Gettysburg Sharks

Practice Set-Up

Monday -Thursday - (Age Group) - All practice will have mix of aerobic conditioning (endurance) anaerobic conditioning (sprint) and technique. Since most swimmers come on different days each week, all practices should have this mix.

Friday - (Level III) -Focus on technique, drills and fundamentals (starts and turns) with relays or other meet based activities. Sprint and endurance work will be a part of practice, but technique should be stressed. This is important during our meet season since we have Saturday meets. We would like to have as many swimmers at Friday practice as possible.

Practice Goals

* We will begin warm-up at the far side of pool with a start. Everyone should arrive at the pool early enough to change, stretch, get your goggles and caps on and be ready to enter the water on-time without disrupting other swimmers.

* Wall to wall swimming for all sets and warm-up. First swimmer to touch should move to left and stand away from wall. They should back up as other swimmers finish to allow room for everyone to complete distance (we don't want repeat sets of 42 meters since the 4th person in the lane usually stops 5-8 meters short of wall).

* Swimmers skipping excessive parts of a set, including warm-up and cool down will stay after practice to complete the distance skipped (we'll be watching).

* Cool down is a integral part of practice and essential for preventing injuries. We will be doing cool down sets approximately 50% of the warm-up distance (no more 50m walking and getting out).

* Little to no kickboard use for more experienced swimmers. Research has shown that boards force legs too low in water causing stress on knees and lower back. This is not the natural swimming position so should be avoided. If we had 1/2 boards we could use them but most teams are doing their kicking with forward hand position (great for short axis strokes). This allows you to keep your streamline while kicking.

* I like swimmers to count their strokes early and in mid-practice to compare. This is so they can maintain long strokes with good reach especially when they get tired. The most important formula in swimming is V = SL x SR (Velocity or speed equals Stroke Length multiplied by Stroke Rate) It's easier to improve your times by increasing stroke length than by moving your arms faster.

* Fins will be used after first few weeks of practice. Research shows that fins aid in maintaining stroke mechanics and improve overall speed. It is best to use fins for swim sets as well as kicking sets.

* Training for swimming has changed a lot over the past 10 years. Most experts now agree that speed work and recovery time is just as crucial for improvement as swimming a lot of distance. Importantly, there are several methods and philosophies used to help train correctly. (Teams "A", "B" and "C" may train differently, yet their swimmers all show improvement.) Using training techniques founded in research are important and will be emphasized in this program.