Introduction:

In the world of swimming, innovation and adaptation are key to achieving optimal performance. At the HC Swim Club in Tasmania, coaches Sam and Rachel, Jess, Harry and Mitch have introduced an approach to skill development. By breaking down progressions of skills using shapes as cues, swimmers have experienced significant improvements in their technique and overall performance. This article explores how this unique method has become a driver for change within the swim club and highlights its positive impact on swimmers' abilities.

Breaking Down Skills:

One of the key strategies employed by Coaches at HC Swim Club is the use of shapes to guide swimmers in mastering specific skills. For example, when teaching turns, swimmers are taught to create an ‘h’ shape with their bodies, balancing themselves under the water:

By first practicing this movement on land and then transferring it to the water, swimmers can better understand and execute the necessary actions for a successful turn. This breakdown into biomechanics has proven highly effective in helping swimmers grasp the intricacies of each skill.

Step-by-Step Approach:

The HC Swim Club coaches have found that breaking down skills into three steps and teaching each one separately yields excellent results. By initially focusing on individual components, swimmers can fully comprehend and master each step before combining them into a cohesive whole. This method allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the skill, ensuring that swimmers can consistently perform it correctly. Once the skill is broken down and repeated, training sets are tailored to the swimmers' abilities, gradually increasing the distance they can practice while maintaining proper technique.

Positive Outcomes:

The implementation of this innovative approach has brought about positive outcomes for swimmers at the HC Swim Club. By providing a structured framework for skill development, swimmers have experienced improved technique and efficiency in their strokes. The step-by-step approach has allowed swimmers to build a strong foundation and gradually progress to more complex movements. Moreover, the use of shapes as cues has enhanced swimmers' kinaesthetic awareness, enabling them to better understand and replicate correct body positioning in the water. For further information to support this concept, visit this blog:

Biomechanics In Sport - Physiopedia (physio-pedia.com)

Conclusion:

Moving from St Peters Western to HC Swim Club

This year I moved from Brisbane, in Queensland, to Hobart, here. Before I moved, I went to St Peters, and had swum with a group called St. Peters Western, which you may recognise due to the influx of famous swimmers it held, including Ariane Titmus. I had swum at SPW for around 2 years, joining in 2020.

Originally the purpose of me joining swimming at SPW was to make friends, as I had not yet started at St Peters but was enrolled to begin there in the following year. I had always liked swimming, and the whole thing that had got me into it was from when I was a toddler to around 7-8 when I had finally hit squad at Aquatic Achievers, which definitely isn't the biggest flex but I was pretty proud of it back then. So obviously, when I joined SPW I thought I would love it and I would beat all the other kids effortlessly; of which I was wrong for both. I found it extremely, extremely hard to keep up with the other kids and I honestly felt pretty pathetic compared to them as I was getting lapped in 100s, which I felt that I wasn't struggling to do, but I imagine I was definitely looking like it compared to the other kids who dominated me.

Nearly every morning, or afternoon before and after swimming I would cry, because I had hated it so much as I couldn't keep up, everything was so hard for me and so much more advanced than what I could do at the time but I chose to keep pushing through it, which was very hard as you could probably imagine when kids younger than me were getting times that could stack in mine by 3, not to mention the fact I didn't even know you got timed in swimming when it wasn't the Olympics! Months had gone by, and I kept doing it, despite some of the other kids and coaches calling me slow, which didn't bother me too much but nonetheless was pretty mean.

The months became a year, and my times were slowly going up, even getting a PB by 20 seconds (which is probably a worse than good thing but I was glad for it). Around early 2022 I had started to join swim meets, or swim nights, which were hosted every Friday night after school to do some races which I mostly didn't like (especially relays) but kept doing and ended up really enjoying. I was proud to see my times get better every single Friday, and it went through the year like that, with a combination of up's and down's and then during 2022 I went to regionals as well, which I was also proud of.

Then, this year I moved to HC. I, once again, thought I was going to dominate easily, which I was, once again wrong about but still happy that I got into HC Gold and might be going to State which is a huge advancement for me. From there it has been pretty good, I cannot say I enjoy getting up early, and I still have a lot of lessons to go to catch up, but I have already seen some of my times improve up to 6 seconds which really makes me proud and I am glad I still get to swim at a great club despite moving, and can't wait to see how my journey continues.

Finn Elliott

HC Swim Club Gold Squad Swimmer

Throughout my extensive coaching experience, I have observed that swimmers, parents, and coaches often place excessive importance on the swimming programs themselves as the key to improvement. However, based on my own experience, I believe that the session program serves as a mere guide, and that a swimmer's ability to make progress stems from the way information is delivered, real-time feedback from the coach, and the careful breakdown of details within the written program.

For instance, a session may outline a warmup covering a specific distance, but it is crucial to break down the purpose and discipline behind this warmup in order to enhance the swimmers' skills or pace, which can then be applied to the main set. The coach must be willing to adapt and modify the planned program if the swimmers are not achieving the desired results. Additionally, the coach should be able to recognise and address any external factors that may be impacting the swimmers during the session. It should always be acceptable for the coach to actively work on each session and make adjustments to the program details in order to achieve better outcomes for the swimmers.

The program's structure should prioritise improvement. If the desired skill or pace is not being met, the session needs to be adjusted. For instance, if the main focus is on maintaining proper body position off the wall, but the swimmers are unable to achieve the desired distance or repeat time while maintaining that body position, it may be necessary to scale back either the distance swum or the repeat time in order to preserve the improvements made by the swimmer.

To enhance swimmers' motivation, it is beneficial to track measurable improvements. This can be done by recording stroke counts, distances, or times for each repeat. Repeat the same sets for a 3-week cycle to allow swimmers to see progress over time. During loading periods, you can increase the number of sets or decrease the repeat time. However, it is important to teach swimmers how to swim the set efficiently from the beginning.

Swimmers who feel engaged and included in the development process tend to exhibit higher levels of focus and are more likely to stay involved in the sport for an extended period of time.

Rachel Brennemo 
HC Swim Club Head Coach

2 weeks ago I started a new job as an acoustic engineer, and no, I’m not a DJ.  Despite doing an engineering degree, I don’t actually know anything about acoustic engineering so it’s been pretty tough because I’m not very good at my job. That’s not surprising though, everyone else in the office has been doing this for years.  

I remember when I was swimming, we would have new people join us and swim everyday for a month or two, maybe even a year.  But the most successful swimmers were the ones who swam for years.  The longer we do something, the better we get at it.  It’s pretty simple and it makes a lot of sense.  If you’re able to commit to something for a long time, then you’re going to be much better at it.  

I started taking swimming seriously when I was about 13.  Before that I was a coach’s nightmare, only coming to training when there was an upcoming school swimming or surf lifesaving carnival.  I was not a talented swimmer, everyone I was training with was years younger than me and I think my 100 breaststroke PB was around 1:30.

I committed to it for a long time, training pretty much everyday for 7 years.  I improved a lot over that time, but it was never a steady progression.  To show this, I’ve put all my times for 100m breaststroke that I did in a graph, at the top of this blog.    

Some seasons I went backwards, some I improved a lot but most were all over the show.  Looking back, that was definitely something I needed to work on.  

Before I started as an engineer, I coordinated the Rackley swim school at Centenary Pool in Brisbane, where our performance squad has some of Australia’s best swimmers.  There’s nothing different about what they’re doing, all the sets we do are the same, it’s about how they do them.  The Olympians we have at Rackley’s are committed 100% to their program and their coach so every time there’s an effort in training, they have their racing bathers on and it’s all in.  They’ve been doing this not just for one session where they were feeling good, but consistently every time for 10+ years.

Being consistent like this is a battle.  It can be easy to change your goals and make up excuses for yourself.  And sure, there is always a place for picking your battles in areas you want to be successful in.  I stopped swimming when I was 20 and started triathlons.  I started racing professionally about a year ago but there’s still a lot for me to improve on. Some of my competitors have been doing this for 20+ years.  But I know that just like with swimming, if I commit to it for a long time then I’ll improve.  I might get worse or stagnate for a bit, but if I commit to it for a long time then I will eventually improve.

One of my favourite phrases I heard from a coach was to get comfortable being uncomfortable.  It’s pretty obvious but it’s great to have in the back of your mind because persisting with a goal is going to get uncomfortable sometimes.  But the longer we stick at it, the more we improve and your success means a lot more if you’ve worked towards it for a long time.

From Michael Boult

Have you ever tried to run through water? No matter how hard you try, your legs don’t move as fast as they do on land, you get pushed off balance and instinctively try to lift yourself as high out of the water as possible. This is due to resistance. Water is denser than air, and as such we require more energy to displace it. One of the key roles of body position is to reduce the amount of water our body has to displace, so we use less energy to swim. This reduction in drag allows a swimmer to conserve energy, which is an essential skill for every level of swimming development.

Water Familiarisation

When learning to swim one of the main concerns is being able to stay afloat. The ability to get into the position of a back float, allowing the swimmer to keep their face out of the water with minimal energy can be lifesaving. To achieve this swimmers need to understand their centre of buoyancy and how they move through the water, some activities to learn this are:

• Floating with an aid-  a noodle or kickboards.
• Practicing a ‘mushroom’ float – swimmers bring their knees towards their nose whilst floating and maintain balance, to learn how to recover from a float and their centre of buoyancy.
• Getting into a float with assistance and holding body position
• Playing in the water, to learn about their buoyancy.
• Floating in shallow water and recovering.
• Floating in deep water and recovering.

Stroke Development

Imagine you put ankle weights on a kid who was learning to walk. They are likely to struggle and develop poor habits. Poor body position creates drag, which in turn is like putting weights on somebody learning to swim. When introducing new elements to the stroke it is important that the body position is maintained so that swimmers are learning to execute the skill in the most efficient way possible, which is ultimately how it should be performed. At this stage, some ways to ensure this body position is maintained are:

• Streamlines/glides – streamlines are a very important skill for a few reasons:
  • Swimmers can focus purely on engaging their core to maintain body position as they are not using their arms or legs
  • Streamlines are the fastest point in a lap, the increased speed allows the swimmer to better feel the impact of body position on their movement
  • A swimmer who starts their lap with good body position is far more likely to maintain it when they introduce their arms and legs into the stroke.
• Kicking- kick helps maintain the swimmers’ body position, it also is good when a swimmer is struggling to maintain body position to focus on kick, as there are less things for the swimmer to focus on.
• Shorter distances – we want swimmers to maintain their body position, if a swimmer is struggling due to fitness to maintain their body position, reducing the distance can allow the swimmer to learn the skill correctly and then develop their fitness whilst maintaining the skill.

Stroke Efficiency

As a swimmer progresses through and completes learn to swim body position is still crucial. If you have ever seen an Olympic swimmer do butterfly, you would know how effortless they make it look. This is due to their ability to maintain their body position at speed. Swimmers who can maintain their body position at speed create less drag in the water, this conserves energy which can then be used to increase their speed, power and endurance. You will also notice that all elite level swimmers commence their lap with a streamline, underwater as this position is the fastest. Exercises to develop body position at this level are similar to during the water familiarisation and stroke development stages.

As you can see, regardless of where a swimmer is at in their development, body position is essential. Swimmers are unable to progress to the next phase of skill development without their body position being effective. By focussing on body position a swimmer develops a strong foundation which allows them to remain safe in the water, swim efficiently and reduce injury.

From Tess Yu & the HC Coaching Team

Most swimmers begin their competitive phase of swimming, through joining a club program between the ages of eight and twelve years of age. Competitive swimming is swimming at the highest level of stroke ability and speed while racing against other competitors. I began my swimming journey at the age of six. Between the ages of six and sixteen I accumulated ten years of competing before being pulled away from competitive swimming due to a shoulder reconstruction.

All swimmers have their own reasons for putting on their bathers and diving into the water. For me, I had the aspiration of representing Tasmania which I was privileged to be able to achieve. To achieve my goals, there were many steppingstones to accommodate for along the way. Regardless of what my goals were, my training load required consistency, focus and motivation to continue to perform. As a swimmer I was driven to perform well however, my training load wasn’t just swimming based. Whilst at my peak performance in swimming I was also competing at a high level in gymnastics as well as representing Tasmania in athletics and cross country. Staying engaged in multiple sporting criteria was my key to success. Gymnastics gave me strength and flexibility whilst running aided my endurance, these qualities combined allowed me to develop my technique and continue to develop my strength and endurance in the water. This method of training can be identified as cross training which includes training in sports other than the athletes chosen sport. Cross training uses the benefits of one training method's effectiveness to offset the drawbacks of another to enhance performance overall. Combining the workload of multiple sports together at a high level made me unique, it allowed me to gain a strong competitive edge against my swimming opponents.

Performing at an elite level in three sports was demanding. While each sport had a distinct advantage for me, they all went through different phases of growth and training demands. Managing training loads can be confronting and often leads to fatigue or burn out. Burn out and fatigue for swimmers involves emotional and physical exhaustion and can reduce a swimmer’s sense of accomplishment. It is estimated that eleven percent of athletes end their career due to burning out from being overtrained. Similarly, to me swimmers are often engaged in multiple different sports at a range of levels. To alleviate the sense of burnout working closely with your coach and maintaining open communication allows coaches to understand when swimmers are in their peak training phases within alternate sports. Coaches can then work with swimmers to foster intrinsic motivation therefore continuing improvement in the water. It is important to maintain a healthy balance between different sporting commitments whilst also analysing each programs effectiveness in correlation with one another.

Whilst at my peak performance for swimming I trained between five to six sessions a week. Reflecting now my training consisted of alternate phases including technique, endurance, speed, taper, and recovery. Whilst training however, I paid little to no interest in what the training sessions involved. Moving into a more active role now as a swimming coach it is influential to see how important training phases are and to appreciate their importance as a swimmer. Planning the perfect peak, to coincide with the swimmers established main competition within the season is the purpose of training at an elite level hence, the importance for training phases.

As a coach now it is fascinating to reflect on how I trained as a swimmer compared to how I believed I was at the time. Coaching is far more advanced than who a swimmer interacts with on the pool deck. Coaching involves periodisation, seasonal planning, structuring monthly, weekly, and daily programs as well as identifying scheduled volume and intensity loads for structured periods of time throughout each season. For me there was minimal thought into the efforts my coaches were going through to help me achieve my goals. A highlight that I always reflect on is my swimming performance at the Australian age championships in 2017. This was the year of my best performances in swimming, this is also the year where I began to value the importance of effective coaching. Without the encouragement and consistency from

my coaching team I would never have been able to explore the depths of my potential in the water.

At the age of sixteen I gave up my swimming career. After undergoing my shoulder reconstruction, I found it very difficult to regain my confidence again in the water. I parted way with swimming after feeling unsupported by my coaching team and ultimately burnt out. At the time I was unsure where this would leave me and what I would do next. Swimming had been such a large inclusion throughout my childhood that I didn’t know what to expect whilst not swimming. After stopping swimming, I found enjoyment playing AFL and rowing. I always knew that I wanted my future to be revolved around the fitness industry, therefore after graduating school in 2020 I completed my studies to become a personal trainer. From here in 2021 my younger brother William started to show large improvements in his swimming and began travelling interstate to compete. Of course, I wanted to tag along with my family so interstate I went to watch my brother race. Through watching him race I found my passion again for swimming.

After this newfound passion I began studying to become a swimming coach. After no association with swimming for over three years today I work at HC as a qualified development coach. My main focus at HC is the H20 program which is designed to support swimmers who may wish to focus on different goals. The program is focused on fitness, skill development and enjoyment of swimming. The squad also promotes physical and emotional wellbeing. Because of my past swimming experiences, I can relate to my swimmers and gain a deeper knowledge of their needs and limitations with regard to the development of their swimming. I am thoroughly enjoying coaching apart of the HC program. All the coaching staff have a world of knowledge and extensive experience which has taught me so much throughout my coaching journey. As HC continues to grow in members, I am excited for what the future holds and to be including in a new swimming journey.

From Sophie Botterill-James - HC Coaching Team

Dolphin kick has completely transformed the sport of swimming becoming known as swimming’s fifth stroke. Dolphin kick is one of the best ways to improve overall race times and efficiency in the pool. Underwater dolphin kick allows swimmers to move faster than any surface stroke since there is less resistance underwater.
Dolphin kick is not recognised to generate speed but rather to delay the slowing down process from powerful starts and turns for as long as possible. To do this, swimmers need to work on achieving key factors:

• Tight streamlined body position
• Core engagement and controlled rhythm
• Undulation of the hips
• Developing flexibility through ankles to emphasise an up and down kick

Dolphin kick can be assisted with dryland training in addition to competent and consistent training within the pool. A misconception of dolphin kick is that the kicking motion is only about leg strength however as the undulation commences from the diaphragm, it creates a fluid wave going through the core, and increases in amplitude as it travels down to the toes. Dry land activities to increase range of movement, hip mobility and hip stability can include:

• Hip Flexor Stretch
• Burpee Spider Push Up
• Lateral Squat

Dolphin kick can be broken down in to two phases: downbeat phase and upbeat phase. An effective dolphin kick requires flexible ankles. This allows the top of the feet to be facing downward and backward instead of just downward during the downbeat. Consequently, water can be pushed backward in addition to downward, creating propulsion.

Downbeat Phase:

• The swimmer pushes their hips down, and the thighs follow along. Meanwhile, the knees flex, and the lower legs continue to travel up. The pressure of the water against the feet causes them to extend.
• The swimmer flexes their hips and continues to flex their knees. The lower legs continue to move up. This initiates the propulsive whip-like movement of the legs.
• The swimmer extends their knees, which causes the lower legs to move down quickly and forcefully, like cracking a whip.
• The downbeat ends when the legs are fully extended, and the feet are below the level of the body.

Upbeat Phase:

• At the end of the previous downbeat, the knees extend, and the lower legs and feet move down, pushing against the water. In reaction, the hips of the swimmer move up.

• Once the feet are below the level of the body, the swimmer uses the momentum of their hips moving up to initiate the upbeat. Simply extends their hips, and therefore, the thighs begin to move up.
• The downward pressure of the water against the lower legs causes the knees to extend. Furthermore, the feet assume a neutral position, partly flexed, and partly extended.
• The extended legs move up until the feet are above the level of the body. At that point, the next downbeat begins.

Activities to help learn to swim students understand/develop the movement:

1. Standing upright, feet close together but not touching. Poke bottom out without leaning through chest, head & shoulders. Push bottom and hips through and out the front (can even be done with students standing a set distance away from a wall or surface to push hips/bottom towards). Exaggerate in this stage to develop hip undulation. (Describe it as poking your bottom out at your sibling!)
2. Ask swimmers to swim like a mermaid, dolphin, or whale through the water. To continue concentrating on the hip movement, move into activities such as dolphin kick on their back as this will involve pushing the hips up out of the water and emphasises in/out up/down movement of the hips.
3. Hands over the top of the board with head remaining out of the water. This engages the core and emphasises the swimmers to work on the core control and hip undulation to generate movement.
4. Vertical kick. This is a harder skill for students where they are asked to kick in a vertical position to get their body out of the water. This emphasises on increasing the rate of the kick while holding core and undulation to raise the body out of the water. This skill can be performed with hands by the side or in a streamlined position.
   

To provide visuals for swimmers, YouTube videos of Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are very beneficial!

From Dylan Harris and HC Coaching Team

Swimmers who maintain efficiency and produce stronger finishes in 200 metre freestyle races, have a better understanding of their own breathing habits.

The energy system used for this type of event is largely anaerobic, where oxygen is less used. However, it is important that gas exchange happens in the lungs to push out metabolic waste in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2), which otherwise reduces swimmers performance through early onset fatigue. 

Sports science has given us information on Maximal Lactate Steady State (MLSS), where most of the metabolic waste (Lactic Acid) is removed out of the working muscle tissues by blood. The heart rate is regulated by the CO2 concentration in the blood. As the workout intensity increases, the amount of CO2 in blood increases, which signals the heart to beat faster and pump the blood carrying CO2 quicker to lungs where CO2 is pushed out. It is said that 4.3% of exhaled air has carbon dioxide in it.

To learn how to breathe during a race, swimmers will be required to practice during training for several years. HC coaches have observed that through the swim training phase, competitive swimmers are seen exhaling half heartedly when compared to inhalation. Due to this habit, swimmers often do not empty their lungs fully. This lowered ventilation can cause buildup of CO2 in the lungs, which in turn reduces the gas exchange between blood and lungs. CO2 retained in the blood fails to remove excess CO2 from muscle tissues. This accumulated CO2 in muscles becomes Lactic Acid, which further hampers muscle functionality and brings in fatigue.

During training consider the following:

1. Clean and fully exhaled to allow for a better oxygen flow to your muscles during exercise to reduce fatigue. With efficient breathing training and correct breathing patterns, swimmers  can optimize oxygen uptake in muscles. This is due to Metabolic Reflex: a physiological function that regulates a persons ability to perform a physical exercise.

When threshold is reached, your breathing muscle sends a signal to your nervous system and brain. As a reaction, the brain sets off a command which reduces the diameter of blood vessels in the active limb muscle. Once your breathing muscle tires, the effect is the same. Isolated respiratory muscle training makes them stronger, faster, and more efficient. 

2. Increase lung capacity by keeping head down into the wall and out of the streamlines. Vital lung capacity is the amount of air exhaled after maximum inhalation. For swimmers, increased lung capacity will mean you can execute better underwater during training and competition, which is a critical part of fast swimming. Having better range of motion in diaphragm, reduces the air remaining in the lungs, you can go longer between breaths while swimming. HC coaches write sessions around swimmers improving their lung capacity, free speed, head down off first stroke out of breakouts and 25m sprints without a breath are just some skills brought into sessions to improve swimmers outcomes. 

3. Sprint work, holding breath for short periods, based on swimmer’s abilities and coaches instructions. Specific breath-hold exercises will teach swimmers to find comfort in keeping their head down. Most often when swimmers  feel like they are running out of breath, the body is actually trying to exhale to get rid of the CO2 build up. However, CO2 actually helps with O2 absorption. Once swimmers become comfortable with their breath holds, their muscle oxygenation will improve. These improvements will result in better performance and speed. Building strength and flexibility in diaphragm & intercostal muscles will make sure

there is no wasted unnecessary energy on breathing.

4. Increase mobility to rotate and hold body position. The upper body is critical in swimming. Maintaining a proper range of motion through the joints and building strength will help you be more efficient in water. Most of the swimmers have thoracic mobility restrictions. Breathing dynamics are dependent on the movement of the thoracic spine . Improving your thoracic mobility and stability will increase the coordination of diaphragm breathing with each stroke.

5. Keep calm and focused. Mental health and general well being can also be enhanced while doing breathwork. Some of the most benefits for swimmers will be lower anxiety and strengthening of focus before the race. Using certain breathing exercises can help swimmers cope with anxiety and support them in focusing on the goal while slowing down their heart rate and diverting focus to their breathing.

Some training ideas to improve aquatic breathing are:

● Breathwork before and after swim sessions

● Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga which is a form of yoga which deals with movement and breathing.

● Teaching long deep exhalations from pre competitive levels or even learn to swim levels

● Respiratory Muscle training with personal equipment.

Niroop and HC Coaches

How to balance training and life as an age group swimmer

Many age group swimmers (between ages 10 – 17years) and their parents can find trying to balance swimming demands overwhelming. Having a swimmer in the family can impact such things as, family time, holidays, weekends, meal-times and sleep. 

More recently, due to many studies around the world, the philosophy around training age group swimmers has evolved and coaches are understanding the benefits for swimmer performance long term if individuals are provided with a more balanced approach towards their swimming. 

Swimming organisations around the world are working with universities to provide a better understanding, in regards to children development in relation to swimming training. A couple of links below will provide additional information regarding this process:  

Swimming Australia - Project H2Grow 

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF SWIMMERS (teamunify.com) 

These studies have recognised greater achievement as an older swimmer when greater emphasis is placed on balancing training, skills and technique with additional activities such as; team sports, bike riding, surfing, yoga, dance and free play are offered.  These activities support their growing bodies with better mobility and flexibility, which will enable their swim coach with the ability to provide stroke correction more effectively. The swimmers are then able to adapt to the change in a shorter period.   

Swimmers who are more balanced can enjoy swimming as a whole and then be more prepared physically and mentally as they feel less like there has been a sacrifice given to achieve their goals, this then channels a focus towards enjoyment of the process. The purpose for a quality age group coach is to manage the swimmers through the years towards moving into an open swimmer who has then a high-quality level of swimming techniques and continues to enjoy swimming. This process can prove difficult if the swimmer feel they have made great sacrifices to being in the sport during the age group years. 

The key elements to consider towards providing a more balanced approach are: 

• Plan holiday breaks for the family after talking with the coach around optimum times throughout the year 
• Ensure the swimmers can plan a free day during the week  
• Plan an adaption long weekend after attending 48 – 52 sessions 
• Balance sessions throughout the week with the coach to include additional activities  
• Re-assess attending every swim meet or time trial and be more specific to allow the swimmer weekend time 
• Consider writing down goals related to skill development as well as times without time frames 
• Look into adding mobility and flexibility exercises into the schedule to support the risk of injuries such as shoulders rotation. The swimmers understanding of how their body moves can assist in their ability to apply changes to their stroke more effectively and efficiency. 

Age group swimmers will be in this stage of their development for around 8 years. Four of these years are in the learning to train phase, followed by the training to train phase.  It is essential that they are provided with the best environment to develop mentally and physically during this period to maximise their performance as they are moving forward into being well rounded open swimmer. 

The family and the swimmer will be better prepared as a whole by taking their time and enjoying the process, injury free. 

Rachel Brennemo (Performance Coach) and the HC Coach Team