Sorry, I had two things on my mind today.
I was talking with my brother this weekend, as he attended the World Swim Coaches Clinic (Man, I wish I could have gone). He told me about the Key note speaker, Bill Sweetenham, someone who I have mentioned in previous posts. I kind of already knew his thoughts about how we are trending to not doing enough aerobic development with our young swimmers, but my brother also mentioned that he referred to the lack of participation of the 200's of stroke and the distance freestyle events in our 11 - 12 year olds.
I have been telling my swimmers for awhile now that I expect them to do these events. Not something that they'll do at every meet, but that they try these events before the age of 13. Of course, this is for those swimmers who have a background of swimming properly, as it isn't pretty to watch an unprepared swimmer do these events. Not sure if I created this idea off of reading Sweetenham, but I might have.
My brother told me that Eddie Reese, Head Men's Coach at the University of Texas, talked at the clinic and referred to Sweetenham's key note, as he noted that many of our nations best sprinters such as, Ian Crocker, Brendan Hansen, and Neil Walker; all made their first national cuts in longer events before becoming great sprinters. He referred to these 3 as they were 3 swimmers that swam for him that became elite sprinters.
I talked to the group about thinking about doing these events going forward, and that it doesn't matter if you think you are a sprinter or not, excellence in these other events could become a path to excellence in your main events.
I am excited about my group though, as on a few of their goal sheets that they have turned in, some did include a particular long event that they'd like to do this coming up season.
Maybe you can go to the coaches clinic in Napa in January?
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting topic about the 200s. I live in IL. The regional standards for all the 200s except for the 200 free for the 11-12 year olds are much easier to get compared to the 50s and 100s. Here is an example. Regional girls 11-12: 50 back 34.67, 100 Back 1:14.07, 200 Back 3:03.02. As you can see the 200 is easier. What that has done on my daughter's club team is that the kids have noticed that and since they want to make regionals in something they will go ahead and swim the 200s when the can at meets. So basically with easier standards the kids are getting pushed to doing the 200s.
ReplyDeleteActually it is similar to this area as well. It is something that has been highlighted by their coaches, to allow the young athletes of your swim club to strive for these events. I think what is being addressed is not enough coaches like your swim club provides. This of course becomes a generalization which means many who are going to read this post are going to say, well my coach emphasizes those, but it is a statement by the population in general.
DeleteI know Southern California Swimming does not have time standards for the 200's of stroke for 11 - 12 for some of their age group championship meets (this is all being changed and being discussed), but that is an example of what these older coaches are talking about.
I had an audience of swimmers that was mixed, some needed to hear this, and others probably are already geared towards becoming better at the challenging events. It is still a good message to give to the kids occasionally.
There are a lot of really good coaches out there doing a good job, and it sounds like your club has some good coaches, as they are preparing their swimmers to be successful swimmers in the future.