I was having a conversation the other day on the pool deck with one of the other coaches of our local swim team. As I am still a new coach, I was asking what was the clubs approach for who led any given lane. In general, its always the fastest and the swimmers usually sort this out themselves. Whilst this makes sense on the surface (Shoot! This is what we often did when I was swimming) I thought that perhaps this created collusion. If everyone in the lane knows so-and-so is fastest, and plays follow-the-leader, how will those behind the leader ever discover if they could become faster. The easier route is to play it safe and constantly draft off the person in front - like the principle that geese use to conserve energy to fly longer. However, unlike the geese, with swimmers there is no honking and there is often no rotation of leadership. Every leader needs to be led. In the pool, I see a good opportunity for others to step up and lead from the front, particularly on timed sets e.g. 10 x 100m on 1 minute 30 seconds. This shifts the leadership to someone new. The person who normally leads gets a new perspective (and an opportunity to conserve some energy for later). The new leader gets to learn the ropes of leadership. Actually, how else will they learn to lead in a race if they dont learn to lead in practice? The new leader can pass on the coachs set instruction and takes charge of the set to keep count and stay on pace. As theyre not necessarily the fastest, they will have to push themselves. Doing that strengthens them mentally, physically and emotionally. They also develop leadership skills whilst getting faster. A leader without leadership becomes dull and complacent. Every leader, whether in the pool or elsewhere, needs to be challenged to become a better leader. For all to benefit, you must always be asking, Who is leading the leader? Please share your insights, comments and experience here on the need for leaders to also be led.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 08:10:35 +0000
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