My Responsibilities
Every summer for 3 years, I coached approximately 100 children ages 3 to 17 to prepare them for weekly swim meets. I was responsible for maintaining their health and safety as a certified lifeguard, and I designed practices for each weekday to develop the swimmers' techniques. Additionally, I oversaw the coaching staff, and I managed conflicts that arose between the swimmers, parents, and other coaches. I organized races for the swimmers based on their individual strengths and weaknesses. I helped coordinate with opposing teams and delegated tasks to the other coaches at the swim meets. For example, I began scheduling lane assignments for the coaches to reduce confusion during the meets, which had been a problem in previous years. However, my primary goal was to create a safe and fun environment for the swimmers.
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Personal Growth
Since coaching this swim team was my first job, I was excited to get to work. I arrived at work ten minutes early every day to unlock the pool deck and set up the lane ropes so that the kids could start swimming right away. I learned the importance of communication, as I explained how to perform each of the strokes; I adapted my teaching techniques based on their ages so that they would better understand the information. I also improved my conflict resolution skills by helping solve logistics problems as well as social problems between swimmers. Most of all, I developed my leadership skills as I encouraged my swimmers to give it their all.