there were swimmers using a longer SDK way before berkoff
I remember a texas tech swimmer who used it in backstroke back in the early 80's, I sure wish I had practiced and mastered SDK in my teens and early 20's, at the time I thought SDK felt funny and dolphin kicking with my arms by my side felt more natural
berkoff was the one who broke national records with his SDK
THAT GOT EVERYONE's attention
Swimmers realized, If I want to break records, I need to get great at that and use it in meets
surprisingly it took several years after berkoff for SDK to really catch on in fly and free
then pankratov broke world records and won olympic gold using a longer SDK
then fina shortened how far swimmers could kick
coaches and swimmers need to study, measure, and perfect SDK
Swimmers should only use SDK if it's faster for them
I'm still trying to figure out how many SDKs I should take in free and fly
UT's Hill Taylor SDKed a 50 backstroke in 23.9 from a backstroke start
SDK should be the 5th stroke
Good article,but it may give the impression that swimmers do dolphin during freestyle,instead of only underwater.I also think the article didn't give enough credit to Natalie Coughlin.While Berkoff started it with back and Hymen in fly,Coughlin was the one who seemed to me to demonstrate it was devastatingly fast in all strokes(except BR.)She still has the best one in my opinion(although Crocker is also amazing.)
there were swimmers using a longer SDK way before berkoff
I remember a texas tech swimmer who used it in backstroke back in the early 80's, I sure wish I had practiced and mastered SDK in my teens and early 20's, at the time I thought SDK felt funny and dolphin kicking with my arms by my side felt more natural
berkoff was the one who broke national records with his SDK
THAT GOT EVERYONE's attention
Swimmers realized, If I want to break records, I need to get great at that and use it in meets
surprisingly it took several years after berkoff for SDK to really catch on in fly and free
then pankratov broke world records and won olympic gold using a longer SDK
then fina shortened how far swimmers could kick
coaches and swimmers need to study, measure, and perfect SDK
Swimmers should only use SDK if it's faster for them
I'm still trying to figure out how many SDKs I should take in free and fly
UT's Hill Taylor SDKed a 50 backstroke in 23.9 from a backstroke start
SDK should be the 5th stroke
Good article,but it may give the impression that swimmers do dolphin during freestyle,instead of only underwater.I also think the article didn't give enough credit to Natalie Coughlin.While Berkoff started it with back and Hymen in fly,Coughlin was the one who seemed to me to demonstrate it was devastatingly fast in all strokes(except BR.)She still has the best one in my opinion(although Crocker is also amazing.)
