Our Philosophy
Our Philosophy
The philosophy of our club is to provide a safe, supportive and fun environment for everyone who wants to be involved in the swimming community. Whether you want to aim for National medals, or to do your very best to achieve PBs at local encouragement meets, this is the club for you.
We believe a focus on the overall health and well-being of each swimmer is the cornerstone in helping them to achieve their goals, and that connection, encouragement and support within a positive environment is the best way to achieve this. We work hard and set challenging goals, but we also make the time for fun, friendship and definitely a laugh or 2 along the way.
Some of the key cornerstones of our philosophy are as follows:
Purpose
If you know your purpose, you will be willing to do what it takes to get there, and the rest will follow. If you know your purpose, it answers the question of “Why?”.
- Why am I getting up at 4.30am to go to squad?
- Why am I working hard to achieve PBs and State times?
- Why am I making sure I fuel my body with healthy foods and habits?
If you know the “Why?”, you will be able to motivate yourself to meet the challenges you will face in your journey.
Work Ethic
At Bayside Swimming Club, we value a strong work ethic. Swimming is a sport that involves a lot of work. Work isn’t just about training hard. It is going to bed on time and ensuring you have enough rest to train at your best, it is about providing your body with the right fuel to meet your work commitments, it is about putting effort into skills, technique and race strategy.
A good work ethic leads to improvement, success in meeting our personal goals, and success at an external level too. With clear purpose, and visible success, our “work” will feel like 1 more positive step in allowing us to meet our goals and challenge ourselves even further.
Passion
If you approach your swimming with passion and purpose, you are more likely to achieve success. Passion is what brings the drive to reach your goals, but also the fun and sense of reward at the end for all of the hard work you have put in.
Passion will help you to face your challenges each day, to keep moving forward, and to know that a set-back or bad day at the pool is just that, and doesn’t define your overall success, or your determination to keep working towards your goals.
Honesty
Honesty is about stripping back the layers and asking yourself the hard questions. Am I being true to myself? Am I being true to my coaches? To my team? To my responsibilities?
Being honest every day will help you to achieve your goals.
Communication
We believe an environment that allows for open, honest and respectful communication will a positive and cohesive support structure for our athletes to thrive within and achieve success. It will also encourage our kids and youth to voice their emotions, which isn’t always an easy thing to do, particularly in an environment where athletes may be experiencing internal and external pressures.
Creating a safe and supportive environment for athletes to share thoughts on goals, fears, challenges, disappointments and achievements will help all them to build trust, connection and confidence, and achieve their best. Open, honest and respectful communication between parents, coaches, staff and committee will create a positive and collaborative environment to help best support the athletes on their journey.
Respect
Respect is a cornerstone to success in swimming. Respect your athletes, respect your coaches, respect your peers, respect everyone supporting you on your journey and most of all, respect yourself.
Swimming can be a tough sport, and there will be many challenges along the way. Having the strength to step back, and understand that everyone is doing their best to help you reach your goals is an important part of swimming. If a coach is pushing you hard, it is only because they want you to reach your goals. If your parents are sending you to bed early so you can get up for training the next day, they also have your best interests at heart. If you are having a tough day and not achieving your best, then that’s ok too.
It is important to understand that you can’t be your best all of the time. There will be highs and lows along the way, but as long as you keep working hard and doing your best, you are doing an amazing job!
Kindness
Be kind to yourselves, be kind to your coaches, be kind to your family, be kind to your friends, be kind to your peers.
We are all in this together, and the more we can show kindness, compassion and understanding for one another, the more likely everyone is to reach their goals together.
Belief
Believe in yourself, believe in each other, and believe in the people supporting you. Belief helps us climb mountains when the road ahead is challenging. It helps us to keep going, even if we hit some road-blocks along the way, and it helps us to reach our final destination.
Remember, even if you have lost belief in yourself, there is a whole community of people around you who continue to believe in you, until you can pick yourself up again and keep going!
Purpose
If you know your purpose, you will be willing to do what it takes to get there, and the rest will follow. If you know your purpose, it answers the question of “Why?”.
- Why am I getting up at 4.30am to go to squad?
- Why am I working hard to achieve PBs and State times?
- Why am I making sure I fuel my body with healthy foods and habits?
If you know the “Why?”, you will be able to motivate yourself to meet the challenges you will face in your journey.
Work Ethic
At Bayside Swimming Club, we value a strong work ethic. Swimming is a sport that involves a lot of work. Work isn’t just about training hard. It is going to bed on time and ensuring you have enough rest to train at your best, it is about providing your body with the right fuel to meet your work commitments, it is about putting effort into skills, technique and race strategy.
A good work ethic leads to improvement, success in meeting our personal goals, and success at an external level too. With clear purpose, and visible success, our “work” will feel like 1 more positive step in allowing us to meet our goals and challenge ourselves even further.
Passion
If you approach your swimming with passion and purpose, you are more likely to achieve success. Passion is what brings the drive to reach your goals, but also the fun and sense of reward at the end for all of the hard work you have put in.
Passion will help you to face your challenges each day, to keep moving forward, and to know that a set-back or bad day at the pool is just that, and doesn’t define your overall success, or your determination to keep working towards your goals.
Honesty
Honesty is about stripping back the layers and asking yourself the hard questions. Am I being true to myself? Am I being true to my coaches? To my team? To my responsibilities?
Being honest every day will help you to achieve your goals.
Communication
We believe an environment that allows for open, honest and respectful communication will a positive and cohesive support structure for our athletes to thrive within and achieve success. It will also encourage our kids and youth to voice their emotions, which isn’t always an easy thing to do, particularly in an environment where athletes may be experiencing internal and external pressures.
Creating a safe and supportive environment for athletes to share thoughts on goals, fears, challenges, disappointments and achievements will help all them to build trust, connection and confidence, and achieve their best. Open, honest and respectful communication between parents, coaches, staff and committee will create a positive and collaborative environment to help best support the athletes on their journey.
Respect
Respect is a cornerstone to success in swimming. Respect your athletes, respect your coaches, respect your peers, respect everyone supporting you on your journey and most of all, respect yourself.
Swimming can be a tough sport, and there will be many challenges along the way. Having the strength to step back, and understand that everyone is doing their best to help you reach your goals is an important part of swimming. If a coach is pushing you hard, it is only because they want you to reach your goals. If your parents are sending you to bed early so you can get up for training the next day, they also have your best interests at heart. If you are having a tough day and not achieving your best, then that’s ok too.
It is important to understand that you can’t be your best all of the time. There will be highs and lows along the way, but as long as you keep working hard and doing your best, you are doing an amazing job!
Kindness
Be kind to yourselves, be kind to your coaches, be kind to your family, be kind to your friends, be kind to your peers.
We are all in this together, and the more we can show kindness, compassion and understanding for one another, the more likely everyone is to reach their goals together.
Belief
Believe in yourself, believe in each other, and believe in the people supporting you. Belief helps us climb mountains when the road ahead is challenging. It helps us to keep going, even if we hit some road-blocks along the way, and it helps us to reach our final destination.
Remember, even if you have lost belief in yourself, there is a whole community of people around you who continue to believe in you, until you can pick yourself up again and keep going!