I remember the first Age Group Clinic I attended. It was at Soka University back in 2003 or 2004, and it was put on by ASCA. Learned a lot from that clinic as I was still pretty raw as a swim coach. I remember one of the messages from that clinic was the idea of swimming tall.
A coach explained that they talked to their swimmers about what their height is and what their swimming height is. She talked about how the swimming height is dependent on the length of a stroke, and that short people can actually swim very tall, although they lack in size out of the water.
The swimmer height was from toes to fingertips. The length of the body line measured when the toes are pointed and the arm is extended to its max. Any bend or curve in the body will shorten the swimming height. If the arm is not fully extended; if the knees are bent; or if their toes aren't pointed all the way; the swimmer has reduced their height in the water.
The height of swimmer does change, as one side the may swim taller than the other, or the swimmer can change their height as the speed up their tempo, but the goal is always to swim tall. This is to maximize the distance that the swimmer can cover in one stroke and glide. This will ultimately result in the maximum speed as they'll develop turnover rate while maintaining the length.
I just talked to my group yesterday about swimming long. It was in regards to not having a swing arm that allowed momentum to move their arm across the body (thus making a bend in the body and shortening their swimming height). Instead to stay on their side and have the arm swing down and forward into the entry. I have been talking to them for a few months now about rotating their shoulder forward on the freestyle, and now we are applying it to be sure that the rotating forward leads to better length.
Younger swimmers need to learn this. Their length of stroke not only will create a better distance per stroke, but creates more length to their surface area, which results in better buoyancy.
Swimmers need to swim as tall as they can.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
The Training Season
I remember reading about how training on a year round basis for youth sports can actually be not beneficial, except for the exception of track because of its use of periodization. This article was not a swimming magazine, but from a youth sports magazine, so the author was familiar with the fact that track uses periodization in their training process. The author didn't realize that swimming also uses this process when training year round athletes.
Doc Councilman was one of the earlier researchers when it came to applying science to how we develop our swimmers. One of the things he did was look at how track and field trained their athletes, as the sports do have some similarities in what we want to accomplish in terms of developing physiologically. The idea of periodization has been developed in our sport now, to be pretty universal amongst coaches.
So, this blog is mainly for the parents to understand what we are doing and for young coaches who might not know what periodization is (but you probably do it in your training regimen already because you grew up in it). It is when we look at our season in phases and in these phases we train differently. Our rest to work ratio changes between the phases, and the emphasis of development changes depending on the phase.
Parents have asked me in the past, "why aren't they swimming more laps?" A common question. The answer is normally because of the phase we are in within our training cycle. I'll also hear question about why are we doing so many long yardage repeats, or why are we doing so many short yardage repeats. All of this normally comes down to the training phase that a group is in.
Let's say that the group is in an aerobic development phase. They will probably be doing longer free yardage repeats, intertwined with kicking and IM's. Intervals probably not too hard (relative to the group), so that heart rate doesn't get really high, but is maintained for a long period of time. Then it will contract with a period of time when the group will be doing short free repeats with fast interval. This period of training will be more focused on developing some speed, but also hybrids with some aerobic and anaerobic training. End of seasons are normally ended with a taper, where the swimmer will work on more race specific aspects and clean up things, while tapering off the yardage so that the body fully recovers from the long season of work that they have done.
Age-Groupers also do a type of periodization. My phases aren't as physiological as they are developmental. One phase will be fundamental; to the construction of strokes; to the beginning to learn to train; to race skill development. The level of the age-grouper and the experience with fundamentals and basic strokes will determine the phases concentrating on, and the length of phase.
So when you are out there watching workouts, realize that you are going to see practices change depending on the coaches training cycle. Those that are totally focused on stroke to the practices that the swimmers are training, and those workouts where they will be working on little things and race speed. The seasons are long, and we have a lot of time to develop. We use Periodization as it is a great way to develop the athletes, and not make the whole season monotonous.
Doc Councilman was one of the earlier researchers when it came to applying science to how we develop our swimmers. One of the things he did was look at how track and field trained their athletes, as the sports do have some similarities in what we want to accomplish in terms of developing physiologically. The idea of periodization has been developed in our sport now, to be pretty universal amongst coaches.
So, this blog is mainly for the parents to understand what we are doing and for young coaches who might not know what periodization is (but you probably do it in your training regimen already because you grew up in it). It is when we look at our season in phases and in these phases we train differently. Our rest to work ratio changes between the phases, and the emphasis of development changes depending on the phase.
Parents have asked me in the past, "why aren't they swimming more laps?" A common question. The answer is normally because of the phase we are in within our training cycle. I'll also hear question about why are we doing so many long yardage repeats, or why are we doing so many short yardage repeats. All of this normally comes down to the training phase that a group is in.
Let's say that the group is in an aerobic development phase. They will probably be doing longer free yardage repeats, intertwined with kicking and IM's. Intervals probably not too hard (relative to the group), so that heart rate doesn't get really high, but is maintained for a long period of time. Then it will contract with a period of time when the group will be doing short free repeats with fast interval. This period of training will be more focused on developing some speed, but also hybrids with some aerobic and anaerobic training. End of seasons are normally ended with a taper, where the swimmer will work on more race specific aspects and clean up things, while tapering off the yardage so that the body fully recovers from the long season of work that they have done.
Age-Groupers also do a type of periodization. My phases aren't as physiological as they are developmental. One phase will be fundamental; to the construction of strokes; to the beginning to learn to train; to race skill development. The level of the age-grouper and the experience with fundamentals and basic strokes will determine the phases concentrating on, and the length of phase.
So when you are out there watching workouts, realize that you are going to see practices change depending on the coaches training cycle. Those that are totally focused on stroke to the practices that the swimmers are training, and those workouts where they will be working on little things and race speed. The seasons are long, and we have a lot of time to develop. We use Periodization as it is a great way to develop the athletes, and not make the whole season monotonous.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Beginning Backstroke
Last week, while I was concentrating on freestyle, I did bleed into some backstroke. The main reason was because of my frustration of watching these young swimmers kick.
The flutter kicks were inconsistent, and lacked downward propulsion on the finish of the flutter kick.
We have done some streamline work, so I had them do some backstroke kick in streamline. I believe there is no reason to have them kick with hands to their side, as you'll be teaching them body position and buoyancy with a different center of buoyancy than when they actually swim backstroke. When the hands shift to above their head, then you move their center of buoyancy. This is the position the need to learn how to float. If they swim backstroke with a center of gravity with their hands down, it is develop buoyancy for a backstroke that has the hands down to their side, and the will swim one arm stroke until both arms are back to their sides and then an arm stroke with the other arm. We have all seen this stroke. They have develop knowledge of how to float with this center of gravity, so they use this backstroke technique to be able to use that buoyancy method in their backstroke. Teach back kick with arms above head!
Eyes dry; chest up; belly button out of the water; and always boiling water at your toes. These are what I was yelling at them throughout their 25's of backstroke kick. This begins to build the leg muscle to finish through the downward portion of the freestyle kick, as well the feeling of pushing water with the top portion of the foot.
I think next week will have a plenty of this backstroke kick on back, as we have to get this flutter kick better in the Green and White groups for their success now, but mainly for their long term success in the sport, as I believe the kick is the foundation of good strokes and fast swimming.
The flutter kicks were inconsistent, and lacked downward propulsion on the finish of the flutter kick.
We have done some streamline work, so I had them do some backstroke kick in streamline. I believe there is no reason to have them kick with hands to their side, as you'll be teaching them body position and buoyancy with a different center of buoyancy than when they actually swim backstroke. When the hands shift to above their head, then you move their center of buoyancy. This is the position the need to learn how to float. If they swim backstroke with a center of gravity with their hands down, it is develop buoyancy for a backstroke that has the hands down to their side, and the will swim one arm stroke until both arms are back to their sides and then an arm stroke with the other arm. We have all seen this stroke. They have develop knowledge of how to float with this center of gravity, so they use this backstroke technique to be able to use that buoyancy method in their backstroke. Teach back kick with arms above head!
Eyes dry; chest up; belly button out of the water; and always boiling water at your toes. These are what I was yelling at them throughout their 25's of backstroke kick. This begins to build the leg muscle to finish through the downward portion of the freestyle kick, as well the feeling of pushing water with the top portion of the foot.
I think next week will have a plenty of this backstroke kick on back, as we have to get this flutter kick better in the Green and White groups for their success now, but mainly for their long term success in the sport, as I believe the kick is the foundation of good strokes and fast swimming.
Friday, August 24, 2012
PE class
I remember PE. I was part of the new era of PE that shifted from getting a good hour of fitness to trying to make it more educational. There was some positives to that education, but did it provide the fitness that the students needed?
I also remember many kids just passively looking like they were doing something, and the teachers tried to get everyone to exercise, but the number of kids in the class made it impossible to be sure everyone was fully participating.
Reducing the size was made possible as schools began to allow those participating in numerous sports seasons were exempt from PE, but this left out the athlete that was aiming towards a single sport. This was the case for swimmers many times.
Now I coach in Simi Valley that allows for independent PE. It requires some paper work, and some extra time to complete the forms monthly and on the trimesters, but it is worth that extra time.
It is only for higher 3 groups, but these groups practice at least 11 1/2 hours a week not including competitions. This far exceeds that of a normal PE class. From these athletes I also see a better attendance as now it is for their grade.
It is a positive for us as a swim team, a positive for the athlete who now has more time at school to concentrate on academics, and a positive to the rest of the students who can have smaller PE classes to allow more participation and help those not involved in sports get the fitness they need.
The red tape involved is time consuming for the club, but it is worth it to benefit our athletes in their athletic and academic endeavors; no matter what level it is that they compete.
I wish all places allowed for the idea of independent PE for those who have developed in a program for years and now are training at a level well beyond the normal PE class.
I also remember many kids just passively looking like they were doing something, and the teachers tried to get everyone to exercise, but the number of kids in the class made it impossible to be sure everyone was fully participating.
Reducing the size was made possible as schools began to allow those participating in numerous sports seasons were exempt from PE, but this left out the athlete that was aiming towards a single sport. This was the case for swimmers many times.
Now I coach in Simi Valley that allows for independent PE. It requires some paper work, and some extra time to complete the forms monthly and on the trimesters, but it is worth that extra time.
It is only for higher 3 groups, but these groups practice at least 11 1/2 hours a week not including competitions. This far exceeds that of a normal PE class. From these athletes I also see a better attendance as now it is for their grade.
It is a positive for us as a swim team, a positive for the athlete who now has more time at school to concentrate on academics, and a positive to the rest of the students who can have smaller PE classes to allow more participation and help those not involved in sports get the fitness they need.
The red tape involved is time consuming for the club, but it is worth it to benefit our athletes in their athletic and academic endeavors; no matter what level it is that they compete.
I wish all places allowed for the idea of independent PE for those who have developed in a program for years and now are training at a level well beyond the normal PE class.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Coming Out of the Break a little different
We take a two week break in August. This break is great because a year round swimmer really doesn't have too many opportunities to take a break. Many younger ones don't want to stay out of the water for two weeks in August, but it is good that they do take the break. It eventually weighs on them after doing multiple years of consistent swimming, to the point that feel like the sport is never ending. (Well, it has become never ending because they chose to swim over the swim clubs break).
Out of the break I have changed what I do with my swimmers. My young groups I still go back to basics, but my older advanced age-groupers I have trended to doing aerobic work with an emphasis on kicking. This allows the body to get back in shape, and with limited swimming, it doesn't allow for too much bad habits from bad stroke that may be a cause of being out of the water.
I include many basic drills into the workouts, this is to reinforce basic technique that may have been lost in the short break. I also include a day of some sculling (which was yesterday) to try to get a feel back for the water.
I did include a swimming aerobic set yesterday that consisted of gradual increase in freestyle yardage and some 100 IM's. This was for aerobic development utilizing some IM to maximize total muscle work for the workout.
Freestyles thus far have been mainly low hypoxic repeats.
Dryland has been big for the first week. I am going to try to build strength earlier on this season.
Once aerobic has begun to develop, as well as total body strength, then I plan to go into stroke work phase that also concentrates on DPS (Distance Per Stroke). This is different, as my stroke work and DPS phase I normally start with, but I think that doing stroke work while in a little better shape may provide for better results for swimmers who have some more developed strokes than those of our three lower age-group groups.
Every season I try to do things a little different since I have swimmers who are going to end up in my group for 2 - 4 years. Switching things around allows me to test different approaches to developing the swimmer in the beginning of the season, but also provides that change from season to season to not allow it to become too stale.
Out of the break I have changed what I do with my swimmers. My young groups I still go back to basics, but my older advanced age-groupers I have trended to doing aerobic work with an emphasis on kicking. This allows the body to get back in shape, and with limited swimming, it doesn't allow for too much bad habits from bad stroke that may be a cause of being out of the water.
I include many basic drills into the workouts, this is to reinforce basic technique that may have been lost in the short break. I also include a day of some sculling (which was yesterday) to try to get a feel back for the water.
I did include a swimming aerobic set yesterday that consisted of gradual increase in freestyle yardage and some 100 IM's. This was for aerobic development utilizing some IM to maximize total muscle work for the workout.
Freestyles thus far have been mainly low hypoxic repeats.
Dryland has been big for the first week. I am going to try to build strength earlier on this season.
Once aerobic has begun to develop, as well as total body strength, then I plan to go into stroke work phase that also concentrates on DPS (Distance Per Stroke). This is different, as my stroke work and DPS phase I normally start with, but I think that doing stroke work while in a little better shape may provide for better results for swimmers who have some more developed strokes than those of our three lower age-group groups.
Every season I try to do things a little different since I have swimmers who are going to end up in my group for 2 - 4 years. Switching things around allows me to test different approaches to developing the swimmer in the beginning of the season, but also provides that change from season to season to not allow it to become too stale.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Take offs
Take offs are an essential part of beginning swimmers. It takes time away from swimming laps and developing swimming strokes, but it allows them to understand how to leave the wall in any swimming stroke or race.
There are many ways to teach take-offs, but essentially it all ends up being the same. In the beginning I teach the "Ready Position." This position is with one hand on the wall and one hand pointed towards the other wall. Arms are fully extended. Both feet are on the wall, but no heels, as if they are ready to push off. Their torso is rotated so that the belly button is towards the side.
The first take offs will be so the hand goes by the forehead and into a streamline position as they push off the wall. This will get them used to the motion of the hand going by the head. I have many times told the swimmer that they need to "comb their hair" and then get into a streamline.
I move on to have them do everything in steps now. Step number one is to "sink." Step number 2 is to "streamline." Step number 3 is to "push." "Sink, Streamline, Push;" I use this phrase when I go over it with my blue group.
From there you will teach them some of the smaller aspects. Their eyes will remain on the hand on the wall is a big one. "Never look the direction you are about to go," I'll tell my swimmers all the time when we do open turns (which is essentially a take-off from a ready position). I have them feel like they are falling backwards as the hand on the wall goes up and "combs the hair" the body falls backwards as the swimmer sinks into the water.
Teaching the beginnings at the beginning of the season, and then refine throughout the season. That is what we are doing with our beginning swimmers (they should know streamline and freestyle). Don't forget that Streamline work becomes a part of the take-off.
It takes some time away from the workout in terms of laps, but it will pay off when you have swimmers who know how to push on their side and to get rid of the habit of pushing off on their stomach very early.
There are many ways to teach take-offs, but essentially it all ends up being the same. In the beginning I teach the "Ready Position." This position is with one hand on the wall and one hand pointed towards the other wall. Arms are fully extended. Both feet are on the wall, but no heels, as if they are ready to push off. Their torso is rotated so that the belly button is towards the side.
The first take offs will be so the hand goes by the forehead and into a streamline position as they push off the wall. This will get them used to the motion of the hand going by the head. I have many times told the swimmer that they need to "comb their hair" and then get into a streamline.
I move on to have them do everything in steps now. Step number one is to "sink." Step number 2 is to "streamline." Step number 3 is to "push." "Sink, Streamline, Push;" I use this phrase when I go over it with my blue group.
From there you will teach them some of the smaller aspects. Their eyes will remain on the hand on the wall is a big one. "Never look the direction you are about to go," I'll tell my swimmers all the time when we do open turns (which is essentially a take-off from a ready position). I have them feel like they are falling backwards as the hand on the wall goes up and "combs the hair" the body falls backwards as the swimmer sinks into the water.
Teaching the beginnings at the beginning of the season, and then refine throughout the season. That is what we are doing with our beginning swimmers (they should know streamline and freestyle). Don't forget that Streamline work becomes a part of the take-off.
It takes some time away from the workout in terms of laps, but it will pay off when you have swimmers who know how to push on their side and to get rid of the habit of pushing off on their stomach very early.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Beginning the new season with two different groups
We started our new season yesterday, and I am coaching a beginning level and the advanced Age-Group Level now. It is crazy how different these seasons start, and how the level makes a huge difference of what we are doing in the first few weeks of practice.
First thing was our beginning groups. Jen and I are coaching these groups together and so our two bottom level groups are beginning together. We did some stretching and some side body position out of water for our dryland, and then we hit the water. I think we did about 300 yards total for this entire workout. We went over take-offs, and freestyle kick on the side. Thank Goodness most of these kids have been taught some kind of streamline that we actually got to the take offs. (Streamlines still need a lot of work because they break or loosen many times after a take off).
The next group is my Blue Group (Which is the 4th of 6 levels for our team). Here we began with me doing some talking to the group about the upcoming season; our training looking forward; performance goals and training goals; as well as the new group at our other site. We did some arm rotations and just a little bit of abs and upper body strength for dryland. We ended up swimming only about 2800 yards, 1200 of which was kicking and 400 of drills. The rest was warm-up, breathing pattern swimming, and push off wall work.
The Blue Group was about normal for this time of season, and the Green and White Group was different mainly because Jen and I did not run this group before. We know what these kids need to progress into the later groups, and allow us to make more out of the higher groups because the kids know the little things and we won't have to teach it, but just review it.
I know that it is the beginning of the season for everyone, and for those parents who read the blog and you have swimmers in the beginning level groups for your swim team. You may be wondering why your child only did 12 laps in that whole workout, but as the season moves on and the swimmers learn the fundamental skills; they will be doing more laps. You've joined a year round swim team, and we develop swimmers at a pace to maximize results later in the season, and later in their careers. It takes some patience and a realization that your 8 year old has a quite a long career to become fast and it isn't going to be made in a month.
First thing was our beginning groups. Jen and I are coaching these groups together and so our two bottom level groups are beginning together. We did some stretching and some side body position out of water for our dryland, and then we hit the water. I think we did about 300 yards total for this entire workout. We went over take-offs, and freestyle kick on the side. Thank Goodness most of these kids have been taught some kind of streamline that we actually got to the take offs. (Streamlines still need a lot of work because they break or loosen many times after a take off).
The next group is my Blue Group (Which is the 4th of 6 levels for our team). Here we began with me doing some talking to the group about the upcoming season; our training looking forward; performance goals and training goals; as well as the new group at our other site. We did some arm rotations and just a little bit of abs and upper body strength for dryland. We ended up swimming only about 2800 yards, 1200 of which was kicking and 400 of drills. The rest was warm-up, breathing pattern swimming, and push off wall work.
The Blue Group was about normal for this time of season, and the Green and White Group was different mainly because Jen and I did not run this group before. We know what these kids need to progress into the later groups, and allow us to make more out of the higher groups because the kids know the little things and we won't have to teach it, but just review it.
I know that it is the beginning of the season for everyone, and for those parents who read the blog and you have swimmers in the beginning level groups for your swim team. You may be wondering why your child only did 12 laps in that whole workout, but as the season moves on and the swimmers learn the fundamental skills; they will be doing more laps. You've joined a year round swim team, and we develop swimmers at a pace to maximize results later in the season, and later in their careers. It takes some patience and a realization that your 8 year old has a quite a long career to become fast and it isn't going to be made in a month.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
The message is the same
So, I am going through old keep sakes that my mother gave me. I see a lot of old pictures and school stuff of my brother and I. There is also old stuff of my mom's including newspaper clippings, and old swim stuff in the boxes.
I came across a self-written note that my mother wrote down, and saved for some reason, but the message on the note is great. It was definitely a note to herself, and what she told herself during this time in her life. I can tell it was still a time when she swam with Chaos Swim Club in Selma, as it has one part when she mentions Patti (I know this was one of her teammates while still in Selma).
The end of the note this are some of her thoughts:
"Sprint in practice to PAIN."
"GOOD ATTITUDE TOWARDS YOURSELF IN SWIMMING"
I left the underlining and Capitalization as written.
This is what a world class swimmer thinks to herself, and reminds herself on a note. It is how a person rises above all around her. How a little girl from a small town can rise to be amongst the best in the world. Not to be afraid of pain and to have the insight to know that her attitude towards herself; are the most important things. This note had to be written in the mid to late 70's, so it was a time when athlete psychological development wasn't something that coaches focused on (It was an era focused on aerobic conditioning, and pounding out yards to be the best).
I write this in hope that athletes out there realize that it is more than just showing up to practice. It takes that inner desire inside of you to rise above your opponents. A Coach can help motivate when you struggle from time to time throughout the seasons, but the motivation from within is so powerful. Also remember, that without that "good attitude" towards yourself; all the work and pain is for not.
Student Athletes are not ordinary people, but extraordinary people. They strive to do the "extra" on a daily basis to not just be ordinary.
I came across a self-written note that my mother wrote down, and saved for some reason, but the message on the note is great. It was definitely a note to herself, and what she told herself during this time in her life. I can tell it was still a time when she swam with Chaos Swim Club in Selma, as it has one part when she mentions Patti (I know this was one of her teammates while still in Selma).
The end of the note this are some of her thoughts:
"Sprint in practice to PAIN."
"GOOD ATTITUDE TOWARDS YOURSELF IN SWIMMING"
I left the underlining and Capitalization as written.
This is what a world class swimmer thinks to herself, and reminds herself on a note. It is how a person rises above all around her. How a little girl from a small town can rise to be amongst the best in the world. Not to be afraid of pain and to have the insight to know that her attitude towards herself; are the most important things. This note had to be written in the mid to late 70's, so it was a time when athlete psychological development wasn't something that coaches focused on (It was an era focused on aerobic conditioning, and pounding out yards to be the best).
I write this in hope that athletes out there realize that it is more than just showing up to practice. It takes that inner desire inside of you to rise above your opponents. A Coach can help motivate when you struggle from time to time throughout the seasons, but the motivation from within is so powerful. Also remember, that without that "good attitude" towards yourself; all the work and pain is for not.
Student Athletes are not ordinary people, but extraordinary people. They strive to do the "extra" on a daily basis to not just be ordinary.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Watching the Olympics
It was another great year for US in the Olympics. We came one medal shy of our medal count from the last Olympics, but we took away four more gold medals than the last.
The Olympics is an exciting time for swimming, as it is our showcase event that only takes place every four years. So many watch, and so many of our young athletes watch.
I get questions every time though about the Olympic swimmers swimming. Yes they look amazing flying through the water, but the kids pick up on their other techniques as well, and begin to question and possibly try out. Oh, how this is hard to deal with sometimes.
Our Olympic swimmers don't swim text book strokes. Many of them have alterations to their strokes that they have developed to take advantage of something about their bodies and their ability. Young swimmers learn the rules, the basic strokes, how to swim more text book. As they progress, coaches will look for advantages for what their body has to offer, to be able to go that little extra bit. Swimmers should not emulate these techniques, as they are trained for that particular swimmer.
I got the question about why the Olympians breathe on one side (of course not all of them do), and I had to explained that as they developed they realized that they were dependent on one arm for maximum force, and that they sacrificed a little on their weaker side to take advantage of their powerful side. This is not something a young swimmer should do. We develop the balance stroke, to learn all the proper techniques that best learned balanced. Then as they go into specialization (girls around 16 - 19, and boys around 17 - 20) they will take all that they learned about proper technique and tweak it to try to maximize their stroke with what their body make-up is (as not every person has the exact same body).
Coaches, we have some fun times trying to not get our swimmers to swim these altered strokes. Good Luck. Swimmers, be patient, master the basics and the rules before you start breaking them. Parents, (I reiterate) don't coach you kids, and that includes comparing your kids strokes to Olympians or that fast kid from another team. Kids grow at different rates and bodies are different. You can't develop fast swimmers based primarily off emulation.
The Olympics is an exciting time for swimming, as it is our showcase event that only takes place every four years. So many watch, and so many of our young athletes watch.
I get questions every time though about the Olympic swimmers swimming. Yes they look amazing flying through the water, but the kids pick up on their other techniques as well, and begin to question and possibly try out. Oh, how this is hard to deal with sometimes.
Our Olympic swimmers don't swim text book strokes. Many of them have alterations to their strokes that they have developed to take advantage of something about their bodies and their ability. Young swimmers learn the rules, the basic strokes, how to swim more text book. As they progress, coaches will look for advantages for what their body has to offer, to be able to go that little extra bit. Swimmers should not emulate these techniques, as they are trained for that particular swimmer.
I got the question about why the Olympians breathe on one side (of course not all of them do), and I had to explained that as they developed they realized that they were dependent on one arm for maximum force, and that they sacrificed a little on their weaker side to take advantage of their powerful side. This is not something a young swimmer should do. We develop the balance stroke, to learn all the proper techniques that best learned balanced. Then as they go into specialization (girls around 16 - 19, and boys around 17 - 20) they will take all that they learned about proper technique and tweak it to try to maximize their stroke with what their body make-up is (as not every person has the exact same body).
Coaches, we have some fun times trying to not get our swimmers to swim these altered strokes. Good Luck. Swimmers, be patient, master the basics and the rules before you start breaking them. Parents, (I reiterate) don't coach you kids, and that includes comparing your kids strokes to Olympians or that fast kid from another team. Kids grow at different rates and bodies are different. You can't develop fast swimmers based primarily off emulation.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Coaching swim groups
This is what I was taught by my mentor coaches, and has served me very well. It isn't about how to coach a practice, but how to push the group and what is the right amount.
First, I began with coaching a group of around forty 11 - 12 year old girls and boys. My father (my head coach) told me that I had to teach them the basics; not to worry too much about making the fastest kids faster, but get them to swim right. What happened was my top end still got fast, and the rest of the group did catch them a little, but overall everyone benefited. The approach was that if a swimmer really wanted to get a lot faster they needed to commit and join the club team. It is like a goldfish, a goldfish can only get so big in a small pond, but when put into a big pond they can grow even bigger.
Now when it came to coaching club swimming. Here Phil and my dad told me the same thing. "You always base your practices off your best swimmer." They didn't mean that if your best swimmer was a butterflier; that you concentrate on butterfly. No, they meant that when it came to training and the amount you pushed in your sets, intervals, and yardage; would be based around your best swimmer. The idea being that everyone in the group is striving to be better, and they will compete to be at the top. The bottom and middle tier will push to try to keep up with the fastest swimmer in the group. The top tier lacks actual motivation in front of them, so they must be self-driven to become better, but the coach must assist them by giving the challenges to push them to the next level. This approach provides motivation and that extra push to all levels of the group.
With the Club format of training, what happens to the non-competitive person? Well, hopefully through talks that I provide (Phil did these to us all the time), we can motivate the swimmer to want to be better, and develop that competitiveness in them. It may take a couple of seasons to finally get that desire to be better in some non-competitive swimmers, but normally I've been able to get the swimmers interest to compete. So, the little side talks are very important to how I coach. Many times the kids don't get anything from it, but if you can reach one swimmer each time you give a little talk, then eventually you end up impacting the whole group.
Summer seasonal swimmer, I was taught to coach much more basic to prepare them for training, but with club swimming I was taught to challenge the fastest swimmer in the group, and allow the rest of the group take advantage of having that person to chase.
First, I began with coaching a group of around forty 11 - 12 year old girls and boys. My father (my head coach) told me that I had to teach them the basics; not to worry too much about making the fastest kids faster, but get them to swim right. What happened was my top end still got fast, and the rest of the group did catch them a little, but overall everyone benefited. The approach was that if a swimmer really wanted to get a lot faster they needed to commit and join the club team. It is like a goldfish, a goldfish can only get so big in a small pond, but when put into a big pond they can grow even bigger.
Now when it came to coaching club swimming. Here Phil and my dad told me the same thing. "You always base your practices off your best swimmer." They didn't mean that if your best swimmer was a butterflier; that you concentrate on butterfly. No, they meant that when it came to training and the amount you pushed in your sets, intervals, and yardage; would be based around your best swimmer. The idea being that everyone in the group is striving to be better, and they will compete to be at the top. The bottom and middle tier will push to try to keep up with the fastest swimmer in the group. The top tier lacks actual motivation in front of them, so they must be self-driven to become better, but the coach must assist them by giving the challenges to push them to the next level. This approach provides motivation and that extra push to all levels of the group.
With the Club format of training, what happens to the non-competitive person? Well, hopefully through talks that I provide (Phil did these to us all the time), we can motivate the swimmer to want to be better, and develop that competitiveness in them. It may take a couple of seasons to finally get that desire to be better in some non-competitive swimmers, but normally I've been able to get the swimmers interest to compete. So, the little side talks are very important to how I coach. Many times the kids don't get anything from it, but if you can reach one swimmer each time you give a little talk, then eventually you end up impacting the whole group.
Summer seasonal swimmer, I was taught to coach much more basic to prepare them for training, but with club swimming I was taught to challenge the fastest swimmer in the group, and allow the rest of the group take advantage of having that person to chase.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
My advice to young coaches
As we are coming into the break for most teams, I thought I'd add a little post for any young coaches out there who may read this blog. It is a pretty simple message. Become involved with the process.
As a young coach, my father had me attend board meetings. I was a assistant age-group coach, but I went and was just a fly on the wall at board meetings, and I was able to see the behind the scene operations. I continued to attend when I became Head Age-Group Coach. Here I also began to become more active with the board and the administrative part of the team.
When I began coaching, my father (my head coach) also had me attend LSC meetings. I wanted to be involved, so I picked up an unfilled role as an athlete representative, as I was also continuing to compete at Senior Meets at the time. Later, I would serve one year as age-group chair before leaving for Southern California.
I became a Head Coach of the Summer League team at the age of 19, and I had to work with that board as well. I soon became president of the Summer League team. I attended League Meetings beginning at 17, and soon became Vice-President of the Summer Recreational League of over 3000 swimmers.
I became involved with developing programs, and executing them with group of volunteers behind me. I learned a lot in all of these experiences that I had between the ages of 18 - 25, and then I became a Head Coach where I learned even more about operating a swim club. You'll be amazed about how much goes into it, and how much work is involved. The politics that go on to make all these things in swimming happen and progress.
Coaches, you are not going to be asked to get involved (well maybe you will, if they're desperate). To learn about the other parts of a swim club takes you to show an interest in becoming involved. At first you may just be a fly on the wall, but as you learn, you can step forward and begin to be more involved. It served me well, I hope it can serve you too.
As a young coach, my father had me attend board meetings. I was a assistant age-group coach, but I went and was just a fly on the wall at board meetings, and I was able to see the behind the scene operations. I continued to attend when I became Head Age-Group Coach. Here I also began to become more active with the board and the administrative part of the team.
When I began coaching, my father (my head coach) also had me attend LSC meetings. I wanted to be involved, so I picked up an unfilled role as an athlete representative, as I was also continuing to compete at Senior Meets at the time. Later, I would serve one year as age-group chair before leaving for Southern California.
I became a Head Coach of the Summer League team at the age of 19, and I had to work with that board as well. I soon became president of the Summer League team. I attended League Meetings beginning at 17, and soon became Vice-President of the Summer Recreational League of over 3000 swimmers.
I became involved with developing programs, and executing them with group of volunteers behind me. I learned a lot in all of these experiences that I had between the ages of 18 - 25, and then I became a Head Coach where I learned even more about operating a swim club. You'll be amazed about how much goes into it, and how much work is involved. The politics that go on to make all these things in swimming happen and progress.
Coaches, you are not going to be asked to get involved (well maybe you will, if they're desperate). To learn about the other parts of a swim club takes you to show an interest in becoming involved. At first you may just be a fly on the wall, but as you learn, you can step forward and begin to be more involved. It served me well, I hope it can serve you too.
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