Approach to teaching competitive swimming?

Former Member
Former Member
Now that I've gone through the hassle of signing up as a member of this dicussion group, this gets more and more fun. Maybe I'll get fired from my job :) Anyway... I'm sure that ALL Masters level swimmers have heard of Total Immersion (from now on referred to as TI) swimming, correct? What are everyone's opinions about TI swimming? I am most curious because as a coach of age group swimmers, I was looking for training videos for our kids. I happened upon TI and liked what I saw... at first. Here's some background for my experience with TI... very well put together, most of what they teach has been in existence for some time anyway, and they certainly are good for teaching novice/beginner swimmers the basic technique for swimming. However, when looking to swim fast, and I mean fast, not lap swim quality, but truly competitively, I thing TI has missed to boat completely. Yes, smooth and efficient swimming is nice, but did anyone see the NCAA's? There are 20 year old men swimming 9 strokes per length in breaststroke! We have a number of age group coaches in my area teaching their kids how to swim breaststroke at 6 or 7 strokes a length!!! What gives? Extended glide is one thing, but when you slow down your stroke to such an extent just to achieve long and fluid strokes you sacrifice speed tremendously. Hey, if you can swim 9 strokes a length at 1 second per stroke that is WAY better than 6 strokes a length at 2 seconds per stroke. Simple math. Anthony Ervin of Cal swam the 100 free in the follwing SPL... 12 (start)/15/16/16. I could be off but that's what I was able to get from the (ahem- PALTRY) ESPN coverage. Now TI has goal SPL's of 12/13! Hello, if the BEST sprinter in history takes 8 cycles, shouldn't that tell us something? Turnover is very important. Same with streamlining, yes streamlines are nice and quite important but A.E. pops up after 5 yards MAX out of each turn. You only serve yourself well if your streamline is faster than you can swim, most age group swimmers would be well-served to explode out of the turn and swim within 3-4 yards. Alas, it's been a slow day finishing my work for the week. Just looking to start a nice discussion. It's been my experience that a lot of Masters level swimmers are also engaged in coaching age group swimming at some level, and therefore I feel we can get some good dialogue going on this issue. Now I've just used TI as an example because that's what I've had my experience with, but more general is what keys do you all stress when trying to mold competitive swimmers? Au revoir, -Rain Man
Parents
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Matt, Many coaches get involved such as you and discovered that it helped them as much as the people they were coaching. TI has a training and certification course, I have not taken it. I would recomend going to MACACOACH.ORG and download what it takes to become an ASCA certified coach. I know the courses are very good and eye opening. You really would want to complete the ASCA courses first because the basics understanding balance and physiology should be mastered before going to TI instructor school. I have taught breaststroke for a long time, but immediately adopted 75% of TI short axis drills because the teaching methods work better than any others. I have been to clinics that used kick boards under the chest and other methods. They just confused every one. I can teach a good *** and fly in one hour now. I share Ions pain with asthma, my asthma was real bad up until 1999 when Singulair came out. I don't even carry an inhailer anymore, I used to carry three. Just the thought of breathing like that makes my neck hurt. One thing an asthmatic needs to do at major competitions is swim lengths underwater to open up the smallest air sacs. Without that you are swimming on 90% of the lungs. This works for everyone, not just asthmatics. The year I won my national championship, the first day my asthma was bad, I could not swim even one half length underwater. Had a bad 100 ***. The next morning I was able to swim four seperate lengths underwater. Able to win the 50 easily. Also asthmatics need to take advantage on a good massage that expands the chest and back. Wayne
Reply
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Matt, Many coaches get involved such as you and discovered that it helped them as much as the people they were coaching. TI has a training and certification course, I have not taken it. I would recomend going to MACACOACH.ORG and download what it takes to become an ASCA certified coach. I know the courses are very good and eye opening. You really would want to complete the ASCA courses first because the basics understanding balance and physiology should be mastered before going to TI instructor school. I have taught breaststroke for a long time, but immediately adopted 75% of TI short axis drills because the teaching methods work better than any others. I have been to clinics that used kick boards under the chest and other methods. They just confused every one. I can teach a good *** and fly in one hour now. I share Ions pain with asthma, my asthma was real bad up until 1999 when Singulair came out. I don't even carry an inhailer anymore, I used to carry three. Just the thought of breathing like that makes my neck hurt. One thing an asthmatic needs to do at major competitions is swim lengths underwater to open up the smallest air sacs. Without that you are swimming on 90% of the lungs. This works for everyone, not just asthmatics. The year I won my national championship, the first day my asthma was bad, I could not swim even one half length underwater. Had a bad 100 ***. The next morning I was able to swim four seperate lengths underwater. Able to win the 50 easily. Also asthmatics need to take advantage on a good massage that expands the chest and back. Wayne
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