The Swimming Expert

For many parents having a “swimmer” in the family is not something they planned.  Most swimmers begin in a learn-to-swim program and progress through to advanced lessons. From there they are asked to complete a couple of sessions in a junior squad and before you know it they are entrenched and absorbed by the sport of swimming.  By this stage, parents begin to realise the commitment required by a swimmer to complete the necessary training and competitions offered in the sport.

As a swimmer I had the opportunity to observe my own parents first hand and how they managed me as a swimmer, and how they worked with, and communicated with my coaches.  I was also fortunate enough to be coached by three of the most talented and experienced swimming coaches in the world - Julie Dyring, Bill Sweetenham and Leigh Nugent.

As a coach for more than a dozen years I worked closely with swimmers of all ages and have been directly involved in the introduction of parents to the sport of swimming.

For a swimming parent, understanding the role of the coach, the role the parent is required to undertake, and the responsibilities of a swimmer is critical to ensuring a positive and successful experience for the whole family. Yes, the whole family is affected by having a swimmer in the family and learning how to balance your time and other family member’s needs around the swimming schedule can be a challenge.

Over the years I have observed many parents who are introduced to swimming for the first time when their child is promoted to a junior squad.

For most swimmers who train for competitions, the measurement of their improvement is through performance and parents are encouraged to understand the many different aspects to training and competitions in an effort to provide parents with a more complete understanding of the sport and what a swimmer is experiencing.

One of the aspects I love about swimming is that when swimmers compete, no one else can affect their performance.  They have their own lane and no one can tackle them, bowl them out, hit the ball past them or affect their performance in any way.  It is just the swimmer and the black line.

Children who choose to train and swim competitively learn so many life skills as they become more exposed to the sport.

In general their grades improve at school, their time management skills improve and they learn how to win and how to lose with grace.  They are introduced to goal setting and taking responsibility for themselves.  They are also exposed to the concept that if you work hard on a skill and commit to doing something correctly over and over again, it will improve.

‘Swimming for Parents’ is a vital resource for all swimming parents.  The book, available also as an eBook with instant delivery, is a lifelong project that draws on many of my experiences as a swimmer, coach, swimming administrator and now as a parent of young children who enjoy swimming.

This book has been written to educate parents of junior and teenage swimmers and has sold more than 3000 copies all over the world.

The second edition is now available at www.SwimmingForParents.com.

QUESTION:

Hi Gary,

In the breaststroke, should the elbows stay locked until the arms reach the “Y” point of the out sweep?

Looking forward to your advice,

Howard (UK)

ANSWER:

Hi Howard,

Yes, I believe they should. Too many swimmers bend their elbows at the beginning of the breaststroke out sweep and this leaves the back of their hands pointing towards each other.

Remember that in swimming you primarily move in the direction of the back of your hand.  By bending the elbow early in the pull, there is no forward movement gained from the out sweep.

Begin the stroke with the elbows locked and the hand angled slightly at the wrist so that the back of the hand points slightly forward, then as you part the arms to a point just wider than the shoulders, the swimmer will get good forward momentum.

Regards

Gary

The Swimming Expert

QUESTION:

Hi Gary

My daughter is 17 years old and has been swimming since 9.  She excelled in breaststroke until 2 years ago.  However, for the past 2 years she has not improved on her times at all.  Is this due to puberty as she is now 1.7m tall and weighs 58kg, which seems good.  She is doing a 48 / 49 seconds in her 200im leg compared to her previous times of 44/45 sec.  Obviously her medley has suffered due to the breast leg.

We have spoken with her coach and he cannot seem to put a finger on it, which is leaving her very disheartened.  She trains 16 hours a week, but does no land training.

She does partake in our countries Senior National competition which is the ultimate in national competitions and is using the X Glide closed back racing suit.

I would appreciate any constructive advice.

Kind regards

NN, South Africa

ANSWER:

Hi NN,

It is not unusual for swimmers who have been practising and competing for many years to go through periods of time when they excel or fall back with different strokes.

It sounds like as your daughter has gone through puberty and her body size and shape have changed that this may have affected her breaststroke times.

Her height and weight do seem very good and it would be interesting to see if her power to weight ratio has improved or declined in recent years or whether this will improve as she gets stronger in the next couple of years.

Breaststroke is quite a fickle stroke and sometimes a swimmer can feel great and other times they feel ordinary.  This often has to do with their timing.  I was a breaststroke swimmer and found the drill 1 pull, 2 kicks extremely helpful to re-gain my timing in breaststroke.

She is old enough now to do some gym work and I would recommend some exercises be included to assist in the development of her leg strength.

Another suggestion is to work on her ankle flexibility to ensure she is catching as much water as possible with her feet in each kick.

Many of the current successful female breaststroke swimmers are also recovering their hands much more quickly into a streamlined position was they have finished the in-sweep.  They are then able to get maximum speed forward as their feet kick backwards as their upper body and arms are in a fully streamlined position.

My final advice is to keep working with her coach on correct technique and timing over the next few months with the view of getting back to her old times.

Regards

Gary

The Swimming Expert

QUESTION:

Dear Gary, Could you please tell me why the flip-turn is not used in the breaststroke and butterfly?

It seems strange to me, because the flip-turn seems more fluid and more fun to watch.

Thanks… Wayne

ANSWER:

Hi Wayne, What a great question.

I agree with your suggestion and have no doubt that sometime over the next ten years the rules for breaststroke and butterfly turns will be modified so that flip turns can be used.  This innovation would create more excitement on the turns and really challenge the swimmers.

There would need to be very stringent rules especially for the breaststroke turn if a flip turn was implemented.

Both turns currently include the technical requirement that two hands much touch the wall at the same time and then the swimmer must rotate their body from one direction to the other to perform the turn.  The quicker they rotate their body and position their feet on the wall for a stronmg push off, the faster they will go.

If a flip turn was introduced in breaststroke, the rule would need to be adjusted so that on the final stroke of breaststroke on each lap, the hands may be brought down past the hips at the beginning of the flip turn.  I would imagine one fly kick may also be allowed.

The implementation of a flip turn in butterfly would be easier as the swimmer is already doing fly kick and could tumble over at the completion of the arm pull.

Swimmers would need to be very fit and have a strong lung capacity to perform a breastsroke or butterfly flip turn. Currently swimmers take a breath as their hands touch the wall in preparation for the split stroke in breaststroke or up to 15 metres underwater kick in butterfly.  The deletion of this breath will really challenge most swimmers as their last breathe before the turn will be a second or two earlier.

Regards

Gary

The Swimming Expert

QUESTION:

Hi Gary, I am wanting some advice on turns as my 11 year old son has good times but his turns are slow for his breaststroke & freestyle.

What can he do to improve his timing into and out of the turn. Thanks heaps, Ruth

ANSWER:

Hi Ruth, Breaststroke turns can be quite difficult to learn and then do fast. Your sone should find the following notes very helpful.

As the swimmer approaches the wall, their hands should touch about shoulder width apart and normally on the same level so that the swimmer’s shoulders stay in the same horizintal plane.

Once the hands have touched the wall, one elbow should be pulled down toward the hip whilst the legs are brought under the body and up onto the wall.  When the feet touch the wall, they should be pointing to the side of the pool.  Many swimmers pull their feet right around and point them towards the bottom of the pool however this will take alot more time and slow the turn down.

As the feet touch the wall and get ready to push off, the top arm should push off the wall and be taken over the water to enter in front of the face.

As the swimmer pushes hard off the wall the hands will come together under water and the body moves into a streamlined position.

It is important to practice these turns over and over again so that you get faster at them.

For more great breaststroke tips go to www.50SwimTips.com.

Regards

Gary

The Swimming Expert

QUESTION:

Hi Gary,   What is the best way to improve my daughters reaction time off the blocks, she is 10yrs old and seems to be overly cautious when doing her starts   Regards Diane

ANSWER:

Hi Diane, There are a number of different ways that children can improve their starts.

The first way is to practice them correctly and regularly.  Your daughter needs to make sure she is getting into the correct position when the starter says “Take Your Marks’, with one foot forward and one foot back for a track start or both feet at the front of the block for a grab start.  The toes of the front foot / feet should be curled over the front of the block and the body weight should be forward so that the centre of gravity sits over the front of the block (but not too far forward so they feel like they are going to tip in).  On the starting signal she need sto push hard off the block as soon as she hears the signal, making sure that the toes are the last part of the feet to leave the block.

Some exercises that your daughter can do to improve her reaction time include:

• skipping on a regular basis
• practicing burpees so that she learns to jump out, jump in and jump up all as part of one exercise
• practice on the starting block by going into the take your mark position and then when someone claps their hands together she jumps out as far as she can
• the same as the one above, but diving out as far as she can.

Regards

Gary

The Swimming Expert and author of Swimming for Parents and Nutrition for Swimmers

Gary Barclay explains the importance of a fast hand recovery in breaststroke.

Gary Barclay talks about the importance of getting the right arm stroke width in breaststroke.