Category Archives for G6

Breaststoke (our grades 4,5 and 7)

Two weeks in a row makes since for breaststroke, giving some swimmer four shots at it over this period. It is encouraging to see that I am building in their pervious efforts, that I don’t have to repate all the drills.

I concentrate on the glide which most swimmers rush yet is so vital to competitive breaststroke. this is achieved. by getting them into the streamline position: from ‘dead swimmer’ to streamlined, also the streamlined bounce up the pool, as well as push and glide ( or slide) then adding the underwater ‘keyhole’ stroke. This and drills such as : two kicks, one pull and two second glide on evwry kick couting out the seconds as: one missippi, two mississippi.

With one swimmer unable to dive or somersault I do a set in the lane agsinst the side of the pool aimed at helping. This takes from ‘Flip and Fun’ the forward and backward s canonball roll. I get close with K but fer it is going to take a while before she can somersault or dive. Swmmers get stuck in a rut with this one, raising the head, jumping in not diving, unable to get their head tucked in.

Advertisement

Backstroke (Teaching Grades 4-7) ASA NPTS 9-10

I used Swim Drills as a prompt.

Poolside I don’t have time to read the tips (I know the book inside out anyway). What I can do is glance at the images as a reminder. Each chapter runs in a logical chronology in terms of ability and the drills that are likely to be appropriate.

We start poolside for a few moments before entering the water.

From the brilliant ‘The Swimming Drills Book’ Ruben Guzman. (2007) p.44

I want the swimmers’ shoulders against the tiled walls. Usefully there are protruding columns too, so that I can demonstrate and have them all in vision. I have to have them in reverse hight order so that the smaller ones can see.

We run through the drill three times with each arm, raising the hand like a dagger, turning the palm to face the tiled wall when it is perpendicular, then brining it above the head, as if entering the water, little finger first.
I repeat this for the other arm.

WARM UP

2 x 50m FC
1 x 50m BC

MAIN SET

From the brilliant ‘The Swimming Drills Book’ Ruben Guzman. (2007)


Repeat from the deep end.

Streamline stretch in the water.
Bounce up an down.
Get this right then have them do a length of kicking on their backs.
None of the groups required a float (perhaps the 7 year old in the Grade 4 group)

Using the lane rope they swim 50m in one direction, then 50m in the opposite direction.

From the brilliant ‘The Swimming Drills Book’ Ruben Guzman. (2007 )

This is the’pull lane rope’ drill in which the outside arm touches and takes the lane rope, this helping (as the drill by the wall) to get the swimmers to rotate into the stroke.

More kicking, one arm stretched out, the other by the side doing a ‘sail boat’ drill.

FUN ONE

Roly-polly straight down the black line down.
Jump in off the block into a pencil jump.
Bounce all the way down to the shallow end.

Double-arm pull

From the deep end to use the blocks.

Racing start on backstroke, with a streamline glide ‘Like a harpoon’, a few dolphin kicks into the stroke at race pace.
Get them to count (or recount and verify) the number of strokes it takes them to get from the 5m flags in the shallow end to the wall.

From 2m beyond the flags in the shallow end
Swim in demonstrating a Backstroke tumble turn.
Repeat

FUN ONE

‘Sea Otter’ to the deep end
(Duck dives to the bottom of the pool collecting imaginary oysters that they bring to the surface and crack open on imaginary stones on their chests)

Drill

Raise arm to the perpendicular,
Pointed up at the ceiling.
Pause to rotate the hand then lower into the catch

(The grade 4 & 5 swimmers got this, while it took several goes and a variety of tactics before the grade 7 swimmers go it. More to do with the group than their age).

Used an image from the Swim Drills Book (have it on a Kindle)
Demoed upright from the poolside
(This worked for most)

Identified the swimmer who could do it and had them demonstrate.
Had them count ‘One mississippi’ with the hand paused and pointed at the ceiling, then another ‘Mississippi’ once they had rotated the palm.

THIS WORKED!
Finally had them swim in pairs, over one length, checking on each other to synchronise the drill.

Synchronised Backstroke Drill (one to repeat)
(I do something similar with single-arm fly drill. They enjoy working like this and concentrate enough on the synchronicity to get it right)

Another RACE PACE swim
Start using the block
Correct position of feet,
Tucked in, head back
On my command using the whistle

A 3 lengths IM of BC, BR, FC,

Depending on timing a FUN FINISH

Handstand
(Straight legs, legs together, pointed toes)

Somersault
Mushroom or canon ball float

‘Dead swimmer’

Sitting on the bottom of the pool

On this occasion flyers were handed out for the next Gala. What is the best solution for this? They take them wet, into the showers, some then forget them, most hand over a dripped on or soaked flyer to their parents?

ON REFLECTION

The swimmer who can’t dive can’t do a somersault either. Indeed, when doing a mushroom float they are likely to lift their head even here.
There is rarely any group cohesion, so working in teams of two or three for a drill or for something fun like ‘sea otter’ make it more like party games.
To get them into race mode I use a whistle; I should have a stop watch too.

Fly

Robert Guzman’s ‘Swim Drills’ is my guide. Poolside I just need the image for the drill. Perhaps a single training tip at a time could be offered. I hadn’t time to load images into GoMo so used screen grabs on the iPhone which were very adequate, just need to have them in chronological order.

The age range 7-11, boys and girls. I am familiar with Long Term Athlete Development and know children well enough to understand that constant praise, an element of play and competitiveness is required.

POOLSIDE

Hips back and forwards to kick like a dolphin or merman.
Arms action: enter wide, hour-glass sweeping back (have they seen one of these? What alternarive metaphor could I use?)

IN THE WATER

Warm up
2x50m FC ‘smooth, slinking, sliding slowly through the water’

MAIN
FLY KICK
Standing in water
Dolphin
Fly kick resting arms on the lane ropes
Fly kick on the back
More dolphin
Fly kick with Noodle (arms out wide)

FUN
Otter
Streamlined bounce
sea-horse race on the noodle
Cat and mouse

MAIN
Single arm fly
Race pace Fly with transition
Race pace FC with transition

SWIM DOWN
Handstands
somersaults
Mushroom float
Sitting on the bottom of the pool
Lying on the bottom of the pool

Swim Coach Kindle – Effective Poolside M-learning as in ‘Mobile,’ ‘Micro’ and by the ‘Minute’.

On its own content on an e-Reader such as a Kindle is NOT e-learning or m-learning.

(Though surely any kind of self-directed, personally motivated reading is learning?)

So how, in the context of swim coaching do I make it so?

There are two audiences, the athletes and fellow coaches.

I have dual responsibilities, as a coach putting in place ways to improve the times these swimmers produce (coaching) and in workforce development improving the skills of the team teaching or coaching swimmers.

(Ruben Guzman, The Swim Drills Book)

The Kindle content can be shown to swimmers; with the right content this has already proved brilliant at SHOWING the swimmers what I want them to do, complementing any demonstrations I do poolside.

Getting their eyes and ears engaged on the task is the challenge.

The right content, such as the Swim Drills Book has in place bullet pointed learning tips and focus points for the coach so that you can speed read this, or take a tip quite easily at a glance. More micro-learning that mobile-learning.

How about fellow coaches?

A colleague who was sitting out got her head around the Kindle after a few quick pointers on how to page turn (if we even all it that anymore).

She did two things, checked some progressions into swimming Butterfly for her next group of swimmers, taking from this a useful learning tip and then checked something on timing in Breaststroke for HER OWN swimming.

Next week, having primed her by email and some grabs on Kindle operation, I will show her how to highlight passsages in the Kindle and add notes. Surely, as other coaches do the same, this will build into an updated, club developed learning resource that more coaches and teachers will buy into because it is OF the club … we can identify, as you can in a Wiki, the contributions being made by people with decades of swimming experience as athletes, Masters champions and highly qualified sports coaches?

Not M-Learning yet

Now I integrate the Kindle content, this and other resources into two things:

Formal Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) qualifications, for example Levels 1, 2 & 3 Teaching Aquatics and Levels 1,2 & 3 Coaching Swimming.

Develop content in my swim coach blog, that is gradually taking the extensive offline electronic record or blog set to private, that I have now kept for five years. In here I have just about every session I have taken, possibly 1,000 sessions?

Encourage, through the formal programme of teaching and coaching that we have closer integration of what we do poolside and in the gym with both these formal and informal learning resources.

I’ve already shared ideas with an e-learning colleague in e-learning who did a Kimble e-learning piece in Articulate some weeks ago.

We are going to plan out generating our own content, including exploiting the affordances of the Kindle to create a series of ‘Flicker Book’ animations i.e. by controlling the speed at which you ‘page turn’ you generate or pause an animation that shows a specific technique. This might be as simple as how to scull, or long-legged kick for Front Crawl and Back Crawl.

Fascinating. My love for swimming and coaching swimming has been rejuventated as every time I am poolside will now be a workshop for learning.

An Aside

Four days ago 17 poolside helpers, assistants, teachers, coaches and principal teachers – a team manager too, attended a traditional ‘Tell and Talk’ point point workshop on Safeguarding Children.’ I was unwell so unable to attend. I would like feedback from this, but something more than some Smiley Faces or boxes ticked.

Any suggestions on approaches to Feedback that work without having to hire in consultants?

Kindle Swim Coach – Dead Swimmer to Streamlining

Armed with a Kindle with the Swim Drills book loaded I was poolside teaching and coaching swimmers for three hours.

For the last year I have run programmes based on drills in ‘The Swim Drills Book’ and have relied on lesson plans and sometimes laminated print outs.

Today I took the Kindle


Never before have I found the swimmers so attentive, coming close to the side of the pool to look at the pictures.

Here is a great drill to develop streamlining

They start in what we call ‘Dead Swimmer’ then straighten up, arms first, then legs into the ‘streamline position.’ They then kick off, add a few strokes and continue up the pool.

They got, far quicker than my efforts to demonstrate and talk them through.

Simple.

The pictures say it all.

Is this mobile learning?

Whatever it is, this works.

Next step to blog about in my Swim Coach website http://www.thewellyman.wordpress.com.

We bought a dozen copies of the Swim Book.

Perhaps we need a dozen Kindles.

Could we have waterproof versions?

And perhaps A4 clipboard in size?

With a wireless link to a poolside whiteboard.

Better still, an LCD screen on the bottom of the pool!

REFERENCE

Guzman, R (2007) The Swim Drills Book

FLY G6,G7,G8, G9 Mini & Bronze 45 mins / 1 hour

G6, 7, 8 & 9 MINI, BRONZE

A versatile 45 mins to 60 mins aerobic session based on FLY, with FLY progressions, emphasis on starts and turns and some fun alternative activities.

WARM UP

4 x 50m as 25m BC kick, 25m BC swim                          50/60/1.15

4 x 50m as FC kick, 25m FC swim                                               50/60/1.15

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

8 x 50m as

1st FLY dive, BC,

2nd BR dive, FC

Drive at start from the blocks

FLY 4 x 100m or 8 x 50m (16 x 25m)

8 x 25m (4x 50m)(2 x 100) FLY kick                                             r.10

8 x 25m (4x 50m)(2 x 100) Drills / 2+2+2                         r.10

4 x 25m (2 x 50m / 1 x 100m) Full Stroke

SPRINTS

4 x 25m alt as Fly, Fly into BC

STARTS

3 x fc

3 x bc

3 x br

3 x fly

SWIMDOWN

100/200m as 2 x 50 or 2 x 100 as reduced SC on BC

 

A progressive set through top teaching groups into Mini and Bronze. FC/BC uwphase, rotational turns

G6, 7 & 9 MINI & BRONZE                                                                                                Date….27/10/2010

 

POOL SESSION TIME SESSION LENGTH

Ardingly (4x25m)                5.45pm -8.30pm                                          45 mins / 1 hr

 

FC BC & FLY

UW phase & rotational turns
G6,7,8,9 Teaching Group  (T) Age 9-11
Mini     (M) Age 9-11/12
Bronze (B) Age 11/12

SETS/

STROKE

 ACTIVITY/COMMENTS OFF-TIMES/ TOT

TOT

DIS

 REPS SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS REST/TRGT
 

B

 

  

4X100

 

  

F/C

 

  

Kick 25 Explosive 50 Moderate 25 Explosive

 

  

@1:45

 

  

10
M

 

 

 

 

 1X100

1X100

1X100

1X100

 

 FC

BC

FC

BC

 

 Full Stroke

Full Stroke

Drill – Zip it Up

Drill – Roll Shoulder

 

 @2:00

@2:15

@2:30

@3:00

 

  
T

 

 

 1X50

1X50

1X50

1X50

 

 

 FC

BC

FC

BC

 Full Stroke

Full Stroke

Drill – Zip it Up

Drill – Roll Shoulder

N.B. BALANCE/SYMETRY/STREAMLINING

 @1:00

@1:15

@1:30

@1:45

 

 

  
B

 

M

 

T

 

 10X50

 

8X50

 

8 x 25

 

 FC

 

FC

 

FC

 

 Piggy-back (kick/arms)

 

FC Zip Up 25m, Full Stroke 25m

 

FC Zip Up 25m, Full Stroke 25m

 

 

 @0.50

 

@1:15

 

 

 

 10
B

 

M

 

T

 8X50

 

4X50

 

4 x 25

 Fly/BC

 

Fly/BC

 

Fly/BC

 5m UW kick off start and turn minimum

 

 

 

Streamlined.

 @0:50

 

@01:00

 

 

 10

 

 

 

B

 

 

M

 

 

 

 

 

T

 

 4X100

 

 

8X25

 

 

 

 

 

4X25

 

 FC/BC/

FLY

 

Fly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Legs Only (+ fins)

 

 

Superman

(Walk along bottom & add arms)

2+2+2

8 kicks to one arm pull

4 kicks to one arm pull

 

Alt: Superman

(Walk along bottom & add arms)

 

 @1:00

 

 

 

@1:00

 

 

 

 

@1:00

 10

 

 

 
      RELAY PLUNGE + Dolphin kick to 12.5m   10
 

200

  

2 x 100

  

FC

  

Bilateral breathing every 3,5,7,9,7,5,3

 

   10

 

 

Total Distance

1700m – 2200m

Total Time

60 mins
Evaluation of Session

 

 

Skills and Mini, Dives into transition

Skills Group

Dives and Transition in FC and BC

Fun warm up

  • Streamline position
  • Dolphin kick/bum and tum
  • (Hot potato- team building with mini)
  • Jumping intro streamlined position
  • Running with hands in the air
  • Running using hands
  • Push and glide on front
  • Push and glide on bac

Deep End

  • Dolphin Kick by lane rope
  • Dolphin kick on back
  • Dolphin kick on front

Dive

  • Re-cap
  • Jump
  • Jump from block
  • Topple and jump
  • Topple and dive
  • Reach for the flags/whack woggle away and glide

 

  • Dive, glide and dolphin kick (distance challenge)
  • Back start, glide and dolphin kic
  • Break-out into FC
  • Break-out intro B
  • Turn into transition on FC and BC

 

RELAYS