For the last few years my coaching efforts have been focused on our club’s ’learning to train’ swimmers – these are 9-11 year olds (with a few outliers) who have come through our teaching academy and are now on the club’s competitive pathway.
We swim four one hour sessions a week. 75% attendance across the term is required, I encourage 100% attendance and usually get a handful making 80-90%. This matters if they are to progress.
Each week rotates between IM, and each of the competitive strokes.
Every session includes a pre-swim poolside warm up and stretch, swimming warm up, technical swim, then aerobic fitness, sprints and drills to address problems. I throw in random challenges designed to develop their competitive spirit while pushing a skill: such as plunge dive and glide, or swimming backstroke with a plastic cup on their forehead. I’ve also taken to placing a highly visible metre ruler on the bottom of the pool as a target for their underwater fly kick.
There are a number of expectations: a flat body position on FC and BC, tumble turns and transitions always, four underwater kicks min: and three strokes before breathing on FC.
Skills training includes progressions to improve dives and all turns, including IM.
We do relays for their own sake, but especially to get them all to compete and so swim fast.
Plenty of the swimmers start to achieve County Times with me – a precursor to being streamed into our Performance rather than our Competitive pathway.
I keep an open dialogue with parents responding to all enquiries as they come in. They need to be committed in order to get kids ready, out of the house and to training in good time.
