January Events & First Things First

Greetings & Happy New Year!

Welcome back, Pirates, Plebes, and Voyagers! I hope you all had a great holiday season.

JANUARY EVENTS: We will be hosting two meets this month. The Super-Swimmer Swim Off will be held on Monday, January 14. The deadline to register is this Friday at 4:00 PM. This meet is for swimmers who can complete a 200 Freestyle, 200 Backstroke, and a 100 IM. As with all our events, this one is open to the public. Tell your friends!

Did you know that Open Water Swimming will be contested as an Olympic event for the first time this summer in Beijiing? The Olympic distance is 10K. To celebrate this new event and to introduce the sport to our swimmers, we will be hosting an open water mile swim in August. To help swimmers prepare, we will host a series of one mile swims at our pool. The first of these will be held on January 21. The "pool mile" is 1650 yards (66 lengths of our pool). The Mileage Mondays are open to the public and to all ages and ability levels. We encourage all Voyagers and lap swimmers to consider going the distance! Entry forms are on line and available at the pool office window. The entry procedure is the same as for a splash meet. Entries are due by Friday before the meet. Heat Sheet with start times will be posted by Saturday afternoon. You can show up for your heat. You do not have to stay for all of the heats of the mile. Give it a try!

FIRST THINGS FIRST: In my last post I explained how we first help swimmers achieve and maintain aquatic balance and then help them add propulsive movements. This first things first philosophy - and having the patience to master one skill before attempting to move to the next applies to teaching propulsive movements to beginners and to helping improve stroke technique for experienced swimmers.

Building & Correcting Strokes
1. Head Position
2. Body Position
3. Arms & Legs
4. Hands & Feet

When coaches observe a stroke we look first at the swimmer's head position. Until proper head position is maintained it doesn't really matter what the rest of the body is doing. Once the head is held in line with the spine and in the water, we move on to working on body position. Next are the large movements of the arms and legs. Finally, we move on correct the hand position and pitch.

When working on your strokes or helping your children, remember first things first. It does no good to tell your child to shape their hand in a particular form to swim faster when he or she hasn't yet mastered the skill of keeping their head in line or using body roll.

The Voyagers cover this concept when we practice Training Habit #3 - Effort. We teach them that effort doesn't mean working hard, it means working smart. We want swimmers to swim at the prescribed pace using correct technique. Voyagers are taught that concentration means "thinking about one thing;" and that focus means "thinking about the right thing."

REGISTRATION: Registration is open for the Spring and Summer sessions. Fall registration will open on February 1.

Have a great week! JN