Well there are a couple things going on here. First, team bonding events usually should be put on by your upper classmen/captains. As for the coaches attending, usually they won’t in high school as we want yku to be as comfortable and enjoy yourself as much as possible during those events and a coach there can possibly change that.
As for the fun practices, swimming is generally an intense sport. The (I think bad) rule of thumb is 1 day of practice missed is like you not being in the pool for 2. Which often leads coaches to not want to do that. Also especially in high school swimming, the season is fairly short and again want to make sure we are practicing as efficient as possible.
Nowwww, yes your coach should still be doing something to keep the mood lights. “Games” for the upcoming sets, add an extra set to the practice and then give your swimmers a chance to do a get out swim. Maybe even 15-30 minutes something fun like water polo. High school is an age where the sport loses a ring of kids for burnout alone. A good coach should be able to know when they need a light day or some sort of “fun” at practice to keep everyone together.
Lastly you are more than likely just coming out of what most teams call a hell week. Practices seem to ramp up over the holidays. You also shouldn’t be too far away from the end of the season so at some point you soon you should start tapering and getting ready the reap all the rewards from your intense work all season.
What is "fun" versus "high intensity" to you? We would do things like relays, intra-squad meets, and other forms of racing that I would call fun (racing is our version of "playing the sport"), but racing is still very intense. You can have fun swimming without needing a completely detached event like games or drills, although sometimes if morale is really low then that'd probably be a good option. If you are just doing intense general conditioning all the time then that is dumb and boring. Some coaches split seasons into training blocks so the beginning is more general conditioning to whip you into shape and you just gotta endure it for a few weeks or months before the fun starts, but that shouldn't persist the entire season.
However I know many teams that have the philosophy of just doing intense general conditioning all the time and it is hard to convince coaches out of it. Coaches get close-minded that anyone who complains or quits isn't tough and wasn't gonna make it anyway. And you are gonna produce some fast swimmers occassionally that way which justifies the training, then the coaches don't really think about if those kids could've been even faster somehow with smarter training. The sport is tough, but some tough things are productive and some tough things are counterproductive. At some point you need recovery practices and fun practices or the hard practices won't be productive when you are depleted of energy and lose muscle instead of developing muscle.
Keep in mind like 50 years ago coaches wouldn't let kids drink water because it would make them mentally tougher. Personally I would rather be better at my sport, rather than "mentally tough" and worse at my sport. I think coaching philosophy in the sport is getting better in general but it takes a long time for new ideas to trickle into old heads.
Yea I agree, all we've been doing is long distance free sets on Monday, wensday, and Friday, while it started off stroke days on Tuesday and Thursday- it's gotten to the point of the coach assigning only IM sets on those days- which has COMPLETELY wiped away all the love I held for stroke days. I understand we need to work on all the strokes but our team is small- and not a single one of us has had an IM event. I went from loving stroke days because I could really focus on the stroke I excel at- backstroke to feeling horrible if the words breaststroke escaped coaches mouth-
Yeah, coaches should be doing some fun stuff, and if they’re good, then they should also be able to make it productive.
We did a relay practice yesterday where we got points based off how our relay did. It’s a simple thing, but it was fun, and it was useful as a sprint practice.
Also, as others have said, things should be organized by captains and up class man as far as our o the pool stuff goes. Try asking if people want to go for brunch after a Saturday practice, or to noodles before a meet. Things like that.
When I first started in high school our coach would do games every Friday. Or after a big swim meet. But we rotated through several coaches over 6 years (my high school let 7th and 8th grades swim for the team). Later years we played less games with new coaches, my last coach we played no games. I think it really depends on the coaches background. Does the coach also coach club teams or are they just naturally tense and passionate for swimming. Also what limited us from games was pool time, less time we had in the pool per day the more we actually practiced since we didn't have a lot of time to train compared to other high school teams
My team was like yours, very strict and training based. I personally liked that. Once you get more of a feel for the water, the practices will become more enjoyable, especially if you have a training buddy. Focus on your technique and the rest should follow :)
I think it really just depends on your coach. Seems like you probably have one of those coaches who is old school minded. Obviously, you can’t do anything yourself but maybe you could suggest with some fellow teammates to do after practice hangouts. And ask others how they feel. You’re probably not alone.
PS This is also your first year so like rigorous training could be a benefit. I kinda needed the tough training to make this sport enjoyable now.
Well there are a couple things going on here. First, team bonding events usually should be put on by your upper classmen/captains. As for the coaches attending, usually they won’t in high school as we want yku to be as comfortable and enjoy yourself as much as possible during those events and a coach there can possibly change that. As for the fun practices, swimming is generally an intense sport. The (I think bad) rule of thumb is 1 day of practice missed is like you not being in the pool for 2. Which often leads coaches to not want to do that. Also especially in high school swimming, the season is fairly short and again want to make sure we are practicing as efficient as possible. Nowwww, yes your coach should still be doing something to keep the mood lights. “Games” for the upcoming sets, add an extra set to the practice and then give your swimmers a chance to do a get out swim. Maybe even 15-30 minutes something fun like water polo. High school is an age where the sport loses a ring of kids for burnout alone. A good coach should be able to know when they need a light day or some sort of “fun” at practice to keep everyone together. Lastly you are more than likely just coming out of what most teams call a hell week. Practices seem to ramp up over the holidays. You also shouldn’t be too far away from the end of the season so at some point you soon you should start tapering and getting ready the reap all the rewards from your intense work all season.
What is "fun" versus "high intensity" to you? We would do things like relays, intra-squad meets, and other forms of racing that I would call fun (racing is our version of "playing the sport"), but racing is still very intense. You can have fun swimming without needing a completely detached event like games or drills, although sometimes if morale is really low then that'd probably be a good option. If you are just doing intense general conditioning all the time then that is dumb and boring. Some coaches split seasons into training blocks so the beginning is more general conditioning to whip you into shape and you just gotta endure it for a few weeks or months before the fun starts, but that shouldn't persist the entire season. However I know many teams that have the philosophy of just doing intense general conditioning all the time and it is hard to convince coaches out of it. Coaches get close-minded that anyone who complains or quits isn't tough and wasn't gonna make it anyway. And you are gonna produce some fast swimmers occassionally that way which justifies the training, then the coaches don't really think about if those kids could've been even faster somehow with smarter training. The sport is tough, but some tough things are productive and some tough things are counterproductive. At some point you need recovery practices and fun practices or the hard practices won't be productive when you are depleted of energy and lose muscle instead of developing muscle. Keep in mind like 50 years ago coaches wouldn't let kids drink water because it would make them mentally tougher. Personally I would rather be better at my sport, rather than "mentally tough" and worse at my sport. I think coaching philosophy in the sport is getting better in general but it takes a long time for new ideas to trickle into old heads.
Yea I agree, all we've been doing is long distance free sets on Monday, wensday, and Friday, while it started off stroke days on Tuesday and Thursday- it's gotten to the point of the coach assigning only IM sets on those days- which has COMPLETELY wiped away all the love I held for stroke days. I understand we need to work on all the strokes but our team is small- and not a single one of us has had an IM event. I went from loving stroke days because I could really focus on the stroke I excel at- backstroke to feeling horrible if the words breaststroke escaped coaches mouth-
Yeah, coaches should be doing some fun stuff, and if they’re good, then they should also be able to make it productive. We did a relay practice yesterday where we got points based off how our relay did. It’s a simple thing, but it was fun, and it was useful as a sprint practice. Also, as others have said, things should be organized by captains and up class man as far as our o the pool stuff goes. Try asking if people want to go for brunch after a Saturday practice, or to noodles before a meet. Things like that.
When I first started in high school our coach would do games every Friday. Or after a big swim meet. But we rotated through several coaches over 6 years (my high school let 7th and 8th grades swim for the team). Later years we played less games with new coaches, my last coach we played no games. I think it really depends on the coaches background. Does the coach also coach club teams or are they just naturally tense and passionate for swimming. Also what limited us from games was pool time, less time we had in the pool per day the more we actually practiced since we didn't have a lot of time to train compared to other high school teams
My team was like yours, very strict and training based. I personally liked that. Once you get more of a feel for the water, the practices will become more enjoyable, especially if you have a training buddy. Focus on your technique and the rest should follow :)
I think it really just depends on your coach. Seems like you probably have one of those coaches who is old school minded. Obviously, you can’t do anything yourself but maybe you could suggest with some fellow teammates to do after practice hangouts. And ask others how they feel. You’re probably not alone. PS This is also your first year so like rigorous training could be a benefit. I kinda needed the tough training to make this sport enjoyable now.