Racing rules for young swimmers

Everyone has seen swimmers who train well but melt under the pressure of meets, and everyone has seen swimmers who do not train well but who love to race. Personality determines how kids think about racing and how they think when they are racing really matters. For swimmers at this age two are the most important things when it comes to fast and consistent racing: confidence and competitiveness. Swimmers who work hard and smart in training, who are used to setting goals and working to reach them and who are getting better every day will generally be confident in their abilities. To nurture competitiveness, both coaches and swimmers should try to create a love of it and competing in practice. Swimmers should race all the time, and they must learn to take pleasure in the contest.

Read more »

Forward and backstroke start drills

A lot of young swimmers have difficulty in learning how to make a proper start, they usually make a flat entry in the water or they are not as streamlined as they could. The same applies for the backstroke start as well. Many studies have reported that the entry and the underwater portions of the start make a huge difference and separate the fast starters from those who are not fast. As evidence, some of the best starting drills for forward starts focus on those aspects. These drills are:

Over and under dives

In this drill, swimmers dive off the side of the pool, over the nearest lane line, and they kick under the next two lane lines, surfacing before they come to the fourth lane line. This is a good drill for teaching swimmers to enter the water correctly and change their velocity from downward to forward quickly.

Read more »

Motivational quote 10

Swimming workout: How to breathe forward in butterfly.

Today's post is another great swimming workout that will help you with the breath in butterfly. Butterfly breathing should be as low as possible and should aim to drive the body forward. If it's not done properly, it ruins the body's streamling and stops forward progress. This causes a great loss of energy, which is essential for swimming all strokes and especially the butterfly stroke.

Read more »

General racing tips for age groupers

How one swims a race matters, and there are many ways to race poorly and spoil good training. Physiologically, an even paced race takes best advantage of a swimmer's energy resources. This is true for elite swimmers who are driven, mentally tough, and used to hurting and who will use all the energy they have. Fos age group swimmers though, this might not be the best tactic. For age groupers, mental state is a key aspect in swimming a good race. Often if they see that they are far behind the other swimmers, they drop the race and stop trying . It doesn't matter how much energy they have in their bodies, if they feel that they cannot win the race they have no interest in using it. Alternatively, if they think that they have a chance to succeed, they will give all they have and surprise everyone with their toughness.

Read more »

Leg cramps in swimming

A cramp is an involuntary, painful contraction of the muscles that does not relax like it should. Cramps that occur while swimming often originate in one of three places: your toes, the arch of the foot, or the calves, with the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles of the calves being more common. The pain has a quick onset that is usually severe enough to force swimmers stop because of the tenderness they experience in their leg. A calf cramp will usually disappear on its own, but tenderness can remain even after the cramp vanishes.

Read more »

Mistakes during the second upsweep in backstroke

We've already talked about mistakes backstrokers do during the entry, first downsweep, and first upsweep of their armstroke so it's time to move on to the second upsweep and discuss what can be done wrong during this phase in backstroke. Swimmers who use this phase of the armstroke for propulsion are prone to commit three mistakes. They may pitch the hand up, instead of back, they may press the water too long as the arm travels toward the surface, and they may pitch the hand in rather than back.

Read more »

Sunday's motivational quote 9

Dolphin kick

The kick used in butterfly is called a dolphin kick because the legs move as one unit, like the tail of the dolphin. This kick is also used underwater during the starts and turns of butterfly, freestyle, and backstroke (and in the fly-back and breast-free IM transition turns) One dolphin kick consists of two parts: the upbeat and the downbeat and swimmers execute two dolphin kicks during each stroke cycle.

Read more »

Common mistakes during the first upsweep in backstroke

We've already discussed the most common mistakes swimmers do during the entry (here) and first downsweep (here) of their armstroke in backstroke, so today it's time to talk about what backstrokers should try and avoid during the first upsweep of their armstroke. Some of the most common mistakes they make during the first upsweep are: pulling with a straight arm, sculling the hand vertically, and pushing up against the water with the palm of the hand.

Read more »

Drag in swimming

Drag is the term used to identify the resistance of water to swimmers' movements through it. That resistance is caused by a difference in pressure between the water in front of and behind swimmers. Objects tend to be pushed from areas of high pressure toward areas of low pressure. Consequently, if the pressure of the water in front of swimmers is greater than the pressure behind, their speed will be decreased unless they can overcome the added pressure by stroking with greater force. The reduction in speed will be in direct proportion to the magnitude of the difference in water pressure in front of and behind the body.

Read more »

What to avoid during the first downsweep in backstroke

The most common mistakes that swimmers make during the first downsweep in backstroke is trying to push back against the water before the arm is deep enough and wide enough to make an effective catch. This mistake can take two forms: swimmers puh water down or they push water to the side.

Read more »

Sunday's motivational quote 8

Madam Butterfly

Mary T. Meagher (born in October 27th, 1964) is an American swimming legend and one of the greatest butterfly swimmers ever. In 1979 she broke her first world record in the 200m butterfly and was ready to race for her first Olympic medals at the 1980 Games in Moscow. However, Meagher, along with the rest of the United States Olympic Team, never gor her chance due to the American led boycott of the Games.

Read more »

Psychological benefits of swimming

Swimming is a fun activity and it provides a multitude of mental and physical benefits. Adults who engage in swimming are healthier and happier than people who live a sedentary life. Swimming may prolong life. According to research, swimmers have lower mortality rates than runners, walkers and those with sedentary lifestyles. A sedentary lifestyle increases the risk for developing life threatening health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. So, what can senior and younger swimmers can gain mentally from swimming?

Read more »

News from Swimming and more

Hello swimming lovers,

I've decided to drop the news column and provide you with a better way to learn swimming and other water sports related news. I've used paper.li to create a newspaper with fresh news from the aquatic world. Please follow this link and subscribe. The news will be published in a daily basis; feel free to make suggestions on what you would like to read on this newspaper or not.

http://paper.li/f-1379012394

Cheers

Backstroke to breastroke turn

The back to breast transition is the turn where the most time is won or lost of any other turn. The two most common ways of performing this IM transition turn are the traditional open turn and the crossover flip turn. Generally, the crossover is quicker off the wall, but the push off is not as powerful, so the two turns even out in the end. Furthermore, unless the crossover is done precisely, the likelihood of a disqualification is fairly high. The crossover is much harder to teach and perform and should be taught to seniors swimmers.

Read more »

Common entry mistakes in backstroke

The backstroke armstroke can be divided into eight phases: the entry and stretch, the first downsweep, the catch, the first upsweep, the second downsweep, the second upsweep, the release and exit, and the recovery. Some people divide the armstroke stroke in less phases, but you'll notice (when these series is done) that it's the same description. During these phases swimmers can make mistakes that will cost them time and energy. Today, we're going to talk about the entry mistakes in backstroke and what to avoid.

Read more »

Sunday's motivational quote 7

Original photo: [1]

Dawn Fraser's story

Dawn Fraser (born 4 September 1937) is an iconic Australian swimmer and a former politician. She was the first woman to win gold medals in the same event (100 m free) in three consecutive Olympics (1956, 1960, 1964). From 1956 to1964 she broke the women's world record for the 100 m freestyle race nine successive times, and her mark of 58.9 sec (1964) was unbroken until 1972.

Read more »