Sunday, September 21, 2008
Sept 22, 2008 - Coach talk, The past is not the present or the future
I attended a coach’s workshop on September 13th with Richard Quick. He has coached multiple swimmers who have medaled at the Olympics. He talked about things that are common at all levels of swimming even though we aren’t the caliber of swimmers that he coaches.
Theme for both yesterday and today is that the past is not the present or the future. Yesterday, I talked about how you are better than you think you are. There is something you can always do to go a little faster and do a little better (if not a lot faster or better). Past records and performances are not an accurate picture of what you can do in the future or even today.
This story comes from Richard Quick. He said that people that can overcome negativism are special individuals. (I may not have everything correct, but the gist of the story is.) In 1992, Richard Quick coached a swimmer named Summer Sanders. Sanders attended the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and entered 3 individual events and a relay. The press hyped her up as the star of swimming who had the potential of 4 golds, even though she was not top ranked for the world in any of her events. The press doesn’t always want to be confused with facts when creating these stories. In her first event of 400 IM she got a bronze. After the swim the press asked her whether she was disappointed that she did not get gold. She pointed out that she had set an American record, and that she had swum a personal best, and that she was pretty pleased with the result. In her next race, she swam 200 IM. This time she got Silver. The press again came to her and asked her what was happening to her potential of her 4 golds and whether she was disappointed to not get gold in her second event. Richard Quick wanted to give the press a piece of his mind (like are you the 2nd best reporter in the world?), but Sanders wouldn’t let him and she gave the same answer. I swam a personal best and set an American record. I’m pretty proud of that. The last individual event for Sanders was the 200 Fly. Her racing style was to go out fast, lead the field and hope that she could hold on to the lead in the end. In the 200 fly, she was third place at the 50, third place at the 100, third place at the 150. Afterwards she said that during the race she started to think, well maybe the press is right. I got a bronze, I got a silver, and I’m behind in this race. But she put this negativism out of her mind and swam hard the last 50. She won gold by 1/3 of a second. Her past of swimming a bronze, her past of swimming a silver, her past of always leading the race, her past of not being the top ranked swimmer, did not keep her from winning gold in the 200 fly.
The past is not the present nor the future. Don’t let the past constrain you. Overcome its negativism. You are better than you think.
Theme for both yesterday and today is that the past is not the present or the future. Yesterday, I talked about how you are better than you think you are. There is something you can always do to go a little faster and do a little better (if not a lot faster or better). Past records and performances are not an accurate picture of what you can do in the future or even today.
This story comes from Richard Quick. He said that people that can overcome negativism are special individuals. (I may not have everything correct, but the gist of the story is.) In 1992, Richard Quick coached a swimmer named Summer Sanders. Sanders attended the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and entered 3 individual events and a relay. The press hyped her up as the star of swimming who had the potential of 4 golds, even though she was not top ranked for the world in any of her events. The press doesn’t always want to be confused with facts when creating these stories. In her first event of 400 IM she got a bronze. After the swim the press asked her whether she was disappointed that she did not get gold. She pointed out that she had set an American record, and that she had swum a personal best, and that she was pretty pleased with the result. In her next race, she swam 200 IM. This time she got Silver. The press again came to her and asked her what was happening to her potential of her 4 golds and whether she was disappointed to not get gold in her second event. Richard Quick wanted to give the press a piece of his mind (like are you the 2nd best reporter in the world?), but Sanders wouldn’t let him and she gave the same answer. I swam a personal best and set an American record. I’m pretty proud of that. The last individual event for Sanders was the 200 Fly. Her racing style was to go out fast, lead the field and hope that she could hold on to the lead in the end. In the 200 fly, she was third place at the 50, third place at the 100, third place at the 150. Afterwards she said that during the race she started to think, well maybe the press is right. I got a bronze, I got a silver, and I’m behind in this race. But she put this negativism out of her mind and swam hard the last 50. She won gold by 1/3 of a second. Her past of swimming a bronze, her past of swimming a silver, her past of always leading the race, her past of not being the top ranked swimmer, did not keep her from winning gold in the 200 fly.
The past is not the present nor the future. Don’t let the past constrain you. Overcome its negativism. You are better than you think.
# posted by gladorca's blog @ 11:17 AM 
