Every year, there is a high stakes swim competition. The winning team gets some money, and a whole lot of glory! There are two local teams who are longtime rivals at this swim competition, each using different methods of succeeding. Each team has ten members, and once the coaches are assigned the team, they cannot make any switches. Each team swims under a different color flag. The blue team and green team historically have each taken the championship many times and the rivalry is fierce. Each year, the judges of the competition change some of the parameters of the race so as to accentuate different swimming techniques.
The coaches of the blue team prepare their swimmers through rigorous exercise, and lots of time in the water. While in the water, the coaches work with each swimmer at customizing various strokes and moves, tracking each member of the team to achieving fluency as a swimmer. Seven of the ten succeed in just about every practice session. That's 70% of the team showing success through living a healthy, regimented life, through proper diet and exercise, getting the right amount of sleep, and lots of practice every day. However, the coaches of the blue team want more. They want the other three members of the team to succeed, so that the team as a whole can be more successful.
In the meantime, the green team prepares for the competition. They don't emphasize a healthy lifestyle with a balance of good diet, exercise, the right amount of sleep and the right amount of practice. These swimmers like to party! They stay up late, eat what they want, and think of swimming as just one more thing they do. Some of the team members don't actually like to swim, but do it because they're told they must. Their coach relates every conversation about swimming to the competition, pressuring them to do well. So how do they succeed?
In the meantime, the green team prepares for the competition. They don't emphasize a healthy lifestyle with a balance of good diet, exercise, the right amount of sleep and the right amount of practice. These swimmers like to party! They stay up late, eat what they want, and think of swimming as just one more thing they do. Some of the team members don't actually like to swim, but do it because they're told they must. Their coach relates every conversation about swimming to the competition, pressuring them to do well. So how do they succeed?
The coaches of the green team have their swimmers take a special vitamin (not a drug, totally legal, but just gross!) At first the swimmers hate the vitamin, and learn to hate swimming, because of their association of swimming to this vitamin. They take their daily vitamin, because it will make them win, but almost out of rebellion, they avoid the water, because it's a part of what they think this pill is.
Back at the blue team, the coaches also know about the vitamin. They have carefully examined the vitamin to know what is in there to help their swimmers. During each practice, they carefully infuse powdered samples of these vitamins, giving each team member the right dosage of the amount of the part of the vitamin that each one needs to build skill. The three swimmers who are having the most difficulty are given larger doses, but still swim just as much every day, even more than some of their teammates.
Back at the blue team, the coaches also know about the vitamin. They have carefully examined the vitamin to know what is in there to help their swimmers. During each practice, they carefully infuse powdered samples of these vitamins, giving each team member the right dosage of the amount of the part of the vitamin that each one needs to build skill. The three swimmers who are having the most difficulty are given larger doses, but still swim just as much every day, even more than some of their teammates.
The day of the competition arrives. All the swimmers are nervous, because they want to succeed. They want their coaches to be happy with them. They want to win. It's a particularly tough drill this year, but in the end, the green team ends up taking this year's championship. Each team retreats saying that they'll see each other next year.
The green team celebrates their victory. The swimmers go off for their break, saying they'll see each other the following year, happy they don't have to take that vitamin any more, and staying away from recreational swimming because of it.
The blue team is slightly upset because they didn't win, but the scores show that they were just a little short. The swimmers go off on their break too, but they go off to swim some more, because they've learned to love it. They continue to live a healthy lifestyle filled with diet and exercise and good sleep habits, because it's who they've become.
The green team celebrates their victory. The swimmers go off for their break, saying they'll see each other the following year, happy they don't have to take that vitamin any more, and staying away from recreational swimming because of it.
The blue team is slightly upset because they didn't win, but the scores show that they were just a little short. The swimmers go off on their break too, but they go off to swim some more, because they've learned to love it. They continue to live a healthy lifestyle filled with diet and exercise and good sleep habits, because it's who they've become.
The next week, the bosses of the blue team call their coaches in to say they're not happy that their team lost. The blue bosses heard that the green team relies on the vitamin and thinks that maybe the blue team should do the same. Confident that their swimmers are living like true athletes, continuing to swim and engage in good physical habits, the blue coaches shudder. The vitamin has its value as a part of the equation, but on its own, its foul taste will make the team hate swimming. They fear that if they change their approach, they might meet more success on the one day each year, but lose their swimmers the rest of the year and into adulthood.
All things being equal, if both teams just use the vitamin approach, then the competition really would just be a measure of who came to the team more naturally prepared to win anyway. The blue coaches are certain that the approach they've used historically doesn't always give them 1st place, but gives swimmers the ability to navigate any swimming situation, even the competition, sometimes.
All things being equal, if both teams just use the vitamin approach, then the competition really would just be a measure of who came to the team more naturally prepared to win anyway. The blue coaches are certain that the approach they've used historically doesn't always give them 1st place, but gives swimmers the ability to navigate any swimming situation, even the competition, sometimes.
So who has this right? The green team with its results-only approach, that yields short-term results? Or the blue team, raising its swimmers to really hold their own in any pool? Should the blue coaches switch over the the approach of the green coaches, and then hope that they are dealt the naturally superior team of swimmers? Which team will you coach? Who are you as a coach and as a teacher?
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