One really great thing I love about the fact that my kids are involved in the sport of swimming, is that it is so much more than just physical activity. Before we got involved, I never thought about the psychological aspect of the sport. You know...they dive in...they swim really fast...they touch the wall...they get out of the pool. Seems pretty straight forward, huh?
Well, there is a "hidden" aspect to this sport, even at young ages. Aside from the whole "mental-preparation" thing, there is a really big focus on goal-setting.
Recently Will and Maddie's coaches had sent home a work-sheet for them to complete. There were basic questions like, "What are your favorite events and times?" and "What are your strengths/weaknesses?".
There were also questions like: "What are your goals for this season?" and "What are your long-term swimming goals?"
After they completed their assignments, I was just too curious not to look. It was pretty straight forward stuff: Maddie likes the freestyle and butterfly. She wants to get better at the backstroke. She focuses well at practices but needs to work on her turns. For the season, she listed some time-specific goals for the 50 fly and 200 free, and her long term goal is to get a swim scholarship to college.
And for Will, he likes the freestyle and breaststroke, needs to work on starts and turns, is good at his stream-lines, and wants to improve his butterfly and backstroke. Long-term, he would also like to earn a college swimming scholarship.
And then when I got to the part about goals for the season, he wrote, "get another state qualifying time in my 50 free and get a 6-pack stomach."
I wonder if Coach Terri laughed as hard as we did?
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