It's been a while... amazing.
I'm coming off a stretch of 4 meets in 4 straight weekends, a good gauntlet of racing to gauge where the group is starting from this season. So the obvious question has to be.. hey coach, what have you learned?
I have a unique group... 37 swimmers, only 10 girls, which means I coach 27 teenage men. The good thing about having a male dominated group is that when they are motivated - practices are awesome. The bad thing about having a male dominated group is when they are distracted - practices can really be tough to get back on the rails.
Not surprisingly these young men love to race and to date the results of the men in the group have been above expectation level but conversely the girls are off to a slower start. That said, I like the skills being developed by most of the ladies in the group so I like the direction they are getting to once we steer the ship to a point where the best times start to collect (and hopefully in big numbers).
There are no impending disasters in the group - that meaning I believe that all 37 are in a position to have a productive season (in terms of best times), which would be fantastic but obviously dependent upon group attendance.
I'm going to try and blog a little more regularly in the near term, we do not have a meet until early December so hopefully I'll have more to share. Thanks for hanging in there, I'm going to catch up on some current issues in the sport and we'll communicate soon!
Friday, November 18, 2011
Friday, September 30, 2011
TAS Sneak Peak: Foundation Skills In Kick
All... here's a sneak preview of a blog I just wrote for my 'Coaches Corner' column available at the Team Aquatic Supplies Blog.
Hello 2011-2012, most Canadian clubs have been underway for a most of September as we ramp up for a big Olympic year cycle.
I'm back here in Toronto at TSC, with a large group of young men and women all looking for a breakout year and a shot at moving up a level, whether it be a regional swimmer looking to get to Provincials, or a Provincial swimmer looking to get to Easterns and/or AGN, and a few kids with a shot at going from an Easterns level swimmer to making the big leap to Senior Nationals . The skill level in my group is quite varied but the good thing is that everyone can benefit early in the season from really focusing on developing their kick skill.
Obviously kick is a skill that should always be an important focus of a program, if it's not I'd hazard to guess that such a program would be playing from a place of disadvantage. Kick is such a dynamic skill in today's swimming world so for the purpose of simplicity, I like to view development of early season kick into 3 foundation skills. Firstly, underwater fly kick. Second, aerobic kick fitness. Third, surface kick technique.
Underwater fly kick is widely considered "the 5th stroke" but ultimately the skill of underwater fly kick should be considered the second stroke. If your best stroke is freestyle, backstroke or fly, if you bring to the dance a powerful underwater fly kick then you have a considerable advantage over those who are just average at that skill. For those who were at Age Group Nationals this past summer in Montreal, if you managed to watch the men's 16 year old 100FR final, ESWIM's Omar Arafa really impressed with a great underwater fly kick off the 50m wall to just pull away from a strong field. Arafa won the event in 51.15 because he was so dynamic starting the second half of his race with a fly kick that was simply superior to others in that race. The message is clear, programs need to really work on underwater fly kick and it's a habit that needs to be started early in the season.
In addition to underwater fly kick you then need to build on the traditional skill of kicking at the surface, sometimes with a kick board and sometimes without a board. The skill of kicking is something that needs to be developed early in the season from an aerobic fitness perspective and even more importantly from a technique perspective, especially with lesser experienced swimmers. As a coach, I feel that if I start improving the technique of all four surface strokes early in the season, that will allow the swimmer to develop a feel for good technique while they develop the feel for the water that will carry them into core training later in the fall. Stay tuned for that and keep visiting the TAS blog!
I'll spare you all the details of what I'm looking for in each of the 4 surface kicks, but I'm going to experiment with some video as this season progresses and perhaps I'll have some good video to share with everyone later in the season.
Ultimately, the combination of working on underwater fly kick, surface kick aerobic fitness, and surface kick technique early in the season we're looking to build into two important results.
Firstly, the improvement of the 3 foundation skills will provide a base to develop an effective anaerobic kick ability. If you had the opportunity to listen to the Coach Mike Thompson podcast, available on iTunes (search: coachmikepodcast), you would have heard American Olympic Gold Medallist Garrett Weber-Gale on the inaugural podcast and his boasting to being able to kick a 50m LC kick in about 25 seconds... you can't do that unless you have good foundation skills that then allow for an explosive anaerobic kick ability. You can also catch Ryan Lochte on YouTube (video below!) showing off his ability to do a 50 underwater fly kick in 25 seconds. Again, great foundation skills leading to a dynamic anaerobic performance.
The second result that I look for by developing the 3 foundation skills of kick is the benefit of a better kick will immediately result in a better body position in the water and ultimately that will lead to a more effective pull. If you combine a better kick with a more effective pull, then I'm willing to bet that such a swimmer will be set for some breakthrough results. I'm a believer that a good kick can make a better puller but it's tough to correlate the other way around, an effective pull really can not help nor mask an ineffective kick.
So now... get kicking early and often in practice and hopefully we'll see a lot of great swimming this season.
Hello 2011-2012, most Canadian clubs have been underway for a most of September as we ramp up for a big Olympic year cycle.
I'm back here in Toronto at TSC, with a large group of young men and women all looking for a breakout year and a shot at moving up a level, whether it be a regional swimmer looking to get to Provincials, or a Provincial swimmer looking to get to Easterns and/or AGN, and a few kids with a shot at going from an Easterns level swimmer to making the big leap to Senior Nationals . The skill level in my group is quite varied but the good thing is that everyone can benefit early in the season from really focusing on developing their kick skill.
Obviously kick is a skill that should always be an important focus of a program, if it's not I'd hazard to guess that such a program would be playing from a place of disadvantage. Kick is such a dynamic skill in today's swimming world so for the purpose of simplicity, I like to view development of early season kick into 3 foundation skills. Firstly, underwater fly kick. Second, aerobic kick fitness. Third, surface kick technique.
Underwater fly kick is widely considered "the 5th stroke" but ultimately the skill of underwater fly kick should be considered the second stroke. If your best stroke is freestyle, backstroke or fly, if you bring to the dance a powerful underwater fly kick then you have a considerable advantage over those who are just average at that skill. For those who were at Age Group Nationals this past summer in Montreal, if you managed to watch the men's 16 year old 100FR final, ESWIM's Omar Arafa really impressed with a great underwater fly kick off the 50m wall to just pull away from a strong field. Arafa won the event in 51.15 because he was so dynamic starting the second half of his race with a fly kick that was simply superior to others in that race. The message is clear, programs need to really work on underwater fly kick and it's a habit that needs to be started early in the season.
In addition to underwater fly kick you then need to build on the traditional skill of kicking at the surface, sometimes with a kick board and sometimes without a board. The skill of kicking is something that needs to be developed early in the season from an aerobic fitness perspective and even more importantly from a technique perspective, especially with lesser experienced swimmers. As a coach, I feel that if I start improving the technique of all four surface strokes early in the season, that will allow the swimmer to develop a feel for good technique while they develop the feel for the water that will carry them into core training later in the fall. Stay tuned for that and keep visiting the TAS blog!
I'll spare you all the details of what I'm looking for in each of the 4 surface kicks, but I'm going to experiment with some video as this season progresses and perhaps I'll have some good video to share with everyone later in the season.
Ultimately, the combination of working on underwater fly kick, surface kick aerobic fitness, and surface kick technique early in the season we're looking to build into two important results.
Firstly, the improvement of the 3 foundation skills will provide a base to develop an effective anaerobic kick ability. If you had the opportunity to listen to the Coach Mike Thompson podcast, available on iTunes (search: coachmikepodcast), you would have heard American Olympic Gold Medallist Garrett Weber-Gale on the inaugural podcast and his boasting to being able to kick a 50m LC kick in about 25 seconds... you can't do that unless you have good foundation skills that then allow for an explosive anaerobic kick ability. You can also catch Ryan Lochte on YouTube (video below!) showing off his ability to do a 50 underwater fly kick in 25 seconds. Again, great foundation skills leading to a dynamic anaerobic performance.
The second result that I look for by developing the 3 foundation skills of kick is the benefit of a better kick will immediately result in a better body position in the water and ultimately that will lead to a more effective pull. If you combine a better kick with a more effective pull, then I'm willing to bet that such a swimmer will be set for some breakthrough results. I'm a believer that a good kick can make a better puller but it's tough to correlate the other way around, an effective pull really can not help nor mask an ineffective kick.
So now... get kicking early and often in practice and hopefully we'll see a lot of great swimming this season.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Some Fun New Body Weight Stuff For Dry Land
I'm always looking for new dry land stuff to really challenge my swimmers. The majority of my group is pretty good at dry land, and we have a pure dry land Wednesday AM workout where we get to really push the envelop for 105 minutes.
I found some of these really basic exercises that can be done with large groups that I'm going to give a try to this year...
The Prone Cobra, Superman, Alternating Bridge Exercises -- powered by ehow
Pretty standard stuff but I like the detail in 'The Prone Cobra'
Top 10 Best Bodyweight Exercises for Advanced... by kevingianni
This guy is a little odd and the video quality isn't so great but a few of these are really, really good.
That's it, I won't completely bore you with everything I watched but there is some good stuff here. Good luck!
I found some of these really basic exercises that can be done with large groups that I'm going to give a try to this year...
The Prone Cobra, Superman, Alternating Bridge Exercises -- powered by ehow
Pretty standard stuff but I like the detail in 'The Prone Cobra'
Top 10 Best Bodyweight Exercises for Advanced... by kevingianni
This guy is a little odd and the video quality isn't so great but a few of these are really, really good.
That's it, I won't completely bore you with everything I watched but there is some good stuff here. Good luck!
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Nick Saban Doesn't Take Winning For Granted
Nick Saban is the current football coach of the University of Alabama, and he's one of only 3 current NCAA football coaches with 2 National Championships (Dennis Erickson, Joe Paterno). This clip from 2008 was after Alabama's season opening win over a favoured Clemson team. The important facts... In 2007 Alabama went 7-6 but through hard work Saban led the Tide to a 12-2 record in 2008 and then went undefeated to win the 2009 National Championship. In the last 3 seasons in Alabama, Saban is 36-5 and it's not because he's blessed with superior players (although he has some), it's because the man can coach and is never placated with just winning.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
An Early Look Forward
I wrote this blog for the Team Aquatic Supplies blog, it should be popping up soon there but for now here's an advanced posting...
It is like the calm before the storm right now... Most of the major meets for the 2011-2012 season are done and before we know it the calendar will turn to 2012 and excitement will quickly ramp up in anticipation of the Summer Olympics in London.
The question is... what did we learn in 2011? And then let's have some fun and engage in 5-ish points of some early speculation on what it all means heading into the Olympic Games.
1. RYAN LOCHTE IS 'THE MAN'
It is 3 years since the magical run on Michael Phelps in Beijing and despite Phelps being the biggest brand in swimming, don't be fooled, Ryan Lochte is the biggest and best thing going in swimming today. In 2008, Phelps won the 100FL, 200FL, 200IM, 400IM, and 200FR at the Beijing Games and then climbed to 8 total gold with some great fortune in the relays. One year away from London, Lochte just proved at the World Championships that he's the man in the 200FR, 200BK, 200IM (in his amazing world record performance), and 400IM taking gold in each of those events and adding two more in the 400 medley relay and the 800FR relay. Could Lochte collect 6 golds in London? Looks good, no one has been more brilliant and consistent over the last 3 years...
Could Lochte win more then 6?? He'd have to breakthrough in the 100BK, but that's a lot to ask, as the Americans are flush with incredible backstroke talent. Here are the best times of the top 5 US 100 backstrokers this year...
Nick Thoman 53.01
David Plummer 53.04
Matt Grevers 53.14
Ryan Lochte 53.79
Michael Phelps 54.14
If Lochte can get through the US Trials in the 100BK then media interest should reach DEFCON 1 in another possible quest for 8 gold.
2. SUN YANG!
14:34.14. Incredible. Barring injury or some other horrible happenstance Sun Yang is poised for Gold in the 1500FR in London, the question is how fast can the 20-year old Chinese phenom go?? (I know, he's only 19 now but he'll be 20 in London)
3. GO CANADA GO!
At the Atlanta Games in 1996 Canada won 3 swimming medals (1 silver, 2 bronze). Marianne Limpert won silver in the 200IM and Curtis Myden claimed a pair of bronze medals in the 200 and 400 IM. Since then, medals have been harder to come by for Canadians - Myden won another bronze in the 400IM in Sydney and Ryan Cochrane won bronze in the 1500FR in Beijing.
After a good World Championships, there is room for optimism for Canadian chances to claim multiple swimming medals.
Cochrane is Canada's best bet. The Island Swimming star won 2 silver medals at Worlds in the 800 and 1500FR only bested by Sun Yang. There is obviously no 800FR at the Olympics so Cochrane is going to have to get the job done in the mile. He'll be ready, Randy Bennett is a brilliant coach, and Cochrane is both driven and has been highly consistent for the last 3 years, which is usually a good formula to being a good spot.
Brent Hayden... I'm going to get deeper into the men's 100FR in my next section. After winning a Silver medal at the World Championships, Hayden is in the medal mix in London.
Martha McCabe had her arrival moment hitting the podium in Shanghai claiming a bronze medal in the 200BR. As I wrote in early April, I think McCabe is a great swimmer and clearly on the rise. American Rebecca Soni will enter as the heavy favourite to sweep the breaststrokes in London but after Soni there is a lot of room on that podium.
Aside from Cochrane, Hayden, and McCabe there will be a number of Canadians looking to rise up and get into the medal mix. Finalists from Shanghai Wilkinson, Pierse, Tyler, and Russell will also look to rise up and proven performers like Oriwol, Brown, and Savard will look for big results too. Finally, Weinberger has also been really good on the Open Water scene and could be in the mix.
4. THE MEN'S 100FR IS A BAR BRAWL OF AN EVENT
18 men under 49 second in the prelims of the 100FR at World Championships. Whoever wins gold in the men's 100FR in London is going to have an incredible swim because I can not think of a more competitive event that is so wide open to so many on the scene today.
Right in the middle of this fight is Canada's Brent Hayden but Hayden will have to beat out what should be a stacked and hungry field.
James Magnussen (AUS) ran away with the Gold medal in Shanghai (47.63) but then just 0.29 separated Brent Hayden's Silver medal performance and Sabastiaan Verschuren in 8th. Everyone in the 100FR field is going to need to be very sharp for all 3 swims or face the fate that felled American record holder Jason Lezak in Shanghai, which was being turned into a spectator after a respectable 49.03 in prelims of the 100FR but that was only good enough for 20th.
Oh yeah.. and in 2012 there will be some dude named Thorpe throwing his hat into the ring too.
Be sharp or get out, should be a very exciting 100FR in London!
5. SEARCHING FOR A FEMALE EQUIVALENT TO LOCHTE & PHELPS?
On the surface, looking at results from Shanghai women's swimming does not appear to have a woman that can win Gold in a multitude of events like Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte do on the men's side. Italian freestyle star Federica Pellegrini won gold in the 200 and 400FR and Rebecca Soni was golden in both the breaststrokes but they were the only double gold medalists on the women's side in Olympic events.
The best bet for a women's big-time breakout multi-event Gold medalist in London is a Canadian citizen! Swimming in Colorado and representing the United States :( Missy Franklin won Gold in the 100BK in Shanghai but at just 16 (17 by the Olympics next year) Franklin has the upside in the freestyles, both backstrokes, and possibly the 200IM to step up and take the world by storm. It's just a matter of timing for Franklin and whether her goals will center around Gold (most likely in the 100BK) or around MULTIPLE GOLD!
Canada loves you Missy, you're welcome back here at any time...
BONUS: ENGLISH MEDAL THREATS
It's always a thrill to see local talent perform and win medals on home soil. For Great Britain they will turn to swimming stars like Rebecca Adlington (World Champion and World Record holder in the 800FR), Hannah Miley (IM star - silver in Shanghai in the 400IM), Ellen Gandy (FLY), James Goddard (IM), Francesca Halsall (sprint freestyle), and Liam Tancock (BK) in London. The British have no shortage of quality swimmers capable of claiming medals in London, which should make for an exciting atmosphere among 17500 crazed fans at the London Aquatic Centre.
You think the British could come up with and win a petition to make the 50BK an Olympic event? Probably not, although Tancock could dream.
It is like the calm before the storm right now... Most of the major meets for the 2011-2012 season are done and before we know it the calendar will turn to 2012 and excitement will quickly ramp up in anticipation of the Summer Olympics in London.
The question is... what did we learn in 2011? And then let's have some fun and engage in 5-ish points of some early speculation on what it all means heading into the Olympic Games.
1. RYAN LOCHTE IS 'THE MAN'
It is 3 years since the magical run on Michael Phelps in Beijing and despite Phelps being the biggest brand in swimming, don't be fooled, Ryan Lochte is the biggest and best thing going in swimming today. In 2008, Phelps won the 100FL, 200FL, 200IM, 400IM, and 200FR at the Beijing Games and then climbed to 8 total gold with some great fortune in the relays. One year away from London, Lochte just proved at the World Championships that he's the man in the 200FR, 200BK, 200IM (in his amazing world record performance), and 400IM taking gold in each of those events and adding two more in the 400 medley relay and the 800FR relay. Could Lochte collect 6 golds in London? Looks good, no one has been more brilliant and consistent over the last 3 years...
Could Lochte win more then 6?? He'd have to breakthrough in the 100BK, but that's a lot to ask, as the Americans are flush with incredible backstroke talent. Here are the best times of the top 5 US 100 backstrokers this year...
Nick Thoman 53.01
David Plummer 53.04
Matt Grevers 53.14
Ryan Lochte 53.79
Michael Phelps 54.14
If Lochte can get through the US Trials in the 100BK then media interest should reach DEFCON 1 in another possible quest for 8 gold.
2. SUN YANG!
14:34.14. Incredible. Barring injury or some other horrible happenstance Sun Yang is poised for Gold in the 1500FR in London, the question is how fast can the 20-year old Chinese phenom go?? (I know, he's only 19 now but he'll be 20 in London)
3. GO CANADA GO!
At the Atlanta Games in 1996 Canada won 3 swimming medals (1 silver, 2 bronze). Marianne Limpert won silver in the 200IM and Curtis Myden claimed a pair of bronze medals in the 200 and 400 IM. Since then, medals have been harder to come by for Canadians - Myden won another bronze in the 400IM in Sydney and Ryan Cochrane won bronze in the 1500FR in Beijing.
After a good World Championships, there is room for optimism for Canadian chances to claim multiple swimming medals.
Cochrane is Canada's best bet. The Island Swimming star won 2 silver medals at Worlds in the 800 and 1500FR only bested by Sun Yang. There is obviously no 800FR at the Olympics so Cochrane is going to have to get the job done in the mile. He'll be ready, Randy Bennett is a brilliant coach, and Cochrane is both driven and has been highly consistent for the last 3 years, which is usually a good formula to being a good spot.
Brent Hayden... I'm going to get deeper into the men's 100FR in my next section. After winning a Silver medal at the World Championships, Hayden is in the medal mix in London.
Martha McCabe had her arrival moment hitting the podium in Shanghai claiming a bronze medal in the 200BR. As I wrote in early April, I think McCabe is a great swimmer and clearly on the rise. American Rebecca Soni will enter as the heavy favourite to sweep the breaststrokes in London but after Soni there is a lot of room on that podium.
Aside from Cochrane, Hayden, and McCabe there will be a number of Canadians looking to rise up and get into the medal mix. Finalists from Shanghai Wilkinson, Pierse, Tyler, and Russell will also look to rise up and proven performers like Oriwol, Brown, and Savard will look for big results too. Finally, Weinberger has also been really good on the Open Water scene and could be in the mix.
4. THE MEN'S 100FR IS A BAR BRAWL OF AN EVENT
18 men under 49 second in the prelims of the 100FR at World Championships. Whoever wins gold in the men's 100FR in London is going to have an incredible swim because I can not think of a more competitive event that is so wide open to so many on the scene today.
Right in the middle of this fight is Canada's Brent Hayden but Hayden will have to beat out what should be a stacked and hungry field.
James Magnussen (AUS) ran away with the Gold medal in Shanghai (47.63) but then just 0.29 separated Brent Hayden's Silver medal performance and Sabastiaan Verschuren in 8th. Everyone in the 100FR field is going to need to be very sharp for all 3 swims or face the fate that felled American record holder Jason Lezak in Shanghai, which was being turned into a spectator after a respectable 49.03 in prelims of the 100FR but that was only good enough for 20th.
Oh yeah.. and in 2012 there will be some dude named Thorpe throwing his hat into the ring too.
Be sharp or get out, should be a very exciting 100FR in London!
5. SEARCHING FOR A FEMALE EQUIVALENT TO LOCHTE & PHELPS?
On the surface, looking at results from Shanghai women's swimming does not appear to have a woman that can win Gold in a multitude of events like Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte do on the men's side. Italian freestyle star Federica Pellegrini won gold in the 200 and 400FR and Rebecca Soni was golden in both the breaststrokes but they were the only double gold medalists on the women's side in Olympic events.
The best bet for a women's big-time breakout multi-event Gold medalist in London is a Canadian citizen! Swimming in Colorado and representing the United States :( Missy Franklin won Gold in the 100BK in Shanghai but at just 16 (17 by the Olympics next year) Franklin has the upside in the freestyles, both backstrokes, and possibly the 200IM to step up and take the world by storm. It's just a matter of timing for Franklin and whether her goals will center around Gold (most likely in the 100BK) or around MULTIPLE GOLD!
Canada loves you Missy, you're welcome back here at any time...
BONUS: ENGLISH MEDAL THREATS
It's always a thrill to see local talent perform and win medals on home soil. For Great Britain they will turn to swimming stars like Rebecca Adlington (World Champion and World Record holder in the 800FR), Hannah Miley (IM star - silver in Shanghai in the 400IM), Ellen Gandy (FLY), James Goddard (IM), Francesca Halsall (sprint freestyle), and Liam Tancock (BK) in London. The British have no shortage of quality swimmers capable of claiming medals in London, which should make for an exciting atmosphere among 17500 crazed fans at the London Aquatic Centre.
You think the British could come up with and win a petition to make the 50BK an Olympic event? Probably not, although Tancock could dream.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
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