Category Archives for Competitive Dive

Coaching IM

According to my Meta Plan for the year I coach IM in the first week of the month – so a bit of everything.

The set of always written in advance, the metres totted up and times calculated. I like to jot down how this goes on the whiteboard so that I can make later adjustments for future sets.

PC1 IM

This has more changes in it than usual.

Having introduced the Backstroke to Breaststroke turn I then took the opportunity to add Butterfly to Backstroke and Breaststroke to Front Crawl.

I then wanted some sprints, and to push them a bit. So include 2 x 50m with 3 or 4 swimmers against each other.

My second 90 minutes took in two teaching groups. Teaching Breaststroke can often be a challenge but today was the first time in 20 years of doing this that I had all 7 swimmers unable to do a breaststroke whipkick. This will take some unpicking and a whole raft of ideas to fix: kick with one float, then two, running through the kick in the side of the pool, kick in back, old English backstroke and so on. We managed to for in some dicing too.

Advertisement

Starts and Turns

Fig.1. The importance of streamlining. “Dead Swimmer’ sequence from ‘The Swim Drills Book’ Ruben Guzman

Warm Up

50s FC and BC with emphasis on smooth swimming and long legs. I run through in a multitude of adjectives:

  • Slinky
  • Smooth
  • Silent
I draw on drills from Ruben Guzman’s ‘The Swim Drill Book’
  • Smooth
  • Sneaky

Send them on a secret mission

What works wonders with the younger swimmers is to tell them that they are ‘secret agents’ on a ‘secret mission’ and have to swim in the dark without being seen or heard.The result can be highly controlled, smooth swimming – just the kind of thing you’d hope for from a squad rather than a teaching group.

I centre everything on streamlining in starts and turns so start off where I usually end with a streamlined bounce, a handstand with emphasis on long legs and pointy toes, then a cannon ball and somersault.

Fun activities include:

  • Streamlined bounce off the bottom. Jack in the box style trying to touch the 5m flags, or the length of the pool.
  • Mushroom float
  • Summersault
  • Canon-ball summersault over the side of the pool – taught in an ASA Course
  • Canon-ball backwards fall over the side of the pool
  • Sea Otter – a series of playful duck dives the length of the pool

The formal sequence into starts and turns:

  • glide out to the flags (or beyond)
  • glide and add a few dolphin kicks
  • then glide, dolphin kick a single stroke of FC and tumble (flip)
  • then glide, dolphin kick and two strokes.
  • do Fly here as it is appropriate to do so

Repeat on the back with backstroke

Then with breastroke.

From the centre of the pool do turns into the wall, potentially with swimmers heading off to opposite ends of the pool and meeting in the middle. This can be done as a relay. A large float can be used for bouyancy.

Fig.2 Dive, flight, entry, glide. From ‘The Swim Drill Book’ by Ruben Guzman.

From a dive:

  • Glide
  • Glide and add the BR underwater stroke
  • the full BR transition
  • And from 10 m out all the turns.

And with time spare some fun activities and efforts to fault correct.

COMPETITIVE DIVE (G4, G5, G8)

Fig.1. Diving with Rubin Guzman

Ideas drawn extensively from the brilliant ‘Swim Drills Book’.

SIDE OF THE POOL
Streamlined position against the wall
Streamline jump on side of pool
Swing the arms
Jump as high as you can
Land safely
Repeat three times
Land on the same spot that you jumped from.

IN THE WATER
Dead swimmer
Straightening up into the streamlined position’ with a dolphin kick into FC and away.
A warm up 50s FC and BC with emphasis on smooth swimming.
Slinky
Smooth
Silent
Smooth
Sneaky

GLIDE
Increase to advancede skills and increase distance with higher grades.
glide out to the flags (or beyond)
glide and add a few dolphin kicks
then glide, dolphin kick a single stroke of FC and tumble (flip)
then glide, dolphin kick and two strokes.
Increase to five strokes
Then 100m FC with tumble turns
Then something similar on the back.

A FUN ONE

Running with hands in the air
From the shallow end

Streamline bounce along the black line
From a jump of the blocks in the deep end

JUMPS FROM THE BLOCK
Feet slightly apart
Drop you hands to your sides
Keep looking forward
Try to have a clean entry so that you body is completely straight.
Big toe over the edge
Swing your arms
Extend your feet as you leave the block so that you spring off your toes
Land feet first as far into the pool as you can
TIPS
Keep your head forward
Get as much distance as possible. Use those legs.
Measure the distance
Take up the start position
Roll forward slowly until you can no longer hold your balance.
Release & dive forward by extending over the water and reaching a tight streamline position.
Punch a clean entry
From a dive:
Glide
Glide and add the BR underwater stroke
the full BR transition
And from 10 m out all the turns.

Skills

sculling, somersaults and surface dives, as well as treading water
ADVANCED DIVE
Jump
Topple and jump
Topple and dive
Topple, dive and glide
Dive max, break-out to half-way
Step forward
Position the feet
Reach down ‘til your finger tips are just over the lop
Balance you body so that you are almost falling forward.
Your hips should be up and forward.

Starts and Turns with Grade 5 swimmers (age 8 to 11)

Sleeping dolphin in captivity. A tail kick ref...

Sleeping dolphin in captivity. A tail kick reflex keeps the dolphin’s blowhole above the water if necessary (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Starts and Turns with Grade 5 swimmers (age 8 to 11)

Starts and turns today.

Also Half Term when typically, as today a good few may not show. Easier for me to take two groups too, both Grade 5. I was able to have five boys in one lane and five girls in the other.

A warm up of 50m FC. ‘Long legs’ was my command, with a long glide off the wall and out of the turn too. Then 50m BC.

Then into a mushroom float. Then the sequence ‘dead swimmer, straightening up into the streamlined position’ with a dolphin kick into FC and away. X25m of these starting well away from the wall on the ‘T’ at the end of the lane line , and from the Deep End under the flags.

Then a push and glide, seeing how far they can get. Adding a dolphin kick, on both front and back. Then a tumble turn, on front and back. With BC we counted the strokes from the flags to the wall, most did this in 7 strokes so knew to roll onto their front to tumble on the 6th stroke.

With breaststroke BS, I wanted a pivot turn and the correct transition, so a 3 second glide, keyhole arms and a 2 second glide, then sneak the arms up and away.

Having done all the turns I sent them to the Deep End doing a streamlined bounce the whole way.

At the Deep end they got out. To start off they did a jump from the block, legs apart, toes over the edge swinging their arms to jump as far as they can. Then I asked them to topple forwards like a tree and jump. Finally I asked them to topple and ‘jump dive’. Then, as in the shallow end a dive and glide, then a dive and glide with a dolphin kick. Afterwards a dive into BS with the transition. And from in the water a BC start.

We ended, if we handed run out of time, with somersaults, or sitting on the bottom of the pool..

I repeated this, more or less for three sessions. I only had one swimmer in the second session so he had a private lesson in effect. As he still drops his arms to his side on BS I hsd s go and tackling this in various ways, from a Woggle under the arms, to sculling and 2 kicks one arm pull

Related articles

Things to monitor, measure, weigh, count and assess during a competition

Things I monitor during competition and why

Everything and anything.

Finish time, splits, stroke rates & stroke count, quality of starts, turns and handover (videoed).

Heart Rate.

(Weight).

Intake of food & drink.

Medications (if they have any).

Competition Data
Type of Data

 Purpose
  Everything can be measured, assessed and improved … and then compared like for like until the athlete executes a skill, such as their turn, at a speed that is equivalent to good club, county, regional, national or international standards. Measured in the reasonably repeatable and similar conditions of a competition, i.e. in quasi-scientific conditions. This pre-amble applies to each of the following responses.

 
Race Pace Does this achieve what the swimmer and coach planned for. If so, well done, if not, why not? And what bearing did this have on the way the race played out and its outcome?

 
Critical Speed Was it achieved? If so when, too early or too late. What bearing did it have on the outcome of the race. How did it compare to previous competition races swimming the same stroke in the same or a different event. Why is it right, wrong or the desired figure? What bearing will this have on training and the next time this event is raced by this competitor?

 
Critical Stroke Rates Were they achieved? If so when, too early or too late. From break-out then held, dropping off during the middle of the race, then picking up for the last 25m or 50m. As planned or not? What bearing did it have on the outcome of the race? How was stroke rate affected by other competitors? And the lane swum in. How did stroke rates compare to previous competition races swimming the same stroke in the same or a different event. What worked and what didn’t? What bearing will this have on training and the next time this event is raced by this competitor?

 
Start Reaction Times Good, better or worse than usual. If so why so? How did this competitor compare to the rest of the field? How will this affect skills training poolside and land-based exercises? Does the swimmer compare well or badly with his or her peers? At what stage are they risking DQ?

 
Turn Times The turn times produced will tell the coach, the coaching team and the swimmer a great deal: are they performing as planned, or not? If not why not? Is their a component of the turn that is letting them down and needs to be improved? What bearing does their turn have on the outcome of their race?

 

 
Stroke Counts Up, down, spot on. Paced during the race. If not as planned what influenced a change and what effect did this have on the outcome of the race?

 
Heart Rates Degree to which Max HRT is reached and speed of recovery to suggest fitness.

 
Split Times Strategy during the race – how it was raced and whether it achieved the desire result. i.e. Did the swimmer set off too fast and have nothing left for the end of the race, or vice-versa? Or did they show no control at all speeding up and slowing down through-out. The aim is for the swimmer to feel in control because the race they give, evidenced by the split times, was that planned for.

 
Finish Times PB or better … or not. Short course or long (outdoors or indoors). Period in the training cycle, health, fitness & psychological wellbeing of the athlete … they can all impact on the finish time.

 
RPE Their perception and individual response to effort which will vary by personality, level of fitness, mood & state of health. Just as a doctor find out most by asking the patient what they consider to be wrong with them so a coach can find out from an athlete how they are coping simply by asking them. Doctors ask you to rate pain between 0 & 10; here the common practice is to ask the swimmer on a scale of 0 to 20 where 20 is outright effort.

 
Blood Lactate Levels Ability of the body to remove (or not produce) lactate when under sporting stress, and the ability to train this in … or to exploit a genetic advantage.

 

 

T2T3 and MINI, One hour. IM with work on turns.

T2T3 and MINI

A mixed 45 mins to 60 mins aerobic session based on IM, with  emphasis on turns.

WARM UP + fins

Mini as 75s. T2T3 as 100s.

3x 75m as 25m FC kick, 25m FC drill, 25m FC swim                          45/60

3 x 75m as 25m BC kick, 25m Bc Drill, 25m BC swim                         45/60

600m

Emphasis on streamlined drive off the wall with extended UW phase in turns

1 x25m FC UW for as far as possible, scull to breathe.

8 x 50m in IM order as 50m of each twice: (Possibly lane clear/or as a relay so up to 2 mins rest between each)

FLY

BC

BR

FC

1 x25m FC UW for as far as possible, scull to breathe.

450m

From the blocks for a competitive  start and aim for a technically correct and competitive turn every time.

FC 4 x 100m

1 x 100m FC kick                                                                             r.10

1 x 100m FC Zip up drill                                                              r.10

1 x 100m FC arms only                                                                 r.10

1 x 100m FC swim                                                                            r.10

400m

TURNS

3 x fc

3 x bc

3 x br

3 x fly

(RELAYS IF THERE IS TIME/or 25m sprints)

SWIMDOWN

100/200m as 2 x 50 or 2 x 100 as reduced stroke on FC

or Silent swimming on FC/BC

T2T3 IM Order Sprints and Drills work + dives

T2T3 Schedule                   Week No………                                         Date….17/10/10

 

POOL SESSION TIME SESSION LENGTH

Dolphin (6x25m)                 7.00 pm – 8.00pm                                       1  hr

 

TRAINING PHASE…………………..AEROBIC…(ENDURANCE)……………….

 

SCHEDULE OBJECTIVE

 

Competitive paced IM, starts.

 

– accelerate through the stroke

 

 

 

 

TOT

DIS

SETS/

REPS

STROKE

 ACTIVITY/COMMENTS

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS

 OFF-TIMES/

REST/TRGT

TOT
300

 

 2 x150 FC/BC Alt 50 KICK/ 50 DRILL / 50 SWIM   8
4×25

 

 

 12.5m IM order Dive/start, UW phase / transition / break-out   4
100 4 x25 IM IM FC Walk back to blocks, then recover

BC  (Use two lanes)

BS

FLY§

   8

 

 

 
      Get Times

 

 SUB TOT 20

 

200

 

 1X50 each

 

(1x25m T3)

 FLY 3 x 2+2+2 + fins

Full Stroke

 

 @1:15/30 6

 
200

 

 1X50 each

 

 BC 3x Legs Only + roll shoulder/slo mo/pull

Full Stroke

 

 @1:15/30 6
200

 

 1X50 each

 

 BS 3 x 3 kicks, 1 arm pull

Full Stroke

 

 @1:15/30 6

 
200

 

 2x(1X50) F/C 1 x Arms Only + Pull Buoy

1 x Legs Only

 

 @1:15/30 6

 
        SUB TOT 24
      PLUNGE CONTEST

Get Distances

   12
200 200 BC/FC STRETCH AND EASY

(Change stroke every 50m)

 

   4
 

1600

          

60

 

Skills Session – progressions to develop competitive diving

SUNDAY SKILLS

using the Swim Drills Book.


Tape measure

Bamboo Canes

Gaffer Tape

 

DIVE GOALS


Quick release

Tremendous launch through the air

Smooth entry

Tight streamline

Rapid travel through the water

A great distance underwater

Coming up well ahead of the pack

 

DRILLS & EXERCISES:

STANDING STREAMLINED JUMP (See Swim Drills Book p246)

Streamline jump on side of pool

Swing the arms

Jump as high as you can

Land safely

Repeat … TEN times

Land on the same spot that you jumped from.

 

(IN THE WATER possibly under the flags)

 

JUMP  FROM BLOCKS (See Swim Drills Book p248)


Feet slightly apart

Drop you hands to your sides

Keep looking forward

Try to have a clean entry so that you body is completely straight.

 

STREAMLINED JUMP (See Swim Drills Book p244)

Jump from block

Big toe over the edge

Swing your arms

Extend your feet as you leave the block so that you spring off your toes

Land feet first as far into the pool as you can

 

TIPS

Keep your head forward

Get as much distance as possible. Use those legs.

Measure the distance

 

STREAMLINE JUMP + WOGGLE (Page 250)

(Attach Woggle to Bamboo cane with gaffer tape)

 

Drill as before, landing in the water streamlined position.

Knock the Woggle away

 

Coach to position the Woggle at waist height and about 2ft in front.

 

The bigger and faster the arm swing, the more momentum you build for the jump.

Knock the Woggle away with a hard swing.

Get completely stretched out in the streamline.

Keep the head looking forward only.

 

PUSH-OFF START FROM THE WALL (Page 252)

Hands in the gutter and look forwards

As you hands go forward get your head down

Small dolphin kick as you enter the water

Try diving over a Woggle.

 

DIVE FROM THE SIDE (Page 254)

 

Take up the start position

Roll forward slowly until you can no longer hold your balance.

Release & dive forward by extending over the water and reaching a tight streamline position.

 

Punch a clean entry

Practice diving over a Woggle or through a hoop.

 

DIVE FROM THE SIDE + WOGGLE (Page 256)

 

Take up the start position

Roll forward until you lose your balance

Release & dive forward knocking the Woggle out of the way.

Knock the Woggle away as hard as you can.

Reach the streamlined position as you enter the water

Punch a clean entry in the water.

 

SET UP ON THE BLOCK (Page 258)

 

Step forward

Position the feet

Reach down ‘til your finger tips are just over the lop

Balance you body so that you are almost falling forward.

Your hips should be up and forward.

 

DIVE FROM THE BLOCKS (Page 260)

 

Get into the streamlined position before you enter the water.

Reach forward with your arms to get into the streamlined position asap

Punch a clean entry

Practice diving over a Woggle.

 

DIVE FROM THE BLOCKS + WOGGLE (Page 262)

 

Throw your arms forward

Knock the Woggle away as hard as you can

Reach a streamlined position

Punch a clean entry into the water.

 

STREAMLINE DIVING (Page 264)

 

This is the fastest part of the race. The fastest part of the race is when you travel through the air. The second fastest part of the start is the streamlined entry into the water.

 

Dive

May put in one dolphin kick on entering the water

See how far you can glide.

Have a contest to see who can go farthest in a streamline off the start.

Time them over 10m or 12.5m