Blog
Support Network
Most people will be familiar with the athlete-coach-parent support triangle. Each plays a key role in the athlete’s development and without any one of these aspects, it’s incredibly difficult for an athlete to reach their full potential. An athlete needs a coach to provide support, opportunities, plan and deliver sessions, and provide the facilities needed for training. An athlete needs parents who on top of providing emotional and financial support, are also willing to act as a chauffeur, chef and fully commit to helping their child achieve their dream. The athlete’s role is to consistently work hard and make the most of the support and opportunities provided. Ask questions for understanding and to push themselves daily on both complex and simple tasks. One part doesn’t work without the other, or at least it makes everything exponentially more difficult.
Now let me tell you a story about when I was a swimmer and those key people who stood beside me to help me achieve my goals.
The first one is my mum, Jackie, but we call her Mother J. My mum doesn’t seem to notice obstacles when it came to myself or my older sister’s dreams. We aren’t a rich family, in fact my mum used to work three jobs to fund general living and two kids swimming from the ages of seven and nine. We didn’t grow up with a car, and to get to training was two separate buses taking a total of 80minutes. Mother J was always prepared with food for around sessions, clothes out and ready for mornings, school bags always packed the night before. A habit that she taught me and one that quickly became my responsibility to uphold. I’ve already wrote an article about my swimming journey (The Journey) and mentioned that I was a good junior swimmer. But not every swim was a success. Mother J always had the same response to a ‘bad’ swim however, “you tried your best”. The End. Mother J never gave me tips for the next race or told me how I should have raced it. There was never any anger or disappointment from a race that I didn’t win or PB in. Equally, on good races, I was received with a hug and a ‘well done’. No grand plans were being made for my future in the sport based on how I swam a 50m breaststroke aged 10. It was a very supportive environment with no pressure other than what I put on myself. Later, when times were tough and the goals were at insane standards, the support never changed. When I didn’t qualify for Olympics, the response was the same. A hug, dried my tears and told me how proud of me she was. There was no disappointment that I hadn’t done it. Only gratitude that I’d given it my best shot. I spoke with a parent recently about time’s when I was down about swimming, questioning if it was still what I wanted to do and second guessing if I really wanted to keep pushing. Mother J used to always remind me that “I didn’t have to do it” if I didn’t want to. There was no pressure from her to keep going. No reminders of how much she had invested in me to do it. No repercussions if I wanted to hang up the goggles. Only a reminder that she was in it with me until the end. The ultimate Day 1 supporter.
The second big supporter was my coach. I’ve had many great coaches and of course I wouldn’t have swam for so long without each of their inputs. But my biggest supporter was a coach called Chris Jones who I swam at The University of Edinburgh under for 6.5years. From day 1 with Chris, I felt like he had my back. When I joined the team, I was a shy, introverted, relatively slow Scottish breaststroker. Within the first 12months, he helped grow my confidence and self-worth which ultimately spilled over into my swimming turning me into one of the fastest Scottish and British breaststrokers in my time. What Chris is excellent at is building a solid relationship with his athletes. Whilst having moved away for university, Chris was really one of the only adults in my life a daily basis, so trusting that he knew what was best for me was important. Whenever a hard set was written on the board, I trusted him when he said I could do it and do it well. At competitions, we had a synergy to know what we needed to do to get a good outcome. Whilst I would be lying if I said it always worked out, as a team, we gave it our best shot.
The third and last category of support is my teammates and friends. Like a coach, these people quickly become your family. It’s these people who you go through the best and worst times with. Whilst you are sometimes competing against them directly for podiums and team selection, the daily grind and comradery will never be forgotten. Turning up to early morning sessions together builds a certain level of mutual respect. Watching friends do crazy things in training, dealing with injuries, overcoming setbacks and ultimately raising the standards of the squad is a special thing to be a part of. Throughout my time at Edinburgh, I used to share a lane with a guy called Keiran on almost a daily basis for over 6years. He was a sprint freestyler, and whilst this meant he either went incredibly fast or incredibly slow, he was also a first wave swimmer during main sets. This means that whilst I was in wave 3 or 4 during key sets, Keiran would hear all my times. He would know when to say I was smashing it, giving me the confidence to keep on pushing, and he would also know when I was having a terrible time, encouraging me not to give in and reminding me of technical aspects to work on. We went to many a competition together and would laugh at each other’s bad races, congratulate each other on the good races and wins and always say good luck before we went to the call room.
Whilst these are probably all obvious examples of what parents, coaches and friends should be doing to support an athlete, sometimes it’s not always the case. The line often becomes blurred between parent and coach with parents, with the best of intentions, wanting to give guidance on race strategies and technical points. Team mates sometimes don’t think to help and support fellow athletes achieve success. Coaches are often called upon to give far more than technical advice or a tough set, being there to guide and support swimmer through the ups and downs of daily life. Having a great support network is important for an athlete, and it is key that each person fulfils their role effectively.
I loved that Mother J was only ever the supportive parent, giving moral support to the sporting goal. I loved that my coach was a key player in making me push the limits. I loved that Keiran only ever wanted me to succeed. I feel very fortunate to have had all these people in my corner, and luckily, I still do to this day.