When it comes to Coach Mike Bottom’s legacy, it’s no secret that he’s made his mark in 2 areas of our sport: Team Culture and Sprinters.
Training sprinters can be a misunderstood experience. They are the same as other swimmers while also needing different things. How can this be?
Thankfully, we have an expert to sit down with and discuss the basics of training sprinters.
It can be a little misleading for swimmers when they are divided up into training groups: Sprinters, Distance Swimmers, Mid-Distance, etc.
The reality is that the way Mike coaches his sprinters is not far off from how he would coach any other groups.
Swimmers are like ice cream: The flavors might be different but the base recipe is the same.
1.) All swimmers swim faster when they have a “We” mindset instead of a “Me” mindset. Team culture has to be about the group as a whole.
2.) It’s a coach’s main job to help the swimmer understand their personal strengths and character. After all, it’s hardest for each of us to clearly see ourselves. Coaches can be the mirror for positive or negative characteristics in a swimmer.
3.) Allowing a swimmer to be themselves makes the whole team stronger and faster. In other words, don’t make a swimmer “bad,” or a “problem,” because then they will become that.
Mike tells a story of a sprinter (who, mind you, went onto place 1st at the USA Olympic Trials), who was a bit ostracized for his personality. He was considered lazy and a liability to most team cultures.
When Mike first stepped on deck with him, he watched as this swimmer made up a practice on his own. Instead of doing Flipturns, he was doing Open Turns at each wall (which, again, many of the coaches on deck labeled as lazy).
Mike went up to this swimmer after his set and said “Wow, that was genius of you to do Open Turns during the slower laps!” After all, Mike explained to us, sprinters should NEVER practice something they’re never going to do. If you’re never going to Flipturn slowly and sloppily, then why practice it?
At first, the swimmer looked at him with a skeptical eye (after all, he was used to getting chewed out by his coaches).
Mike let him see that he was being sincere, then started pointing out all of the strengths this swimmer had when he showed them. That swimmer, Gary Hall Jr, credits Mike to this day with his success!
The point is… all swimmers can benefit from these tenants of good coaching. Mike just happened to mostly be working with sprinters.
At the end of the day, even though we can train swimmers similarly, we can’t train them the same. After all, the categories of “distance swimmer, sprinter, etc.” exist for a reason.
“If you put them into a category, you might as well see where they fit in the category instead of making it one size fits all,” says Coach Mike.
Mike says the biggest difference in his sprint groups is that they are working day in and day out on perfecting their technique at top speed. So much so that he has developed a catalog of sprint drills to pull from that help perfect that technique.
Keeping with the “We” vs “Me” mindset, Mike has named his drills after the sprinters who developed them! Check out a sprint drill that Mike loves to keep in his back pocket while on deck.
While yes, it is true that sprinters do not need *as much* aerobic training as some of their counterparts, they still need conditioning.
But, going back to the example of Gary Hall Jr., it’s clear that Mike shows us that the way they need to receive the aerobic training is different. After all, it’s important not to rehearse slow patterns.
Mike recommends that coaches get creative with their aerobic training. And, that a great way to do that is through a catalog of drills (like the ones we saw above). Coaches, think to yourself, “What is the technique I’m trying to get all of my sprinters to move towards… then, continually train that during aerobic conditioning.”
It doesn’t need to be at 110% effort, but it does need to be at 100% technique. Check out the effort in this drill from Mike’s Sprinter Catalog!
It’s no secret that no one achieves anything alone (after all, it’s “We – not me” according to Coach Mike)! You need help on your way to greatness. So why not gift yourself the help you need?
Coach Mike wants to work with you! He offers consultation calls, pre-made season plans (from his most successful sprint years!), and customized options for working together.
Until next time,
Abbie Fish and the Swim Like A. Fish Team
