Profiles
Patrick Frankfort Believes in his Swimmers and Expects More from Them
While swimming has been part of his life since he joined his local summer league at the age of seven, Patrick Frankfort quickly joined the Lynchburg YMCA and swam all four years of college at Washington and Lee University, a division III school in Lexington, Va. Hooked on the thrill of close meets and strategic planning, Frankfort took the natural step into coaching.
“I first got into coaching through the summer league team I swam on growing up in Virginia,” Frankfort said. “I was an assistant my last two years of high school then took over as head coach for two years after that during college. We had a lot of close meets there and I really enjoyed the strategy of picking events to match up against opposing teams, and getting the kids pumped up each week to race.”
For the past three years, Frankfort has been coaching the Jackson Hole Stingrays in Jackson Hole, Wyo. During that time, the team has experienced promising growth in membership numbers as well as in performances at the state championship meet. With several state champions and strong showings at meets outside of the state, Frankfort was named the 2008 ASCA Age Group coach of the year from Wyoming.
“Winning the coach of the year award was really a surprise to me, but it’s great to know that other people are noticing the progress we’ve made with our team,” Frankfort said. “We swim against a lot of strong programs with very talented coaches, and to be recognized was really special.”
What age groups do you coach most often?
One nice thing about a small team is that you get to coach everyone, but I probably spend more time with the older group, which is more or less 12-18 year olds. I like these ages because you get the chance to get a little more in depth on things like race strategy, but they're still young enough to make pretty rapid improvements.
Who has influenced your coaching style?
I've had a lot of great coaches throughout my swimming career that I've picked things up from, and I generally try to keep my eyes open any time I'm at a meet with talented swimmers. I also work with another coach named Cindy O'Dwyer who has a lot of experience and has taught me tons of new things about swimming.
What are you most proud of in regard to your achievements?
Pretty much every kid we've had come to practice consistently has swum best times by the end of the season.
What is the cornerstone of your coaching philosophy?
You have to show the kids that you believe in them, and you have to keep expecting more and more out of them.
Why do you feel your swimmers have been so successful?
So far we've improved by increasing the expectations and the workload.
How do you determine that success?
I think generally you're successful if you're learning and doing new things, whether that means best times, technique improvements, changing your mental approach, or anything else you need to do to be a better swimmer.
What do you enjoy most about coaching?
Probably that moment when a kid finally gets it and fixes something they've been working on for a while.
What are you looking forward to with your team?
Continuing to grow the size of the team and getting more kids ready to compete at a higher level.
What advice would you give a new coach?
Try to envision how you want the team to be and what kind of expectations you want to set before you ever get started. Be clear about what you expect from them from the beginning. If it's too late for that, do the best you can with the older ones and set the expectations clearly for the younger ones.
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