Swim Team Coach BJ Christiansen Shares Insights on Team Leadership and Swimming Strength

Reprinted with permission from Nebraska Coach, December 2025, p. 22.

In my younger days as a coach I commonly asked the greatest coaches, “What makes your program so successful?” However, they always felt it was a very difficult question to answer. There is no “secret sauce,” no magical thing(s) a program specifically does to become great. After a decade at the helm of the Crusaders, I have learned mostly things, many by trial and error. What I do know is that great program culture is a collection of thousands of different choices, actions and ideas. Over the course of this decade our program has evolved into what it is today. It has needed this time to shape and change to fit what is best for our girls and the sport. I will continue to learn, try new things, and work towards creating a program which can continue to be successful.

Team Leadership

Regardless of the sport, establishing good leadership can be crucial to the culture and success of the program. In my early years as head coach I used the position of captain as a way to establish leaders on the team. It is a time honored tradition of many teams across nearly all sports. However, using captains has never reaped the most benefits for our program.

Although not always the case, many issues arose from having team captains. First, the process of selection. Do we send out surveys to team members about captain traits? Is it a popularity contest? Do the coaches select? Will that cause bad feelings for those not selected? It became a point of contention more times than not.

I also noticed a heavy burden placed on those given the title of captain. They felt as though they needed to do everything and be everything for all of their teammates. For some it ended up being too much. They struggled with their teammates and mental fatigue from stress grew as the season wore on. This was exacerbated by the fact that some girls were hesitant to offer support, not wanting to overstep since they were not captains.

After a couple years of struggle, I broke away from tradition and did away from using captains in our program. Our program has developed into a Team Leadership Model. Each athlete is encouraged and given opportunities to use leadership skills. From freshman to senior, the girls are encouraged to speak their mind, help their teammates out, and step up to help when the team needs it.

The strongest benefit of this model is having many different leadership styles shine. If a girl is great at motivation, she can use those skills to get her teammates excited and ready for practice. Another girl may have the confidence to call out teammates who are distracting the team from our goals. Another helps to keep training fun and lighthearted even as we enter the cold, grueling month of January. By encouraging each girl to use her individual strengths and skills, the team receives more support overall.

The burden of leadership becomes more manageable with the Team Leadership Model. Day to day, week to week, each girl can be in a different mindset, stress load, or energy level. By encouraging each team member to be a leader, a teammate can step in and hold the mantle of leadership while another is struggling, stressed, or worn out. Both athletes gain benefit as the struggling athlete can recharge and reset while the leader gets experience leading the team.

Throughout all of this we see the confidence of the girls grow, not just as an an athlete, but as a person. By using the skills she is confident with, each swimmer feels comfortable to lead and feels valued when she sees it benefiting her teammates. With their enhanced confidence from using their other leadership skills, they are more willing to step up and practice leadership skills they may not have otherwise approached. The growth in confidence of being a leader from freshman to senior year has been incredible to witness.

Establishing the Team Leadership Model will take time to develop. As I mentioned before, it took several years with thousands of different choices, actions, and ideas before it could become a reality for my team. Over the course of the journey to a Team Leadership Model there are a couple ideas that stand out amongst the many.

Every fall leading up to our season, I hold one-on-one meetings with each girl looking to try out for our team. I use these meetings to get to know the athletes, see how the off-season has gone, and discuss goals for the year ahead. I always include a piece on leadership. I explain our Team Leadership Model and how each girl is encouraged to be a leader on our team. Each year I encourage a specific leadership skill for the team to work on. It is meant as a challenge for them to step beyond their comfort zone and work on building a leadership characteristic.

During our season I hold weekly team meetings. Coaches and athletes use this time to share ideas, give feedback, and discuss the week ahead. In this space, each girl is encouraged to stand up and speak to the team. Every meeting includes at least one girl from each class speaking. What is said isn’t a grand speech or special moment. It represents an opportunity to stand up in front of the team and speak their mind, share their knowledge and experiences. These moments give them small steps to becoming a better leader. As freshmen, they may not be as confident to say the hard things but in time, with practice, I see that confidence grows.

For teams looking to change to the Team Leadership Model, be patient. It will not happen overnight. Some years will be better than others. This model has done wonderful things for our program. I don’t think I will ever go back to the captains’ model, adopting the Team Leadership Model may be one of the best decisions I have made as a coach.

Swimming Strength

In the technical aspect of coaching,  our program has put an emphasis on building strength in the water. Stronger swimmers are able to create more force and, in turn, create more speed. The weight room plays a huge role in developing overall strength. To build on the strength gains in the weight rooms, I looked into finding methods to make it sport specific and develop this strength in the water.

Our main method of building strength in the water is using parachutes. These are attached around the waist like a belt and extend back behind the swimmer. Parachutes are attached to the end of the straps and come in various sizes. Larger parachutes create more resistance than smaller parachutes. The parachute holds onto the water creating resistance for the swimmer to swim against.

This type of training can be very taxing on the body, so it is important not to overuse this training method. Adequate rest is needed between sessions with the parachutes. I routinely have a low-medium intensity endurance, video technique, or active rest type of workout on the day after parachute training. I would also advise not using them the day before competition. Having the buffer day will allow the muscles to recover properly. In general, we stick to two days of parachute training a week.

I have been expanding our use of parachutes in our training. In the beginning the focus was on slower swimming with great technique. It is not helpful to just muscle against the parachute. The parachute is meant to encourage the swimmer to put more effort behind the motions she is already doing, NOT to change the motions. As the years have gone by, I have challenged the girls more by increasing the speed and implementing timing with parachutes. The emphasis is keeping proper technique, if technique falls apart, they need to slow down, reset, and increase speed from there.

There are many ways to develop better athletes. A coach should NEVER stop learning. Keep asking questions, keep reading articles, and learn from other sports. Learn as hard as your athletes’ work. This commitment to continued learning shows athletes that excellence is a habit, not an accident. When a coach grows, the entire team grows with them.