Intelligence, Creativity and Backstroke Part 2 04/23/20

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My local district is:

Burlington/Ft Madison

Cedar Falls

Cedar Rapids - Kennedy

Cedar Rapids - Jefferson/Prairie

Cedar Rapids - Linn Mar

Cedar Rapids - Wash

Central/Western Iowa

Iowa City/Coralville

Muscatine

Vinton

My mom/dad swam with Megan, Go Bruins, Go USA

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How to be "smart"

When it comes to high performance, why is the Majority Wrong?

What has got you here will no longer get you there. What value of the All Blacks does this speak to and how is this true for swimming?

A famous Australian swim coach Bill Sweetenham once said, "Formula One cars don't come off an assembly line." What does he mean by that?

When you plateau in swimming, and you will, should you do more of the same thing, less of the same thing, or is there another option? What does this have to do with creativity and intelligence?

What's the danger of going through swim practice, school, or anything else on autopilot like a mediocre race car driver?

There are "industry standards" (or the very small box) for the sport of swimming. I do not believe the following are true, but I could probably have heated arguments with other coaches about these statements:

If you swim more you'll swim better.

Traveling longer distances in water creates better training than traveling shorter distance (like 5 minutes of freestyle is better training than 5 minutes of sculling because you went farther).

Kicking with a board is the most important skill to develop in swimming

Drills are something you do in the early season only and are different than "real" swimming.

If you are a good at one or two events you should only do those strokes and relative distances at practice to get better at those events.

Everyone should do the same training program and there is a right and a wrong amount of yardage, repeat distances, and time to spend in the water for all athletes to become a fast swimmers.

If you're fast when you're 10 you won't be fast at 20.

If you're not fast at 10 you won't be fast at 20.

Kids shouldn't try to be fast.

"Being a kid" means playing in the cul-du-sac with a stick but not being excited about doing well in a sport and trying to be good at it.

Being good at a sport means you have to give up everything else in your life and be super unhappy.

The best swimmers are magical and different and who knows how they got that way but I'm not like them.

Swimming is best in a rectangular concrete pool with lane lines and a black line and going in circles but swimming in other formats (lake, ocean, river, endless pool) where it's just you and the water is LESS beneficial to learning about water.

I could go on and on and on.

Yes I see that :-)

What about you, what do you think is an untrue "industry standard" in swimming that I didn't mention above? If you can't think of one, which one above do you think is most bogus?

I think that measuring yardage for swimmers is like putting a pedometer on a dancer. Why don't dancers measure theirs steps and try to take more steps in their day to become better dancers?

"If you do what everyone else is doing, you'll get the results that everyone else is getting." Why is "normal" probably not what you're going for?

How is underwater dolphin kick an example of breaking the "industry standard"? And again, what does creativity have to with it? (I know, I keep asking this, I'm making a point here.)

3% of people are able to achieve extraordinary results, and the other 97% will be "normal." Which group do you want to be a part of and how do you think you can get there?

Here's a more in depth explanation of the fundamental position of backstroke.

Describe a great body position in freestyle and how that's different from the body position we need in backstroke:

Why do we need a little bit of a "banana" shape in backstroke and how does that help lift your body higher in the water?

How is "dropping the sternum" different than just pulling your shoulders forward and why is this an important distinction for backstroke?

What does the neck need to do in backstroke?

Tell me about your posture in your ribs, hips and tailbone for backstroke and how that might help your hips "spin"?

Where you should be looking in backstroke?

As the stroke tips from one side to the other, the pulling arm creates an anchor. What does the recovery arm do that helps create power? Did you know your recovery arm, the one NOT is the water, is helping your create power?

Here's how backstroke is kind of like Kayaking:

Now let's look a little more at the "frozen banana" drill that you can use on land now to create the feel you want in the water:

Try lifting your head but kind of laying back into it, not stretching your chin forward, and then "Belly in and Up." What position does this remind you of from the exercises we did in week 1?

What does it feel like when you pump your arms (and then pump your legs)?

What 3 errors would we watch for in this drill (and in backstroke, too) and why are these errors damaging to your body position?

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