I have been approached about working with a couple of people who are paraplegic and want to swim to eventually compete in local triathlons. Does anyone have any experience, recommendations, drill work or advice that could help accomplish this goal?
Thanks!
Kat
Kat, I work with persons who have disabilities and I found that you have to be creative in teaching swimming. Some drills may be physically impossible for them to do as written. I am working with a person with spina bifida - she cannot feel anything from the waist down and to tell her to kick was counter productive.Her feet are also fused - no ankle flexion at all. We started with using a life jacket, to putting a noodle under her arms, to using a pull bouy and now she is swimming freestyle and backstroke with no floatation devises. This took time. Several of my other swimmers (adults) have cerebral palsy,some more involved than others. Those more involved may not be able to do one arm drills due to balance issues.
I just do a lot of trial and error - and then adapting drills to make it work.
Good luck - this sounds like fun
Kat,
Personally, I would coach swimmers with disabilities just as I do able bodied swimmers. The workouts and drills are really dependent on the swimmer’s ability, not their disability.
I applaud the people and their goal and you for helping them to reach their goal.
I know this is a long shot, but see if you can reach out to the RD for the Hammerhead Ocean Marathon in Jacksonville FL. There was a swimmer in the 2.5 mile race that has no use of her body from the waist down who also does paraplegic tris. You might be able to see if the RD can connect you with her and maybe you can get some personal insight from her. Or maybe she'll give you her coach's name as well so you can learn from him/her as well.
Have you read This?
www.usaswimming.org/.../bcoach.pdf
While it doesn’t list a lot of specific drills, it really helps to better understand how to coach disabled swimmers.
