For this weeks blog, I thought I’d discuss stroke dynamics as there are a lot of people with many different ideas on HOW we should swim.
I for one, firmly believe that every individual is completely different and their stroke has to suit them and not us as coaches. I think that our job is to facilitate their improvement by working with what they can do!
Anatomically we all have two arms, two legs, a torso and a head – however this does not mean that we all move in the same way.
There are some coaches who want swimmers to swim how they want them to swim and this may or may not be to a disadvantage to the individual because of many varying factors, such as; limb length, power/weight ratio, experience or any injuries/disabilities.
I do believe that everyone can improve! It’s our job as a coach to work with what is presented to us.
Many athletes are interested in ‘marginal gains’ and are keen to learn about the intricate details of the strokes being performed – my question to you is, will this help/hinder a swimmer?
Would be great to hear your thoughts!
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2 comments
Zim Hippo
October 15, 2018 at 1:06 pm
Hi Mathew
interesting blog. I have been on my open water journey for 10 years now. I totally beleive that everyones stroke is individual to them as is the way they should train. I have dabbled with many options for my stroke and whilst the overall dynamics are similar across the board, the intricacies of my stroke definitely will not work for others.
Having swum in pools to oceans and pretty much everything in between, I can also concur that a pool stroke is not good in the ocean and vice versa.
In my coaching I get people to correct glaringly obvious faults but I am more interested in giving the student the ability to adapt their stroke according to their environment. I see many swimmers who practice one form of swimming and try to carry that through into another realm and get frustrated that it does not work for them.
Happy coaching and hopefully we will get to meet one day
Cheers
The Zimhippo
matt
October 15, 2018 at 7:54 pm
Wow what a response! Thank you for the reply, it means a lot! It’s great to hear like-minded coaches doing similar things with their swimmers!