Coach's Corner

Here we go again! The season is but a few weeks away.

The Swim Suit fitting will take place on Tuesday the 15th as opposed to the date I had sent in my previous e-mail, so please note the change.

Also for those that made it to the meeting on monday, I have changed practice times a little bit, just 10 minutes here or there to make it flow a little better. See the schedule page.

Once all our coaches are in town I will be calling all the 14 & Unders and seniors to organize a meeting with the coaching staff to do a little planning. So expect my call in early May.

I hope you are getting as excited about the season as the coaches are!

Ask a Coach

Any Questions for Ask a coach please send to palacian@yahoo.com.

This week’s question comes from a parent:

Q: Hey Coach, How strong of a swimmer should someone be to be able to join the swim team? What about lessons, does the team teach the kids how to swim?

A: A youngster is ready for swim team if they can swim two lengths of the pool without trouble. It does not have to be fast but it must be efficient and continuous. Swim team is not a substitute for swimming lessons, as a matter of fact swim team and swimming lessons complement each other pretty well. In the team, a swimmer will get stronger and fitter which will increase his or her ability to make the changes called for in swimming lessons. At the same time, changes made in swimming lessons will help a swimmer keep up with the rest of the team, and swim more efficiently.

This is not to say that there is no instruction in swim team, there is a lot of it, but it is done differently due to the amount of athletes in the pool at one time. Instruction is very seldom intensive one on one, it is more pointers here and there, that will give the swimmer the tools he or she needs to master the skills being introduced. With swim team, fitness is a priority, it has to be in order for the swimmers to be able to swim fast. A coach cannot sacrifice the groups workout to make sure one swimmer learns something. The coaches will try to work on most of the skills and will even introduce drills aimed at helping a single swimmer with his or her weakness, however, the group as a whole must keep moving. In swimming lessons the skill is the top priority, the groups are smaller and the instructor has the time and space, to work on a swimmer’s problem on an individual basis.

Ideally, until they have mastered all 4 strokes, swimmers will do both swim team and some swimming lessons/stroke class.