Coach Your Coaching

More from SWIMMING GOLD All episodes →

1. 

   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. 

   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…

3. 

   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…

4. 

   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…

5. 

   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…

6. 

   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…

7. 

   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…

8. 

   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…

9. 

   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…

10. 

    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.…