I am a member of a long established masters team, although we have been relatively quiet until the past 18 months.
Problem:
We are getting more and more adults who cannot swim. They want to compete in triathlons and they can barely swim 25 yards,and we are currently set up is meters. This is drawing our coaches attention and they seem to have found a cheaper way to get an adult swim lesson. Stroke development and general help are not an issue; this is almost complete lack of swimming skills.
Question:
How does your club/team advertise swimming and divide or set a limit on the skills a swimmer needs to have to complete a masters workout?
Where is this knowledge obtained?
What is your teams limit?
Thanks...
www.damswim.com/.../Swim_Basics_NEW
There should be a clear checklist of what a swimmer is capable of to be on the mainstream masters team. If not, then a "swim basics" class or something to get them to the level to swim with a masters group.
25 free?
or a 200 continuous free?
reading the clock?
stroke requirement?
The issue is how much lane space and coaching time is available to handle someone at the most beginner level of the spectrum. I remember a woman that started with DAMM and she could only do 9 lengths of the pool in the hour workout. But we had LANE SPACE and COACHING that accomodated her, WITHOUT disrupting attention to the other 6 lanes of swimmers. For a team with less space, this just won't work.
For some teams, or some practices within a team, perhaps the 25 free rule would apply. But for others, that may be more of a lifeguard type requirement - to swim, say a continuous 200 free and be able to understand intervals.
And practice to pratice - consider this: some workouts are your basic sets where a coach could dedicate more time to a beginner swimmer, like if everyone is doing 8 x 100's or 4 x 200's. However, we have sprint days or complex sets where the coach on deck is walking alongside and calling out intervals for every repeat. The entire practice may be doing the same interval, like challenge 75's on the 1:30 varying lengths sprint/stroke/other and a beginner would have no chance to do his/her own thing or get any special instruction.
www.damswim.com/.../Swim_Basics_NEW
There should be a clear checklist of what a swimmer is capable of to be on the mainstream masters team. If not, then a "swim basics" class or something to get them to the level to swim with a masters group.
25 free?
or a 200 continuous free?
reading the clock?
stroke requirement?
The issue is how much lane space and coaching time is available to handle someone at the most beginner level of the spectrum. I remember a woman that started with DAMM and she could only do 9 lengths of the pool in the hour workout. But we had LANE SPACE and COACHING that accomodated her, WITHOUT disrupting attention to the other 6 lanes of swimmers. For a team with less space, this just won't work.
For some teams, or some practices within a team, perhaps the 25 free rule would apply. But for others, that may be more of a lifeguard type requirement - to swim, say a continuous 200 free and be able to understand intervals.
And practice to pratice - consider this: some workouts are your basic sets where a coach could dedicate more time to a beginner swimmer, like if everyone is doing 8 x 100's or 4 x 200's. However, we have sprint days or complex sets where the coach on deck is walking alongside and calling out intervals for every repeat. The entire practice may be doing the same interval, like challenge 75's on the 1:30 varying lengths sprint/stroke/other and a beginner would have no chance to do his/her own thing or get any special instruction.
