.

Here’s a few suggestions if you decide you want to strive for success in your program:

* COLLABORATE! Discuss your vision and goals with your swimmers, their families, your club committee, staff and everyone connected with the team. Take them through what you’re trying to do, how you’re going to do it and MOST importantly WHY you’re looking to introduce minimum attendance standards.

* COMMUNICATE! Once you’ve got the support of the swimmers, families and the club to implement the changes you’d like to make - communicate clearly how it’s all going to work.

* CONSISTENCY. The single biggest problem you will face if you go down the performance path and introduce minimum attendance standards is swimmers and parents wanting flexibility for their specific circumstances. For example, it’s highly likely a parent will approach you and say something like “My daughter plays basketball and also does gymnastics. She can’t make the minimum attendance requirements to be in the National Age squad but she should still be in it”. When this happens (not if it happens - because IT WILL HAPPEN) - you need to apply a consistent approach and policy to every member of the team.

In a perfect world, there would be no need for minimum attendance standards in swim teams - but our world is far from perfect. Ideally swimmers, coaches and families work together as a team with a clear focus on helping every swimmer realize their potential because they’re passionate, committed, dedicated and share a common focus on the achievement of excellence.

This is a very common challenge many swimming coaches around the world have faced and continue to face. How successful you are at introducing change depends on your ability to lead through collaboration, communication and consistency.

Wayne Goldsmith

Copyright Wayne Goldsmith. All Rights Reserved.

SWIMMING GOLD is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.