Most important phase in swimming???

Most sports skills require the athlete to "set-up" or begin properly or everything else falls apart. In golf, starting without the proper grip is enough to predict failure. In swimming, without "setting-up" a proper catch all else is of little consequence. A streamlined body without a effective catch is a sleak slow vessel. You can finish your stroke with the power of Zeus but all you'll be doing is churning water faster then the swimmer next to you. There are many elements important to swimming fast but unless you have a great catch you can nix fast swimming. 16 out of 20 Gold Medal and 43 of 60 medals won in Athens was won with a EVF stroke. It's not the wave of the future, it's always been here but now we're learning how to train swimmers to improve it. George Block American Swimming Coaches Association (Past President and Head Swimming Coach NISD ". It's the single most important skill (Early Vertical Forearm Position) that differentiates every level. In the following Swimming World website video/interview www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../preview.asp titled Freestyle Coaching - Catch or Release, eleven coaches at the recent Senior Nationals at Irvine California were asked the question; what would you teach first when teaching the freestyle. Nine of the eleven said the catch (Early Vertical Forearm EVF), one said the release, and one said both are equal. Nine of the eleven said things like: a great catch leads to a great release; absolutely and definitely the catch (must be taught first), without the catch the rest doesn’t matter; elbow over the hand is what we teach. It’s time that everyone knows that the catch is not just an important component to swimming fast, it’s vital for every stroke and every swimmer can improve it.

Most sports skills require the athlete to "set-up" or begin properly or everything else falls apart. In golf, starting without the proper grip is enough to predict failure. In swimming, without "setting-up" a proper catch all else is of little consequence. A streamlined body without a effective catch is a sleak slow vessel. You can finish your stroke with the power of Zeus but all you'll be doing is churning water faster then the swimmer next to you. There are many elements important to swimming fast but unless you have a great catch you can nix fast swimming. 16 out of 20 Gold Medal and 43 of 60 medals won in Athens was won with a EVF stroke. It's not the wave of the future, it's always been here but now we're learning how to train swimmers to improve it. George Block American Swimming Coaches Association (Past President and Head Swimming Coach NISD ". It's the single most important skill (Early Vertical Forearm Position) that differentiates every level. In the following Swimming World website video/interview www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../preview.asp titled Freestyle Coaching - Catch or Release, eleven coaches at the recent Senior Nationals at Irvine California were asked the question; what would you teach first when teaching the freestyle. Nine of the eleven said the catch (Early Vertical Forearm EVF), one said the release, and one said both are equal. Nine of the eleven said things like: a great catch leads to a great release; absolutely and definitely the catch (must be taught first), without the catch the rest doesn’t matter; elbow over the hand is what we teach. It’s time that everyone knows that the catch is not just an important component to swimming fast, it’s vital for every stroke and every swimmer can improve it.