MANHATTAN MARLINS

Missouri Valley Swimming
Level 2

Fall 2025 Week 2: Technical and Conditioning Focus: September 8 – September 14

Reid Carlson

Fall 2025 Week 2: Technical and Conditioning Focus: September 8 – September 14

  • Macrocycle: Fall 2025: September 1 – December 14
  • Mesocycle: September 1 – October 12: Stroke & Aerobic Orientation
  • Microcycle: September 8 – September 14
    • Aquatic Posture; Freestyle Body Position & Rotation; Streamlines

 

Hello Swim Families!

 

Freestyle, freestyle, freestyle!

We continue our focus on freestyle this week with a lot of the same concepts covered last week, and we will add an emphasis on breath timing.

A perfect breath in freestyle would involve a swimmer rolling into their breath as their recovering arm extends forward into the next stroke cycle—to whichever side—and getting their face back into the water before initiating their pull with the outstretched arm. Furthermore, a swimmer must keep one eye—one goggle lens—in the water while they breathe.

A swimmer’s breath must be fast and “sneaky!” It may also be described as “low-profile.” Keeping a high body position and the “dry back” as mentioned in the first email last week is a crucial part of this technique.

With every stroke a swimmer takes, regardless of which of the four competitive strokes they are swimming, it is imperative that they put all their energy forward. There is nothing to be gained from dramatic up-and-down movements. Furthermore, when a swimmer dives off the block all their toes must be pointed directly forward, though that is a conversation for a different time.

Please let me know if you have any questions, and I’ll see you at the pool!

 

-Coach Reid