I remember a lot of the 2019-2020 high school season for the boys. After all, it was the COVID season. We had masks and social distance lockers. Section and state were finals only and split into two sessions to limit the number of kids in the facility. We had livestreams instead of fans and we had to run practice with a group at each end of the pool. The good news was I lost some weight running back and forth to each end 50 times in practice.
Even with all those challenges, I witnessed one of the greatest moments in my coaching career. A moment where I knew I had done well. We had an 8th grader on the team who was new to swimming and like a lot of new swimmers, turns and starts were a foreign concept.
After a few weeks, he managed to figure out the turns, but the starts weren’t progressing. He had a fear of diving headfirst into something, even if it was water. I guess when you think about it, as humans, we probably should have that innate fear.
Anyway….I worked with him a couple times a week on starts, going through the progressions, showing videos, and giving him lots of positive reinforcement. About halfway through the season, we were up to standing dives from the side. He’d get up on the block and it was a no go. He would jump in and swim. There’s nothing wrong with that, just not the ideal start to a race.
One day at practice, some of the older boys came up to me and asked if they could use the last half hour of practice to work with this young man on his starts. According to them, they had a plan. When high school boys have a plan, I usually worry, but I was curious what they came up with, so I said sure. I watch them head down to the starting blocks as a group with two giant stacks of kickboards, and the worry begins. To my surprise, their plan was this. They put two kickboards side by side on the side of the pool and had the boy do I dive. Then they added a row, and he did it again.
Up and up they went until the stack of kickboards was as high as the starting block (and slightly more dangerous) and the boy kept diving in. Finally, he climbed up on to the blocks, gathered himself and did his first dive off the blocks. The pool erupted, he popped up from his dive and pumped his fist and for every meet after that, he did a legit start.
If I remember correctly, we had a pretty good season as far as dual meets, sections, and state. I don’t remember the particulars to be honest, but I will remember every minute of that moment. At the banquet, I called it the biggest win of the season and I reminded the boys that the biggest wins don’t come with trophies or medals. They come with everlasting memories.