2 lines in 2 seconds

I wanted to get the kids streamlining faster through the flags so I decided to give them a time-limit and a distance. I thought 3 seconds would be a good goal to get to the 3rd black line at the bottom of the pool. GOOD IDEA!....Not really. The first time the Gold group did this was a bit of a disaster and I ended up being the big grump on the pool deck that day. 20x25 on 30 seconds in IM order didn't really allow for the kids to catch their breathe in time to pull off a full 20 repeats of high intensity streamlining. So, lesson learned. Next time, I tried it with my Blue group but brought it down to 2 in 2. It really worked well with the Blue kids this time. They were getting past the flags and faster than normal.

So, if you are looking to get your kids past the flags and want to try something new, add this to your tool box and see what kind of results you get. Time-limit + Distance = Faster streamlining. Just make sure it is a reasonable distance and time and they get enough time to catch their tiny little breaths.

High-Fly Tempo Drill

I like this drill for any style flyer at almost any level. If you want to increase the tempo and get your swimmer undulating quicker, recovering faster, and catching immediately with no hesitation, this is one of the best drills.

First, have your swimmer float out about arms distance from the wall. Have them do vertical butterfly kicking with their arms down at the side for about 5-10 seconds. If you go any longer then they can tire quickly and you won't see the results you are looking for. The vertical kick forces the swimmer to optimize their amplitude and tempo in order to keep their face out of the water. Once you feel that they have the right speed have them grab the wall and quickly go for a lap of high intensity fly. I like to remind them to try to match the speed of their undulation to the speed they were able to achieve in their vertical kicking.

White Water Warm Up

This is a warm up I designed after realizing my kids needed to work on maintaining their kick during breathing and stroke cycles. I noticed many of the swimmers, even the ones that were great kickers with a board, had trouble kicking while they moved their head for the breathe. So, I came up with this set and did it as a warm up for a full week before our next swim meet. I felt that I had good results in the freestyle events so I decided to keep this set handy and pull it out when I needed it.

Short Course on 40 sec.

4x25 Free Kick w/ board

4x25 Free Kick w/ no board - Hands in front

4x25 Catch Up

4x25 Swim

Everything is done with the emphasis on creating white water with their kicking. I try to get them to focus on the speed and size of their kicks from wall to wall. And what I really look for is that they maintain their white water during the breathing cycle. It is easy to kick hard with a board. But take the board away and add in an arm pull and a breathe and it gets much more difficult. This set will help the kids keep that strong kick going from start to finish.

Correcting techniques for age group swim coaches

The following techniques can be used to help your swimmers correct technical problems during the workout.

The set is 6x100 Free on 2:00.  You ask the kids to focus on their streamlines and dolphin kicks off of each wall.  At some point during the set you will notice one or more swimmers poorly executing their streamlines.  First, use the Verbal/Visual technique.  If that doesn't work to your satisfaction and the child is still pushing off the walls with unsatisfactory streamlines, then go to the Tactile approach.  If you are still not getting the desired results on a consistent basis, then add on Tactile Conditioning.   The key is to be patient and assume or imagine that they are brand new swimmers that are learning this skill for the very first time.  

1.  Verbal/Visual:  First, stop the child.  Tell the child what he needs to be doing correctly.  Show the child by making the correct movements yourself.  Then allow him to continue.

-"Hey Chris.  Make sure you are locking your elbows behind your head.  That will keep your streamline tight and ensure you have maximum speed of your walls."

2.  Tactile:  Calmly ask the child to exit the water.  Make sure he doesn't feel like he is getting in trouble.  Use the Verbal/Visual technique and follow it up by making the child repeat the movements themselves.  If he is having trouble making the correct movements then you can carefully help him by guiding his actions.

-"Chris.  Why don't you come out here so we can work on your streamlines.  OK, you see how tight my arms are behind my head?  There is no space between my head and my arms.  Now you show me your streamline.  Good job!"

3.  Tactile Conditioning:  Stop the child.  Ask them nicely to repeat the action correctly.  Do this until they accurately perform the technique.  Also, include the other correction techniques to help if needed.

-"Chris.  Can you do that flip-turn for me again?  This time show me your great streamline and add 5 dolphin kicks.  Excellent."

You can use these techniques for just about any skill that you teach your age group swimmers. Some specific skills may require a little more creativity in order to successfully adapt these correcting techniques to your workout.  Be patient and HAVE FUN!  If you feel yourself getting frustrated at your swimmers for butchering your perfectly planned workout, use these techniques.   

Summer time means tired swimmers

As a coach, I realize that younger kids want to play during the summer, and that often means tired swimmers at swim practice. Today, I had just about half of all my Gold swimmers do something exhausting before swim practice. The fact that it was in the high 80's didn't help much in my pursuit of an excellent dry-land day. Between Junior Lifeguards, pool parties, sleepovers, beach days, surf camps, and just about everything a kid can do with all the time in the world, there hardly seems enough time in the day for a 2 hour dry-land/swim workout. But they come. They come tired, fatigued, and slow. But they still come. I know I may not be able to get 100% out of them, but I make sure to let them know that if they choose to come to any workout, that they are going to give everything they've got. I let the kids know that all those other things are totally cool and OK to do during the summer. I want them to have fun. However, if they show up, they have to work just as hard as the day before. If they are too tired to give everything they've got, then they should have stayed home and made that their day off. After all, they are only required to make a minimum of 4 out of 6 offered workouts per week to be in these groups. Today started slow and the kids were certainly not into the dry-land with the heat, but by the last set they were giving everything they had. And that is absolutely all I expect.

King of the Hill

When I was 9 or 10 my summer league coach called it Peel-Offs. I like the idea of making it more of a game, so I call it King of the Hill. The object is to get to the first position and defend it for as long as you can or simply get as close to the "King" as possible. The "King" jumps in first and when he hits the water the next person gets to jump in and when they hit the water the next person gets to jump in and on and on until you get to the last person. If you can touch the wall before the person that jumped in before you, then you switch positions and move your way up. I like it because the kids race....I mean they really RACE. They don't want to let their friends beat them and getting passed is not an option to most of these animals. I like to remind them that any little mistake can cost them their spot. A bad breakout, a weak dive, or a poor finish can really blow it for you in this game. I usually give them between 30 to 90 seconds rest between races. My summer league coach made the first person leave when the last person touched. That just seemed to brutal for my kids, especially because we usually play for 20 to 30 minutes straight. That is a lot of racing and they really go hard for this game.

Successful Beach Workout

We had another successful beach workout on Wed. We saw about 30 plus kids ranging in age from 7-12 and we had something for all of them.

For our 7-8 year old swimmers, Coach Siga with some great parent help, took the 8 and unders in and out of the shallow waves multiple times. She stresses the importance of knowing where you are at all times and being aware of your surroundings. The current was really strong and kids were being pulled towards the pier. All the parent help along with some of our National team members were greatly appreciated and every child was safe and had a great time.

Our 12 and under athletes went out past the waves to Coach Mike on his board. They circled him and headed back into shore. Many of the kids forgot to run in to the finish area but were reminded to really race back in for the second round. After round 2, I headed out to Mike and waited for the kids to swim out to us. When they reached us, I headed south for about 100 yards, let the kids circle me, and then headed back in with the final few swimmers. They continued back to Mike and then back into shore where Coach Bill and Coach Kelly were waiting for them.

After the outs & ins, the swimming out and around, and the running to the pier, we finally let the kids just play. And that seems to be what they love the most. After a beach workout always comes a beach day. It was a ton of fun and if I didn't have to go back to the pool for some lessons I would have stayed there longer.

I think it is important for any team or group that plans on doing beach workouts to be as safe and prepared as possible. The Nadadores always contact the local Lifeguards before we show up. If conditions are not suitable, then we do not swim. We have 3 or 4 coaches in the water during the day as well as our National team members, all of whom are in the water and swimming with the kids for their safety. We feel these workouts are an opportunity to introduce our swimmers to the ocean and how to prepare for and ultimately accomplish a successful open water competition. Some kids will choose to avoid the beach practices and that is OK with us. You have to enjoy what you do and sometimes the water temperature, the sand, and the waves are too much for some people. We only recommend they give it a try.

Our beach workouts consist of approximately 5 or 6 coaches on hand and a couple parent volunteers. Not to mention all the parents just watching provide more eyes on the kids. This time around we also had about 10 National team members volunteering their time to help with the little ones. It was a great day.

Leg Destroyer Workout

This is not your typical L.C. workout for these kids and very out of the norm for me. I had a fun time making up this workout and had not planned this before today.

We started out playing tag for 30 min. for our dry-land portion of the day. Then, following a hard kicking set, we went straight into a dry-land / sprint set involving squats, starts off the block into a feet-first entry, and then a 15 meter sprint. The kids were to then run back to the end of the line. They had asked how deep should their squats be and I told them to go about half way down. So, these ingenious kids decided to use the bottom step of the starting block as their deepest point. Pretty darn smart if you ask me. After that we put the fins on, to continue punishing the legs, and went 16x50 (4 on a min, 4 on 50, 4 on 45, 4 on 40) all free. Our most intense set of the day was only 4x100 sprint brst on over a min. rest. The hard part was that during that rest they were actually doing toe taps on the step. So, they really got NO REST.

All said and done, the kids really enjoyed the change of pace workout....and so did I.

Last set of the day

Our main swim set today was:

1x400 Free

1x300 Free

1x200 IM

1x100 Free

All on 10 seconds rest with fins.

I haven't used fins in awhile for a free set so I thought they might like swimming a bit faster than usual. This was the last thing we did and I think they like ending on these 10 sec. rest sets because the faster they finish it the earlier they get out. They seem to push themselves a bit harder to get it done before their friends also. About two years ago I used these types of sets quite a bit because of the effort I was getting out of my weaker kids. It seems to put everyone on an even playing field and allows each person to put in as much, or as little effort as they want. It puts the power in their hands. Whether they come in first or last, as long as they worked hard, they get a lot of praise from me.