Comments on: Hi Michael: Get In The Water To Throw Away Bad Technique, Not Protect It Or Ignore It https://www.totalimmersion.net/blog/hi-michael-get-in-the-water-to-throw-away-bad-technique-not-protect-it-or-ignore-it/ Total Immersion Fri, 20 Feb 2026 11:58:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1 By: Louis Tharp https://www.totalimmersion.net/blog/hi-michael-get-in-the-water-to-throw-away-bad-technique-not-protect-it-or-ignore-it/#comment-86 Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:35:31 +0000 http://totalimmersion.net/blog/?p=783#comment-86 Hi Mike:

Good question. What criteria would I use to evaluate a good coach? I can tell you how I’m evaluated:

1. Are swimmers late to practice?
2. Do they comfortably interact with each other on deck and in the pool? Is there laughter? Enthusiasm? Focus?
3. Do they ask questions and expect thoughtful discussion from me and each other?
4. Do they know they can be honest without being penalized?
5. Are they willing to coach others they way I coach them and when I see them doing it, am I happy with what I see?
6. Can they tell me what they learned after practice?
7. Are they faster with a lower heart rate?
8. When they get out of the water, are they running with their head up to T-1 because they excited about the bike leg and ready to continue racing?
9. Do they respect other racers, and while not intimidated by aggressive competitors, do they channel their aggression into healthy competition?
10. When they are on the podium, are they humble?

]]> By: mjm https://www.totalimmersion.net/blog/hi-michael-get-in-the-water-to-throw-away-bad-technique-not-protect-it-or-ignore-it/#comment-85 Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:13:27 +0000 http://totalimmersion.net/blog/?p=783#comment-85 A lot of “and if’s” Lou. Still, if someone were relatively proficient at a technique driven skill, say playing the piano, and the advice was: to get better you need to play harder and faster and, oh, you don’t need a tutor. Who would buy that? Yet, plenty of swimmers, including me in the past, believed it as gospel because it [apparently] applied to running and biking.
Still, a good coach is hard to find. What criteria would you use to evaluate a swim coach? Thanks. Mike

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