Swimming World Presents – Goldminds: Just Go With The Flow – By Wayne Goldsmith

SW February 2021 - Goldminds - Just Go With The Flow

[PHOTO CREDIT: MATT RUBEL PHOTOGRAPHY]

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Goldminds: Just Go With The Flow

By Wayne Goldsmith

How can you control—and even master—your emotions? The answer is by learning to become a more resilient swimmer. Here’s how…

It is relatively easy to prepare to swim fast at a targeted competition:

• Attend training regularly and give your best every time you get into the pool for practice and when you turn up at the gym for dryland workouts.
• Get plenty of sleep.
• Work hard consistently to improve your stroke technique and racing skills.
• Eat well. Drink lots of fresh water and juices.
• Spend time every day on your mental health and well-being. Swimming fast seems to be a relatively simple task, yet so many swimmers fail to swim at their best when they get to a meet.

That’s because meets add one important piece to the performance puzzle: emotions!

It’s more than just preparing to swim fast. What really counts is preparing to swim fast IN THE ENVIRONMENT WHERE YOU’LL BE RACING.

So, what’s the key to racing to your potential when and where it matters? The key word is “resilience.”

RESILIENCE DEFINED
Resilience doesn’t mean you’re “bulletproof”—i.e., being impervious to every possible problem and challenge you’ll ever face.

Resilience is your ability to choose how to respond to the things that happen to you…and in doing so, being able to bounce back from them quickly and decisively.

A resilient swimmer isn’t someone who never feels emotions. Rather, he or she is someone who’s been trained to manage their emotions in important moments and in critical situations: someone who’s learned to master “the emotions of the moment.”

THE EMOTIONS OF THE MOMENT: WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
As human beings, we are creatures of emotion. We feel sad. We get mad. We experience joy, and we suffer through pain and anguish. It’s all part of being human.

However, as a competitive swimmer…while it is important to experience emotions, it is also vital to learn how to stop them from negatively influencing your performance.

[PHOTO BY DELLY CARR, SWIMMING AUSTRALIA]

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Swimming World Magazine February 2021 Issue

FEATURES

012 THE PRIDE OF GIRLS’ POLO IN THE GATEWAY CITY
by Michael Randazzo
When COVID-19 lockdowns last spring stopped polo, Rob Peglar and Abby VerMeer didn’t hesitate: they focused on getting girls water polo untracked in the Gateway City. The result: the St. Louis Lions, the city’s first all-girls team.

014 ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL
by Dan D’Addona
The popular motto of The Musketeers, built on supporting each other as well as the group, is just one of many reasons why the University of Texas remains among the strongest in men’s college swimming and diving.

020 READY FOR A BREAKTHROUGH
by Andy Ross
Melanie Margalis is an Olympic relay gold medalist and a three-time relay champion at Worlds, but a podium finish in an individual event has eluded her on the world’s biggest stage. After ranking No. 1 in the 400 IM and No. 3 in the shorter medley for 2020, her turn to win a medal for the United States could take place this year in Tokyo.

022 PERSEVERANCE AND HARD WORK PAY OFF
by David Rieder
After not qualifying for Australia’s Olympic team in 2012, Emma McKeon was ready to quit…but over the next several months, she had a change of heart and understood what was necessary to compete at a higher level. Since then, she has become a significant international force, a consistent podium presence and one of the world’s most impactful relay swimmers.

026 TAKEOFF TO TOKYO: TARNISHED GOLD
by John Lohn
East Germany’s Kristin Otto will long be remembered as a highly decorated athlete, and for turning in one of the greatest Olympic outings in history, winning six gold medals at the 1988 Games. But because of the links to her and performance-enhancing drugs, what she accomplished—before and in Seoul—will always be tainted.

029 WHO “SHOT” THE SWIMMERS? (Part 2)
by Bruce Wigo
Shortly after the 1936 Olympics in a lab in Boston, Harold “Doc” Edgerton, an electrical engineering professor at MIT, began tinkering with equipment that would change the way science explains natural phenomena—and with it, the art of aquatic sports photography—forever.

032 NUTRITION: TO BE THE BEST, YOU NEED TO EAT THE BEST!
by Dawn Weatherwax
Each year really does build onto another—nutrition is an imperative part of the process, even at an early age.

COACHING

016 SELLING PROCESS TO SWIMMERS (Part 2)
by Michael J. Stott
In 1993, psychologist Anders Ericsson wrote that greatness wasn’t born, but grown. Fifteen years later, author Malcolm Gladwell suggested that it takes roughly 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in a skill or field. Known by the term, “process,” swim coaches use that learning curve to improve the performance of their swimmers.

036 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: FREESTYLE TECHNIQUE FOR SPRINT AND DISTANCE (Part 2)
by Rod Havriluk
Optimal freestyle technique for sprint and distance is identical with respect to the arm motion throughout the stroke cycle, but the arm coordination is different. While a swimmer can swim a wide range of velocities with opposition coordination, a swimmer will only achieve his/her fastest velocity with superposition coordination.

040 SPECIAL SETS: TRAINING THE PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE—THEN AND NOW
by Michael J. Stott
In his lengthy career, Gregg Troy has mentored athletes of all ages and abilities, which has given him a unique perspective of how to prepare post-college grads for excellence at the international level.

042 Q&A WITH COACH JOE PLANE
by Michael J. Stott

044 HOW THEY TRAIN ANDREW IVERSON
by Michael J. Stott

TRAINING

035 DRYSIDE TRAINING: TIME TO GET STRONG…AGAIN!
by J.R. Rosania

JUNIOR SWIMMER

038 GOLDMINDS: JUST GO WITH THE FLOW
by Wayne Goldsmith
How can you control—and even master—your emotions? The answer is by learning to become a more resilient swimmer. Here’s how…

046 UP & COMERS: RICHARD POPLAWSKI
by Shoshanna Rutemiller

COLUMNS

010 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT

011 DID YOU KNOW:

ABOUT FREDERICK LANE?

047 GUTTERTALK

049 PARTING SHOT

Swimming World is now partnered with the International Swimming Hall of Fame. To find out more, visit us at ishof.org

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