The late great George Haines once said that (paraphrasing as it was a convo we had almost 10 years ago) today's kids are end result-driven, where they think that all they have to do is call out a time and it will just magically appear at the end of the season. They need to understand and appreciate the journey of the process to get to where they want to go if they ever truly want to know what success in this sport is.
I was reminded of this recently as we were preparing for WAG Champs. I asked one of my swimmers to remind me of what she wanted to go in the 100 backstroke by JO's. Her response was 57 in the 100 when her best time was 1:02 at last year's JO's. I then asked her if she had any idea of what she would need to go out at the 50 mark in order to to have a chance at her goal. It took her awhile to figure it out, but eventually she remembered and came up with 27-high, 28-low, which I agreed with. Her best time in the 50 back was 28.4, so she would need to go faster then her fastest 50 in order to achieve this.
It is easy for swimmers to pick a time out of the air but do they truly understand that there are steps A, B, C, and D that need to be taken in order to get to the end result? I preach realistic goal setting and understanding the process. With each goal, I ask my swimmers to pick a set, either a test set we do regularly or any other we have done in the past, in order to explain to me what kind of work they think would help them get to their goals. I also ask them to break down their splits according to what they feel they should be going. From there, I give them feedback and I either ask them to adjust their goals or keep them as is.
It's ok to shoot for the stars.....just have a plan of HOW you want to get there!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Breaststroke philosophy shift
When I was growing up, the idea of a "wave-action breaststroke" was all the rage. Swimmers like Amanda Beard (the teenage version) and Mike Barrowman dominated breaststroke events at the world stage and their breaststrokes were mimicked quite a bit, where we were taught to come up and almost pull our shoulders back before firing forward. My coach used to equate it with "traveling like an inchworm".
Since then, things have changed quite a bit and my own personal breast philosophy has as well. I now am teaching my swimmers to always have the tops of their shoulders and head pointing to the wall they are going to throughout their entire stroke. It just made sense to me to teach breast where the body is moving forward at all times. Devil's advocate may say that this would only work for those with tremendous breast kicks behind them and I agree and disagree. By putting the emphasis on steady body and head position, it minimizes the amount of movement needed to move forward, allowing non-breast strokers a simplified stroke to improve while allowing breaststrokers the opportunity to maximize their kick strength.
One of my favorite sets that we do to get a GREAT VO2max workout in while really making head and body position the focus is 8x100 SPRINT with fins on 1:45/2:00. The swimmers are to alternate 25's of dolphin breast and flutter breast, where a constant kick throughout is stressed. Most swimmers will shut the legs down as their hands turn in at the beginning of the their breaths. I stress the importance of a steady kick throughout. My JO group (my fastest 10-12 yr olds) do these on the 1:45, getting anywhere from :30-:40 seconds rest. My GOLD group (my fastest 8-10 yr olds) will do 6x100 on the 2:00, getting :15-:30 seconds rest. Because of the amount of rest each swimmer gets, it gives me perfect opportunity to remind/correct bad or fading head/body position in between repeats. I have attributed this set to the transformation of my group's breast efficiency and consistency.
Since then, things have changed quite a bit and my own personal breast philosophy has as well. I now am teaching my swimmers to always have the tops of their shoulders and head pointing to the wall they are going to throughout their entire stroke. It just made sense to me to teach breast where the body is moving forward at all times. Devil's advocate may say that this would only work for those with tremendous breast kicks behind them and I agree and disagree. By putting the emphasis on steady body and head position, it minimizes the amount of movement needed to move forward, allowing non-breast strokers a simplified stroke to improve while allowing breaststrokers the opportunity to maximize their kick strength.
One of my favorite sets that we do to get a GREAT VO2max workout in while really making head and body position the focus is 8x100 SPRINT with fins on 1:45/2:00. The swimmers are to alternate 25's of dolphin breast and flutter breast, where a constant kick throughout is stressed. Most swimmers will shut the legs down as their hands turn in at the beginning of the their breaths. I stress the importance of a steady kick throughout. My JO group (my fastest 10-12 yr olds) do these on the 1:45, getting anywhere from :30-:40 seconds rest. My GOLD group (my fastest 8-10 yr olds) will do 6x100 on the 2:00, getting :15-:30 seconds rest. Because of the amount of rest each swimmer gets, it gives me perfect opportunity to remind/correct bad or fading head/body position in between repeats. I have attributed this set to the transformation of my group's breast efficiency and consistency.
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