Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club

Tallahassee, FL | 11th of March 2010

Novice/League Incentive Programs

Outstanding Practice Goals/Incentives

We are once again initiating our OUTSTANDING PRACTICE GOALS (Smiley Face program). An important aspect of excelling in any endeavor is to manage the “Basics” first. In our case, it is learning and forming good practice habits. Once this has been accomplished then the opportunity to really excel in the sport can begin to take place.

The emphasis for this program is that EVERY swimmer can be successful EVERY day! It also rewards our swimmers for good practice habits, which hopefully carries over into their everyday activities as well. Swimming is one of those types of sports that can be very demanding for a young swimmer so we want to be sure that learning and cooperation can also be fun.

We will be posting our rosters in the Team Room and after each practice we will indicate how each swimmer did for that day. This will allow for the swimmers AND parents to see how they did for that particular practice. In the event that a swimmer did not get a “Smiley Face” for a practice we will put a number(s) in that day’s slot vs. a smiley face indicating what areas the swimmer needs to improve on. We would like, however, for all aspects of this program to be for positive reinforcement. Consequently, if they did not receive a smiley face it should only be treated as a reminder for the swimmer for the next practice. We also realize that being perfect is not always fun so we have structured our awards in such a way that you don’t have to be perfect to be recognized and tomorrow is another day. This is similar to how our Head Coach (Coach Maul) reinforces the senior swimmers when they might have a time in one of their events at a Swim Meet that’s not what they expected or wanted. He uses Golf as his analogy; “You bogeyed that hole, move on, you have 17 more holes and can still have a great score (Meet). This is how we will be treating this program also and we would like for both our swimmers and parents to support this approach.

In addition to recognizing the TOP 10 and 100% SMILEY FACES for the month we will also be splitting this first season into two halves. The first half will be for three weeks and the second half will be for 4 weeks (time left in this League season). At the halfway point we will award some halfway recognition prizes to keep the swimmers motivated for the second half. The 100% Smiley face awards for the actual days a swimmer attends will be broken into these two halves so the swimmers know that if they didn’t get the 100% in the first half they can start over and get it in the second half.

As we go through the year we will be continuing with this program and also hope to provide some other “Incentive” based programs so the swimmers can begin to take on more aspects of “Pursuing Excellence” in swimming. The quicker developing swimmers get the Basics squared away, the quicker they can start to take on more actual fundamentals of improving their strokes and ultimately their speed. Working in a large group cooperatively will allow for this to take place.

We know the swimmers will have fun with this program and will keep the coaches on their toes about keeping their Smiley Faces updated DAILY! We also hope the parents have fun with it by not only seeing how your swimmer is focused on doing the right thing, but in being able to positively support their efforts as well.

Please also feel free to discuss any aspects of this program with the coaches as it progresses throughout the season.

Outstanding Practice Criteria

Swimmers will either receive a “Smiley Face” for their overall practice or the NUMBER for the area(s) they had difficulty with for that day.

  • ON TIME TO PRACTICE - (Deck Exercises) Be at the designated place on deck ready to get started (late for legitimate reasons will be considered) Coaches have to go from one practice to another so it’s important that swimmers be ready and not scattered around the deck.
  • LISTENING – We want the swimmers to have fun with their friends during practice, but when the coach is speaking, swimmers need to stop talking to their friends and LISTEN TO THE COACH for instructions.
  • LANE COOPERATION – Working together in sometimes large lane groupings is extremely important. The coaches will be looking for those swimmers that;
    a) Allow faster swimmers to move ahead of them (adjusts their position in the lane based on speed for a given set or stroke)
    b) Respects Teammates…….Does not physically impede or touch teammates in anger or frustration.
    c) Swims in proper “circle pattern” at all times.
  • PACE CLOCK – The sooner swimmers understand the “Clock” use the more efficient they will be in practice and the more variety we can include in the practice. This will also be important for consideration to move up to Age Group. Some of the areas you will need to concentrate on are as follows;
    a) Works to understand the meaning and approach to “interval” training.
    b) PUSHES OFF at proper times whether leading the lane or not.
    c) Works to try to learn times (speeds) during varied sets.
    NOTE: These will be graded on somewhat of a “curve” based on age and experience.
  • E-F-F-O-R-T……….Follows coaches instructions and attempts to complete each task as the coach has explained it. This includes deck exercises, practicing correct stroke technique and swimming at the different speeds the coaches ask of them (i.e. pace work, descending speeds, hammer or smoke speed).

    • EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT ONE OF THE TOP 10 SWIMMERS IN A MONTH WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE EVERY SWIMMER SET A GOAL OF EARNING AS MANY SMILEY FACES AS YOU CAN IN A MONTH AND IMPROVE ON THIS NUMBER EVERY MONTH AFTER THAT!! YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE IN THE TOP 10 TO ALSO BE PURSUING EXCELLENCE!!