Celtic waves
Saturday junior squad 200m assessment
Coaches STL & Ailbhe
I will say something very important; comparison is the thief of joy! An old quote by somebody far more intelligent than I. Please do not compare yourself to anyone else. We can admire other people's/athlete's qualities in training and learn from each other. Comparing & measuring yourself against yourself in an understanding manner is key ( I believe ) in progression.
We don’t always perform in galas - through nerves or unfamiliar surroundings, over excitement etc so training times are for now maybe a better measurement of progress. ( for the younger athletes )
200m is an “honest distance” for our younger swimmers a big step up and for our older swimmers a learning session. It’s a distance where the starts/turns have a big impact in a 25m pool but yet short enough to still rely on the speed elements - a happy medium ( this is a very diluted explanation of choosing it but I hope you as parents understand - not all swimmers are sprinters but all swimmers need speed )
What was very clear from the session was the need to work on the basics - dives / breakout — turns/ breaking out of each turn. ( yes, technique also :)
Quite a few of the group are very fast “between the flags” but are needing some extra attention in the turns.
Things for us coaches to work on. That’s exciting. It focuses our attention into gala season but also remember as most in this group swim over 2000m per session ( if not a lot more - that is over 80 chances at tumble turns 📷📷 for all the swimmers to try and practice themselves or watch faster swimmers etc
I will use these times to breakdown the lanes also. ( swimmers who were not there do not panic - go in your normal lanes until the next assessment swim in 4 weeks depending on galas etc coaches may move you but wait until they do)
We will use this until we are all at a level to do 6 x 100
- Changing up the lanes
We start with lane 3
Connor : 3:17
Michael : 3:10
Emily M 3:21
Heidi 3:24
Lañe 4
Emily 3:57
Steven 3:49
Sadie 3:44
Adam 4:07
Lilly 4:07
Lane 2
Cillian 4:19
Aisling 4:45
Alexandra 4:25
Freya 4:35
Reece 4:42
Lane 5
Aoibhin 4:54
Ciaran 4:56
Bella 5:11
Riley 5:13
I hope this gives us coaches a focus to work on and your parents/athletes an understanding of what we are trying to develop outside of galas. Across all strokes I will look to implement focus points for each athlete to work on/monitor. A bit of extra work but hopefully it will help their development.
A quick list of self-questions
- Did I tumble turn on each length ?
- Did I breathe into/ out of the turns ?
- Did I streamline ?
- How did I pace it ?
It's important we move into getting all the lanes doing similar sessions ( adjusted workloads if necessary )
Parents any questions please feel free to ask at training sessions. Keep it simple: Keep it fun
Yours in sport
Stephan