Team Owner Jeff Pease

We are now into our 8th month of the NCA Technical Assistance Program that we introduced to swimmers at the beginning of the 2016-2017 swim season.  This included the following opportunities: Saturday Office Hours, Saturday SuperStars, SwimLabs, and Speedo Clinics. Through the combined efforts of our coaching staff, these programs provided our athletes additional technical and motivational support, and I am proud to announce that we have reached over 400 swimmers to date.

Before I highlight my observations on the benefits these programs brought NCA swimmers, I want to share why I replaced team sponsored one-on-one lessons for swimmers seeking additional support with a merit-based, coach-driven approach to technical assistance.  I started my research by conducting interviews with 10 of the most successful club coaches in the United States. My question was simple: do you have a team-sponsored private lesson program?  Amazingly, 9 out of the 10 coaches replied that they did not believe in private lessons.  Rather, they put the ownness on their coaches to make the appropriate corrections during workouts, especially at the critical, entry level programs.

In evaluating our program, I was unable to find greater competitive success in swimmers who participated in private lessons over those who did not participate.  I also discovered based on feedback from my staff that swimmers who took private lessons did not consistently apply what they learned from the lesson in practice.  In many cases the opposite was observed; a swimmer only focused on technique during the private lesson.

I also observed an adverse culture developing in our program with the perception that swimmers who could afford the private lessons had an unfair advantage over the swimmers who could not.  This particularly bothered me because I feel strongly that all swimmers should receive pointed feedback during every practice and not feel like they need to spend more money for that attention.

I also turned to the research on movement patterns where I discovered that swimmers especially improve their technique by performing simple drills with great repetition in a practice setting that requires effort and has a motivational component.  Then, the swimmer understands that doing the stroke correctly will lead to a positive outcome.  This is why we see over and over swimmers performing the stroke correctly in a race even though you may not see the same level of proficiency in practice.

One question remained, however.  If I did not see the benefit of private lessons in our developmental levels and still observed common stroke flaws as our swimmers progressed up the NCA developmental ladder, then what was the solution?  I challenged my staff to find a substitute to private lessons that benefited more swimmers and achieved measurable results by applying my knowledge that simply drills performed with great repetition under duress (with effort) and in a motivated setting (racing) produces positive results.  The NCA Technical Assistance Program was the product of this challenge.

Below I highlight the individual programs and explain why each meets my criteria for being merit-based, coach-driven, and accessible to each and every swimmer.

Saturday SuperStars: One Saturday Each Month

This program is 100% subsidized by our annual registration budget.  Coaches invite one boy and one girl in each of our 14U practice groups to attend based on the exceptional values each has shown consistently in practice during the previous several weeks.

Each Saturday SuperStar swimmer is paired with a NCA Senior who demonstrates the stroke theme for the day and gives the age-group swimmer one-on-one feedback.  The senior swimmer provides mentorship and inspiration to the younger teammate.  Coach Jenna Vagts loves the team bonding aspect this creates, and she knows the 14U swimmers leave wanting to be senior swimmers someday.  “Having an older swimmer demonstrate and help instruct younger swimmers gives them something to aspire to,” she says.

Other coaches notice the improvements when swimmers return to practice.  “The mentorship provided by the senior swimmers is profound, and I see these kids come back to practice more inspired and motivated!” shares Coach Eva Pold.  She also observes that the shirt they receive at the end of the day is worn proudly when they return to their practice group.

160 NCA swimmers have benefited this year from Saturday SuperStars.

Saturday Office Hours:  Two Saturdays Each Month at Alga Norte and JCC

This program is 100% subsidized by our annual registration budget.  Coaches invite no more than 4 swimmers who are consistently performing with great effort and focus at practice but could benefit from some individualized attention on a specific aspect of a stroke to a 20-30 minute lesson with an NCA coach.

“The individualized attention on specific technique skills in a lesson-like format allows swimmers to focus on a skill they have been struggling with in practice. I love helping these deserving kids,” says Coach Neily Mathias.

The key to this program is that these kids are deserving of the extra attention and have the best chance of applying the stroke correction when they return to practice.

180 NCA swimmers have benefited this year from Saturday Office Hours.

SwimLabs Encinitas

This program is partially subsidized by the annual registration budget.  (NCA fully subsidized this program for swimmers with demonstrated hardship.)  This is a unique opportunity for our staff to learn common trends in stroke technique from the staff at SwimLabs by combining state of the art video with a swimmer performing a stroke theme in an endless pool.  With these videos, our coaches can see which technique flaws need attention, address them with the individual swimmer, then bring that knowledge back to the deck for all swimmers.  It’s a teaching bonanza for coaches because what you see underwater is very different than what you see above water.  However, it is often common to all swimmers.

Coach Kristyn Deckard agrees.  “SwimLabs is a great tool if used by the swimmer and coach properly. The coach has to find and fix the issues, but the swimmer has to implement these changes on a daily basis.”  Because swimmers of all levels and ages show similar stroke needs, these videos allow our coaches to prioritize which technique flaws to focus on in practices across sites.

During May, Coach Rob created his own video on EVF (Early Vertical Forearm), which was discussed and shared with coaches and sent to parents in the May newsletters.  The staff created a stroke-themed month, utilizing appropriate drills for swimmers at all levels.  This collaboration will continue in the coming months, creating a cohesive approach to correcting common stroke technique flaws.

60 NCA age-group and senior swimmers have been evaluated at SwimLabs Encinitas since March.

Speedo Sponsored Swim Clinics: Kendyl Stewart

This clinic is partially subsidized by our annual registration budget and our team sponsor Speedo.  (NCA fully subsidized this program for swimmers with demonstrated hardship.)  Conducted twice per year, this motivational programs rewards 50 age-group swimmers (organized by age group) with a stroke clinic conducted by a USA National Team swimmer.

This year, we invited our own NCA alum and USA National Team member, Kendyl Stewart, to host a butterfly clinic.  Coaches invited members of our 10U age group who consistently showed great effort and focus at practice.

It was a memorable day for the NCA stars of the future.  Kendyl took questions from the kids, showed off her international medals, signed NCA swag, and took pictures with all of them.  For my part, I enjoyed telling my own “Kendyl” stories from the beginning of her career as a 7 year old at the Boys & Girls Club through her storied age group, high school and college success as well.

The NCA Technical Assistance Program is off to a great start, and I am proud that we’re going “beyond practice” to provide valuable tools to our swimmers and coaches, building technique support, mentorship, team building, motivation, and inspiration.

Sincerely,

Coach Jeff