Growing Stronger Through Effort: SwimMAC’s October Character Development Curriculum

At SwimMAC Carolina, we believe coaching and teaching young people is about more than fast times and high performance, it’s about developing character, resilience, and a love of learning. This October, our Character Development theme is Growth Mindset & Embracing Challenges, inspired by Carol Dweck’s groundbreaking research on how effort and mistakes help us grow.

The focus of the month is teaching swimmers the difference between the learning zone and the performance zone, and how each plays a vital role in their development, not just as athletes, but as people.

The Learning Zone vs. The Performance Zone

• Learning Zone: This is where growth happens. It’s the space for trying new skills, making mistakes, and experimenting without fear of failure. Practice is usually in the learning zone.

• Performance Zone: This is where we showcase what we’ve been working on. It’s about execution, doing our best with the skills and strategies we’ve trained. Swim meets are the most obvious example of the performance zone.

Something to consider (swimmers and parents) is that a swim meet can be both zones at once.

• If a swimmer fails to hit their goal time, makes a mistake, or struggles under pressure, that “failure” puts them into the learning zone. It’s a chance to reflect, adjust, and come back stronger.

• On the other hand, when a swimmer successfully executes a strategy they’ve been working on, like holding their underwater kick count or pacing a race correctly, they are solidly in the performance zone, even if the final time isn’t a personal best.

That overlap is what makes competition so powerful. Every meet is both a test and a teacher.

October Curriculum – Growth Mindset & Embracing Challenges

Throughout October, our coaches, swimmers, and parents will focus on four weekly lessons that tie directly into this idea:

Week 1 – What is Growth Mindset?

Swimmers learn that the brain is like a muscle, effort and practice make it stronger. Parents focus on praising effort and strategies, not just outcomes.

Coach activity highlight: Kick-off talk: “Every lap you swim is like a push-up for your brain.”

Week 2 – Mistakes = Growth

Mistakes are re-framed as signs of learning, not something to fear.

Coach activity highlight: “Best Mistake” drill, where swimmers intentionally try a harder variation and share what they learned.

Week 3 – Learning Zone vs. Performance Zone

Swimmers explore the difference between the two zones and learn that both matter.

Coach activity highlight: Whiteboard circles: one for the learning zone, one for the performance zone, then add real swim examples.

Week 4 – Embracing Challenges

The month ends with swimmers choosing one specific challenge to face in practice, tracking it in a challenge journal, and reflecting on how it helped them grow.

Coach activity highlight: Swimmers present what they learned from their chosen challenge at the end of the week.

Why It Matters

Swimming teaches us that effort is never wasted. Every rep in practice is a chance to push the brain and body into the learning zone, while every competition tests whether we can step into the performance zone with courage and confidence.

By helping our swimmers embrace mistakes, value effort, and understand the purpose of both zones, we’re not just building faster athletes, we’re building stronger, more resilient people.