Questions
for Murray Drudge 
Q1:
What is the new group that has been added to the NYAC Model and how does it fit
within this model?
We created the new group for two reasons:
1.
The number of athletes was too large for one National Development group.
2.
Training requirements of a young teenager (11-14 years of age) is vastly different
than the training needs of a teenager who is aged 14+. This means that there are
two distinct training programs that cater to the training needs of these athletes.
For example, the base level requirement for someone who is 14 years of age and
under is more aerobic than power oriented. Whereas power based training is the
realm of the older athlete.
Q2: How is this group unique to NYAC?
The addition of the new National Development group (ND2) is a good thing for NYAC
because it means that we are retaining athletes at the higher levels (Provincial
Level and above) that want to be successful. This allows them to train with their
peers in the appropriate program and group. For NYAC, what was our top group 5
years ago is now at a much higher level in training ability and performance today.
Q3:
How many hours of pool time will the ND2 group have and where will they be training?
The new ND group's training hours do not change from the previous group. Their
main pool will be AY Jackson. The type of training and access to weighs on Tuesday
and Thursday at Glendon College are the biggest changes for this new group. In
addition, there will be sessions where the new ND2 group will share pool time
with the National group.
Q4: If a swimmer moves into ND2 where would
they progress to?
NYAC's most talented athletes will be in the National
group. Space is at a premium. Any swimmer from any group could progress to the
National group in the future.
Q5: Who have you hired to coach the new
ND2 group?
With regards to coaching staff, I wanted someone that is
a continuation of our current model. I wanted someone who is young, and up and
coming in the sport of swimming both academically and practically. Danica Milosevic
fits this mold wonderfully!
Questions
for Danica Milosevic 
Q1:
Tell me about yourself and share what lead you to become a swim coach.
My
name is Danica, I am 20 years old. I am currently a kinesiology student at York
University, and will be entering my fourth year in September. I swam competitively
for 6 years. Near the end of my swimming career medical reasons began preventing
me from continuing on a path of success and halted me from further improvement.
I spent most of my final year of swimming being told that I couldn't swim anymore.
This is when I began looking for ways that I could pass on my passion and the
techniques I had come to know so well. The summer after I quit competitive swimming
I volunteered at a swim summer camp with the Markham Aquatic Club. I was already
missing the routine of practices, but I began to see the influence I had on these
young children who were just beginning their swimming career. As I noticed their
strokes start to improve with my instruction and the children beginning to become
more enthusiastic, I realized that I had found a new way to participate in the
sport that I loved - by coaching.
Q2: What attributes/experience do
you have with regards to coaching competitive swimmers? How long have you been
coaching?
It is hard to believe that I am already entering my fourth
year of coaching. Over the course of the last four years, I have coached swimmers
ranging from the pre-competitive level to national level swimmers and everywhere
in between. I have been responsible for stroke corrections, skill and technique
camps, and creating and implementing dryland and year round swim programs. I have
a strong personality, which I believe allows me to take charge and be very adaptable
to different learning styles and levels of knowledge. I try not only to explain
to swimmers how to execute the intricacies of a breaststroke pull out, but what
they should feel, and when and why their bodies should move a specific way. My
own experiences starting competitive swimming at 12 (and advancing quickly - leaving
me quite technically confused at the start) have taught me to not overlook the
little common sense things that are most often the cause of misunderstanding in
the technical aspects of swimming. Always start from the basics!
Q3:
What motivates you when you are coaching?
Every coach has those moments,
where their swimmers make all their time standards and have the greatest races
of their lives. Those are the times that it is easy to know why you coach. However,
I find that it's actually not my swimmers' victories that are motivating for me
- the victory is the end result, the motivation is in the process of getting there.
I think that I am not alone when I say that the single most motivating thing about
coaching is seeing the inspiration and motivation that forms in an athlete when
they realize that their success is a result of their hard work. When an athlete
understands they need to actively focus on improving some aspect of their race,
trains with that in mind every day (and a coach can see if they are or are not
focused), that is my motivation - a pool full of athletes who are THINKING and
aiming for improvement. When they say "coach can you look to see if my catch
has improved, I've really been working it these past few weeks" - that is
what I coach for!
Q4: What are your expectations for the ND2 group?
My
expectations of any group that I have coached have been simple. We set goals.
Reasonable, step by step, methodical goals - procedural, performance and outcome
goals. My expectations are that each and every one of my swimmers learns how to
set goals effectively, takes the necessary steps to achieve first their short
term goals, and as a result their long term goals. It is a process that involves
more that writing the times you wish to swim on the inside of your "lucky
cap". I expect that once the ND2 group gets the hang of my structure they
will already be well on their way (without having set foot on a pool deck yet)
to setting personal bests and achieving their national times.
Q5: What
do you find most rewarding and most challenging about coaching competitive swimmers?
The
most rewarding things about coaching competitive swimmers are very closely tied
to the aspects of the sport that motivate me to coach. To see the growth that
occurs in each athlete (mentally, physically and emotionally) over the course
of a year and to have the opportunity to contribute to that growth is my reward.
The most challenging thing about coaching is getting there. Finding ways to get
an athlete to see the importance of goal setting and apply themselves consistently
and WHY these things are important - that is the challenge!
Q6: How
has your education prepared you to coach Age Group swimmers?
Informally,
my "education" as a swimmer prepared me by building and strengthening
my time management skills, focus and determination. Formally I have used these
tools that swimming taught me in order to become successful in my schooling. In
the kinesiology program at York I have learned about the physiological, psychological
and biomechanical aspects (the micro picture) of exercise and training as well
as how to design and implement training programs, annual plans and the effects
of combination training among many, many other topics (the macro picture). I believe
that the program I'm in has given me all the tools I need to be a successful coach
for age group swimmers, while the coaching experience itself has given me opportunities
to apply what I have learned and see my knowledge in action. I have also been
trained about the injury aspect of swimming. My goal is to continue into a Masters
Physiotherapy program after my fourth year. I have taken steps to familiarize
myself with the field by volunteering at a physio clinic. This has given me extra
knowledge and hands on experience that others in my program do not have, and that
I find very useful when it comes to knowing what to do about a sore breaststroker's
knee or an injured shoulder.
Q7: How do you evaluate success?
I
strongly believe in a mixture of objective and subjective evaluation. Subjectively
success involves monitoring and athlete's dedication and their attitude - and
the resultant improvement in their swimming (not necessarily time wise, but with
regards to their strokes, efficiency, race strategies). These are evaluations
that you cannot put on paper - they happen every day as conversations between
athlete and coach, and can be as simple as a "good job". On the other
hand, test sets and swim meets are an example of an objective evaluation of success
that are finite and can be measured and compared to goals. An athletes success
can be evaluated as a time, achieving a goal or hitting a target heart rate and
then comparing these measures to the last time we did that set, swam that event
or tried to maintain that HR throughout the set. I believe that positive subjective
evaluations contribute to positive objective evaluations. How you deal with your
"successes" and "failures" (learning from your mistakes) will
largely determine how you perform during these evaluations.
Q8: Is
there anything about yourself that you would like to share with the NYAC community?
I
can tell you a little bit about what I do when I'm not coaching! Aside from school
and work and volunteering, coaches do have hobbies. I enjoy swimming with my local
masters swim team (I like to think it puts the sets I give out in perspective
a little). I also try to make time to run on a regular basis, and I have an abdominal
routine that I do EVERY DAY (which I plan on making part of the ND2 group's daily
life). I find it important to be physically fit and active! My favourite colour
is yellow, my favourite song is "Imagine" (John Lennon), my favourite
band is "the killers" and my favourite book is the outsider (by Albert
Camus - not "the outsiders"). I was born in Canada, but my parents are
both from Serbia, so I speak Serbian at home. I spend my long commutes to and
from school on the bus listening to my favourite songs on my ipod, or reading
(until I get motion sick and need to go back to the music). I live at home (with
my parents, brother, grandparents and the pets) because it saves a lot of money,
and allows me to coach! In the little free time I do have I like to shop, hang
out in a park on the swings, tan in my backyard in the summers, and spend time
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