In December I published a post about the Death of the Breaststroke Pullout (here) right after FINA changed the SW 7.1 rule. While the title was intentionally provocative, my feeling was that the breaststroke pullout was about to change in a big way. Almost four months later I can honestly say that it kinda, sorta… Continue reading The Slowly Evolving Nature of the Breaststroke Pullout
Tag: coaching
The Roles and Responsibilities of a Head Coach
There's not much that gets a head coach more animated or frustrated than asking them about their responsibilities as head coach. And this is probably because the job involves so much more than just coaching. After researching a lot of different sports, and asking swim coaches on an excellent Facebook swim coaches discussion group, I… Continue reading The Roles and Responsibilities of a Head Coach
6 Things I Don’t Miss About Swimming in the 1970s
There is no doubt that swimming in the 1970s was exciting. Goggles had just been introduced in the late 1960s, and this allowed swimmers to train as hard as their bodies would allow, instead of training as hard as their eyes would let them. As a result, swimming records of every kind were broken on… Continue reading 6 Things I Don’t Miss About Swimming in the 1970s
More Than You Want to Know About Shaving and Swim Performance
If you've been involved in swimming for any period of time, you know about the shaving tradition. This is where swimmer at big meets often shave virtually all available skin not covered by a bathing suit, with the exception of the eyebrows. Normally this includes arms, legs, torso, and sometimes even the head. The loss… Continue reading More Than You Want to Know About Shaving and Swim Performance
The Team Philosophy / Coaching Mismatch
If you haven’t been on many swim teams, it may be hard to imagine that every swim team is fundamentally different. And this largely comes from two aspects of the team: team philosophy, and the coaches. Ideally, the team philosophy guides everything that the team does, how its members interact with each other, and it… Continue reading The Team Philosophy / Coaching Mismatch
Our Unhealthy Obsession with Race Times
Last year I wrote about how the swimming world has an unhealthy obsession with Personal Bests [PBs]. And since then I've seen countless more examples of swimmers treating non-personal bests as if it meant they were a failure. But I've also seen swimmers get unhealthily obsessed with their race times in general. The problem is… Continue reading Our Unhealthy Obsession with Race Times
The Troubled Life of a Drop-Dead Sprinter
If you've spent any time in swimming, you've probably known a drop-dead sprinter or two. Now, I'm not talking about a normal sprinter who can do a fast 50 or 100, but trains pretty much like everyone else. I'm talking about a sprinter who can do a blazing fast 50 or 100 in a meet… Continue reading The Troubled Life of a Drop-Dead Sprinter
Disqualifications: Fight Them or Accept Them?
Disqualifications. They're a common and necessary part of swimming. They lurk behind every start, turn and stroke. They can generate tears, anger, outrage, swearing and sometimes even acceptance. And they occur at local developmental meets, the Olympics, and everything in between. But what amazes me about them it the incredible diversity of attitudes towards them.… Continue reading Disqualifications: Fight Them or Accept Them?
More Than You Want to Know About Swimming Disqualifications
Disqualifications are an essential part of swimming. It's there lurking in the background of every race in every meet. But what's the real purpose of disqualifications? It might not be what you think. Disqualifications are not there to punish cheaters. The purpose of a disqualification is to prohibit certain movements or actions which have the… Continue reading More Than You Want to Know About Swimming Disqualifications
5 Bad Habits of Good Swimmers
We all know that great swimmers have very few bad habits. And this makes sense, as bad habits in practice become mistakes in competition, and great swimmers don't make a lot of mistakes in competition. On the flip side, poor swimmers often make uncountable numbers of mistakes. So I'm going to focus here on the… Continue reading 5 Bad Habits of Good Swimmers
Coach Rick - Mighty Tritons Swimming 