There is always a great debate in swimming of quality versus
quantity. Every coach and team has their
own thoughts and feelings on this, but I am a big believer in quality.
To start off, quality is all about learning to do things the
proper way. I believe this has to start
from the very beginning. This means when
a young swimmer first joins a team they need to be taught through drills by
focusing on how to swim smart. What do I
mean by swim smart? Do not recreate the wheel. I am a firm believer in streamlines, jumping
off the wall with power, and using your whole body when swimming. Yes, even
during drills.
Any coach can give a kid sets to complete and just have them
swim laps back and forth across the pool (quantity) and some swimmers will do
fine in that setting. However, this form of coaching in my opinion does not
hold a swimmer accountable for what they are doing. I have been known to call these kinds of
practices “Garbarge Yards!” What I mean
by this is that they are likely swimming yardage but in the process forming bad
habits such as not holding their streamlines, breathing on break outs, not
focusing on body position or head position.
“Garbage Yard” practices normally do not focus on the quality of the
swim rather just yards. Think of this as a runner who simply runs to run and
not a runner who runs to train for a marathon where they focus on stride,
breathing and technique.
By focusing on quality you can also prevent many swimmers
from becoming injured. Most injuries occur when coaches just push the kids to
get as much yardage in as possible. Rather,
when swimming for quality the simplest drills can help teach proper hand entry,
kick and body position. And yes, even when
doing mainly drill sets the kids are being challenged. Again, this challenge may not come at yardage
but rather forcing the swimmer to focus on and implement technique. It makes
them responsible in not only understanding directions that I give them but
forcing them to be accountable and apply what I am saying each and every time.
I find that focusing on quality keeps the swimmers, as well as me, engaged in
what they are doing. They are constantly
being challenged and learning to swim smarter not further.
This form of coaching
can make my job more challenging, but it also makes it that much more
rewarding. It is also much easier to
keep your kids progressing through the sport because they are more like to stay
injury free, which becomes imperative as swimmer begin to add more hours in the
water.
Now, as you get further into the sport there is a point
where your quantity needs to increase.
With an increase in quantity it cannot be at the cost of your
quality. There is no point in doing a
long yardage challenge set if part of the way through your technique falls
apart. This is where even with quantity
swimming I also expect them to swim with good quality and where implementing my
coaching comes into play. As a swimmer, they need to create a strong base so
when those long yardage sets are done the swimmer is set up to be
successful.
How can you create that strong base? Personally, I start off every season focusing
on “long axis” strokes. Long axis stokes are free and back which are the
strokes that rotate around your spine.
With this focus, I break each stroke down to underwaters (jumping off
the wall, streamlines, and underwater kicks).
Then I focus on kick strength and speed.
Your kick is your motor, it drives your body rotation and helps maintain
your body position. Lastly, I focus on
body position. I spend a couple of weeks
teaching them stroke and technique breakdown by implementing them into all the
drills and then working it into their swimming.
As we work on each stroke and continue to focus on specific technique I
continue to add new sets that will challenge the swimmers, but still focus on the
details. Don’t worry… I did not forget “short axis” or breast and fly, but I
focus on those once a strong base is set on long axis strokes.
Now just because I focus mainly on quality does not mean I
do not focus on quantity. Quantity at a
young age I feel is a detriment to the swimmer.
If they are just swimming yards to swim yards they are not learning
anything. It would get rather boring for
the swimmer and I see this commonly leads to them burning out at a much younger
age. But as a swimmer gets older and
they have a strong technique base behind them the quantity does need to be
increased. This can be increased in a
couple of ways. The first is adding more
practices in a week. Many teams offer
morning and evening sessions which makes getting in additional practices in
easier. With the added days the quantity of yardage each week will
increase. I also will add longer sets
with tougher intervals but I still expect smart swimming. I never
write a workout with in the intention of swimming “garbage yards.”
With all this said I am a firm believer in quality over
quantity. I know there are plenty of
people who disagree with me, but in my experience those swimmers who swim for coaches
who focus on yardage commonly get bored with swimming, are burnt out too soon
or are injured too quickly in their swimming careers. However, I think there is
room for both but never at the cost of quality.
Disclaimer: These are my opinions and are not to be a reflection on anyone other than myself.
