GOALS AND GOAL SETTINGS Name: Goals come in a lot of different forms and are generally different for each person. When we first ask a swimmer, What is your goal for the season? they will generally say, Make a State time. This is great and a worthy goal but there are a lot more goals than this when and if you think about things. In fact, some swimmers that say this do not really intend or care if they make a state time or not, so really think about what YOU, (not your parents, coach or anyone else wants), but YOU want to achieve. They may include successfully completing a distance, for example a 1500m Freestyle or a Butterfly, they may include getting 100% training attendance or they may include being your schools swim champion. There are as many options as there are individuals so find some that suit you and it will help give you something to work towards. For now, list below your short term goals and your long term goals. If you do this for other sports or study / school make sure you take these into consideration. For example, if you have written that you want to study 3 hours every night and be in bed by 8pm, it does not make sense to write that you want to train for 2 hours every night during the week. Be realistic. At the completion of this document we will ask you to list your goals again to see if anything has changed. Short Term Goals (This Season s Goals):
Long Term Goals (Ultimate or Dream Goals): We have drawn up some tables to help you to track your improvement and hopefully, you will be able to find some of your goals here and this may help you to keep track of them and ultimately achieve them. Remember, we want to know what YOU want to achieve from your swimming. Current Times
It is no use wanting to improve your times if you have no idea what they are. The club has P.B. booklets supplied by Swimming Australia and we hand these out to new members but also any member can request one at any time. They are easy to fill in and a handy way to keep track of your times. Alternately, you may wish to create a spread sheet at home on a computer and fill it in after every race. What ever you decide it is good to keep track of your times. Below is a chart for you to write in your current P.B. (personal best) time for each stroke and distance. It does not matter if you have not swam every distance, you can fill it out after you do it for the first time. (That may even be one of your goals?) The times do not have to be official. If you want to get a time for a particular distance or stroke, maybe speak to your coach and ask them if you can come a little early or stay back a little after training and ask if they will time you so you can then use that time. At the end of the season (or your coach may decide to review your goals at 6 months or every quarter even), you can see if you have improved and by how much, and hopefully set some new target times. My Current P.B. Times Distance Freestyle Backstroke Breaststroke Butterfly I.M. 50m 400m 800m 1500m Target Times
Now we will do this exercise again but write down what you hope or think you will be able to achieve by the end of the season. Remember, these do not have to be competition times or even club aggregate times; they can be times you have achieved in training because they are goals you have set yourself. Distance Freestyle Backstroke Breaststroke Butterfly I.M. 50m 400m 800m 1500m JX Times Junior Excellence (for ages 9 to 16 year olds) are times set by Swimming Australia to allow each swimmer to accurately gauge where they are in relation to everyone else in the country. The levels are seeded and the qualifying times are harder the higher the level. There are rewards for reaching each level at the end of each season however you must be a competitive swimmer and achieved the qualifying times at a recognised competition (not a club aggregate) to receive the awards. It is still worth while to list the times so you can judge your progress whether you swim competitively or not. So, fill in your target times for your age below. When your birthday occurs your times will change so you may want to choose the times for your age at the end of the season or fill them in twice. (June 2015). You will be awarded the highest level you reach regardless of age. For example, if you reach silver as an 11 year old but only green as a 12 year old you will be awarded the silver pack. All the details relating to the JX awards can be found on the Swimming Victoria website (http://vic.swimming.org.au). Scroll across the options
until you see the Athletes/Coaches tab and click on this. Scroll down and click on the Athletes tab. Find the option titled Junior Excellence Program and click. Here you will find all the information needed to do with the JX program. As part of the reward to JX swimmers, anyone who achieves a JX time will be invited to attend a special forum/workshop targeted specifically at JX swimmers where specific topics relating to swimmers are discussed. Elite athletes and coaches come along and speak at these forums and pass on their experiences. I highly recommend that anyone that receives an invite goes along. They are very worthwhile. 9 and 10 year-olds Green standard At least 1 Tier 4 time in any of the specified events Bronze standard At least 1 Tier 3 time in any of the specified events Silver standard At least 1 Tier 2 time in any of the specified events Gold standard At least 1 Tier 1 time in any of the specified events *9 & 10 year old times will be recognised from both short course and long course events. 11-13 year-olds Green standard At least 1 Tier 4 time in any of the specified events Bronze standard At least 1 Tier 3 time in any of the specified events Silver standard At least 1 Tier 2 or Tier 1 time in any of the specified events Gold standard At least 1 Tier 1 time in 2 or more of the specified events *11-13 year old times will be recognised from long course events only. 14-16 year-olds Green standard At least 1 Tier 4 time in any of the specified events Bronze standard At least 1 Tier 3 time in any of the specified events Silver standard At least 1 Tier 2 or Tier 1 time in any of the specified events Gold standard At least 1 Tier 1 time in 3 or more of the specified events *14-16 year old times will be recognised from long course events only. JX TIMES
50m Free Free Free 400m Free 800m Free 1500m Free 50m Back Back Back 50m Breast Breast Breast 50m Fly Fly Fly I.M. 400m I.M. Green Bronze Silver Gold State Age Times Now we continue on with a similar theme and you can fill in the table below with the current State times for your age group. Again, it does not really matter if you want to swim competitively or not but these give you a guide and something to reference your swimming off. Remember that the age you are at the time of States, (Start of September for short course, the start of December for long course and the start of February for State Sprints.) Your age at these dates you should use for the times you should write down. Short Course State Age Times
Distance Freestyle Backstroke Breaststroke Butterfly I.M. 50m 400m 800m 1500m Long Course State Age Times Distance Freestyle Backstroke Breaststroke Butterfly I.M. 50m 400m 800m 1500m Sprint State Age Times Distance Freestyle Backstroke Breaststroke Butterfly 50m Open Times If you wanted to take this one step further you could add the open times for both short course and long course. It is simply a matter of copying the table above and writing them in. Distance Free Free Back Back Breast Breast Fly Fly I.M. I.M.
50m 400m 800m 1500m (SC) (LC) (SC) (LC) (SC) (LC) (SC) (LC) (SC) (LC) Other Goals and Targets So, I think we have covered most of the time related goals most people will set for themselves. What we will look at now are some of the more varied goal settings swimmers may set themselves. The first of these I mentioned earlier and that is to swim every stroke in every distance in one season. You can make this extra difficult if you want by doing this at competitions, (my eldest son did this one season and it is difficult). What ever you decide, as you complete that distance / stroke you can tick it off or stamp the box or put a gold star in the box as a way of keeping you focused on your goal. Complete Every Distance Stroke Distance Freestyle Backstroke Breaststroke Butterfly I.M. 50m N/A 400m 800m 1500m N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 100% Training Attendance
The Progress Wheel can be used to visually see where you think you are currently in regards to a particular area compared to where you ultimately want to be. This one is a little bit tricky. It is well worth having but if you only train once or twice a week, to gain 100% attendance for a month is not that difficult. If you do not train often, you may look at setting you goal for 3 or even 6 months. Obviously if you do train often, from 3 to 7 times per week, reaching a monthly target gets harder. I still think to set training as a goal swimmers should at least look at targeting 3 consecutive months (or a school term) as a minimum. On the table below just fill out the days / dates you train then cross them off after each session you attend. For example Mon 3/7 am Mon 3/7 pm Mon 4/7 pm Progress Wheel
Freestyle Backstroke 1. 2. Dives / Starts 3. 4. 5. Breaststroke Streamlining Butterfly Turns Breathing Tassie Team
A fantastic goal to set yourself if you are a competitive swimmer is to qualify for the Ringwood Tassie Team that travels to Tasmania every year to compete at there State Age Championships. The Tasmanian State qualifying times are a little easier to achieve and allow more of our swimmers the opportunity to experience what it is like to compete at a State level. The weekend is also a lot of fun with a general activity that bonds the team when we first arrive as well as the natural camaraderie that is built from working together and supporting each other for the trip. Again, in the table below write down the times you would require to be included in the Tassie Team from the age you would be at the beginning of March. Tassie Qualifying Times Distance Freestyle Backstroke Breaststroke Butterfly I.M. 50m N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 400m N/A N/A N/A Some Other Goals Some other goals that you may like to set yourself can include being the school champion or representing your school and making it to a certain stage of the school carnivals. (District, division, region or state). Another goal might be to simply win the club championship event for a distance / stroke. For example you may want to be the backstroke champion of the club by winning the open and age backstroke events, or you could aim to be the fastest freestyler over 1500m. Results of each championship event are included in the newsletter each year so it would be a simple matter of checking where you came and either ticking it off your goal sheet or seeing how much you need to improve.
You may aim to be offered a leadership position within the club. (Either club Captain or Vice Captain or one of the House Captain roles). To achieve this you would need to attend every club event and enthusiastically help where you can. Encourage other swimmers and squad members continuously at training and club events such as aggregates and club champs. Promote the club to the general public by being a good role model for the club and assist at training whenever possible. It is important to note that the club does have some age requirements for leadership roles. You may set yourself the goal of moving up a squad level by the end of the season. This is a reasonable goal as long as you are honest with yourself about how much training and improvement is needed and if you are willing to commit to achieving it. Coaches will not just promote you because you want it, you need to deserve it. A simple small goal might be to be able to swim 25m or even 50m underwater without breathing. I know a lot of you may be saying No way 50m, but most of the senior swimmers would be able to accomplish this. You may want to check with your coach about what the ultimate stroke counts would be for 50m for a certain stroke and try to achieve them. The trick here is that you must be able to accomplish the stroke rate at a fast pace so your not just lying in the water getting every inch from each stroke. Maybe put a time limit on the 50m. Some small goals may be to collect a certain number of house points for the season. Perfect your streamlining and do it every turn during training. Be able to reach a certain point with your dives. Work on your weakest stroke so you can keep up with everyone else in your squad when you train using that stroke. Aim to lead your squad training as much as you can. Learn how to use the clock comfortably and confidently. Enter a competition. Attend club events.
As you can see there are plenty of ways you can encourage yourself to work harder and keep track of the goals you set for yourself. As we pointed out at the start, it is very important that the goals you set are YOUR GOALS and you really want to achieve them. It is no use putting something down that you don t want to really achieve because you won t. You have to want to achieve it to actually achieve it. So now that you have some more ideas and some guides with times it is time to again write down your short term and long term goals. Have they changed or have any been added? You can review, change and reset goals all the time so keep your goal sheets handy and go for it! Short Term Goals (This Season s Goals): Long Term Goals (Ultimate or Dream Goals):