The Future is Now

A huge part of a coach's job is to evaluate our swimmers' technique and make corrections. One thing that some age group coaches fail to keep in mind is that we shouldn't be correcting a swimmer's stroke to make him faster NOW, but rather guiding his technical progress so that he can succeed in reaching his potential in the long term.

One illustration of the importance of this concept can be seen in the video below. The swimmer in the video is a distance freestyler, and she was fantastic as a 10 & Under. Later in her career as a senior swimmer, she is still quite good but improved only marginally since the age of 12.

Notice how her stroke is extremely short and choppy. As a 10 year-old, she used this stroke and her coach actually encouraged it. This technique was reinforced as she steamrolled the competition and beat everyone her age. No need to change, right? Wrong.
Had her coach begun to emphasize stroke length, kicking, and reducing drag, I believe she might have continued to improve infinitely into her teens. Instead, she became stuck with her technique and stuck at a particular speed. In a future post, I will discuss this further from a coaching standpoint.

The Six Truths of Fast Swimming - Truth #4

The 4th Myth of Fast Swimming: "Swimming is an individual sport."
The 4th Truth of Fast Swimming: "The fastest swimming is often performed by athletes who surround themselves with excellence."

To realize this truth, you have to look no further than the current state of swimming in the United States. Look at the success of North Baltimore Aquatic Club, which has placed a 15-year old on each of the last four U.S. Olympic teams. They have established a tradition of success that breeds more achievement today.

Look at the results for Olympic Trials - how many of the top swimmers are the lone standout on their teams? Not many. Most are part of programs that routinely develop swimmers to the highest levels, creating a culture of excellence.

Success in our sport occurs in clumps. Talented, hardworking athletes tend to train together and reach new levels together. Train hard to be the best you can be, and encourage your teammates to do the same. Together, you can push each other to new heights!

Why Should My Child Be a Swimmer?

Swimming is a terrific sport for people of all ages and backgrounds. We are glad you are considering participating in this sport which so many are so passionate about. Here are just a few reasons why swimming is a great sport.

1. Swimming is an outstanding activity for young people.

2. Swimming promotes fitness and teaches a child to strive for physical achievement. Many super-stars in other sports started out as swimmers and gained strength and coordination that helped them to excel.

3. Swimming is an exciting individual and team sport.

4. Swimming is a technical and specialized activity involving extensive skill development.

5. Swimming is a healthy "lifetime" activity. Participants may be 1 or 101 years old.

6. Swimming is relatively injury-free in comparison to other youth sports.

7. Swimming teaches the life lessons of sport and sportsmanship which include learning to deal with winning and losing, as well as working with officials, teammates and coaches.

8. Swimming motivates participants to strive for self improvement and teaches goal orientation.

9. Swimming cultivates a positive mental attitude and high self-esteem.

10. Swimming can prevent drowning. Learning to swim could save your child's life or help him save another's life in the future.

Did you know?

• Drowning is a leading killer of American children.

• In ethnic communities, drowning rates are nearly three times the national average.

• More than 30% of kids are at risk for obesity-related illnesses.

SWIMMING IS A CURE.

To find out more about how to join the North Carolina Aquatic Club, click here

More Tidbits from Omaha

With a bit more time to digest the Trials and crank out a few stats, here are a few more things for you to chew on.

The youngest female swimmer to make the top-16: 13 year-old Madison White from Crow Canyon Sharks. She was 12th in the women's 200 back, qualifying for a spot on the World Junior Team.

Interestingly, the next two youngest females to achieve this distinction were also in the backstroke events: 14 year-olds Elizabeth Pelton from North Baltimore in the 100 back and Bonnie Brandon from Mission Aurora in the 200 back. Topping that, the highest ranking 15 year-old female was Elizabeth Beisel, the backstroke specialist who made the team in the 200 back and 400 IM. This is too much to be coincidence. I would have expected this to happen in the breaststroke, in the tradition of Amanda Beard, Megan Quann and other young stars in that stroke. Can anybody suggest a reason why this may occur in backstroke events?

The youngest male swimmer to make the top 16? Nick D'Innocenzo, 17 from Magnus Aquatic Group was 15th in the 200 IM. The next two behind him, Austin Surhoff from North Baltimore and Andrew Gemmel from Deleware both also placed in IM events.

So what about the youngest competitors at the meet? There were 10 thirteen year-old women who made a total of 18 cuts, but no male competitor younger than 15 made the field. The four 15 year-old men who did qualify for Omaha all swam the mile.

Average age of all competitors: 19.73 years
Average age of all male competitors: 20.75 years
Average age of all female competitors: 18.79 years

The events with the youngest average age for men: 1500 free, 200 free, and 400 free
The events with the youngest average age for women: 200 back, 100 back, 400 IM
See the entire list of average age by event here

Number of male competitors 25 & Over: 39 (7 made the Olympic team)
Number of female competitors 25 & Over: 14 (4 made the Olympic team)

A little-known fascinating story I heard on deck in Omaha: Vladimir Pyshnenko, who is also a coach at Northbrook Spartan Swim Club was competing in the Trials for a fourth different national body: the Soviet Union (1988), the Unified Team (1992), Russia (1996), and now as a naturalized citizen here in the U.S. in 2008. He's not bad either: he owns a Gold medal from 1992 in the 4 x 200 free relay and a silver from 1996 in the 4 x 100 free relay.

The Best 18 & Unders in the Country?

Olympic Trials is the fastest meet conducted on American soil every 4 years. Though the meet is unscored, it is an interesting exercise to score the meet for all 18 & Under swimmers to see which programs are tops in the country at developing their swimmers to an elite level. I have broken it down event-by-event and will post the final team results in the summary chart when the meet concludes.

Summary Chart- Total points and Totals by Gender

18 & Under Only Results:

Event 1 M 400 IM
Event 2 W 100 Fly
Event 3 M 400 Free
Event 4 W 400 IM
Event 5 M 100 Breast
Event 6 W 100 Back
Event 7 M 200 Free
Event 8 W 100 Breast
Event 9 M 100 Back
Event 10 W 400 Free
Event 11 W 200 Free
Event 12 M 200 Fly
Event 13 W 200 IM
Event 14 M 100 Free
Event 15 W 200 Fly
Event 16 M 200 Breast
Event 17 W 100 Free
Event 18 M 200 Back
Event 19 W 200 Breast
Event 20 M 200 IM
Event 21 M 50 Free
Event 22 W 800 Free
Event 23 M 100 Fly
Event 24 W 200 Back
Event 25 W 50 Free
Event 26 M 1500 Free

Observations from the Olympic Trials

It has been an exciting last week in the world of American swimming. After being in Omaha for part of the meet and watching the rest of it, here are a few of my observations.
- The venue and location seemed to be a big hit. USA Swimming, the Qwest Center did a spectacular job putting on the meet. The exciting atmosphere no doubt contributed to helping our swimmers go fast.
- The meet has become extremely fast. Times that were good enough for top 8 at the 2007 World Champs weren't good enough for top 16 at the trials in some cases.
- In my opinion, there are three major reasons for this. First, there are so many more post-collegiate swimmers competing. Increased money in the sport and more collegiate coaches who are willing and able to coach post-collegians have made the field faster. Opportunities after college have allowed athletes to continue to train and compete at a time when their bodies are capable of higher levels of performance (especially men in their late twenties). With the cutting of college swimming programs, will this trend continue?
- The effect of these post-collegians is that the cuts have become fast enough that fewer "club swimmers" achieve them. This is particularly the case on the men's side, where fewer than ten under-18 swimmers even qualified for some events.
- The "Dara Torres effect" on the women's field has been real. There is a growing number of women over 25 who are startlingly fit competing. I suspect that for physiological reasons this effect will never be as great as that on the men's field. We will likely always have 14, 15, and 16 year-old women swimming fast, particularly in the breaststroke and distance events.
- USA Swimming must be cognizant of this effect on the men's field and the filter-down effects that it has. Many of today's late-twenties men have been competing at the national and Olympic Trials level since they were in their late teens. By looking at the 18 & Under standings in my previous post, you can see that fewer of today's best 15-17 year-old men are getting this opportunity. The current developmental gaps between local meets, sectionals, junior nationals, and nationals must be plugged to ensure that our talented young athletes have sufficient encouraging opportunities along the way to be sure that they don't leave swimming for another sport.
- The second major reason I see for the Trials field improvement is the advent of the drag-reducing suits that we have seen in the past 8-10 years. First, these suits help everyone go faster. Second, the revenues these suits have produced for the manufacturers have come back to the sport in the form of more opportunities that I mentioned above. Third, these suits level the playing field between younger and older athletes. Our older swimmers tend toward the sprints, and it is possible that the new suits also provide a measure of buoyancy that helps offset any deficit of power or endurance that a swimmer in his mid-to-late thirties might have.
- The third major reason is simply that our coaches and athletes are doing a better job. We are aspiring to bigger and better things, becoming more knowledgeable, sharing our ideas more, and training harder and smarter than ever before. There is no doubt in my mind that the work of Russell Mark, Jonty Skinner, Genadijus Sokolovas, Dave Thomas and the rest of the team at USA swimming are in part responsible for this.
- A few images that will stick in my mind from these trials: Michael Phelps, Katie Hoff, Aaron Peirsol, and the remarkable ability they have to ALWAYS get their hand on the wall first. The second-greatest swimmer of all time Ryan Lochte stalking Peirsol and Phelps so closely that he is sure to pull at least one upset in Beijing. Elizabeth Beisel lighting up the meet with Olympic berths in the 400 IM and 200 back. The likely retirement swims of terrific champions Gary Hall, Kaitlin Sandeno, and many others. And of course, that peculiar green waterfall.