Well, I know some of you are big fans of Ti appoach. I would like to read more on it. The library will not vcover the books that deal with backstroke, or breaststroke or butterfly, so I read some articles from time to time on it. Matt S use it for a summer team for kids and uses it himself and others might use some of it.
Parents
Former Member
My memory of that big Ti discussion of a few months ago, was that having the "hand entering close to the goggle" was a corrective drill that was suggested for a certain swimmer.
I know from coaching that sometimes you have to give an exaggerated drill to correct a major fault. Perhaps this swimmer had a straight arm recovery and slapped the hand into the water at full stretch. If you asked this person to enter the hand next to the ear then he would probably enter half way between his goggle and full extension, exactly where you want the hand entry to be.
I know that Ti wants the hand in the water to extend the body length and hence reduce drag but they are very clear on how to do the hand entry.
"That is to recover with a high elbow, hand hanging down vertically, fingers almost brushing the water and after the elbow passes the ear to smoothly extend the hand into the water as if putting it into a coat sleeve. The hand is to enter with as little splash as possible and the whole arm enters the same hole "opened up" by the hand, then the body rotates onto the shoulder and into catch."
I asked Terry Laughlin to clarify some points for me. I was concerned that many Ti swimmers in trying to reach forward as far as they can actually extend the hand into the water and then scoop it up to the surface again. Then they have to move the hand down a long way into the catch. This action would cause their body to lift up, causing increased drag.
He confirmed that after hand entry the hand should continue moving forward and DOWN, maintaining a high elbow, into the catch position 9 to 12 " below the surface.
Anyway, that is a lot to write so i will go now.
My memory of that big Ti discussion of a few months ago, was that having the "hand entering close to the goggle" was a corrective drill that was suggested for a certain swimmer.
I know from coaching that sometimes you have to give an exaggerated drill to correct a major fault. Perhaps this swimmer had a straight arm recovery and slapped the hand into the water at full stretch. If you asked this person to enter the hand next to the ear then he would probably enter half way between his goggle and full extension, exactly where you want the hand entry to be.
I know that Ti wants the hand in the water to extend the body length and hence reduce drag but they are very clear on how to do the hand entry.
"That is to recover with a high elbow, hand hanging down vertically, fingers almost brushing the water and after the elbow passes the ear to smoothly extend the hand into the water as if putting it into a coat sleeve. The hand is to enter with as little splash as possible and the whole arm enters the same hole "opened up" by the hand, then the body rotates onto the shoulder and into catch."
I asked Terry Laughlin to clarify some points for me. I was concerned that many Ti swimmers in trying to reach forward as far as they can actually extend the hand into the water and then scoop it up to the surface again. Then they have to move the hand down a long way into the catch. This action would cause their body to lift up, causing increased drag.
He confirmed that after hand entry the hand should continue moving forward and DOWN, maintaining a high elbow, into the catch position 9 to 12 " below the surface.
Anyway, that is a lot to write so i will go now.
