At the beginning of the season I stressed that “competitive swimming” was about the process rather than the product. Part of my process was to have swimmers develop their repertoire – the number of events they can swim. Let us take a look at a bright rising star: Taylor Beaudry.

Taylor was already qualified for Western Canadian Championships (February 12-15) when I arrived on the scene. She was only able to swim three events at that meet: the 100 + 200 back and the 400 IM. As a coach I want every swimmer to succeed but this time it was not to be. The swims were split well but the times were slower than what we had anticipated. There were many factors that influenced those swims and we discussed those factors and addressed each one and began to plan for the future.

During our debriefing it became clear that Taylor needed more work – literally. She thrives on hard sets and trains well under pressure. We were determined and started back right away with more intense sets. We knew that she had a larger repertoire that she would be swimming at the Alberta Age Group Provincials (March 20-22) and I was determined that she would improve.

Her mainstay was her backstroke but she was training hard IM sets and hard freestyle sets. So accordingly we wanted to see improvement across the board. Dial forward to the Alberta Age Group Provincials. Taylor swam heats and finals in EVERY event: 200 back, 50 free, 200IM, 100 free, 400 free, 50 back, 200 free, and 100 back. She managed to make Western Qualifying Times in the 50 free (new), and the 400 free (new) as well she made an Age Group National Qualifying Time in the 50 back! Quite impressive.

Naysayers will point out that Taylor did not improve on her 100 and 200 backstroke – should we/she be alarmed? – NO! Why? Because she managed to do what we were trying to do – build her repertoire as well as split evenly or even negative split. HOW? Taylor did this through hard work. She attended over 80% of the available workouts. She put in a solid effort to every workout meter, and took care of the details such as streamlining off of every wall every workout.

It is also important to note that although I rested the swimmers for Westerns and for “A’s” they did not taper. This means that I expect an improved performance at the culmination of the long course season – which for Taylor may be either Nationals or Age Group Nationals. Congratulations on a job well done.