It takes a number of years for a coach to fully understand how particular swimmers respond best to training (Maglischo 1993, Colwin 1995). Each individual swimmer will not only respond differently to a certain training stimulus, but each will also have very personal goals for both training and competition. The coach must take these factors into consideration if he/she wishes to be considered effective. Tailoring the coaching process to the needs of individual swimmers and taking into consideration age and maturity, degree of previous training and experience, and current level of skill, should assist in the achievement of challenging but realistic individual performance goals. Such an approach should result in a training model specific to each individual swimmer irrespective of status, age, perceived potential or favouritism. Although young age-group swimmers might require a different multi-stroke approach, in most cases this model would lend increasing significance to an 'event -specific' training approach centred on the chosen event's particular technical aspects and energy requirements.