From The Desk Of SLAF’s Head Swim Coach: Abbie Fish
As a virtual swim coach, I am a huge proponent of teaching swimmers how to set goals. I posted on Instagram just the other day about teaching goal setting if you need somewhere to start. I’m also a big believer in practicing what I preach, and this time of year brings out a particularly reflective side of me. To set effective goals, you must look at where you’ve been and ask yourself: What’s working? What’s not working? What’s getting in my way that I CAN control? (Even if it’s yourself). As I sat down to write this blog, I pulled out my planner to remind myself what I wrote for my goals at the beginning of 2024. I asked myself (and I encourage you to ask yourself!): What are my swim coach goals for 2025?
Let’s Get Started…
My 2024 Swim Coach Goals
1.) Get the SLAF Video Vault for Sale
2.) Launch Our Mentorship Program
3.) Rock the Thailand/Indonesia Camp
4.) Launch SLAF Swim Camps in KY this year
5.) Be Named On Staff for USA Swimming’s National Diversity Select Camp
None of these were surprises to me, as I check in frequently (one of the ways to make sure you’re being successful!). But I was struck that every single one of these goals happened. That doesn’t happen every year, sometimes no matter how hard we try.
For this year, it’s no accident. Over the years I’ve worked as a swimmer, swammer, swim coach and now virtual coach. I’ve refined the systems I put in place to make things happen and to prioritize my time correctly. As a business owner who helps swim coaches and swimmers around the world, I’ve found that prioritization is key.
Part of what needs to happen for effective goal setting is that you need to sit in the feelings of actually achieving the goal! As swimmers and swim coaches, our natural setting is “okay great, now I can do better” or “onto the next one.” In reality, our brains repeat what we notice and celebrate. So if we notice and celebrate when we achieve our goals, our subconscious helps us the next time around.
What I’m Happy About In 2024
Truthfully I am still feeling blown away that we launched our Mentorship Program and Video Vault in the SAME YEAR! Both of these products have been years in the making. Here at SLAF, we know they both serve such an important need in the swim coach community.
The Mentorship Program represents the first time we’ve brought in other outside swim coaches to our business. Jack Bauerle, Mike Bottom and Gregg Troye are quite literally the best in the business. Not only has doing so strengthened my relationship with each of them, but all 3 coaches have reported feeling fulfilled helping other coaches solve problems and become better! The mentorship program is unique to SLAF and is truly a filling missing piece to the swimming community.
After working as a swim coach for so long, I know firsthand how important an affordable but incredibly built-out product like the Video Vault is for coaches who are on-deck and need visual help for their swimmers. There’s nothing like the feeling of identifying what a swimmer is struggling with technique-wise, pulling them out of the water, searching it on your phone, and having it fixed 1 minute later.
This year, we helped more athletes and swimmers than we ever have! I am so happy we’ve grown this number each year. It feels like a dream come true!
I could go on and on, but you get the gist. I’m incredibly proud of the work myself and my team is doing here at SLAF! We worked both smart and hard to make 2024 a success. Now that we’ve celebrated where we’re at and what we’ve accomplished, it’s time to turn that energy to the next round of goals:
My SLAF Swim Coach Goals For 2025
1.) Announce more Swim Camp Dates! SLAF-specific (local to Kentucky), country wide and internationally!
2.) Continue to build out our Video Vault. Post new videos and send exclusive emails to members weekly!
3.) Grow our brand and digital presence online and through our email list (which you can sign up for for FREE here).
4.) Build our relationship with USA Swimming. We have so much exciting stuff going on with them!
5.) Get the swim coaches we serve the tools they need to be their best on and off the deck.
There are a lot more specifics to these goals that I’ll keep under wraps for now, but looking at this list lights me up inside! I’m incredibly fired up to rock and roll through 2025.
That’s how you know you wrote a good goal list – it acts as a motivator and points you to what matters to you. I’m so excited to see what 2025 brings to the swimming world as a whole, and to all of the individual swimmers and swim coaches we are lucky enough to help along the way.
What Swim Coach Goals for 2025 do you have?
Until next time,
Abbie Fish and the Swim Like A. Fish Team