This is for a rec swim team. We’ve had complete board turnover from last season due to personality conflicts so me and another guy are hiring 5-6 high school kids as assistant coaches for our team. I’ve got resumes and the kids are all good local kids. Some are high achivers, some are not. We have a head coach but I don’t know that she will ask the right questions. I’m interviewing the first batch tonight.
I am not a swim coach and my swim times are very average.
What questions should I ask in order to get a sense that they can actually teach technical stroke work? Any other suggestions?
Put all the applicants in a pool and have them race with a camera on them.
The fastest on that can look at the film and explain what the winner was doing (mechanically) better than the others gets the job.
I wouldn’t expect high school kids to be able to teach technical stroke work at all, not even a little bit. Teaching a kid how to swim is a totally different thing than teaching an adult how to swim, totally different than what we read on the internet and in books. As best I can tell my friends who do this work on one little bitty thing at a time. Picking what that thing is and how to interpret it appropriately is probably something the head coach will do and pass on to the assistants.
I think you would want to know how the high schoolers deal with little kids, do they have experience tutoring smaller ones, babysitting, working with them at church, do they spend time with younger siblings?
Couple questions for you to start.
How old will the kids be that they’re coaching?
and
Will there be any more experienced coaches on deck at the same time?
When I first started coaching in HS I had no idea what I was doing as far as putting together a practice, week, monthly and seasonal plans. But, I was working around a more experienced coach who kind of led me through how to get the planning part done. Also, don’t expect much out of them for a while. It is tough figuring out what is wrong with a stroke, even with little kids. So in other words, if possible anyone you do end up choosing have them basically intern under a more experienced coach for a couple weeks, just to learn the ropes.
This is for a rec swim team. We’ve had complete board turnover from last season due to personality conflicts so me and another guy are hiring 5-6 high school kids as assistant coaches for our team. I’ve got resumes and the kids are all good local kids. Some are high achivers, some are not. We have a head coach but I don’t know that she will ask the right questions. I’m interviewing the first batch tonight.
I am not a swim coach and my swim times are very average.
What questions should I ask in order to get a sense that they can actually teach technical stroke work? Any other suggestions?
Have them describe the basic components of a stroke. Give them a scenario, such as “swimmer x always runs into the lane line doing backstroke, how do you fix this?”. Ask why they want to be an asst coach. Ask them how they would deal with a problem swimmer, or prima donna, or lack of respect.
In addition to someone who is good with technique, you need to find someone with these traits. (Not necessarily the same person)
Someone who can project authority. Getting over-sugared 7 year olds all going in the right direction can be like trying to herd cats. Same goes for getting sullen and cranky 11-12 year olds to make the assigned intervals.
The all sunshine, rainbows, and fuzzy bunnies coach whose interactions with the kids are so positive it makes your teeth hurt from the sugar. We all know that swimming can be a frustrating sport to learn, and he/she is the motivator who convinces the kids to stick with it rather than wandering off to the soccer field.
The organizer. Able to help the head coach with record-keeping and make sure that your 8& unders all manage to show up on the blocks for the medley relay on meet day. (see point 1)
It’s easier to take someone with the right attitude and have them learn how to teach the right skill sets than to teach someone with the right skill set how to be a good coach/motivator. (Though it’s really rewarding when you do make that second thing happen)