Off The Blocks Swimming Podcast · Off The Blocks Swimming Podcast

The Shannon Rollason Podcast Episode 96 - Process v Outcome Mindset

·1 hr 8 min·5 clips

Shannon says good process lets a swimmer repeat a dive 19 times out of 20.

1. Off The Blocks Swimming Podcast centers on Shannon Rollason and Robbie Cox discussing “Process v Outcome Mindset.” 2. Robbie Cox hosts with Shannon Rollason, a long-time Australian coach who has also coached in Denmark and the UK. 3. The episode asks how swimmers and coaches stay focused on process when race results, PBs, medals, and QT times dominate attention. 4. Shannon says older athletes often arrive without having been coached in process language as age-group swimmers. 5. He says that coaching an inherited squad can feel like speaking “a different language” if process was never drilled earlier. 6. He gives the example that a swimmer can produce a PB and still swim badly. 7. He says age-group swimmers and parents often react with “what?” when they hear that statement. 8. He uses the Australian Open women’s final and the pressure around a possible “3P” as a comparison for athletes thinking beyond the next point. 9. He says tennis players can go from 40 love to deuce by losing focus on the present moment. 10. He says swimmers can do the same by thinking about outcomes instead of the next stroke. 11. Shannon gives practical process cues such as stroke count, stroke rate, and counting the first few strokes of a race. 12. He says he sometimes has swimmers write a cue on a piece of paper or on their leg before racing. 13. He says this matters because athletes can spend 20 minutes before behind the blocks and mentally travel “to the moon and back.” 14. He says his own coaching pressure rises when he gets outcome-focused on whether sessions hit the target time. 15. He says he has had to remind himself that “life goes on” and that bigger things matter. 16. He says he does not want to become a “dull fish,” but also does not want to overreact like a constantly high-energy coach. 17. The tone is conversational, reflective, and specific to coaching practice rather than abstract theory. 18. The format is a back-and-forth interview between Robbie Cox and Shannon Rollason with examples from training and competition. 19. Coaches working with age-group or senior swimmers would get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting race recaps without coaching discussion may skip it.

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