Age-Group Swimming in a Nutshell

By Coach Tom Sweeney

 

Competitive age-group training is directed to preparing swimmers for the Senior Program and, eventually, for lifetime best swimming performances.

 

We are guided by the reasons kids give for participating in competitive swimming: Being with friends…Making new friends… Having fun… Learning new skills… Improving skills… Enjoying the excitement of competition and team membership…Exercising and becoming fit. (See usaswimming.org).

 

Our swimmers learn to love the sport of swimming through games…drills… …exacting technique…intra-squad fun competitions…setting and meeting goals…organized practices…caring coaches…and experiencing personal and team success.

 

There are two ways to swim faster: (1) increase the force used to propel the body through the water, or (2) decrease water resistance on the body. In our age-group program we focus primarily on the latter. Like dolphins, we want a body shape that minimizes friction in the water. Proper body alignment, minimal wasted movements and reducing resistance help us swim faster.

 

FIRST PHASE: we strive for elegance and simplicity in the water. Proper body alignment, especially head position and the spine line, helps us to move through the water smoothly, quietly and efficiently. We train our swimmers’ nervous systems to automatically find the best way to slide through water, a dense medium. Air, for example, is about 1/800^th the density of water. We seek the path of least resistance. (See totalimmersion.net).

 

This phase is 100% teaching with lots of feedback. Sometimes we refer to this as enhancing correct muscle memory. Conditioning occurs also because much of the kicking, e.g., is done underwater which is stressful. Notice that, even in this first phase, we do some actions, e.g. dolphin kick on the back, fast to remain in touch with our natural speed.

 

Our drills and skills may look like they have nothing to do with competitive swimming, but (like learning the scale in music is linked to a symphony) they do! This is called creating an EFFICIENCY OR SKILLS BASE.

 

SECOND PHASE: we do lots and lots of longer sets at low intensity with great head position and body alignment, long axis rotation for freestyle and backstroke, hip “loading” for short axis butterfly and backstroke, strokes, streamlines, and turns. Stroke length and stroke count become increasingly important.

 

We concentrate more on water sensitivity on hands, arms, legs and feet. To hold the water while our body slips by, we seek the path of most resistance.

 

You may see us swimming “slo mo,” almost as slowly as we can. When our swimmers learn to travel efficiently at a very slow speed, they can move more efficiently at higher speeds. Try walking very, very slowly and notice what you learn about body alignment and balance. Super slow swimming permits us to coach for maximum stroke length and, ultimately, relaxed or easy speed. You will see some fast kicking or swimming over short distances every day in this phase.

 

In this phase there is 95% teaching with persistent feedback and corrections. We purposefully link drills (often a part of the stroke e.g. left arm only) with whole stroke swimming. We spend lots of time on stroke components throughout the age-group program.

 

During this stage of the program, younger swimmers (7-8) will often swim 100-500 yards (without stopping) and others (9-12) up to 1000 yards. The focus here is on continuing to be elegant, efficient, and slippery as the body tires from longer swims. Like jogging with a partner at a pace that allows you to talk, this is called creating an AEROBIC BASE OR BASIC SWIMMING ENDURANCE.

 

THIRD PHASE:  now we add tempo training and racing skills. Once we have great technique, we create swim sets that require our swimmers to “hold stroke length” as fatigue sets in due to faster swimming and less rest time. We continue paying attention to stroke length and count, but also to stroke rate (the number of strokes per a set time period), always keeping in mind that doubling the speed at which you move your arms through the water takes eight times as much energy. When animals increase speed they increase the distance of their stride. A centuries old desert dog, e.g., at top speed covers up to 12 feet with each stride.

 

We often swim short distances at a high speed with Zoomer fins to heighten our swimmers’ sense of proper body alignment and correct arm-leg movements. We learn and practice Coach Touretski’s “three Rs:” stroke range, relaxation and rhythm. All this leads to evenly applied propulsion as swimmers move through the water.

 

Since our race strategy breaks events into parts, we begin to establish patterns in swim sets. For example, we might do 4x50 freestyle on 1:00 with the first 50 focusing on long strokes and relaxed speed, the second building speed, the third holding speed, and the fourth driving home with a faster stroke rate (but continue with long strokes) and a feeling of top speed.

 

ADDITIONAL GOALS

 

First, we want our age-groupers to be part of one team and become friends with the seniors, our role models. We want all the swimmers on the team to know all the members of the coaching staff and vice-versa. You might see a senior or national coach working with 7-8 year-olds on occasion and a 9-10 coach working with former members of her group who are now 11-12. You may also see older swimmers swimming an age-group practice now and then.

 

Second, we spend more time training our assistant age-group coaches so that we all teach the same skills in the same way.  The stronger our coaching staff (and aren’t they terrific role models!), the better training environment for your swimmer-athlete.

 

Third, we now have awards for “Drill Star” and “Set” progressions. These are difficult to achieve and require that our swimmers work hard to demonstrate total mastery of drills and have the determination to complete set progressions. Both take mental concentration as well as physical skill. Drill tests/sets are scheduled about twice a month on different days so that everyone gets a chance to participate. These are special awards and therefore have exacting requirements.

 

Fourth, we provide opportunities to achieve levels of performance:

 

In training (e.g., 6x50 of each stroke plus 6x50 of kicking); 

 

In competition (e.g., 100 yard free under 1:00);

 

In biomechanics (physical and cognitive); an example is performing a correct streamline underwater for at least 1.5 body lengths at varying depths;

 

Levels of performance in physiology (physical and cognitive); for example being able to understand the relationship between training, maturation, and physical development;

 

Levels of performance in character development and life skills such as championship behavior and accountability and work ethic and self-discipline;

Performance levels in psychological skills, for example self-image, self-talk, and the mental dimensions of training.

 

These levels of performance are designed for swimmers from age six through the senior program and gradually place before the swimmers challenges most can reach with persistent effort. Part of USA Swimming, these progressions help develop the athlete as a whole person—physically, emotionally, mentally, and socially.

 

One of our goals is to help all swimmers fulfill their potential. We realize that there are different levels of talent and development among our swimmers, as well as different levels of commitment and desire. We have steps of progression for every level of development and provide a training environment that gives an opportunity to move forward for those who not only desire to, but also put in the necessary time and effort. Whether swimmers want to practice for fun and recreation or have an Olympic dream, our team has a plan to meet their goal.