11 Things Your Swimming Coach Is Always Yelling
By Allison Peters, Swimming World College Intern
We all know what it is like to have your swimming coaches yelling at the top of their lungs during practice, trying to get our attention. Here’s a few things that you can improve on to reduce some of this helpful noise.
1. Don’t breathe in and out of your turns
Let’s just face it, even the most dedicated athletes can have a lazy moment. Being a distance swimmer myself, I have grown accustomed to breathing just about whenever I feel like it. Just know that breathing in and out of your turns not only adds time to your race, but actually slows you down after you propel off each wall.
2. Dolphin kick past the flags
Obviously there are some exceptions to this. For example, don’t dolphin kick past the flags if you’re swimming the 100 breaststroke. Other than that, always use it to your advantage. The dolphin kick was Michael Phelps’ signature move each race. It was practically his secret weapon that helped him take down his opponents in multiple Olympics. If you strive for perfection like Phelps, listen to your coach and do the kick all professional swimmers have down pat.
3. You don’t need 10 breaths in a 50 freestyle
For the top sprinters on my team, I’m always hearing my coach tell them to not take any more than three breaths in a 50 freestyle. Taking a breath during your sprint takes away the momentum you built from your start and turn. As all sprinters know, it only takes one breath for you to be in or out of a final night swim.
4. Finish the ENTIRE cool-down
It’s the end of practice and you’ve had enough of swimming, you just want to get out and go eat everything in your refrigerator. So, you cut that 400 warm down into a 50, along with some dolphin dives and blowing bubbling rings up from the bottom of the pool. It might seem fun, but the point of cool-down is to flush out the lactic acid you built up in your system so you’re not tight and sore the next day for practice or a race.
5. Don’t breathe into your finish
No matter if you’re a distance swimmer or sprinter, there is never a need to breathe into a finish. Don’t believe me? Go watch Michael Phelps’ 100 butterfly final swim in Beijing. Keeping his head down and winning that gold medal is what made him the most decorated Olympian in history.
6. Don’t break stroke
It can be hard to swim butterfly in a lane with a bunch of other swimmers, but sometimes it just has to be done. Don’t try and take the easy way out and break stroke unless you really feel like you’re going to hit and seriously injure another swimmer.
7. Breathing at the flags doesn’t count as doing the whole lap underwater
My club coach was always yelling this at my team in high school. If you have an underwater set and you come up at the flags, you’re cheating yourself about five yards each lap. That’s only going to hurt you in the end.
8. Complaining about the set will not change it
No matter how much you pout, cry or yell, the set is going to stay the way the coach wrote it. It’s meant to be challenging and hard. If it’s not, you’re not getting anything out of it and you won’t go any faster at championships than you did the year before.
9. Don’t circle swim in your races
Doing this when you race actually adds to the yardage you have to swim. Would you rather race 50 yards or 53 yards?
10. Do the breathing pattern correctly
If your coach says breathe 5, 7, 9 by 25, then don’t breathe every 3. These types of sets are coaches’ favorite to reset if they see their team doing it incorrectly, so you might as well do it right the first time.
11. KICK
I’m guilty of this too. Pretty much every meet I turn to breathe and I see my swimming coach making the signal for me to kick more. Getting into a good kicking rhythm in your race is important for every swimmer – don’t let your arms do all the work!
