Sydney, Australia, February 15 --- Six years ago I wrote an article called
"Changing Times" about the Sport of Swimming and the challenges it faced
all over the world. |
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 ..Sydney,
Australia, Feb 15 --- Pre sest godina napisao sam clanak pod nazivom "Menjajuci
vremena" o plivackom sportu i izazovima sa kojima se suceljavaju svi u
svetu. |
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| In short, I challenged the swimming
community to work together, to strive to create new, exciting, interesting
training and competition environments, to put away petty political and
personality conflicts and work together in the best interest of kids, athletes,
families, coaches, Clubs and the sport. |
|
Ukratko, podstakao sam da plivacko
javno mnjenje mora da radi zajedno, da istraje u kreiranju neceg novog,
uzbudljivog u treninzima i takmicenjima, da ostavi sa strane politicke
i licne konflikte i da radi zajednickim snagama u najboljem interesu za
decu, sportiste, familije, trenere, klubove i sport u celini. |
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| Now, Six years later
..You still
don't get it do you! |
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Sada, nakon sest godina.. vi
to jos uvek niste prihvatili, zar ne! |
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| A few weeks ago I was at a famous
Aquatics complex in a major capital city. As usual, I was drawn to watch
the swimming programs in the pool the coaches, the athletes, technique,
skills, performance levels, attitudes
.I am passionate about swimming and
want to see the sport succeed. |
|
Pre nekoliko nedelja, bio sam na
cuvenom plivackom kompleksu u glavnom gradu (Australije). Kao i obicno,
bio sam razocaran videvsi plivacki program u bazenu - plivacke trenere,
sportiste, tehniku, vestine, nivo plivanja, zelje.... Ja obozavam plivanje
i iskreno zelim da vidim uspehe u ovom sportu. |
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| This is what I saw. |
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To je ono sto sam video. |
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| A young coach working with about
50 junior squad swimmers, aged 10-14 in very crowded lanes. He stood at
one end of the pool for the whole hour of the training session, most of
the time with his leg up on the starting block in lane one. He yelled workout
instructions to the whole group and did not provide any swimmer with individualized
feedback. All swimmers all ages all levels of ability did the same
workout. Skills and drills were performed poorly and received with little
feedback. The feedback that was given was general feedback to the whole
group. |
|
Mladi trener radi sa otprilike 50
juniora starosti 10-14 godina u stazama u kojima je ogromna guzva. On stoji
na kraju bazena, skoro citav sat tokom treninga, najveci deo vremena sa
jednom nogom na startnom bloku, u stazi br.1 On salje instrukcije citavoj
grupi plivaca i nema mogucnosti da dobije pojedinacne odgovore od svakog
od plivaca. Svi plivaci - svih kategorija - svih nivoa - svi su u istom
programu. Vestine i vezbe se izvode veoma skromno i sa neadekvatnom
povratnom informacijom. Povratna informacija koja se dobija je nacelna
i odnosi se za celu grupu. |
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| The following week, I was at a similarly
famous Aquatics complex in another capital city in another country. Again,
I spent time observing a junior swim squad in training. Again I saw the
same lack of engagement, lack of creativity, lack of passion and lack of
quality coaching I had seen previously. |
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Naredog vikenda, bio sam na jos
jednom slicnom aqua kompleksu, u glavnom gradu jedne druge zemlje. Ponovo
sam proveo vreme posmatrajuci mladi tim na treningu. Ponovo sam video isti
nedostatak angazovanja, nedostatak kreativbnosti, nedostatak zelje i nedostatak
kvalitetnong treniranja, kao sto sam to video i u prethodnom centru. |
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| The next week I went to a local
swim meet again out of interest and love of the sport. Guess what? |
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Sledece nedelje otisao sam na lokalno
plivacko takmicenje. - ponovo primecujem, nema interesovanja i ljubavi
za ovim sportom. Pretpostavljate zasto? |
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| Swimming is still offering 65 heats
of the 7 and under 50 backstroke, still providing little or no interesting
competition opportunities for swimmers over 15 years of age, still awarding
those stupid colored ribbons to all swimmers from 5 years of age to 25,
still being over zealous with breaststroke rules, still doing little or
nothing to engage parents, still offering mostly junk food at the shop
I thought I was in a time warp and it was 1973 all over again. |
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Plivanje u 65 kvalifikacija za starosnu
kategoriju 7 i mladji u 50 lednjo, nudi malo ili gotovo neinteresantne
takmicarske mogucnosti za plivace iznad 15 godina, takmicari se nagradjuju
glupim sarenim trakama u svim kategorijama od 5-25 godina starosti, jos
uvek rigorozno pravilo kod prsnog stila, jos uvek malo ili gotovo nista
da se angazuju roditelji, jos uvek ponuda glupe hrane u radnjicama na bazenu..
Mislio sam da se nalazim zarobljen u 1973 godini jos uvek. |
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| Put yourself in the position of
being a swimmer in one of those squads. You have a choice. You can train
for football, outside, with your friends, emulating your heroes and enjoying
the team environment. You can stay at home and spend time on your computer
engaging with your friends and the web. You can play other sports, play
music, just enjoy lazing about with family and friends or
"I can be
pushed and driven up and down a pool with no engagement from my coach,
receiving no feedback, learning nothing and being bumped and bruised in
crowded lanes". |
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Stavite sebe u poziciju da budete
plivac u jednom od ovih timova. Imate izbor. Mozete da trenirate fudbal
napolju, sa svojim priijateljima, imitirajuci svoje ljubimce, uzivajuci
u grupmom radu. Mozete ostati kod kuce i provesti vreme na kompjuteru sa
svojim prijateljima ili na internetu. Mozete se baviti drugim sportovima,
svirati - slusati muziku, ili lencariti uz familiju, sa prijateljima i
sl...."Ja sam nateran i gurnut u bazen bez ikakve paznje od strane mog
trenera, nemam povratnu informaciju, nista nisam naucio, i bio strpan u
stazu sa ogromnom guzvom". |
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| Put yourself in the position of
being a parent of a swimmer in one of those squads. You are paying money
for your child to receive professional coaching. You have had to change
your work, social and family schedule to be there. And what do you see?
"My
child is receiving no quality, individualized instruction, is gaining no
learning and receiving no feedback, is swimming mindless lap after mindless
lap, bumping into other kids, the end of the pool and the lane ropes and
I am paying for the privilege". |
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Stavite sebe u ulogu roditelja plivaca
u jednom od ovih timova. Vi izdvajate novac za vase dete da dobije profesionalni
trening. Morali ste da promenite vas posao, drustvene i druge familijarne
obaveze. I sta primecujete? "Moje dete je nije imalo kvalitetan individualni
rad i instrukcije, nije nista naucilo i dobilo povratne informacije, misljenje
o svakom od okreta, gurnuto sa ostalom decom i na kraju bazena i kraju
konopca od staze, a ja placam za privilegovane instrukcije". |
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| Or what about the parent going to
the Meet? "I sit there for two days to see my kid swim four events, either
in stinking heat or inside breathing in chlorine gas, giving up my precious
weekend time and paying through the nose to get in to the facility, buy
food and for race fees". |
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Ili, kako izgleda boravak roditelja
na takmicenju? "Ja sedim tamo dva dana gledajuci moje dete kako pliva 4
trke, naslonjem uz radijator ili na bazenu udisuci hlorne gasove , ne uzimajuci
u obzir izgubljen vikend, placajuci jos troskove dolaska, ishrane i startnina
za takmicenje". |
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| And then the kid drops out of the
sport in their mid teens and we all scream "What's wrong with kids today?"
rubbish: the reason kids drop out of swimming is totally the responsibility
of the people who coach, administer and organize swimming training and
competitions. Kids and families will stay in swimming if it is engaging,
enjoyable, exciting, educational and embraces excellence in all things. |
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I tako dete napusta ovaj sport u
svojm srednjim tinejdzerskim godinama a mi svi vristimo" Sta to ne valja
sa decom danas?" - smesno: RAZLOG ZASTO DECA BEZE IZ PLIVANJA JE TOTALNA
NEODGOVORNOST LJUDI KOJI TRENIRAJU, UPRAVLJAJU I ORGANIZUJU TRENINGE I
TAKMICENJA. Deca i njihove porodice ce ostati u plivanju ako su u njemu
angazovana, uzivaju, ako su uzbudljiva, obrazovna i zadovoljna u svakom
pogledu. |
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| We are offering mass mediocrity,
outdated competition formats and inferior coaching quality and expecting
people to continue to accept it. Well, have a good look at your registrations,
Meets and bottom lines
..people are not accepting it. The sport of swimming
like many other Olympic sports is at the crossroads. The very existence
of competitive swimming hangs in the balance like no other time in its
history. Now, more than ever we must provide quality, engaging, interesting,
enjoyable and challenging training and competition experiences or swimmers
and parents will no longer support the sport. |
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Mi nudimo masovni mediokritet, prevazidjene
formate takmicenja i inferioran kvalitet treninga i ocekujemo da to ljudi
prihvate. Dobro, srecno vam bilo kod uclanjenja, kod takmicenja i u samim
stazama... Ljudi to ne ocekuju. Plivacki sport - kao mnogi drugi olimpijski
sportovi - nalazi se na raskrsnici. Takmicarsko plivanje opstaje, kao nikad
do sad u njegovoj istoriji. Sada, mnogo vise nego ikad, mi moramo obezbediti
kvalitet, agazovan, interesantan, uzbudljiv i izazovan trening i takmicenje
ili cemo dobiti plivace i roditelje koji vise nece podrzavati ovaj sport. |
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| Why would a talented young swimmer,
with so many choices available in sport, in social activities, in study
programs, in social media and in life, waste time ploughing up and down
a black line in a boring, repetitive, monotonous, poorly coached program?
Why
would a parent with limited time and limited money pay for a child
to be part of a sport which offers mediocre coaching and dull, boring,
tedious competitions which typically offer the same events, on the same
day, in the same order year after year after year? |
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Zasto bi mladi talentovani plivac,
sa mnogo izbora u raznim sportovima ispred njega, u drustvenim aktivnostima,
studijama, u medijima i zivotu, gubio vreme plivacjuci gore dole po crnoj
liniji u dosadnom, ponavljajucem monotonom, programu njegovog trenera.
Zasto
bi roditelj sa ogranicenim vremenom i novcem morao da placa za njegovo
dete da bude deo sporta koji nudi mediokritetan trening, glupa, dosadna
takmicenja koja uglavnom imaju iste discipline, skoro u isti dan, svake
naredne godine, godinu za godinom, itd? |
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| If you consider just these coaching
and competition issues without even thinking about the child abuse allegations
which are all too common around the world, the swim suit debacle and how
that made the sport a laughing stock and concerns over the long term dangers
of swimming in heavily chlorinated water and we are in crisis. To all
my friends and foes in swimming around the world wake up! This is
now a matter of great urgency. |
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Ako razmotrite ovu problematiku
oko treninga i takmicenja, bez da ulazite u nezadovoljstvo deteta (koje
je gotovo istovetno svuda na svetu), debakl sa plivackim odelima i brigu
oko opasnosti dugog boravka u hloriniranoj vodi, i td, mi smo u dubokoj
krizi. Svim svojim plivackim prijateljima u svetu saljem poruku
- PROBUDITE SE. Ovo je sad stvar velike urgencije. |
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| Improve coaching standards do
not accept mediocre coaching anytime/anywhere from anyone; Provide more
engaging, interesting and enjoyable training environments; Create new,
interesting, stimulating and enjoyable competition formats; Stop trying
to force all kids into pathways designed to make them Olympic champions
give each individual what they need to realize their potential at all
levels of achievement; Put "fun" before "fast"; Embrace parents into
swimming programs as partners in swimming performance and stop treating
them as lepers who pay fees; And most importantly, stop this "we are
different", "those things will not work in swimming" and "that's not the
way we do it in swimming" thinking that is killing the sport around the
world. |
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Valorizujte trenazne standarde
- ne prihvatajte mediokritetske treninge. Obezbedite mnogo vece angazovanje,
interes i uzivanje u trenaznom okruzenju. Prestanite da forsirate svu
decu na putu da postanu olimpijski sampioni - dajte svakom individualno
sta im je potrebno da razviju svoj potencijal na svim nivoima do postizanja
uspeha Postavite "zabavu" ispred "brzo-brze" Priobijte roditelje u
plivacke programe kao roditelje u plivackim dostignucima, i prestanite
da ih tretirate samo kao gubavce koji ima da placaju za troskove. I najbitnije,
prestanite sa ovim "MI SMO NESTO DRUGO", ili "ove stvari ne mogu da se
rade u plivanju" i "ovo nije put kojim idemo u plivanju" - razmislite da
li ce to ubiti ovaj sport svuda u svetu. |
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| C'mon we can do this! |
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HAJDE, mi to mozemo odraditi. |
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This presentation is dedicated to the swimming audience of Serbia
and the wider region of the SE Europe and was arranged on February 16,
2010.....
