Coaching | Mediterra Swim & Run

Can You Practice When Injured?

by Coach Mat | 21 Jan, 2017

This title will likely attract attention because injury seems to accompany serious swimmers who persist in the sport long enough. The questions are common: should I practice when injured and if so, how? Injured By Swimming The first scenario to address is when...

Just Listen To My Body

by Coach Mat | 14 Jan, 2017

Hungry For Knowledge Like many of you I have quite an appetite for knowledge. I make time in my week for reading, listening, studying, and for writing (which includes drawing diagrams since I think mostly in pictures) to process the treasures I find. Part of my...

Your Abilities Expand

by Coach Mat | 7 Jan, 2017

It is easy for us to agree that expertise takes time. We see examples of this fact in biographies of masters admired in every field. But do you believe you too can become an expert of swimming? You can. At your age. Over time, with Deliberate Practice, not only will...

Expertise Takes Time

by Coach Mat | 1 Jan, 2017

As I near the end of this discussion of Anders Ericsson’s principles of Deliberate Practice which he laid out in his recent book Peak, I will give you the punch line right at the beginning: You get masterful swimming in return according to your investment of...

Practice Involves Feedback

by Coach Mat | 25 Dec, 2016

Along with the previous article in this series describing the role of focal points (mental representations), we are getting to the heart of the practice with the feedback loop. If you have ever learned to play an instrument (or tried to) or just listened to music...

Form Better Mental Representations

by Coach Mat | 17 Dec, 2016

Anders Ericsson declares that “the main purpose of deliberate practice is to develop effective mental representations.” (page 75). It would therefore be very important that we figure out what mental representations are in the context of our deliberate swim...