December 7, 2012
September 3, 2012
Blind Paralympic Swimmer
Bradley Snyder may be a name that not many of us have heard before but what an amazing story he has. He is currently swimming in London in the paralympic games. A former Navy Lieutenant who was blinded by an explosive during his deployment in Afghanistan approximately a year ago. He was a swimmer at the Naval academy where he was captained the team. He returned to the pool in Maryland after his incident in Afghanistan and although he's lost his sight he seems to find it again when he gets in the pool. Snyder has taken on 7 events at the games and has earned the United States a gold in the 100 Freestyle and a Silver in the 50 Freestyle. I think it's safe to say that Bradley Snyder is above Michael Phelps on my list of people I'd like to meet.
You can see a video of his Gold Medal Race in this article: http://www.npr.org
You can see a video of his Gold Medal Race in this article: http://www.npr.org
August 15, 2012
Summer Olympics 2012
WOW! How bout them Olympic Swimmers!
I can't lie, going into these Olympics I was hoping that Michael Phelps would come out with an amazing performance like he did in Beijing, when he beat the Gold Medal Record held by Mark Spitz from the Munich Olympic Games in 1972. Now of course I'm too young to have seen those games but WOW what a swimmer! Anyway, it's 4 years later and Phelps' life over the last few years has been anything but private, I'm not criticizing and I'm not holding anything that happened over the 4 years against him, after all he's only human, but I know my hopes for these games were unrealistic. I was disappointed when he didn't medal in the 400 IM but Ryan Lochte had an AMAZING swim and congratulations to him on his gold!
Michael Phelps' come back on these games was amazing! The fact that he was barely beaten on his 200 Fly by the same touch he won with 4 years ago was unfortunate (Congrats to Chad le Clos) but it got him a silver and he was on his way to beating the Olympic Medal record held by the Russian Gymnast Larisa Latynina (18 Medals). Phelps was able to beat the record with the help of his Relay team, Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer and Ricky Berens swimming a 6:59.70! Phelps, who won't be swimming in the Rio Summer Olympics, ended his career with 22 Olympic Medals, 18 Gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze.
Missy Franklin, what a swimmer! The 17 year old from Colorado did fantastic at her very first Olympics emerging with 4 Golds and 1 Bronze. I'm excited to see what her and Lochte do in 2016 in Rio!
Missy Franklin, what a swimmer! The 17 year old from Colorado did fantastic at her very first Olympics emerging with 4 Golds and 1 Bronze. I'm excited to see what her and Lochte do in 2016 in Rio!
June 10, 2012
Teaching the Little Ones
Think back to when you were 5,6,7,8,9 or even 10 years old. You probably had a wild imagination, always looking for something to do, couldn't sit still, and a short attention span. Now imagine being that 6 year old self at a swim lesson/practice where no one explains or shows you what to do but says "ok streamline kick, GO!" and your off, haven't learned anything in those 2 seconds and no one is guiding you down the pool or helping you stay afloat. You don't know what streamline is but your doing everything in your power to stay on top of the water. As you can imagine, this is not the best or most effective way to teach kids to swim, regardless of whether their parents have put them on the swim team and you assume they know what your talking about or not.
When working with the 6 and unders it is important for the coach to be in the water at all times and you should always have 1 coach per 5 kids. Now pay attention and remember this. The amount of time (in seconds) you have to explain something to the kids corresponds directly with how old they are, i.e. if they are 6 years old you have 6 seconds to explain or you lose their attention. That goes for everyone up through your oldest swimmer.
With all that said it's time to make these practices fun! I have found that kids learn best when you explain the strokes in a way they understand. When talking about freestyle have them cup their hands then imagine that the water is their favorite kind of ice cream and their hands are the scoopers. You can take it further and ask them what ice cream they'll be scooping, they get excited to share their favorite ice cream flavors with you.
Breaststroke - With the older kids you can have them lay on the side of the pool with their shoulders over the edge of the wall and walk them through the breaststroke pull. This way they get the feeling of where the hands should stop before shooting forward to streamline. With the little kids you can do the same thing but give them something to focus on while swimming. You can have them make the bowl that the ice cream they scoop during freestyle goes in. OR, my favorite you have them make their favorite pizza and (when their hands shoot forward) serve it to their friends. It gives them something to think about while swimming, and makes the stroke more fun and the length of the pool, which seems so long for the younger ones, a little more fun :)
When working with the 6 and unders it is important for the coach to be in the water at all times and you should always have 1 coach per 5 kids. Now pay attention and remember this. The amount of time (in seconds) you have to explain something to the kids corresponds directly with how old they are, i.e. if they are 6 years old you have 6 seconds to explain or you lose their attention. That goes for everyone up through your oldest swimmer.
With all that said it's time to make these practices fun! I have found that kids learn best when you explain the strokes in a way they understand. When talking about freestyle have them cup their hands then imagine that the water is their favorite kind of ice cream and their hands are the scoopers. You can take it further and ask them what ice cream they'll be scooping, they get excited to share their favorite ice cream flavors with you.
Breaststroke - With the older kids you can have them lay on the side of the pool with their shoulders over the edge of the wall and walk them through the breaststroke pull. This way they get the feeling of where the hands should stop before shooting forward to streamline. With the little kids you can do the same thing but give them something to focus on while swimming. You can have them make the bowl that the ice cream they scoop during freestyle goes in. OR, my favorite you have them make their favorite pizza and (when their hands shoot forward) serve it to their friends. It gives them something to think about while swimming, and makes the stroke more fun and the length of the pool, which seems so long for the younger ones, a little more fun :)
April 19, 2012
April 18, 2012
Fun Practice Idea
Do your swimmers need a break from the repetitiveness? Is is someones birthday? Maybe it's post season and you're trying to keep it interesting for them. Try this idea, we always enjoyed it when we were swimming.
You as the coach assign the warm up but after that the swimmers rule the pool! (sorry had to say it that way)
You can start with the birthday swimmer or the swimmer the next birthday, do it alphabetically, whatever floats your boat. Each swimmer get's to pick a set that the entire team will do. They can make them as fun, crazy, or hard as they like, just don't let them make it too easy like doing 25's for the entire practice. It lets the swimmers have control of practice, of course with you there to supervise, guide decisions and veto too simple sets :)
Let them have fun with it, I'm sure they've been working hard and will enjoy being the ones in charge for the day.
You can start with the birthday swimmer or the swimmer the next birthday, do it alphabetically, whatever floats your boat. Each swimmer get's to pick a set that the entire team will do. They can make them as fun, crazy, or hard as they like, just don't let them make it too easy like doing 25's for the entire practice. It lets the swimmers have control of practice, of course with you there to supervise, guide decisions and veto too simple sets :)
Let them have fun with it, I'm sure they've been working hard and will enjoy being the ones in charge for the day.
April 17, 2012
April 12, 2012
Sources of Fun in Age Group Swimming
In a trial done by Daniel Gould at the University of North Carolina, several factors were found to influence age group swimmers to continue swimming. There were also several "not fun" factors identified that are associated with swimming.
Fun:
1. being with friends
2. being complimented and encouraged by the coach
3. being known as a good swimmer
4. winning races
5.getting in shape (tied with varied workouts and when my relay team comes together)
Not Fun:
1. getting slower times than my goals
2. getting lapped in races
3. when other swimmer skip laps or get in front of me in practice
4. when my coach yells or threatens me
5. swimmers who think they are good just because they are faster
As a coach, by keeping an open line of communication between yourself and your swimmers, these not fun items listed can be turned into learning and encouragement opportunities. Instead of just telling your swimmer "great swim, you'll catch them next time" which they will still inevitably walk away from feeling down and upset about the swim. Talk to them about what you will work on with them to get them better and ready for the next meet, give them some hope and actually work on it with them.
You can read the full article here: http://www.swimmingcoach.org/Journal/jsr_articles/JSRVol15_2001.pdf
Fun:
1. being with friends
2. being complimented and encouraged by the coach
3. being known as a good swimmer
4. winning races
5.getting in shape (tied with varied workouts and when my relay team comes together)
Not Fun:
1. getting slower times than my goals
2. getting lapped in races
3. when other swimmer skip laps or get in front of me in practice
4. when my coach yells or threatens me
5. swimmers who think they are good just because they are faster
As a coach, by keeping an open line of communication between yourself and your swimmers, these not fun items listed can be turned into learning and encouragement opportunities. Instead of just telling your swimmer "great swim, you'll catch them next time" which they will still inevitably walk away from feeling down and upset about the swim. Talk to them about what you will work on with them to get them better and ready for the next meet, give them some hope and actually work on it with them.
You can read the full article here: http://www.swimmingcoach.org/Journal/jsr_articles/JSRVol15_2001.pdf
April 3, 2012
Journal of Swimming Research
I can't believe I only just found this Journal, I had a "where have you been all my life" moment :) It is quite useful and grants free access to all previous Journals. If you are interested in research done on swimming performance, the effects of nutrition, strength training, warm-ups/cool downs etc. I highly recommend it. Just take a look, click through the links, you may find something you didn't even know you were looking for. The website provides a excel spreadsheet that allows you to search for the topic you're looking for and directs you the the Journal Vol. # and pages (quite convenient!)
http://www.swimmingcoach.org/Journal/index.html
http://www.swimmingcoach.org/Journal/index.html
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