General Tips for Making it to State (High School Swimming)
Former Member
Hey,
Im a junior in high school, and this is my second year swimming on an official swim team. I joined the swim team as a joke my sophomore year, but I now love the sport and want to take it very seriously.
I moved up to JV last year and I'm now looking to move up to varsity this year and do very well in the 200 I.M.
My stroke techniques need lot of work. My *** is by far my best followed by the freestyle. The backstroke and butterfly are pretty much the same.
My *** is pretty decent and my coaches have said I'm doing it right. However with my back and freestyle, my hips are swinging out and I'm fishtailing. My coach tried telling me how to do it, but I'm still doing it. How do I fix this?
With my butterfly, I feel like it's a little strained and it doesn't really flow like I feel it should.
Also my kicking is very very weak. After a 50 freestyle/Back/Fly and i start burning out (especially fly since I don't really know how to do it) *** kick is cake.
My sophomore year I swam the 100 *** at 1:17.21
My times as of now are:
50 Freestyle: 27.3 Seconds
100 ***: 1:26.54
50 Back: 38 Seconds
50 Fly: 32 Seconds
Right now I'm training primarily through weight lifting (Working on all areas of the body,) and some swimming.
I am really looking to go from being a decent swimmer to someone who can place 1st in state (ideally : D)
Any advice would be appreciated.
Parents
Former Member
Also, I could be wrong but it sounds like you are probably overreaching in free and back. I can't think of what else could cause fishtailing. have your coached watch for this and then give you drills to correct for it. When you have a stroke flaw like overreaching and you correct for it it will feel very strange at first and they used to recommend overcorrecting so that when you weren't concentrating as hard you would probably do it just right. That was 20-25 years ago. What do your coaches say is the cause of the fish tailing? If they don't help you find someone to give you a few one on one private stroke lessons. That is very important stuff to fix!
with fly it is all rhythm. What help me was watching someone do it and then it clicked. I had the rhythm. Watch very good flyers and see what they do--their arms move and they kick, kick/kick, kick. Also, in fly they say, 'head before hands.' Head goes in, arms go in and you kick. Then you start moving your arms out and around (and back) and you kick again, mid-way through your pull. Then your head comes out of the water first followed by your arms as they recover over the water (or your head stays in because you aren't breathing on this stroke and your arms recover.) You make a key-hole type shape with your arms when you pull.
There are lots of things to work on--high elbows under water, distance per stroke, strong kick, head position (water at brow level in freestyle), etc. Work on these and you should improve.
Also, I could be wrong but it sounds like you are probably overreaching in free and back. I can't think of what else could cause fishtailing. have your coached watch for this and then give you drills to correct for it. When you have a stroke flaw like overreaching and you correct for it it will feel very strange at first and they used to recommend overcorrecting so that when you weren't concentrating as hard you would probably do it just right. That was 20-25 years ago. What do your coaches say is the cause of the fish tailing? If they don't help you find someone to give you a few one on one private stroke lessons. That is very important stuff to fix!
with fly it is all rhythm. What help me was watching someone do it and then it clicked. I had the rhythm. Watch very good flyers and see what they do--their arms move and they kick, kick/kick, kick. Also, in fly they say, 'head before hands.' Head goes in, arms go in and you kick. Then you start moving your arms out and around (and back) and you kick again, mid-way through your pull. Then your head comes out of the water first followed by your arms as they recover over the water (or your head stays in because you aren't breathing on this stroke and your arms recover.) You make a key-hole type shape with your arms when you pull.
There are lots of things to work on--high elbows under water, distance per stroke, strong kick, head position (water at brow level in freestyle), etc. Work on these and you should improve.
