Straddling the Line - Parent Involvement

Written By:  Coach Dick Hannula

Reprinted From:  ASCA News, Feb. '95, pp. 8-9

I've  always believed that swimming parents want to be a contributing factor to their children's success in our sport.  This is not always achieved, and in too many instances the opposite is true.  Parent behavior can and does adversely affect the potential successes of their children.  Coaches need to communicate what works best in parent/swimmers interaction.

Parent involvement is vital in the early stages of swimming.  Age group swimmers need a lot of parent support.  They need to be transported to practice and competition and usually require at least one parent to be in attendance.  Swimming suits and equipment and assistance in completing the forms to enter meet are usually parent responsibilities.  The swimmer begins to assume many of these responsibilities as they become older and enter senior competition.  Parents are not as vital to all the swimmers' needs as when the swimmer was still in age group.

Senior-level swimming presents a new set of circumstances for the swimmer, and they are not as easily understood.  The age group experience is usually marked by fairly continuous improvement.  Growth and swimming experience usually keep this pattern fairly steady.  Senior-level swimming entails more specific training, both in endurance and quality.  This results in fewer personal best swims in competition.  Sometimes endurance background requirements of a national level training program can be very long range, and personal best swims may be reduced for longer time periods. 

One of the greatest changes in senior swimming is the result of moving up to the elite level.  Moving to the top of your state and region competition is one level.  Junior Nationals and to the top of Juniors is another.  Senior Nationals and to the top of Seniors is another.  International and to the top of international competition such as the Olympics is another.  World records are the highest level.  What do these progressive levels have in common?  The higher you move on the elite level, the more pressure is placed on the athlete.  This must be handled effectively by the athlete in order to succeed at the next highest level.

Every athlete performs best when he or she is relaxed.  Excited, "psyched up," but in their best performance comfort zone.  How many times have we read that some great athletes were just too tense, too tight, pressing too hard to perform at their best.  This is true in every sport.  Great coaches try to reduce anxiety and pressure and focus on getting into " their game" or game plan.  This is a comfort zone of performance that producers the most success.  Swimmers compete as individuals in their specific races.  They must be able to focus on the race itself.  There is enough pressure at every level and especially at the more elite levels.  A good coach will want to reduce the pressure so that the swimmer can focus on the essentials of the next race.  Parents can help by recreating a success environment.

The ability to focus on the technical aspects and race strategy are best served by the swimmer when other pressures are eliminated.  This is why parent involvement must contribute to this type of competitive environment for the swimmer.

What makes up that successful swimmer/parent environment?  I have specific conclusions that have come from 44 years of coaching at every level.  But for this article I decided to pool coaches at the World Championship Trials.  This was a very elite level of competition, and I was curious as to what other coaches believed.  I even asked two swimmers.  I asked two questions:  Give me one example of parent behavior that is performance-inhibiting to your swimmers, and the second question was the opposite - give me one example of performance-enhancing behavior by parents.  All of the following answers are quotations from the coaches and swimmers interviewed.  Fifteen coaches were polled, and at least seven of them were former Olympic Team coaches.  Two swimmers - both national champions at this championship, on a current world record holder - were also questioned.

I.  Responses to the question on parent involvement that is performance-inhibiting.

1.  "Over-interest.  Taking a 'hands-on' attitude.  This is a killer when the parent crosses the line of support.  They end up hurting the swimmer.  Being too aloof can also hurt the swimmer.  Stay on that line of support."

2.  "The 'Yes, But....Syndrome.' The swimmer races, and it is an acceptable performance for that stage of the training to the coach and the swimmer.  Maybe the swimmer is beaten or below their best time.  The parent say, 'Nice race, but so and so beat you,' or 'Maybe you did beat so and so, but it wasn't your best time.'  The parent has eliminated the positive element."

3.  "This is a true example.  I had a girl get fourth at Senior Nationals the spring of 1988.  Her dad then told her she had to make the Olympic Team.  I told her father that the best college kids weren't at the spring nationals and that making the top two at the Olympic Trials wasn't realistic.  He insisted that she could do it.  This comment destroyed her capacity to be successful at the big meet, and she went backward."

4.  "I had a terrible example at a national championship.  I found out about it from girls rooming with her that swimmer. She had called home after her first swim, which was off her best time.  The parent went into a criticism of the race that centered on, 'If you can't swim faster than that, we're not going to spend all this money on sending you to nationals,' etc.  The girl cried all that night and destroyed the rest of that meet."

5.  "Offering a young swimmer a higher expectation than is realistic.  They can put the swimmer in a failing position when it is something they can't achieve.  In wanting the swimmer to be great, they bury the swimmer."

6.  "Don't ride the roller-coaster.  Don't tell them how great they are one day and how bad they are on another.  Be low key at the meet.  My father told me when to get in the water when I was young, and I fought it.  Have little contact with your swimmer at the competition."

7.  "When parents try to be knowledgeable about how their swimmer should be swimming.  There are too many factors involved for them to understand.  They may feel that they are helping to motivate by 'needling,' but it inhibits the swimmer."

8.  "Parent criticism and not supporting.  If a parent goes to practice or meets, never criticize the swimmer."

9.  "Look at performances.  Elite-level performances come much less frequently, and parents don't understand this.  Must support through some tough time."

10.  "Parents should never pay for best times."

11.  "Sometimes a parent will put age group swimmers on double workouts when the coach is trying to bring them along gradually and comfortable.  A parent may take the age group swimmer to too many meets and interfere with the coach's long range goals.  Another killer: 'All that money spent on you, and you're not going fast."

12.  This is a summary of similar comments by several coaches: "All of the following will defeat a swimmer when it is time to get on the blocks to race.  Call it 'vicarious living.'  If you are being treated in this manner, you aren't in swimming for the long haul."  "Why didn't you do your best?"  "If you win, or final, or whatever, I will buy you dinner (rewarding only success)."  "Giving monetary value prizes."  "Parents harping on bad swim."  One of the national champion swimmers polled stated that his biggest gripe was shaving to talk the whole workout over at the family dinner table after practice."

II.  Responses to the question on parent involvement that is performance-enhancing.

1.  "Support in a 'hands-off' manner.  Their best line is support, and avoid crossing the line into coaching.

2.  "Eliminate the 'but' element.  Tell your swimmer good job, and stop.  Forget the 'but' add-on.  The ability to stop is a positive characteristic of parent involvement."

3.  "The best parent were Mr. and Mrs. X.  They were proud of their children's work ethic and were totally supportive no matter what were the results.  They were happy parents.  If there were more Mr. and Mrs. X type parents, the Chinese women swimmers would have to be worrying about the US women swimmers."

4.  "Be supportive regardless of that performance.  Adjustments will be made by the swimmer and the coach. Future successes won't be helped when the swimmer remembers that conversation during their next big meet."

5.  "A lot of love and encouragement especially when their swimmer doesn't have a good meet, comes home tired from practice, or is beat up from school work or at home.  Learn how to leave 'em and hug  'em.  The coach must be the demanding one, not the parent.  Your swimmer must know that you love 'em."

6.  "Keep your own dedication.  Encourage but don't get involved with the competitive aspects.  Don't get involved with the coaching."

7.  "Let the butterfly go, and it will come back to you.  Let your swimmer go until they become self-reliant and they will be able to perform at their peak."

8.  "Encourage your swimmer to do the best that they can do.  There is too much pressure already without parent pressure.  Support them.  If you have something to discuss, then discuss it with the coach and never the swimmer.  No swimmer needs another coach at home.  One coach is enough."

9.  "See progress regardless of the time.  Recognize the work load and the adjustment to that load.  Parents must be a support system."

10.  "Stay out of the coaching aspect.  Support your swimmers.  Don't smother them.  Be supportive, but don't overdo it."

11.  "As the swimmer gets better, there is more of a spotlight on them.  Parents should not expect more of them.  Let them relax and have fun in competition.  I believe there was a poll of one of the Olympic teams, and somewhere between 60% to 80% of their parents hadn't gone to a national championship.  Parent involvement at the elite level wasn't a springboard to the Olympic team."