For Our Age Group Athletes: How to Have NO LIMITS on Your Future Performance.

By John Leonard

     In presentations I provide to parents and coaches all over the world, the conversation comes to teaching strokes whenever I speak. The simple fact is that swimming is a “technique limited sport.” (similar to gymnastics, diving, tennis and golf.) This means that the primary goal with EVERY athlete is to create a great stroke technique for them.

Not everyone’s stroke should be exactly the same, because not everyone’s body is EXACTLY the same. But, like building a house, the foundation and structural elements are very similar in all stroke construction. It’s those elements that we begin with at SwimFast.  What are they?

Breathing technique. Holding your body straight in the water, streamlining off walls, Excellent balance so that you can swim DOWNHILL (in effect) rather than uphill. Breathing, Line, Balance. They are the foundations for swimming well at all ages.

      Parents need to “beware”. There is all sorts of “information” available on the internet about “how to swim”. Some (most) is just pure drivel and nonsense by people looking for attention. Other information is from elite, adult bodied athletes who are not smart enough to realize that “what works” for a full grown man and woman with a full grown body is NOT the technique that needs to be taught to an 8, 10,12 or 14 year old.  All of our coaches are consummate professional teachers who discuss DAILY the techniques to be taught to allow youngsters to develop technique at the correct pace and sequence.

    As Coach Guy and myself teach all over the world, we remind coaches and parents and athletes that “the athlete with technique issues has nothing but long term limits on how much they can improve and the athletes who develop good technique HAVE NO LIMITS.”

   Our goal is to make sure every SwimFast Athlete HAS NO LIMITS.

All the Best,

JL