Early Specialization: PART 1
“Overemphasis of the competitive system and premature specialization on the grounds of immediate usefulness, kills the spirit on which all cultural life depends, specialized knowledge included.” – Albert Einstein
In recent weeks, the age-old topic of distance vs. sprint training in competitive swimming has been resurrected by various podcasters in their shows and social media platforms. Their passionate claims seem to suggest that the training of athletes is polarized or an “either-or” proposition. One influencer is very adamant about creating the “Sprint Revolution.” Personally, I’ve enjoyed following his interviews and podcasts and have been entertained by his gregarious personality and swagger. I like some of his methodology he has used on professional adult male swimmers. However, he is now entering into the coaching realm to appeal to athletes using a personality-driven leadership and a transactional approach to, in my opinion, get “clicks” and sell programming, clinics, and merchandise. I fear that his message will be taken out of context by young athletes and parents that are eager to specialize to get immediate results that are potentially injurious and short lived.
I’m intrigued by innovation and have leaned towards a “less is more” approach over the years and have always questioned long-held assumptions on training. In my early days of coaching, I had immediate success in training 12–15-year-olds using the “work, works” or high-volume approach. However, as their rapid improvement began to plateau and decline, I realized that I was exploiting the athletes’ enthusiasm and capabilities of doing high volumes of training by being a cheerleader with a stopwatch. Fortunately, I didn’t injure any athletes, but I suspect I may have curtailed their long-term success and healthy enjoyment of the sport.
On the flip side, the popularity of Ultra Short Race Pace Training (USRPT) and similar high intensity methods have gained considerable attention. The appeal of a low volume, high intensity, sprint program is very attractive to young coaches and athletes seeking quick results. Yet, like the high training volume approach, results are short-lived and potentially harmful to young athletes that haven’t fully matured. Personally, if I were approached by an athlete that was in their mid- to late-20s, who has had a documented career of progressive physiological development, I would join the Sprint Revolution to coach them!
Age group programs, head coaches and their assistants, are confronted daily with athletes and parents who want to jump onboard with an early specialization approach. Perhaps the motivation is to pad the resume to get into a prestigious university, only to quit once admission is achieved… I guarantee that it will be easy to shop around various programs or personality-driven coaches to find one that will accommodate. Buyer beware!
I believe that sustainable high-performance success is the result of a long-term process. This process addresses technique, power, psychological skills, stamina, speed, strength, flexibility, health and heredity. Additionally, a supportive personal, social, and physical environment are some of the many areas that are progressively developed over an athlete's competitive career. By using the athlete's imagination and sensory system as teaching tools, combined with an optimal physical training plan, the athlete takes ownership of their skill-acquisition to ultimately accelerate their training process and enthusiasm.
Progressive Program Development Suggestions:
Think of developing the “future” athlete. Appropriately stimulate the athlete in response to his/her critical periods. Under or over stimulation robs from the future potential. Think globally and in terms of lifestyle when developing potential.
Demands of velocity are much different for a bigger body. As power and velocity increase with maturation, drag forces and other physical forces increase dramatically (some exponentially). Qualities that have little influence on the competitive success of a 10-12-year-old will impede a 14-25-year-old. Develop motor patterns that will help the future athlete rather than impede her/him.
Remember the basic components of swimming. Swimming is primarily (about 80%) a bipedal-cyclic sport. It is simply about the inter-relationship of stroke rate and distance per stroke cycle. Both qualities must be addressed in development and training.
Make speed, carry speed. Technique (quality of movement) goes with power, speed goes with fitness. All qualities must be developed. The absence of one quality drastically affects the others.
Address principles of lifestyle first, foremost, and always. Create a principle-driven dialogue regarding nutrition, recovery, academics, interpersonal and family relationships, posture, and physical activity. Excellence and balance outside of the pool is the single most important contributor to success in the pool.
Insist upon ownership and responsibility on the part of the athlete. Make the athlete a pilot, not a passenger.
Constantly question, challenge, and evaluate tradition and culture in designing training and development. There is significant variation in successful methodology within our sport internationally. Yesterday’s accepted methods would be trivial today. Pursue the future on behalf of your athletes. Always use common sense and critical thinking!
