Drills vs Endurance sets - Age Group Training

I am interested in hearing everyone's thoughts about how much practice time should be spent doing drills vs sets. This is in regards to age group training...with specific interest in the 10 and under and 11-12 age groups. My kids swim in a local club and the majority of the practice time is spent doing set after set. All the coaches do is throw the kids in the pool and tell them to swim laps. There is virtually no time dedicated to drills. I am very disappointed in the fact that my kids have developed bad stroke technique that is not being corrected in practice. As a result, their times are going up and they are becoming disenchanted with their experience. I am currently a member of the board and would like to address these issues with the rest of the board and the coaches. However, I need information to help me with my stance. What is everyone's experience with drills vs endurance training? Thank you. As a USA coach (volunteer parent) I see the same thing. Our two full time coaches with very little swimming experience want them to grind out the yards. Wrong in my opinion. Some folks bring a runners mindset to the pool. The more you do the better you get. Not true in our sport. I'd rather see a young swimmer fine tune their technique before they start piling up the distance. In a few instances...I've worked with kids in an empty lane...and corrected head position, stroke length, and streamlining. They went from the B cuts to the A level in as little as a couple of week. Repetition of bad form will manifest itself when it comes time to race. Whatever they do poorly in practice will rear it's ugly head when they try to go fast.

I am interested in hearing everyone's thoughts about how much practice time should be spent doing drills vs sets. This is in regards to age group training...with specific interest in the 10 and under and 11-12 age groups. My kids swim in a local club and the majority of the practice time is spent doing set after set. All the coaches do is throw the kids in the pool and tell them to swim laps. There is virtually no time dedicated to drills. I am very disappointed in the fact that my kids have developed bad stroke technique that is not being corrected in practice. As a result, their times are going up and they are becoming disenchanted with their experience. I am currently a member of the board and would like to address these issues with the rest of the board and the coaches. However, I need information to help me with my stance. What is everyone's experience with drills vs endurance training? Thank you. As a USA coach (volunteer parent) I see the same thing. Our two full time coaches with very little swimming experience want them to grind out the yards. Wrong in my opinion. Some folks bring a runners mindset to the pool. The more you do the better you get. Not true in our sport. I'd rather see a young swimmer fine tune their technique before they start piling up the distance. In a few instances...I've worked with kids in an empty lane...and corrected head position, stroke length, and streamlining. They went from the B cuts to the A level in as little as a couple of week. Repetition of bad form will manifest itself when it comes time to race. Whatever they do poorly in practice will rear it's ugly head when they try to go fast.