Muscles Trained: Upper body and core. Importance to Swimmers: Helps improve rotational strength and range of motion through the upper body and core. Execution: Stand with your back to a wall, with your heels positioned about 12 to 18 inches away from its base. Next, holding a medicine ball out in front of your chest with your palms facing each other, begin rotating to one side as you attempt to touch the ball to the wall behind you. As you turn to your right side, rotate the ball so that...

PST spent the weekend at the Coral Springs Aquatic Complex December 11 and 12 and showed off what PST will look like in the years to come. We had many swimmers compete for the first time, including Laura Garzon, Caitlin Mastroianni, Rachel Rosenthal, Adam Saryeldin and Natasha and Zachary Seletsky. Remember these names, as you will be seeing a lot more of them in the future! While PST showed its usual consistent best time performance, Yusuf Mousa dropped 16 seconds in the 100 Back and Leila Witcher dropped 11 seconds,...

Daily Nutrtion Needs Before and During a Meet Keep in mind that in order for nutrition to have an appreciable impact on your performance, you have to eat the right way on a year-round basis. Not that you can't occasionally indulge in some fast food, or sweets; just make sure that your daily diet follows the 80% rule, meaning that you make the right choices at least 80% of the time and reserve the other 20% percent for some of your favorite "cheat" foods. This way, you'll know you're supplying...

The Coach-Parent Relationship By Terry Laughlin Originally printed in Swimming World Magazine July 1989, Adapted and used with permission of the author The best analogy I can think of to sum -up is that of baking a cake. Take any individual ingredient flour, baking powder, baking soda, etc., and put it on your tongue during the preparation process and you'll likely grimace at the taste. Mix them all together with care, bake at the proper temperature for the right amount of time, and serve-the result is delicious. So it is...

PST Entries Psych Sheet Time Line Events 1-24 Saturday, December 11 Warm Up at 8am Events 25-54 Sunday, December 12 Warm Up at 8am Take University/Pine Island/Nob Hill north to Royal Palm. Make a left (west) on Royal Palm Blvd. The pool will be on your right.

As 2010 draws to a close, we take a moment to reflect on the accomplishments of USA Swimming and its athletes, both in and out of the pool. In the pool, 2010 saw a dominant performance by the U.S. National Team at the year’s biggest international event, the Mutual of Omaha Pan Pacific Championships. Team USA topped the medal count with a total of 51 medals (27 gold, 17 silver and seven bronze) and broke 23 meet records. The U.S. team’s performance dwarfed the competition with second place Australia finishing...

RECRUITING & RETAINING VOLUNTEERS WE LOVE OUR VOLUNTEERS Not a swimmer? Not a coach? No worries! You can still join USA Swimming, the nation's premier competitive swimming organization. Dive into the fun, friendly world of competitive swimming, without getting wet. Volunteers are the backbone of our organization, especially at the club level where all types of clubs rely on volunteer support to succeed. HOW TO MAKE A GOOD VOLUNTEER GREAT Recruit Volunteers. Don't wait for volunteers to speak up-take the first step and approach people to serve on a committee...

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES A volunteer is a person who is willing to help perform any one of the necessary jobs in USA Swimming and your club. Your role as a volunteer is important to our sport. You can be actively involved in your child's swimming program and can also be instrumental in strengthening swimming in the United States. With a positive attitude and a willingness to lend a hand, you will also have a great impact on your child's athletic environment, and love of swimming. There are unlimited opportunities to get...

Resistance Water resistance affects a swimmer in different ways. One way is through the impact of water with a swimmer and the subsequent flow of water around the body. This is called “form resistance.” Another way is through water turbulence and waves that are created by moving water. This is called “wave resistance”. A third way is through water sticking to a swimmer's suit or skin and creating “friction resistance”. These three resistance components all have a negative effect on swimming performance and should be reduced whenever possible. Form resistance...

Nutrition for Sprinters The demands of sprinters are much different than those of distance swimmers, both physically as well as mentally. Being fast while being relaxed, and swimming strong while not trying too hard are often challenges sprinters face. This article will focus on the mental demands of sprinters and offer some quick tips to be mentally tough. Controlling Your Arousal Most sprinters need some physiological arousal to perform at their peak. The difficulty arises when they are unable to control this arousal and their anxiety/excitement gets the best of...