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.

This is a special video.

I’ve recorded it for COACHES to play to, forward to and share with SWIMMING PARENTS.

It’s a plea for parents / carers to work with their child’s coach: to form a partnership - a “team” - who are committed and dedicated to a single purpose: helping each and every child be all they choose to be.

I do a lot of swimming coach mentoring. Included in my mentoring program are one-on-one sessions where the coach can decide what topic they’d like to cover in our session.

In almost 75% of those discussions, coaches want to talk about their challenges and difficulties with swimming parents.

I thought I’d record something that coaches can share with the parents of the swimmers in their team so that an independent voice can talk with them about what it takes to be an outstanding, supportive swimming parent.

Wayne Goldsmith

Copyright Wayne Goldsmith - All Rights Reserved.

Drills, drills, drills.

Every swimming coach has a tool-box full of drills.

Drills for arms and stroke technique.

Drills for legs and kicking.

Drills for timing.

Drill for breathing.

Drills for dives, for turns, for finishes, for underwater…….

But here’s the thing: having more drills than your local hardware store doesn’t make you a better coach or improve the ability of your swimmers to perform at their best when and where it matters.

In this video I talk about swimming drills and suggest ways for you to connect the drills you do to the ability of your swimmers to maintain great technique and skills at high speed, under the fatigue and pressure environment of competition.

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

This is a subscriber only post.

I often get asked “I am just starting out in swimming coaching. What are the most important things I need to do to be successful?”

* Master the technology! Technology is rapidly becoming one of the most dominant elements in swimming coaching. Learn as much as possible - and as quickly as possible about video, performance analysis, Ai and social media - because….the kids you coach are already masters of technology and they have an expectation that you can and will provide them with coaching that is tech-rich!

* Don’t get overawed by sports science, periodization, workout design etc. That stuff is easy to find online. You can generate brilliant workouts on Ai. You can go to YouTube and watch free videos from some of the world’s best coaches and swimming scientists talking about their craft. Don’t get sucked into the rabbit hole by being overly focused on the science of swimming and the vagaries of workout design. For the most part, all you need is available free - anytime - online.

* MASTER THE ART OF COACHING!! This sport - now - more than ever is about relationships. About connection. About engaging with kids. About inspiring the hearts and minds of swimmers. Your ability to coach has never been more important.

* Create a learning environment - a commitment to continuous improvement - around you. We expect swimmers to learn, grow and improve every day. We have to expect the same from ourselves. Everyday, at the end of your coaching session ask yourself three simple but powerful questions:

* Did I coach at my best today? We want each swimmer to give us the best they can on any given day. We need to demand the same standards of ourselves.

* Did I make a difference today? Did I connect with, engage with an inspire just one swimmer - did I touch just one heart today?

* What did I learn today - from my swimmers and from my own coaching that will make me a better coach tomorrow?

They’re my four things for beginning swimming coaches to focus on.

What’s yours?

Wayne

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.

This is special just for my subscribers on Swimming Gold.

Three Key Concepts

* Anyone can write a workout, but success comes from coaching the actual swimmer standing in front of you, not the theoretical one in your plan

* Age group swimmers have multiple "swimmanalities" - i.e. swimming personalities - they're different people every day based on school, fatigue, social dynamics and adolescent changes

* Smart coaches fit the program to the athlete using connect-engage-inspire and individual checking speeds, rather than forcing athletes into rigid plans

When you start your coaching journey, you get obsessed with the science. Energy systems, training zones, biomechanics, force and power. You learn to write detailed, scientifically sound and overly complicated training plans. Then you believe that precision planning equals coaching success.

Here's the massive problem with that thinking.

You're coaching the plan instead of coaching the swimmer. Anyone can write a workout. If you like you can ask ChatGPT to design you a 1000 training sessions. You can buy programs online. That stuff is everywhere.

But what separates great coaches from plan-followers is this: they coach the human being who walks through the door.

Your perfectly designed aerobic threshold session means absolutely nothing when your swimmer shows up after playing football all day at a school tournament. They're tired, dehydrated, glycogen-depleted and mentally flat. Forcing them through your prescribed workout because "it's Monday and this is what we do on Mondays" is coaching madness.

Age group swimmers are walking chaos.

They're adolescents dealing with everything life throws at developing humans. Physical changes, emotional swings, social drama, academic pressure, growth spurts and hormonal fluctuations. The swimmer you coached yesterday isn't the same person who walks in today. They have multiple "swimmanalities" depending on what's happened in the 24 hours since you last saw them.

Here's what works: Content and Intent.

Content is what you've written - the workout on paper.

Intent is the energy, focus and execution quality you need from that workout. If swimmers are flat and fatigued, they can't deliver the intent that makes your content effective.

Content is the science of swimming. Intent is the art of coaching.

Start every practice with Connect-Engage-Inspire. Look them in the eyes. Use their names. Ask how they're going. Listen to the answers. If a kid tells you they've had cross-country training, exams all day and haven't eaten, that's not the day for high-intensity work.

Use Individual Checking Speed early in your warm-up. Get them swimming a 200-400 freestyle at even pace, 5-10 seconds slower than PB pace per 100. Watch their stroke mechanics, heart rate and stroke count. Compare it to last week or the last time you did the test. If they're working harder to maintain the same speed, you're dealing with a fatigued swimmer.

Ask them directly: "Rate how you feel?” - i.e. with 10 out of 10 feeling fantastic. Listen carefully to their response.

Smart coaches fit the program to the athlete, not the other way around.

Summary: Great coaching happens when you adapt your well-planned program to meet the real swimmer who shows up, using connection, observation and flexible thinking rather than the rigid adherence to written workouts.

Three Practical Exercises:

* Daily Check-In Protocol: Start every practice with name recognition, eye contact and genuine questions about their day. Listen actively to their responses before proceeding.

* Warm-Up Assessment: Include a 200-400m even-pace freestyle swim early in practice, monitoring heart rate, stroke count and mechanics compared to previous sessions.

* Energy Rating System: Ask swimmers to rate their energy/readiness on a 1-10 scale after warm-up and adjust workout intensity accordingly rather than forcing predetermined plans.

There's a lot more coming soon, including plans, programs, learn to swim schedules and a whole lot more videos and posts as well.

If you haven't subscribed, please go ahead and do it now.

I look forward to sharing some more sessions with you soon.

Checkout my new book THE TALENT MYTH – WHY TALENT ISN’T WORTH S**T available now on AMAZON https://www.amazon.com/Talent-Myth-Isnt-Worth-S**t/dp/0987155717

Copyright Wayne Goldsmith. All Rights Reserved.

I hear swimming coaches all over the world complain about all the things that are wrong with the sport.

These include:

* Declining numbers of kids in competitive swimming / club level swimming.

* Administrators who don’t understand the sport.

* Not enough pool space.

* No real investment in rural and regional swimming.

* Meets that are poorly attended.

* Teenage drop out rates continuing to worsen.

* Overly invested swimming parents causing stress and frustration.

And the coaches are right. All of these problems exist to a greater or lessor degree in swimming in all countries.

However, in reality, the only thing any coach can do to change and improve any of these big swimming problems is - to coach better.

Ask yourself this question - and try to answer honestly.

Is it really coaching to stand at the end of a pool yelling numbers at a group of kids for 2 hours twice a day?

Think about the kids we coach.

What do they want from the experience of sport?

* To feel like they belong

* To enjoy the experience

* To feel safe

* To feel connected to the coach

* To feel like they’re learning and improving

* To have friends

* To feel part of something that’s relevant and meaningful to their lives.

So how is standing at the end of the pool yelling “1:20, 1:24, 1:27” and “Take your marks - GO” for hours and hours each week delivering any of the experiences that kids are craving?

The great Laurie Lawrence said once, “If the kids are swimming 6 kilometres, you walk 10 kilometres. Give them more than you ask from them.”

Swimming coaching is not easy. Swimming coaches are some of the most wonderful, caring, hard working, professional people I know.

But complaining about what the National Body doesn’t do or how terrible it is that there’s no 16 year olds at Meets isn’t going to fix anything.

As deliverers of the experience of this sport, the ONLY people who can make this sport better - are coaches.

Are you up to the challenge? I believe - without doubt - you are!

Wayne Goldsmith

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.

By Wayne Goldsmith

Three Key Concepts

* Traditional 1-1-1-1 periodization (1 week, 1 month, 1 quarter, 1 year) is calendar convenience, not biological reality

* Expecting all swimmers to adapt to training loads by Sunday night for Monday morning progression is coaching insanity

* Bold coaches create periodization around adaptation timelines, not calendar constraints

We've brainwashed an entire generation of swimming coaches into believing that periodization must follow the calendar. One week microcycles. One month macrocycles. One quarter phases. One year seasons. The sacred 1-1-1-1 model that every coaching course teaches as gospel.

Here's the problem: human adaptation doesn't follow a calendar.

Your swimmers don't magically recover and adapt to training loads because it's Sunday night and you need them ready for a new training phase on Monday morning. Biology doesn't care about your neat weekly schedule or monthly planning charts.

Think about what we're actually expecting here. You've got swimmers with different birth dates, ages, genetics, recovery rates, nutrition habits, sleep patterns, stress levels, and training backgrounds. Yet we teach coaches that ALL of these athletes will adapt to the same training stimulus in exactly seven days, allowing for seamless progression to the next phase.

This is dumb in the extreme.

Some swimmers need ten days to adapt to a training block. Others might need fourteen. Some might be ready in five. Your 13-year-old developmental swimmer and your 17-year-old senior don't operate on the same biological timeline just because they're both in Tuesday's practice.

Here's what bold coaches do: they throw out the calendar and follow the adaptation.

Why not ten-day microcycles? Why not thirteen-session cycles that take as long as they take to create the changes you're seeking? Why not base your periodization on how your swimmers are actually responding rather than what date appears on your planning calendar?

I've worked with coaches who run nine-day cycles, others who use fifteen-session blocks regardless of how many calendar days that requires. They watch their swimmers, assess their adaptation and progress when biology says they're ready—not when the calendar demands it.

Stop forcing your swimmers to fit into arbitrary time constraints. Start designing periodization around the reality of human adaptation.

Summary: True periodization follows biological adaptation timelines, not calendar convenience. Bold coaches create training cycles based on how swimmers actually respond to training loads.

Three Practical Exercises:

* Adaptation Assessment: Instead of automatic weekly progressions, evaluate swimmer readiness through stroke mechanics, energy levels, and training response before advancing phases.

* Flexible Cycles: Experiment with 9, 10, or 13-day microcycles based on training response rather than calendar weeks—track adaptation quality over time adherence.

* Session-Based Planning: Design training blocks around specific session counts (e.g., 15 sessions) that progress when adaptation occurs, regardless of calendar timeframe.

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

VIDEOS RECORDED AT BEAUTIFUL EVANS HEAD AQUATIC CENTRE, NSW, AUSTRALIA with the kind courtesy of RICHMOND VALLEY AQUATICS.

https://richmondvalleyaquatics.com.au/

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.

Three Key Concepts:

* How swimmers approach a workout matters infinitely more than what's written on the whiteboard

* Successful athletes transform THE workout into THEIR workout through conscious choice

* Coaches obsess over physiology while missing the psychology that drives performance

Here's the dirty little secret about swimming coaching that nobody wants to admit: you're probably overthinking your workout design.

I've watched coaches spend hours crafting the "perfect" training session—calculating exact rest intervals, debating lactate thresholds, obsessing over stroke counts and split times. They'll analyze heart rate data, study periodization charts, and lose sleep over whether swimmers should hold 1:15 or 1:18 on a main set.

Meanwhile, their swimmers show up and completely miss the point.

Two athletes can do the exact same workout and get completely different results. Same pool, same coach, same workout written on the board. One swimmer transforms into a champion. The other treads water in mediocrity. The difference isn't in the physiology—it's in the psychology. It’s attitude. It’s in the choices the swimmer makes on how to do the workout that matters.

The swimmers who excel understand something their coaches often miss: THE workout becomes THEIR workout the moment they decide how they're going to approach it. Every push-off is a choice. Every breath is a decision. Every wall attack is an opportunity to own their development or coast through another meaningless lap.

I've seen swimmers turn basic 10x100 freestyle sets into breakthrough sessions because they chose to focus on perfection in every detail. I've also seen swimmers waste brilliant, scientifically-designed workouts because they approached them with minimum effort and maximum excuses.

Stop obsessing over the training variables you can control on paper and start focusing on the human variables that actually determine success. The magic isn't in your workout design—it's in how your swimmers choose to execute what you've designed.

Summary: Successful swimming comes from athletes who transform THE workout into THEIR workout through conscious choices about effort, focus, and execution.

Three Practical Exercises:

* Choice Awareness Sessions: Before each main set, ask swimmers to identify three specific choices they'll make—streamline tightness, breathing pattern, wall finish—and rate their execution afterward.

* Ownership Conversations: After practice, ask "How did you make today's workout yours?" instead of "How did the workout feel?" Focus on their choices, not your design.

* Execution Excellence: Spend less time explaining workout physiology and more time teaching athletes how to approach every repeat with championship mindset and maximum standards.

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

VIDEOS RECORDED AT BEAUTIFUL EVANS HEAD AQUATIC CENTRE, NSW, AUSTRALIA with the kind courtesy of RICHMOND VALLEY AQUATICS.

https://richmondvalleyaquatics.com.au/

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.

Three Key Concepts

* Complex training zone systems are theoretical perfection but practical insanity

* Individual variables make precise zone targeting impossible with groups of swimmers

* Simplicity and clarity beat complexity and confusion every single time

Here's what drives me absolutely crazy about modern swimming coaching education: we're teaching young coaches that they need to master 5, 6, or 7 different training zones to be successful.

Lactate threshold. VO2 max. Anaerobic power. Neuromuscular power. Critical speed. Maximum lactate steady state. Aerobic capacity. We throw around these terms like they're coaching gospel, creating elaborate zone charts with precise heart rate ranges and blood lactate values.

Then we send these coaches out to the pool deck with 30 age group swimmers and expect them to accurately determine which specific training zone each swimmer is working in during a main set.

This is insanity.

You've got a 12-year-old who stayed up until midnight playing video games training next to a 16-year-old who's been tapering for two weeks. One swimmer had three energy drinks for breakfast, another is fighting off a cold. Different genetics, different training backgrounds, different stress levels, different everything.

And we expect coaches to know that swimmer A is training in Zone 3 while swimmer B is hitting Zone 5? Even with all the wearable technology in the world, this level of precision is a fantasy that exists only in coaching textbooks and laboratory conditions.

Here's what actually works: SIMPLIFY. CLARIFY. Start young coaches with four training zones maximum, with big, obvious gaps between them:

* Low Intensity Aerobic: Easy, relaxed pace swimming that builds base fitness

* High Intensity Aerobic: Challenging but sustainable pace that develops aerobic power

* Race Pace Specific: Training at the speeds swimmers will race at competition while maintaining race quality skills and technique

* Speed Development: Maximum velocity work for neuromuscular adaptation

Master these four. Understand what each zone accomplishes. Learn to recognize them in your swimmers. Then, after years of experience, maybe—maybe—add another zone if it genuinely helps your athletes reach their potential.

The best coaches I know keep training simple enough that their swimmers can execute it brilliantly, rather than making it so complex that nobody understands what they're supposed to be doing.

Summary: Training zone complexity creates confusion and imprecision—smart coaches should start with four simple zones and master the art of practical application before adding unnecessary complexity.

Three Practical Exercises:

* Zone Recognition Drill: Practice identifying the four basic zones by observing swimmer behavior, breathing patterns and stroke mechanics rather than relying on technology.

* Simplicity Challenge: For one month, design all workouts using only the four basic zones—master simple before attempting complex.

* Individual Awareness: Learn to recognize how different swimmers respond to the same training stimulus rather than assuming everyone hits identical zones.

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

VIDEOS RECORDED AT BEAUTIFUL EVANS HEAD AQUATIC CENTRE, NSW, AUSTRALIA with the kind courtesy of RICHMOND VALLEY AQUATICS.

https://richmondvalleyaquatics.com.au/

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.

Three Key Concepts:

* Most coaches obsess over volume, intensity, and frequency while completely ignoring the brain

* Mental skills training must be integrated into every workout, not treated as an optional add-on

* The fourth variable—training the brain—often determines who reaches their potential and who doesn't

Every coaching textbook teaches the same three variables: Volume (how much), Intensity (how hard), Frequency (how often). Walk into any pool and you'll hear coaches discussing meters per week, lactate threshold sets and training sessions per day.

But here's what's missing from 95% of workout plans worldwide: training the brain.

I've spent three decades watching coaches meticulously plan every physiological detail of their sessions—calculating precise rest intervals, monitoring heart rates, periodizing training loads—while completely ignoring the most powerful performance variable of all: the space between their swimmers' ears.

Think about your last workout. Did you plan how to challenge your swimmers' mental resilience? Did you include exercises to improve their focus under pressure? Did you design opportunities to practice emotional control when fatigue sets in? Or did you just write "8 x 100 on 1:20" and call it coaching?

The swimmers who reach the podium at major championships aren't just physiologically superior—they're mentally trained. They've practiced staying calm when their race plan falls apart. They've rehearsed positive self-talk when lactate floods their system. They've trained their brains to make smart tactical decisions when oxygen debt clouds their thinking.

Yet most coaches treat mental skills like an afterthought. "We'll do some visualization next week." "I should probably talk to them about goal setting sometime." Meanwhile, they spend hours calculating training zones and periodization charts.

Here's the reality: Volume, Intensity, and Frequency without Brain training creates fast practice swimmers who crumble under competition pressure. But when you integrate mental skills into every session—when you make brain training as systematic as your lactate sets—you develop complete swimmers who perform when it matters most.

Summary: Coaches must move beyond the traditional three training variables (volume, intensity, frequency) to include systematic brain training as the fourth essential element of complete swimmer development.

Three Practical Exercises

* Mental Skills Integration: In every workout, include one specific mental challenge—racing simulation with distraction, pressure breathing exercises, or focus tasks during fatigue.

* Brain Training Planning: When writing workouts, ask "How am I training volume today? Intensity? Frequency? And what mental skill am I developing?" Plan all four variables deliberately.

* Competition Mindset Practice: Create training scenarios that replicate competition stress—noisy environments, unexpected changes, equipment problems—and teach swimmers to maintain performance standards.

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

VIDEOS RECORDED AT BEAUTIFUL EVANS HEAD AQUATIC CENTRE, NSW, AUSTRALIA with the kind courtesy of RICHMOND VALLEY AQUATICS.

https://richmondvalleyaquatics.com.au/

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.

Three Key Concepts

* The traditional workout formula is limiting your swimmers' potential

* Creative, adaptive coaching beats cookie-cutter programs every time

* Modern swimming demands purposeful, individualized training approaches

Stop me if this sounds familiar: Warm-up, kick set, pull set, drills and skills, main set, simulators, swim down. Repeat tomorrow. Repeat next week. Repeat for the entire season.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: if your workouts follow the same predictable pattern session after session, you're not coaching—you're photocopying.

I've visited hundreds of pools across six continents, and the sight is depressingly similar. Coaches standing at the end of lanes, clipboard in hand, running swimmers through the exact same workout structure they learned in their Level 1 coaching course twenty years ago. It's swimming by formula, coaching by default, and it's killing creativity and limiting potential.

The greatest coaches I've worked with—the ones who develop Olympic champions and world record holders—don't follow templates. They craft experiences. They look at their swimmers on any given day and ask:

"What do these athletes need right now? What will challenge them? What will inspire them? What will make them better?"

Maybe today your sprint group needs 45 minutes of pure speed work with no warm-up because they're sharp and ready to fly. Maybe your distance swimmers need a technical session that's 80% drills because their stroke fell apart yesterday. Maybe your entire team needs a game-based practice because they're mentally flat and need to rediscover why they love this sport.

The old model assumes every swimmer needs the same thing at the same time in the same order. The new model recognizes that swimming is becoming more accurate, more purposeful, more deliberate—and our coaching must evolve accordingly.

Summary: Modern swimming coaching requires breaking free from traditional workout formulas to create purposeful, adaptive sessions that meet the specific needs of individual swimmers and groups.

Three Practical Exercises

* Needs Assessment Check: Before writing any workout, ask three questions: "What do my swimmers need physically today? What do they need mentally? What do they need technically?"

* Formula-Free Friday: Once per week, design a completely non-traditional practice structure—start with main set, end with warm-up, or create an entirely game-based session.

* Swimmer Input Sessions: Monthly, ask your swimmers what type of practice would challenge and motivate them most, then design creative sessions around their feedback.

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

VIDEOS RECORDED AT BEAUTIFUL EVANS HEAD AQUATIC CENTRE, NSW, AUSTRALIA with the kind courtesy of RICHMOND VALLEY AQUATICS.

https://richmondvalleyaquatics.com.au/

Copyright Wayne Goldsmith. All Rights Reserved.