I feel the culture of quick gratification and instant success is the main thing coaches have to learn to coach around is the number one problem facing the sport.
We can outsmart the younger generation by creating daily, weekly and more creative test sets that helps the young athlete feel good about their efforts.
Demanding more quality in shorter practices, more dryland workouts while keeping in mind that we might have to coddle this generation a bit. If that is what it takes then do it. You can slowly teach that long-term hard work equals success.
Teach swimmers what to expect every step of the way because their understanding of physical and mental progressions can only help.
Explain the yearly, seasonal and daily outlines of training. Explain the cycles of muscular breakdown, recovery and strength gains. As we know it is a lot more than a few days of hard work before a meet. Younger swimmers and High School swimmers actually believe that if they have a few good practices they should see results. Teach them athletics are not the same as academics, you can’t cram for a meet.
Train boys and girls differently. Basic generalizations:
Girls can practice longer and harder mentally and physically but are a lot harder to coach at meets.
Boys need to know the whole set and in advance. Let them know exactly what effort you expect for each part of the set or practice.
Boys are a lot easier to coach at meets.
I am currently going through all of this again as I am building a new program and developing a culture for swimming in this community.
We have to work with what we are given so do your best. Make every workout and set as different as possible. Faster Swimming workouts are developed with all of this in mind.