Maverick Aquatics

Study Skills

Need to learn how to study better?  Your coaches not only care about your swimming, they also care about your grades.  Ask them if you've already asked your parents and teachers and need more help.  Posted below are notes from the short presentation on study skills Tonya gave at the swimmer's meeting.

Download study_skills_one_time_workshop_notes.doc

There are a lot more tips than what was presented.  Please, before your grades fall, at the very first sign of trouble, seek help.  There may be a simple solution. 

Read on for lots of good information swimmers can use!

For those of you who have trouble with green hair, I asked some of our blonde-haired experienced swimmers to share their secret.  They said to soak your hair in lemon juice to first get the green out.  Then you can shampoo as normal or buy one of those specially-formulated de-chlorinating shampoos.  Sara Brown uses John Frieda Blonde shampoo but relates it can be pricey.

Any other questions? 

more articles and info about swimming

The NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student Athlete is a good resource for rules and recommendations:   http://www2.ncaa.org/index_students_parents.php 

CollegeSwimming.com has a good site for recruiting info.  Remember, if you are looking at swimming in college, Coach Dan and Tonya have some experience at this.  Ask them for help!

The US Olympic Committee has a fun, informational site designed for kids.

Etiquette

USA Swimming has some tips for meet etiquette.

In a gym, in a road race, in a pool - follow the unspoken rules.

Health

The first link is about how much healthier swimmers are than those who don't exercise.  The second is the flip side; it's about how much worse people's health is when they don't exercise at all. (The second also cautions against energy drinks.)

rocky_mt. News - youth through swimming & energy drinks  (two brief health blurbs)

sedentary_lifestyle_causes_more_deaths_than_smoking.htm (a fairly long article that should motivate you to keep exercising!)

The March 2005 issue of Swimming World magazine reports the results from a fifteen-year longitudinal study that shows swimming actually slows the aging process from 1% per year every year after 25 to less than a fraction of a percent per year every year after the mid- to late-30s.  In fact, with consistent swimming of about an hour or so a day, four or five days a week, the decline does not reach 1% until about age 70.  Stay young longer with swimming! 

Isn't it great to be a swimmer?

You might be a swimmer if...

...whenever you hear an electronic beep you instinctively jump.

...you have rings around your eyes unrelated to the amount of sleep you got.

...waking up before dawn to exercise seems normal. (You might also be crazy)

...bugs die of chlorine poisoning when they land on your skin.

...you are female and sport long, curling hair with split ends...on your legs.

...you answer, "I don't need to" when someone asks when you showered last.

...you love a good lightning storm when you have outdoor practice.

...you learn how to squirt water 15 different ways.

...your long term goal is to slap your bicep on your lat.

...your friends have stopped asking you about your plans for the evenings.

...your daily apparel is held together by knots or is torn and see- through.

...the phrase, "50 double armed backstroke with a breast stroke kick" makes you happier than anything.

...being fish-like is a compliment.

...your nightmares consist of a series of numbers ending in 0 or 5.

...you have "hickeys" on your neck.

...you sweat chlorine even after showering.

...your once blonde hair is now a natural shade of green.

(-from Carson Bronnenburg, who says her hip-hop dance friends have dyed green hair and her swim friends have natural green hair).

...your friends don't even call you anymore because they know that you have no time to do anything.

...the phrase "this set with fins" is better than hearing "You just won $1000."

...among your heroes are Janet, Jenny, Amanda, Natalie, Michael, Ian...or you know who I'm talking about.

...the first place you go when you're stressed out is a swimming pool.

...you go from store to store desperately trying to find your favorite sports drink or energy bar.

...you just don't understand the charm of the swim suit edition.

...someone asks if you have any siblings and you start listing teammates.

Got any more?

Ideas from other Coaches

Some thoughts from Coach Bill Sweetenham, National Team Director for Great Britain, as published in the ASCA Newsletter vol. 2004, issue 12.  These are not novel ideas; they have been and are taught on our team.  But you might appreciate reading them from the pen of someone else.

The skills of any athlete in competition under pressure and fatigue will always be below those at which they train and certainly not the reverse.

Successful athletes desire success more than the most dedicated coach.  Commitment and attitude are everything.

A reason is an excuse.

Compromise is the Cancer of Achievement.  Motivation, commitment, and attitudes are lifestyles; they are not about being excited for a short period of time prior to a major meet.

100% right is 100% right; 99% right is 100% wrong.

Good is not enough where better/perfect is possible.

Do your best - no more, no less, no excuses.

Taper!

We are in the taper phase of training.  Essentially, this means decreased yardage and increased intensity.  Everyone needs heightened concentration.  Every swim and every rest needs to be done exactly as perscribed.  This is the time to practice mental skills!  Rehearse your races before stepping up.  Imagine beating out your competitors into the walls.  Keep a positive attitude.  Many swimmers get so anxious about the meet that they want reassurance at every practice that the swims will be there.  Just do your best at practice and have faith the swims will be there.  Even if you feel terrible today and all the way up to warmups in the meet, it just might fall together for your race.  Believe in yourself!

If you are new to Mavericks taper (all team's are different), please familiarize yourself with the following components so that you know what we are doing.

Accelerators:  These are 100's on increasingly slower intervals by day.  25 drill, 50 build, rest for 5 seconds, 25 sprint.  All choice.

Simulators:  These are broken swims to simulate an actual race.  100's are broken 50, rest :10, 25, rest :05, 25.  200's are broken 75, rest :10, 75, rest :05, 50.  These races should be paced as you would in a meet - that's all out for a 100!  They should also be prepared for as if you were in a meet.  Do your physical and mental pre-race routine.

We will have lots of warm-down to keep your muscles from building up lactic acid due to all the sprinting.  Even though you are swimming slow, this is a good opportunity to tune into your technique so that it works when your speed it up.

After an initial period of fatigue, taper sometimes boosts your energy.  If you are bouncing off the walls, try your best to contain it.  The energy should be spent in the pool. 

Importantly, taper is fun!  With more rest and all racing, it is a time most swimmers look forward to all season.  After hard work, the payoff is just the thrill of racing and finally having the energy to put forth your best...maybe even a lifetime best!

Swimmers' Guide

Especially new swimmers should take a look at our Swimmers' Guide to Team Specific Race Cues, Ideals, and Expectations.  Know exactly what the coaches' are trying to indicate and exactly what is expected of you.  If anything is unclear, please ask.

Download swimmers_guide.doc

Reasons for Constant Skill Development

Swimmers, have you ever been bored at a practice? Have you ever gotten tired of hearing the same corrections over and over? Have you ever wondered why you have to repeat the same drills you've done since you were a tadpole? Here are some things you might consider to answer those questions.

1. Skill development never ends. Your bodies are changing all the time…not only in length and size, but in body content and maturity. Your feel on the water may or may not change, but you must constantly adapt your swimming to your changing body. So you say you spent 3 months in the weight room and you're stronger, more defined, trimmer, but you're not swimming faster? Maybe your flexibility range has changed (for better or worse). Maybe your muscle to fat ratio has changed so your buoyancy is different, which effects your body position, which effects your underwater mechanics and streamline, which effects your speed.

2. As you age and your body content changes, so does the ability of your muscles. At times you might not be in good shape but you can jump in the pool and swim well. This is called "muscle memory". Your muscles remember how it feels. This is why you may get a correction over and over again. Your body gets comfortable doing what it is used to. That means if you are not actively thinking about a change and feeling something different, your body will go back to what it knows. This causes problems in a lot of ways, such as doing flip turns. If you have recently grown (in the last 2 years) since the last time you worked on the distance from the wall that you turn, you are probably doing them too close to the wall. Your visual memory says turn close because it is used to turning in that spot.

3. Skill building is important in all skill levels. As you grow and get more experienced, you also learn to feel the water differently. If your feel is different and, therefore, not familiar, it makes sense to go through the familiar basic skills that will build a stroke at your new physical size. It is unfortunate for most of us that little children, who do not have the 'muscle memory' to overcome can pick up skills seemingly much more quickly than young (or older) adults can. Their quick learning ability makes sense if you understand that most of us who are older (13 or more with some years in swimming) have to unlearn a movement before we learn the correct one. That is why many older swimmers, during the technique phase of the season or after receiving a correction as opposed to an adjustment may slow down for awhile before they get faster. Older swimmers must train their bodies with that correction for it to work for them…just like they trained the old stroke for months or more.

4. Is there really any stop to development and constant change and adjustment? The quick answer is no. Watch the world's best swimmers with the world's best coaches and you will see them spending more time on analysis and detailed changes than the novice swimmer does. Watch the interaction between the coach and the swimmer and you will see the coach moving the swimmers hands, pointing out muscle use, re-aligning the body, demonstrating movement, etc. If you didn't know better, it would look as if they were teaching a novice!

So don't be bored at practice; use constant vigilance with your technique in order to retrain your muscles to do the correct movement. Your coach will try to help you with that by reminding you of the same correction over and over. Through drills you will be given a chance to regain your feel of the water after a change in your technique or change in your body. If you feel as if you are not progressing just because you are hearing the same drills and corrections, think again about how the same drills and corrections might actually be a route toward progress or the result of progress.

Counsilman's Hierarchy of Training Adaptations

Please click on the image to enlarge.  From Counsilman and Counsilman, 1991.  As you can see, skill work never ends!  Skills are the base from which you can build your speed.  All those drills are important for bettering your technique, but don't always expect results overnight!  Also clear here is how the months of long practices with hard sets (aerobic) give you a good base for your speed work training (anaerobic).

Shaving down

Growing Out Leg Hairs and Shaving Down

NOTICE…(if you haven't already!): the "core" girl swimmers grow out their leg hairs for the two months prior to their championship meets. In answer to the most common question in response, yes, it does help them swim faster. There is a physiological and psychological advantage to not shaving during heavy training. Physiologically, it produces resistance equivalent to a runner training with a parachute behind him or her. This means that with all else equal, a swimmer with leg hairs will have to work harder than one who has consistently shaved. So when it comes down to the championship meet and the hairy one shaves down, that one has an advantage over the other. This is why leg hairs must be grown out at least two months prior to the meet for full effect. There needs to be time to train with the extra drag. Also, shaving not only sheds the weight, it sheds the outermost layer of skin cells, which results in greater sensitivity to the water. These two physiological advantages then combine with the psychological advantage obvious to any swimmer, girl or boy, who has shaved down for a meet. He or she feels faster, looks faster, is faster.

shaving_down.htm is a practical guide to shaving down when the time comes (the night before your first championship race). Of course, just ask the experienced swimmers on the team who have done it before. They can give you lots of hints!

Coach Tonya