A few bits of interesting information that came up during the meet this weekend.

1. One arm drills - i use one arm drills in free, fly and back for a number of reasons. These include isolating one limb at a time to focus on correct positioning and correct motion and correct timing.
"A drill done 99% correctly is 100% wrong" Third immutable law of improvement..."Do Things Correctly.".

2. Breathing. The first need of any human and therefore our highest priority, is to keep on breathing.
Breathing mechanics in swimming are vital to both securing enough air to compete AND maintaining perfect body position for fast swimming. I spend a major amount of time trying to teach our swimmers to breath in the proper position for each stroke.

3. Warmup. Some people need long hard warmups. Some people need long easy warmups. Some people need short hard warmups, some people need short, easy warmups. A few people need no warmup. (we don't have any of those.) I adjust the warmup based on my views of that athlete's needs. (Individual) Also on the basis of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and "if it ain't working, change it".

4. Starts. Yes, we have no starts yet. We are negotiating with the JCC to provide starting blocks.
Hard to work effectively on starts without them. We'll get there. Backstroke flags (waiting for hole drilling) and new lane lines (on their way) are still priority.

5. Strength Training. We'll be back to this on a regular basis in April. Right now, just focusing on swimming fast.

6. Kicking. The biggest muscles in the body are in the legs. If they are not in shape, neither are you.
We try to kick about 25-40% of the workout, depending on the person. I take this into account for the WEEK, not on a per practice basis.

7. Team Suits - I am leaning towards plain, normal old BLACK for swim meets. I want the kids to all wear the same suits in meets beginning this summer. I will discuss with swimmers over the next several weeks. Feedback appreciated.

8. Yes, we will train long course at Sunrise this summer, M,W,F 6-8 AM. Everyone.

9. Practice begins when the athlete and i get there. If we both are there at 4:42 then practice begins at 4:42, not 5 PM. This is based on my one simple principle......SwimFast athletes are there to get better.
Anyone who wants to get better, uses every available minute to get better. Getting started early is thus a good thing to do. We will always end ON TIME and maybe a few minutes early, so parents can count on when to pick their athlete up. Sometimes, due to what Cindy and i are doing, we may not be able to start the Stroke School people much before 6 PM. Other days we can, so that's the only caveat in this. Seniors and age group swimmers, when you arrive, we start.

Its all about PURPOSE. You don't need rules if you all have a common PURPOSE. Our PURPOSE is to get better. We measure every decision against whether it enhances the PURPOSE.

Thanks for reading! All the Best. JL