Legendary swim coach Gregg Troy coached countless elite swimmers over the years.
Names like Anthony Nesty and Gustavo Borges to Caeleb Dressel and Elizabeth Beisel, Troy has worked with countless racers over the years.
Swimmers who stood up and delivered on the sport’s biggest stages.
Here are three quick lessons every swimmer should remember when it comes to competing with fog-free goggles and a fearless heart:
1. See the possibility of failure but race anyway
Troy puts it pretty bluntly:
“Great racers race with no fear. They realize there is an upside and a downside to racing. To be a great racer you have to understand that part of racing is losing.”
Fear isn’t something you eliminate—it’s something you learn is part of the experience.
Great racers aren’t completely fearless, but they don’t allow the possibility of failure to choke performance on race day.
2. Racing should be fun
What gets lost a lot of the time with competition is that it’s supposed to be fun.
“I think it is a process of allowing them to enjoy racing, that it is something to look forward to.”
It’s hard not to get sucked up into our big expectations, whether they are self-directed or come externally via coaches, parents, social media—which ultimately makes competing more life-or-death than it needs to be.
Racing should be viewed as a challenge and an opportunity to see what we are capable of, and this process of discovery is enjoyable.
3. Train for the pressure
Swimmers and coaches familiar with him will know that this is classic Troy:
“Try to put them in difficult positions in practice. In a training environment we look for difficult situations. If you can perform well when you are uncomfortable it relates well to performing in difficult situations at an international level.”
Some swimmers have a knack for competition—it brings the best out of them every time. But even they have experienced sufficient pressure and discomfort to be confident in themselves when they got up on the block.
They pushed themselves in training.
They competed with their own expectations.
They competed with teammates, times, and coach’s sets.
The result is that when race time comes around, they welcome the moment to compete again.
So:
- Embrace the opportunity to swim your best, win or lose
- Frame the competitive experience as a challenge (not a threat)
- Chase discomfort and pressure in training to make it as familiar as the smell of chlorine on race day
See you in the pool,
Source: by Olivier Poirier-Leroy
https://www.yourswimlog.com/