Typhoons Coach

It's a common known fact in my area that I am one of the most technical coaches that you will ever meet! I harp constantly on proper/efficient stroke, start, turn, and transition technique on every swimmer that we have on our team from the 5 year olds to the 18 year olds. In the past two years of my coaching with my current team, we have swam around 70% of our events as personal best times, we have broken every team record, and we have established our first Regional Individual champion in the team history (second and third coming this year...hopefully).

With that said, I want to share some of my drills with you all. I will post a weekly drill for everyone to review and talk about. I hope this helps!

Typhoons Coach

Drill of the week: 12/14/2009

Fly Drill: Fish Flop

Explanation: Dive off the block with or without fins (I will typically do this with fins) and as soon as the swimmer hits the water they must go on to their side and sprint fly kick underwater for the length. When they reach the end they will go easy fly with perfect technique for the length.

Concentration and focus: The goal of this drill is to get the entire feel of the fly kick. When swimmers get to their side they are truly able to equally feel the upbeat and downbeat of the fly kick.

Look Out For: Make sure that you are watching all aspects of the kick. Make sure there is not too much bend in the knee and make sure that the kick is driving from the core and not the upper body.

As always, feel free to ask questions, etc.

texasaggies

Can I steal your drill of the week section and post it on my website? If I give you credit and link to yours and stuff?

Typhoons Coach

Not a problem, Tex. I'm more than happy to help out!

Typhoons Coach

Drill of the Week: 12/22/2009

Backstroke Drill: Double Arm Backstroke

Explanation: This drill is best done originally with fins in order to maintain body position. When this drill is mastered with fins then swimmers can move on to no fins.

The goal of this drill is to enforce a Y entry instead of a center-line entry for backstroke. Both arms are pulling, recovering, and entering at the same time. The hands enter the water as if they are trying to shake hands with the water (more or less the two middle fingers hitting the water first). The entry position is slightly below center-line for both arms in more of a Y entry to enforce a high catch and more efficient pull. The focus of the pull is getting into the catch quickly, and following through to the recovery. The focus of the recovery is to come inside out (hands start close to the thigh at beginning and work out to the Y for entry).

Look Out For: Lazy hands and elbows. You want to make sure that your hands are nice and firm in the water and you work on getting your elbow and shoulders into good catch positions. Also look out for body position. You always want to keep your belly button and hips dry during this drill. Keep the head tilted back more than usual to help this out.

Enjoy!

texasaggies

The double-armed backstroke is one of my favorites, especially now that rotation isn't as much of a concern. It accomplishes so much: Arm-entry angle, body position, forcing a catch instead of a straight-armed pull, etc.

Typhoons Coach

All that as well as enforcing a great supporting kick!! It's a great drill to have in your coaching arsenal!

Typhoons Coach

This week's drill is primarily for freestyle, but it helps almost all strokes with the catch.

Drill: Paddle

Explanation: This is a competitive swimmer's version of doggie paddle. We all know how to scull (and if not I will add that as a drill of mine in the near future). What you want to do is keep your elbows as far in front of you as possible with as little movement from the elbows as possible. You want to lead the front part of the stroke (the catch) with the two middle fingers so doing a "catch doggie paddle". The recovery is under water.

Things to Watch Out For: Make sure that the swimmers are not just pulling in circles. This drill is meant to reinforce the correct catch and initiation of the pull...not create an in-sweep effect. Also make sure that the swimmers are not dropping their elbows in order to pull. Remember that we want them as still as possible and as far in front as possible (close to the top of the water)

Additions to the drill: Once you have gotten this drill down, you can vary it up to the long paddle (under-water freestyle), or you can work hand speed.

Enjoy.

texasaggies

Based on the comparison to the doggie paddle, I assume that the head is out of the water?

Typhoons Coach

Absolutely correct