Seaside Pirates Masters Swimming Club

Seaside Pirates Goals and Objectives 2010 - 2011

Competition

The Seaside Pirates Club aims to be competitive at the highest level of Masters Swimming

Why

Setting challenges, commitment to training and team support is key to a successful club.

Objectives

•    We aim to win all three State titles in 2011

•    The Club will aim to form a strong team to compete at the 2011 Nationals in Perth WA with the specific goal of winning the Visitors Trophy

•    Member participation at our Club carnival at SOPAC to increase to a minimum of 50%

•    A coaching programme for 2011 to be published by Dec 31st with attention to the timing of the State and National swims

•    We will be repeating and look to increase participation in the Club Championships

Membership

The Seaside Pirates welcomes members to be part of a community of people who swim for fitness, friendship and fun

Why

To attract new members and motivate existing members to participate to their highest capacity, it is essential to provide an environment of connectedness and camaraderie.

Objectives

•    The Club will conduct at least 2 friendly relay competitions with Terrey Hills Masters

•    The 2010 Yearbook will be published by the end of February 2011

•    A social event will be held in December 2010 or January 2011 for the Club Championship presentation as well as two other social events during 2011.

•    The monthly post training breakfasts will continue

 Community

The Seaside Pirates is open to anyone willing to participate, regardless of ability

Why

A successful swimming club needs to be aware of opportunities to broaden its membership base in order to be sustainable, dynamic and a role model to other clubs.

Objectives 

•    The Club will participate in a friendly swim against Warringah Masters and Avalon Swimming Club at an ocean pool in March

•    In cooperation with a local surf club we'll run an ocean swim in 2011

•    A sponsorship program will be implemented, initially through the NSP website and developing throughout activities and merchandise.

•    A selection of fresh Club gear will be ordered and offered to members for purchase.

Notes

1.   The Club has always expected that members take part in carnivals and will be asking members to increase that commitment this year. The coaching program will be aimed towards competition goals but will not exclude members who are not able to take part in some competitions.

2.   The Committee will be seeking a member to act as organiser/co-ordinator for the Perth team.

3.   All members are invited to comment on and contribute to these Club goals

An Update on Coaching

Team,

Our coaching team is settling down nicely as we prepare for the upcoming State Championships.

The typical arrangement sees pairs of coaches alternating (loosely) at our sessions, as follow:-

• Tuesday Evening – Rachel Ireland or Milton O’Dell
• Thursday Evening – Louise Price or Graham Hill
• Sunday Morning – Richard Burchfield or Jeff Price

Also, please remember to bring your fins with you to training (so we can add another dimension to our sprint work), to be on deck for the evening sessions at 7.20pm (to enable the coach to better brief you on the set ahead) and to keep thinking about your goals.  Ideally your goals will support the club goals, inspire you to get in the pool more regularly and to train more effectively while you are in the water.  The coaches are always happy to discuss your goals with you and can only assist you achieve them if you share them with us :-)

See you at the pool,

Jeff 

 

Outcomes of Coaches Meeting

Hi Team,

Last Saturday, those coaches who were able to got together to review what we are trying to achieve through the remainder of 2010.  Many different ideas were discussed with a view to maximising the return to the club for the effort expended.  Below you will find details of what we are trying to do and things we need the ordinary member to do in order to help us succeed.

We, the Coaches, commit to being/providing:-

• Punctuality
• Enthusiasm
• Good attitude
• Encouragement
• Opportunity to get fit and to improve health and wellbeing

All we need in return is:-

• Participation
• Punctuality
• Enthusiasm
• Good attitude
• A desire and willingness to achieve

We all believe that the key to making all of this a reality is to having meaningful goals.  These goals need to be monitored and potentially adjusted as situations alter.  They also need to be in the minds of both the swimmer and the coach at all sessions.  In order to make this a reality we feel it is necessary for the swimmer to mention their prime goal to the coach every session, prior to getting in the pool.  While this might seem burdensome it really takes no time at all, saves the coach remembering 80 different goals and places the swimmers goal at the forefront of their minds.

Another topic of conversation was the difficulty in addressing the swimmers as one group after warm-up, particularly at Warringah but also at Narrabeen.  As a consequence, the Tuesday and Thursday sessions will now commence at 7.20pm sharp (see Punctuality above) to assist the coach’s address and explanation of the upcoming session.  This will come into effect next Tuesday, September 21.

As State Long Course is rapidly approaching, could all swimmers start bringing their fins with them to training so that we can add another dimension to our sprint work.  This will come into effect this Sunday, September 19.

Finally, we will be making some minor adjustments to the coaching roster, so watch this space!!

Jeff 

What are the training benefits we are looking for each season?

A number of you have been asking questions about the improvements we are aiming for during the course of each training season.  Hopefully the following will give you a brief insight into the things we are trying to achieve.

At all times we are trying to improve our stroke mechanics.  We want everything we do in the water to maximise the benefit we achieve.  Very broadly we are trying to minimise resistance whilst we maximise propulsion in all strokes.

Physiologically we start each new season trying to increase our aerobic capacity and efficiency.  An improved aerobic capacity, coupled with our improved stroke mechanics, should lead to a decrease in our rate of lactic acid production.  As we push out of our comfort zones we also start to increase our ability to remove lactic acid from our system as well as increase our tolerance to the pain of acidosis.  As we get towards the end of our training cycle we are starting to work on improving our rate of anaerobic metabolism, which means more lactate production, which explains in part why we have improved our ability to dispose of it.  Lastly we practice our speed of movement and our muscle recruitment patterns when we sprint before resting a little in order to let us be at our peak for the major Meet of the season.

Clearly we can only attain our best results if we have gradually built our abilities across all of our diverse yet inter-related energy systems.  If you miss out on the bulk of the aerobic work for a season your improvements through the more anaerobic phases will not be as high.  Our longer term goal is to start each new season in better shape than we started the season before.  Clearly this will require continued training through the seasons.  Major gaps in training will lead to regression rather than continued improvement.

So, come for the journey through the whole season and enjoy the variety of training styles and types that the season will provide as well as the undoubted health benefits.  If you are really interested in physiology then come and have a chat.  Also, for a slightly deeper look at some of these aspects, I found an old assignment I did as part of my Level 2 coaching course that some of you might be interested in.  Apologies if it is a bit abrupt as I cut off the bits at the front and back which weren’t really relevant to the general case we are looking at.  The assignment can be found in the Library.

See you in the pool!!

Jeff Price

 Head Coach

Coaching Shortage during August

Ahoy Pirates!!  Three of our regular coaches will be away for all or part of August.  As a result we are a little light on for people to cover our three weekly swims.  So, if you have ever had the desire to join the coaching ranks, or if you believe you have the ability and/or desire to become a coach, now is a fantastic time to raise your hand and volunteer.

We are still able to provide as much assistance as you require with types of sets, make up of sets etc.  Simply respond to this article or talk to Jeff directly.

Thanks,

The Coaching Crew

Coaching roster

The coaching roster to the end of July will be:

• Tuesday nights - Milton O'Dell or Rich Burchfield
• Thursday nights - Louise Price
• Sundays - Jeff Price

What are your reasons for swimming?

There are many varied reasons that make all of us want to swim.  For some of us there will be one overriding reason, while for others there will be a number of reasons that are all important.

Seaside Pirates is committed to helping our members get the maximum benefit out of their swimming experience.  As we all have significant time constraints we are going to provide details on the sorts of things that you, the ordinary member, need to do in order to maximise your benefit.  We will consider swimming; to control your weight, for health and fitness, for camaraderie/social interaction and simply because you want to swim as fast as you can.

Keep an eye on this website to find out what YOU need to do to be part of the solution!

NB If there are other drivers for your swimming let me know and we will see if we can address those too.

Jeff Price
 Head Coach

Coaching News

The coaching plan drawn up for the Club has become very late and impractical to deliver through a combination of conflicting work obligations, family commitments and interstate postings. Steve Hyde has tried alone to juggle his own many and varied obligations for a much longer period than was ever envisaged. Business commitments finally got too much for Steve to give the time he wanted to being Head Coach and he has regretfully stood down from the post. Now he can properly concentrate on ‘paying the rent’ and looking after his young family. For his sterling efforts the Club is indebted to Steve, and he has our unfailing appreciation and respect. He won’t stop swimming of course and once he’s got over the ‘flu, we look forward to seeing him back in the pool. It shouldn’t be too long either before he’s back on deck doing the great job of coaching that he’s always done.

We do still need a solid coaching program to focus our swimming goals and fortunately the Club has great depth in its coaching team. We’ve been able to persuade two of the best to come out of their rest home and fill the roles of Head Coach and Assistant Head Coach so that we can maintain that excellent standard of coaching that the Pirates have always enjoyed.

Jeff Price will once more step up to the plate as Head Coach and Louise, as ever, will be his assistant, interpreter, sanity inspector and everything else. Jeff has been coaching swimmers for over 15 years and is one of only 3 people in NSW to hold a Level 2M certification, whilst Louise is a Level 1M qualified coach with more than 10 years experience in coaching swimmers and has successfully managed commercial coaching programs. Between them they have been awarded the coveted title of Australian Masters Swimming Coach of the Year three times; both are founding and Life Members of Seaside Pirates.

As skilled and willing as they are Jeff and Louise can’t carry all the responsibilities of coaching alone and will head up a team  of at least six other coaches with the objectives of delivering the best possible coaching to our members and growing and developing the skills and numbers of our coaches.

Come along, have a swim and meet them this Sunday as Jeff will be on deck coaching, whilst Louise swims and watches from the pool to make sure he hasn’t lost his touch. It’s the first Sunday of the month too so there’ll be breakfast as an added temptation.

President Paul

Pirates Winter training programme

Our major competition goal this year will be the State Long Course Championships to be held at SOPAC on October 23 and 24. That's a grand total of 21 weeks away and the coaches have mapped out a programme to get us all there in the best possible form. The overall training program can be downloaded here as a PDF document.

Our training focus this week is: general endurance

This means we will be working on building aerobic fitness and sessions will oriented towards swimming plenty of kilometres at moderate effort levels (with some sprint work from time to time to keep everyone fresh). We will also be working on stroke mechanics, streamlining and turns. For your dry-land training we recommend working on strength and flexibility.

Looking ahead

Our next major competition will the State Relay meet on July 18 (7 weeks away). This is an event we have historically done very well at and we are again aiming for a strong turnout.

Long distance fans (do we have any?) may like to note the Hills Long Distance Short Course meet is on June 27 at Galston Aquatic Centre. If 400's, 800's and 1500's float your boat here's your chance.

Level 1M Coaching Course coming up soon

If you are interested in getting formal qualifications as a Masters Swimming Coach you'll be interested to hear that a course is scheduled for the 19th and 20th of June this year. The application form can be downloaded here (in Microsoft Word format).