Osprey Aquatics—The Purpose of the Osprey

The Purpose of the Osprey

by Brian Bolster

The purpose of the Osprey is to pursue excellence in swimming and in that process to teach life lessons and develop character for each individual.

Over the years, we have established a model for success, that enables each child the opportunity to be successful.

What is success, growth and improvement? It's not only faster times, but also improved streamlines, race patterns, and attitudes. It's the ability to set goals and identify the specific areas of improvement needed to attain these goals. It's working with a sense of purpose, challenging one's self to sacrifice, change and grow, to be disciplined and hard working. It means paying the price of preparation and developing the confidence to compete, to give your best when it counts most regardless of the outcome.

Success means developing the perseverance to weather the storms of disappointment, and being graceful in the glow of victory. It means drawing the correct lesson from each disappointment and applying it to future victory. Success is gaining wisdom in life thorough swimming, and knowing you have done all you can to give yourself the vest chance for a desired outcome. It is believing in yourself and staying the course for those things that matter. Success is character and that is what we seek to develop. On the way we get faster, and it is not always a smooth journey but life is not smooth, so why should swimming be?

When the Osprey started in the fall of 1996, nearly 7 years ago, we were basically a cabana club that decided to go year round. We had 26 swimmers, the fastest amongst them had a AA time. Our first Q swimmer was a talented 11 year old named Brian. At that point the swimmers were very green, and despite years of experience coaching at many levels, I had never faced the challenge of starting a USA program from scratch.

Most new teams fail and die within their first 3 years. I recall two teams in Zone 1 south starting about the same time we did, both no longer exist. Conversely, I don't believe there is a team in our zone, besides us and the newly formed Splash (even there, the Splash was started with a large corps of seasoned USA swimmers from other teams) that isn't older than 15 or 20 years!

In the summer of 1997, I took 2 swimmers to the Pacific Long Course Age Group Champs (AA+ meet). Both swam the 50 fly, and didn't get a sniff of finals. I can recall how lightly the Osprey were regarded at that point. We were new. Would we last? Would our now accepted, but then still very new and unorthodox ideas and methods of coaching stroke mechanics succeed? Some coaches were cooly cordial, and other were downright rude. Meanwhile my head was bursting with new ideas.

A new wave was sweeping our sport. To the North at Stanford and Cal, the coaches were implementing the radical ideas of stroke theoretician Bill Boomer. I'd gone to clinics taught by Bill, Richard Quick and Nort Thorton. John Mix and the people at Finis were, and still are, a big part of that movement, working with these greats to create training devices to coach their ideas to swimmers. We were the first team in the entire Zone 1 north or south, to purchase and implement the new in-line snorkels. To this day they're crucial in our instruction of fly, breast and free. Down south, Dr. David Salo's ideas on training were starting to spread. The long held belief that Sr. Swimmers had to train 11 or 12 times a week, and travel 90,000 yards a week was being challenged. There could be quality over quantity, and swimmers can succeed by training less volume with more velocity, 6 to 8 times a week.

We were new. We had nothing to lose. My belief was and is to create an eclectic program. One that tries to take the best from many, and forge then into one. As this process began to unfold there was a steep learning curve, many mistakes and a tremendous amount to trial and error in many areas. I was frustrated a good deal of the time, and on many occasions questioned within myself whether I should continue or abandon the enterprise.

Those 2 double A swimmers I mentioned, each had the tools to be a Q swimmer and beyond, but each lacked the most important element in any successful swimmer, the strong desire that leads to commitment. Neither ever became a Q swimmer.

In fact the early Osprey as a whole, lacked the vision and dedication required to be successful. We had no consistency in practice, because we had no consistency in attendance. In search of answers, I sought out some coaches from established, successful teams in Pacific Swimming. A coach from Walnut Creek told me their experience was that age group swimmers attending 3 practices a week stayed the same. Four times a week and they got faster, and twice a week they usually got slower.

Steve Morasilli, the head coach of the Pleasanton Seahawks, runs one of the best programs in the country. He taught me that coaching is all about setting standards, and 85% attendance is excellence. Attendance is a cornerstone of success, and with that can come the work ethic of good training groups. When kids start to push themselves and their teammates, in practice, good things happen. Knowing what you want, is crucial to attaining it. In our first few years it wasn't uncommon to see 1 or 2 swimmers show up for a Blue group Saturday practice. Forget about the Gold, they wouldn't come. So I decided to change it up and tell them not to come unless I invited them. Human nature being human nature, people started asking come if they could come to practice.

Then I came upon the idea of rewarding those who achieved excellence in their commitment. I decided to give trophies to every swimmer that achieved it. Here was something different. I have never been on any team that gave trophies for commitment. All the rest give out trophies to the best or the most improved athletes. During childhood, as children grow and develop skills at differing rates, it is possible to be the best and still lack the desire and dedication required of excellence in adulthood. Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Jeff Rouse, Natalie Coughlin, are all physically gifted, but they are the best at what they do because they long ago developed an overriding excellent commitment to their sport. They are the best not because of their talent, but because of their commitment to work at developing their talent.

It's also possible to be a late bloomer, who develops more slowly, if given the chance. An age groupers career is a marathon, not a sprint. In my view, swimming is about much more than going fast. It is about the process of becoming faster, and the character and the life lessons developed by the individual as they get faster. There is the value. The value is the sport as a vehicle for personnel growth. A coach I admire once said, "swimming is learning and leaning is swimming." I think of the swimmers on this team, and how much each of them has received in the process that is the sport. Qualities like courage, confidence, the ability to both handle and learn from disappointment, resiliency, the value of teamwork and friendship, the ability to acquire new skills, to stretch one's comfort zone, to communicate with authority figures like coaches, to believe in themselves and the values of hard work and perseverance when positive results are delayed. These young people are learning how to succeed in life, and ultimately, that is the goal for all of them. To be the best they are capable of, and to be proud of the preparation and effort in the process. That in fact trumps all As, AAs, Qs, PRTs and NRTs. That in fact trumps commitment trophies and gold stars and ribbons and everything else. And, ironically enough, that is what leads to all the aforementioned 'achievements.'

So we establish goals, and we strive to achieve them. Some we attain, others we don't. It is all part of the process. To adults this can all sound simple, but to children it is not. I remember being 9 years old, one of the slower swimmers on my team, a late bloomer whose motor skills were slower in developing. No coach gave me a plan for my development. There were no incentives to help the 'slow' kid buy into practice. No Gold or Silver stars for personal improvement, no trophy I might get by attending almost every practice. There were no short term goals, we didn't have dry land stroke drills to develop my coordination. All I knew was I was slow and these other kids were better, more 'talented', and that's how it was. I ended up quitting, and only my mother's insistence that I try again on another team kept me going. There I boot strapped my way up throughout the ranks, and began to learn the very principles I've laid forth.

The commitment trophy and every other award we have, including the privilege of a reach into the goody bag after practice, a piece of candy or a swimmer of the week cap, these things are not an end in and of themselves, but instead a means to an end. A way of giving kids incentive to show up, to listen, to lean, to try. Of course if they do this, they will see their times improved, achieve new time standards, and get some stars. They will gain some success and learn the valuable life lessons so crucial to their development. We must also understand that not everyone is going to win everything they try for. That is not the point of the incentives and awards. If we shoot for the stars but land on the moon, we are still up. The point of the incentives are to incent them to try!

The great John Wooden is my favorite coach of all time. If there is any one coach I would seek to emulate, it is him. Many of you are aware he won a record 10 NCAA titles in basketball at UCLA. When Sorts Illustrated asked this most successful of coaches to define success, this is what he said.

Success is peace of mind attained only through self satisfaction in knowing you've made the effort to do the best of which you're capable.

It is my hope and prayer that our program can be instrumental in helping to teach your children exactly what coach Wooden said.

Sincerely, Brian Bolster

P.S. Should you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me by using the coaches link on the General Info page.

Return to Top