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Breeze · 01-04-2016, 05:45 PM

General Update

For one of Brett's Christmas presents we got him a spot in a Breaststroke clinic at the University of Tennessee. We went on the 2nd, and he got some really good insight...

1. In one of the stations the coaches were getting video on the swimmers and with Brett here is how he reported that station:

Coach (who was actually a current swimmer on the team) "You're a breaststroker aren't you?"
Brett, "Yeah, how'd you know?"
Coach, "Because your ankles are all effed up..."

The coach went on to explain that Brett's ankles were actually over extended to point of going past perpendicular, thus causing him to lose some of his leverage with his kick. He added some more advanced things for Brett to work on flatter back, tighter core during the lunge phase, the tight/loose timing of the muscle groups

2. One of the sections was designed to teach the kids to bring the hips forward, don't drop the knees and set up the kick by flexing the hamstring. For Brett he was more specifically told to anquer the arms at the pull and then bring the hips to his hands not pull the hands to the hips.

3. One drill was designed to teach a strong kick and it was executed by having the swimmers layout on the water about 15 feet from the wall, do one skull stroke and one full stroke and try to get all the way to the wall. Brett was extremely good at this, and he was moved back several times to increase his distance. The coach at that station (UT assitant head coach) said, "That was extremely impressive, but because you are so good at this, you are going to struggle with the rest of the camp" This was because the remander of the camp was on tempo training and his strong kick requires more time to execute.

4. During tempo training Brett did struggle, and this explains why his Breaststroke has been so flat. He's been trying to get faster by going faster, and the coaches at this event told him that is a counter productive way to approach the stroke given his strong kick. The coaches were looking to get the kids down to 1 stroke / second...where Brett, when doing his stroke correctly was running more around 1.5. The top female and male breaststrokers on the team (both with a legit shot to swim in the 2016 Olympics) pulled him aside and told him that he needs to focus on his kick. That in all honestly, he should probably almost not pull at all, simply use the arms as a way to anquer for the hip move and then as quickly as he can transition into his kick and lunge allowing the legs to be 80% of his stroke. They did tell him that because of his stroke, he would probably not be as effective in a 100 but he could be extremely strong in a 200...

Ultimately, the clinic was an extremely good experience for Brett. His stroke looked much stronger and more consistent during laps at the end of the camp. He got some good feedback and was really pumped up during the ride home. Hopefully, he will remember the tidbits they left with him and he can find a way to continue to repeat the instructions in his normal Gold Practices.

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Bear also took part in the breaststroke clinic. While Breast is his weakest stroke, he felt he could get some improvement that would help him in the long run. Bear didn't have the same interaction with the coaches, which isn't surprising given Bear's breast and the uniqueness of Brett's and how the coaches wanted to let him know the best way to swim the stroke moving forward. Bear did have a good time, and did say that he had some stuff to work on that were different than what he was currently doing. Bear never really swam hard during the laps at the end, so hard to tell if he improved much, but he seems to have taken the instruction to heart and we'll see when he races it next if he's able to execute any of it.

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Bailey didn't go to the clinic but she might be impacted by it anyway. Coach Andy went onto the deck to watch, ask questions of the coaches, and get some insight into how to better teach the strokes (his kids attended several sessions not just breaststroke). One of the things Andy noticed was how the UT top female breaststroker swims...she uses a lot of undulation (which isn't exactly how UT teaches the stroke, but because of her body type the undulation occurs naturally), which isn't the important part...what is important is the upkick on the stroke. When she brings her legs up to prepare for the breaststroke kick, she basically executes a fly upkick, generating a bunch of porpulsion. In fact her upkick appears to generate more momentum that her down kick. Given Bailey's strong fly kick, Andy is thinking about trying to teach this approach to Bailey and Bear....

01-04-2016, 05:45 PM	#709
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	General Update For one of Brett's Christmas presents we got him a spot in a Breaststroke clinic at the University of Tennessee. We went on the 2nd, and he got some really good insight... 1. In one of the stations the coaches were getting video on the swimmers and with Brett here is how he reported that station: Coach (who was actually a current swimmer on the team) "You're a breaststroker aren't you?" Brett, "Yeah, how'd you know?" Coach, "Because your ankles are all effed up..." The coach went on to explain that Brett's ankles were actually over extended to point of going past perpendicular, thus causing him to lose some of his leverage with his kick. He added some more advanced things for Brett to work on flatter back, tighter core during the lunge phase, the tight/loose timing of the muscle groups 2. One of the sections was designed to teach the kids to bring the hips forward, don't drop the knees and set up the kick by flexing the hamstring. For Brett he was more specifically told to anquer the arms at the pull and then bring the hips to his hands not pull the hands to the hips. 3. One drill was designed to teach a strong kick and it was executed by having the swimmers layout on the water about 15 feet from the wall, do one skull stroke and one full stroke and try to get all the way to the wall. Brett was extremely good at this, and he was moved back several times to increase his distance. The coach at that station (UT assitant head coach) said, "That was extremely impressive, but because you are so good at this, you are going to struggle with the rest of the camp" This was because the remander of the camp was on tempo training and his strong kick requires more time to execute. 4. During tempo training Brett did struggle, and this explains why his Breaststroke has been so flat. He's been trying to get faster by going faster, and the coaches at this event told him that is a counter productive way to approach the stroke given his strong kick. The coaches were looking to get the kids down to 1 stroke / second...where Brett, when doing his stroke correctly was running more around 1.5. The top female and male breaststrokers on the team (both with a legit shot to swim in the 2016 Olympics) pulled him aside and told him that he needs to focus on his kick. That in all honestly, he should probably almost not pull at all, simply use the arms as a way to anquer for the hip move and then as quickly as he can transition into his kick and lunge allowing the legs to be 80% of his stroke. They did tell him that because of his stroke, he would probably not be as effective in a 100 but he could be extremely strong in a 200... Ultimately, the clinic was an extremely good experience for Brett. His stroke looked much stronger and more consistent during laps at the end of the camp. He got some good feedback and was really pumped up during the ride home. Hopefully, he will remember the tidbits they left with him and he can find a way to continue to repeat the instructions in his normal Gold Practices. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bear also took part in the breaststroke clinic. While Breast is his weakest stroke, he felt he could get some improvement that would help him in the long run. Bear didn't have the same interaction with the coaches, which isn't surprising given Bear's breast and the uniqueness of Brett's and how the coaches wanted to let him know the best way to swim the stroke moving forward. Bear did have a good time, and did say that he had some stuff to work on that were different than what he was currently doing. Bear never really swam hard during the laps at the end, so hard to tell if he improved much, but he seems to have taken the instruction to heart and we'll see when he races it next if he's able to execute any of it. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bailey didn't go to the clinic but she might be impacted by it anyway. Coach Andy went onto the deck to watch, ask questions of the coaches, and get some insight into how to better teach the strokes (his kids attended several sessions not just breaststroke). One of the things Andy noticed was how the UT top female breaststroker swims...she uses a lot of undulation (which isn't exactly how UT teaches the stroke, but because of her body type the undulation occurs naturally), which isn't the important part...what is important is the upkick on the stroke. When she brings her legs up to prepare for the breaststroke kick, she basically executes a fly upkick, generating a bunch of porpulsion. In fact her upkick appears to generate more momentum that her down kick. Given Bailey's strong fly kick, Andy is thinking about trying to teach this approach to Bailey and Bear....