All of the kids are pretty pumped right now because we have our first meet today. I hope
you guys are ready for your meet, some of you probably already had one. But it is a
beautiful day here in Georgia for all of this--so this is going to be great. We did work on
a couple of skills today and they had to do with the start. So we made sure that everyone
was comfortable going off of the block because the starting block can be a little bit intimidating--
especially for younger swimmers that have never gone off of a block before. So we made
sure that everyone was comfortable from that height. The big thing that we worked on with
the starting block, number one is actually stability. That's making sure that you're
steady and stable on the block and that you're not falling in and that when you get up--you're
not wobbly at all. I'm sitting here with the coaches and we're getting ready for our first
meet. What do you think our chances are? Well, I think we're going to do pretty well. I think
that diving is going to be one of our strong suits. Turns, we need to work on that. Turns
are something we need to work on but other than that I think we're going to do pretty
well. You know that's right. You've got to have input--whatta you got? Yes. Just yes?
There it is, we're going to find out tonight. The important thing with the starting block
is making sure that your toes are curled over the edge, the front edge of the starting block.
That is real important, especially for developing swimmers. If you're not careful when it comes
to stability, especially with the excitement that's going on because you're about to swim
in a race, a lot of times the swimmers will be wobbly on the block. So we get them stable,
make sure their toes are curled and make sure that they're standing tall on the block. If
you're not really stable then sometimes you may fall in when they say Take Your Mark or
you could possibly when they say Take Your Mark, Set--then GO and you hear the buzzer.
A lot of times the kids will already have a forward lean going on and when they have
that forward lean then they'll fall into the water. Alright, I'm here with Sam and Sam
actually swam for me 2 or 3 years ago. He set some county records and now he's an official
which is awesome. Alright I'm here with Chris and we're getting ready for our first swim
meet. You guys can see that right there. What did the blonde do when she found out that
most accidents happen within a mile of home? Well, she got nervous so she tried to drive
away from her house ad got into a wreck about 25 miles away from her driveway. No, she moved.
Dude, you made that way more complicated.... Why?? We'll talk about this in a later episode
but on the start it's real important and you've got to keep a couple of things in mind. Number
one, the dolphin kick is extremely powerful, it's a very powerful kick but the downside
of it is that with that power it uses your energy really really quickly. So one of the
big things that swimmers will do is that they will do their start and they'll stay under
water a little bit too long with their dolphin kick usually because they see someone else
doing it. So they want to stay under as long as they possibly can as well. And if you don't
have the strong dolphin kick to support staying underwater that long then it can actually
be bad. As they mature with their skills throughout the season, I try to make sure that they know
that this is one of those skills that unless you have a one-on-one coach that is watching
you continuously and able to take times and stats on your underwater ability then it something
that the swimmers need to develop for themselves and become aware of. Is it actually beneficial
for me to stay underwater with the dolphin kick? Am I a strong enough dolphin kicker
in order to maximize that underwater? To be able to use that to my advantage staying underwater?
Because if your dolphin kick isn't that strong yet then you should actually be swimming.
If you lose that starting speed because you're staying underwater too long with your dolphin
kick then that's actually bad. You want to be able to have the same speed from where
you hit the water in a tight streamline-- you want to be able to rip that onto the surface.
So that's it for day 9. These things are really really important especially for new swimmers
getting ready to start their meets. One little last point of emphasis...at swim meets, if
you're not used to going to them. They go. They don't pause, they don't stop, they don't
take breaks if you're not at your race. That's something that can catch some swimmers off
guard. Maybe they're listening to their music or they're off playing with a duck if there's
a pond near by. Their race comes up and they end up missing it, that upsets some people.
I hope you guys have fun at your first meet. I know most of you probably have had your
first meet or you're getting ready to have your first meet. So I hope you guys are successful.
As always, if you have any questions or comments--leave those below and I'll definitely answer those.
If you have a joke you want me to use on the other coaches then let me know a joke too
and I'll see how that works.. Alright guys that is it for today and I hope everybody
has a great first meet and I will see you guys later...BYE. Well that's it guys. I hope
you enjoyed the episode, check out yesterday's episode down below. SUBSCRIBE right here.
If you have any questions or comments then please leave those below and I will answer
them as soon as I can. Good Luck everybody, Take Care