Welcome to the new addition to the St. Anthony’s Swimming Web Site titled “Coaches Corner”.
This is my attempt to keep the site fresh and fun. Here I will report different happenings inside our swimming family as well as great swims/times at meets. I will also try to provide “coaches swimming tips” to keep swimmers interested in their sport. Basically, anything that pops into my head outside of our news bulletin board will be posted here!
My first “corner” report is Congratulations to ALL our Graduates! I wish you the Best of Luck!! You are an incredible group and I am blessed to have worked with each and every one of you!
In the near future, I would like to add a “Swimmers’ Corner” to the site. I think it would be fantastic to share your positive St. Anthony’s Swimming experiences! I receive so many e-mails from swimmers that show why this team is so special. If you would like to participate in having your own “corner”, please e-mail me. After all, this is your web site!! Please enter “swimmers corner” in the subject line, or in your mailing, so I know I have your permission to post your comments.
Thank you and enjoy your summer!!
Keep Swimming!!!
-Coach Dan
Coaches Tip (
Understanding Champs)
Understanding Champs
I know there are always many questions when it comes time for Championships. Not just for new parents, but for everyone… including swimmers!
For starters, the meet is a pre-seeded championship format. What does that mean?? Sure… start with the questions already. That means all entries must be turned in by the entry deadline (usually for our league, a week before the meet) and can NOT be changed thereafter. There are no alternates for individual events at Champs. That’s why I stress attendance to be so important. If you are entered and don’t show… a teammate just lost an event!
Each team is allowed four entries per individual event and only one relay. Due to the size of our team and the limited number of entries, not all swimmers will be competing at Champs. I make all the entries according to time, which is discussed right from the beginning of the season and again at every dual meet.
Our league event lineup is comprised of both, Varsity and the old JV events. At Champs, the “old JV” events (the 50’s, and the extra freestyle heats) are “Timed Finals” events. That means that they are only swam once. That one “time” is Final. (Get it!!) The Varsity events are “Trials and Finals”. The first day of competition (Sat) are Trials. You swim for your seeding position at Finals (Sun). There is no scoring during Trials. You can only score if you make it back to Finals (top 24). All 24 places do score (and relay points are doubled!). Here’s another little tid-bit for you… once you are in your designated heat of which there are three… Bonus (17-24), Consolation Final (9-16), and Final (1-8), you can NOT finish outside that heat. What does that mean?? Boy oh boy, are you inquisitive! Here’s an example: Let’s say a swimmer is seeded 4th in the Finals heat. Regardless of the time, the worst that swimmer can place is 8th, (last in the finals heat). Now let’s say a swimmer seeded 11th in the Consolation Finals heat beats the top finisher in time. They only move up to 9th place (and then two more things happen… they get congratulated for swimming so fast… and then yelled at by the coach for not swimming faster in Trials and getting in that Finals heat!!!) Are you starting to get it?
Now here is one of my rules. If any swimmer qualifies for a “Trials and Finals” event, they will not swim in any “Timed Finals” events.
I know… you’re going to ask why.
Because you are in a position to score points for the team, I will not waste any energy on extra events. “Trials” happens to be a more prestigious position and requires 100%. After all… we do swim to win! Go Friars!!
See… it’s not all that hard to understand. Just read this from top to bottom two or three times and it’ll all come together!
Coaches Tip
(Kicking)
Kicking
Do you enjoy kicking? Are you one of those swimmers that looks forward to a good long kicking set? Well... get in the water and stop wasting time reading this stuff!!
Seriously, I know not everyone enjoys kicking. Some just like breaststroke. Others like freestyle. It usually comes down to enjoying what they are good at! Then there are swimmers (like me) that just dread kicking. The fact is… the best swimmers are great kickers! I'm not talking about you're real fast above average swimmer that gets away without using his/her legs much. I mean the true top swimmers. They never ignore kicking and really work at it often. Even I have been guilty in the past of not giving enough kicking sets. They take longer. Your daily workout yardage is lower. There were too many times I would catch myself overlooking kicking. Remember… keep a well balanced training regiment!
Kicking is a funny thing. Many breaststrokers are poor freestyle kickers, and great freestyle kickers often have weak whip kicks. It all comes down to range of motion in the ankles. A good breaststroke kicker has a fantastic "hook" and can really flex their foot. And a great flutter kicker has an awesome toe point (like a gymnast).
Ankle flexibility is extremely important! Working at it will improve both kicks. How many times has your coach said... Ok now, stretch your ankles? Do you even need them to tell you? Don't wait for a coach to tell you. Be a self disciplined swimmer! Work your toe point. Work your flexed (hooked) foot. Roll your toes in a circle keeping your leg stationary (circle both ways). Gymnasts do it! Why not swimmers? Ever put fins on and kick? What happens? Yes... You move faster! Make your ankles flexible so your feet act like fins. Then you will kick..... (drum roll...) faster!!
Butterfly kicking is now in a class by itself. It's no longer just for butterfliers!! Every stroke now relies on dolphin kicking. It's being used off the wall in freestyle and has been huge in backstroke. Also, for you Friar swimmers… it HAS been approved to do ONE dolphin kick in your breaststroke pullout!! Begin practicing NOW! Club swimmers are already familiar with this pullout. I've done it myself and it's awesome! Once you have the timing down, it's very natural and much faster! Even if butterfly is not your strongest stroke, you better be working on your fly kick! Keep it small and fast. Get on a set of fins and kick underwater; kick on your back; kick with a board… just get kicking!!
Good Luck!
Coaches Tip
(Plateaus)
Plateaus
Have you ever been stuck on a swimming plateau? So many times it's been said to me "I'm doing all I can, but my times are staying the same." Even parents and coaches have said "they are working out as hard as they can, they're just stuck in a plateau." Well guess what... you're not! You can always do more and work out harder. The question is "are you willing to?" Do you have what it takes to go beyond what you, you're parents, and even you're coaches now think is the norm?
The easiest way to get beyond a plateau, is to change things up. Alter you're daily focus in the water. Work on a different technique that you normally don't do. For example, you've been spending the last six months working on streamlining off the walls. Well now concentrate on getting in and attacking you're walls! Make a change! Or increase you're dryland exercises, and do different ones.
Do you have the desire to take the next step? Do you want to rise above that plateau? How many days do you stay late and just work on starts? How many days are you early in the water doing drills you haven't had time to do in a while? You're not stuck on a plateau. You're training, although you may think is all you're capable of, has become stale. You're going to need more desire. You're going to need more motivation. You're going to need to become a better athlete! Do you consider nutrition? Poor nutrition will keep you on a plateau. Do you stretch? Lack of flexibility will keep you on a plateau. Do you believe you are an average athlete? Lack of confidence will surely stick you on a plateau.
Rising above a plateau begins with believing you can do better. You're mind must see it! Second, you must have desire. Do you really think you are working as hard as you can? You're heart must be passionate about you're swimming. Do you want to swim at the next level? Finally, you must sacrifice. You may need to sacrifice more time. You will sacrifice you're body to more aches and pains. You will sacrifice to go beyond what you think is the norm. Change you're routine workout habits. What makes you different?
Don't just rely on support from you're coaches and parents. Start with taking responsibility for you're own swimming. Have the passion and desire within yourself… and the support will follow. If you believe, you will always rise above the plateau!
Coaches Tip
(My Garbage Swimmer)
My "Garbage" Swimmer
Coaches Tip (Streamlining)
Back to the Basics
The most important thing you learn in competitive swimming you learned on your first day. Streamlining! What do you think of when you hear “streamlining”? Hopefully, not just a tight push off the wall. Streamlining revolves around every aspect of swimming. Every hand entry must be streamlined! Your head position effects streamlining! Your body position must be streamlined! If you break your kick, you’re not streamlined!
There are only two ways to become faster in swimming. Increase your positive actions and decrease your negative actions. Positive actions are always concentrated on. Increasing strength and improving pull pattern techniques. But the all too often forgotten about is the negative actions, or streamlining. Any negative action is simply slowing you down and prohibiting all that positive action training from helping you get faster.
As you begin your new training cycle, I challenge you to “get back to the basics”. Concentrate more on the simple things. Don’t just streamline off the wall. Streamline off every wall! Keep the streamlining principle consistent throughout every lap and decrease your negative actions. All that “pull harder” and “kick faster” will be that much more effective! Every time you streamline you become a better, faster swimmer!
Coaches Tip (Starts)
Too often I hear from swimmers, “My
starts stink. My coach never works on starts.”May I ask, why are you waiting for your coach? Get up on the block!! If you have any down time, get up on the block!! The only way you are going to have a great start is by doing… Starts!! Do as many as you can, then, at a convenient time have your coach watch and critique your start. Then, get up on the block again!! Work on making the changes your coach gave you. If it feels the same, guess what? It is!! Don’t go back and show your coach the same start. Show them the hard work you spent on improving your start and have them critique it again. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can develop a real good start. Stay at it, and I promise you will eventually have a great start!
So, find time and get up on the block!!
Coaches Tip (Swimming & Turns)
“I need to work on my ‘starts and turns’”. Or how about, “Hey Coach, can we work on ‘starts and turns’ today”?
Have you heard this before? Or have you even said this yourself? Why are turns always associated with starts? They really have nothing to do with each other. But ALL of your swimming sets DO include turns! (ok, except 25’s wise guy). In fact, turns really are a part of your ‘swimming’. They have a pull pattern just like swimming. They have a recovery just like swimming. And a push off the wall just like you do when you start every repeat of every set.
Turns are a part of your swimming! And when executed correctly, it is swimming without stopping, only changing direction.
Did you ever count how many turns you do in one practice? What do you think would happen if you tried? You would most likely lose count. Why? BECAUSE YOU DO SO MANY OF THEM IN ONE PRACTICE! Now, how many of those turns are you really concentrating on executing properly? Do you attempt to accelerate in and out of every wall so your turn becomes a continuation of your swimming?
Let’s say your coach decides to go real easy this week and only give a 2000 yd. workout every day. So you only did 80 turns in your first practice. Eighty turns! I have to believe you can improve if you’re going to attempt something eighty times over and over! How about at the end of your week of practice? You ‘swam’ 480 turns! How about if your coach gave you a moderate week of 4000 yards per day? Now you ‘swam’ 960 turns! More than that and you can swim over 1,000 turns per week. Over 1,000 turns!!
If you attempted 1,000 free throws a week, do you think you would develop a great shot? If you swung a bat at 1,000 pitches a week, do you think you would develop a great swing? Or even the ultimate, what if you did 1,000 starts a week? Do you think you would develop a great start? Absolutely!
So where does our ‘turn’ problem lie? It’s in how we mentally approach our turns. They must become part of your ‘swimming’. You must concentrate on properly executing every turn every time you ‘swim’. Mentally eliminate distractions as you approach every wall.
Were you ever taught how to do a ‘turn’ during a kicking set? Or did you kind of develop on your own how to do a turn with a kickboard in your hand. I’m guessing you developed your own turn with your own ‘style’. That’s great. Now, how aggressively do you execute that turn? Do you use it to get yourself a great breath of air? How about a smile or verbal comment to a teammate? Or do you use your own turn to get you on and off the wall as fast as possible? If it’s not the latter, chances are you need to concentrate on ALL of your turns.
Finally, avoid making your turns habitual. Start including your turns with your swimming. Just as you work on your stroke technique on a daily basis, make sure you are always changing and working on your turns. Remember, if your turn feels the same every time… it is!
Now the next time your coach gives you a set, you know you're working on "swimming and turns"!