This week on Off Deck, host David Rieder sat down with Bluefish Swim Club head coach Chuck Batchelor between sessions at the Swimming World Fall Classic in Bristol, R.I., to get Batchelor’s take on some of the key questions of coaching and some of the sport’s hot-button issues.
Batchelor explained the process of developing talented swimmers, from identifying their potential to how to convince the swimmers of what they could accomplish. Batchelor revealed some of the common traits he has found in his most successful swimmers, including three-time Olympian Elizabeth Beisel.
Batchelor also gave his take on the new rules regarding tech suit limitations for young age group swimmers, including where he thinks the rule changes are proper and where he thinks they might go too far.
This past year, Beisel rejoined Batchelor’s training group at Bluefish for extended periods for the first time since 2010, and Batchelor explained what impact she made on the talented young swimmers in the group and also the impact they had on her as she returned from a post-Olympics break. He also discussed whether he believes Beisel is truly done competing.
Finally, the coach discussed the quirks of the season halfway between the Olympics, where the United States selects the roster for four different major international meets at one National Championships and where the Pan Pacific Championships is the major target meet, rather than a World Championships. On these topics, Batchelor had mixed opinions.
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