Podcast · Sport

SWIMMING GOLD

by Wayne Goldsmith · English · Sport

Straight talk on swimming coaching from Wayne Goldsmith — 30+ years working with Olympic programs and national federations worldwide. Cutting through the noise on technique, training, race skills and building swimmers who love the sport. swimminggold.substack.com

New episodes: Several times a week
Typical length: 7 min
Latest: 1 Sep 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

1 Sep 2026 · 5 min

Half Of Your Short Course Race Is Walls.

Three Key Learning Points: * In a 100 metre short course race, 50 metres of it is affected by walls. * Dive starts, turns and finishes are not skill work sitting beside your training. They are half the race. * Every dive is a race dive. Every turn is a race turn. Build it into what you’re already doing. Short course racing. Some people love it. Some people not so much. But when I talk to coaches about their short course plans, their programs and their workouts, they nearly always go one of two ways. The first group says - it’s short course, it’s a 25 metre pool, so we’ll do a lot more…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

19 Aug 2026 · 8 min
The Swimming Coach's Eye.
By Wayne Goldsmith Three Key Learning Points: * Coach’s Eye is a learnable skill , not a talent some coaches were born with. * Look, scan fingers to feet and feet to fingers, then stand back and look again. * Swimming is a technique-driven sport - yet technique is the thing coaches talk about least. Coach’s Eye. And no, not coach’s eye strain from twenty years of squinting at sunlight bouncing off water. (Although that’s real too and it’s a hazard of the job nobody warns you about.) I mean Coach’s Eye.. What you see as a coach when you’re coaching. Here’s the scene. You’re standing on deck…
14 Aug 2026 · 8 min
Keep It Simple In Swimming!
By Wayne Goldsmith Three Key Learning Points: * Propulsion is Newtonian, not aeronautical. Reach out, grab the water, pull straight through. * S-patterns, keyholes and question marks are obsolete - they just haven’t been told yet. * There is no perfect technique . Every swimmer is different - every technique is different. There are a million things written about swimming technique every week. Go to Google. Go to Gemini. Go to Chat. Go to Claude. Go to any of the online swimming or triathlon forums. You will find everything you could possibly want to know about swimming technique online and…
21 May 2026 · 6 min
The Car Ride Home!
Three Key Learning Points * The worst thing you can do is ask them to analyse what went wrong. * The car ride home is not the time to coach - even if you ARE a coach. * What they need most in that moment is unconditional love and acceptance. This post is ostensibly for swimming parents but it’s a good one for coaches too - because part of your job is educating the parents in your program on how to handle the big moments. So here’s the scenario. Your child has gone to a big meet. New goggles. New bag. Everyone’s been excited about the Meet for weeks. But, for whatever reason, their swimming…
18 May 2026 · 5 min
The Power of Coaching Through Questioning!
Three Key Learning Points: * The “sage on a stage” coaching model is failing teenage athletes and contributing to the dropout crisis. * If a swimmer solves the problem they own the solution - and ownership leads to self-responsibility which changes everything. * Coaching through questioning isn’t “soft or weak” - it’s exactly how the best teachers and university lecturers operate. When you ask most adults about the coaches they had when they were growing up they will often describe very similar experiences: The coach spoke. A lot. The coach gave instructions. The coach set the program. The…
13 May 2026 · 4 min
Whoever Wins the Start Wins the Race
Three Key Learning Points: * First movement matters - what part of the swimmer’s body moves first usually determines the success of their first 15 metres. * The “little hole” - hands together, feet together, body in streamline before entry. * The “ three kicks” - kick fast underwater, kick fast to the surface, kick INTO the stroke. There’s a lot of talk on the internet about swimming speed - what pure speed is, how to develop it, how to coach it. Feel free to go internet-deep-diving for what it’s worth. But here’s an old saying that still holds up: He or she who wins the start wins the race.…
13 Apr 2026 · 8 min
The 5 Hs: Biomechanics Made Simple
Forget Bernoulli. Forget precise hand pitch angles. Forget complex angular analysis. Let’s make swimming biomechanics practical for every coach. The Problem With Traditional Biomechanics Education Coaching courses love to throw physics at new coaches. Bernoulli’s principle. Lift versus drag propulsion. Optimal elbow angles of 127 degrees. Angular velocity calculations. Meanwhile, in the REAL world, the coach is standing alone on deck with a whistle, 20 kids in the water and no idea how any of that “hand pitch angle” stuff helps them fix little Timmy’s freestyle. We’ve made biomechanics…
9 Apr 2026 · 9 min
The PACE Model: Training Zones Made Simple
We’ve overcomplicated training zones for beginner coaches and it’s time to fix it. The Problem With Current Models Most coaching education programs throw 6 or 7 different training zones at first year coaches. Threshold, VO2 max, lactate tolerance, aerobic endurance, race pace, recovery, anaerobic power; the list goes on and on. Here’s the reality: you’ve got 25 kids in the pool, three lanes, two hours, and you’re trying to remember the difference between Zone 4a and Zone 4b. It doesn’t work. It’s not practical. And it’s not necessary; especially for coaches working with age group swimmers.…
7 Apr 2026 · 7 min
Skills IN the Set, Not Before It
By Wayne Goldsmith Introduction: Every swimming coach does drills and skills work at the same time in their practices. We can do it differently and better! Three Critical Learning Points: * The typical structure — drills and skills first, main set second — means technique is generally practised when swimmers are fresh. * Skills that only work when rested aren’t race-ready skills. * The fix: integrate drills and technique work DURING your main sets, not before them. Time to Change! Here’s what I see at pools all over the world. Warm-up. Then drill work — catch-up, fingertip drag, six-kick…
1 Apr 2026 · 7 min
Split Your Main Set
Introduction: The non-stop main set is a relic of 1980s thinking — and it’s producing mediocre swimming disguised as hard work. Three Critical Learning Points: * Pushing straight through a 20 x 100 set often means technique collapses, bad habits are reinforced and swimmers just swim to survive. * Splitting the main set into two parts — with a purposeful break in the middle — restores quality skills execution and protects technique. * We should be chasing consistency of great technique under fatigue, not just pushing kids to mediocrity in the interest of hitting goal times and heart rates.…
25 Mar 2026 · 8 min
The Four Steps to Making Sure Your Swimmer's Skills Are Race Ready
By Wayne Goldsmith Every swimming coach does some form of skills practice in their training sessions every day. For the most part, coaches focus on learning and practicing skills — but rarely test whether those skills are actually race-ready. The challenge is that there’s a big gap between doing a skill well in training and executing it under race conditions. Here are four steps to bridge that gap: 1. Learn the skill — Understand the movement. Get the basics right. 2. Practice the skill — Repeat it. Refine it. Build consistency. 3. Test the skill — Add speed. Add fatigue. Add pressure. Can…
19 Mar 2026 · 10 min
Dryland Training's 3 Biggest Questions
By Wayne Goldsmith One of the hottest topics in swimming is always Dryland Training. When I speak at conferences, it’s inevitably a question from the audience. Swimming coaches have more opinions about dryland than just about anything else. Here are the three most commonly asked questions: * What are the best dryland exercises and programs? * When should we do dryland — before or after pool workouts? * At what age should young swimmers start strength training? My answers: 1. Best exercises / best programs It doesn’t matter as much as you think. Free weights, machines, body weight, pilates,…
16 Mar 2026 · 6 min
This Year's Backstroker is Next Year's Butterflyer.
By Wayne Goldsmith Let’s get this right from the start: There are NO 7 year old backstrokers. There are NO 9 year old freestylers. There are NO 10 year old IMers. There are just kids who swim — who, at that point in their development, swim one specific stroke a little better than the other strokes. Now I know coaches and parents everywhere are reading this and thinking “ He’s wrong. Johnny the 8 year old just broke the club record for 50 backstroke. He’s a backstroker.” WRONG x A MILLION. Little Johnny is just an eight year old kid who, for whatever reason, happens to swim backstroke faster…
12 Mar 2026 · 9 min
Speed, Speed, Speed.
By popular demand — let’s talk about speed. There’s a lot written about it. A lot talked about it. And a lot of confusion about how to actually develop it. Here are my five fundamentals of going fast, fast, fast: 1. Forget “throw your arms” I’m not a fan of that old drill where kids get on their back and just throw their arms as fast as possible. Some call it overspeed training. I don’t buy it — physiologically, biomechanically or from a skill learning perspective. It doesn’t teach anything except throwing your arms really fast. And our sport isn’t just about moving your arms quickly. It’s…
2 Mar 2026 · 6 min
The Best Coaching Lesson You Will Ever Learn
By Wayne Goldsmith A lot of coaches, when they start out, focus on one thing: physiology. The body. The physical elements of swimming. They spend years looking for drills, workouts, training programs, session plans. They go to conferences. An elite coach stands up and talks about their sets and reps, their periodisation. Everyone writes it down or takes a photo of the PowerPoint. Everyone’s looking for the secret formula, the magic pill, the quick fix that’s going to turn their program into a high-performance machine. Colleagues, that’s not where your advantage is going to come from. Because…
25 Feb 2026 · 7 min
Confidence = Belief x Evidence
By Wayne Goldsmith Coaches and parents often ask me: “How do I help my swimmer develop confidence?” Here’s the equation I use: Confidence = Belief × Evidence Think of confidence as a can — the Confidence Can. Our job as coaches — and as swimmers — is to fill that can with experiences. Evidence that proves “I CAN do this.” Every quality training session. Every race where they held their technique under pressure. Every time they got back on the blocks after a disappointing swim. Every early morning they showed up when they didn’t feel like it. That’s evidence. And evidence fills the ‘can. But…
23 Feb 2026 · 7 min
Swim Faster by Swimming Straighter — The Straight Line Principle
By Wayne Goldsmith I often get asked to do pool deck sessions with swim teams when I travel. Most of the time it’s drills and skills practices or “motivation” talks, attitude talks etc. But there’s one session I love to do because it’s so important: Straight Line Swimming. Swimming is a straight line sport. We start in a straight line: it’s called Streamlining. We swim in a straight line and avoid the lane ropes if we can. We turn straight! We come to the middle of the lane to then accelerate into the turn so we can turn and push off in a straight line. And we finish straight . We come to…
20 Feb 2026 · 10 min
The 7 Top Swimming Technique Tips You Need to Know
By Wayne Goldsmith No matter what stroke. No matter the age of the squad swimmer. From “Minis to Masters” - there’s 7 Technique Tips that I guarantee will improve the swimming technique of every swimmer you coach. * Soft hands; * Loose feet; * Head and hips relationship; * Breathing; * Slow to fast; * Relax Relax Relax; * Feel - Connect - Pull. I promise you - these Magnificent 7 work every time! Wayne Goldsmith P.S. Paid subscribers will get a much longer and more detailed video on the “Magnificent 7” next week. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers…
17 Feb 2026 · 6 min
Coach Your Coaching
Write a training session for yourself, coach! We all write workouts for our athletes. We know the repeats, the drills, the distances, the times. We prepare everything in advance for our swimmers. But what about YOUR plan? Add a column to your workout that says: “How I Will Coach.” So when the swimmers’ workout says “10 x ABC Drill” — yours says “Be energetic. Give individual feedback. Change the speed three times.” When their workout says “Cool-down and stretch” — yours says “Connect 1:1 with two swimmers. Ask how they’re feeling.” Plan their workout. Plan YOUR coaching. Then coach WITH…
12 Feb 2026 · 8 min
One Session to Change Their Lives.
What would you do if you had ONE session with a team you don’t know, in a place you’ve never been, sometimes in a language you don’t speak, in a culture you don’t understand? I have the best job in the world. I get to travel around the globe spending time with swimming coaches, swimmers and swimming families everywhere. When I travel, coaches will often ask me to come and visit their pool and spend some time with their swim team. Sometimes they ask me to take a session. Other times it’s a talk on pool deck about attitude, motivation, team work or choosing to be exceptional. Or sometimes the…
5 Feb 2026 · 6 min
5 a.m. In A Swimming Household.
By Wayne Goldsmith This is without doubt my favorite story to tell when I do Club visits, swimming parents workshops and coaching clinics: The 5 a.m. In A Swimming Household story. Please share this with every swimming parent you know. It is a funny story - but in my experience - having done hundreds of swimming club visits all over the world - it’s also very very true. The bottom line - the key message to all swimming parents is this: STOP HELPING YOUR KIDS. What I mean by that is continue to love them unconditionally, support them, accept them for who they are and value them the same…
2 Feb 2026 · 7 min
If They Swim 4, You Walk 5.
By Wayne Goldsmith I’ve been to over 1000 swimming pools. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Fiji Islands, USA, South Korea, Zimbabwe, South Africa, England, The Isle of Man, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, The Netherlands, The Philippines, Greece and Italy - and a few more places I’ve probably forgotten. And the “default” version of coaching swimming is the same in 90% of the places I visit: Coaches standing at the end of the pool yelling numbers and orders at kids! “1:20, 1:23, 1:21”…. “Take your marks GO, Take your marks GO, Take…
30 Jan 2026 · 5 min
25 Years Later
Coaching is moments that matter. I was coaching a 14 year old. He looked sad and flat and tired and I asked him how he was going. He said, “I’m ok. I just wish I was more talented like Steve. He doesn’t train much and yet he keeps kicking my butt in races. It’s not fair.”. I replied, “From where I’m standing, when I see you I see a tough young man, who never gives up, who always tries his best, who encourages his team mates, who turns up even when he’s tired and who works harder than any athlete I’ve ever known”. He just smiled and walked away and started training. 25 years later I received…
26 Jan 2026 · 8 min
Toad Eggs and Olympic Gold
I was in Zimbabwe doing a swimming clinic in 1996 for WORLD AQUATICS - FINA as it was. The hosts took me to a local swimming program. Run down pool, no lane ropes, no backstroke flags, no starting blocks. Cold water. The sides of the pool had green scum on them. One of the kids told me they were toad eggs and they had to be careful not to swallow them. Coach - a very good guy - was a butcher - very limited high level swimming coaching knowledge but a very decent, hard working, dedicated coach.Overall pretty terrible environment.In one lane however was an 11 year old skinny little blonde kid.…
22 Jan 2026 · 7 min
Heart Before Heart Rate
By Wayne Goldsmith ir Alex Ferguson would stop training to talk one-on-one with players. In that moment, they were the only person who mattered. Laurie Lawrence told me: “Don’t put heart rate before heart.” If you see a moment to inspire an athlete — grab it. They can always do more reps later. Phil King , Olympic gold medal coach, put it this way: think about the impact of missing coaching opportunities. Three coaches. Same message. Physiology matters. Periodization matters. But none of it matters more than the moments when you can truly connect with an athlete and change the way they see…
19 Jan 2026 · 8 min
Pacers or Racers?
There are two types of swimmers: Pacers and Racers. Alex Popov — multiple Olympic Gold medalist, world record holder — told me this years ago. It stuck. Pacers train to hit a time. They race to a plan, trying to control the controllables. Racers learn competitive skills that equip them to meet any challenge. They change pace, adjust technique, adapt to whatever the race demands. If you’re training athletes to WIN when it matters, train them to be Racers. Which are you coaching? Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to…
15 Jan 2026 · 8 min
Want to Motivate Your Swimmers?
One of the most common questions I get from coaches: “How do I motivate my swimmers to work harder?” My response: “You can’t. Don’t try.” You can’t motivate anyone to do something they don’t already want to do. It’s not your job to make them do it — it’s your job to create an environment where they can be all they choose to be. In this video, I’ll show you how to connect with, engage with and inspire the hearts and minds of every swimmer you coach. Wayne Goldsmith If you found this useful, hit subscribe — it's free. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other…
11 Jan 2026 · 6 min
Training Zones - Keep it Simple.
By Wayne Goldsmith One of the most confusing parts of learning about swimming coaching is training zones. When you attend your first ever swimming coaching course or when you open a swimming coaching textbook for the first time, you’ll see a table full of words like “alactic” and “aerobic” and “anaerobic” and percentages, sample heart rates and effort ratings. Often there will be six, seven or even more different training zones listed on those tables and the course presenter will tell you that it’s important you learn the training zones and apply them in your training programs precisely to…
7 Jan 2026 · 7 min
Making Kick Practice "Sexy"
By Wayne Goldsmith Every swimming coach will tell you that kicking is important and that they include kicking practice in all their practice sessions. Every swimming coach will also tell you that it’s difficult to inspire kids to complete kicking practice with a high level of engagement, intensity, accuracy and precision. I was talking with an elite coach over a coffee and he asked me an interesting question “How do you make kicking practice ( in his words ) “sexy” ? TO BE VERY CLEAR - in this context using the word “sexy” - he meant how can swimming coaches make kicking practice…
5 Jan 2026 · 6 min
The Secret to Making Your Workouts Work
By Wayne Goldsmith One of the most common questions I get asked by coaches is how to inspire swimmers to complete their workouts with the precision, accuracy and attention to detail that the coach feels is important - i.e. don’t count the laps, make the laps count. My answer is YOU DON’T AND YOU CAN’T. What I mean by that is, you are wasting your time if you believe you can stand at the end of the pool yelling at your team and make them / force them / motivate them to do the workout exceptionally well. A far better option is to coach the swimmers to look at THE workout and choose to make it…

About SWIMMING GOLD

SWIMMING GOLD is a English sport podcast from Wayne Goldsmith. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Wayne Goldsmith
Language: English
Category: Sport
New episodes: Several times a week
Typical length: 7 min
Latest episode: 1 Sep 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1870437031
Rights: Wayne Goldsmith

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