Swim instructors and coaches: What do you think about the the progress this swimmer has made? I am neither a swim instructor or a coach; however, this 24 year old watched me swim one day and said he wanted to learn to swim just like me. :bighug: Awwww, I just couldn't resist! He is the second person who practically pleaded for me to teach them how to swim.
Billy is a Korean college student who came here on a student visa and barely spoke English. When I first met him in January, he didn't understand a word I said. Since I started working with him during the summer, he has improved both his English and his swimming quite dramatically. Billy has gone from barely being able to swim at all to this in nine lessons:
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He has learned to breathe on both sides; this is his left side breathing:
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Billy has also improved the path of his arms from swinging very wide to a narrower pull:
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Sure, there are a lot of improvements that still need to be made; however, I think he has improved quickly in just nine lessons. Today, I timed him on a 25 yard sprint and he came in at 19 seconds from a weak push off.
So, what do you think? Is his improvement typical for someone his age or is he progressing at a fast rate? I am hoping to convince him to join USMS and compete in some meets with me after the spring semester. He loves to swim and I think he would have a blast.
Great job Elaine - he is swimming very well I think and especially liked the video of his underwater pull and body rotation - no crossover and hips aren't wiggling around. You're doin a great job. I'm not a coach (either), but for my $.02, maybe work next on arm recovery (higher elbow) and hand entry and catch (getting deep) using ftp drill and others. From the usms home web page a few months or so ago "chop slap stab": www.usms.org/.../articledisplay.php.
Thanks, 'jerz!
Crossover will never be a problem with Billy; he used to pull with both forearms swinging wide outside of his elbows. I have been working on getting his pull to come in narrower, and it's looking a lot better now.
The arm recovery has been the most difficult to correct. The arm on his breathing side (whichever side he is breathing on) has improved; however, he has difficulty with the arm on the non-breathing side. I assigned him the finger tip drill as his "homework" before our next lesson. :D My mantra has been: "Elbows higher than your wrist and wrist higher than your fingers!" (He is quickly learning the English words for his body's anatomy!)
Thank you for the link to Scott Bay's article. I remember that one and got a kick out of "Violence is not the answer!" :applaud:
Great job Elaine - he is swimming very well I think and especially liked the video of his underwater pull and body rotation - no crossover and hips aren't wiggling around. You're doin a great job. I'm not a coach (either), but for my $.02, maybe work next on arm recovery (higher elbow) and hand entry and catch (getting deep) using ftp drill and others. From the usms home web page a few months or so ago "chop slap stab": www.usms.org/.../articledisplay.php.
Thanks, 'jerz!
Crossover will never be a problem with Billy; he used to pull with both forearms swinging wide outside of his elbows. I have been working on getting his pull to come in narrower, and it's looking a lot better now.
The arm recovery has been the most difficult to correct. The arm on his breathing side (whichever side he is breathing on) has improved; however, he has difficulty with the arm on the non-breathing side. I assigned him the finger tip drill as his "homework" before our next lesson. :D My mantra has been: "Elbows higher than your wrist and wrist higher than your fingers!" (He is quickly learning the English words for his body's anatomy!)
Thank you for the link to Scott Bay's article. I remember that one and got a kick out of "Violence is not the answer!" :applaud:
