Face It, There Are No Shortcuts In Swimming.

Face it, there are no shortcuts in swimming.  Unless you are this guy.  Stay focused and keep moving forward out there!

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How To Train With 25's Fly

One of the things that we have been doing in some of the groups that I am working with at T2 is a whole lot of 25's Fly.  Rethinking how we can do lot's of Fly in shorter distances.

When doing this, technique and stroke count is key.  Sure we can muscle through 25's Fly, or 50's Fly, or 200's Fly - but with our age groupers we want to set up the training sets to allow for the best technique level that we are at.  As our technique improved, we increased the number of laps Fly that we did in sets like these.  Getting our stroke counts helps us stay in check with our speed and technique.  It has been great to see so many of our younger swimmers "click" with this stroke over the last 6 months.


There are three different things that we do with our 25's of Butterfly:

1.) Continuous Fly Relays.  These are awesome.  Everyone loves relays right?  These work best when there are 4-5 swimmers in a lane.  They swim a great 25 Fly from a dive, climb out, and get ready for their next swim.  Getting out with a "double foot hop out" makes this even more of a workout!  They just go and go and go for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes.... however long you wish.  I am usually armed with two watches and I can time two swimmers at a time rotating around timing this person or that person and giving out tips.  It is an awesome time to work on Dives, Underwater Kicking, Breakouts, Fly stroke, and Finishes.  Swimmers who are still beginning to work on Butterfly and swimmers who have a more developed stroke like this equally.  There are so many things going on - feedback, climbing out, diving in, talking with and encouraging friends, relay starts........  Everyone does a race 25 fly every 1 minute or so.  It is a great set.

2.) 25's Fly mixing in Freestyle.  We have been using these as progression sets.  These are great because everyone in the practice can do the same interval.  One group can do more Fly and less Free and the other can do more Free and less Fly.  There can be many different things going on as we move together as a group.

Here are three examples from our progressions that we have done to get to our highest level, 100x25's.  Generally we keep the number to 40x25's or lower, but we were doing so well - we decided to give 100 a try.

Set 1:
40x25's on :30
A Group:  1 Free, 3 Fly.
B Group:  1 Free, 2 Fly.
C Group:  1 Free, 1 Fly.

Set 2:
40x25's on :30
A Group:  1 Free, 7 Fly.
B Group:  1 Free, 2 Fly, 1 Free, 3 Fly.
C Group:  1 Free, 2 Fly.

Set 3:
100x25's on :25
A Group:  2 Free, 2 Fly, 4 Free, 4 Fly, 6 Free, 6 Fly, 8 Free, 8 Fly, 10 Free, 10 Fly, 12 Free, 12 Fly then 8 rounds of: 1 Free, 1 Fast Fly
B Group:  1 Free, 1 Fly, 2 Free, 2 Fly, 3 Free, 3 Fly then 8 rounds of: 1 Free, 1 Fast Fly.

This set was great with everyone on the same interval and then joining in on the last 8 25's of Fly at the same time.

3.) Longer distances mixing Freestyle and Butterfly.  The easiest version is 50's of Fly/Free.  The next step is 50's of Free/Fly.  The next step is a set of 75's with Free/Fly/Free.  Then 100's of Free/Fly and so on...  Age Groupers can practice keeping their heart rate steady and alternating laps of Free and Fly - which helps them keep their race technique repeat after repeat.  Eventually we may throw in something like this:  200 of 25 Free, 25 Fly, 25 Free, 25 Fly, 50 Free, 50 Fly to help build confidence in the 200 Fly.


These sets have really been working for us in so many ways.  They really offer us a chance to challenge each individual swimmer as the entire group moves forward.

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The Mysterious Mind of a 7 Year Old....

Most coaches grow……”tired” of coaching 8&Under’s (I guess that’s a nice way to put it!).  You must have patience beyond belief.  You are working with little ones submerged in water.  You can not hear under there!  They have goggles on, but half the time they are filled with water so they are blind as well!  They are bumping into each other constantly, which for a 6 year old is a big deal.  “Stop touching me!”  “Billy grabbed my leg!” …… it never ends….  

Patience, Patience, Patience.  I cannot tell you the number of times that a swim parent has told me “I have no idea how you do it.”

What are 8&Unders REALLY after?  When I think about how to deal with a swimmer who is 6-7-8 years old I think “What do they like to do?” 

Have fun?  Maybe.

Swim fast?  Maybe.

Drink a gallon of Gatorade in an hour?  Maybe.

ALL kids, not just swimmers, like one thing over anything else.  They like getting better at THINGS.  At what?  WHO CARES?  They come home from school and they say “I can count to 10!”, “I know the alphabet!”, “I got a 100% on my state capitals test!”, “I can do 40x200’s IM on 3 minutes!”…..

I try to help put them into situations where they CAN get better, they CAN get recognized for it, and they WANT to take it to the next level.  At practice we try to do awesome stuff and then I always include a “Great job!  Maybe next time you can do those while breathing every 3^rd?, that would be awesome!” or a “1:50 is a great time for you! How long before you are under 1:40?”  Get them excited about their accomplishments and get them excited about the next step as well!

How do communicate with 8&Under’s?

·       I joke.  Constantly.  Sure, they almost never get my jokes, but it keeps me laughing!  As I said in my last blog post – I constantly refer back to something my brother once told me: “If you are not having fun, they are not having fun.”

·       We keep things neat and concise.  We focus on a few things a day AND we switch it up.  Some people will tell you that children learn better when you take one skill, work on it all practice and really focus in on it.  Some will tell you that you should mix things up.  I find that doing a little of both of those seems to work best.  We will work on a skill for a while, then move to something else.  We may only spend 10 minutes on Backstroke finishes, but we will do that every day until they have mastered the skill.  I like to target 4 skills a month and then switch to different skills the next month (while still touching on the previous skills).  Instead of spending four 10 minute blocks of time on streamlines in a month (where a swimmer will miss 1-2 of those sessions), we are spending twelve 10 minute blocks.  We really get SOMETHING done this way. 

·       I ask questions.  What is your favorite stroke?  What is your favorite thing about swim practice?  What is your favorite animal?  Who do you think would win in a swimming race – a walrus or an alligator?  This is a chance to talk to the swimmers about something other than swimming if I want.  It not only keeps me entertained, but it also lets the kids tell stories.  They learn that the pool is a place where you can laugh, have fun, and do some swimming at the same time!  Once they are hooked then in a few years you can crank out 50x400’s Butterfly or something…….

 

WHO WOULD WIN?

I have a saying about 8&Unders:  “Keeping it simple keeps the coach sane.”

One year I worked with a group of almost 40 8&Unders at the same time.  Sure there was another coach there…but come on!  40 kids ages 6-7-8 in 6 lanes?  There were a lot of swimmers, questions from the swimmers, goggle problems from the swimmers….a lot of everything.  One of the things that seemed to help settle everyone down at the start of practice was working on one of the most complicated movements for 8&Unders - the backstroke flipturn.  We started each practice with backstroke flipturns and it was great.  Everyone had plenty of backstroke flipturn work.  It was our warm up that had a purpose.  If a swimmer was running late, they could just hop in and start doing some turns.  They knew the drill.  I didn’t have to explain the warm up to each of the 5 kids that came late that day while taking my eyes off of the swimmers who did come on time.  This really taught me that showing the swimmers what you expect was key.  The swimmers could do something that they understood and we could congratulate them for doing a good job instead of getting frustrated and end up yelling at them. 

I gave up on teaching these kids complicated things years ago.  I have a list in my head of maybe 2-4 things for each stroke that 8&Unders need to know.  I do not usually worry about much outside of that list.  If they master those and they are ready for the next level of the team.  I let those coaches deal with more complicated stuff!

What about teaching them stuff that doesn’t have to do with “swimming”?

Teaching younger swimmers the “in’s and outs” of how to be on a swim team is a very rewarding experience that other age group coaches down the line appreciate!  We have many conversations about where to go at swim meets.  How to count our strokes.  How to use the pace clock to find out when to leave the wall.  How to get our times from the pace clock.  Doing these things teaches the swimmers to take some responsibility for themselves, their sport, and their performances.  It builds confidence.  It encourages them to master new skills on their own.  I think this is something our program really benefits from and will continue to benefit from as swimmers come through our program.  It is something that takes time and may not show results in the 25 Freestyle, but will show up later.  Major confidence builder.  Confidence is KEY.

Speaking To Young Athletes

When coaching/teaching/encouraging/supporting/laughing with young athletes there are a few different ways to make it all happen.

What is the best style?  That is certainly debatable.  I try to make a great situation for as many athletes as I can – reaching each athlete in different ways. 

When you look at yourself, aren’t you better in certain situations?  Some people are better under pressure.  Some are better in a more relaxed state.  Some need just a little of this or just a little of that.  For some having great practices is important.  For others, they need to feel a little pressure.  For others they need to be able to stay relaxed.  Sure being able to adapt to different situations is key, especially later in life, but with our younger athletes we need to help them along in a way that is both supportive and instructional.  Making sure each athlete gets what they need is key.

How in the world can we help our athletes reach THEIR potential while using ONE method?

How to figure out what each athlete needs?  Everyone is different.  Some need a personal conversation each day to keep going.  Sometimes this is just a short chat – as you stop them for a 50 at some point during practice to reach out to them.  Some need a weekly talk, a “how is it going?” type of chat.  Others need a chat less frequently.  Others don’t need chats at all - they just keep rolling along…. 

Those athletes that seemingly need less or nothing at all still need SOMETHING.  Maybe they just need something that doesn’t have to do with swimming:  “Learn anything cool at school this week?”.  Maybe they just need a quick reminder of something: “Later today we are going to do some 50’s Breaststroke.  One thing you can work on is even counting those 25’s and trying to hit your 200 pace that we talked about at the last meet.” 

When do you connect with athletes?  Before and after practices would be great but often swimmers are getting there just before practice and have to leave just after.  One time that is great to work with athletes is during the warm up.  Stopping them for a minute or two goes a long way.  This is often MUCH more beneficial than doing a few extra laps.  5,400 yards or 5,100 yards with a great conversation?  I would say the conversation is much more beneficial to the athlete.  You can do this in a few ways:

·         You can have a quick chat about practice yesterday.  This lets them know that you were noticing what they were doing even if you didn’t get a chance to tell them before they left. 

·         You can have a longer chat – maybe even getting out of the pool to look at time standards and writing splits on a dry erase board.  Don’t worry about giving someone too much attention – as long as you find time to reach out to every athlete each day, week, month.

·         You can talk to someone about an upcoming set at practice and what you think they should focus on doing during that set.  This is great because you have already connected with them so they are already prepared for the upcoming set. 

I also like to use kicking time to chat with swimmers.  I despise “social” kick, but sometimes we will do a set where they have kicking built into the set and it is a great time where their ears are out of the water and you can talk to them the entire time.  4 rounds of: 100 easy, 4x50’s kick, 4x50’s drill, 4x50’s swim can be an example of where you can spend the 4x50’s kick as a “keep it moving” type of thing and also a time where for 3.5 minutes you can talk to anyone that you want because their ears are out of the water.  Talk about what just happened on the swim or what is just about to happen on the drill.  Tell a joke or a riddle.  Connect with them somehow.

What about the kid who doesn’t listen when I speak to the group?  Well, you haven’t figured out how to speak to them.  Seriously.  Everyone is different and learns in different ways.  Try something different.  When you have to speak to the group for 5 minutes send that kid on 10x25’s on :30, one backstroke kick, one backstroke swim.  Then when you are finished with the long group talk, spend 60 seconds on that one kid and fill them in.  I bet you can get your point that took 5 minutes to get across to the group to that one kid in 60 seconds.  Sure, that’s a little more effort, but it pays off in the long run and is much less frustrating than having to stop and yell at the kid who doesn’t listen during your speech.  PLUS, you can recognize the kid who doesn’t listen for listening during your little chat.  Slowly they will come around and improve their group behavior.  You do not have to fix it in one day.

As you talk to young athletes you can start to figure out what makes them tick.  What makes them tick faster.  And faster.  And FASTER.  As you key into those triggers, you can start to access them at the appropriate times, like prior to meets.  Better coaches are generally better at finding what those “triggers” are in individual athletes.  They are better at connecting with them and thus better at putting those athletes in great situations for success.

Now, how exactly do you connect with a 7 year old?  More on that later….

Jumping and Diving Games

Just a few things that we do to improve our jumping.  Building well rounded athletes is something that we want to do at T2 Aquatics and in these drills we use water as a landing pad!

Being more explosive off of the start as well as on every push-off is something that we would love to improve upon.  Plus, this stuff is FUN!