Freestyle day at CAL U (Week 1)

An overcast morning greeted the early risers that went to our 7:00 A.M. practice.  20 swimmers enjoyed a fun workout with Coach Nikki.

After breakfast I gave the first class room session of the summer on Freestyle.  I broke the stroke down into some basic elements.  I talked to the camp about the Power Phase, Recovery Phase, Kicking, Breathing, and Distance Per Stroke.  When you have swimmers ranging in age from 9 to 17 it is important to breakdown the stroke using the simplest terms possible and to relate it in ways that they all will understand.

We spent a good bit of time on the "Power Triad" or the first 3 elements of the Power Phase.

I spent time getting our campers to understand the they will not create any power or lift without the proper Entry, Roll, and Catch.  I explained how important it is to drop the pinkie 2 to 4 inches to get a good Catch and "Anchor" the hand to the Pull and Push the body through the water.

It is so much fun to have a captive audience, these swimmers really wanted to learn and understand the things they needed to do to Swim Smart.

We spent our 3 water sessions breaking down Freestyle with drills.

Some of the drills included:

The 88,66,and 44 drills which help with Body Roll.

The Quarter/Half/Roll Drill which helps with the High Elbow Recovery Phase.

It was a great day at CAL U.

Tomorrow we move on to Backstroke after putting the finishing touches on Freestyle.

Coach Scott