I'm sure that all coaches have been asked that question near the end of a long meet. This last weekend I had a great opportunity to let the kids answer that question for themselves. We were at our 'big' meet for the first 3 months of the year - a 2½ day meet starting on… Continue reading I’m Tired. Do I Still Have To Warmup?
Tag: Tritons
A Tweak to the Weight-Forward Start?
Last year, I was thinking about the weight-forward start, and how there has to be a way to get the body moving much more quickly than through simple muscular force. This thought eventually lead me to this lever-type concept. We spent much of last year working on it, and a few of our swimmers are… Continue reading A Tweak to the Weight-Forward Start?
Runners Have the Ground, Skaters Have the Ice, Swimmers Have ???
I would imagine it's the same with all swim coaches. I'm always being asked by parents and swimmers why swimmers need incredibly strong cores in order to swim fast. Much stronger core strength than land-based sports. And it's true and obvious from watching the sport. Swimmers need to have incredibly strong cores. It took… Continue reading Runners Have the Ground, Skaters Have the Ice, Swimmers Have ???
A New Way to Teach Young Swimmers
FLOW NARROW QUIET About a year and a half ago I wrote about a new coaching technique I'd developed to handle a specific situation with special needs swimmers who trained 2 consecutive days a week, and had 5 days off (The Importance of Simple Concepts - here). Before we introduced this new approach, the… Continue reading A New Way to Teach Young Swimmers
6 Rules (and a Vision) For Becoming a Better Swim Parent in a Post-Olympic Year
The Olympics are still fresh in our minds, and a new sports season is starting. This means that untold thousands of eager children are joining sports teams for the first time, with visions of Olympic medals dancing in their heads. And with swimming continuing to be one of the premiere sports in the Olympics, this… Continue reading 6 Rules (and a Vision) For Becoming a Better Swim Parent in a Post-Olympic Year
Are Swimming Performances Starting to Stagnate?
This is not a question that comes up much with our sport. In fact, we're so used to continuous improvement that it almost seems disloyal to even ask it. Are we starting to see a plateau in swimming performances? Track and field has been plagued with stagnating performances for a long time. Despite the publicity… Continue reading Are Swimming Performances Starting to Stagnate?
Age Analysis of Rio Swimming Finalists: Breakdown by Event
Swimming World Magazine has published the second in a series of my articles analyzing Rio swimming performances. This one is "Age Analysis of Rio Swimming Finalists: The Older The Better!", and involves a breakdown of ages by distance and stroke (see here). This post provides additional information on the age range of swimmers as broken… Continue reading Age Analysis of Rio Swimming Finalists: Breakdown by Event
Height Analysis of Rio Swimmers: Breakdown by Event
Swimming World Magazine has published my article "Height Analysis of Rio Swimming Finalists", which includes a breakdown by distance and stroke (see here). This post will provide additional information on the height range of swimmers as broken down by individual events. We expect that height is more important in some events than others, we'll look… Continue reading Height Analysis of Rio Swimmers: Breakdown by Event
Why The Rio Doping Issue Matters
Doping has become a far too common topic every time a major sporting event comes up. In fact, it's become so much a part of sports that almost every incredible performance is accompanied by some doubt about doping. There will always be those who cheat, and always be those who advocate for an 'anything goes'… Continue reading Why The Rio Doping Issue Matters
A Nation’s Pride: 1976 and State-Sponsored Doping
I must confess I haven't had the opportunity to watch the apparently excellent "The Last Gold" documentary about the 1976 women's US Olympic Team as they battled the overpowering but doped East German women. But having been a competitive swimmer back then, I am very familiar with the story and the emotions. That the US… Continue reading A Nation’s Pride: 1976 and State-Sponsored Doping
Coach Rick - Mighty Tritons Swimming 