\Jí?^i ir7 ^ HA^ rn f.^ ' The Development of National 400 IM Champ Katie HofF BYPAULYETTER Editors Note: North Baltimore Aquatic Club joined our team at NBAC. I am going - Coach of Katie Hoff, 400 IM to go through pretty much what is on One of the best ways we can National Champion. Paul Yet- this handout. I am probably not go- ing to go in the order that it is listed, learn to develop athletes from ter coaches for the North Balti- but I am probably going to cover all age group to senior, is to ex- more Aquatic Club. In 2004, Paul of these points. The first thing that guided 15 - year old Katie Hoff to I would like to talk about is the first plore what coaches have done time that I saw Katie swim a 400 a USA Olympic Team berth in the IM. I saw her swim at long course in the past to develop those 400 IM and 200 IM. Over the last Nationals in College Park, Maryland same age athletes. With swim two years, Paul's swimmers have last August. This was about three weeks before she joined our team careers longer than ever, it is broken 25 National Age Group at NBAC and I knew that she was records, over 40 Maryland State going to be with us. So I watched her more important than ever, to Records, and have achieved 23 swim with a lot of interest because get accurate information on I wanted to see what she did in that #1 National Age Group rankings, pool. I thought that maybe I could this process. including a 1-2 ranking in both the get a little bit of insight into where we were going with this kid. It is long course and short course 200 interesting because I went up to the Butterfly. Paul's swimmers have In this article, from the 2004 top of the stands to watch because won National, Sectional, and Zone it was packed. Michael Phelps was swimming and everybody was down ASGA World Clinic, Coach Championships. Paul has a degree on pool deck. So I went up to the top Paul Yetter, who coaches Katie in English from the University of so I could get a good view and see Hoff from her age group years Wisconsin, and he lives in Balti- what she was doing. As I sat down, I noticed that I was sitting kind of more with his girlfriend Amy and through the 2008 Olympic close to her mom. So I watched the his two cats, Ollie and Jorge. race with her mom and right before Games, reviews her develop- the race started her mom looks over at me and she says, "if Katie goes out ment up until 2004, The We are going to go off of the handout under 1:06 she says I need to pray for throughout the whole talk today. her." So, she went out that day in a perspective this supplies for [Editor's note: Handout is at the end 1:04.1 and we started praying a little of this presentaton.]I would like to our understanding of the long bit. She was so far ahead of every- thank ASCA for inviting me here body, she was probably three or four term development of the ath- and I would like to tharik Murray seconds ahead. By that time it was Stephens who is also here as the head apparent that she was going to win lete is invaluable. Our Thanks coach of North Baltimore Aquatic the heat and she just kind of took Club for helping me and giving me to Coach Yetter. over and ran away with the race. a shot and providing me with pool time and providing me with a group of kids that have developed over the If you have ever seen her race you last couple of years. know that she just kind of goes for it. It is one of her many charms in that I would like to tell you today about she just sort of lights it up and goes John Leonard Katie Hoff. I have been coaching for it and goes real hard at every- Katie since August of 2003 when she thing that she does. When I saw her 26 American Swimming Magazine - 2009 Issue 3 go 1:04.11 got real excited because as we talk about the stroke stuff and has made quite a progression. She 1:04.1 is a good enough split in my as we talk about the development has gone from a 1:16.1 to 1:11.5 at opinion to make the Olympic Trial fi- that she did through her training trials. She was 1:11.2 at the Santa nals. I didn't feel like she had to be a and that type of thing, you have got Clara Meet. 1:16 doesn't cut it. You heck of a lot faster in that part of her to understand that I am not pulling are not going to be in a position to swim to make the Olympic Trial final teeth. I am not working with some- win the race if you are going 1:16 so this talk today is about how we body that is hard to deal with. She so we knew that we had to make got better at a lot of other different is pretty easy to deal with so when I some changes. As far as technically, aspects of Katie's swim. We are go- ask her to do something she tries her what we noticed was she liked to ing to talk a lot about her splits and best to do it. It is just kind of up to enter with the top of her hand and about her strokes and that type of me to figure out what it is that she she would smack her hand down thing. One thing was for sure at that needs to do. as she was putting it in the water. I point in time she didn't need to get think when you do that you don't much faster on the front end of the So, back to the butterfly. We went get a very good catch on the water. swim. I felt like we needed to work to make that change and she made it It takes you a little bit too long to on some technical aspects of her pretty quickly. The main thing that get that catch. When you do get that butterfly and some technical aspects we did was I asked her not to lift her catch you are not getting a very good of other strokes too, but speed in the chin as much and I asked her not catch so it had to change. What we fly was not one of those things. What to breathe so much with her face. I did was #1 we focused on it a little I would like to do right now is go asked her to breathe more with her bit. You know, when Katie wants through some technical things that eyes. I wanted her to breathe with to do something and she knows it îwe did for each particular stroke. her eyes like this and I didn't want is important then she focuses on it. her to do this. So she kind of got She just does it. Then the other thing is we did a drill that I call the AOK I would like to start with the fly be- good at breathing with her eyes look- drill which is you make an AOK sign cause that is first. If you look on your ing forward and her mouth was kind like this and you put the hole in like handout you can see two pictures. of angled down. You can see in the that so that the hole goes in the water One of those pictures is a picture of right photo that it almost looks like and your palm is kind of going in a poorly swum butterfly and you her mouth is hardly getting out of first. She made the correction and did can see that the head is cranked way the water. It is at a 45 degree angle what we wanted her to do. By telling up and the body position I think is down, just enough to get a little bit her to put her palm in first and to •pretty bad. The arms are bent. Then of a breath. We worked on, instead put the hole in the water first, she in the picture on the right you can of lifting the chin, kind of lifting the was able to actually get her pinkie in see that it is a better body position. neck. So instead of making this mo- first which is really what we wanted. Her neck is flat as she is breathing tion with the face, she kind of made The other thing is with doing the and her arms are straight. To me it this type of motion with her neck AOK drill, your pinkie is, if you do just looks a little bit better. That is and it enabled her to just kind of flow it naturally like this, your pinkie is jone of the changes that we made across the top of the water. I didn't apart from the rest of your hand so it ;with her butterfly stroke. need her to go faster, but I needed her to do it a little bit easier.