One evening, a mother arrives with her 11-year-old boy to get assessed. Due to an error in scheduling, I end up doing the assessment which consists of swimming a few lengths to determine the best group for the swimmer.
After doing a 50 free, a 50 back and a 25 breast, I ask the boy to do the next 25 freestyle again. About mid-way, he stops and asks me if he could do breaststroke instead. I insist that he completes the 25 freestyle. As he comes out of the water, I invite him to sit next to me and his mom so that we can talk.
“Tell me, what made you ask me to switch to breaststroke when you were over there?” I asked him not masking my curiosity and pointing at the spot in the pool where he had been.
“It’s easier.” He answered blushing.
“Let me ask you this: what does a Champion choose, the easy way of doing something or the hard way?”
He didn’t have to think too long about it to answer the hard way.
“Would you agree that if you don’t swim the freestyle because it’s harder than the breaststroke for you, you won’t be able to get better at it?” I asked checking if he could follow me on this reasoning.
It made a lot of sense to him that if he avoided the hard things, he wouldn’t be able to improve at them.
I left it at this with the boy and explained to his mother that at the swim club her son would learn to choose the hard way through the challenges he would meet along the way of learning to swim faster and that this was where the real value was for her in signing him up to the club.
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