Coaching Has Gotten Extra Complicated; It Doesn’t Must Be

The Hardest Part of Coaching Starts After Practice Ends.

Part I of a Three-Part Series on the Future of Swim Coaching Software.

In this primary article, we take a look at why extra coaches are rethinking the patchwork of instruments they use on daily basis. 

“I don’t want to be stuck behind a computer doing something that should take 10 minutes but ends up taking two hours.
I want every minute possible on the pool deck.”

— Eric Anderson
Olympic Coach & MAKO Co-Founder

If there’s one factor each swim coach desires extra of, it’s time.

Time on the pool deck.
Time with athletes.
Time enthusiastic about efficiency as an alternative of spreadsheets.

For years, most packages have relied on a patchwork system: one instrument for communication, one other for attendance, a separate video platform, and spreadsheets for monitoring quantity and cargo. Most of these techniques have been tailored for swimming. 

Just a few coaches determined to make a brand new app that kills misplaced time.

MAKO was constructed otherwise. It combines planning, video evaluation, wellness, and efficiency context into one swim-specific ecosystem so coaches can spend much less time managing instruments and extra time teaching. The app options an athlete aspect for sharing video, suggestions and Journaling:

MAKO makes teaching simpler from each angle

Rather than asking coaches to vary the best way they work, MAKO was designed across the language, rhythms, and realities of aggressive swimming. Coaches use their very own terminology, their very own zones, and their very own construction. The system adapts to them.

That issues as a result of one of many greatest boundaries to adopting any new instrument is the concern that it’s going to add work as an alternative of cut back it.

As Eric explains, “Most tools are built for generalization. We built this specifically for swimming. If it doesn’t serve the swim coach, we won’t build it.”

“You don’t need five logins anymore. You need one. Everything is connected.”

— Mark Stoops
MAKO, Sales & Marketing Director 

At its core, MAKO brings collectively 4 efficiency pillars into one linked setting:

• Workout planning and monitoring: Write exercises the best way you already write them. Attendance connects athletes to session knowledge, and quantity, depth, and cargo are tracked with out exporting to spreadsheets.
• Video and race evaluation: Tag races and coaching efforts with swim-specific metrics similar to response time, breakout distance, time to fifteen, stroke charge, distance per stroke, velocity charts, and World Aquatics factors.
• Athlete wellness monitoring: Simple each day check-ins observe sleep, temper, power, and restoration so coaches can spot traits and tackle points early.
• Performance dashboards and benchmarking: Compare athletes, teams, seasons, and coaching cycles in a single place and see the connection between workload and outcomes with out digging by way of notebooks.

MAKO is constructed for coaches and swimmers

From Training to Racing…and Back Again

Where MAKO turns into particularly fascinating is within the suggestions loop.

When an athlete drops a private greatest, a coach can return and take a look at the coaching block that led into that swim and ask smarter questions. What modified? What did front-end velocity work seem like? What was the coaching load? What patterns have been creating earlier than the breakthrough?

Even coaching units might be tagged and in contrast on to race efforts. A coach can movie a brief velocity effort in follow and consider it in opposition to race efficiency, giving extra packages entry to a a lot greater stage of perception.

“It’s the closest thing to having a full performance team in one app,” one MAKO coach shared.

Book a Free Demo

If you’re a coach — or a dad or mum or membership chief serving to consider instruments and funds — and also you’re searching for a swim-specific efficiency platform constructed round your workflow, MAKO is value exploring.

A Light Lift, Not a Heavy Overhaul

Coaches resist change for good purpose. They shouldn’t have further time. They don’t wish to relearn their craft, or blow up a system that already works properly sufficient simply to chase expertise.

MAKO was constructed with that in thoughts.

The core workflow stays acquainted. Coaches maintain their terminology and construction. The day-to-day ask is straightforward: write exercises and take attendance. The relaxation builds from there.

     Write exercises. Take attendance. The relaxation connects from there.

“All you have to do is write your workouts and take attendance. You already do those things. The data builds itself and gives you great insight into your coaching program.”

— Lachlan Reed
MAKO Co-Founder

Performance Is About People

The platform just isn’t solely about monitoring instances and coaching load.

Wellness check-ins give athletes a option to report actually earlier than follow, serving to coaches spot traits and begin higher conversations on the proper time. A sample of low power, poor sleep, or elevated stress turns into seen earlier than it turns into an even bigger downside.

There can be a deeper worth right here: possession.

When athletes can have interaction with their very own check-ins, video, and progress over time, they develop into extra energetic members of their growth relatively than merely exhibiting up and swimming laps.

Plans That Scale With Your Program

Coaches who wish to begin smaller can start with a streamlined workouts-focused choice and broaden into race evaluation and dashboards over time.

Book a demo, begin a trial, or discover plan choices at makoswim.io. MAKO gives versatile plans designed to develop with groups:

Technology mustn’t substitute the coach

It ought to reduce down on scattered knowledge, repetitive admin work, and disconnected techniques. Make it simpler to see what is occurring, what’s altering, and what’s working.

Most of all, it ought to give coaches extra time the place they’re most beneficial: on deck.

If you’re a coach, or a part of a management staff evaluating instruments and funds in your program, MAKO is value a glance.

Coming in Part 2: what it truly looks like to teach inside MAKO, from writing exercises and taking attendance to sharing video, monitoring wellness, and constructing a extra linked program.