VOL. XVII No. 2 MARCH-APRIL 2001

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CONTENTS

Coach Education and Professional Development (Michael Public Liability Insurance – A Necessity rather than a Ursu) ...... 1 Consideration (Michael Catts) ...... 31 What Price Ego? (Ken Wood) ...... 2 Determinant Factors Related to Variation in Butterfly Training Progression for Younger Age Group Swimmers Velocity (ISBS Swimming 2000)...... 33 (David Pyne) ...... 6 A Non-linear Approach to the Analysis & Modelling of Coaching – Do we really do it the correct way? (Peter Training & Adaptation in Swimming (ISBS Swimming Ruddock): ...... 7 2000) ...... 34 10x100 Swim Test Protocol (Wayne Goldsmith) ...... 9 Pool Administration made easy with ClassSmart ...... 40 Standard Strategies (Russell Parsons)...... 15 Alternative Fluid Dynamic Explanation for Propulsion in What Makes a Good Coach?...... 16 Front Crawl Swimming (ISBS Swimming 2000)...... 45 Principles of Club Operation (John Leonard) ...... 18 Beyond Race Analysis (ISBS Swimming 2000) ...... 52 Surviving the Festive Season (Dr Louise Burke) ...... 23 WSCA Newsletter...... 57 Asthma, Swimming & the Buteyko Institute Method of Breathing Reconditioning (Paul O’Connell)...... 25 Swimming in Crisis – Australian Open Water falls by the wayside (Chris Guesdon) ...... 29

SWIMMING in AUSTRALIA is published six times annually.

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COPYRIGHT ISSUE FROM THE PUBLISHER

As more and more articles with invaluable technical and research data have and will be published through our Magazine for our Members to read and use, it is timely to mention Copyright infringements. The ASCTA Magazine (SWIMMING in AUSTRALIA) Publisher strongly advises all concerned that any attempts to reprint articles or excerpts from contents is prohibited without the written permission of the publisher and author. Any infringements of copyright will be dealt with accordingly. Views expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor or the Board of ASCTA. SWIMMING in AUSTRALIA – March-April 2001

COACH EDUCATION During 1990, the Federal Government initiated action to improve the skill level of Australian workers & across all industries … “TOWARDS A SKILLED AUSTRALIA”. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT The Federal Government’s initiative in workplace training and assessment led to the formation of the By MichaelUrsu, Executive Director Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) to

direct a revised Vocational Education and Training

(VET) system. Personnel associated with the aquatic industry have become familiar with the training of swimming and Key features of the revised VET system include … water safety teachers and coaches.

• A national framework for all education and In the teaching area, the AUSTSWIM Teacher of training throughout Australia – the Australian Swimming and Water Safety certificates became the Qualification Framework (AQF). The AQF benchmark for those wishing to teach swimming. aims at providing consistency of qualifications

across the nation. In coaching, the Levels I, II and III swimming coaching awards, endorsed by the Australian The qualifications in the Australian Qualification Coaching Council and administered by Australian Frame are shown in the following table… Swimming, are nationally recognised.

The current means of becoming qualified swimming teachers and coaches is facing change, owing to a Federal Government initiative.

Vocational Education & Secondary School Sector Higher Education Sector Training Sector Doctoral Degree Masters Degree Graduate Diploma Graduate Certificate Bachelor Degree Advanced Diploma Advanced Diploma Diploma Diploma Certificate IV Certificate III Senior Secondary Certificate II Certificate of Education Certificate I

Owing to the significant change in VET, and the • Training Packages to provide building blocks knowledge that training package qualifications will for all vocational education and training replace currently accredited courses, the ASCTA programs aimed at eliminating previously Board decided to carry out a review of the Coach disconnected approaches to standards, Education System. programs, qualifications and learning

resources. The review led ASCTA to apply to become a Registered Training Organisation. ASCTA sought to • Assurances that certificates of competence become a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) to issued by Registered Training Organisations enable it to provide Nationally Recognised Training (RTO’s) are recognised across Australia. and issue qualifications or statements of attainment recognised by government.

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Incidentally, ASCTA’s Registration Number, issued by the State Training Board of Victoria on 16th November 2000, is 20948. What Price Ego? ASCTA’s registration clearly defines the scope of By Ken Wood, Olympic Coach 2000 approved training and includes competency standards covering coaching practices, planning and evaluating training programs, catering for individual needs, drugs in sport issues, principles of movement in water, legal responsibilities teaching and coaching competitive strokes and emergency procedures.

Currently, the ASCTA Board is …

• Considering how best to endorse the government’s revised VET system.

• Investigating how to modify the current

courses for swimming coaches to encompass VET initiatives. So, your ambition is to coach an Olympic Medallist – or to be recognised as an Australian • Become more pro-active in the delivery of Team Coach. Great!! courses. I, personally, can recommend the immense feeling of achievement … the pride in knowing that the years ASCTA guarantees that, when changes to training of preparation and commitment have finally come to and assessment are implemented, CURRENT fruition. COACHES WILL NOT BE DISADVANTAGED. I cannot describe the feeling of intense relief and satisfaction that I felt during and after the Olympics Coaches will be advised of how to gain when I sat down and reflected on the five Olympic “RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING” to Medals that my young swimmers had won. This was align their swimming coaching qualifications with tempered a little by Geoff Huegill’s Olympic Record the Federal Government’s VET system. in the Semi Final of the 100m Butterfly and then a Bronze Medal in the Final, but overall I felt all the 3.30am Shower and Shaves six days a week for the past 20 years that I have been coaching at this level The ASCTA Board is committed to… (35 in total) were worth it after all. I thought it was a pretty good achievement to see both my female Breaststrokers in an Olympic 100m Final, with Leisel • Improving access to quality Coach Education (at 15 years) winning the Silver Medal and both girls Programs by delivering quality courses in all winning a Silver Medal in the Relay events. States. My personal success in this Great Event was, of course, shared, and in some cases surpassed, by my • Adopting a quality assurance system – peers. It was a great achievement for our coaches and including procedures for managing and swimmers. Australia is now a clear Number Two monitoring all training operations and Nation in the world, due in no small terms to the reviewing candidate satisfaction. contribution made by Head Coach, Don Talbot, who inspired and virtually demanded that coaches and swimmers “lift their game”. The coaches and Members will be informed of developments as they swimmers responded and the results are there for all occur during the year. to see. Our sport suddenly took a further step in profile and increased Australia’s swimming reputation as the most successful Olympic sport. Australian Swimming Inc., and its current sponsors, and the

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Australian Sports Commission, enjoyed by either the club’s management or committee from unprecedented recognition and success not the school’s Parents and Citizens Association. experienced since the halcyon days of 1956. ASI now In many cases, the coach is interviewed by either has a pretty big sword to wield when negotiating the committee at the start of employment and the large corporate sponsorships that are out there in the Conditions and Job Description are discussed and marketplace. agreed upon. If the coach has only a one or two year This requires efficient administration and an acute contract, he or she could (and usually does) perception of who is actually laying the “golden egg” experience problems when there is a change in club when allocating available funding. management or P.C. committee. When this occurs, For any business/sport to be successful, it is the original employment terms and conditions could, always guided at the top by an astute person on a and usually do, vary in one way or the other. Board who is very aware that once they have a I think all our developing coaches – particularly successful product, then the people who have made those who are working in these areas – should have a that success possible need to be recognised and standard contract that states minimum rewarded financially, according to the contribution hours/maximum hours and probably the most they have made to that success. contentious areas… A successful and productive organisation usually 1. How many weekend meets are the coaches has as its “employees” talented people at the “coal required to attend? And what remuneration- face” to implement the aims and ambitions of the expenses does the coach receive for working administration. Australian Swimming are, at this weekends? Or do the clubs want the coaches to stage, very fortunate to have some very talented pay to go to work? Ours would be the only coaches at the “coal face” who work many more profession where this situation is expected and hours per week and make sacrifices in terms of day- taken for granted by most clubs. There is, of to-day family interaction and, in most cases, do not course, one upside in this. When a coach gives up enjoy normal financial employment benefits. swim coaching, he has had plenty of experience in This is, of course, their choice. Nevertheless, there charity work. are some hard-working Australian coaches out there 2. Another area that really highlights the lowly status who are not getting the financial rewards that would of swimming coaches and the way in which they be forthcoming in other professions that require are thought of is the “free” advice that is given expertise at this level. But for how long? There are with monotonous regularity by a fairly large many and varied interpretations of swimming percentage of the swimmers’ parents. Quote … coaches – Lifestyles, Salary, Ability, Status in the “Excuse me, I just want to point out to you, have general community and, more importantly, what do you noticed that Billy is not pushing back far our Sports Administrators think? And even more enough in his Freestyle?” or “I have noticed his importantly, what (if anything) are they prepared to arm entry is too wide in his Butterfly”. I wonder do about it? what their reaction would be if we were to ask COACHES NEED SOME ANSWERS. them what they do for a living – and then offer to The days are long gone when sport enjoyed an call in to their office (preferably when they are amateur status. busy) and suggest that perhaps it would be better This is the general career path the coaches in to do the filing first and the invoices later. I hate Queensland have as their options as they progress. to think what the answer would be!! As a Level One or a Level Two coach in So what are we doing about it? In most cases, Queensland, most positions are initially available at nothing!! school clubs, where the current pay rate is between We, as coaches, need to approach our Coaching $22 to $35 per hour and, unless the school pool Association with a view to restricting parents (usually a 25m complex) is heated, the employment attending at least the club’s “top” group’s training commences at the end of the school holidays in workouts. After all, the rationale for this could be the September, through to Easter – or, in some cases, 1st suggestion that we would welcome parents at all September to 30th April – a period of eight months. workouts as soon as the Education Department Most work about 27 hours per week, so for eight allows parents to sit in class with their kids. months at the lowest rate it would be approximately Don’t get me wrong. Without parents there would $19,000 and at the top rate approximately $30,000. be no swimmers – but, human nature being the way it The coach would then be required to seek alternative is, and most parents wanting their own to improve, it employment for four months to survive. During this is up to the coaches and hopefully our Association to period of employment, the coach is usually appointed provide us with the working conditions that

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encourages individual improvement and makes These coaches are the only true professionals in coaching conditions much more professional. this country. They only coach swimmers who are at We need to provide our young coaches with a the elite level and have satisfied the qualifying times basic contract outlining the conditions we want on required to obtain an Institute Scholarship. The the pool deck that directly affects the swimmer’s swimmers receive free Board, free Food, free Travel, performances and team harmony and most certainly free Equipment and free Interstate and Overseas gives the coaches the opportunity to create the type of Travel. A big advantage these coaches have … a environment he or she wishes to create. “captive audience … similar to a Basketball or When we hire a bricklayer to build our front Football coach. fence, we would not stand out there and watch him The second category contains the coaches who are with a bit of advice on how to lay the bricks!! coaching elite swimmers but are also operating their But, in saying this, we, as coaches, have an own businesses or are employed, in a few cases, by obligation to fulfil as well. The difference is that in Swimming Clubs. Some of these coaches have built other professions you do not work outside the agreed lucrative Learn-to-Swim businesses. Usually they hours of employment for nothing, and you work own and operate their own 25m complexes but the under conditions where, if you are not qualified, then majority either lease council pools, where their tenure you are not employed and if you are, you are is shaky to say the least because in most cases they expected to do your job without receiving any free have to re-tender after three or five years, and if they unqualified advice!! have done a good job, the business is more profitable I would invite coaches in this area to write in and and he/she has produced and developed some top express what they think – but whatever it is, we, as swimmers, he is then faced with the prospect of professional coaches, need to speak up and actively “buying” his own business back and if he misses out, campaign for conditions that not only raise the status he has to start again somewhere else. of our profession, but to create working conditions The irony of this situation is that the more time that are much more professional. and effort a coach puts in to developing and nurturing COACHING AT THE ELITE LEVEL elite competitors, the more he is required to neglect In Australia, we have two levels of Elite Coaches. the viable part of his business – the Learn-to-Swim, The first category contains the only genuine elite etc., which, in most cases, generates enough income professionals. They are employed by either the for the coach to continue with his coaching. National Institute of Sport or one of the State In addition to coaching on deck for a minimum of Institutes or Swimming Associations. These coaches four hours per day, starting between 4.40am and are employed on a Salary or a Contract package that 5.30am, he is expected to initiate and kick-start a usually includes paid annual holidays, swimming club that can administer his athletes’ superannuation and insurance, and, in many cases, a nominations and generate enough funds to send the vehicle is supplied. If they are employed by the athletes to Age and Open Nationals and to also pay National Institute, they have access to Sports Science, the coach’s travel and accommodation. If not, he has Biomechanics, Qualified Strength Coaches and a to pay to go to work. He also has to pay an assistant Medical Staff. In addition to this, they also have their to take his place when he is away and also organise personal swim office at the facility, which is serviced office and Learn-to-Swim staff to handle any by a secretary who is specifically attached to the contingency in his absence. swimming program. Her duties are to assist the WHY PRICE EGO?? coaches in the areas of travel and accommodation Unless the administrators of our sport do and all internal memos, etc., that the coach may something very soon to either contract the top require. producing coaches in Australia, or provide some The swimming program has a Travel Budget that form of salary “top-up”, our performances are going is controlled by the Head Coach and provides to deteriorate as more and more coaches come to the overseas travel and interstate travel for Swim Camps, conclusion the Price of Ego is just too much and etc., that any of the Institute coaches may wish to swimming will lose many years of experience that take their swimmers to that fall within the allocated they may find very difficult to replace and then it budget. may be too late to stop the sport’s demise. The Swimming Budget also provides a If the administrators of our sport do not believe comprehensive range of pool deck equipment that the that coaches are the catalyst of the nation’s coach may require to assist in the preparation of his swimming performance, then we should take the swimmers. initiative, together with the ASCTA, and get out there and generate our own funding. There are just as

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many, if not more, coaches at the elite level who have our swimmers for major international the qualifications to either work with ASI or, if competition. necessary, with our Association, to contract our own 2. Encourages our “pipeline” coaches to stay in coaches. We are way behind swimming nations who club coaching rather than leave the sport or do not enjoy half the profile or corporate market seek a more financially rewarding college value we do, yet their top coaches receive rewards position. that make our incomes pale into obscurity. Stay 3. Encourages our club coaches to lay the tuned. There are more very disturbing plans in the foundation and develop training plans focused pipeline that will really make your hair stand on end. on career (long-term) success rather than on For those coaches who missed US CEO Dennis short-term results. Pursley’s article in our last magazine, here it is again. 4. Provides incentive for all of our coaches to put In closing, I have not written this article for any a greater emphasis on long course metres other reason than to encourage those who administer training. our sport to listen to us, discuss with us and hopefully 5. Encourage more cooperative and effective help us. interaction between our club and college coaches (because they will both benefit from USA SWIMMING COACH INCENTIVE the performance results). PROGRAM 6. Our current system provides athlete and By Dennis Pursley program support. This proposal would provide a comparable level of coaching support (the PROGRAM PURPOSE & RATIONALE critical missing link). In spite of the many obstacles that confront our coaches in the pursuit of excellence, USA Swimming METHOD is very fortunate that some of them are continuing to st nd rd fight against what often seems to be insurmountable 1. Performance Criteria: 1 , 2 or 3 place in odds to prepare their athletes for international an individual event in the highest priority competition. As these obstacles continue to become international competition of the year – i.e. more difficult, incentives and rewards for these Olympics, World Championships or Pan Pacs. coaches would help to ensure that they continue to 2. Eligible Recipients: Current coaches of our fight the fight. international medallists who have been Scientific research and competitive swimming coaching these swimmers for at least two history have demonstrated that the ultimate years, and the coaches who provided the performance in competitive swimming is the product training foundation for these athletes during a of several years of preparation during the critical minimum of three of the eight critical development period combined with race specific development years (ages 11-18). Note: A training later in a swimmer’s career. An maximum of three coaches would be eligible exceptionally talented swimmer can be relatively to receive credit for any performance. successful at almost any level of competition even 3. Disbursement of Funds: Eligible coaches with a deficient training background during the would receive three shares of funding for a critical development years, but the pinnacle of gold medal performance, two shares for a success (an Olympic gold medal) cannot be attained silver medal and one share for a bronze medal. without a proper foundation. The available dollars would be divided by the The following USA Swimming Coach Incentive total number of shares to determine the value Proposal is intended to help ensure continued of each share. success in international competition by identifying and supporting those coaches who are preparing our RECOMMENDED QUADRENNIAL BUDGET athletes for medal-winning performances as well as those who are providing a foundation for success in $3.7 Million – 40% to be allocated to the Olympic the critical development years of our international Games and 20% to the highest priority competition in medallists. each of the other three years of the quadrennium. [In a typical scenario in a non-Olympic year, gold, PROGRAM BENEFITS silver and bronze medals would be worth approximately $26,000, $17,000 and $9,000 1. Provides incentive for our national team respectively for each eligible coach.] coaches to put a higher priority on preparing

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speed sessions, it is possible to swim these more frequently. Endurance workouts provide an excellent Training base of general fitness and should be completed throughout the training season. Similar to the sprint Progression for or speed work swimmers should swim all endurance work with good technique and skills. Slower Younger Age endurance training is where good technique is learned Group Swimmers and reinforced. A sign of good swimming is for even pace in all distance or endurance work and ideally By David Pyne there should be no more than two seconds difference Sports Physiologist, Australian Institute of Sport between any 100m split in the same stroke. (Reproduced from The Swimmer, Jan/Feb 2001, Issue 6) For most beginning age group swimmers, it is usual to start with three or four sessions per week each of For the younger age group swimmers still developing about one hour’s duration. This equates to about their skills and techniques, the physical conditioning 1000-2000m in total distance for each session. After (or fitness training program) is an important but several weeks, swimmers can typically handle an secondary consideration. As the age group swimmer increase of one or two sessions per week, and an matures the emphasis and time commitment to the increase from 1000-2000m in distance. This training program naturally increases. Even at the frequency of work is normally compatible with the beginner level, the training program normally school timetable, and can be increased during the consists of both shorter faster intervals (speed work) summer holidays when more time is generally and longer slower intervals (endurance work). available.

Speed work is designed to develop the anaerobic Each training session should start with a warm-up. energy system. Shorter faster intervals or sprints are This typically consists of some easy paced swimming completed in short sets such as… and warm-up drills before the main set(s) are 10x25m (fast) swim through to 50m on 1:30 cycle completed. A short “swim-down” of 100-200m 8x50m as 25m fast/25 easy alternating with 25m should be completed at the end of training. Skills and easy/25m fast on 1:30 cycle technique work including drills, pulling and kicking 4x75m accelerations (mod, firm, hard by 25m segments) can be used at any time through the workout. The on 2:00 cycle main objective is for each swimmer to learn, develop

and master each of the four swimming strokes as well The total distance for sprint sets for beginners should as the skills of starting (dive start), turning and be between 200 and 400m with longer rest intervals finishing, pulling and kicking. Some experienced permitted both between and within sets. At all times coaches suggest that all younger swimmers should be good technique should be used and swimmers should trained like IM (Individual Medley) swimmers who be encouraged to count the strokes required to have to be proficient in all the strokes. A set such as complete each effort. Swimmers with poor technique 4-6x200m IM will readily indicate which younger generally take several more strokes to complete a lap swimmers have the skills and ability to advance to than their counterparts with good technique. When the next level of training. swimmers start to tire, the number of strokes can increase by two to three strokes per 50m. Interval training forms the basis of the modern

swimming training program. Although there is a Endurance training is designed to develop and place for a single overdistance (continuous) swims – maintain the aerobic energy system. This work is e.g. 400-2000m – the majority of training sets and completed using continuous overdistance swims or sessions consist of intervals. An interval style longer slower interval sets. Some examples of this training set consists of several variables including … type of work for beginning swimmers are… the number of intervals (efforts) – the distance (m) of 400m Freestyle straight on 8:00 each interval – the rest period after each interval 600m Freestyle/Backstroke (x100’s) on 12:00 (sometimes known as the work:rest ratio) – the pace 800m Freestyle straight on 20:00 of each interval (intensity or effort – and the type of

swimming uses (Freestyle, Backstroke, Butterfly, The total distance for endurance sets should be 600- Breaststroke, Individual Medley, Pull, Kick, or Drill). 800m. As these workouts are less strenuous than the

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As an age group swimmer matures and improves his or hers level of swimming, the volume and intensity of training can be gradually increased. It is recommended that only small 5-10% increases be COACHING made at any one time. A common mistake is to DO WE increase training loads too quickly which can lead to REALLY DO IT excessive fatigue or even injury. Swimmers at the intermediate level should be completing 4-5 training THE CORRECT sessions per week with distances of 2000-3000m. WAY Training programs start to diversity, the swimmer By Peter Ruddock – Level 3 Coach should be competent in all strokes, and be able to hold different paces according to the coach’s Is it time to have more than one coach for a swimmer program. to really improve?

Younger swimmers at an intermediate level should be In most sports today, athletes have a number of able to complete the following type of workouts… coaches – e.g. in golf, tennis and sports such as 16x100m Freestyle on 1:45 to 2:00 Australian and American football, cricket and 12x50m Butterfly on 1:10 baseball, there are many coaches and statisticians 12x100m Backstroke on 2:00 who assist the main coach. 12x100m Breaststroke on 2:10 There was an article in the “Sun” early this year For advanced but still relatively young age group describing how Leigh Matthews, coach of the Lions, swimmers (10-11 years of age) the number of has nine coaches assisting him. There was an article sessions can increase to five or six per week. Each commenting that David Parkin (Carlton) had 70 session would typically last 1-1½ hours equating to people assisting him and he uses 15 statisticians on 3000-4000m in distance. Again sprint sessions would match days (“Sun”, September 1995). consist of repeat 25, 50, 75 and 100m intervals for a total of 400m per set. Overdistance or continuous If we think about it, can one swimming coach really swims of 800-1600m should be included. Higher do all the tasks he/she needs to do to give the quality interval training using a combination of 50- swimmer the best feedback? 200m efforts will stimulate improvements in both speed and endurance. Terry Gathercole, when he spoke about how he coached Linley Frame, said he used other experts to Younger swimmers at the more advanced level assist him out of the pool and in the area of massage, should be able to complete the following type of athlete education welfare, physiotherapy, psychology, workouts… medicine, psychology, nutrition and strength training. 20x100m Freestyle on 1:30 16x100m Backstroke on 1:40 But … dues the coach have the support staff at the 12x100m Breaststroke on 1:50 pool to assist him/her in the best way possible? 6x200m Individual Medley on 3:45 A football coach has a specialist ruck coach … a In all cases, advancement between groups should be coach to assist the players who are not 100% fit … a undertaken on an individual basis. Swimmers will statistician who counts the handballs, the marks, the mature at different rates and the early maturers may kicks, the turnovers, the number of times the ball need to advance before the late maturers. goes into the 50m line. Advancement should occur when the swimmer has mastered the skills and techniques at their current But does the swimming coach use the same support?? level and are comfortably coping with the frequency, volume and intensity of training. Once a swimmer Even if a coach has only one swimmer to look after, progresses to a higher level or squad, it is good how can he/she observe in one race, evaluate and practice to continually work and refine those drills record in one minute… and skills acquired at the more basic levels. • Stroke Length Good fundamentals must be worked and reworked • Stroke Rate throughout a younger swimmer’s career. • Splits

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• Turns still do the same old thing of 20-30 swimmers (of all • Observe technique, etc., etc. age groups) working under the one coach?

If a coach has two swimmers in a race, it is SELECTING A COACH OR A SWIM impossible to look at all these areas. Can a coach TEACHER? really comment on a swimmer’s performance after a race if all the information above is not available? (These points are presented as a means of getting parents/clubs/coaches food for thought.) To really life the standard of swimming and coaching, it may be a time to look at our coaching Have we got it right? setup. Is it time we learnt from other sports and had a number of assistants working with the coach? Today, we see many advertisements for Swim Teachers and Swim Coaches. As a general rule, Are we past the time of having one coach supervise candidates apply for the position, they are appointed swimmers in a two-hour session? If a coach divided and away they go. his/her time equally among his 30 swimmers, he would be only spending four minutes with each We see in other sports (namely football) that swimmer during a training session. inexperienced coaches don’t last and if they do, they have very little success. It is very interesting to see what is happening with football coaching this year. In football, most clubs Is it time that Coaches/Teachers are given an are now employing more assistants/specialist coaches apprenticeship? to assist their teams with special skills – e.g. ruck work, forward play, tackling, defensive playing Could it be that those with the right apprenticeship groups. We are even seeing some of the head coaches have a greater chance of being successful? not addressing their teams before matches and at breaks. Often, when teachers begin, they are given a group of children and left to their own devices to teach “sink Have our swimming coaches got something to learn or swim”. from the football coaching setup? What they need is someone to oversee their work … On television, during the Olympic Trials, it was to have weekly staff meetings … and have a interesting to hear a leading coach say to the media structured in-service program. Many would benefit that he had two swimmers in a final and he was flat from having someone coordinate their work and help out watching the swimmers … let alone timing the them develop sound teaching strategies that are splits. Did he have assistants counting the strokes and consistent among all other staff. counting the stroke rate, timing the turns, etc.? In other professions, staff often have to have a In the AFL Record on May 12-15, 2000, it was “police check”. They have to attend regular reported that, while the senior lists may be shrinking, professional development and weekly staff meetings. the number of assistant coaches continues to expand Do we do this in swimming? at a rapid rate. Is it time we had a Butterfly coach, a Backstroke coach, etc., as well as a turns coach, Is it time that we employed a Senior Teacher/Coach starting coach, a coach to take heart rates and one to to be the Director? In this way, the senior person count stroke rates? could work with the newer staff and oversee the operation of the organisation. It could be time we Back in 1984 at the Australian Institute of Sport, the stopped employing unknowns and placing so many swimming team worked under different coaches… good talented children at risk by not teaching/coaching them in the correct way. • Distance Coach – John Rodgers • Middle Distance Coach – Bill Sweetenham Is it time we stopped judging success by gold • Sprint Coach – Bernie Malroy medals? We cannot afford to just look after the talented swimmers and let the others sink. Then the team was broken into men’s and women’s divisions. Have we changed at a local scene or do we

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Do we evaluate and appraise the Coach/Teacher on a regular basis to assist them with their work? 10x100 SWIM TEST PROTOCOL Do our Coaches/Teachers have regular meetings with parents and swimmers? In a school, students get A simple & effective test for swimmers reports each term. Do we give swimming parents a of all ages report even once a year? By Wayne Goldsmith

Do Coaches/Teachers have lesson plans for the Coaches and swimmers are always looking for week/month/year? Do Coaches/Teachers have ways to test and measure how they are going in records of the stage of developments their pupils are training. Swim Test Sets are one method of analysing at? For example … heart rates, stroke rates, learning the progress of swimming training and to gather vital stages. information to ensure your training program is helping you achieve your goals. These points are presented as a means of getting parents/clubs/coaches food for thought. Why test?

STRETCHING – TAKE CARE! Swimming successfully is a bit like taking a journey from one place to the other.

First, you make sure you know exactly where you are. From knowing where you are starting, you can decide where to go next.

Once you decide where to go, you plan a course of action how to get there. Every so often you stop

A report in “The Age”, Monday 6th November 2000, and check the map to make sure you on the right reported on stretching techniques before physical track and have not got lost along the way. activity. This was an excellent article for swimming coaches. Swimming test sets are a bit like those little “map checks”. Every so often in your training program it is Stretching before physical activity has been important to stop and check your progress. recognised as a preventative for sports-related injuries. However, as the article states, scientific Information gained by regular testing provides evidence reveals that this may not be the case. you with direction for your next step and future course of direction. Researches have concluded that stretching… As with all tests there are ten • Should occur after a warm up or a hot shower fundamental steps in the process. • Should be static with no bouncing • Should be held for 10-30 seconds 1. Decide what you want to measure (and why?) • Should not be painful but should make the athlete feel good 2. Determine what test/s will give you the • Should be completed with correct techniques information you require … i.e. improper stretching can cause more harm than good 3. Prepare effectively … e.g. equipment, pool space, athlete skills Finally, professional advice should be given before stretching an injured muscle. 4. Complete the test accurately

For more information regarding stretching, see the 5. Record all results accurately article by Dr. Ian Shirer and Dr. Kay Gossal on the Internet. 6. Present the information in the appropriate manner

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7. Analyse and interpret the data TEST EXAMPLE – FREESTYLE

8. Discuss the results and provide feedback to the Race Day Warm up (always a good idea to fine appropriate person tune race day/competition warm up by using it to warm up for test sets). 9. Determine how the results can be used in the improvement of performance and incorporated Test Procedure: into the training program • 3x100 Aerobic Pace on 1:40 10. Implement the test results into the training program • 200 Easy Swim • 3x100 Threshold Pace on 1:50 This is a simple but effective and useful swimming test set that coaches and competitive • 200 Easy Swim swimmers of all ages can use to measure where they • 3x100 VO2 Speed on 2:00 are in their preparation. • 200 Easy Swim It is a MULTI DISCIPLINARY test protocol • 5 minutes rest which means it looks at physiological areas as well as biomechanical and technical aspects of swimming • 100 Maximum Speed all out effort performance. • Race day swim down

TEST OVERVIEW TEST LOGISTICS (WHAT YOU WILL NEED)

• 3x(3x100 metres) with a 200-metre swim down • Pace clock after each set of 3 • Stop Watch • 5 minutes rest then a single 100 metres maximum speed swim • Recording sheets (see attached) • Pens/Clip boards CYCLE TIMES • Long course/short course pool • Freestyle/Butterfly/Backstroke: First 3 on 1:40, • Heart rate monitors if available Next 3 on 1:50, Next 3 on 2:00 • Lactate Testing equipment if available (including • Breaststroke: First 3 on 2:00, Next 3 on 2:10, sharps and contaminated items disposal unit) Next 3 on 2:20 … i.e. the swimmer gets more rest as the speed increases • Data collectors: one per swimmer would be ideal – enlist parents, assistant coaches, resting swimmers, anyone who can write!!!! INTENSITY LEVELS

st SWIMMER PREREQUISITES • 1 set of 3x100 is at AEROBIC LEVEL … e.g. approx. 1500 plus pace This test can be used with age groupers as well as • 2nd set of 3x100 is at THRESHOLD PACE … e.g. senior swimmers. However, it is imperative that any approx. 400 pace swimmer undergoing this test protocol has a well- rd developed PACING ability. • 3 set of 3x100 is at VO2 PACE … e.g. approx. 200 pace Note: This applies for most swimming tests … • Final 100 is an all out, Maximum Speed effort e.g. 7x200 Step Test, 7x50 Stroke Efficiency Test where increasing speed is involved. It may be that • All swims are push starts younger age group swimmers or less experienced swimmers will need to spend several months learning accurate pacing skills before they are capable of completing this test effectively.

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Ideally test on days when swimmers are recovered VARIABLES TO BE MEASURED … i.e. Monday morning after a Sunday rest day.

Take Time, Heart Rate, Stroke Count and Stroke If swimming the first test in a 50-metre pool, try Rate for each 100m. Take lactate (if available) after to complete the second and subsequent tests also in a each set of 3x100. 50-metre pool.

After 100 max speed swim, take Heart Rate, RECORDING TEST INFORMATION Lactate (if available) at 3-5 mins post swim, and Heart Rate at 0 seconds (i.e. as soon as possible after Test information can be collected on a the swimmer touches the wall), 30 seconds post standardised data collection sheet. swim, 60 seconds post swim and 90 seconds post swim to check swimmer’s recovery from the These sheets can be laminated to protect them maximum speed swim. from the weather and water of the training environment. Have the swimmer perform his/her usual swim down … e.g. 600-800 metres, and repeat Lactate Swimmers can be educated to record some test measurement to determine the effectiveness of their data on the sheets themselves using a waterproof swim down routine (post swim – post swim down pencil (Chinagraph pencil – available from stationary lactate reduction measurement test). stores and some newsagencies).

In the absence of a lactate measurement however, The advantages of swimmers recording their own heart rate and time will provide most of the basic test data include: information needed for training prescription.

• It frees the coach to make technical observations WHAT WE ARE LOOKING AT during the test

Main focus: Physiological and biomechanical • It makes the swimmers more aware of the test efficiency at a range of swimming speeds directly protocols and test parameters related to training and racing.

• It helps educate swimmers in the area of self SPECIFIC AREAS OF MEASUREMENT monitoring of performance

1. Heart rate/lactate response to increasing • It provides the coach the freedom to provide swimming speed coaching / motivational / technical / tactical input during the test (i.e. instead of simply taking times 2. Stroke count and stroke rate changes (swimming and counting strokes. efficiency) with increasing speed

3. Recovery ability After testing, laminated sheets can be photocopied (ideally if A4 size) and kept for future reference and 4. Swim down effectiveness the sheets wiped down with mineral turpentine to be reused at the next test.

TARGET GROUP

Competitive Age group and senior swimmers with good pacing skills.

WHEN TO TEST

As with all tests, try to standardise as much as possible. Aim to at the same time of day, same day of the week during the swimming season.

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TEST PROTOCOL: 10x100 METRES as 3 x (3x100), 100 metres max speed swim Swimmer's Name: Test Date: Stroke: Best time for stroke: 50 metres 100 metres 200 metres 400 metres Club: Coach: Time Split Heart Rate Stroke Count Stroke Rate Lactate Cycle AEROBIC 100 100 100 Average Fastest-Slowest THRESHOLD 100 100 100 Average Fastest-Slowest

VO2 100 100 100 Average Fastest-Slowest 100 Max Speed Single Effort Recovery Heart Rates Immediate post swim 30 seconds post 60 seconds post 90 seconds post Lactate 3-5 mins post swim Post Swim Down Comments

10x100 Test Sheet – (Recording Sheet)

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DATA PRESENTATION (WHAT TO DO WITH TEST RESULTS) On a table show the times, heart rates, stroke counts, stroke rates etc. Graph heart rate and speed/heart rate and time. Graph speed (or time) and stroke count/distance per stroke in metres. Graph speed (or time) and stroke rate in strokes per minute.

Stroke Count Stroke Rate Time Split Heart Rate Lactate Cycle (both 50’s) (2nd 50 only) AEROBIC 100 1:25 42/43 145 38/41 33.8 1:40 100 1:26 42/44 147 38/42 34.1 1:40 100 1:25 42/43 149 39/43 32.6 2.9 1:40 Average 1:25.3 Fastest-Slowest 1.0 THRESHOLD 100 1:16 37/39 161 42/44 32.9 1:50 100 1:15 37/38 163 42/46 33.7 1:50 100 1:15 37/38 168 42/45 34.7 3.4 1:50 Average 1:15.3 Fastest-Slowest 1.0

VO2 100 1:11 35/36 180 44/49 39.7 2:00 100 1:10 34/36 179 45/49 40.0 2:00 100 1:11 34/37 184 46/51 39.1 4.5 2:00 Average 1:10.6 Fastest-Slowest 1.0 100 Max Speed 1:06.5 32/34 191 47/55 47.5 6.2 Single Effort

Heart rate at 0 seconds 191 Heart rate at 30 seconds post 179 Heart rate at 60 seconds post 167 Heart rate at 90 seconds post 145 Post Swim Down lactate 3.1 Post swim down heart rate 108 Example of a completed test of an age group swimmer. (Personal best time 100 Freestyle 1:05). Stroke counts refer to the number of strokes for each 50 … e.g. 44/49 means 44 strokes for the first 50 and 49 strokes for the second 50. Stoke rate is a measure of the number of strokes per minute.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR AT THE FIRST TEST 3. As the speed increases, STROKE RATE – the 1. As speed increases HEART RATE will number of strokes per minute will INCREASE. increase. Rationale – As the swimmer works This is a normal aspect of increasing speed – to harder and has a greater need for oxygen rich “up” the rating. However, if the distance blood, the heart needs to work harder to keep covered by the swimmer with each stroke up with the demand of working muscles. decreases significantly with the increase in 2. As speed increases, STROKE COUNT – the rating, the swimmer is becoming inefficient. number of strokes per lap will INCREASE, ie Rationale: As with stroke count, as the the distance covered by the swimmer with each swimmer’s technique breaks down, it takes stroke will decrease. Rationale: As the more strokes (and more energy) to maintain swimmer attempts to increase speed, technique the same speed. limitations and inefficient stroke techniques 4. As the speed increases, LACTATE levels will lead to shorter and more frequent strokes. increase. Rationale: As the swimmer attempts

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to swim faster, the balance between lactate production and lactate removal rate changes. If the testing process shows a clear trend of Nearing PB time, when muscles are working improvement, you have no problems. What do you hard, lactate removal is exceeded by lactate do however, if test results show a decline in production resulting in an elevated lactate performance? level. 5. After the final 100, the swimmer’s heart rate 1. If the test shows the swimmer is taking more should steadily decrease when resting and after strokes to maintain the same speed, try some swim down. Rationale: After the test, as the technique training and work on stroke swimmer relaxes and swims down, the body technique and skills training to develop a more will try to achieve a state of balance. As carbon efficient stroke. dioxide is exhaled and as lactate steadily 2. If the swimmer’s heart rate is higher at the decreases, heart rate falls towards resting same speed or they are taking longer to recover levels. after the test set, try some long, steady, relaxed, rhythm type training to develop some WHAT TO LOOK FOR NEXT TIME … i.e. essential aerobic characteristics. SECOND AND SUBSEQUENT TESTS … IF 3. If the swimmer shows a marked increase in THE TRAINING PROGRAM IS WORKING stroke rate to maintain the same speed with a corresponding decrease in distance per stroke 1. The swimmer’s heart rate will be lower at the and an elevated heart rate it is possible the same speed. Rationale: Swimmer is “fitter” – swimmer is tired and the test will need to be more physiologically efficient and has a lower redone when the swimmer is rested and oxygen demand at the same speed. unfatigued. 2. The swimmer’s stroke count will be lower at the same speed. Rationale: The swimmer is Test results are however only a guide. Often they are more efficient in the water and has a higher the objective support for the subjective feelings of a distance per stroke. coach or athlete. A coach might test a swimmer to 3. The swimmer’s stroke rate will be lower at the gather some hard evidence to support what he or she same speed. Rationale: The swimmer is more believes is happening based on experience and efficient in the water and has a higher distance judgement. per stroke. 4. The swimmer’s lactate will be lower at the In many cases the best testing protocol is for the same speed. Rationale: The swimmer’s ability coach and athlete to sit and talk about the program. to tolerate and remove lactate has improved The coach can “see” and observe, but can’t feel what with training. the swimmer is experiencing. The swimmer “feels” 5. The swimmer’s heart rate will return to near but can’t see technique and skills. By working resting levels in a shorter time after the final together, the seeing of the coach and the feeling of 100 effort. Rationale: The swimmer has an the swimmer can often provide the best solution. improved recovery ability due to a training program activity, eg greater emphasis on The 10x100 test is a valuable coaching assessment endurance work, improved recovery skills. tool. It can provide the coach and athlete with feedback into the progress and development of the HOW TO USE THE TEST RESULTS IN THE training program and provide guidance for planning TRAINING PROGRAM PLANNING FOR THE of future program initiatives. SWIMMER Author’s note: An important part of testing is correctly analysing the information gathered and using it to make effective Any coach or athlete trying this test can send me the changes to the training program. results and I am happy to look over the results and give some input. In general, as a swimmer trains they become more efficient. They use less energy, less oxygen and take Contact me at [email protected]. fewer strokes at the same speed. The challenge for the coach is to teach the swimmer to be efficient at higher and higher speeds.

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References and further recommended reading: STANDARD STRATEGIES • Maglischo E.W., Maglischo C.W. and Bishop By Russell Parsons, OAM R.A. (1987), Lactate testing for training pace. Swim. Tech. 19: 31-37. A few ideas/strategies that should be • Maglischo E.W. Swimming Even Faster. (1993), considered in the presentation of your Mayfield Publishing Company. Mountain View, California, pp.140-172. session(s). • Maglischo E.W., Maglischo C.W., Smith R.E., Bishop R.A. and Novland P.N. (1984), You will have your own COACHING Determining the proper training speeds for PHILOSOPHY … you may make personal swimmers. J. Swim. Res. 1:32-38. modifications – but keep in mind… • Maw G.J. and Volkers S. (1996), Measurement and application of stroke dynamics during training EVERYTHING YOU DO in your own pool. Aust. Swim. Coach 12(3):34-38. EVERYTHING YOU SAY • Pyne, D., Maw, G., and Goldsmith W. (2000), Protocols for the Physiological Assessment of Will be dinner-table conversation in each swimmer’s Swimmers. In: Gore C (ed) “Physiological Tests home over the next few days. for Elite Athletes”, Published for the Australian Sports Commission by Human Kinetics Your perception of your performance as a coach or Publishers, Champaign Illinois pp.372-382. teacher is sometimes the least important • Pyne D.B. (1989) The use and interpretation of consideration. blood lactate testing in swimming. Excel 5(4): 23– 26. IN EACH SESSION… • Pyne D.B. and Telford R.D. (1988) Classification of swimming training sessions by blood lactate € SPEAK/DEMONSTRATE CLEARLY AND and heart rate responses. Excel 5(2):9–12. CONFIDENTLY. The swimmers are seeking • Pyne DB (1995) Coach, I can’t get my heart rate and appreciate leadership. up (or down): The physiology of measuring heart € Keep your approach SIMPLE and rates. Australian Swimming Coach 11(9):19–22. CONSISTENT. (Don’t complicate things – • Richardson M.T., Zoerink D., Rinehardt C.F., simplicity facilitates success – demand Cordial M, Bouchier N., and Latham C. (1996), attention (looking and listening), and do not Recovery from maximal swimming at the proceed without it – praise endeavour, show predicted initial onset of blood lactate confidence in the ability of swimmers to accumulation. J. Swim. Res. 11:30-35. achieve the standards you set.) € REVIEW SKILLS from the previous session. • Sharp R.L. (1992) Exercise physiology: proper 10-20% of time allocated should be associated conditioning. In; J. Leonard (Ed) Science of with this purpose. Do not prioritise “skill Coaching Swimming. Leisure Press, Champaign, extension” ahead of “skill acquisition”. pp.71-98. € CONTINUALLY and CONSISTENTLY • Wakayoshi K, Yoshida T, Ikuta Y, Mutoh Y, and reinforce expectations – equipment, Miyashita M. (1993) Adaptations to six months of punctuality, lane etiquette … DO NOT aerobic swim training – changes in velocity, COMPROMISE STANDARDS. stroke rate, stroke length and blood lactate. Int. J. € Plan your lane organisation to allow efficient Sports Med. 14:368-372. use of space – e.g. down Backstroke – return • Wakayoshi K, D’Acquisto L.J.D., Cappaert J.M. Freestyle – vary lane leadership. and Troup J. (1995) Relationship between oxygen € BE PREPARED … “Why are we doing uptake, stroke rate and swimming velocity in this?” Relate activities (drills) to the outcomes competitive swimmers. Int. J. Sports Med. 16:19- you are seeking to achieve. 23. € ALWAYS outline (in advance) to the swimmers “what’s in it (the session/the drill) for them” – use incentives and rewards – e.g. cards, certificates, praise at some to stage to EVERY swimmer, novelties (e.g. snakes or jelly babies) … but … be sure to expect the

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best they can offer … no more … no less … no excuses. WHAT € Positive, corrective feedback should prevail. Swimmers should walk away from EVERY session confident they have enhanced their MAKES A knowledge and/or skills. € BE IN CONTROL AT ALL TIMES. For GOOD example, allowing swimmers to make decisions is just another way of you being in COACH? control. Keep the session moving … a (Taken from ‘Sports Parent’, American Sport minimum of talk (demonstrate, explain – but Education Program, Human Kinetics) on a needs basis).

€ Don’t be distracted. Many people think that if you have played a sport, € Have a THEME for each session – e.g. 100% you are qualified to coach it. Wrong! (If this were Right is 100% Right … 99% Right is 100% true, all actors would make good directors, and all Wrong … Good is not enough, where better is students would make good teachers.) possible … Do Your Best … No More, No

Less, No Excuses. A good coach… € USE CARE AND COMMON SENSE, but

don’t be afraid to challenge the swimmers. Young people love to acquire new skills and • Must know the sport – and kids. The coach have those skills recognised – they enjoy being must know about the physical development of able to do things others cannot do. boys and girls – what children are and are not € DO SOMETHING POSITIVE AND capable of doing. PERSONAL FOR EVERY SWIMMER, • Must know about differences in personality – EVERY SESSION. For example, praise, that what is right for one child is not stroke correction, special attention, a necessarily right for another. comment/joke, personal comments to • Must understand each child’s motivation for swimmers to swimmers in view of the parent, being on the team. Some kids are very serious have the swimmer demonstrate to the group, about the team – others are there because a lead the lane, or answer (correctly) a best friend is playing. question(s). • Must be able to understand, and deal with, differences in children’s physical and There are many other issues and strategies – EVERY emotional maturity and appreciate children for SWIMMER IS AN EXPERIMENT OF ONE – their individuality. you will constantly add to your strategies … it’s • Needs to be sensitive to children with physical called EXPERIENCE (you can’t buy it, only acquire disabilities and children coming from various it). But, keep in mind that teaching is social, economic, and racial backgrounds. The fundamentally a simple process – YOU take a coach must give attention and instruction to all group of students/swimmers into a classroom/pool, players and attempt to make them all feel part show them, explain to them how to do something, of the team. organise skill acquisition opportunities, providing • Must be skilled at teaching the fundamentals of appropriate feedback … then, let them have a series the sport. Skill development is a major reason of attempts, see how they perform, reinforce, refine, kids play – most children want to improve their replicate … THE LEARNING PROCESS NEVER abilities and getting better at their sport is a ENDS! prime source of enjoyment. • Teaches young athletes to enjoy success and to ASC&TA l1, North West Athletics respond to failure with renewed determination. 2/72 Hopwood Street, Echuca Vic 3564 • Has more than just winning in sight. Long- Phone/Fax: 0354 801 705 term goals of helping young people develop E-mail: [email protected] physically, psychologically, and socially Web Site: www.nwaswimaths.com should take precedence over the goal of winning. AN EYEFUL IS BETTER THAN A MOUTHFUL • Emphasises improvement, competence, and striving for excellence.

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• Helps children develop positive self-images The coach makes the kids Winning is great – but the and learn standards of conduct that are feel worthy only when outcome of a contest has they win. nothing to do with children’s acceptable to society. worth. • Teaches and models conduct that reflects basic desirable values. WHAT STATE COACHING CENTRES CAN DO FOR YOU The successful coach is one who conveys the… For anyone working as a coach, official, sports • Joy of competition educator or sports administrator, the national network • Meaning of effort of state coaching centres is a valuable resource that • Worth of character you should be tapping into to help you to do your job • Power of kindness more effectively. The types of activities that state • Wisdom of honesty coaching centres are currently doing include… • Influence of example • Rewards of cooperation Education and Training This revolves around planning, coordinating, • Virtue of patience implementing and constantly improving a range of

sport education programs. These include … Level 1 The coach’s challenge is to convey these values Coaching Principles; Level 2 Coaching Principles; while striving for victory and not diminishing the fun Officiating General Principles; Assessor Training; in sport. Not an easy task! Course Presenters Course; Coach Updating Seminars

WARNING SIGNS OF POOR COACHING on a range of relevant topics; Strength and Conditioning Coaching Courses; Coach Education The coach uses profanity. There is no excuse for this – Forums. especially in junior sport. The coach argues with This models poor Better Delivery Systems referees or officials. sportsmanship for players. This function of the state coaching centres involves The coach criticises There is a big difference … forming partnerships and networks within the players – not their between saying “Lisa, you behaviour. have to keep your eye sport and recreation industry to improve the delivery focussed on the volleyball of sport education – helping state sporting and hit it with the heel of organisations to deliver national sport education your hand” and “Lisa! We programs for coaches and officials – working with could have scored an important point if you hadn’t the vocational education and training system hit that serve out! You have implementation of the Sport Industry Training to put the ball in play!” Package – establishing and liaising with private The coach won’t listen to We are not talking about providers of coach and official education – working parents. parents who coach from the closely with the Sport Education Section in the sidelines but those who raise legitimate questions or delivery of their courses. concerns. The coach allows “Hey Coach, I thought Kate Recognition and Awareness cheating. was too old to swim on our All state coaching centres are working to develop, team this year.” coordinate and deliver recognition and awareness “Well, she is the right age for most of the season – activities for coaches and officials within each state and it doesn’t matter. The and territory. team that won the championship last year did If you are an athlete, coach, sports official or sports the same thing with one of their best swimmers and educator, or would like to be involved in the area, the they never got caught.” state coaching centre coordinator in your state or The coach makes winning Winning is a great goal to territory should be your first port of call. the only goal. have – it just should not overshadow the larger goal of putting players’ development first. The coach ignores the “Well, I have only so much lesser skilled players. time to give – I had better concentrate on my starters.”

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Australian Coaching Council STATE COACHING CENTRE COORDINATORS As of December 2000 rinciples of lub peration Australian Capital Territory P C O Mr John Armstrong The Joe King Memorial Lecture ACT Coaching Centre, Bruce CIT By John Leonard, Executive Director, American PO Box 90, Belconnen ACT 2616 Phone: (02) 6207 4389 Swimming Coaches Association Mobile: 0417 264 939 Fax: (02) 6207 4042 (Reproduced from WSCA Newsletter Vol.99 Issue3) E-mail: [email protected] Good morning. I am quite proud today to be a part of South Australia Ms Yuli Gowling the Joe King Memorial Lecture. I met Joe in 1976 at Coaching Centre Coordinator, SA Sports Institute the Montreal Olympics and, as I don’t need to remind 27 Valetta Road, Kidman Park SA 5025 you, he was a world-class personality and a world- Phone: (08) 8416 6752 Fax: (08) 8416 6755 class coach. It’s an honour for me to take part in a E-mail: [email protected] presentation in his name today.

New South Wales Ms Rebecca Neale My thanks to Ross Gage, Alan Thompson and Coaching Coordinator, NSW Coaching Centre Sydney Academy of Sport Michael Ursu for asking me to spend time with you PO Box 57, Narrabeen NSW 2101 today. I always enjoy my time in Australia and, in Phone: (02) 9454 0200 Fax: (02) 9454 0207 particular, I have learned a great deal in my visits to E-mail: [email protected] this convention and once again on this visit I have

Queensland learned some new things. I am sure each of you has Mr Mike Keelan also. Queensland Coaching & Officiating Centre, Office of Sport & Recreation GPO Box 187, Brisbane Albert Street Qld 4002 My role today is to be the “set-up man” or opening Phone: (07) 3237 9835 act for Rohan and while he will concentrate on the Fax: (07) 3224 7042 E-mail: [email protected] specifics of how he has set up his club, I will begin

Tasmania with some thoughts on the nature of operating swim Tim Dale clubs. I shall be speaking from an American Education & Training Officer, Tasmanian Sport & Recreation Skills perspective, as I will not be presumptuous enough to Centre PO Box 1154, Glenorchy Tas 7010 think I can tell you about Australian clubs. My hope Phone: (03) 6230 8256 is that you will see similarities that you will be able Fax: (03) 6230 8265 to use in your own coaching. E-mail: [email protected] Deborah Wilson Northern Coordinator, Tasmanian Sport & Recreation Skills Centre We all learn from the coaches who have gone before PO Box 109, Prospect Tas 7250 Phone: (03) 6336 2207 us. From the east has come the saying … “When the Fax: (03) 6336 2014 learner is ready, the teacher appears”. I have found E-mail: [email protected] this to be true many times in my own life and believe Northern Territory wholeheartedly in the principle. At various times, Cathy White, State Coaching Centre Coordinator NT Coaching Centre, NT Institute of Sport when I have been ready to expand my life, or my GPO Box 40844, Casuarina NT 0811 thinking, the right person has magically appeared in Phone: (08) 8922 6809 my life to provide the guidance or inspiration to Fax: (08) 8922 6800 E-mail: [email protected] move me forward.

Victoria Mrs Janet Pyke/Mr Les Bee When I returned from Vietnam in 1970, I met a Vic Coaching Centre, Sport & Recreation Victoria swimming coach at Syracuse University by the name PO Box 2392V, Melbourne Vic 3000 Phone: (03) 9666 4333 of Jon Buzzard. Now, Mr Buzzard was not a great Fax: (03) 9666 4266 swimming coach in conventional terms, but he was a E-mail: [email protected] or great “people coach”. He could poke and prod in the [email protected] [email protected] or right places and force you to do that which is the [email protected] hardest thing for any human being to do … think. He

Western Australia could force you to examine your ideas – your Mr Damian Condon interests – and your future – and push enough of your Consultant – Coaching Ministry of Sport & Recreation PO Box 66, Wembley WA 6014 buttons to get you moving. A greater gift cannot be Phone: (08) 9387 9779 given from one person to another. Mr Buzzard got Fax: (08) 9387 9726 E-mail: [email protected] me started on a career as a swimming coach.

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perspectives … first is the Coach … the second is the One of the things he encouraged myself and others to parent … and the third is “the club”. In the USA, of do was to read widely about swimming, especially our 2500 clubs, 90% are parent-owned, with work from other nations. One of the first books he employee coaches. I must say that though I worked encouraged me to read was titled “Forbes Carlile on for 16 years in parent-owned clubs, and with Swimming” by the distinguished author sitting in substantial success, I would never do so again. The front of us today. It was a book destined to change model for the future is the coach-owned club. the way I thought about sport. Parent-owned clubs started in the 50’s and 60’s when In particular, I took from Forbes’ book, the idea “to the world was different. The idea was to let the coach create an environment where Champions are “Coach”, while the parents did the work of the club inevitable”. A few years ago, when I finally saw the organisation. For its time, this model worked well. real whole sign that hung in Forbes’ pool doorway, I Families had two parents – one who worked and one realised that I had gotten the message slightly wrong. who stayed home and raised the family. American By that time I had spent 25 years of coaching acting Moms ran American Swimming – and it worked on the message I thought I had received and it had well. worked out just fine. Nevertheless, when Laurie Lawrence insisted on out-bidding me for that sign at In the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s however, a major change Forbes’ and Ursula’s Testimonial Dinner a few years took place. Today, many families are one-parent ago, I was distressed but realised that the resting families, or two-income families – and the volunteer place of that famous painted sign deserved to be in time available to run swim clubs dwindles each year. Australia and not in the USA. Thank you Forbes for More and more, the work of running the club falls to being such a good teacher. paid staff and coaches. As this trend continues, it will be both more practical and more accepted for coaches What Forbes taught me, of course, is that developing to simply own and operate their own clubs. My or controlling the environment in which we operate is recommendation to young coaches today is to serve a of vital importance and must be done by the solid and lengthy apprenticeship under a successful successful coach. And that is the substance of this club coach and, when you think you are ready, wait talk today ... however, as we coaches, can develop one more year or two, then move out on your own and control an environment in which swimmers can and own your own team/club. The day of the parent- flourish and prosper. Every other talk in this owned, parent-directed club is declining at a rapid conference is about topics we all enjoy more … about rate. physiology, about biomechanics and the teaching of stroke – in short, about how to help our swimmers That said, we all work for someone – even if we swim faster and better. We all became coaches for work for ourselves. What I would like to do this that reason … because we love the sport and love the morning is examine the crucial roles of some of the young people. None of us got into this game because players in the swim club equation and discuss what we wanted to become great managers of clubs, each does in a quality organisation, then next administrators, and directors. examine some positive ways of communicating within that three-part framework for success – and But if we fail to manage our environment we will be finally – to examine and make brief controlled and managed BY our environment and we recommendations regarding a few of the potential will be forever limited in how successful we can be. problems that we all know exist in swim clubs and Thus, a hard lesson … to do what we want to do, we some ways to address those successfully. So let’s must first master what needs to be done … and create plunge in, looking at three entities … the Coach – the for ourselves the environment in which we want to Swim Club Parent – and the Club Board of Directors work. itself.

It is not glamorous, exciting or fun – but it is vitally First, the Swim Coach. What is the role of the important to our overall success as coaches. swimming coach in the swimming club? I would suggest to you that there are certain areas that every My role today, then, is to discuss some of the aspects coach I know wants to hold complete and total of successful clubs and paint some relationship control over within his or her training environment. pictures that explain the principles that can affect the These include all of the technical aspects of coaching, formation of those clubs. I will do so from three technique and training. This is as it should be. People

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who are not mechanics, take their car to a mechanic The second role of the parent is to provide for the for repair – they take their bodies to a doctor – and needs of the child in terms of typical parenting … their teeth to a dentist. If they are not swimming reminding them of obligations, responsibilities, coaches, it is reasonable that they will take their taking care of their physical gear, etc. children to a professional swimming coach and then follow their advice in all matters relating directly to A third role is the practical support they provide for coaching. the swimmer’s career, in terms of both finance and transport. Clearly, the sport cannot survive without There are other areas, however, that the coach had parents making enormous sacrifices for the child who best act as a consultant in – and make is motivated to swim. recommendations to the family. These include things such as swim meets per month, year, etc., for an Finally, the parent can act as an advisor to both coach individual. The professional coach has a and child, supporting the views of the coach to the responsibility to tell the family what he feels is child, and perhaps offering insight to the coach on the optimum but must recognise that such things as child, their comments, concerns and interests that are family plans, finances, other children, etc., may not not expressed directly to the coach. This role is very allow complete compliance by the family. If the important and usually diminishes in frequency as the coach insists on compliance, it is likely that the risk communication increases between coach and child as of losing that family will greatly increase. the child matures within the program.

Finally, there are still other areas where the coach Next, let’s look at what the club, represented by its may educate, but the family will make the final Board, provides to the swimming club equation. decision. Sample areas of this sort include nutrition, First, the club provides a suitable framework in educational choices and related matters. While these which the swimmer and coach will work and operate. may impact on the performance of the athlete, the This includes items like securing facilities, providing wise coach recognises that in many families the input contracts to staff and facilities that ensures continuity of the coach will be only one factor in the final and stability, and a working mechanism for parents to decision process and the wise coach asks to have be involved in the sport alongside their child. The input – but does not demand compliance. committee framework of good clubs allows parental assistance without inflicting parental interference in The key concept then is that, in successful clubs, the the coaching and learning process of the child. coach has absolute power over certain technical decisions – has recommendation power in others – Second, the highest functioning club boards act as the and simply educational input in others. long-term planning mechanism of the club. They work together with the coach to establish a vision for The success of the coach can be measured best by the club, develop its mission, and set realistic two means … first, the successful progress of the objectives that the board and coach agree should swimmer, which as an objective measure is far constitute a successful program. At that stage, the superior … and secondly, by measuring the retention Board puts the execution of the program in the hands rate of swimmers on his group, the ultimate test of of the Coach, acting as the Chief Executive Officer of swimmer happiness. Trying to truly measure the club. The Coach reports to the Board, not on the swimmer happiness in the teenage years is a process day-to-day operation, but on movement of the club frightfully full of natural pitfalls of course, since towards its vision and mission, and the realisation of teenagers are, by definition, unhappy a fair each. The wisest boards do not micromanage, but percentage of the time. Coaches … reflect on your recognise their job of monitoring, acting as a resource own teenage years to experience what I mean by this. for the coach and avoiding the micro-management so prevalent at struggling clubs. They hire the best Next, let’s look at the role of the parent. The primary coach for the job, then work to make sure the role of the parent in the swimming process is to program stays on task and target. They approve the provide appropriate emotional support for the child. budget presented by the coach after rigorous This is an hour presentation minimum and we shall examination and question processes. have to simply note the importance of this topic and move on today in our survey of this whole topic. Finally, the best club boards operate a regular and systematic evaluation process of the progress of the club towards its Vision and Mission, and create and

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adjust plans to help the coach succeed in bringing the before you waste time learning any other club to that vision. coaching-related information. If you can’t sell – you’ll be better off in another profession. We have now surveyed the most important roles of 3. Decide on how you will regularly create a matrix the coach, the parent, and the Board of Directors in for communication with your club. Discuss and the best-run swim clubs in the world. decide on the role of face-to-face communications, written or electronic After that brief survey, it is time to turn our attention communications. List and categorise the pluses to some practical suggestions on creating a and minuses of each method and decide what you communication system within the club that will assist are going to use in each situation. Again, this is a in optimising the success of the club program. lengthy topic, too long for today’s few minutes. But you need to explore it in detail at some phase BRIEF OVERVIEW OF CLUB in your career. COMMUNICATION 4. Within your Board, persuade to consensus, do not VOTE on an issue. Votes create losers and 1. The Board must be kept thoroughly informed of losers go home mad. If you can’t reach facts regarding the program and all but the most consensus, let the issue rest until you and the technical facts of the coaching program. This other Board Members can persuade the misfits of enables the Board to educate the members and be the rightness of your cause. advocates for the program from the most 5. As a corollary to No.4, meetings should confirm factually informed prospective. Failure to do this, decisions already made – not actually reach allows destructive rumours and mis-information decisions. A good lawyer never asks in court a to flourish. question that he does not already know the The best mechanism to do this is a monthly answer to. Similarly, the good manager does not report covering all-important phases of the raise for discussion in a board meeting an issue program from the Head Coach to the Board. This that the manager does not already have consensus should be written, formal, and fact and objective- on. Meetings of boards need to be smooth numbers rich. It is vital that the coach present affirmations of the direction that the CEO Coach complete, correct and wide-ranging information. has already “sold” to his board. The board can When you first learn to do this, it may take you then enhance that idea in the meeting. up to 3-4 hours per month. Within six months 6. Written contracts and agreements make for well- you will be able to write it in less than one hour understood agreements. Verbal agreements are and it is one of the very best tools you can open to later misinterpretation. Get important imagine to manage your environment. Again, I things done in writing. Always. do not have time to explain this report in detail 7. The coach should accept the responsibility of today, but if you will see me after this educating the club parents. The parent should presentation, I will be happy to send you some accept the responsibility of opening conversation samples, and some further ideas on good monthly with the coach on personal concerns. No coach reports. can call each family each week and say 2. The modern coach must develop sales skills. We “Everything all right?”, “No problems?” That is must “sell – not tell”. Everything we do in impossible, with even 20 swimmers in your coaching revolves around selling – from group. The parent must communicate concerns convincing athletes that “8 four hundred IM’s directly to the coach but the coach must assume upside down, backwards, underwater, no responsibility for education. If the coach does not breathing” is good for them – to selling your do so, he risks the parent seeking “mis- Board on the idea of a team trip – to selling your education” from any available source. This is an athletic director on a new scoreboard – to selling unacceptable risk if you plan to do a good job of a sponsor on building you a new facility … it’s managing your environment. all sales. If you can’t sell – you can’t coach. The first stop of a young coach looking to improve Finally, let’s close with a survey look at some himself should not be in the biomechanics primary causes of difficulties in these various section of the bookstore, or in physiology, but in relationships and what can be done about improving the Business section, to pick up 10 good books them – then we’ll turn it over to Rohan for his on how to sell, and what selling means. (Which discussion of his particular club setup. is, filling a need for another person.) Learn to sell

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First, problems in parent-coach communications. Fourth, and finally, there should be clear agreement This seemingly is the long-term, most vexatious on what sort of club or parent disagreements or conflict in swimming. concerns go to whom. What is the “grievance procedure”, or concern, processing requirements A few principles may help – first, tret the parent and within the club? Both coach and club should agree to establish a relationship with the parent that places this policy, so there is no confusion or “running to coach and parent as PARTNERS in helping the whomever will listen” syndrome. athlete reach his goals. You are not rivals or adversaries, you are partners, and regardless of the Let me conclude with some recommendations on quality of the coach-parent relationship, you are both relationships between the club board and parents. in it primarily to assist the child. First, the operation of the club should be transparent, Second, a quality entry interview into the program with open meetings, minutes, financial reports, etc., will establish why the athlete is joining the team and all continuously available for members to inspect. what the expectations of the team are for parent and child. Don’t short-change the time needed to do this. Second, most discussions (except personnel Good entries into the club set the stage for successful decisions) should be open-door policy to all club careers. members.

Third, both parent and coach must agree to be open Third, there should exist a common policy for all and direct with each other and allow no hidden naysayers or loyal dissenters to have their say to the agendas to exist. board and membership. We must not be afraid of constructive dissent. Finally, keep the focus on the best interests of the athlete and not on the relationship between parent Fourth, rumours are always much worse than the and coach. facts. The board should try in as many ways as possible to make its intentions, agenda, and plans COACH/BOARD RELATIONSHIPS completely public to dispel the rumour mill, which can be most destructive and divisive. First, we need clear, objective expectations written out about what the club expects of the coach and Finally, the best clubs in the USA have the simple what the coach expects of the club. This where it all philosophy … “we want everyone to be happy in starts – not where it finishes! swimming … if not in our club – in some other”. Better an unhappy family be led graciously to another It is just as important to clearly enunciate what the organisation where they may stand a better chance of club can do for the coach. Coaches must understand being happy, than be lost to the sport of swimming. that what their “deal is” is what is written … not what was promised verbally. Remember … good starts make for good Second, these expectations and the results of them must be reviewed on a regular, timely basis, so no relationships. pent-up frustrations build from either party. This requires completely honest evaluations. Evaluations should be written and then verbally discussed. What Thank you for your kind attention, I have enjoyed will be evaluated and who and how it will be being with you and I will be around for the duration measured and evaluated should be determined of the clinic if you have other comments or questions. beforehand, not in the middle of an evaluation. In Now it’s time for me to turn the podium over to fact, the evaluation process should be part and parcel Rohan. Mate, it’s all yours. with the employment contract.

Third, and similarly, an agreed upon process of intervention should be developed long before any need for such intervention exists.

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kilojoules than usual in response to new opportunities to eat and drink. There are a number of ways to Surviving the account for the new energy equation, and move it away from a disastrous gain. Festive Season Problem Solution

Without a formalised training program, life approaches sloth, and energy requirements are low. Undertake a workout on most days – use the break from swimming to enjoy new sports or activities (cycling, running, roller-blading, etc.). It doesn’t need to be heavy or injury-producing – just regular and kilojoule-burning.

Be active in everyday activities – walk to the shop rather than drive, or take the park at the edge of the By Dr Louise Burke shopping centre rather than right in front of the shops. A swimmer’s life is usually pared down to (Reproduced from The Swimmer, Jan/Feb 2001, baseline outside the pool. Issue 6) Break free We are now in the Christmas/holiday season, where even the most dedicated/elite swimmers get to take a When energy requirements are high, it is easy to get few sessions off. At lower levels, swimmers may used to large servings and finishing meals with a full have more time out of the pool, or be left to and heavy stomach. It is hard to know what “normal” undertake their own training sessions. For some is. Cut your usual meal size in half. Chew slowly and athletes, Christmas came sooner, in the form of the wait for 20 minutes after finishing the place before post-Olympic break. Whatever the reasons, many deciding if you really need more. swimmers are currently experiencing the effects of the combination of reduced or no training with a Resist the urge to go back for seconds, just because it season of partying or festive eating. The results of is there. this combination can vary from weight gain in those who don’t want it, weight loss in those who work Make meals filling by including plenty of vegetables hard to keep it on, or inadequate fuelling of the or salad, and by choosing fibre-rich foods … e.g. sessions that are undertaken. In other words, wholemeal rather than white versions of cereal foods. backwards progress. Make meals or snacks more satisfying by ensuring But it doesn’t have to be like that. With a more that a serve of protein is always included … e.g. balanced or creative approach it is possible to have adding lean meat or reduced fat cheese to a sandwich the best of both worlds, or at least minimise the rather than plain salad – yoghurt and fruit rather than negatives. Whatever the challenges, there are ways to fruit alone. Make use of low glycemic index foods improve on what seems to be the natural response. (porridge or bircher muesli instead of cereal – kidney The following guidelines can help you to get the best beans added to pasta sauces or casseroles, etc.). out of training during the festive period, or save yourself from returning after a break looking like a When you are training hard, it doesn’t seem to beached whale. matter what you eat. Minus the training, it seems to count twice. Use strategies to reduce the energy Problem: Gaining Body Fat content of every mouthful.

Without the regular fuel bill of training, it is easy to Pay special attention to fat reduction strategies by eat more than your new energy requirements. minimising oils/fats/creams/fatty dressings added to Sometimes it is a matter of not cutting back meals, cooking with low fat techniques, and choosing sufficiently to match lower energy needs. However, reduced fat dairy foods and lean types of meats. other times it is a matter of consuming even more Include plenty of vegetables and salads at meals or in

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recipes. Finish meals with fruit rather than dessert or intake. For growing swimmers, it can be hard to meet cakes. the high energy demands of training and growth. During holidays and festive times, the routine of You are used to eating snacks between meals to meet eating is often lost, causing inadequate intake. training fuel requirements. Now even though you no longer need extra food, every celebration or meeting Problem Solution involves some festive food offering. Stick to a pattern of meals and snacks that suits your real needs rather With a break in routine comes a break in the than the opportunities to eat. regularity of eating patterns. It is easy to forget to eat, especially if you are hanging out with people who Distinguish between snacks that are simply for don’t need to eat as carefully, or are doing activities entertainment, and those that are useful to maintain that occupy your attention. Think ahead over your energy levels and stomach comfort. It is often useful day’s activities and try to plan a rough meal schedule. to have an afternoon snack to tide you over until This may alert you to the “problem times” when you dinner, especially if you are eating late. Otherwise, may need to have some of your own food handy, or snacks are usually superfluous. when you need to plan a meal stop.

Avoid nibblies at parties or before meals. Wait until Late nights often means sleeping through the day – the “real food” arrives by keeping occupied or and wasting good eating time. It is uncomfortable to chewing gum. If there is to be nothing else but have a big meal when you are heading off to bed. An nibblies, eat before you attend the function. action-packed drink such as a fruit smoothie or Sustagen shake can provide a nightcap without Alcohol is a regular part of your activities. Alcohol making you feel uncomfortably full. is high in kilojoules and promotes fat deposition. After a few drinks you no longer make sensible A high-energy intake requires regular and nutritious decisions about what to eat. Regular binge drinking snacks ... your usual routine may no longer be leads to total dietary neglect and loss of routine. appropriate. Many healthy snack options are easily Drink sensibly. found or prepared.

Don’t feel the need to drink on every occasion … Examples include… Pace your drinking by choosing low alcohol drinks, or by spacing drinks with non-alcoholic choices … • Fruit smoothies or milk shakes Eat a sensible meal before you go out drinking so that • Breakfast cereal with milk and/or yoghurt you won’t find yourself filling up later on a poor • Sandwiches/toasted sandwiches choice. • Fruit with cartooned custard or yoghurt

Christmas foods and party foods tend to be high fat There are many other high energy and/or nutritious choices. Be selective in your choices especially if you snacks that are also portable. Take them with you on are in charge of ordering or catering. For example, your day’s activities and enjoy your usual snacking vegetable sticks and salsa are a low fat alternative to routine – for example… corn chips and sour cream/cheese dips. Roast turkey is far leaner than roast duck. • Cereal bars and oven baked bars

• Tetra packs of flavoured milk or Sustagen Don’t feel that the situation is a “total loss”. You can • Snack packs of fruit always choose the lean cuts of the roast and trim the fat/skin. The situation might not be perfect but all • Rice cream strategies help. Be satisfied to have a taste of special • Muffins or muesli slices foods rather than large serves. Stick to smaller but more regular meals – 5-6 each Problem: Losing Hard-Earned Body day. On special days have a break between the main course and dessert. Spread meals so that you never Weight become too full. You will be able to eat more by

regularly snacking than by gorging. Some swimmers struggle to keep their weight stable or to increase it. Gaining muscle mass is a function of the right weight training problem and a high-energy

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• Glasgow University Scotland in 2000-1

The pilot study at Glasgow University, which will

ASTHMA, SWIMMING & THE BUTEYKO shortly be followed by a major clinical trial over two INSTITUTE METHOD OF BREATHING years with 600 participants, showed the following RECONDITIONING results… By Paul O’Connell BSc, Dip Ed, MBA • 92% of those who learnt the Buteyko Institute INTRODUCTION Method were completely off their reliever medication within one week. The other 8% The Buteyko Institute Method (BIM) of Breathing were defaulters. Reconditioning is known for its effectiveness at • 40% showed improvement in compliance with reducing asthma and the need for medication. It also asthma education and medication. provides significant benefits for enhancing sports • After 12 weeks, 74% of those who learnt the performance. The method is learnt by attending a Buteyko Institute Method, commenced the Buteyko workshop consisting of five sessions of 90 reduction program for steroid medication. minutes within a one-week period. • Measurement of Quality of Life using SF36 Scale showed various degrees of improvement BACKGROUND ON ASTHMA & THE in all areas, with asthma being one of the major BUTEYKO INSTITUTE METHOD areas.

Asthma is receiving an increasing amount of SWIMMING & OTHER PHYSICAL EXERCISE exposure in the media. It is now estimated that over two million Australians suffer from it. In school-aged Many people with asthma are encouraged to take up children, the incidence of asthma has doubled in the swimming. The humidity associated with swimming last 10 years and a now staggering 30% of school- pools has the effect of not causing as much drying aged children suffer from it. Around 800 people die out of our airways if we breathe incorrectly, when from asthma each year in Australia. compared to sports such as running or cycling. It is the overbreathing which then causes the body to The good news is that the Buteyko Institute Method develop asthma symptoms – bronchospasm, mucus of Breathing Reconditioning is achieving wonderful production and inflammation. This then results in a results in helping people reduce and eliminate asthma drop in your performance and manifests further as and the need for medication. In addition to its fatigue, lactic acid build-up, illness, breakdowns, low corrective properties for asthma and sinus problems, stamina, slow injury repair, and side effects from Buteyko also provides significant benefits for medication usage. All of these things occur because enhancing sports performance. of incorrect and inefficient breathing – and can be reduced and then eliminated by learning Buteyko. Professor Buteyko, from Russia, discovered and developed this method of breathing retraining in 1952 HOW BUTEYKO CORRECTS BREATHING & and it is only since the end of the Cold War that the IMPROVES PERFORMANCE method has spread to the western world. The theoretical basis of Buteyko is that people with Buteyko is unique as a breathing tool as it recognises asthma breathe incorrectly – they overbreathe. This the critical importance of carbon dioxide (CO2) levels has been established in several clinical trials. to respiratory efficiency and optimum sports performance. It is dissolved CO2 in the blood that RESEARCH ON THE BUTEYKO INSTITUTE induces the release of oxygen to the cells (Bohr METHOD Effect). A very large proportion of people, both when at rest and during exercise, have carbon dioxide Several clinical trials on the Buteyko have occurred. levels lower than optimum. Low carbon dioxide levels are universal in asthmatics. Buteyko corrects • Mater Hospital Brisbane 1994 (published in the CO2 levels allowing optimal oxygenation of the MJA December 1998) body cells and tissues. • Victoria University Melbourne 1999 • Gisborne Hospital New Zealand 2000

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Benefits of Respiratory Efficiency/Correct O2 and symptoms are avoided or controlled by applying the CO2 balance… Buteyko Institute Method.

• Speed – respiratory efficiency = greater speed The Buteyko Institute Method is taught in five day for less effort workshops (90 minutes per day) by Practitioners • Endurance accredited by the Buteyko Institute. People attending • Less lactic acid build up, cramping and leg the workshops are offered a money-back guarantee if fatigue they do not experience significant improvement. The • No asthma symptoms motto is … “you have nothing to lose except your asthma!”

CO2 is a potent bronchodilator and a determinant of cortisol production. No asthma symptoms results in Paul O’Connell is a former asthma sufferer who less or no medication needed and therefore less side learnt Buteyko for his own asthma in early 1994. He effects of medication. subsequently studied and trained with Alexander Stalmatski to become a Buteyko Practitioner, and is Some side effects of asthma medications are… founding member and currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Buteyko Institute of Breathing and • Cardiac stimulant effects of bronchodilators Health Inc. (BIBH). Since its formation in 1997, the • Ligament laxity, bruising and immune institute now has over 50 members in 12 different dysfunction effects of cortico steroids countries around the world.

• Health, immunity balance in O /CO = better 2 2 For further details and to receive a free information immune function, metabolism and kit in the mail, please phone the Buteyko Institute on oxygenation, rapid oxygen extraction 1800 001 700. • Heart rate lower resting, training and

performance heart rates faster heart rate recovery time This photo was taken in Glasgow, Scotland, in • Focus improved focus without shortness of October 2000 when Paul attended the clinical trial. breath, better oxygenation of brain • Energy levels respiratory efficiency = full oxygenation = improved stamina, endurance and tissue repair • Sleep quality – snoring and apnea cease, correct breathing means silent and quality rest

WHAT DOES LEARNING BUTEYKO INVOLVE?

Pictured from left to right: Learning Buteyko involves breathing exercises and Jean McGowan – Chief Investigator, Glasgow BIM application of efficient breathing to all activities from Asthma Trial rest (including sleep) through to intense exercise. It Dr Gerald Spence – General Practitioner, Glasgow involves, for most, less breaths per minute, less litres Wendy Haddock – BIBH Practitioner, Scotland of air per minute, correct use of the diaphragm, return Paul O’Connell – Chief Executive Officer, BIBH, of CO2 levels to normal, post effort breathing Australia recovery techniques, breathing techniques to achieve faster reduction of heart rate to rest level, more Paul O’Connell BSc, Dip Ed, MBA oxygen to the working cells. Buteyko Health & Breathing Pty Ltd PO Box 2409 Fitzroy Vic 3065 Australia Buteyko techniques are effective in unblocking acute Phone: 61 3 9419 4211 and chronically blocked noses and in restoring nasal Fax: 61 3 9419 3911 breathing. The Buteyko program for asthma sufferers E-mail: [email protected] follows National Asthma Campaign guidelines on Web Site: www.bibh.org medication – bronchodilators to be taken according to Freecall: 1800 001 700 need – and preventative medications to be taken as Mobile: 0411 225 731 prescribed by the doctor. The onset of asthma

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Performance news…

In their first Olympics, in Sydney 2000, Aquapacer™ have achieved impressive results with swimmers who trained with the Aquapacer™ Olympian or Solo.

Aquapacer™ Medallists… Gold – 35% of winners Silver – 28% Bronze – 22%

In total, 28% of medal winners benefited from training with Aquapacer™.

90% of all Aquapacer™ Olympic swimmers have set personal best times after using Aquapacer™.

Improving stroke rate and length are achievable with Aquapacer™ … so don’t be without one in your preparations for Athens 2004.

Aquapacer™ OLYMPIAN

SPECIAL OFFER $1760

(Includes two Sound Impulse Units valued at $365) + $11 P&H

Aquapacer™ is a patented sonic metronome designed for use in the pool. Aquapacer™ enables swimmers and coaches to hear the stroke rate every stroke or simply just the lap pace. Aquapacer™ is a proven and versatile coaching tool that is designed for developing technique, improving stroke length and rate, plus instilling confidence in swimmers of all levels. Aquapacer™ can be the ‘virtual trainer’ for all categories of swimmers from the international level to the age group swimmer just starting out.

SETTING THE PACE IN SPORT

~~ 27 ~~ SWIMMING in AUSTRALIA – March-April 2001

The Olympian is a durable hand held programmer that has a cordless RF link to a Pacer, which is worn by the swimmer. The coach or swimmer can program the Olympian for up to 120 laps per swimmer, including rest periods, plus there is the facility for memorising 16 different swimmer Aquapacer™ programs. The programs are then downloaded, at poolside, to the Pacers, which the swimmers then take with them into the water. The Pacer provides the swimmer with a ‘beep’ for stroke rate OLYMPIAN and can also provide different sounds for pace per lap and rest periods. The combination of Olympian and Pacer enables coaches and teachers to give individual training programs for up to 16 different swimmers for a 1-2 hour training session, or more. While some swimmers are on the Aquapacer™ training sessions they can… • Improve stroke rate – consistency as well as achieve a higher rate on sprint sets • Develop stroke technique while closely tracking competitive stroke rates – every stroke • Increase stroke length using ‘Stepping Training Technique – STT’ • Improve turns – maintain stroke rate into and out of turns • Practice starts using random start program • Practice race simulation • Control aerobic and anaerobic training, plus heart rate sets • Introduce fun and realism – create random programs to keep swimmer sharp! • Use in conjunction with heart rate training protocols for more accurate control By having some swimmers on Aquapacer™, training coaches/teachers have found they can give more time to individual training and/or studying specific swimmers. Aquapacer™ swimmers have found the Pacer to be a great motivational and performance feedback tool in the water, which has helped to make their training more focused and rewarding. To quote Ian Thorpe, Olympic Gold Medallist … ”Aquapacer™ somehow makes the sets seem easier.”

SOLO incorporates the features and benefits of the Olympian but in a compact self- contained Pacer where the programmability is integral within the device. Set your individual programs for training, race simulation or just company as your ‘Training Partner in the water’. SOLO keeps you challenged and on the pace every stroke, whether it is the precision Aquapacer™ repeats for race pace or those tedious long distance sessions. SOLO is totally portable and can be used by active sportsmen, not just in swimming, SOLO but any sport where there is a rhythmic cyclical rate. SOLO features include… • Program up to 63 laps with 99 repeats $174.90 • Stroke rates in Seconds per Stroke (SPS) or Strokes per Minute (SPM) + $11 P&H • Lap pace and elapsed time Some of the benefits of SOLO… • Complete control for any swim set • Training to improve stroke rate and stroke length • Even pace swimming over long distance • Stroke rate that can be varied to simulate race tactics or aerobic/anaerobic training • As a teaching tool, which is fun for Age Group swimmers • A source of motivation for any swimmer whether able bodied or disabled • Training partner for pacing ‘dry training’ – e.g. VASA or rowing machines Other sports applications where Aquapacer™ SOLO is providing performance enhancement for competitors – Triathlons, Track & Field Athletics, Rowing, Kayaking, Cycling, Rehabilitation from sports and other injuries.

For more information, contact… ASCTA, PO Box 824, Lavington NSW 2641 Phone: (02) 6041 6077 Fax: (02) 6041 4282

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Europeans are also regular participants in the World Marathon Series coordinated by FINA and organised by various countries around the globe. Australia does not have an event in the FINA Marathon Swimming World Cup.

After having ruled the world in the early 90’s, the SWIMMING IN CRISIS Australians in fact dropped to the embarrassing Australian Open Water falls by the wayside position of finishing in the bottom half of all By Chris Guesdon countries that competed in last year’s World Championships. Thirty-three countries competed. Last year’s Open Water Swimming World Championships were the first world titles at which So, what is wrong with the open water discipline in Australia has failed to win a medal. Chris Guesdon Australia? sheets the blame home to Australian Swimming and disregard of Open Water as a discipline in Australia. It is a truism of modern sport that without (Chris Guesdon was, for 12 years, Secretary of the direction and leadership, performance can decline Australian Open Water Swimming Committee, and is overnight. That is exactly what happened. a former member of the FINA Open Water Technical Committee. He is a FINA Referee and an Open Water The issue can be traced to resources. The lack of swimmer.) them!

The after shocks are still rumbling through Australian When Australia dominated open water swimming in swimming in the wake of the national team’s the 90’s, other nations were operating on a similar performance at the FINA World Open Water format to Australia but Australia retained No.1 Swimming Championships conducted in Hawaii in position in the world because they were better led November 2000. than the opposition and were certainly better organised. For the first time at any world swimming championship, Australia failed to obtain a podium After Australia annihilated the rest of the world at the finish. The Australian Open Water team thus was 1996 World Championships, Australia’s team of the only national team not to win a single medal at Melissa Cunningham, Grant Robinson, Joe Mitchell world championships. The reason? This was the and Shelley Taylor won the World Team most under-prepared and under-developed group of Championship ahead of France and Canada. They swimmers ever assembled in Australia and Australian retained the title that Australia had won in 1994 in Swimming stands responsible. Italy, ahead of Germany and Hungary.

Australia has probably the fastest swimmers in the Australia was runner-up to the USA in 1991 and to world – but they are unable to compete with other Italy in 1998. countries in the race format. There is a difference between swimming a distance fast and actually Cunningham, in 1996, retained her individual world racing. title, which she had won in Italy in 1994 – and Grant Robinson became the first Australian male to win a The winning teams at the last world championships men’s world championship in open water to give are accustomed to hard competition. Most of the Australia the double. swimmers are coming out of 800 metre and 1500 metre pool programs. They have city, provincial and Other countries, in particular European countries, national open water events week in and week out. implemented strong open water domestic and Their nations’ swimming bodies provide the international programs. Their results since infrastructure and funding. Australia receives demonstrate their effectiveness. virtually none. Europe has introduced a Gold Cup series with a format where swimmers earn points to Australian Swimming did not listen to those with win a championship. This series encompasses the open water expertise in this country and did nothing. 5km, 10km and 25km events.

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Despite the drawing up of a five-year plan by our open water experts for Australia’s medium to long- Frequent intense competition will play a big part term open water swimming future, Australian in achieving excellence. Swimming ignored the key elements of this plan. The reason is – always – no money in the budget left for With a world championships every year, Pan Pacs open water to implement their plan. and Oceania Championships every second year, and the inclusion of open water in Commonwealth and The results from World Championships from Olympic Games inevitable, Australia will need to 1998 onwards show that European countries and change its mindset or move aside and let others take the USA have taken competition to a different the reins. level to Australia. The big question is … Why is Australia’s open water There are still no signs that this will be rectified here. program being held back?

So, who is responsible for the demise? How do we When Australia dominated the world in open water fix it? swimming, a key element of the preparation was a well-structured national grand prix series in With a lack of infrastructure and attention to Australia. This was taken away from open water in development when we were on top, how were we 1998, even though the recommendation from the meant to produce swimmers? There are no specialist Open Water Swimming Committee was for it to textbooks or trained coaches available for a national continue. The decision-makers, against all program. These are national problems. recommendations, considered that insufficient swimmers were competing to justify the competition There is no and has never been any national coach even though this competition was nurturing the world interest or input and no inclusion of open water in champions and other swimmers who would follow swimming’s high performance program or national them into the national team. development plans generally. A recent meeting of Oceania National Olympic People without open water expertise think that Committees recognised that their countries’ developing open water swimming is programming a performances were below expectations for the 2000 few swims – as long as the weather is OK and they Olympic Games and they have met, planned and are not on pool competition days. endorsed the philosophy of development through competition. This is what we should be doing with These people will have to accept that a well- open water. structured home program and international competition for our teams is the minimum required If Australia does not have a vision of what it wants to for Australian open water teams to be competitive be, Australia’s open water discipline will die again. prematurely.

A five-year strategic open water plan produced in Already there is talk of open water breaking away 1998 has been largely ignored by the decision- from Australian Swimming to form its own group makers. within the swimming community. Sadly, this will not be unprecedented in Australia. Something is wrong Australia has fast and talented swimmers but they here! need to be taught and to learn by experience how to race to the new race with the new world With 300 ocean, lake or river swims and with 40,000 standards. competitors annually in Australia, one has to ask the question … Why aren’t these swimmers competing in Specialist camps for elite and second tier swimmers, Australian Swimming events? coach education programs and technical officials accreditation are a must. The Swimming into the Future forum conducted by Australian Swimming recently refused the Australian A well-structured regional, state and national Open Water Committee direct representation. So, competition series would complete the domestic decisions taken by the forum on a whole range of program. issues, including to close down the Open Water

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Swimming Standing Committee, were taken without any professional open water swimming input! Public Liability Insurance – A Necessity rather than a Morale has dipped to such a level in most areas of the discipline that some current and fringe internationals Consideration will not persevere with the stress of these issues and By Michael Catts, Business & Marketing Manager will probably see out careers on the swim circuit of Lowe Lippmann Bott Pty Ltd unaffiliated swims, endurance swims like the English Channel, and retire. Whilst the majority of accidents reported from within the Australian Aquatics industry in more recent times Australia’s icon status is long gone – appear to be associated with public swimming pool rehabilitation is needed for the discipline. owners and operators, it would be foolish to underestimate the level of exposure existing for all It cannot be left to chance. Australian Swimming will swim school business operators. have to be ruthless. The legal liability attaching to a swim school Unfortunately, that may not be possible as the culture business operator can vary depending upon the exact of decision-makers in Australian Swimming is nature and extent of his/her activities. The major dominated by process and procedure – rather than factor naturally determining the extent of liability getting results for the swimmers. The major exposure is ultimately that of the circumstances restructuring recommended by consultants will need surrounding the location from where the business in to take place urgently. conducted from. The extent of exposure will vary in accordance with the amount of space occupied There are some very fundamental structural and together with the legal ownership (care) of that space. funding issues that are not being addressed. These Such space may range from designated lane space issues have a direct impact on the future of open from within a leased premise to total occupancy (and water swimming and the implementation of best possibly ownership) of the facility. practice governance principles. The most common type of incidents arising from a We will need to see very significant changes, as breach in the operator’s duty of care towards his/her publicity and funding for open water is almost non- pupils include… existent. • Slips and falls on surrounding pool surfaces, Marketing is a key management strategy to success whether they be poorly maintained, inappropriately and yet Australian Swimming still does not have designed, or just simply wet or unclean. ownership of its own marketing division. It has • Falls into the pool areas themselves, arising from fundraising and news articles done by consultants on either from the abovementioned circumstances or a come-and-go basis – resulting in inefficiencies. through “child’s play”. • Inadequate supervision leading to injury sustained A good example of open water communication is within the pool area … e.g. diving from the shallow oceanswims.com. end, diving into and/or colliding with oncoming swimmers, diving into and/or swimming within the Swimming is a principal sport in Australia and pool with flawed technique, and generally a pupil in should do better. trouble and under threat of drowning due to the sudden effect of illness or injury.

Inadequate or misunderstood signage and/or With FINA – the controlling body of world • warnings/instructions throughout the swimming swimming – leading the way to find marathon complex, including incorrect/inadequate or illegible swimming’s place in the world of competition and depth measure signage within the pool itself. particularly Olympic participation – the time has • Either inadequate or negligible teaching of water come for Australian Swimming to give itself a real safety to pupils. shake … choose the right people … set direction … and leave the detail to others. The types of injury sustained from the abovementioned incidents generally tend to range Only time will tell. Will it be a dream or a nightmare from strains, sprains, and chipped teeth to broken for the open water fraternity?

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bones, brain damage, paraplegia, quadriplegia, and Furthermore, unfortunately intention alone is not possibly death. what determines your legally liable or the extent of it. What does determine this is whether (under common The abovementioned circumstances are only half of law) a duty of care was owed towards the injured the tale. The other and more important half is the person(s), whether such duty was breached, and solution, and finding solutions to counteract the whether as a result of the breach injury was exposures is a process of expertise and experience in sustained. Once this can be established, there is no part but common sense in the main. doubting that the spotlight is directed firmly towards the alleged wrong doer. Importantly, common law Common sense would suggest that under no imposes the onus of proof upon the defendant rather circumstances should pupils dive into the shallow end than the plaintiff (injured person). of any swimming pool unless it is deemed safe to do so by the swim school business operator. Common The cost to defend an action either in or out of the sense would also suggest that pupils should be court can be devastating. Irrespective of the merits of continuously drilled as to the do’s and don’ts in and the litigation, a swim school business operator must around the swimming pool area. Commonsense be able to fund his/her defence costs. It is not would suggest that all pupils must be shown and unusual for a hearing in the Supreme Court to cost in made to understand the importance of all signage and excess of $5,000 per day, and the average cost of a the messages they are trying to portray. (Quite often I Senior/ Queens Counsel in excess of $3,000 per day. hear of various businesses that, as part of Cases heard in the courts can run for lengthy periods compliance with various regulations, purchase fire of time depending on the complexity of the issue’s at fighting equipment such as hand held extinguishers hand, and the weight of legal evidence needed to be and hose reels for their premises. The question heard. Even legal argument conducted outside the commonly raised is – ‘Are these life and property court system can prove to be an extremely expensive saving devices just sitting there like “white process. Hence the reason why Public Liability elephants” as a reflection of compliance alone or can insurance cover has become such an important and we safely assume that in addition to meeting with effective method of risk transfer for swim school compliance all members of staff within such premises business operators throughout Australia in most are fully trained in operating such equipment should recent times. the need arise’)? Signage can be seen as a life saving device in itself, but what use are they if not The decision as to the amount of Public Liability understood by those for whom it is meant! insurance coverage to be purchased is that of each operator, remembering that the limit to apply is based Taking into the account the nature of common law on ANY ONE OCCURRENCE as distinct from and legal precedents in this specific field, the duty of ANY ONE INDIVIDUAL claim. Therefore as swim care owed by a swim school business operator school related activities generally involve the towards his / her pupils and other third parties is of a presence and participation of a group of pupils rather significantly high level. The signing of disclaimers than a single pupil at any one time, consideration by pupils and/or their parents has limited if not must be given to setting a level of coverage that negligible impact in terms of a suitable defence and would adequately reflect the potential of injury to the ultimate protection from the law. Incidents involving group rather than the individual. Remember that injuries sustained by minors arising from the should your Insurer prove that injuries sustained by a negligence of others are always treated with a number of pupils on any given day originated from significantly high degree of importance by the courts. one common cause (act of neglect), the limit of The courts will endeavour to protect the minor’s coverage provided will apply to the AGGREGATE rights and award common law damages of amounts cost attaching to ALL claims submitted rather than which appropriately and adequately represent loss of EACH claim submitted. enjoyment of life, pain and suffering, loss of potential income earning capacity and medical related costs Generally speaking, both the insurance and legal (both short and long term). fraternities are currently recommending that coverage of not less than $10,000,000 be taken out by all Whilst it is never the intention of operators to make business operators of whatever profession. How long mistakes when carrying out their business activities, is a piece of string? we are only human and human beings do make mistakes (no matter what their intention).

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DETERMINANT FACTORS METHOD

RELATED TO VARIATION IN For this purpose, national level swimmers were filmed using three high-resolution video cameras, BUTTERFLY VELOCITY two underwater (sagittal and frontal plane) and one A. Martins-Silva, Sports Science Department, above water (frontal plane). The whole body was University of Vila Real, Portugal digitised, for each view, to create a complete stroke F. Alves, Faculty of Human Movement, Lisbon, cycle. After the filming and digitising procedures the Portugal CMbody velocity, during all phases of the stroke (Reproduced from ISBS Swimming 2000 Web Site) cycle (outsweep; downsweep; insweep; upsweep; hand exit; recovery), and the three-dimensional co- INTRODUCTION ordinates were calculated (DLT algorithm- APAS system). According to Persyn et al 1995, in the global strokes only the resultant impulse on the body, which is the RESULTS difference between propulsion and drag forces, can be calculated from one phase to another. Therefore, There were significant correlations (p<0.05) between the horizontal velocity variation of the body centre of CMbody velocity variation and… mass (CMbody) in a stroke cycle must be calculated. 1. Hand magnitude velocity during the upsweep When the horizontal velocity of the CMbody varies (HMVUP) of the stroke (r=-0.95). considerably, the swimmer has to overcome during 2. Hand horizontal velocity during the upsweep each stroke cycle high hydrodynamic drag forces, (HHVUP) of the stroke (r=-0.96). due to the high peak velocity. 3. Vertical velocity during the upsweep (HVVUP) of the stroke (r=-0.79). According to Toussaint 1983, the intracyclic 4. Hand lateral velocity during the upsweep variations are considered to limit swimming (HLVUP) of the stroke (r=-0.91). performance and depend on the swimmer’s skill. 5. Hand magnitude velocity during the insweep Persyn et al 1989, showed statistically that the (HMVIN) of the stroke (r=0.98). amplitude of these variations during certain phases of 6. HAND horizontal velocity during the insweep the stroke are linked to the degree of skill of the (HHVIN) of the stroke (r=0.96). swimmer, and that those variations are more critical 7. Hand vertical velocity during the insweep in the two symmetrical strokes, because of the (HVVIN) of the stroke (r=0.91). continuously propulsive and braking resistance 8. BCM velocity during de outsweep impulses. (BCMVOUT) of the arm stroke (r=-0,58).

Other investigations reveal that high-level swimmers The obtained multiple regression (stepwise, 0,05) for register small variation values, which indicates small the determinant factors related to the BCMVV was… CMbody velocity variations around the mean value. According to some consulted authors (Costil et al Y=4,517803+5,377747*(MHVIN)-1,725181* 1987; D’Acquisto et al 1988; Holmer 1974; Alves et (HLVIN)+1,807357* (HVVIN) al, Nigg 1993) this indicates technical ability, and efficiency and small energetic cost. Thus, the major determinant factors related to the CMbody velocity variation are… Is this paper, which is the result of several studies, our purpose was to… 1. Those directly related to the high hand horizontal, vertical and lateral velocity during 1. Describe the intra cycle CMbody velocity the last phases of the arm stroke (upsweep and behaviour. exit). 2. Evaluate the determinant factors related to the 2. Those directly related to the low of hand variation in horizontal velocity of the body velocity in all directional components during centre of mass in Butterfly, considering the most lateral phases of the arm stroke different technical simulations. (insweep).

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References: A NON-LINEAR APPROACH TO • Counsilman J., & Wasilack J. (1982). The THE ANALYSIS & MODELLING OF importance of hand speed and hand acceleration. In R.M. Ousley (Ed.) 1981 ASCA World Clinic TRAINING & ADAPTATION IN Yearbook (pp.41-45), Fort Lauderdale. SWIMMING • Cunha P., Vilas Boas J.P. (1995). Fatigue related Andreas Hohmann, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, changes in Butterfly swimming during a 200m Germany Trial: A Pilot Study. The XIth FINA World Sport Juergen Edelmann-Nusser, Otto-von-Guericke- Medicine Congress, Glyfada, Athens. University, Magdeburg, Germany • Figueiras T. (1995). Alterações biomecânicas da Bernd Henneberg, Olympic Training Center técnica de mariposa ao longo da prova de 200m: Halle/Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany comparação de nadadores infantis e seniores. (Reproduced from ISBS Swimming 2000 Web Site) Dissertação apresentada no 3º Mestrado em Ciências do Desporto de crianças e jovens. Não The purpose of the study was to demonstrate that the publicada. FCDEF. UP adaptive behaviour of an elite female swimmer • Galvão M., Alves F. (1996). Efeito da variação da (Olympic Silver Medallist in the 400m Freestyle) can velocidade de nado nas características técnicas be modelled by means of the non-linear mathematical em mariposa. Comunicação apresentada no 19º method of a neural back propagation network. Congresso técnico da APTN. Portimão Therefore, the training process of 107 successive • Hinrichs R., Schleihauf R.E., Higgins J.R., weeks was carefully controlled and documented. For Luedtke D.L., Maglischo C.W., Maglischo E.W. the data analysis a multi-layer perceptron network & Thayer A.L. (1986). Kinetic analysis of US was trained with the performance output data of 28 Olympic Butterfly swimmers. Medicine and competitions within that time period and the training Science in Sports and Exercise, 18, 564. input data of the last four weeks prior to the • Maglischo C.W.; Maglischo E.W., & Santos T.R. respective competitions. After the iterative training (1987). The relationships between the forward procedure the neural network is able to model the velocity of the centre of mass and the forward resulting competitive performances on the basis of velocity of the hip in the four competitive strokes. the training data from the two-week-taper phase and Journal of Swimming Research, Fall, 11-17. also from the earlier two-week overload phase • Maglischo E.W. (1993). Swimming Even Faster. preceding the respective competitions with high Mayfield Publishing Company. precision. • Persyn U., Vervaecke H., & Verhetsel D. (1983). Factors influencing stroke mechanics and speed INTRODUCTION in swimming the Butterfly. In Matsui H., and Kobayashi K. (Eds), Biomechanics VIII-A & B : The thorough analysis of periodised training Proceedings of the English International Congress processes is one of the most important issues of of Biomechanics, Nagoya, Japan, Champaign, IL., training science with regard to two crucial Human Kinetics Publishers, 1983, pp.833-841. elements… • Schleihauf R.E., Gray L. & DeRose J. (1983). Three-dimensional analysis of hand propulsion in 1. The understanding of the time course of the sprint front crawl stroke. In P. Hollander, P.A. adaptation (Rowbottom, Keast & Morton Huijing & G. de Groot (Eds.) International Series 1998). on Sport Sciences: Vol. 14. Biomechanics and 2. The optimum monitoring of training. Medicine in Swimming (pp.173-183). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. In contrast to linear mathematical concepts that have commonly been used for training analysis (Calvert, • Schleihauf R.E., Higgins J., Hinricks R., Luedtke Banister, Savage & Bach, 1976; Banister & Calvert, D., Maglischo C., Maglischo E. & Thayer A. 1980; Banister 1982; Busso, Häkkinen, Pekarinen, (1988). Propulsive Techniques: Front Crawl, Carasso, Lacour, Komi & Kauhanen 1991; Hohmann Butterfly, Backstroke and Breaststroke. In, 1992; Busso, Denis, Bonnefroy, Geyssant & Lacour Ungerechts B.E. et al (Eds.), Swimming Science 1997; Mujika, Busso, Geyssant, Chatard, Lacoste & V (pp.53-59), Champaign IL, Human Kinetics Barale 1986; Fitz-Clarke, Morton & Banister 1991; Publishers. Mujika, Busso, Lacoste, Barale, Geyssant & Chatard

1996; Hooper & Mackinnon 1998; Chatard & Mujika

1999). This current study was based on a synergetic

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concept of training and therefore the non-linear fit. Unfortunately, the authors did not comment on method of a neural back propagation network was the error of the model prediction. used to model a training process. Mujika and co-workers (1996) also applied the The use of the linear mathematical concept in antagonistic fitness-fatigue-model of Banister (1982) training analysis has first roots in the idea that the to the analysis and modelling of swim training ‘system athlete’ can be precisely monitored like a effects. ‘trivial machine’ (von Foerster 1988). In that kind of cybernetic thinking, the system athlete functions in a By means of a multiple regression analysis on the way like a technical closed circuit, where a definite basis of the weighted training volumes from five amount of training input leads to an equivalent raise categories of training data (I: speed inferior to in the performance output. 2mMol/l blood lactate; II: close to 4mMol/l; III: close to 6mMol/l; IV: high lactic swimming (10mMol/l); On the basis of the cybernetic approach several V: sprint swimming) they could predict the actual studies focussed on the adaptation of swimmers to competitive performances during a competitive certain training regimens. In these studies the season with an accuracy that ranged from 45-85% investigators used linear methods like differential within the 18 single national top ranking swimmers. equations or regression analysis to model the adaptive behaviour as the result of different training Hooper & Mackinnon (1999) investigated the parameters. optimal duration of taper in swimmers and found an optimal prediction in the performance improvement Calvert, Banister, Savage & Bach (1976) introduced of 18 Age Group swimmers of 71%. As predictors an antagonistic fitness-fatigue-model to study the the authors used the percent change after one week of input-output relationship between the quantity of taper (that is from pre-taper to after one of two weeks training and time of a criterion performance in a of reduced training before the State Titles) with the single-case study on a swimmer. The authors following variables: the dimensions depression, calculated arbitrary training units assigned to three anger, confusion and vigour of the questionnaire categories of the intensity of the training input… Profile Of Mood States (POMS), the swimming force in tethered swimming, and the reported log book 1. Warm-up intensity fatigue and muscle soreness. 2. Low quality intensity 3. High quality intensity The predictions that Hohmann (1992) calculated from the training input data of a Water Polo National The performance output in 100m time trials was Team during the preparation for the Olympic Games modelled by two differential equations. The authors 1988 by means of a multiple and time-lagged created a first transfer function to describe the decay Regression Analysis of Time Series (RATS) were of fitness as a negative training response starting comparably lower. immediately after the training impulse of a training session. The author included the predictors training volume of the last 15 days prior to competition. The volume of The second transfer function described the swim training in the time course of the preceding 15 antagonistic mechanism of the decay of fatigue, a days showed a common variance with the observed positive result of the growing regeneration that also Game Performance Index (GPI) that ranged from 5.8- starts immediately after the input of a training 54.8% for the 10 investigated players. The volume of impulse. game training could only explain 25.0-28.1% of the variance in the GPI. Finally, the investigators showed the model performance matched by linear regression analysis to From a synergetic point of view it is not very actual performance of the swimmer. After the surprising that the reported predictions of competitive modelling had been improved by a replication of the performances were not very good, because they are study two years later for a training season of the same based on the linear mathematical concept … see (a) athlete, and by testing different time constants as in Figure 1 … which seems to be inappropriate to model parameters, the authors could present a quite model the black box of athletic adaptive behaviour. impressive figure that shows the results of the model

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Figure 1 process. The documented categories of training The (a) Linear and (ab) Non-linear concepts of were… training adaptation. • Compensation training below the aerobic threshold (Compensation: <2mmol/l blood lactate) • Maintenance aerobic endurance training slightly above the aerobic threshold (End_I: 2-3mmol/l (a) As a linear model, it has to fulfil the following blood lactate) constraints … signal X1(t) at the input leads to yl(t) at • Developmental and overload aerobic endurance the output … signal X2(t) at the input leads to y2(t) at training at and slightly above the anaerobic the output … signal X(t)=X1(t)+X2(t) at the input threshold (End_II: 4-6mmol/l blood lactate) leads to y(t)=y1(t)+y2(t) at the output. • Anaerobic power training, speed training and competitions (End_III: 6-20mmol/l blood lactate) There is much evidence for the idea that the • Dryland strength training (Strength) individual effects resulting from the training process • Dryland general conditioning training (General are to a certain extend self-organised. The most Conditioning) convincing argument is that the state of performance of the system ‘athlete’ does not only change through The competitive performances in the 400m Freestyle the influence of training input, but also by other events were transformed according to the pointage environmental influences as well as through system of the ‘Ligue Europèene de Natation’ into endogenous influences (O’Toole 1998; Rowbottom, LEN-points. Therefore, we used the LEN-point table Keast, & Morton 1998). If the state of performance of 1997-2000, that reaches from 1 to 1200 points, and the athlete changes by itself and in a self-organised where the actual World Record (e.g. in the female way, then his adaptability, in the sense of his 400m Freestyle 4:03,85min) serves as reference value capability to absorb and respond to training, also for 1000 points. changes over the time. As a consequence of this specific aspect of training adaptation, the same Figure 2 training stimulus at a later moment in time leads to The structure of the multi-layer back propagation net quite different adaptive responses in the same athlete (‘multi-layer perceptron’, DataEngine Inc., Aachen, (Fitz-Clarke, Morton & Banister 1991). Therefore, Germany) used to model the interrelation between the training process and the resulting adaptation in the training input data and the performance output the athlete can be better understood as a complex data. dynamic system and described more adequately by a single case study. The training input data and performance output data have to be interpreted as two interacting time series and to be analysed on the basis of non-linear mathematical concepts.

METHODS

The training process lasted a total 107 weeks from week 01/1996 to week 03/1998. According to the system of Fry, Morton & Keast (1991) it was divided into eight preparation macrocycles including the final competitions. The eight macrocycles consisted of 6- 14 weeks (microcycles) of training preparation and 1- Data Analysis: In the present study a ‘neural back 3 weeks of competitions. propagation network’ (MULTI LAYER PERCEPTRON, DataEngine Inc., Aachen, Germany) Data Collection: The data consisted of the with three layers was used. Two analyses were competitive performances and the documented conducted: one to determine the influence of the two- training loads in three zones of swim training week taper phase prior to the 28 competitions. The intensity and two categories of dryland training. The taper has the function to allow the athlete to recover three zones of training intensity were controlled by from the high training loads before and to peak his frequent lactate testing in the course of the training performance. The second analysis should determine the influence of the overload training phase that

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includes the weeks four and three prior to the single For the last modelling procedure, the neural network 28 competitions. This ‘crash’ phase normally was provided with only the training input data. This contains very intense and exhaustive training, and has forced the neural network to estimate the resulting the function to create a state of slight overreaching competitive output data only on the basis of the (Kreider, Fry, & O’Toole 1998) in the athlete. That formerly learned weights of the connected neurons on state of transient fatigue allows the athlete to reach an the three layers. accumulated and thus optimal super compensation after the later taper. RESULTS & DISCUSSION

For both analyses a neural network with 10 input The results of the modelling procedure demonstrate neurons was created (Figure 2). Each neuron that after the thorough training procedure the back represented the weekly training volumes in one of the propagation network is able to model the competitive five zones of training intensity in one of the two performance from the two-week taper phase weeks of the investigated training phase. Two hidden (Figure 4) by an average error of 16.8 LEN-points neurons served to represent the black box of the that is 2.0% of the mean competitive performance of system ‘athlete’ and one output neuron to represent 820.9 LEN-points. the competitive performance. Compared to the true competition times in the 400m In the first step, the multi layer network was trained Freestyle (females) on the level of 821 LEN-points, with the training input data and the performance that average error is equivalent to a deviation of output data of 25 training and competition phases 4:20.42min plus 1,82s or minus 1.5s. The maximum (three less than at hand) to learn the interrelation error of the modelling is 39.7 LEN-points resp. 4.8%. between the training input and the performance output. Figure 4 Comparison of the real competitive performances The training phase aimed at the weighting of all 13 and the performances modelled by a neural back neurons on the three layers and consisted of 5,000 propagation network on the basis of the training data iterative calculations of the neuron weights. Figure 3 from the two-weeks taper phase. shows the iterative training process up to the step 4732, where the mean training error was smallest.

Figure 3 Minimisation of the training error by an iterative training process of the neural network.

The second modelling of the competitive performance output as adaptation effect of the high load training phase (Figure 5) is less precise than the modelling of the effects of the taper phase.

The average error of the modelling on the basis of the 10 different training volumes of the fourth and third week before the competition is 25.6 LEN-points. This is 3.1% of the mean competitive performance of In the second step, the trained network was tested 820.9 LEN-points. with the competitions 26 and 27. On the basis of the testing the network parameters that allow the best fit Such a difference is equivalent to plus 2.81s or minus were chosen. 2.69s when swimming 4:20,42min. The maximum error of the modelling is 96.8 LEN-points resp. In the third and final step the optimised network was 11.8%. used to model the competitive performances of the 27 competitions and also of the last competition (#28).

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Figure 5 network method this is more than thrice as much. Comparison of the real competitive performances Related to the average of the real competition times and the performances modelled by a neural back in the 400m Freestyle of 4:20,42min such an error propagation network on the basis of the training data leads to differences of plus 5.74s or minus 5.28s. The from the two-weeks high load training phase before maximum error of the modelling is 131,3 LEN-points taper. resp. 16,0%.

CONCLUSION

The results of the study demonstrate that neural back propagation nets such as the used ‘multi-layer perceptron’ are excellent tools to model and even prognose competitive performances on the basis of training data.

1. One of the main advantages of the neural The precision of the neural network prediction is network method is that the original training data much higher compared to the prediction achieved by recorded by the coach do not have to be a conventional regression analysis (Figure 6). To transformed into an arbitrary ‘training impulse’ proof the advantage of the non-linear approach to (Banister 1982) or any other more or less training analysis, a multiple regression analysis with artificial training load parameter. The application ten predictors was calculated to quantify the effect of of the neural network method is even possible the taper phase. Therefore, the 10 independent when the data basis resulting from the training variables consisted of the training data in each of the record of the coach is inappropriate for advanced five categories of training loads, that were recorded regression analysis. Real training data, although in the taper phase, that is the last week (Week 1) relevant for the practical field, very often is too immediately before the competition, and for the small or not adequately scaled to allow scientific second last week (Week 2) before the competition. progress with the methods commonly used up to So, the linear analysis was based on the same training now. input data as the non-linear approach, when 2. Another advantage of the neural network method modelling the competitive performances as a result of is that it can model linear and also non-linear the taper phase. transformations of the training stimuli into

performance, that take place in a single athlete. Figure 6 Comparison of the real competitive performances Non-linear transformations are to be expected, and the performances modelled by a multiple when the system athlete changes itself within the regression analysis on the basis of the training data investigated time period under the influence of from the two-weeks taper phase. training. The research conducted by Banister and the different groups of co-workers provides much evidence that, indeed, the adaptability of an athlete changes in the course of the training process. Banister (1982) stated in his study on swimmers that because of the changes in the ability both to absorb and respond to training stimulus, the modelling and the prediction of competitive performances by means of transfer functions (least square algorithms) is only then stable, when the training process does not last longer than 60-90 days. After that time period a new individual model fit has to be found. Therefore, the model parameters (e.g. decay time The results of the multiple regression analysis show constants for fitness and fatigue, weighting of an average error of the model prediction of the training intensity zones) have to be manipulated competitive performances by the training data of the intuitively or by trial and error. Later taper phase of 52,2+32,4 LEN-points, that is 6.4%. investigations in swimmers by Fitz-Clarke, Compared to the model prediction by the neural Morton & Banister (1991) confirmed these

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results. Training impulses in a later stage of the • Calvert T. W., Banister E.W., Savage M.V. & Bach same training process led to different adaptations T. (1976). A Systems Model of the Effects of in the variables fatigue and fitness. Training on Physical Performance. IEEE 3. Furthermore, the method is not only able to Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, ‘learn’ the individual adaptive behaviour of the Vol. SMC-6, 2, 94-102. athlete. After the learning procedure the neural • Chatard J.C. & Mujika I.T. (1999). Training load network is also able to calculate a simulation of and performance in swimming. In K.L. Keskinen, the prospective performance responses of the P.V. Komi & A.P. Hollander (Eds.), Biomechanics athlete under the influence of a slightly changed and Medicine in Swimming VIII (pp.429-434). structure of the training input. So, after some Jyväskylä: University Press (Gummerus Printing). training analysis the trained neural network • Fitz-Clarke J.R., Morton R.H. & Banister E.W. allows the coach to simulate the effects of certain (1991). Optimising athletic performance by modifications of the training program on the influence curves. In Journal of Applied Physiology, 71, 1151-1158. competitive performance of the athlete. This makes the planning and monitoring of a training • Foerster H. von (1988). Abbau und Aufbau [Decay and Growth]. In F.B. Simon (Ed.), Lebende process more effective. Systeme. Wirklichkeitskonstruktionen in der 4. A fourth advantage of the neural network method Systemischen Therapie [Living Systems. is very important in respect to training theory. Constructions of Reality in Systemic Therapy] The higher quality of the results delivered by the (pp.19-33). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. non-linear modelling of the training responses • Hohmann A. (1992). Analysis of delayed training gives support to a synergetic approach to the effects in the preparation of the West German water analysis of training adaptation. From a synergetic polo team for the Olympic Games 1988. In D. point of view, the athlete can be described as a MacLaren, T. Reilly & A. Lees (Eds.), Swimming complex dynamic system. One idea is that the Science VI (pp.213-217). London: E & F Spon. system athlete enters a certain stage of stability of • Hooper S.L., Mackinnon L.T. (1999). Monitoring performance (attractor) under the influence of the regeneration in elite swimmers. In M. Lehmann, C. training load (control parameter). The neural Foster, U. Gastmann, H. Kaizer & J.M. Steinacker network method can help to identify the optimal (Eds.), Overload, Performance, Incompetence and range of training load, that is necessary to help Regeneration in Sport (pp.139-148). New York: the system athlete to self-organise the transient Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. state of optimal performance. • Kreider R.B., Fry A.C. & O’Toole M.L. (1998). Overtraining in Sports: Terms, Definitions, and References: Prevalence. In R.B. Kreider, A.C. Fry & M.L. O’Toole (Eds.), Overtraining in Sport (pp.vii-ix). • Banister E.W. (1982). Modelling Elite Athletic Champaign (Ill.): Human Kinetics Publishers. Performance. In J.D. MacDougall, H.W. Wenger & • Mujika I.T., Busso T., Geyssant A., Chatard J.C., H.J. Green (Eds.), Physiological Testing of Elite Lacoste L. & Barale F. (1996). Modelling the effects Athletes (pp.403-425). Champaign (Ill.): Human of training in competitive swimming. In: J.P. Troup, Kinetics Publishers. A.P. Hollander, D. Strasse, S.W. Trappe, J.M. • Banister E.W. & Calvert T.W. (1980). Planning for Cappaert, & T.A. Trappe (Eds.), Biomechanics and future performance: implications for long-term Medicine in Swimming VII (pp.221-228). London: training. Canadian Journal of Applied Sport E&F Spon. Sciences, 5, 170-176. • Mujika I.T., Busso T., Lacoste L., Barale F., • Busso T., Häkkinen K., Pakarinen A., Carasso C., Geyssant A. & Chatard J.C. (1986). Modelled Lacour J.-R., Komi P.V. & Kauhanen H. (1990). A responses to training and taper in competitive systems model of training responses and its swimmers. In Medicine and Science of Sports and relationship to hormonal responses in elite weight Exercise, 28, 251-258. lifters. European Journal of Applied Physiology and • O’Toole M.L. (1998). Overreaching and Occupational Physiology, 61, 48-54. Overtraining in Endurance Athletes. In R.B. • Busso T., Denis C., Bonnefroy R., Geyssant A. & Kreider, A.C. Fry & M.L. O’Toole (Eds.), Lacour J.R. (1997). Modelling of adaptations to Overtraining in Sport (pp.3-17). Champaign (Ill.): physical training by using a recursive least squares Human Kinetics Publishers. algorithm. Journal of Applied Physiology: respiratory, environmental and exercise physiology, 82, 5, 1685-1693.

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There is an old adage that “Working smarter is systems for many years, but he and his wife also more profitable than working harder”. ran a successful swim school. So, from 18 years In today’s computer age, working smart means of hardware and software computer development having the most advanced program possible to experience and 16 years of swim school help run your school. A program that is user experience … ClassSmart was born! friendly, has a proven track record and helps free you and your staff from the administrative WHAT MAKES CLASSSMART SO burdens of coordinating students, teachers and POWERFUL AND UNIQUE? lessons. Working smart means having a program Quite simply, ClassSmart was not designed by that lets you do what you went in business to do in a group of programmers trying to relate their the first place … teach and interact with your right-side brain of computer knowledge with their students … not battling with an inadequate left-side brain of business. ClassSmart came from software program that you may be using that the input and feedback from people using the really doesn’t work for you, or a manual system of program! Our motto has always been … “Let the tracking students, classes or teachers … and customer design the program and we know that it forgetting who has or has not paid yet. will work”. ClassSmart was not to become, like so Working smart means automatic your school many other software programs, a collection of with ClassSmart. A program developed by people bits-and-pieces from one or two users. ClassSmart in the industry with all the features your school was to become a blend of the best practices of needs to get back to the exciting part of business schools merged together to benefit every user. … teaching people and running your business. From its humble beginnings, ClassSmart is Once upon a time, not so very long ago, there now being used in some of the top schools in the was a school that was tired of trying to keep all country. It is used for managing swim lessons, their information about students and classes in an gymnastics and even cooking classes. archaic manual system of chart boards and journal paper. What they needed was an easy-to-use A SYSTEM THAT WORKS FOR YOU database management program that would track • Proven successful operation and tens of classes and provide lots of financial, management, thousands of hours of use. and marketing information about their business. • Windows-based with a familiar graphical While others had tried to develop programs on interface. their own, they were sadly disappointed. Either • Fast and simple installation. their programmers ended up costing thousands of • Easy to learn and use. dollars or they were not flexible in their programs • Network-ready. because they were, after all, only programmers. • Data integrity checks to ensure accuracy and While many of these people were good at what proper operation. they did, they did not know, or understand, the • Automatic file backup to protect your real day-to-day needs of school-related ClassSmart data. businesses. • Automatic program shutdown after a period of Then along came a rare “master programmer”, inactivity. who set out to create a robust, affordable, easy-to- • Periodic upgrades and improvements. use program. The development of the program was unique, because not only had this “master” been designing complex hardware and software REGISTRATION AND CLASS COORDINATION

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• Create hundreds of empty classes with a click • Identify effective and ineffective marketing of the mouse. programs, products and mediums. • Copy entire blocks of classes – including • Print mailing labels with multiple sorting enrolments and fees. options. • Enrol students in classes with a click of the • Perform a Mail Merge with Microsoft Word. mouse. • Generate a list of student birthdays. • Schedule make-ups, fill-in lessons and • Record each contact made with each parent. evaluations. • Create a card file about suppliers and business • Print daily lesson schedules. associates. • Manage cancelled lessons. • Compare enrolment levels and trends between • Control large groups. time periods. • Track openings in each class. • Export ClassSmart data directly into Microsoft • Take attendance. Excel to create your own graphs. • View class openings by activities, session, location, levels, types, start times, teacher, CLASSSMART SECURITY enrolment levels and more. ClassSmart gives you the ability to control • Automatically calculate and update student who accesses information, including a log-on ages. feature to validate all users. Unauthorised users • Apply class charges automatically based upon are denied access while authorised users can be family status. restricted to the ClassSmart program areas that • Transfer students from one class to another you allow through four security levels. Adding, effortlessly. deleting and changing security levels is simple • View student history files. and controlled. These same security features help protect your ClassSmart data files from being • Enter parent inquiry information and generate copied by individuals who wish to steal your mailing labels. customer lists and files.

CLASSSMART ACCOUNTING Reviews • ClassSmart’s double ledger system keeps your “ClassSmart has revolutionised our business. The transactions in balance. program has automated our scheduling and • Automatically apply discounts such as greatly assisted us in marketing our way to the membership credits. top.” • Automatically add fees such as registration “We are not exaggerating when we say fees and teacher premiums. ClassSmart has made us 200% more efficient than • Automatically prorate class fees. we were.” • Collect credit card information for batch “ClassSmart has helped tremendously with the transactions. scheduling and billing of our school. Our most • Create payment, credit, discount and other noticed benefit so far has been in keeping track of transaction records from one screen. our customer payments.” • Enter and track product sales. “Our customers are constantly impressed at how • Print invoices and automatically record professional our office has become. We now send payment due dates. confirmations daily as people register and are • Balance each day’s transactions – receivables, able to view any class lists we may need to check payments and account reports. re-enrolment.” • Calculate fees payable to facilities leased by “ClassSmart has allowed us to keep with the your school. phenomenal growth of our business. It provides quick and accurate service to clients, while CLASSSMART MARKETING & tracking and informing us of statistics.” REPORTING • Record how every customer heard about your Here are some examples of what you will find… school. • Discover the demographics of your customers. • Setup section covers … Installation; Getting • Determine your most popular and least popular Started on the Switchboard; Setup and History classes. Data. • Analyse enrolments to determine when to combine, delete or add more classes.

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• Classes guides you through … Creating Your Referral Updates are one of the most important First Class: Automatic Class Creation; Sorting sources of marketing information. Classes; Class Maintenance. • Registration & Scheduling … Sorting Failure to maintaining good referral data will Classes; Enrolling Students; Special Lessons & create misleading information and diminish the Situations; Attendance & Absences; Reports. effectiveness of your marketing expenditures. • Transactions … Creating Transactions; Profit Centres; Transaction Shortcuts; Viewing When you perform a mass referral update, Transaction Lists. ClassSmart edits the current referral field of the • In the Utilities section … Changing parents’ file. The original referral field data is Passwords; Mailing Labels; Student Birthdays; never touched. Managing Duplicate Records and much more. • Administration … Security; Graphs & Metrics; Leased Facilities.

The COMPARE graph compares the enrolment levels for all class levels for two specified date ranges, thereby allowing you to easily identify enrolment trends. The Compare graph looks at both active classes and archived classes when displaying data.

Retail Products Sold … this graph answers questions like … “How many T-shirts have we sold this month?”

This graph plots the total number of each product sold over a given time period. The “Between” fields are used to select a subset of the data based upon the quantity.

The Demographics Graph plots the demographics This graph is another marketing tool to allow you of your customers. You can view the number of to see which products are selling well and which families versus city, postal code, occupations, products are just collecting dust on your shelves. academic school, area code or telephone exchange. This information gives you a powerful way to learn more about your customers.

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The Removals graph summarises the reasons for Birthdays graph plots the birthday months of students being removed from classes. Use this students. graph to spot trends or patterns such as “Clerical Error”. You can view removal category data based upon activity, session and facility.

Total Classes and Students Leased Facilities provides the ability to calculate Perhaps the single most useful and powerful graph monies owed to leased or rented facilities. is the “Total Classes and Students” graph, which shows class metrics for all active classes at each It can be used to see the class charge receivables location, including the… associated with a particular teacher, or the value • Number of classes in session of all classes for any given class level. • Number of class slots represented by these classes You may find the leased facilities capabilities • Number of students enrolled in the classes useful even if you do not pay for rental space at • Number of openings in the classes outside locations. • Student to class ratio The combo boxes are used to filter the classes by activity, session, location, class level, class type class start date and class start time.

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IS MORE THAN A SOFTWARE PROGRAM

ClassSmart is a premier office automation solution that grows with your business. Whether your school is just getting started or has thousands of students, whether your school is focused on group lessons or private lessons (or both) – now is the time to investigate how ClassSmart can make your school more efficient, more profitable and even more fun!

$2,750 (Includes GST and P&H)

Name

Address

Post Code State

Enclosed is Cheque for $______made payable to ASCTA

Or charge my: Master Card T Bankcard T Visa T for the amount of $______

Card No.

Expiry Date /

Cardholder’s Name: ______

Signature: Date:

Forward this completed form to: ASCTA, PO Box 824, Lavington NSW 2641, Australia

Phone: (02) 6041 6077 … or … Fax: (02) 6041 4282

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movement and the lift force L acting perpendicular to ALTERNATIVE FLUID DYNAMIC the direction of relative movement. The magnitude of EXPLANATION FOR PROPULSION the lift force depends on the shape of the object and IN FRONT CRAWL SWIMMING its orientation with respect to the flow.

Huub Toussaint, Institute for Fundamental and The fluid dynamic forces acting on an object are Clinical Human Movement Science, Vrije usually described as a function of its velocity relative Universiteit, van der Boechortsstraat 9, 1081 BT to the fluid (u, m„s-1), its surface area Amsterdam, The Netherlands (plan area S, m2) and the density of the fluid (Reproduced from ISBS Swimming 2000 Web Site) (p kg„m3) according to…

2 Calculation of propulsion in front crawl swimming L = ½ρu ClS (1) 2 relies on the quasi-steady assumption that the fluid D = ½ρu CdS (2) dynamic behaviour of a hand model in a flow channel (constant velocity and orientation) is similar to that of Where Cl and Cd are the lift and drag coefficients, a hand of a real swimmer swimming the front crawl. respectively. It has been shown that quasi-steady calculations cannot account for the observed propulsive forces To further explore Counsilman’s suggestion, during front crawl swimming. Using woollen tufts Schleihauf 1979, investigated the hydrofoil behaviour the flow pattern around the arm and hand during the of an exact plastic resin replica of the hand in a flow front crawl stroke was visualised. The flow direction channel through which fluid flowed at a constant varied strongly throughout the stroke and a strong, speed. The Cl and Cd values reported by Schleihauf accelerating axial flow, not in the direction of the arm showed that lift forces might indeed play a significant movement, was observed. These observations role in propulsion. The next step, therefore, was to discredit the quasi-steady analysis of front crawl combine the flow channel data with hand velocity swimming. Instead, it is proposed that rotation of the data collected from film analysis of leading arm leads to a proximo-distal pressure gradient, swimmers. Using equation 1 and 2 the magnitude and inducing axial flow. Such axial flow along the direction of the resultant of the lift and drag force trailing side of the arm could greatly enhance the acting on the hand throughout the stroke cycle was pressure difference over the hand, thus assisting calculated (Schleihauf et al 1988). These calculations propulsion by paddling. corroborated Counsilman’s hypothesis that both lift and drag forces are generated during the stroke and INTRODUCTION that the resultant force is predominantly directed forward. It is important to note that Schleihauf’s Propulsion is one of the key factors determining analysis of the swimming stroke is quasi-steady … performance in human competitive swimming. James i.e. it crucially depends on the assumption that the Counsilman was one of the first to apply physical flow under steady conditions (constant velocity, principles to try to understand the mechanism of constant angle of attack and sweep back angle) in the propulsion (Counsilman 1968). Originally, he flow channel is comparable to the flow during the proposed that the hand is used as an oar pushing actual swimming stroke. water straight backwards. In other words, propulsion would be generated entirely by drag forces. However, Recently some doubt was cast whether the quasi- close inspection of underwater movies of skilled steady analysis can account quantitatively for high swimmers revealed sculling hand motions rather than propulsive forces required for high-speed swimming. straight backward pulls. If propulsion were based When swimming at a constant speed the average purely on drag forces, such sculling movements propulsive force should equal the average resistive would be wasteful. Counsilman reasoned that the force. A comparison was made between the observed complex hand patterns would be compatible propulsive forces calculated using Schleihauf’s with the generation of efficient propulsion (i.e. approach and those measured on the M.A.D. system directed straight forward) if the hand acts as a (system to Measure Active Drag). With this device hydrofoil generating both lift and drag forces the propulsive forces generated by swimmers pushing (Counsilman 1971). In general, when an object is off from fixed points along the swimming track were moved through a fluid, the net force acting upon it measured directly (see for an extensive description may be split into two perpendicular components: the Toussaint et al 1988-1990). Berger et al 1999 drag force D acting opposite to the direction of calculated quasi-steady forces that were considerably lower (17%) than the measured propulsive forces

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(M.A.D. system), when the hand velocity was set gradual build-up of the bound vortex is called the approximately equal to the velocity of the middle of Wagner effect (for an excellent description see the palm of the hand … i.e. the hand’s aerodynamic Dickinson 1996). Depending on the magnitude of the centre according to Schleihauf 1983. acceleration, it may take up to six chord lengths of travel for the circulation and lift to reach only 90% of How can the observed discrepancy be accounted for? the final values (Ellington 1995). The undulating It seems reasonable to question the validity of the movements of insect wings make it unlikely that the quasi-steady assumption for front crawl swimming. steady state value is reached at all. Similarly, the And, if this assumption indeed proves to be not valid, chord of a human hand is about 0.1m, and thus a how else might we attempt to approach the problem? steady state value of circulation requires about 0.6m of travel at constant velocity. This makes it unlikely Given this question it is interesting to make a side that steady-state circulation is reached at all during step to the fluid dynamics of insect flight, which was the front crawl stroke. Thus, the quasi-steady faced with a similar crisis some time ago (for estimate of lift is overly optimistic, and the overview and background see Ellington 1995; Vogel discrepancy between calculated and measured forces 1994). Insect flight was analysed using the quasi- (Berger et al 1999) becomes even more poignant. steady approach, equivalent to Schleihauf’s work, which provided a satisfactory account of fast forward Beneficial unsteady effects have been described as flight (e.g. Weis-Fogh 1973). However, a number of well. The high angles of attack of insect wings during observations led to gradual erosion of the confidence hovering provided a clue. When the angle of attack of in the applicability of the quasi-steady assumption. a wing exceeds the stall angle, the flow separates and lift force drops dramatically. However, another One way to look at the total fluid flow around a unsteady effect occurs: flow separation takes time (hydro)foil is to decompose it in a circulating flow and lift force is in fact briefly increased due to the around the hydrofoil with velocity (v) and a uniform formation of a leading-edge vortex. flow field at velocity (u) (Figure 1). Note that the fluid particles do not actually circle around the This vortex is not bound as in the steady state hydrofoil; rather, the flow-pattern can be thought of condition (see Figure 1, right panel), but has its as a superposition of translation and circulation as centre of rotation above (and a little bit behind) the indicated in Figure 1. leading edge increasing the under-pressure on the top surface of the wing. A flow visualisation study with a Figure 1 robotic hawkmoth model, which accurately Streamlines around a hand hydrofoil in a flow from mimicked the intricate 3D movements of the real right to left. The flow past the hand can be insect wings, revealed the presence of a strong 3D decomposed in a uniform flow field with velocity u leading-edge vortex, which could account for 1/3 of and a circulating flow around the hydrofoil with the required lift force (Berg & Ellington 1997a; Berg velocity v. The circulating flow is known as the Bound & Ellington 1997b; Ellington et al 1996). Vortex.

This leading-edge vortex was highly unstable for the translating wing in the flow tank. However, the rotational movement of the robotic wing resulted in a strong axial flow component from the base to the tip of the wing, which stabilised the leading-edge vortex. Thus, the wing rotation itself was crucial for The circulating flow component is known as the stabilising this powerful unsteady lift-enhancing bound vortex (Ellington 1995). The higher the effect. circulation, the greater the velocity differential above and below the hand with, according to Bernoulli’s The overall conclusion of our side step to insect flight equation, a concomitant greater pressure differential is that the quasi-steady approach may fail and thus higher lift force. dramatically in situations where rapid accelerations and decelerations occur. Furthermore, rotations of the When a hydrofoil is accelerated impulsively to a moving elements may result in strong 3D flow constant velocity, the bound vortex needs time to profiles. Note that in the case of insect hovering the develop to its final, steady state strength. This quasi-steady approach is not just somewhat inaccurate, but completely inadequate. Is it

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appropriate to draw a similar conclusion for the by the local committee on ethics in research on generation of propulsive forces during front crawl humans. Pulling patterns of the left arm (with tufts) swimming? were recorded with two gen-locked s-VHS cameras operating at 25 frames per second. The subjects were Kinematic analysis of the trajectory of the hand instructed to swim at a range of speeds (slow, during the swimming stroke suggests that the hand moderate, fast) 3 metres in front of the ‘left’ camera movements are in fact far from steady, both in terms in the direction of the ‘frontal’ camera. of velocity and particularly in terms of the direction of movement (Berger et al 1997; Schleihauf et al The s-VHS recordings were synchronised and 1983), while rotations of the arm segments are a digitally combined in one frame using Adobe After prominent feature. Effects 3.1. Separate video frames were carefully traced. By comparing consecutive frames the average Furthermore, a simple hydrodynamic model of the in-between-frames direction of motion of the index human swimming stroke (a cylinder performing finger tip, the elbow and the shoulder was rhythmic rotations about its tip while submerged in a determined. In this manner, the movement paths of flow tank) showed that for realistic stroke frequencies the index finger tip, elbow and shoulder were and fluid speeds the recorded fluid dynamic forces reconstructed. deviated dramatically from the quasi-steady prediction (Pai & Hay 1988). The displacement from frame to frame gave a rough impression of the velocity, as well (note that effects In view of the above, the validity of the quasi-steady of perspective were not taken into account). The approach of front crawl swimming propulsion can be movement direction of the hand and forearm was seriously doubted. Similar to the case of insect flight determined simultaneously with the flow direction referred to above, this dilemma can only be resolved around the limb, as revealed by analysis of the tuft by careful analysis of the flow patterns during the movements. stroke, which might, for example, reveal whether the flow around the hand is such that it is indicative for RESULTS circulation and thus for lift-production. As there is virtually no information regarding the fluid patterns The flow direction around the hand and arm in around the arm and hand during swimming, we relation to the movement direction of the fingertip, performed an analysis of the hand and forearm elbow and shoulder during a complete stroke is kinematics, while simultaneously recording the flow exemplified with data for one subject swimming at a directions when swimming the front crawl. slow pace (about 0.94m*-1).

METHOD In this recording we captured the complete stroke. All subjects showed similar patterns as presented below. For a first exploration of the flow around the arm and In general, there was an excellent repeatability across hand we attached black woollen tufts (similar to the trials, particularly for trials of the same subject. approach used by Hay & Thayer 1989) to the skin of the left forearm and hand with Leukoplast® tape In the glide phase, the arm was kept stretched in front (Beiersdorf AG, Germany). Tufts of about 0.07m of the gliding swimmer. The fairly stationary tufts long and 0.02m apart were attached with tape, which during this phase indicate that the flow direction was fully surrounded the limb. Such tuft clusters were opposite to the movement direction of the hand and positioned just below the elbow (10 tufts), halfway arm. the elbow and wrist (10 tufts), at the wrist (8 tufts) and just above the knuckles of the hand (6 tufts only The insweep phase is characterised by strong elbow at the back of the hand). flexion and a complete reversal of the flow direction along the hand and arm. The flow direction of each Individual tufts were attached to the tip of the thumb tuft changed rapidly from frame to frame. The (1 tuft), index finger (1 tuft) and little finger (1 tuft). direction of the frame-to-frame changes in tuft The tufts proved to be clearly visible in most frames, orientation generally corresponded to the movement allowing for identification of their free end. of the forearm and hand.

Four competitive swimmers gave informed consent At the start of the outsweep, an axial flow (directed to serve as subjects in this study, which was approved towards the hand) was present over most of the hand

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and also started to establish near the elbow. The Figure 2 predominantly axial flow direction at the end of the The latter part of the outsweep. The movement insweep is not compatible with the concept of direction of the fingertip, elbow and shoulder is circulation around the hand, with associated lift indicated with arrows. forces.

The outsweep is the power stroke, characterised by rapid rotation of the whole arm. It is assumed that the largest propulsive forces are generated during this phase.

The hand is swept backwards, outwards and upwards with the little finger as the leading edge. A large hand velocity was achieved by the combination of body roll (to the contra-lateral side), retroflexion and abduction of the shoulder and elbow extension (Figure 2). DISCUSSION

The tufts were neatly arranged and mostly stayed In view of our earlier considerations, such as the close to the surface of the forearm and hand. Since Wagner effect and the unpredicted high lift forces the tuft orientation with respect to the arm was fairly generated by an oscillating cylinder (Pai & Hay constant throughout this phase, details of their 1988), the quasi-steady analysis of front crawl orientation may be interpreted with confidence. swimming was questioned. The data presented show rapid changes of velocity and direction throughout The axial flow component noted earlier stayed very the insweep and outsweep and the orientation of the prominent in this phase. The V-shaped convergence tufts changed virtually from frame to frame, of the tufts near the trailing edge of the forearm was indicating that the flow directions changed rapidly observed in seven consecutive frames (Frames 27- throughout these phases. Furthermore, a strong axial 33). This convergence was observed in all subjects, flow component was observed along the arm and especially during the last part of the outsweep. hand during the late insweep and throughout the outsweep. This axial flow is probably associated with This V-shaped convergence of the tufts suggests that the predominantly rotational movement of the arm the axial flow is accelerating along the arm, and that segments and is not observed in a flow tank set-up. it may be restricted to the ‘wake’ at the trailing side Thus, the quasi-steady analysis must be abandoned. of the arm (Figure 2, front view of Frames 28 and 30). The present results do not seem to agree with the idea of the hand acting as a lift-producing hydrofoil. At the wrist the flow split in two paths where part of During most stages of the stroke the tuft orientation the tufts (just behind the leading edge) had a and movements showed that the flow was oriented proximo-distal axial arrangement along the leading largely parallel to the long axis of the arm, suggesting edge, while tufts close to the thumb (trailing edge), as that little or no circulation was present around the well as those on the fingertips, aligned to the hand. Only during the early stages of the insweep movement direction of the hand. flow perpendicular to the hand, consistent with circulation, was observed. Therefore, a re-evaluation Thus a complex 3D flow pattern developed around of the hydromechanic propulsion mechanisms the hand, where at the same instant the flow close to operative during the front crawl swimming is the leading edge had a different direction compared appropriate. with the flow close to the trailing edge. The strong axial flow during the outsweep was the As flow components perpendicular to the long axis of most striking observation in this study, because this the arm and hand were almost absent during the flow component was not in the movement direction outsweep, circulation and associated lift force of the arm. Throughout the outsweep, tufts showed a production may be assumed to be of secondary V-shape convergence along the forearm down to the importance. hand, indicating that the axial flow was concentrated at the trailing side of the arm and that this flow was

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accelerating (see Figure 2). Only very few outsweep We will take as an example data obtained from a frames showed flow compatible with circulation recent paper by Berger et al 1999. In their example around the hand. Hence, the generation of lift by the the subject swam at 1.3 m„s-1; since drag related to „ 2.22 hand seems to play a modest role during the velocity as 16.4 v , the average drag at this velocity was 29.5N. The average hand velocity during outsweep. Note that the axial flow components „ -1 during the insweep and outsweep are associated with the outsweep was 2.2m s , the average hand acceleration 1.75m„s-2. It is important to note that, rapid rotation of the lower arm and the whole arm, roughly speaking, the hand accelerates throughout respectively. the outsweep up to the last few frames before the hand is pulled out. Figure 3 The rotational movement of the arm during the Here we will discuss the magnitude of each of the outsweep (left frame) creates a velocity gradient above effects for the outsweep. Note that probably no along the arm, that, according to Bernoulli’s Principle propulsion is generated during the glide phase (45% (pressure inversely proportional to velocity), induces of the stroke cycle) and a limited amount during the a pressure gradient, leading to an axial flow insweep (10% of the cycle). Hence, we would expect component towards the hand. In the right frame the the mean propulsive force during the outsweep (45% actual (2-0 projected) velocity gradient is shown, of the stroke cycle) to be roughly twice the mean including translation of the shoulder due to forward required propulsion for the whole stroke – i.e. roughly progression and body roll. 59N. The magnitude of the paddling effect can be estimated with equation 2 (assuming CD=1, (see Berger et al 1995) and a hand plan area of 0.015m2) as 0.5„1„997„2.22„0.015=36N.

The magnitude of the pumping effect may be approximated as follows. The axial flow, with velocity vx=2.2 (Toussaint et al submitted) at the back of the hand could enhance the pressure differential across Given these observations, we like to propose a new the propelling surface. Assuming no axial flow occurs pumped-up propulsion mechanism for front crawl at the leading edge side of the arm, the effect can be estimated with Bernoulli’s equation as swimming (Toussaint et al submitted). 2 0.5„997„2.2 „0.015=36N.

The rotation of the arm during the outsweep will lead The magnitude of the added mass can be estimated to a velocity gradient along the arm, so that the using Chapter 16 in Vogel 1994. Assuming the (tangential) velocity near the hand will be higher than forearm and hand to be one cylinder with near the elbow. According to Bernoulli’s Principle slenderness ratio 1 yields an added mass coefficient (pressure inversely proportional to velocity), this of 1 (Vogel 1994). The mass of underarm and hand is velocity gradient will create a pressure gradient, about (0.025„body mass) = 1.6kg; the added mass will thus be equal to that. Given the average hand where pressure decreases in the direction of the „ -2 fingertips. This pressure gradient will induce an axial acceleration of 1.75m s , the effect of the acceleration of added mass plus hand and forearm fluid flow along the arm and hand towards the will be 3.2„1.75=5.7N. The latter calculation excludes fingertips (see Figures 2 and 3). The rotating arm acts the possibility that the axial volume flow of water due as a pump, transporting fluid towards the hand. to the pumping effect is also involved. In that case, the added mass effect would be much stronger. The next question is how this flow of water is used to generate propulsion. We now will consider three Simple addition of the paddling-, pumped up and hydrodynamic effects that might contribute to added mass effects yields a propulsive force of 78N, propulsion… which is about a third more than the expected value of 59N (of course, the paddling and pumping effects 1. The paddling effect in which the hand acts like might interact, possibly reducing the total net an oar. propulsion). The above simple analysis suggests that 2. An enhanced pressure differential due to the in addition to the paddling mechanism (Counsilman pumping effect. 1968), the pumping mechanism could enhance the 3. Acceleration of the ‘added’ mass surrounding pressure differential across the propelling surface as the hand and forearm. well as enlarge the added mass effect and thus account for the observed propulsive forces. However, further study is required to establish the degree of

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interaction between the proposed mechanisms, which • Ellington, C.P. (1995). Unsteady aerodynamics of is likely to occur. insect flight. In C.P. Ellington & T.J. Pedley (Eds.), Biological Fluid Dynamics (pp.626-630). The results of this study are reminiscent of studies of • Ellington, C.P., Berg, C. van den, Willmott, A.P. insect hovering flight, which demonstrated the failure & Thomas, A.L.R. (1996). Leading-edge vortices of the quasi-steady approach and described a strong in insect flight. Nature, 384, 626-630. axial flow component along the rotating wing (Berg • Hay, J.G. & Thayer, A.M. (1989). Flow & Ellington 1997a; Berg & Ellington 1997b; visualization of competitive swimming techniques: Ellington et al 1996). Our simple analysis implies The tufts method. Journal of Biomechanics, 22, that axial flow is a general phenomenon for rotational 11-20. movements. Therefore, axial flow may also be • Pai, Y.C. & Hay, J.G. (1988). A hydrodynamic relevant for the leg kick during swimming, which study of the oscillation motion in swimming. involves rotations in hip, knee and ankle joints. In International Journal of Sports Biomechanics, 4, fact, in the natural world rotation of propelling 21-37. elements is very common. Therefore, axial flow may • Schleihauf, R.E. (1979). A hydrodynamic analysis be crucial for understanding propulsion in many other of swimming propulsion. In J. Terauds, & E.W. forms of aquatic and aerial locomotion involving Bedingfield (Eds.), Swimming III (pp.70-109). rotation of propelling elements, such as fins, paddles, University Park Press, Baltimore. wings and webbed feet. • Schleihauf, R.E., Gray, L. & DeRose, J. (1983). Three-dimensional analysis of swimming References: propulsion in the sprint front crawlstroke. In A.P. • Berg, C. van den & Ellington, C.P. (1997a). The Hollander, P.A. Huijing, & G.D. Groot (Eds.), three-dimensional leading-edge vortex wake of a Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming ‘hovering’ model hawkmoth. In Philosophical (pp.173-184). Human Kinetics Publishers, Transactions of the Royal Society of London Champaign, Ill. (pp.329-340). Series B: Biological Sciences 352. • Schleihauf, R.E., Higgins, J.R., Hinrichs, R., • Berg, C. van den & Ellington, C.P. (1997b). The Luedtke, D., Maglischo, C., Maglischo, E.W. & vortex wake of a ‘hovering’ model hawkmoth. In Thayer, A (1988). Propulsive techniques: front Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society crawl stroke, butterfly, backstroke, and of London (pp.317-328). Series B: Biological breaststroke. In B.E. Ungerechts, K. Wilke, & K. Sciences 352. Reischle (Eds.), Swimming Science V (pp.53-59). • Berger, M.A.M., Groot, G. de & Hollander, A.P. Human Kinetics Books, Champaign, Ill. (1995). Hydrodynamic drag and lift forces on • Toussaint, H. M., Berg, C. van den & Beek, W.J. human hand/arm models. Journal of (submitted). Pumped-up propulsion during front Biomechanics, 28, 125-133. crawl swimming. Journal of Biomechanics. • Berger, M.A.M., Hollander, A.P. & Groot, G. de • Toussaint, H.M., Groot, G. de, Savelberg, (1997). Technique and energy losses in front H.H.C.M., Vervoorn, K., Hollander, A.P. & Ingen crawl swimming. Medicine and Science in Sports Schenau, G.J. van (1988). Active drag related to and Exercise, 29, 1491-1498. velocity in male and female swimmers. Journal of • Berger, M.A.M., Hollander, A.P. & Groot, G. de Biomechanics, 21, 435-438. (1999). Determining propulsive force in front • Toussaint, H.M., Knops, W., Groot, G. de & crawl swimming: A comparison of two methods. Hollander, A.P. (1990). The mechanical efficiency Journal of Sports Sciences, 17, 97-105. of front crawl swimming. Medicine and Science in • Counsilman, J.E. (1968). Science of Swimming. Sports and Exercise, 22, 402-408. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. • Vogel, S. (1994). Life in Moving Fluids; The • Counsilman, J.E. (1971) The application of physical biology of flow. Princeton University Bernoulli’s principle to human propulsion in Press, Princeton, N.J. water. In L. Lewillie & J.P. Clarys (Eds.), • Weis-Fogh, T. (1973). Quick estimates of flight Swimming I (pp.59-71). Université Libre de fitness in hovering animals, including novel Bruxelles, Brussels. mechanisms for lift production. Journal of • Dickinson, M.H. (1996). Unsteady mechanisms of Experimental Biology, 59, 169-230. force generation in aquatic and aerial locomotion. American Zoologist, 36, 537-554.

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CLUB COACH/POOL MANAGER

Mareeba Swimming Club Inc. is the lessee of Mareeba Memorial Pool. The facility, comprising an outdoor 50m pool and two smaller pools, is owned by Mareeba Shire Council and is the only public swimming pool in the town.

The Club seeks a Club Coach who will also manage this pool facility.

This is an opportunity for an experienced, qualified and enthusiastic person to conduct the club’s coaching program and manage the pool operations, including kiosk facilities. The applicant/applicants will be expected to…

€ Assume responsibility for all club swimming activities and programs and supervise the assistant coach. € Further develop the existing programs including learn to swim, masters, aqua aerobics, life saving, and canoe polo. € Expand the range of activities offered. € Encourage the use of the facility by a broad range of user groups.

The contract will initially be for one year with an option for a further three years in line with the current lease.

Mareeba is situated 65km from Cairns on the northern end of the Atherton Tablelands.

Applicants may direct enquiries to and obtain a copy of further details from Bruce Crunkhorn 0740924032 or [email protected].

APPLICATIONS CLOSE FRIDAY 4TH MAY 2001

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swimming speed, and others, is shown clearly by the BEYOND RACE ANALYSIS fervent interest by coaches and swimmers in By Ross Sanders obtaining these results. The development of systems Department of Physical Education, Sport and Leisure that provide rapid feedback such as those developed Studies, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK and used by Bruce Mason (1998) and his Australian (Reproduced from ISBS Swimming 2000 Web Site) Institute of Sport colleagues; Raul Arellano (1992) and his team at Granada in Spain; and Rein Haljand Race analysis is now well entrenched as an important (1997) in Estonia, to name a few prominent ones, part of the application of science to swimming and is have enabled coaches to identify areas requiring keenly sought by coaches and swimmers. At present, attention and to modify race strategies even between race analysis emphasises stroke length and stroke races at the same meeting. We are fortunate to have frequency and component times such as mid-pool Bruce Mason and Jodi Cossor and Raul Arellano here (free swimming) time, turn time, and start time. A at this workshop to enlighten us with the recent new model for identifying important variables is findings from those analyses with respect to able- presented. Many of these variables are not, as yet, bodied swimmers and Laurie Malone with respect to determined routinely. The model comprises three Paralympic swimmers. ‘global goals’ – the minimisation of resistive impulse, the maximisation of propulsive impulse, and A NEW MODEL FOR IDENTIFYING the development of techniques that restrain IMPORTANT VARIABLES physiological cost. The section of the model dealing with maximising propulsive impulse is described. While the findings of these race analyses provide Problems involved in indirectly estimating forces information about where swimmers need to improve, produced by the arm and hand are briefly addressed. proffering advice as to how improvement can be It is concluded that, at this time, accurate made is often difficult. At the FINA Conference in quantification of propulsive forces by indirect means 1999 (Sanders, 1999) I presented a model for is problematic. However, it is suggested that identifying important variables in mid-pool important ‘critical features’ such as the time of swimming. This model differed from the traditional ‘catch’ and ‘release’ might by estimated with ‘stroke length/stroke frequency’ model. The rationale reasonable accuracy provided that the effect of for doing so was that the new model may help acceleration is taken into account. Further identify other useful variables for assessing investigation is required to establish the accuracy and performance, and identifying strategies to improve. reliability of estimating these times. The approach was based on established mechanical INTRODUCTION principles. Swimmers all attempt to optimise their performance by obeying these mechanical principles. I am honoured to have the opportunity afforded by The principles arise from the fact that the speed of a Youlian Hong and his ISBS2000 Committee to swimmer is the outcome of the net effect of forces in commence this workshop devoted to the theme ‘how the desired direction of travel (propulsive forces) and can we improve analysis of swimming technique for forces opposing motion in the desired direction feedback to swimmers and coaches?’ The strong (resistive forces). Propulsive forces act for a period of response to the invitation sent to leading international time during a stroke cycle leading to a net propulsive swimming researchers clearly indicates the impulse and, similarly, resistive forces lead to a net importance of this theme. We have 14 papers resistive impulse. When a swimmer’s average speed submitted for this session by many of the world’s for a stroke cycle remains constant across cycles it is foremost swimming researchers covering a range of because the net propulsive impulse is equivalent to issues within that general theme. the net resistive impulse. Of course, resistive impulse increases with increasing speed. Thus, performance is My contribution deals with the idea that we, as related to three global goals that govern technique. swimming scientists seeking to provide scientific The swimmer’s global goals are… information that is useful for coaches and swimmers, can extend our service beyond race analysis. By 1. Maximise propulsive impulse. saying this I am in no way down playing the 2. Minimise the resistive impulse at any given importance of race analysis. The usefulness of speed. Reducing resistive impulse at any given measuring race parameters such as stroke length and speed means an increase in the speed attained stroke frequency, turn time, start time, free-

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when resistive impulse is as great as the the times over which they occur. Of course, the need propulsive impulse. to quantify forces has been recognised for a long 3. Maximise propulsive impulse and minimise time. However, measurement of propulsive and resistive impulse using techniques that restrain resistive forces in an aquatic environment is far from physiological cost to that which can be easy. From this workshop we will gain a clearer sustained throughout the race. perspective of how swimming scientists are finding ways to measure propulsion and resistance. The To understand what constitutes good technique, and papers by Huub Toussaint and Sergei Kolmogorov to identify where improvements can be made, we will indicate the state of the art in this area. need to quantify propulsive and resistive forces and

Figure 1 An example of the alternative model extrapolated for a selected biomechanical principle and behavioural goal. Use techniques that restrain Minimise the resistive impulse at any Global Goals Maximise propulsive impulse physiological cost (not extrapolated given speed (not extrapolated here) here)

Primary Mechanical The change in motion depends on the magnitude of the net force

Principle and the time over which it acts

Maximise the magnitude of Maximise the period Primary Behavioural propulsive forces of producing Goals (not extrapolated propulsive forces here)

Secondary Maximise the time of propulsive part Commence the catch soon after Recover the hand quickly Behavioural Goals of the pull entry

Secondary Resistance to rotation is dependent on the Mechanical Principle distribution of mass with respect to the axis

Distance of hand Distance of hand Time from catch to Time of catch with Time from hand exit Critical Features movement from from shoulder axis release respect to entry to hand entry catch to release during recovery

A section of the whole model is shown in Figure 1. Thus, the critical features important to performance Here, the ‘primary behavioural goal’ of the ‘primary can be identified readily as a logical consequence of mechanical principle’ is extrapolated. Thus, our goal applying a principle. The new model provides is to maximise the period of producing propulsive analysts with an understanding of the effects of the force relative to the period of the stroke cycle by critical features and an understanding of why they are applying the principle ‘the change in motion depends ‘critical’. The critical features correspond directly on the magnitude of the net force and the time over and clearly to the biomechanical principles. A change which it acts’. This tells us that we have two basic in a critical feature has a predictable effect on the options to achieve our goal. We can increase the variable(s) embodied in the principle. However, the magnitudes of the forces or we can increase the time overall effect on performance may depend on the over which they act. Because resistive forces extent to which the change in technique affects predominate during the time between ‘catch’, that is, variables embodied in other principles. There is no the time when the forces produced by the hand first requirement for a critical feature to have only one become propulsive, and ‘release’, when the forces effect on one variable. from the hand cease to be propulsive, three secondary behavioural goals emerge. These are ‘maximise the Individual swimmers may optimise performance with time of the propulsive part of the pull’; commence varying emphasis on particular biomechanical the ‘catch’ soon after entry’, and ‘recover the hand principles. Further, the observable technique quickly’. Observable ‘critical features’ (McPherson, characteristics vary among swimmers due to 1990) follow naturally from these secondary differences in physical characteristics such as height, behavioural goals. These are the variables that we limb length, mass distribution, body morphology, would seek to measure as part of our technique density, hydrostatic lift, joint flexibility, and strength. analysis. Therefore, finding one’s optimum technique is an individual task and requires application of

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mechanical principles with an emphasis appropriate By considering the mechanical principles underlying to the individual. For example, some Freestyle performance we can identify meaningful critical swimmers have a ‘high elbow’ recovery in which the features. We can develop a rationale for intervening hand is kept close to the axis of rotation (shoulder) or not intervening in a swimmer’s technique. Before while others have a ‘straight’ arm recovery intervening, one needs to consider the ‘whole picture’ characterised by an extended elbow. In the former, by considering all the principles impinging on the principle of keeping mass close to the axis to performance and the characteristics of the individual. reduce the torque required to recover the arm, In the past, we have been guilty of ‘latching on’ to increase the rate of rotation, and reduce unwanted one principle or idea in isolation without considering counter-rotations is being applied. Given this well- the complex interaction of a number of principles. established rationale that has translated to ‘text book’ The new model offers the advantage that critical technique and coaching practices, the swimming features can be considered with respect to several community has been somewhat surprised at the principles and the interactive effect of those magnitude of success of swimmers like Janet Evans principles taken into account before deciding whether using the straight-arm technique. The ‘straight-arm’ an intervention is warranted. proponents have optimised performance by emphasising a different mechanical principle. They MEASURING IMPORTANT VARIABLES have found it more economical to keep the arm straight to make use of the existing rotational motion If we wish to quantify the contribution of the arm and minimise muscle actions associated with stroke to propulsion then we have a very difficult accelerating and decelerating body segments. task. This is particularly the case if we wish to quantify forces of a swimmer without any mechanical Recent use of the straight-arm technique by sprint imposition that may induce change in the natural swimmers such as Michael Klim has us searching for swimming technique. Thus, we might resort to an yet other explanations. To find those explanations we indirect method whereby forces are estimated using can apply more than one mechanical principle. lift and drag coefficients obtained from studies such Perhaps recovery can be just as fast with the straight- as those of Schleihauf (1979; 1984), Berger et al arm technique despite the great moment of inertia. (1995), and Sanders (1999) to known limb Perhaps the circular path of the hand rather than the orientations and speeds obtained by digitising forward and backward motion allows a faster landmarks of the limbs from video of the underwater transition from entry to catch. Perhaps the resistive motions. However, there is serious doubt as to impulse, due to the arm and hand moving forward whether forces quantified in this way are accurate with respect to the water prior to the catch, is enough to be meaningful. There are several sources reduced. These questions have not been answered of error… because we have not yet measured the right variables! 1. Digitising: To estimate hand forces one has to digitise points on the hand to define its plane. The moral is that there is no ‘one’ correct technique - The hand is invariably hard to digitise accurately different strokes for different folks! Over a period of because the hand is small, landmarks are close more than a decade, Ulrik Persyn and Veronique together, and even if the landmarks are marked Colman at the Catholic University in Leuven have with contrasting markers, these are often difficult applied the concept of modifying technique to suit to see due to the water disturbance and bubbles. the characteristics of the individual rather than Payton and Bartlett (1995) have indicated that the applying a single ‘copybook’ technique to all errors arising from these problems seriously swimmers. Their work on Breaststroke technique affect the force estimates. indicates that the degree of ‘wave action’ that should 2. Distortion and Underwater Video Techniques: be employed by Breaststroke swimmers depends on To obtain good three-dimensional data for characteristics such as flexibility (Colman and estimating hand or arm forces one requires Persyn, 1990). This is an advanced and intelligent multiple underwater camera views. This is often approach and warns coaches against changing difficult to achieve. Even when facilities, and techniques towards the wave action without equipment allow this, there is often a problem of considering the characteristics of individual distortion and refraction, particularly when the swimmers. Thus, we look forward to Veronique’s view involves glass interfaces between air and presentation later in these proceedings. water. In his paper, co-authored by Steven

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Lindley, Young-Hoo Kwon will address some of constant orientation of the hand. When these issues and how to minimise these errors. quantifying the forces for each small sample 3. Errors in Lift and Drag Coefficients: Only a period in swimming these conditions are few sets of lift and drag coefficients have been assumed. However, it is well known that this is published for a swimmer’s hand (Schleihauf, not the case. The formation and shedding of 1979; 1984; Berger, 1995; Sanders, 1999). We vortices produces some unsteadiness in forces would naturally expect some differences in the even if speed and orientation is constant. We will values obtained due to natural variation in shape learn more about the behaviour of vortices and of swimmers hands. Added to this difficulty is how they may add to propulsive and resistive the fact that the shape varies according to thumb forces in the presentation by Bodo Ungerechts. adduction/abduction and finger spread. However, large differences in the magnitude of the An Extended Model for Calculating Hand Forces … coefficients among the data sets has resulted when the hand or limb accelerates there is also the from differences in methods of quantifying them. effect of ‘added mass’. An effective mass of water is 4. Quasi-static Assumption: The method of accelerated, thereby yielding additional forces. Pai quantifying hand/arm forces using the indirect and Hay (1988) have shown that these additional approach relies on the assumption that there is forces may be considerable. In an attempt to account steady flow and steady conditions yielding steady for accelerations in response to the findings of Pai forces at given speeds and orientation of the hand and Hay, I extended Schleihauf’s model to include or limb. In fact, the coefficients were generally additional coefficients: determined under conditions of constant speed, constant direction of hand movement, and

APPLYING THE MODELS differences in timing and technique that are related to performance, the effect of fatigue on the time of Given the problems of quantifying hand and arm propulsive force generation, and the development of forces in swimming using indirect means, it would skill in swimming. seem that the potential application of existing hand and arm lift and drag coefficient data is limited. But can the times of catch and release be quantified However, while we may not be able to quantify accurately given the problems described above? This forces with confidence throughout the entire pull, it has yet to be established. may be that some useful information, in which we do have confidence, can be gained from such analysis. However, given that hand velocities are slow at these times, and accelerations are large, and provided that From the principles based model described earlier we the hand is moving in a ‘reasonably’ consistent can see that the times of catch and release are direction at these times, it is possible that the times of important. This is because we are interested in catch and release may be estimated with acceptable ensuring that the swimmer applies propulsive forces accuracy using a model that includes acceleration for as long as possible compared to the time that coefficients, that is the model described above resistive forces predominate. Quantification of these (Sanders, 1999). may yield interesting findings with respect to

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CONCLUSION References:

In this paper I have made a case for moving ‘beyond • Arellano, R., Brown, P., Cappaert, J., Nelson, race analysis’. A model was presented that offers an R.C. (1992). Analysis of the start and turning alternative approach to identifying variables that may times, stroke length and stroke rate for all the provide important information in our quest to Olympics Participants. Report to the 1992 improve our understanding of swimming technique. Summer Olympic Biomechanics Projects I.O.C. Medical Commission. In this paper, the new approach was applied to • Berger, M.A.M., de Groot, G., & Hollander, A.P. identify ‘critical features’ that are important to (1995). Hydrodynamic drag and lift forces on producing propulsion in mid-pool swimming. The human hand-arm models. Journal of model showed that the timing of the catch and release Biomechanics, 28, 125-133. should be quantified. • Colman, V., and Persyn, U. (1990). The flat and undulating breaststroke. Hermes 21(1), 47-58. Difficulties of quantifying forces produced by the • Haljand, R. (1997). Swimming technique aspects hand, required to identify the instants of catch and from the coach view. In B.O. Eriksson and L. release, were recognised. Gullstrand (Eds.) Proceedings XII FINA World Congress on Sports Medicine (pp.340-347). It was suggested that, while the actual magnitude of Goterborg, Sweden: Chalmers Reproservice. hand forces may be prone to error, it is possible that • McPherson, M. (1990). A systematic approach to the instants of catch and release can be determined skill analysis. Physical Training 11(1). with reasonable accuracy and reliability if • Mason, B. (1998). 1998 World Swimming accelerations are taken into account. This possibility Championships Biomechanical Analysis. will be investigated. Biomechanics Department, Australian Institute of Sport. This paper has focused on propulsion produced from • Pai, Y., & Hay, J.G. (1988). A hydrodynamic hand motion in mid-pool swimming. Subsequent study of the oscillation motion in swimming. papers address a range of other important issues. International Journal of Sport Biomechanics, 4,

21-37. In addition to the presentations previously mentioned, • Payton, C.J., & Bartlett, R.M. (1995). Estimating we have a paper by Andreas Hohmann and propulsive forces in swimming from three colleagues that has important implications for dimensional kinematic data. Journal of Sport scheduling training workloads to achieve peak Sciences, 13, 447-454. performance for a race. A paper by Patrick Pelayo • Sanders, R.H. (1999). Hydrodynamic and his colleagues deals with the use of critical speed characteristics of a swimmer’s hand. Journal of and critical stroke rate for monitoring endurance Applied Biomechanics. 15(1), 3-26. performance of swimmers. • Sanders, R.H. (1999). Mid-pool technique The paper presented by Antonio Martins-Silva deals analysis: An alternative to the stroke length/stroke with factors related to intracyclic velocity frequency approach. In F. H. Fu, E.P. Chien, & fluctuations, known to be related to skill and P.K. Chung (Eds.) Proceedings of the XIII FINA economy, of Butterfly swimmers. Andrew Lyttle’s World Sports Medicine Congress: Aquatic Sports paper includes new information on the important and Medicine for the New Century (pp83-96). Hong understudied area of turns. Kong.: Hong Kong Association of Sports Medicine and Sports Science. A paper on starts by J. Paulo Vilas Boas completes a • Schleihauf, R.E. (1979). A hydrodynamic analysis quite comprehensive coverage of topics. The of swimming propulsion. In J. Terauds & E.W. outstanding program of acclaimed researchers Bedingfiled (Eds.), Swimming Science III (pp.70- indicates clearly the rapid advancement of analysis 109). Baltimore: University Park Press. techniques within and beyond race analysis. • Schleihauf, R.E. (1984). The biomechanical analysis of swimming propulsion in the sprint front crawl stroke. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Teachers College, Columbia University, Columbia, N.Y.

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The rest of the report is complete and is recorded here for the interest of swimming historians in its original form. WSCA NEWSLETTER “The first match was open to the whole WORLD SWIMMING COACHES ASSOCIATION colony, and we regret that so few besides the subscribers to the baths came forward to contest the prize – a handsome silver cup, value Eight Pounds, Eight Shillings – and to strive for the honour of wearing the swimming belt for the next 12 months. At 7 o’clock, the entrances being completed, the following six fine young men appeared stripped, each wearing a distinguishing cap fitting close to the

st head, ready for the start – Mr. W. Redman, 1 Floor, 461 Olive Street, Albury NSW 2640 junior; Mr. Alister Maclean; Mr. J. Redman, Phone: (02) 6041 6077 – Fax: (02) 6041 4282 senior; Mr. G. Thornton; Mr. Green; Mr. E-mail: [email protected] Whitbread. The start from the surface of the water took place at a quarter past 7. The (Reproduced from ASCA Newsletter, swimming throughout was admirable, but especially the contest for the first and Volume #99 Issue #5) second place was most gallant. THE FIRST SWIMMING RACE IN Mr. Redman, junior, took the precaution AUSTRALIA of adopting the ancient Roman practice of By Cecil M. Colwin anointing his whole person with oil. Just as the word was given to strip, and as the So far as can be verified, the first swimming race morning was boisterous and rather cold, and in Australia was held in February 1846 in Sydney the Bay rough, this must have given him an Harbour (then called “Sydney Bay”) in the vicinity of advantage. Robinson’s Baths near the Sydney Domain. For the first 220 yards, Mr. Maclean led the van, followed by Mr. Redman, junior and At my request, the ever-helpful Sasha Orivi of the at a short distance by Mr. Redman senior. State Library of Victoria in Melbourne conducted a On rounding the southern buoy, Mr. Maclean search for archival material concerning the first was about a length ahead, but in rounding swimming race in Australia and has come up with the the northern buoy Mr. Redman adroitly most detailed account available to date concerning turned very sharp, and in two strokes, was abreast of him. Mr. Redman then made strong this historic event. swimming, gained gradually about ten yards, The only lead I had was anecdotal, and to the and in that order the two leading swimmers effect that the first swimming race in Australia was came in, the struggle being most gallantly held at Robinson’s Baths alongside the Sydney maintained by Mr. Maclean to the end of the very long distance, upwards of a quarter of Domain, some time during the month of February a mile. Mr. Redman, senior, who is a very 1846 and that the event was won by W. Redman who strong swimmer, came in a good third. Mr. won the event, a 440 yards race, in 8 minutes 43 Thornton and Mr. Green together, but the seconds. former gentleman gallantly gave up his chance at the early part of the race to After a sustained search, Sasha Orivi obtained the assist Mr. Whitbread, who suffered from the following information in a photocopy of page four of boisterous state of the Bay, and was “Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Review” exhausted, but was quickly picked up by one (Vol. 111, No.32). Unfortunately, the top of the of the boats in attendance. The time was: Mr. Redman, 8’43” and Mr. newspaper page had been torn so that the exact date Maclean, 8’49” which, considering the state and a part of the first paragraph of the report were of the weather, was very excellent. lost. The remaining part of the first paragraph reads The second public match was for juvenile as follows… swimmers, for which the following young gentlemen started: Master Macnamara, who “day mo (rest of line erased) came in first; Master Maclean, second; (rest of line erased) o’clock, A very Master Parbury; Master Fletcher; Master scribers and the public (rest of line erased) Fletcher. in this manly and gallant species (rest of line The distance, 100 yards, was well swam, erased) took place, and the steep shore of the and the match created great interest. Next Domain, as well as the floating baths, were Saturday there will be two swimming, and covered with spectators.” one diving match at the baths.”

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(Reproduced from WSCA Newsletter, 1. A Future Leaders’ Course Vol.00 Issue 03) 2. A Team Leaders’ Retreat TEACHING LEADERSHIP SKILLS TO 3. A Motivational Speaker SWIMMERS 4. A Team Day By George Block 5. A Community Service Project Introduction The Process I need to begin with a disclaimer. A few years The process actually began at the end of the ago, at the conclusion of the keynote address during school year with a Team Leaders’ Retreat. We the ASCA Awards Banquet, Coach Tim Welsh (Head basically stole this from the NCAA. What was Men’s Coach at the University of Notre Dame) different than the NCAA‘s model was that this challenged all of us in attendance. He challenged us included both formal (team captains, best swimmer, to learn as much as we could about leadership, then etc.) and informal (swimmer with most charisma who come back to the World Clinic one year later and everyone follows regardless of title, or swimmer who teach each other what we had learned. Our staff took throws the most team parties and therefore has status) that challenge seriously. leaders. It also included all of the high school and My disclaimer: It took much more than a year. We club coaches in the facility who coached any of these had to learn the hard way. We were just one (1) swimmers. group ... n=1. I don’t think that could make its way We used the NCAA’s model of focusing on real into any scientific publication, but we were a diverse problems. The coaching group selected the most group. difficult problems that the programs were facing, The “we” is a group of coaches in a unique problems that offered no clear solution to coaches, situation, just like all of your situations are unique. booster clubs or administrators. The Assistant “We” are a group of high school and club coaches Director of Athletics facilitated this meeting based on who all work together in the same pool with the same two critical understandings. kids. There were seven high school coaches and five First, the coaches and team leaders had to leave club coaches involved. It was a real collaboration. All with specific plans, timelines and responsibilities. of the coaches were committed to the project and Second, there had to be complete support of the everyone took a “slice” and worked it hard. outcome(s) by all participants. Anything less than We had collectively observed that the quality of complete support constituted non-agreement and the student-leadership on both our high school and club group went back to work. teams had declined precipitously since about 1984 The “realness” and difficulty of the problems (even while the quality of swimmers had improved). made it more than just group process. Understanding This internal observation, and the resulting problems that the solutions would be enacted gave the athletes in training groups and teams, was our motivation. It tremendous power and drew tremendous energy and was not an abstract thing. teaching out of the coaches. In addition to the We approached it “scientifically”. Bill Thomas problem-solving activity, all of the leadership (now coaching in Oregon) did the survey of activities for the coming year were planned at this literature. He read nearly everything that was being meeting. done both in the business and academic worlds. After the first year, the school year began with a Many of you may have read a number of articles in motivational speaker and daylong activities including American Swimming that Bill’s research inspired. that speaker. The goal was two-fold. First, to Bill observed that what was being studied and reinforce the goals and values of the Student done in the business world was substantially different Leadership Project. Second, to make real our often- than what was being studied and done in the stated purpose of teaching life skills that will endure academic world. We first postulated that this would well past their swimming careers. be accounted for by different learning, leadership and We solicited business and professional people maturational issues between adolescent and adult who demonstrated the goal setting, time leaders. I’m not sure that any of us would hold that management, leadership skills, etc., that we view today, but that was our assumption at the time. emphasise in swimming. This was a major part of our We decided to “steal” the best ideas from both the daylong series of talks and activities. business and academic models. In doing so, we Coming very quickly on the heels of our developed a five-step, yearly process of leadership Motivational Speaker was Team Day, perhaps the development. most fun aspect of the project. Team Day was the Initial Model work of three coaches … Steve Gordon, Jack Our five steps were: Alexander and Kurt Swanson. Coach Gordon had

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considerable background working in boys and girls Project. clubs, as well as teaching a “ropes course” on a Prior to the Team Leaders’ Retreat, the high Special Education campus. Coach Alexander is an school coaches developed a menu of potential elementary physical education teacher with community service projects in their attendance area. considerable experience in cooperative games and During the retreat, the team leaders selected a project. Coach Swanson took the cooperative games From that point on it was the role of the coach to developed by Coaches Gordon and Alexander and monitor and support the team leaders in the created a scoring system for them. completion of the project. The scoring system was critical, because it was One of the objectives of the Community Service based not on athletic skill or team size, but on the Project was to both raise and improve the image of ability of a team to work together. The team with the the team in the community. In order to do that, the best teamwork won. We had seven objectives for projects had to be selected with enough lead-time to Team Day. allow for adequate press and public relations. The 1. To foster team building project is also intended to have a demonstrable effect 2. To teach teamwork on each swimmer’s feelings of self-worth. We 3. To force new “cooperations” wanted them to learn that sacrificing time, as a group, 4. To force “long-term” teamwork to a larger purpose was fun and made them feel 5. To create “new” (non-swimming) winners better. 6. To be “size-neutral” to allow full team With all of the recent emphasis that universities participation are putting on community service projects, we 7. To create opportunities for student leadership wanted each year’s project to be significant enough and responsibility to be “resume worthy”, so that after four years, each While seeking these objectives, we never forgot swimmer would leave with a portfolio of community that we had swimmers working on land, so there was service projects. The most important objective, a continuous emphasis on injury avoidance. Both the however, was to help them learn that real leadership Motivational Speaker and Team Day took place benefits “someone else”. during the traditional pre-season in August and Results September. Once the real training season began, we After three years, we looked at the markers that taught our Future Leaders’ Course. we had identified as indicators of student leadership, The Future Leaders’ Course was for all club and things like attendance, out-of-water “incidents”, high school 9th graders and “new” swimmers to our acceptance of specific challenges, etc. There were no programs. It was intended to give everyone a core set identifiable, measurable behavioural changes. Three of team values, concepts and skills that would be years of deliberate, detailed work on student needed as they assumed team leadership roles. leadership, using the best practices from business and Coach Todd Erickson, a retired Air Force officer, education produced no improvement in the Quality or developed the curriculum. In addition to his extensive Quantity of student leaders. coaching background, Todd had spent a significant Back to the Drawing Board part of his Air Force career commanding training We looked at the juniors and seniors who we had units, dealing with basically the same age group and expected to become our student leaders (but weren’t) issues. and were shocked by the results. In every instance, at The “course” was taught once a week, in lieu of least one significant “component” was missing. water practice (that is how committed we were), This missing “something” stole their credibility covering… with their peers (and coaches) and prevented them • “Our” Team Values from being accepted as leaders even if they were top • Teamsmanship swimmers, very charismatic, threw the best parties, • Peer Pressure and Peer Support knew exactly the right thing to say, etc. Without • Standards and Expectations credibility, natural leaders could not lead. • Taking Initiative The problem then became the process of building • Group Dynamics credibility. This process of working backwards from our current crop of frustrated leaders to the process of • Situational Leadership credibility became a major “ah ha” experience for our The final stage of the Student Leadership Project group of coaches. was the Community Service Project. Each high Military Model school team, as a part of the Team Leaders’ Retreat Our particular group of coaches had an unusually selected, planned and executed a Community Service high percentage of coaches with military

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backgrounds. In spite of that, we all discounted the her program. What operations are critical to your use of a military model because we didn’t think that program? What do you want every swimmer to we had the same “stick” that the military has, or know? That must be defined first, then once it is because we didn’t want to appear “militaristic” or defined, you must determine how you will measure perhaps because we were just stupid. The militaries and track it. of the world have been dealing with these same Operations (freshmen) means things like… problems, with the same age group, since the time of • What the military does in basic training (how to the Greeks and Romans. walk, talk, dress, eat, sleep, etc.) Serendipitously, at the same time we were • How does your team work? confronting our failed project, I was reading “Making • Practice schedule the Corps” by Thomas Ricks. Ricks’ book reminded • Equipment (yours, others, team’s) me (and all of us) about basic training. We reviewed • Attendance the basic training models of the various branches of • Traditions the services, but found the Marine’s Officers Basic to • Special policies be the most like what we wanted to achieve. • Etc. In all of the basic trainings, but especially in the How will you measure them? Attendance is easy Marine Officers Basic, we found four distinct phases and critical. I have seen high school coaches use six that clearly mirror the four academic years in high weeks tests over team rules, team traditions, school and college. We also saw that the Marines equipment needed, schedules, swimming roles, water don’t learn leadership. They earn leadership. polo rules, etc. Earned Leadership The success of the military isn’t just that it Humans have two types of personal qualities. I defined these stages, but that it determined exactly say this very unscientifically. It is just a construct of what every soldier, sailor or airman had to know and my own observation, but I think it has some how that particular branch of service was going to accuracy. There are qualities that we “have” and measure it. As coaches, if we are going to be serious there are qualities that others attribute to us. The about developing leaders on our teams, we must qualities that we “have” are the most controllable, but create the opportunities for them to develop these the qualities that others attribute to us are the most building blocks of credibility and track them, so we powerful. Leadership is one of these attributed can know whether they are succeeding or not. qualities. A person can’t make himself a leader. Cooperation (sophomores) was taken directly Leadership is attributed. A person can, however, from Marine Officer’s Basics. The other three make himself credible. In fact, only he can do that. branches of service called it “followership”. The In looking at the missing credibility attributes of Marines call it cooperation. In the Marines, where our frustrated leaders, we found a four-step path to everyone is a leader, it is the followers’ job not only leadership. For the sake of simplicity, we labelled to follow the lead, but to actively cooperate and help them… that leader be the best possible leader in that 1. Operations situation. Some examples of cooperation would be… 2. Co-operation 3. Lead by Example • Actively support Team Leaders 4. Lead by Voice • Actively support Coach These four steps have a nice academic (high • Don’t undercut! school/college) fit and (conveniently) it takes nearly • No backstabbing or badmouthing an entire season to “earn” each stage. The task of • No cliques your freshmen is to master operations. Sophomores The junior season is the most critical of all in must demonstrate cooperation with the team leaders. developing leadership potential through credibility Juniors must “walk the walk”. If the first three stages development. This is where they must “walk the have been demonstrated, as seniors they will be walk”. This is the season of being the strong, silent allowed to “talk the talk”. type. The first three stages build credibility. If “Shut up and do it”. Leading by example is shown credibility is not built, there can be no fourth stage. by behaviours like… Swimmers who try to lead without credibility end up • First There frustrated and angry at their teammates and coaches. • Last There Implementation • Lane Leadership Now comes the hard part. This is where each • Practice Challenges coach has to decide what each step means in his or • Out-of-pool issues (partying, drinking, taking care

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of themselves, academics. etc.) critical to every team’s success. Every high school, club and college coach needs Thank-you. good senior leadership. The senior year is where they Postscript finally can lead by voice. Interestingly, not everyone If you would forgive me for wandering slightly who has made himself or herself eligible (credible) off topic, during the course of our research we for leadership will want to assume this role. stumbled on to some information on team captain The vocal leader stands out and by doing so selection that has proved valuable to our high school makes himself or herself a target. For this reason, coaches. I would like to pass it on to you. Two many credible leaders don’t want to step forward as variables in team captain selection proved to be the vocal leader. This is especially true with the best important … when and how. The issues on the when swimmer(s) on the team. Typically, the best swimmer variable were “Do you select at the beginning of this already finds himself under the social microscope and season, or the end of the previous season?” is subject to many petty, adolescent jealousies. They Teams who selected at the end of the season are understandably reluctant to volunteer for more. selected the hardest worker. Teams who selected Because of this dynamic, the vocal leader(s) prior to the season selected the best party host. usually comes from the ranks of the good (but not Even more interesting was the recommendation best) swimmers. Those others, who have made on method of voting. It was recommended that all themselves credible, need to assume the role of “stakeholders” become “stockholders” by getting one “bodyguard” to the vocal leader, visibly, physically vote for each season with the team (including prior backing up their leader and friend. This becomes summer’s training). This way a year-round incoming especially critical if the vocal leader on a co-ed team senior would have six votes for team captain. Those is female. Her leadership success will depend on a with the biggest stake in the team also have the most strong set of bodyguards. stock in the team. That totally changes team Once the credible student-leader has assumed the elections. role of vocal team leader, the coach no longer needs Questions to monitor their progress towards leadership Q: What do you mean by “You can’t make yourself in credibility. Instead, the coach’s role becomes tutor to a leader, but only you can make yourself and mentor to the nascent leader. At this stage, their credible?” leadership role, in addition to their swimming, Only swimmers can make themselves credible with other swimmers. In the workplace, only you can make yourself requires significant, private one-on-one coaching. credible with other people you work with. As a coach, we Everything from speaking to the group, to how to have an obligation to our kids to teach them how to make encourage, to group dynamics will be needed. It is themselves credible, then to track the stuff. For example, the coach’s role to accelerate the leadership learning in operations, for me, the most important thing is curve so that the vocal team leader doesn’t reach attendance. You’ve got to be there. I track attendance like peak effectiveness shortly after the end of the season. crazy! Are you there? Are you on time? It is an important Summary indicator for me. Do you know the rules? Do you know Our coaching staff proved to be slow learners, but your team traditions? That kind of stuff. Do you (the we were learners. After all we had invested in trying coach) track it in some way? Do you make sure they are to teach leadership, our hardest, but most valuable knowing it and demonstrating it? At the Operational level, it is pretty easy on your team to say what it is. As you go lesson was that leadership is not learned, but earned. to the higher levels, it gets harder to measure and track, but This makes the coach’s role surprisingly more you need to! How are you going to define cooperation with difficult and critical. Instead of merely developing a your team leaders? Are they actively supporting their team curriculum and presenting it to our swimmers, we leaders? You need to have a way that you are tracking it have to clearly define for ourselves what operations and measuring it for your sophomores. Things like … Are are critical to our team. We have to define, for they going to team functions? Both organised and non- ourselves, what forms of cooperation are critical to organised is important, because you don’t want cliques. our team. We have to define, for ourselves, When the team goes to a movie, you want the team to go specifically what examples we want set for our to a movie, not a clique to go to a movie. You want to teams. measure it in the water. When the lane leader says, “OK, you go first, I’ll go second” (or vice-versa), you want them Then, we must develop systems to measure, track, to do it. You want them to follow their team leaders. record and remediate (if necessary) our swimmers’ Maybe it will happen in dryland or maybe in a team run, progress in developing leadership credibility. It must but you want it to happen. You don’t want it to be left to be done every day. It takes a lot of work, but only by chance. Make sure it happens and make sure you measure doing that work can we ascertain that we will it, so that you can make sure those sophomores are maintain that “pipeline” of student leaders who are so achieving those credibility markers with their peers. The

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same goes for Leading by Example. It’s a little bit easier have to expose them to all of the roles and the skills that here because you know what kind of leadership you want they will need to play these roles. We have to prepare them out of them. You can talk to them about it but you have to for what they are going to need when it really counts ... measure it and monitor it. They, the swimmers, can earn same as swimming. credibility, and only they can earn credibility. But only we Q: What if you have two good leaders on your team? can teach them those things that they need to do and Specifically, what if one leader is male and the measure and make sure that they are doing them. other is female, who do you let lead? Q: Can the process be accelerated? Does each step Both. Eventually, in real life, we have to be able to work need to take a year? independently and we have to be able to work Yes. Often it has to. Think about a JC for example. I don’t collaboratively. So it is important to teach them to be think steps can be skipped. The Marines don’t take four independent leaders and collaborative leaders. If you have years. They take 10 weeks of basic training. You have to two good leaders, teach them the bodyguard rule. The put the steps in there and during the initial steps you’re the male leader, especially, needs to be able to bodyguard the drill sergeant. You’re the leader. You’re teaching them. female leader, because as every female in this room You’re making sure they go through it. The process can be knows, the female leader’s worst enemies are the other accelerated, if you need it to be. I think, however, that females. As soon as she steps up to that leadership role, the once you get a 4-year “pecking order”, you probably don’t other females will fill her back with arrows, unless the want it to be accelerated. male leader is willing to bodyguard her. And it’s good to Q: What if your underclassmen are stronger leaders teach the male leaders to both work for and with female than your upperclassmen? leaders and to support the female leaders, then reverse it. I can only answer with a series of “ifs”. If you have been I’ve found that the support roles come much more there long enough to have followed this process for four naturally to the female leaders. It seems to be a lot more years and raised a class of senior leaders, then you have to difficult for the males to learn the support roles, but a lot let them lead. Maybe it’s as good as it’s going to get this easier to learn the protection role. year. You just have to tell the underclassmen to wait their Q: What if you coached only females? The situation is turn. You are sort of taking a short-term loss to get to a exactly like you described with the backstabbing long-term gain. On the other hand, if you haven’t been and all. there long enough, or if you haven’t followed this process I have never coached only females, so I couldn’t even to develop leaders, you have to accelerate the process, but begin to speculate on what I would do. From coaching you have to go through the whole process. You have to only mixed male-female teams, I know that both the males take your team through the whole process. In the interim and the females have to go through the same steps. I would time, you have to be the team’s leader. guess that on a female-only team, the females would go Q: Does this process apply to 12-and-unders? through the steps faster and would be ready and willing to No. I was specifically speaking about high school kids and undercut their leaders sooner. You, as the coach, would college kids. But you can use this stuff with 12-and- have to enforce cooperation more. That’s just a wild guess. unders. 12-and-unders are perpetually in Operations, but Q: I have a team of 12-16 year olds. The 12-year-olds they are also perpetually in Rehearsal. They can be are way ahead of my 16-year-olds on every rehearsing all these things. They should be taking turns measure ... commitment, swimming ability, leading. They can be leading a lane if they are a fast leadership. How can my 16-year-olds be the enough kicker or they can be leading putting away the lane leaders? lines if they are not. They can lead a team run if they are They absolutely can’t. Your 13 and 14 year olds will not fast enough. They can lead callisthenics if they are not. follow them; will not cooperate with them, because the 16- They can take turns cooperating with their leaders when it year-olds have not gained their credibility. is not their turn to lead. They should be doing all these Q: Can I make my 12-year-olds the leaders? types of things simultaneously. 12-and-unders are at all You can’t, because the older guys will just kill them. You levels simultaneously and rotating through them. As a 12- then, for a period of time, have to become the team leader, and-under coach, you have the advantage that they because there is going to be a leadership void on your (prepubescently) can shift between roles. After puberty, team. What I would encourage you to do is, first, start they get pretty rigid in their roles. As 12-and-unders, they monitoring your 13-14s. Get them on the path. Then go can jump between these roles with great facility. Once they and “dissect” some of your 15-16s and I think you will get in to adolescence, you just have to keep them moving find, like we did, these “holes” in their leadership through the phases. development. Operationally, cooperationally, or with their Q: When you coach 12-and-unders, do you move them example, they haven’t done something along the way to between all four of the levels? gain the credibility of their younger teammates. You need I absolutely do. I haven’t coached 12-and-unders for a long to know what those things are, because they are obviously time, but when I did, I would deliberately put kids in important on your team and you need to make sure that different roles all the time. Because we all know that when your next generation does them! You need to know them they get older, their roles will change! When they develop and measure them and teach them and track them so that their adolescent personality, they will change. When they your 14-year-olds are ready to step up when it’s their turn develop their adult personality, they will change. So we and the next group will be ready behind them.

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Q: If you have leaders who lose their credibility and inconvenience the rest of their lives as little as respect, how do they get it back? possible, by being efficient with workout design and Sackcloth and ashes are real good. By that I mean public discipline. I also was able to stick to something I repentance and public penitence. When a kid screws up learned from you, but you never put it in so many publicly, whether they go out and get drunk or do words. something stupid, they have to crawl back publicly, they have to acknowledge what they did wrong publicly, they The principles underlying the decisions you made have to apologise to everyone publicly and personally, and caused me to have great respect for you and made it that includes teammates, coaches and parents. Then they easy to accept when we disagreed. It seemed have to demonstrably re-earn the lost respect. Public error decisions were made in the best interest of the requires public apology and public penitence, if you want program and not the dollar … the person was more to get back public leadership. You can’t have public error important than the swimmer or coach … and the team and private penitence, unless you are the President of the was more important than the individual. I tried hard United States. to keep to these ideals and they have made me content in my decisions made there and afterward. I (Reproduced from ASCA Newsletter, am not saying I always made the right decisions, but I Volume #2000 Issue #10) made the right ones for me. WHAT CAN ASSISTANT COACHES LEARN When I was with you, it was comforting to feel FROM THEIR HEAD COACH? we were including current training methods yet not (Editor’s Note: This is a real letter from a real losing sight of hard work equalling success. It was assistant coach to the head coach. All the names and also amazing how seemingly insignificant decisions teams have been deleted.) had huge impacts. Coach, For instance, as long as the coaches were driving I used to write you once in a while and tell you the buses, I had great contact and togetherness on my how much you and your program meant to me and team. Once we stopped, I lost that daily still does. I always wondered if you thought I was contact/interaction and we lost a great deal of TEAM just kissing up, or really sincere. Since I have nothing togetherness. As a team, I could have a great to gain now, please believe me I was/am sincerely influence over the majority. Once TEAM was lost, so grateful for the guidance and opportunities you was my influence. afforded me. Summer league coaching was vital to this respect A large part of what I learned there helped me to issue because via summer league I was their first continue to succeed in coaching my next three teams coach and they felt some loyalty to me. However, this – and other areas, too. I am detailing what I got from loyalty grew and was maintained by following Harry you and the learning opportunities you provided, so K. Wong’s quote … “They don’t care what you you will know what an impact you had and maybe it know until they know that you care.” I genuinely will help you to be able to continue to pass on these grew to love the kids on my team or training groups positive traits to others. as though they were my own. Without that kind of I stuck to sound fundamentals and multiple styles attachment I don’t see how any coach can put in the of teaching with a focus on the long-term hours, intensity and caring necessary to effectively development of the swimmer. In other words, the communicate success to the swimmers. swimmer must learn to swim correctly first, then fast Anyway, once the swimmers knew I cared, I was second. able to persuade them to buy into the statement, Many of the summer league mentality coaches “DISCIPLINE IS FUN!” I explained it by saying taught no breather 25’s to win and the swimmer the more disciplined we are, the more we can never learned to swim and breathe. I used common accomplish … the more we accomplish each practice, sense instruction and apparatus to make it clear when the more successful we are … and the more possible. I mixed in a little of what I knew would be successful we are, the more fun it is to compete and politically correct (to show the parents improvement) practice and be a member of this team. The more and enlisted the help of parents (with the provision of successful the team is, the more pride you get from no special favours for their child) for a better overall just being associated with it. team. There are many ways to make workout enjoyable I focused on fast swimming as our primary goal and get more out of swimmers than they would give and one of your quotes … “If you ask me why we otherwise, and the actual sets have very little to do do something and I can’t tell you, then maybe we with it. It is more an attitude than knowledge and shouldn’t be doing it.” I tried to be careful in my more a people skill that comes from use of the swimmers’ time and only keep them or coaching/teaching experience. The attitude the coach

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exudes with body language, tone of voice, gestures, the swimmers. We started making a point of inflection, word choice, etc., is as or more important acknowledging the other coaches’ contributions to than the sets on the paper. A little verbal excitement our teams. We were working for excellence at each and expressed expectations for the swimmers goes a level and refusing to accept mediocrity while keeping long way to make 8x400 @ “who cares” seem our eye on the long-term development of the program interesting and even fun. and the swimmers individually. There is still an old-fashioned work ethic involved I remember wanting a Club Record Board as a and a great deal of parents enlist their kids in teams to means to give everyone recognition for their get that work ethic instilled in their kids. Whether it individual contributions and allow the Age Group can be done or not (I think it can) they want to see we coaches to see the evolution of records as the HS are trying. coaches got to see theirs. However, as I did all the They also have that vision of the Olympics and research to discover the records, it became a want to see their kids doing something that resembles tremendously humbling experience. what they see every four years on TV. Show those There were countless swimmers I thought I had parents measured improvement and the visual created, only to learn that they had been successfully evolution of their child’s strokes. The parental swimming for years within each Age Group and had satisfaction level is amazing and the kids get faster. been coached by many coaches before me. It was Remember, I first heard it from you … “what gets kind of like the last scene in the original Miracle On measured gets changed”. 34th Street, when the lawyer notices Santa’s cane next Each coach took pride in the finished product they to the hearth and says, “Maybe I’m not such a great turned out and how quickly they could make the lawyer (coach) after all.” impact of creating swimmers. Back when I was in Anyway, I don’t know if you really care what I Novice team, we set up lanes 1 and 2 for learning all think, but I felt I owed it to you to offer these aspects of swimming Crawl and Backstroke in a meet thoughts. You have helped me to see things clearly and they graduated as soon as this was consistently several times and I think of you often and always in a accomplished. Lanes 3 and 4 added in Butterfly. good way. Lanes 5 and 6 added in Breaststroke and clock work Thanks for everything. with some endurance. They graduated to Doug’s lanes when they could PERFECTION OF THE MAXIMUM STRENGTH OF consistently perform all four strokes and their SWIMMERS’ MUSCLES accompanying starts, turns, finishes and read a clock By Vladimir Popyel To whom it may concern: and had enough endurance to handle training on a My name is Vladimir Popyel. I’m presently working as a coach of base of 2:00 per 100 Freestyle and were going the swimming team called “Riptide” YMCA at East Brunswick, NJ. somewhere around 2000 per night. Doug continued Prior to 1998 I was working as the head coach of one of the swimming clubs in the Ukraine, In 19851 was invited to the working all four strokes and taught transition turns National team of the former Soviet Union, where I took part in for the IM and more advanced clock work and more preparing athletes for various kinds of international competitions. intense work in general. No child was allowed to Among my students were participants in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea. compete in any stroke they were not training yet. Valeri Lozik achieved 5th place in the 200m Breaststroke and 3rd The point is … there was a logical progression place in the 400m Medley Relay. Arnis Borislavsky won 2nd place in the 400m Freestyle Relay. After the break up of the Soviet and a measurable, achievable means of getting to the Union I was working with the Ukrainian National team where I next group. I continued to do this in the summer continued to work with different athletes, one of them Pavel league team here and it grew from 40 to 160 Khnishin who participated in the Olympic games in Barcelona: 4th place in the 100m Butterfly, 2nd place in the 400m Medley Relay, swimmers in just three summers, while the quality of 2nd place in the 400m Freestyle Relay and also in Atlanta: 6th place swimmers went up drastically. in the 100m Freestyle and 8th place in the 100m Butterfly. I did it again in the HS (13 to 54 kids and from no I have a lot of experience in preparing athletes to achieve world- class results. I would like to share my experience with American Region qualifiers to State finalist) and on the USS specialists. If you are interested in my articles, I would ask you to team here (20 kids a night in practice to 45 and from please publish them. Respectively yours, two TAGS swimmers in four events to nine TAGS in Vladimir Popyel 25 events). The use of strength training tools like the “gliding Doug used to make me feel good because he gave board” and a training device of “Huttel Martens” me credit for coaching his swimmers. “A good permits advanced swimmers to increase their level of leader takes less than his share of the credit and development of the strength of the main group of more than his share of the blame.” Following his muscles which participate in the stroke-producing lead, we all started recognising the importance of the movements. other coaches and the need for all to be respected by I have conducted a few researches that enable me

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to specify some of the aspects of methods of use of were pulling on a rubber cord attached to the wall. the given means of special strength-orientation. This exercise was three times with 30 seconds For example, in 1991 working on the perfection of intervals of rest and with maximum frequency of the main group of muscles, a member of the movements. Swimmers from the second group Ukrainian National team, Natalia Miroshnik used the performed the total of 24 sets of pulling the rubber “gliding board” as a main source. This athlete could cord … each set consisted of 54-62 pulls. This way glide 8-11 times on the incline bench placed on the each exercise included up to 1.5 thousand pulls with one before the last level of the Swedish ladder maximum pace and moderate resistance of the rubber (gymnastic wall). The dryland measurements cords. showed, that the levels of maximum strength compile As a result of working with a use of the “gliding to be 38.9kg (85.58lbs). However the athlete could board”, athletes showed a significant increase in not realise that in the water. With the result of strength, which led to the improvement in their times. 1.12.50 in 100m Breaststroke a low frequency of However, in swimmers of the second group, the movements was noted to be 48.9 cycles per minute. change in results was substantially greater. This fact Apparently, this could be explained that by explains that athletes of the second group could shortening the moving stereotype during the develop higher frequency of movements on a workouts in dryland, the athlete spent on carrying out competitive distance … at the same time frequency each movement no less then 2-3 seconds. of movements of participants from the first group, In 1995 during the preparatory training of practically stayed unchanged, which is shown in the Svetlana Bondarenko, another remedy – the training table below. device of “Huttel Martens” was used. With that the Level of investigated parameters in swimmers ... frequency of her movements before resistance of 90- Coefficients of the investigated parameters Parameters Group One Group Two 95% from maximum was not slower than one cycle Before the After the Before the After the Parameters per second. In the same year Svetlana Bondarenko, experiment experiment experiment experiment 1.23.6 +/- 1.20.4 +/- 1.22.4 +/- 1.19.3 +/- Athletic 2.4 2.3 2.7 2.2 the year before the Olympic Games in Atlanta, results 100 100 100 100 (seconds) showed the result of 1.10.41. The frequency of her Breaststroke Breaststroke Breaststroke Breaststroke movements was equal to 55 cycles per minute, but Level of strength 22.6 +/- 3.1 31.0 +/- 2.4 27.1 +/- 2.4 32.3 +/- 2.6 the level of maximum pulling strength in dryland (kg) reached 38.5kg (84.71lbs). Frequency of From these two examples we can draw the movements 49.7 – 1.4 50.3 +/- 2.1 50.1 +/- 2.2 53.8 +/- 1.8 following conclusion, that in order to achieve great (cycles per second) athletic results, development of the maximum muscle This way, with the aid of the “gliding board” on the strength in dryland must be equal to the high speed of incline bench the athlete may, within three months of muscular contractions. training, achieve a substantial increase in figures of Based on that, we decided to investigate … can maximum strength of the main working group of systemic workouts assigned to increase the maximum muscles. However at the same time frequency of the muscle strength using the “gliding board” influence athlete’s movements in the water remaining the competitive frequency of movements? We have practically unchanged. This last part essentially also tried to find one of the ways of its parallel makes it difficult for athletes to advance to a highest increase. athletic skill level. The rising level of strength is In my own swimming centre “Donbass”, along effective only when the frequency of movements with a group of coaches, we conducted an experiment during workouts in dryland, corresponds to the designed to find ways of increasing the realisation of frequency of active movements on the main distance, strength potential, with two groups of girls (10 girls or exceeds them. in each group). This experiment was conducted for According to that, the strength development of 12 weeks. swimmers must obey the main condition to The first group of athletes after warm-up and overpower the maximum resistance in exercises in before practice in the water, three times a week dryland with the frequency of the main competitive performed sets (eight times each set) of exercises on distance or higher, in other words, during planning of the “gliding board” on the incline bench. The bench workouts in the direction of strength. In development was set to a certain height, which permits one to it is imperative to reach the point where practices perform a maximum of 6-8 pulls in one set. along with an increase in the level of strength also Athletes from the second group after each set with contribute to the realisation of this quality in the the “gliding board,” which is analogous to the set water. performed by group one, being bend for 30 seconds

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One of the ways of solving the given problem is the results occurs in the non-crawl by a swimming development of maximum strength in the dryland, stroke. However, an increase in speed in the crawl is with the aid of parallel combinations … combinations achieved in such a way that they would master, let’s of workouts on the “gliding board” with the exercises say for Butterfly – level of exertion 4km/h on overpowering the moderate resistances with the (2.47mi/h). In practice this relates to 1.30 on a maximum frequency. distance of 100m; 3:00 for 200m; 6:00 for 400m, This is one of the conditions of the consistent etc.). For that athletes are advised during the first appearance of strength and pace in competitive microcycle to use the correlation of non-crawl strokes swimming. with crawl with a 25% limit and along with that Combined Practice indispensably manage the corresponding training Great athletic results in swimming are closely regime on the given distance. At the end of the connected with the development of endurance. microcycle, as usual, it occurs considerably Increase in endurance is one of the most important successful, which is shown by the rapid heart rate at conditions for improvement of athletic work habits. the finish of the set of distances of combined practice The famous interest presents the illustration of one of (about 25 beats per 10 seconds). This kind of the rapid moments of the whole endurance feedback body reaction on the introduced strain tells development – enhancement of the aerobic you about the existence of adaptation to the training production at the final stage of the preparatory period work of the given intensity. of a swimmers’ training. (Directly proceeding the For further increase of the level of work habits, period of specialised work on the development and the program of following, second microcycle is special endurance.) In this article want to of speeding introduced. Here, the correlation of non-crawl strokes discuss the capabilities successful use of the so called and crawl is already 1/3 (33.3%). Later on, from consists of combining the method of combined microcycle to microcycle this correlation (see the practice. The method consists of combining the crawl table) firmly changes in the direction of non-crawl stroke with other strokes to strengthen the swimmer swimming, until it reaches 100% in the 6th for more strenuous training regimes. Along with that microcycle. However, the essential condition in all from microcycle to microcycle in training sets the cases turns out to be the necessity of the old coincidence of the crawl strokes and non-crawl fulfilment of needs of the given training regime strokes changes in the direction of non-crawl strokes. within mastering the level of difficulty. (Usually the athlete’s speciality is one of the non- Many years of using the described system of crawl strokes.) It enables him to gradually increase training directed towards increasing the maximum the intensity of the practice and training regimes. level of aerobic production of the last step of the Combined practice is used within six weekly preparation period (preceding, as usual, the six week microcycles and leads to the substantial increase in period of non-mediocre training for the important aerobic capabilities of the swimmer and improves competitions), enables us to make the following his/her times. Apparently, the effect builds up when conclusions. the total endurance determines the result by 85- 100%. Many years of experience in using the combined practice showed that the most build-up of n*300 n*150m n*300m (150+300) (300+150) n*250m (75+225) (75+75) (225+75) n*200m n*400m (100+100) n*400m n*300m (100+300) n*600m n*300m n*600m (300+100) n*400m n*600m (200+400) (150+150) (400+200) n*600m 2 n*500m (150+450) n*900 n*400m n*900m (450+150) n*600m n*800m (300+600) (200+200) (600+300) n*800m n*800m (200+600) 4*500m (600+200) (250+250) In parenthesis is the percentage of crawl in the set. Practically it seems like this. In order to master a In the first horizontal row of the table, it can be seen high level of exertion in the extremes of one how from microcycle to microcycle the percent macrocycle consisting of six microcycles, the correlation of the value of non-crawl ways of following task is stated … to increase the functional swimming and crawl changes. capabilities of the throughout the flow of training The percentage of the combined practice in total work in this moment at the joint of aerobic-anaerobic volume of swimming preparation is identical in every regimes. This coincides with the concept of an microcycle and is equal to approximately 20-25%. increase in training assignments, which would put

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more and more difficult moving, tactical and This condition became the basic form of the psychological tasks in front of the athletes. It is also interval training that I suggest. This training is known that the greatest effect of developing aerobic focussed on the evident increase of the athletes’ capabilities is demonstrated not by long term work of aerobic capabilities. The main tool for the realisation moderate intensity, but by anaerobic work, performed of this task is a table. in the form of short-time repetitions divided by short intervals of rest. Macrocycles Microcycles Microcycles Microcycles Microcycles Microcycles Microcycles 1. (25%) 2. (33.5% 3. (50%) 4. (66%) 5. (75%) 6. (100% n*75m n*75m n*25m n*50m n*25m n*50m (25+50) (50+25) n*50m (12.5+37.5) (12.5+12.5) (37.5+12.5) n*150m n*150m n*75m n*100m n*50m n*100m 1 (50+100) (100+50) n*100m (25+75) (25+25) (75+25) n*300m n*300m n*125m n*200m n*100m n*200m (100+200) (200+100) n*150m (50+150) (50+50) (150+50) n*450m n*450m n*200m Series of short distances in the combined practice successful, too often alcohol use among athletes ends (combination of crawl with the other ways of in tragedy. In 1998 for example, a University of swimming and its coincidence in a given regime). Kentucky football player and another college student 1. The use within six microcycles of combined were killed in a car accident when teammate Jason practice, essentially increases the level of total Watts was driving while legally drunk. endurance and provides the gradual transition Unfortunately, the consequences of alcohol use from the predominant development of aerobic also extend to younger, less visible athletes, to the main development of anaerobic energy particularly to high school athletes who abuse alcohol through chronic overuse or binge drinking (five or supplying mechanisms of the expense of using more drinks at one sitting for men and four or more the mixed aerobic/anaerobic working regimes. for women). Many high school coaches have had an 2. Mastering of the more rigorous regime flows unfortunate amount of experience with team cohesion smoothly. and athletic relationships divided by alcohol use, 3. Within the year cycle it is possible to master resulting, in my estimation, in less-than-optimal two or three (during the three-cycle planning performance due to decreased collegiality and team of the whole year preparation) six week commitment. Others have had to deal with tragedies programs of combined practice. such as automobile accidents and other alcohol- 4. The use of this kind of training work leads to related injuries and deaths. the authentic increase of the swimmers’ In a survey of 215 high school athletic directors in athletic results. North Carolina, 59% reported having personally encountered intoxicated student athletes. They considered alcohol use to be a bigger problem among Alcohol Use in Adolescents: their players than the use of other drugs. The Scope of the Problem and Strategies for A review of alcohol use among high school and Intervention college athletes, as well as the clinical, physiologic, By Thomas L. Schwenk, MD psychosocial, and behavioural effects in these groups, The Physician and Sportsmedicine Vol.28, No.6, June 2000 In Brief: Alcohol use among adolescent athletes is fairly high, but can provide help in assessing the efficacy of the problem is complex. Young athletes may be more likely to education and prevention efforts and provide to team abuse alcohol than their non-athlete peers and more likely to suffer physicians, coaches, and athletic directors practical behavioural and psychosocial consequences as a result of strategies for dealing with individual athletes. drinking. They are also more prone to binge drinking. Education and prevention strategies should focus on behavioural and Prevalence and Patterns of Use psychosocial consequences because athletic performance A search of the literature found only one study typically does not suffer. A change in behaviour is most likely to specifically on alcohol use among high school alert a physician to an alcohol problem, which is best addressed using a direct approach. athletes. However, several over the past 15 years The problem of alcohol use among competitive have looked at alcohol use among large groups of athletes is complex, partly because of their high college athletes. (See “Alcohol and Athletes at a visibility. For years the media have regularly reported Glance: Patterns and Prevention”.) Some findings in incidents involving college and professional athletes the studies of college athletes have important and their use of alcohol. Although some athletes, implications about alcohol use among high school including former Minnesota Vikings lineman Carl athletes. Eller and Golden State Warriors’ Chris Mullins, have In one study that did compare alcohol use among demonstrated that treatment and rehabilitation can be high school athletes with use among non-athletes, 1713 students (541 athletes and 1172 non-athletes)

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completed a 38-item questionnaire. Fifty percent of counterparts. For example, male athletes were more male athletes reported regular use of alcohol (not likely to drive an automobile under the influence of defined) compared with 41% of male non-athletes. alcohol and to ride with a driver who had been No difference in alcohol use was reported between drinking than were male non-athletes or female female athletes and female non-athletes (42%). Eight athletes. percent of male athletes compared with 11% of male In a similar study of lifestyles and health risks of non-athletes reported abstaining from alcohol and collegiate athletes, 2981 students (2298 athletes, 683 73% of male athletes compared with 58% of female non-athletes) at seven institutions completed athletes reported that becoming intoxicated was the confidential survey questionnaires assessing lifestyle goal of consuming alcohol. and health-risk behaviours during the previous year. A similar but smaller study of 146 college Athletes demonstrated significantly higher risk- students in Mississippi (71 athletes and 75 non- taking behaviours than their non-athlete peers. For athletes) found no reported difference in alcohol use example, they were less likely to use seat belts, more among athletes and non-athletes, although athletes likely to ride as a passenger with a driver under the were more likely to believe that alcohol is damaging. influence, and more likely to binge drink. Fifty-eight A significant finding, however, was that male athletes percent of athletes compared with 42% of non- who reported frequent use of alcohol were more athletes reported binge drinking. The behaviour was likely to start drinking at age 12 or younger than were more common among male athletes than among female athletes. female athletes, and more common among Early age of initial use of alcohol was also a participants of contact sports than non-contact sports. finding in a 1989 national survey of alcohol and drug A survey of 14,500 students at 116 universities use among college athletes. In a replication of a 1985 found that 43% of students binged at least once in the study, 2282 varsity athletes participating in any of preceding two weeks. Of the students who drank five men’s and five women’s sports at 11 institutions alcohol, 52% drank to get drunk. completed a written questionnaire. Although alcohol In one of the most methodologically sound studies use remained stable from 1985 to 1989, 80-90% of of binge drinking and tobacco and illicit drug use in participants reported having used alcohol during the college athletes, Wechsler et al surveyed 17,592 preceding 12 months. The percentage of those who students in 140 colleges, using a 20-page had used it varied from sport to sport, with the questionnaire that correlated alcohol use with level of highest use (96%) reported among male tennis involvement in athletic activities. Binge drinking was players. More significantly, 22% of participants reported during the previous two weeks by 61% of reported that they began using alcohol during junior men who were heavily involved in athletics, high school, 12% during freshman year of college compared with 55% who were partly involved and and only 3% during sophomore year of college or 43% who were not involved and 43% who were not later. Compared with historical controls such as the involved at all. The corresponding data for women Monitoring the Future study, alcohol use also were 50% for those heavily involved in athletics appeared about the same for athletes and non- compared with 36% for those with no involvement. athletes. Twenty-five percent of male athletes were drunk These studies indicate that alcohol use among more than twice in the preceding month, compared college athletes is at least as common as it is among with 17% of men uninvolved in athletics. non-athletes, despite acknowledgement by athletes The strongest predictors of binge drinking among that alcohol may be detrimental to their athletic these college athletes were residence in a fraternity or performance and that alcohol use starts early in the sorority, a partying attitude toward school, use of school careers of many athletes. marijuana or cigarettes, and high school binge Associated Risk-Taking Behaviour drinking. In general, athletes smoked less but binged Other studies have compared the risks of more frequently, indicating that athletes make a maladaptive lifestyle and health-risk behaviours, distinction between the known psychosocial harm of including alcohol and substance abuse, among smoking and the less appreciated behavioural, legal, college athletes and their non-athlete peers. Kokotailo academic and psychosocial harm associated with et al assessed differences between gender and athletic binge drinking. status for the following variables, determined by Finally, in a study of 290 college athletes, questionnaire responses of 1046 students (271 participants reported the perception that other college athletes, 775 non-athletes) … physical risk, mental students drank more than survey respondents did, health, alcohol and other drug use and sexual when in fact the intake of other students was less than behaviour. They found that male athletes had a higher or equal to that of respondents. prevalence of risky behaviours than their male non- Together these studies suggest that athletes as a athlete counterparts. In contrast, female athletes had group are more likely to exhibit risk-taking fewer risky behaviours than their male non-athlete behaviour, leading to a high risk of binge drinking, a

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lack of appreciation for the potential harm and cost was $7,200 versus $1,200. These results consequences of their drinking, and perception that exemplify alcohol use resulting in more serious others drink more than they do, which might serve to injury during activities separate from athletic increase their own alcohol intake. performance. Clinical and Physiologic Effects of Alcohol The behavioural and psychosocial harm Studies of acute clinical and physiologic effects of associated with alcohol abuse among athletes was alcohol are limited, particularly compared with the shown in a study of 51,483 students in 125 colleges. studies of long-term effects of excessive intake. Borg Participants completed the Core Alcohol and Drug et al investigated the effect of moderate alcohol Survey, which included questions about involvement consumption on the rating of perceived exertion in athletics, ranging from non-involvement to (RPE) on a cycle ergometer. At the initial intensity of participant to team leadership position. Eighteen of 50W, alcohol induced an increase in heart rate of 8- 19 consequences of drinking were significantly more 10 beats per minute. At higher intensities, heart rate likely for athletes, including driving while drinking, increases were insignificant. Alcohol ingestion did hangovers, nausea and vomiting, impaired academic not significantly change blood pressure, blood performance, fights and arguments, memory loss, and lactate, or RPE. legal problems. Contrary to the notion that team Blomqvist et al found similar results in a study of leaders are more responsible, male team leaders eight healthy men who consumed 150ml (5oz) of consumed more alcohol, binged more often, and hard liquor over 20 minutes and exercised on a cycle suffered more consequences than teammates. ergometer. At submaximal intensities, the men had an Education and Prevention increased VO2 and an increased heart rate that A variety of prevention and education models resulted in increased cardiac output compared with have been suggested to address alcohol abuse in equal workloads before alcohol consumption. adolescents, athletes and non-athletes alike. No one Respiratory function was the same before and after model has significant empirical data to support its alcohol consumption and there were no changes at exclusive use. Alternative approaches might be maximal intensity. effective for different athletes. The negative effects of alcohol use on myocardial Models based on social learning theory support a function, cell death, blood clotting, skeletal muscle team approach to education and prevention that function, testosterone secretion, “holiday heart” involves friends and other individuals, families, small syndrome (cardiac arrhythmia such as atria groups, and communities providing positive and fibrillation), dieresis, and dehydration are well negative reinforcement for avoiding the hazards of described. These effects, however, may not be as drinking. These models also support the use of peers relevant to athletes because they result from chronic in media ads. abuse rather than the binge drinking more typical Cognitive dissonance theory emphasises athletes. The well-known decreases in balance, eliminating incongruence between the adolescents’ judgement, psychomotor response, and coordination attitudes and behaviour regarding alcohol use. associated with drinking may be more relevant to Models based on this theory suggest using oral or athletes if they drink close to the time of practice or written “inoculations” to establish or strengthen competition but are less well understood for alcohol beliefs and attitudes about resisting drinking, which use at other times. may be in conflict with another, more desirable goal. Behavioural and Psychosocial Consequences This may involve making a public commitment or Because the behavioural and psychosocial private contract with friends to abstain from drinking. consequences of alcohol use extend beyond athletic Behavioural intention theory suggests that performance, they are probably more important in attitudes and beliefs predict behaviour. This approach prevention and educational programs than are clinical makes use of data noted above suggesting that and physiological effects. For example, in a case inflated perceptions of alcohol consumption by others control study, Spaite et al compared the severity of may lead to increases in personal intake. bicycle accidents among 29 emergency department The health behaviour approach to education and patients who had detectable blood alcohol (BA) with prevention combines information on the physical, 321 patients who did not. Seven percent of patients psychological, social, and personal risks of alcohol with BA were wearing helmets compared with 34% use into a single program. of patients with no BA. Mean injury severity, Finally, of particular importance in reducing measured with a global Standardised scale, was 10.3 alcohol use among athletes is the need for programs for patients with BA and 3.3 for patients without. to account for the concept of thrill seeking, in which Severe injury occurred in 21% of patients with BA athletes need new and stimulating experiences that compared with 4% without, mean hospital length of can border on the dangerous or excessive, apparently stay was 3.5 days (1.4 days in an intensive care unit for an adrenaline release. Such behaviour correlates [ICU]) versus 0.5 days (0.1 in ICU), and the mean

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with age and sex, with men under the age of 30 physiologic problems. Changes in appearance, forming the largest group. attitude, or behaviour during practice, as well as All of these theories have been incorporated in hostility, violence, legal problems, complaints from various ways into pilot educational programs teammates or coaches, and social isolation from the designed to reduce alcohol use among adolescents. team all may be indicators of alcohol abuse. Most have shown some benefit compared with There is a well-accepted approach to intervention historical controls, although this approach to study that is similar for all alcohol abusers, athletes or not. design is methodologically weak. Some research has The person who confronts the athlete should explain suggested that success can depend as much as the motivation for doing so, describe the problems anything on the name and face recognition and that have been observed, share personal reactions to credibility of the staff responsible for counselling and the observed problems, listen to the athlete’s educating, as well as their visibility at practice, in the explanation (which will almost certainly include locker room, and at events. significant denial and rationalisation), and explain the There are, however, problems with preventive desired behaviours and the potential consequences of approaches taken to date. While prevention efforts non-compliance, being specific about the official educate athletes about the hazards of alcohol use, the sanctions involved. message may be diluted or contradicted in other A simple way to assess the depth of an athlete’s ways. For example, testing programs in NCAA alcohol problem is to ask him or her to compare the Division 1 universities may focus more on drugs such importance of sports involvement to the importance as marijuana, even though most athletic trainers of alcohol. If he or she expresses any hesitation about believe that alcohol is the most abused drug. being able to give up alcohol, even temporarily, or if In addition, educational programs compete alcohol comes close to sport in importance, achieving directly – and often unsuccessfully – with the positive behaviour change will likely be a significant association of sports and alcohol seen in advertising. problem. A study by Slater et al provides an example of the Renewing Prevention Efforts influence of sports imagery on alcohol advertising. A Alcohol use by high school and college athletes sample of 157 white male public school junior and receives little attention compared with the use of senior high students viewed 72 television other illicit drugs and ergogenic agents. Given the advertisements and 24 television excerpts that nature and magnitude of the problem, it deserves highlighted the use of beer or another product, with close attention and intervention where possible by or without sports involvement. The students physicians, trainers, mental health specialists, responded more positively to beer ads with sports coaches, and athletic directors. content than without sports content, as well as to non- beer ads with sports involvement. To think that the Alcohol and Athletes at a Glance: association between alcohol intake and sports is not Patterns and Prevention influenced by alcohol advertising is naïve. The Physician and Sportsmedicine (Vol.28, No.6, June 2000) At least one study has taken a different approach Below is a recap of points made in the text on the to recommendations for education and prevention. nature and magnitude of alcohol use among high The authors recommend creating a closer connection school and college athletes and how best to approach between binge drinking and its consequences by the problem. designing programs to give students responsibility for consequences such as cleaning up vomit, caring for • An increasing number of college athletes and drunken students, repairing damage from vandalism, non-athletes either binge drink or abstain, with and picking up litter. They also recommended that fewer students reporting modest intake. repeat offenders be expelled, that fraternity and • College athletes drink alcohol at least as sorority drinking behaviour be controlled by directly frequently and as intensely as non-athletes, addressing the known problems of alumni influence, with the difference between male athletes and that there be limits on alumni drinking behaviour at non-athletes greater than that between female sporting events, and that alcohol-industry promotions athletes and non-athletes. Athletes in contact and advertising associated with sports be restricted. sports report greater alcohol use. Random or mandatory testing is probably not • Drinking usually starts by high school, often in helpful but deserves further, more controlled study, junior high. with a focus on the nature of follow-up and how • The clinical and physiologic effects of alcohol positive tests are handled. are mostly related to chronic abuse, with Dealing with Alcohol Abuse Athletes who are abusing alcohol generally come minimal evidence of clinical or physiologic to the attention of team physicians, athletic trainers, harm from intermittent use proximate to or coaches because of their behaviour rather than athletic performance. Most harm from alcohol

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use by athletes is behavioural, legal, academic, (b) “Get the speed, keep the speed” – key and social, all of which can lead to sports words eligibility and participation problems. DEVELOPING A MODEL Therefore, education and prevention efforts Need to have a model that follows philosophy should focus on academic, behavioural, legal, 1. Importance social, and sports-participation consequences (a) Know what you are trying to achieve ... of alcohol and avid highlighting of physiologic picture of what you want it to look like effects. ... propulsion • Athletes who drink do not necessarily (b) “Use your eyes, experience, and experience more legal or behavioural intuition” … put your model side by side consequences than other college students who with what the athlete is doing ... drink, but athletes are often more visible, and communicate with the athlete regularly – their problems often lead to highly publicised give feedback often consequences. 2. Long-term Development • Educational and preventive interventions (a) Project athlete into the future ... give should be initiated and led by student-athletes them a mature stroke so that they are and be sport specific. Athletic directors and successful in the future coaches should provide the proper (b) Don’t short-circuit a career ... don’t wait environment, enforcement, and sanctions. for a difficulty to arise before you fix the Random or mandatory testing is probably not stroke ... use the model of a senior helpful but deserves further study. swimmer • Multiple educational approaches to address A MODEL OF TRAINING alcohol may be necessary for various athletes Clear View of Physiological Training because no preferred approach exists. 1. A foundation for success is the long-term development of the aerobic system (a) Important to train through the entire Breaststroke Training spectrum of energy delivery ... pay By Michael Lawrence attention to the endurance system ... (From notes by Coach Laura Matuszak) focus on one system but need the variety This is a copy of Mike Lawrence’s outline with of all systems additional points. (b) A high level of conditioning is needed at GENERAL STROKE PHILOSOPHY each energy category Need to have for each stroke 2. Place high emphasis on biomechanical 1. Breaststroke is a stroke that requires a lot of efficiency coaching ... the hands are very technical ... lots (a) Integration of technique and training is of room for creativity ... inherently inefficient critical with two power phases that need to be well (b) Maintain form through the entire range coordinated ... glide is inefficient of work categories ... be able to hold 2. High, natural body position stroke through all of the energy (a) Natural float, which may be different for categories ... use good technique through each athlete entire practice ... swim the stroke (b) Relaxed tension – muscles ready to technically correct from slow to fast work without working against each other paces … any visible effort is effort that must (c) “Repetition is the mother of all learning” be eliminated (d) Maintain skills through an entire training 3. Create length – longer body means greater session speed 3. Identify stroke – and event-specific needs – (a) Reduced resistance and drag – move build into technical and training needs efficiently (a) Eventually you have to make choices (b) “The 4 H’s” – hands, head, hips, and (b) Plan short-term changes in training and heels … need to be on the surface stroke development into the complete 4. No forced motions – no visible effort developmental plan (a) Constant delivery of energy, force, and 4. Communicate the model to coaches and propulsion athletes (a) Model of training and technique

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(b) Consistency and repetition (e) Hands move forward as quickly as (c) Allow assistants to use personal style to possible … do not force hands out of the deliver model water A TECHNICAL MODEL OF BREASTSTROKE (f) Palms turn down and slide over the Pull for Power … Kick for Speed surface … quickly! 1. General (g) Eyes drop to the surface (a) Anatomy, talent is prerequisite in (h) Squeeze ears with the biceps Breaststroke … ability and flexibility to (i) Heels lift to the surface to start kick do kick 6. Kick (b) Identify the strengths and weaknesses of (a) Legs stay inside the profile of the body each athlete … upper and lower body throughout the stroke propulsion … athletes are not machines (b) Heels lift as face comes out of water – there is a difference between technique (c) Use the instep to hold water … narrow and style kick (c) Pursue efficiency … global picture – (d) Push heels backward constant propulsion … no loss of (e) Bring soles of feet together … Rocque propulsion … no Gliding, no extra up Santos and down motion … no exaggeration of 7. Critical aspects to coach – no lifting of water movement … stay in alignment with on the back of body at the surface proper body position (a) Face down starting position … look at 2. Body Position the bottom of the pool (a) Natural float – 4 H’s (b) Straight elbow press … hold onto water (b) Eyes down (c) Flex wrist at the widest point of the (c) “Turtle shell” back – rounded back for press good water flow (d) Speed through the recovery … move (d) Shoulders to the ears hands quickly and bring shoulders to (e) Point toes ears (f) Squeeze butt (e) Soles together to finish the kick … 3. Press – propulsive! drives body through recovery (a) Palms move outward as wide as possible 8. Trouble-shooting … cue – “Try to touch lane lines” (a) Watch the shoulders from the side of the (b) Elbows remain straight throughout press pool looking for up and forward motions … if bent, lose body position versus up and down movements … use (c) Forearms stay on the surface lane lines for measure (d) Hands have slight pitch (b) Watch elbows and wrists, especially (e) Wrist flexes at the widest point of the during heavy training and taper … for press … to grab water slippage … hold elbows all the way (f) Face remains in the water looking down through workout (g) Legs trail the body inside the width of (c) Watch the finish of the kick … knees are the hips at the surface secondary 4. Scoop – hand acceleration is constant (d) Watch the flow of water on the back … (a) Fingertips initiate scoop – wrist not no lift in the water … flow of water elbows toward feet (b) Use hands as paddles (e) Learn the rhythm and stroke rate of the (c) Press fingertips down athlete (exact or intuitive) … know what (d) Keep elbows at the surface athlete looks like when swimming well (e) Maintain pressure on the water (attack!) INTEGRATING TRAINING & TECHNICAL (f) Carry water to the face MODELS WITH HIGH PERFORMANCE 5. Recovery – non-propulsive SWIMMERS (a) Hands accelerate to the surface 1. General training considerations (b) Natural Lifting of the face to breathe … (a) Breaststroke takes great endurance do not bend neck because so inefficient (c) Eyes look forward and down (b) The body must be very strong in order to (d) Pull shoulders forward to ears do endurance training … foundation of training … base for high performance

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(c) Individual motor qualities develop 25’s kick all out – 4 are Breaststroke, 4 unevenly … be patient … may take are arms for limb speed (Volkers) years to learn specific skills … always 6. Rhythm in teaching and training strive for perfection (a) Think Butterfly – swim Breaststroke … 2. Special strengths needed for Breaststroke pull for power – kick for speed (a) Upper body strength and aerobic power (b) Use fins with and without paddles … critical … a lot of pulling – be (c) Fins and paddles … special paddles that judicious with paddles to avoid injury … facilitate correct pull argument that cannot have strength 7. Training Plan – no huge training breaks without weights – Mike Lawrence (a) Aerobic Preparation (3 weeks) 3-5,000 believes that strength develops in the yards … joint preparation … technique water through a long period of time … in all strokes pulling as set or as set-up set (b) Endurance (6 weeks) 5-8,000 yards (b) Lung capacity – have to minimise “up” 2-week stair-step cycles … 3 weeks time in order to minimise resistance … aerobic evaluation … threshold have to work on it … underwater development – integrate technique training Increase % stroke training through each (c) Stable knee joints week throughout entire cycle (d) Core body strengths Build to 40% kicking 3. Training markers – Breaststroke … keep track Approximately 40% aerobic work is of results pulling (a) Endurance … Lots of dolphin drilling and kicking 10x300 @ 20s.r. best effort Drill, kick, pull Breaststroke 10x100 Step Test for energy changes (c) Maximum endurance (9 weeks (b) Anaerobic … endurance, 3 weeks endurance/speed) … 10x100 @ 3:00 maximum effort, not cycle calendar … three-week endurance getting slower cycles … three-week endurance/speed 6x200 @ 10:00 cycle 3x400 @ 12:00 broken (d) Quality (6 weeks) … two 3-week cycles 400 under and above water + 8x50 race (e) Race preparation (3 weeks) pace @ 1:15 (f) Rest/Race (c) Speed … 8. Kristin MacGregor (1996-1998) … training 6x25 @ 2:00 maximum effort program after extended break from training 8x50 @ 2:00, 1-6 are all out kick, 7&8 Questions: are all out swim 1. Mike Lawrence believes in eliminating the (d) Kick … glide in Breaststroke. 6x50 @ 1:30 keep track of time and 2. Does not believe in pull buoy in Breaststroke seconds rest because it promotes poor body position. 12x100, 1-10 very hard, 11 easy, 12 for 3. Does some vertical Breaststroke kick, some time – try to get close to event time tubed and weighted kick as well. 4. Kick 4. Believes in focusing on the hand to affect (a) Develop core body strength … link elbow position. between upper and lower body (b) Dryland (c) Butterfly kick, especially on back Thinking to Swim Faster (d) Fins An editorial by John Leonard 5. Breaststroke Kick It has been said that the hardest thing any human (a) Long aerobic … 6x200 … 3x400 being has to accomplish is to sit down and think. (b) Short threshold … 12-20x100 If that is so, then the second hardest thing must be (c) Speed … to think and not come to some resolution. Specific because speed critical When I was younger, it seems to me that I thought Timed 25’s a great deal more than I do today. My internal excuse Bicycle kicking drill with board (David is that today I have less “free time” and a heavier Salo) “schedule” than I have ever had before in my life. In

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truth, it is possible that I think less because it is more Our population of male swimmers is dangerously painful now to think than it was when I was younger. low and our talent level (which does appear to be a Why “painful”? Because the things I have to think cyclical thing) is perhaps the lowest it has ever been. about now have much less clear and fewer obvious Young boys are finding other sports and other solutions. I don’t like the ambiguity and I don’t like entertainment more attractive than participation on a investing mental time in something that will be swim team. We are becoming a women’s sport in the “unproductive”. Why is that? I’m not sure, but there USA. The reasons are many – but this contributes is a John Mellencamp song that talks about the man mightily to our decline. “with more days behind the cart than are left in front Our production levels of National Age Groups of the horse”. As I age, every hour of my life assumes Records are declining. I will explain in a later a greater urgency to spend my time well. I don’t editorial why I think this is a major problem and I know if others in our ageing population experience know others will disagree. Good. In my view, this this phenomenon, but I feel it daily. I have increasing directly impacts our senior levels of performance. unhappiness with wasted effort … even mental effort. Next, just look at the numbers. Our physical time All of which is a long introduction to my topic improvement has slowed in all but the sprint events. today. I would like to offer, in this editorial and in the American Freestyle is not competitive at the world three months to come, some concepts that will relate level. Read that again. It’s a shocker. Not just to how the USA can swim faster. They will not be Distance Freestyle, but Freestyle. Another number about biomechanics – not about physiology – not which we don’t have the information on yet (but we about sociology … but instead, how we could be will with the new USA Swimming Individual ID thinking about improving our performance. number in a couple of years) but American Club Back in the 70’s, I told my swimmers something swimming, our backbone, is in decline relative to the that was more profound than I knew. I said, “You competition, as measured by market share of won’t go anywhere unless your head goes there American youth. Or make it simple and just ask a few first”. I was trying to remind and encourage them experienced club coaches. Club swimming is in that it is necessary to think, to dream, to plan to get to trouble. a goal, and that their mind must be comfortable with Now, because we have half the swimmers on the and believe in that goal before they could achieve it. earth, and well over half the pools and coaches, we Now Mr Boomer has taught us that that is physically will probably do “OK” for a long time. It will be a true as well as psychologically. long gradual decline – not a sudden disaster. Our One place that our head must go is to recognise volume of production “softens the fall”. One of the that American Swimming needs some profound key impediments to change in human society is fear changes if we are to achieve new heights of of loss. The temptation is great to say, “we’re doing achievement. This has two components for OK and maybe if we change, we’ll not do as well”. consideration. First, American Swimming at the Any salesman will tell you that fear of loss is a moment is in a decline. That is hard to type, hard to greater motivator than opportunity for gain. We have say, and very hard to swallow. But it is necessary to feared radical change because “we’re doing OK”. understand the truth of that if we are to stop the Others have made radical change because they were decline, reverse it and reach new heights. not “doing OK”. Ask our Australian friends. Radical How can we measure that decline? One of the change came once they could no longer fool most significant ways is in a chart done by Dennis themselves by thinking they were “doing OK”. This Pursley and his staff that shows the remarkable lack is not just swimming – this is the process for change of production and decline in production of world in every area of human endeavour. We must go uphill records by the USA over the past 15 years. We have against this trend and create change BEFORE we hit stopped raising the bar for the world. This is not a bottom. cyclical thing … it is an absolute and straight-line We must measure ourselves against our potential, decline. Some will want to argue “but the world not against our previous performance. When we do records have gotten tougher”. Of course, but a world that we realise immediately that we are well below record in 1999 is the same degree of difficulty to the point of “doing OK”. No one likes to hear or obtain as a world record in 1970, to the swimmers of accept bad news. If you don’t look the bad news in those relative eras, with their incumbent limitations the eye, and tackle it, it will just get worse. The road and advantages. The USA is no longer producing upward begins with focusing our eyes in that world records in traditional events. (Not counting the direction. “Our head has to go there first.” If you new Short Course metres events, etc.) Our rivals need an example, witness the peak of Australian continue to produce world records. swimming in 1956, the long slow decline into the

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70’s and early 80’s and the fact that in 1999 they 2. Doing the same old thing and expecting have the strongest men’s team in the world. They hit different results is a good definition of bottom, reached consensus on the need for radical insanity. change and created it. Let’s not have the USA wait to We know this. In effect, we tell our swimmers a hit bottom. variant on this every day. So let’s take our own If we are to reach for greatness, we must first coaching advice. We need different behaviours to recognise and form some consensus that we are in enact effective solutions. I applaud the idea of trouble. Until we recognise the severity of the changing the “Spring Nationals” to a Club situation we will not be motivated to provide the Championship. It’s radical. It may be good. It may radical change necessary to move upward. We must not be good … but it’s a real change … and Spring stop making apologies for our performance, stop Nationals was not working – not contributing to our tinkering, stop putting Band-Aids on gaping wounds, program. The Senior USA Swimming Committee and do some thinking and then act in ways to create went out on a limb and ditched it. Good move. Let’s change in our performance. expand that type of thinking to a wider array of Now, here are some ideas on the thinking process. problems we face. Richard Quick likes to start 1. Let’s disagree. meetings with the idea “what will we do today to Our entire nation has become uncomfortable with help our athletes?” Good idea. Let’s add … “what debate. We confuse intellectual disagreement with will we do today to consider radical change?” Let’s personalities being opposed to “us”. Reasonable not tinker unless, after full debate, we decide that people can disagree. We need to disagree with only tinkering is needed. The bigger the problem, the vehemence. But we must re-learn to disagree without more radical the thinking that is needed to produce being disagreeable to each other. We need to argue solutions. with heart, soul and mind – then put our arms around 3. We need some clear national goals that each other and “go have lunch”. Then come back excite us … motivate us … unite us. after lunch and do it again. If we agree that we are in decline, how do we With no specific personal criticism, USA arrest the slide, reverse it and climb higher than we Swimming Committees operate far too often with the have ever been? First, we recognise that people are idea that everyone in the room has to leave the room motivated by emotionally involving goals. We must happy. That is the way we compromise ourselves into dream The Big Dream. complete mediocrity. If we accept the most What is that big dream? In the swimming acceptable solution to everyone, the chances of our performance side of our sport, “Perfect” would be to having made the BEST choice for swimming is have the USA hold every world record, win every greatly reduced. We need to passionately argue for Olympic Gold Medal. In 1976, the USA Men came the strong solutions that will help us. Some will within one gold medal of winning them all. Doc disagree. They will disagree loyally and recognise Counsilman, Coach of that Men’s team, joked that that in a democracy the majority will carry the day. they were “just leaving a goal for the future USA The majority must value, indeed treasure, the teams to meet”. contributions of the minority. For it is that minority, All the realists out there will say, “That’s expressing the devil’s advocate position, that make us impossible. World swimming has evolved. Good think, make us test our ideas and our assumptions. swimmers will come from all countries. It’s an The losing side plays a critical role in the creation of impossible goal.” any new idea. To that I will say, we have the world’s largest People sitting quietly with no expression of middle class population. We have half the disagreement, or worse, lukewarm support, do not aid competitive swimmers in the world. We have the the good decision-making process. Not everyone greatest collection of creative, unrestrained coaching should leave a meeting happy. But all should leave minds in the world. We have the greatest widespread having had full opportunity to express themselves aquatic facilities in the world. Why is it impossible? and make all of us think. It is difficult – it is a challenge – and it is daunting. Disagreement is good. Let’s debate. May the best But it is possible and it signifies perfection in the ideas triumph, not the idea that is most acceptable to elite performance side of our sport. We should reach the most people. But don’t confuse disagreement for it, plan for it, develop systems that will produce it. with dislike. Everyone expressing strong opinions is We need to aim high. We are the greatest swimming trying to make us better in swimming. team (by performance record) in the history of the planet. And we are in decline.

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Let’s reverse it. Let’s aim at the very top. Let’s 2. When horizontal, we feel like we are think about how to get there. sinking “The USA owns every world swimming record 3. We put our energy into not sinking and wins every Olympic Gold Medal.” Sounds good 4. Sinking horizontal = swimming doesn’t it? Imagine it – plan for it – and work to it. 5. When swimming well, about 95% of the And if you disagree, argue with me, please. I’ll body is in the water, depending on enjoy it and welcome it. buoyancy In the next months, I’ll offer some radical B. Use the core of the body to swim 1. Do not use the hand as a lever to balance thoughts on how to get there. My hope is that they 2. The hand should be a weightless will cause debate. extension of the bodyline 3. Glide and travel on side, even without (Reproduced from American Swimming Magazine the kick Volume 2000 Issue #5 4. Link the arm and the hip in effortless TEACHING CONCEPTS OF BALANCE TO propulsion AGE GROUP SWIMMERS C. Unbalanced swimming By Terry Laughlin and Glen Mills 1. Using arms for leverage Philosophical background for Terry Laughlin’s 2. Use legs for leverage approach to swimming 3. No flow with the legs A. Teaching swimming versus coaching 4. Bubbles with the hands because using swimming the hands for leverage B. Tools for swimming efficiently 5. The hips should follow the hands, and C. Teaching kids versus teaching adults at the should not support the chest Total Immersion Camps 6. Need to balance on the side 1. Kids don’t listen but do the techniques 7. Most people are unbalanced very well a) Often during breathing 2. Adults listen very well but have a hard b) Some have learned to compensate time doing the techniques well and hide their unbalanced body D. Working with people’s abilities to acquire position swimming skills D. Must commit to train without struggling skills! E. Glen Mills – coach and motivate to work hard, 1. 100% right = 100% right but must also be able to teach and 2. 99% right = 100% wrong communicate E. Start simple so that swimmers can be fluent Teaching Balance and controlled A. World-class swimmers with sustained success F. Start with head position, then hand-lead drills. swim with beauty and flow G. Move from static to active drills B. The reducible element in quality swimming is Drills Progression for Long Axis Strokes the ability to swim with beauty and flow A. Start on the back (so that swimmers do not C. What part of world-class swimming can the have to worry about breathing) coach convey to any swimmers, regardless of 1. Let the swimmers experience stillness, their ability level balance, and stability D. The key element is BALANCE 2. Hide the head 1. Simple to teach, difficult to understand 3. Head in line with the spine 2. How does a swimmer remain fluent 4. Lean on the upper back when swimming fast? a) Dry thigh as kick E. World-class athletes must have a natural feel b) Arms do nothing for balance B. Prone position 1. Only 2% are balanced 1. Head down, looking at the bottom 2. If swimmers are not balanced, they 2. A sliver of the back of the head is above cannot swim to their full potential the water F. Most world-class swimmers have great stroke 3. Lead with the top of the head length and great fluency 4. Chest press until the suit barely shows G. Water penalises uncontrolled motion above the water H. Water rewards control and fluid motion 5. Back rocks gently, not locked Principles of Balance in the Water 6. When breathing, balance is gone A. When swimming, the body is horizontal in the 7. Gentle and quiet kicking water C. Sweet spot, balanced on side 1. Not a natural body position. 1. Everyone has a different sweet spot

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2. Practice balance 2. Focus on pushing from the crown of the 3. Do not use arms head forward 4. Show top arm, shoulders to knuckles out 3. Not too high and not too low — the back of water of the head should be just under the 5. Long body line surface of the water D. Active balance with face up then face down 4. Release the chin forward 1. From face out to hide the head 5. Breathe in rhythm 2. Either lean in more or lean back more to a) Breathe by looking down at the find sweet spot surface 3. Cue swimmers as they are drilling 6. Shallow kicking and driving body a) Fit through the smallest space in forward the water 7. Don’t use the hands b) Feel tall in the water a) No streamline because it pushes E. Hand-lead Drills (after one has learned balance the body too deep and head lead drills) b) Do not use the hands to support 1. Weightless arm floats up the body 2. Lengthening the vessel 8. Lengthen and tie the body together 3. Always start the drill progression with 9. Minimize up and down movement head lead drills a) All of the energy should move the a) In every practice start with head body forward lead drills before progress b) It is hard for all body types to 4. Lengthen arm to narrow the gap copy Olympic strokes between the back of the head and the H. Teach the technique before you train the body arm without straining so that the athlete has unlimited potential 5. Long and balanced needle fitting Questions and Answers through the smallest hole 1. What about goal oriented swimmers who want to F. Nose up, nose down win? 1. Rehearse the glide If you teach the technique, the medals will come. 2. Good balance is when the hand is in line Coaches must commit to technique on a daily, with the head monthly, and yearly basis. Be creative! Have a 3. If the hand is below the head, then the technique meet and reward the swimmers for great swimmer is unbalanced technique with medals and ribbons. 4. Freestyle kick = nose down 2. How do you feel about breathing to the side for 5. Backstroke kick = nose up butterfly? G. All other skills relate out of these drills It is a matter of personal preference. 1. Bilateral skills 2. Stretching and reaching without strain Coaching Males from a Small Town 3. Use hands as the leading edges By Peter Motekaitis 4. When teaching the younger swimmers, Introduction they often get water up the nose A. This is Peter Motekaitis’ perspective a) Teach them to have fun with it 1. Recruit b) Teach them to smile while 2. Keep the kids on the team swimming 3. Worry about their performance later 5. Do the drills as slow as possible without B. City of Davis leveraging with the legs 1. Swimming gets a lot of competition Principles of Balance in Short Axis Strokes from other sports A. It is natural to have the hips down and the C. Read Chuck Warner’s book “Four Champions, chest up One Gold Medal” B. Should press and release with the chest, like a 1. Could you coach Bobby Hackett? whip 2. Could you coach an ADHD kid? C. Initiate short axis swimming with the chest Three Phases of Male Development in Swimming D. Do not kick, rather, whip the body A. Entry Level (6-10 years of age) E. Use fins if necessary 1. Hook them while you can F. Do the drills easily and gently 2. Establish bonding G. Do not lead with the head or the nose 3. Be an expert 1. Relax the chin and feel the body going 4. If you make mom happy you’ll hook the forward kid 5. Expert bulletin boards – lots of articles

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6. Fun games – like video games, triathlon 4. Let them know when you have real 7. Move on to the next skill when everyone problems and if professional help is does it well needed 8. Olympic Party 5. When do you tell them to cut the cord? 9. Older athletes come to practice a) NEVER occasionally to help out b) Do not interfere with the family 10. Work hard for the hyper boys dynamics 11. Engage the swimmers c) Have a “meeting of the minds” 12. The problem with the loss of guys is a d) We are not family therapists coaching problem C. Mix kids up B. 11-14 year old age group 1. Let the boys swim with their buddies all 1. Some are in puberty and some are not of the time 2. Body image issues – WWF sets 2. Let the kids stay together inhuman and supernatural ideals 3. Train to the strong and teach to the weak 3. No flexibility training to avoid being too 4. No assigned lanes lax 5. Keep the practices and lanes fluid 4. Encourage them to have the courage to D. Boys – self image when being beaten by the stand apart girls 5. Use the term “athletes” versus 1. Let them know that a talented athlete is “swimmers” beating them and that sex has nothing to 6. Stay positive do with it 7. Nicknames 2. Worry about yourself 8. Peter quotes: “Be fanatically 3. Reward effort and attitude compulsive,” “Be erratically macho” 4. Label as athletes and good people C. Teen Years 5. Girls and boys have identical 1. Team is the most important part opportunities, so the boys may never 2. Be the best … avoid the A- syndrome beat the girls 3. Expand the team 4. Give the athletes opportunities Our Own Best Selves Turned Inside Out 5. Work potential – do more than others What Coaches and Athletes Model for the World 6. Older swimmers come to work with the By Timothy F. Welsh, The University of Notre Dame younger swimmers Coaches and athletes have a secret. Coaches and 7. PLAY! … Everyone plays and everyone athletes share a special knowledge and understanding plays hard a) Add extra balls and Frisbees to of the world that is not common outside of the games athletic world. This knowledge comes directly from 8. Coach the entire person – make them their athletic experience, but even though this well-rounded people knowledge seems simple and obvious, it is seldom 9. Challenge the men and love the women articulated. The knowledge and the understanding a) 80% positive that coaches and athletes share, however, is often 10. When men do talk it’s deep stuff so profound and can extend beyond athletics and into listen carefully life. This shared understanding also helps to explain a) Talk better when walking, why coaches and athletes can be admired by our driving, in action culture, and can be identified as both heroes and b) Less eye contact (Charles Barkley not withstanding) role models. 11. Do-do-do perfection later What follows is a reflection on six qualities that Discussion coaches and athletes know, understand, and perhaps A. Teenagers with attitude can, at least by modelling them, teach the world. I 1. Try to council with them one-on-one was reflecting on these qualities early in August, 2. Separate problem athletes when, for eight days in Indianapolis (August 9-16), I 3. Choose one athlete to work with at a watched over 1300 swimmers compete for a time maximum of 52 spots (26 each for men and women) 4. Get them to focus on the team on the United States Olympic Swimming Team for B. Testosterone rage that scares mom 1. Rough transition time the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia. The event was 2. Tell mom about the positive things that titled the “U.S. Olympic Team Trials” in Swimming. the man is doing in swimming As it has always been the process of selecting the 3. Moms are jealous U.S. Olympic Swimming Team is formal,

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unforgiving, rewarding, and somewhat brutal. It is a The question again is … “why?” Why do athletes trial-by-competition in every sense of the word. and coaches keep doing this? Why do we choose to The Trials worked in this way. For each of the 26 admire some of them because they do it? What things events (13 each for men and for women), a field of do athletes and coaches know that the rest of the 80 to over 110 swimmers had qualified to compete. world might want to learn? What do athletes and On the morning of the Trials for each event, the field coaches model for us? What might they have to teach was separated into heats of eight people in a heat. the world? After all the heats raced once, the full field was I watched the Trials thinking about these immediately cut to a semi-final field of 16 questions. The following six answers came to mind – competitors. all simple, all clear, all obvious, all central to These 16 raced again in the semi-finals that night, athletics, all (to my mind) profound, but none spoken after which, the field was immediately cut again to a of very often when the outside world speaks of the final field of eight. In races of 400 metres and longer, athletic one. Here they are. there was no semi-final heat. The preliminary field 1. Coaches and Athletes live, work, and compete was immediately cut to the top eight who swam in in a world where people put forth their best the Finals, either on the same night, or on the effort every day. following night. Once the final field of eight was Whether it is in training or in competition, athletes selected, they raced again in the finals, with the top and coaches give their best efforts to their sports two finishers “making” the Olympic Team. (In the every day. Nothing else is thinkable. A half-hearted 100 and 200 metre Freestyle events, because of the game is just that … a half-hearted game. It is not 400 and 800 metre relays, up to six swimmers in each athletic competition. Even the word “competition” event “make” the team) means “striving together” … striving together to be at That is all there is to it. Making the US Olympic our best. This is where the idea of a worthy opponent Swimming Team is as simple, as clean, as formal, as comes from. Who is my most worthy opponent? With exciting, and as harsh as that. Only what happens at whom am I most evenly matched all of the time? the Trials matters. No one, not even a World Record Why, with myself, of course. Even in practice, even holder, comes into the Trials with a guaranteed place when practicing alone, athletes are constantly striving on the team. Even the Olympic Coaches, except for with themselves to be at their best. Coach or athlete, the Head Coach who is chosen in advance, are it is the same. One’s very best effort is what is called selected from the Trials, based to a very large extent for is what is necessary and is what is assumed to be on how many swimmers they “put” (an interesting present in every athletic endeavour. Nothing insults a choice of words) on the Olympic Team. coach or an athlete more than accusing them of not As I watched race after race take place at the putting forth their best effort. Trials, I began to wonder “Why?” “Why do they all 2. Coaches and athletes are constantly striving to do it?” Surely, it does not require a field of 80 to 100 improve their previous best. people to select two or even six for the Olympic Simply put, practice and training are simply about Team. Surely, athletes coming to the Trials must be getting better. That’s it, and that is constantly it. aware of what their “chances” are for making the Again, nothing else is thinkable. Ask any athlete or Olympic Team. Yet ... still they come, and still they any coach in any sport the question; “what are you train, hundreds of them, and hundreds of coaches, all doing in practice today?” The answer will always be training, for hundreds of days, and hundreds upon … “trying to improve” in this or that specific area. hundreds of hours, and thousands upon thousands of When athletes practice or coaches run a practice training miles... all to be prepared to put forth a without trying to improve, they are just fooling lifetime best performance at the US Olympic around. That doesn’t mean that all practices have to Swimming Team Trials. be hard. A “recovery” practice can have as its Swimming is not unique in this regard. All over objective improving energy stores for tomorrow, for the country, in all kinds of sports, athletes and example. coaches are constantly training and preparing for When carried out to a possible conclusion, this practice and for competition at every imaginable idea of constantly seeking improvement can make it level and at every imaginable age. And – as it was at possible to see in athletes “our own best selves turned the Olympic Swimming Trials – the numbers of inside out” … because as this thought goes, athletes athletes and coaches involved are always much, are constantly striving, with their bodies (as our own much larger than the number who can or do advance best selves do with our souls) to be just ... a ... little ... to the next level, or who go on to stardom, or to the bit ... better. Their coaches, who do the teaching, the Olympics, or beyond. guiding, and the training are like Spiritual Directors

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turned inside out, guiding their bodies (instead of That is the only performance that is meaningful their souls) to their highest possible level. within the athletic world. 3. Coaches and athletes live in a world which As an aside, it might also be worth noting that one teaches, respects, honours, demands and of the reasons coaches and athletes are so morally rewards hard work. outraged by drugs and artificial performance Hard work is the way athletic achievement is enhancement in sports is that these things violate the accomplished. As it is in the martial arts, where the sacred sense of fair play. Drugs and performance saying is that the Master is the one who spends 10 enhancers do not change the rules of the game. They more minutes on the mat, so it is in all of athletics. change the performers into something other than Hard work is essential for continued and lasting normally human and that is outrageous and offensive success. All of training, and all of fitness are built on to an athletic world built on fair play. the principles of work-rest, and progressive overload. 5. Coaches and athletes are masters of living in The way to improve from one level of fitness to the the present moment. next is by working harder. There is no substitute. It is as simple as this. Yesterday’s game is not There is no shortcut. Hard work is the way it today’s game. Neither is yesterday’s practice today’s happens. Even in skill dominated (as opposed to practice. It is not even true that yesterday’s practice is fitness dominated) sports, hard work is still the key to today’s game. Only today’s event, whatever it is, achievement and to improvement. The skills to be practice or game, is today’s event. Everything from perfected only get perfected by “working on them”. yesterday can be brought into today’s event, as No matter how much talent a person has been born or background, as experience, as preparation. And blessed with, talent alone is not sufficient for everything from today’s event can be brought to continued and sustained success. Hard work is tomorrow’s event as well. But ... in no way can always necessary. Sports science exists to determine today’s event be shaped to fit yesterday’s, or can exactly what kind and how much hard work is tomorrow’s be shaped to fit today’s. That kind of required, and when. Within the athletic world, control does not exist in athletics. Today’s event must coaches and athletes reserve their strongest words, be lived, coached, played ... as it happens today. their harshest criticism, and their least sympathy for Today’s event is all and everything that there is those who have been given talent, but who do not today. Coaches and athletes are masters at learning to work hard to develop it. give themselves fully to the event that is happening 4. Coaches and athletes live, work, and compete right now, without trying to replay yesterday or pre- in a world that is defined by “Fair Play”. play tomorrow. Just play today’s game today. Some In short, the rules of the game are what the game people call this “on site commitment”, others call it is about. Not playing by them isn’t just “unfair” or “focusing on the task at hand”. Whatever it is called, even “unthinkable”. In the athletic world, not playing coaches and athletes are masters at focusing, energy, by the rules makes no sense whatsoever. It is attention, emotion and action on the actual event they nonsense because it is not comprehensible. When are involved in at the moment. swimmers race 100 metres, they race 100 metres. As masters of living in the present, coaches and That is the race. And, that is the race all over the athletes are also masters at recognising the difference country and all over the world. In the swimming between performance in practice and performance in world, it “makes sense” to race 100 metres. But, to competition. In swimming, for example, there is a race, say, 98 metres or 103 metres and to “call it” 100 beauty to fast practices and there is a beauty to fast metres makes no sense at all to people in the sport. meets and they are not the same beauty. Similar Fair play says that everyone who races 100 metres distinctions exist for other sports. Coaches and races the same distance. Not more. Not less. To use athletes are skilled at recognising and (hopefully) other examples, who cares what a person’s 49-yard creating both kinds of beauty. However, because the dash time is? The race is 50 yards. Or who cares how two kinds of beauty are not the same, a beautiful many points are scored on a 9-foot basket, or an 80- practice never guarantees a beautiful competition. No yard football field? Whatever these things are (and matter how fast the practices have been, the pool they all might be fun), they are not “the game” as the never “owes” a swimmer a fast race. No game ever athletic world defines it. They are something else. owes any athlete or any team a great performance, no The “real game” is the same, always, everywhere. matter how good the practices have been. Why? That is both the beauty and the challenge of the Because today’s game (race, event) is not yesterday’s game. Every coach and every athlete knows it. The or the day before’s, or even tomorrow’s … it is integrity of an athletic performance demands that it simple and just that tough. be done fairly and according to the rules of the game.

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6. Coaches and athletes know that Peak are together do not always find it easy or natural or Performances are not permanent. possible to live by them in other areas of their lives as The “zone”, as it is often called, does exist. students, for example, or teachers, or workers, or Coaches and athletes who follow answers one businessmen. For this reason athletes and coaches do through five listed here can and frequently do reach not always make ideal role models outside their sport. the “zone”. Reaching the zone can happen in both Imperfections plague us all. But so do hope, and so practice and in competition. Performances when in do dreams, and so one can imagine that the secrets the “zone” are at an absolute peak level, and the shared by coaches and athletes in athletics can, and performances are accompanied by internal calmness one day will, be shared by everyone everywhere. and high energy levels. But no one lives in the “zone” permanently. All athletes and all coaches return to TESTING IN PRACTICAL COACHING “normal” again after the peak experience. And after SITUATIONS they return, they start over – with the best effort, the By Coach Len Sterlin, BA, ASCA International improvement, the hard work, the fair play, the living Distinguished Coach (New Zealand) in the present ... until, perhaps, at some future time, The following material is based on research they may enter the zone again. conducted in Russia. Want to know where to find a swimmer this Successful swimming training is impossible morning who set an American Record at the US without accurate monitoring of an athlete’s physical Olympic Team Trials last night? Go look in the condition and the rational setting of tests is an training pool. The swimmer will be there, probably important condition for monitoring and controlling doing some skill drills, and working to refine and the training process. improve some fundamental skills. Last night’s race is Testing is used to… over. The memory remains, and so, for a time, will • Assess various athletes’ abilities the emotion. The performance, however, is gone. • Monitor changes in physical shape as season Want to repeat it? Want to improve on it? Then, go progresses and back to the beginning ... refresh the skills ... rebuild • Evaluate coaching methods and the training plan the fitness ... refocus the energy ... re-establish the Tests should… commitment to the next race ... and return to the • Objectively reflect abilities and skills for which starting block, prepared, but with no guarantee of the evaluation they are being used outcome, to race again. At the end of the US Olympic • Be understood by athletes Swimming Team Trials in Indianapolis on August • Be naturally put in training practice 16, 2000, a total of 24 women and 24 men had • Be simple to use without consuming significant qualified for the US Olympic Team. They will race time nor interrupting the training process again in Sydney, Australia, beginning on September • Not involve expensive equipment 16th. Want to know what they are doing in the month The following testing procedures do not require between the Olympic Trials and the Olympic Games? complicated equipment and can be used in ordinary They are back in the pool, doing exactly the things swimming clubs. they did in training, to prepare for the Trials. To Assessment of the Speed (Sprinting) Ability those who meditate, the mystics put it this way … 25m Freestyle swimming from starting block – “What does one do before enlightenment? Chop V25max: for precision purposes this should be tested wood. Carry water. What does one do after over 3x25m with resting time one minute followed enlightenment? Chop wood. Carry water.” That is by calculating the velocities of the three swims. Then what the Olympic Team is doing between the Trials calculate an average absolute velocity (V25max) in and the Games. And what of the 1259 athletes who in/sec as the mean of the three velocities. qualified for the Olympic Trials but who did not Assessment of Special Endurance qualify for the Olympic Team? After a short break, 1. Determination of special endurance from most of them will return to the pool too, and will competition results begin again at the beginning ... Chop wood, Carry Special Endurance Index (SEI) = Vrace/V25max water. Athletics is like that – and all coaches and all Vrace – velocity in the racing distance, m/sec athletes know it. V25max – absolute velocity in the test “3x25m Such are the secrets that coaches and athletes freestyle from the starting block”, m/sec Higher SEI share. As obvious, as simple, and as clear as they are, indicates higher level of the special endurance. they are not always common to other ways of life. 2. Determination of special endurance during routine Even the same coaches and the same athletes who training conditions live by these principles in their sport and when they

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For the purpose of the current monitoring of Higher EI indicates higher level of the aerobic swimmers it is recommended to gain the Vrace from capacity. the following testing protocols, which simulate racing Testing protocol 1: 1000m at full speed conditions. Endurance Index (EI) = V1000/V25max 100m Freestyle specialisation Testing protocol 2: 1) 75m at full speed or 10x50m at full speed and resting time 30sec 2) 4x50m at full speed and resting time 10sec between each repeat 200m Freestyle specialisation Endurance Index (EI) = V10x50/V25max 1) 4x50m at full speed and resting time 10sec or V10x50 is calculated as the mean of each swim’s 2) 6x50m at full speed and resting time 10sec velocities. This test indicates the swimmer’s ability to 400m Freestyle specialisation recover quickly after workload. 1) 8x50m at full speed and resting time 10sec or Assessment of Swimming Strength Abilities 2) 4x100m at full speed and resting time 10sec 1. Strength endurance: 800/1500m Freestyle specialisation Athlete executes tethered swimming applying 1) 1000m at full speed or maximum force to the scale for a period of 10-15 2) 10x50m at full speed and resting time 30 sec seconds. Vrace is calculated as the mean of each swim’s The force measured from 3rd to 8th seconds of velocities. Velocities for Backstroke, Breaststroke pulling is considered the maximum force – Fmax. and Butterfly can be converted from the Freestyle The cord used for this measurement consists of swimming as follows… two parts: (1) 3m long non-stretched cord fixed V100/200m Backstroke (Male) = V100/200 between the scale and poolside, and (2) 2m long Freestyle x 1.1249* V100/200m Backstroke (Female) stretch cord fixed between the scale and swimmer’s = V100/200 Freestyle x 1.1156* V100/200m waist. Breaststroke (Male) = V100/200 Freestyle x 1.2576* The athlete then executes tethered swimming test V100/200m Breaststroke (Female) V100/200 applying maximum force to the scale for a period of Freestyle x 1.253 1 * V100/200m Butterfly (Male) = 30-35 seconds, while the second force is measured V100/200 Freestyle x 1.0795* -F30. V100/200m Butterfly (Female) = V100/200 The Strength Endurance Index is calculated by the Freestyle x 1.0827* following formula… * Conversion quotients were gained from the (F30 + Fmax) x 100% experimental research by the staff of the Swimming Higher Strength Endurance Index indicates higher Department (Russian State Academy of Physical level of strength endurance Education) in 1983-1987. 2. The Strength Efficiency Factor (SEF) is 3. Evaluation of anaerobic capacity determined by the following formula: SEF = Endurance Index (Fwater ÷ Fland) x 100% Higher EI indicates higher level of anaerobic Pulling force on land (Fland) is determined as capacity. follows… Testing Protocol 1: Alactic Endurance Swimmer lies on the swim bench and executes Tethered swimming for 30sec. Endurance Index isometric pulling actions applying maximum force to (EI) The Strength Endurance Index the scales. The Strength Endurance Index is gained from the Pulling force in the water (Fwater) is determined tethered swimming results (see “ Assessment of the as follows… strength abilities in swimming”). Athlete executes tethered swimming separately Testing Protocol 2: Alactic Endurance for the whole stroke (Fwater), arm pull (Farms) and 75m at full speed kicking (Fkick) applying maximum force to the same Endurance Index (EI) = V75/V25max scale for a period of 10-15 seconds. The maximum V75 – velocity of swimming a 75m distance. force is recorded from 3rd to 8th seconds of pulling. Testing Protocol 3: Glycolytic Endurance Higher Strength Efficiency Factor indicates better 6x50m at full speed and resting time 10sec ability of utilising strength when swimming. between each repeat. Endurance Index (EI) = V6x50/V25max V6x50 is calculated as the mean of each swim’s velocities. 4. Evaluation of the aerobic capacity The Co-ordination Factor (CF) is determined by Endurance Index. the following formula…

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CF = (Fwater x 100%) ÷ (Farms + Fkick) and desire to push themselves in practice beyond Research conducted in USA and former USSR in what a normal mortal would. 1980s showed that Farms and Fkick very closely What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in correlated to performance result. swimming in your years of coaching? Both SEF and CF indicate the feel of the water RQ: The underwater aspect of the sport – the dolphin and technique skills. The higher both SEF and CF, kick. the better an athlete can utilise strength when MS: Money coming into the sport and allowing and swimming and the higher his/her technique skills. encouraging athletes to stay in the sport longer. Usually national level swimmers have SEF and CF of What’s the single bit of advice you would give to a between 70-80%. new swimming coach? Systematic use of SEF and CF allows coaches to RQ: That who touches the wall first in the race isn’t monitor the main indicator of technical efficiency, very important unless the basic principles of why you that is the current level of strength ability. For are coaching are solid. In other words, to take care of example, the Swimmer A has Fland of 40 kg and the people you coach and have it be a great and Fwater of 32 kg, then SEF = 80% which means that growing experience and have them take that into the Swimmer A has good feel for the water and is other things in their life. technically skilled. MS: Technique first. Swimmer B also has Fland of 40kg but a Fwater What’s the biggest challenge of being an Olympic of 20kg, then SEF = 50%. coach? Comparison of these two swimmers shows that RQ: Selling the kids on the fact that it is just another the Swimmer A would be better to build up special swimming meet. It’s not life or death – that all they strength on land and transfer it to swimming practice have to do is manage the environment and if they do while the Swimmer B’s first priority is stroke that they have a chance to be tremendously improvement so that he can utilise his strength ability successful. in swimming practice MS: Maintaining team enthusiasm and spirit over If testing of athletes is a natural part of their eight days and convincing every swimmer that their training then the tests not only give information about biggest contribution can be to help one another. a swimmer’s specific physical abilities, but are also What does it feel like to be coach of a team that an effective way of building up their fitness and represents the whole nation? improving their psychological condition that first of RQ: It’s a tremendous honour to be a part of the all correlates with breeding the specific volition Olympic Team – it is what everyone in our sport is ability. striving for. References: MS: Representing your country in international V.Z. Afanasiev, N.J. Bulgakova, A.R. Vorontsov, L.P. Makaaarenko, S.N. Morozov, M.R. Solomatin, E.A. Shirkovets … “Competitive Swimming” competition is the ultimate in sport and certainly is Manual for Institutes of Sports, Moscow, 1996 the greatest privilege a coach can be given. V.A. Parfenov,V.N. Platonov “Coaching of Elite Swimmers”, P&S, What is the greatest performance you ever Moscow, 1979 B.D. Zenov, I.M. Koshkin, S.M. Vaitsekhovski “Specific Swimmers witnessed? Physical Training on Land and in Water”, P&S, Moscow, 1986 RQ: Mary T. Meagher’s 100 and 200 Butterfly world V.N. Platonov, S.M. Vaitsekhovski “Coaching the Top Class Swimmers”, records and Janet Evans’ 400 Freestyle in Seoul – P&S, Moscow, 1985 T.M. Absaliamov, T.S. Timakova “Scientific Provision Of Swimming that was unbelievable. It was at the critical moment Training”, P&S, Moscow, 1983 in the Olympic Games, going for the world record, and it was just astonishing. (Reproduced from ASCA Newsletter MS: Kieren Perkins’ 400m Freestyle in Rome Volume #2000 Issue #11) (whoops, I guess I now have to say Ian Thorpe’s 400 Richard Quick and Mark Schubert were the at Pan Pacs – just incredible). Mary T’s 100 Butterfly 10 Head Coaches of the 1999 US Pan Pacific Championship Team and Team USA at the (skipping “58”) and Janet Evans’ 400 Freestyle Questions 2000 Olympic Games. We asked these two (going out in 2:02 and negative splitting!). legendary coaches 10 quick questions. What should U.S. Olympic hopefuls focus on Who is the hardest worker you’ve ever coached? between now and Olympic Trials? RQ: Probably Jenny Thompson, when you consider RQ: Identify weaknesses and turn them into strengths the consistency of the excellence of effort at all areas in the next year. I saw this over and over again at the that are necessary for success in swimming. Pan Pacific Championships. Also, I believe an athlete MS: Janet Evans, Shirley Babasoff, Brian Goodell ought to focus on the Olympic Games until about six and Lenny Krayzelburg. They all have had the ability weeks before the Trials then concentrate on making

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the team. This approach will prepare the athlete for a MS: Many times, after the initial nerves of the first successful Games after making the team. swim, the swimmer will put less pressure on MS: Make a complete training and competition plan. themselves and “just race”. The most impressive Make progressive goals for training performances as performance to me at the Pan Pacs was Tom well as swim meet performances. Select meaningful Wilkens’ 200 IM. After a disappointing 400 IM, he competitions throughout the year that raise your was determined to make a big team contribution in comfort level to race against competition better than the 200 IM. He had the “surprise” performance of the yourself (don’t just go to meets where you win meet for the USA that turned the team championship easily). Set your main goal “to swim your best tide in our favour. Sometimes, it is all about performances of the year at the Olympic Games”. determination to turn your meet around and never Too many swimmers and coaches set their goal “to give up! Think positive, talk positive and act make the team” and then struggle after this goal is positive! reached. Knowing everything that you know now, if you Education on Working with Parents: could go back to the beginning of your career, Why Won’t You Let Joey Go for the Gold? what would you do differently? By Coach Deborah Swanson RQ: I would love to have the opportunity to coach I was awakened from blissful slumber at 10:30pm many of the athletes I had in the past knowing just on a Sunday evening with a phone call from a how important technique is. I value technique more distressed Swim Mom. “Joey doesn’t want to swim every day. anymore... he said if he can’t be moved up from the MS: The saying “if you don’t learn to be happy Bronze to the Silver team he will not swim anymore. without an Olympic gold medal, you can’t be happy So I need you to talk to him because Coach Brad said with one” comes to mind. Perhaps I could have it was ok with him if it’s ok with you.” taught that lesson to some more effectively. I wish that I could tell you that my response was Do you have a coach hero? calm, controlled... “Due to the late hour, I don’t think RQ: Bob Timmons was the coach of the Wichita I am prepared to talk with Joey tonight. Why don’t you and Joey and Coach Brad and I find a time early Swim Club when I was 12 years old. I decided to be a this week when we can discuss this?” Regretfully my coach, so I could be “like Mr Timmons”. His response went something like this… “No it is NOT coaching philosophy is still the basis of my coaching ok with me, and when I last talked with Brad it was philosophy. Athletics are not very important unless NOT ok with him. Although Joey has improved you are learning more about yourself, growing as a considerably he is not ready to move up. And I really person, and learning how to work with others to don’t appreciate you calling my home at this hour make this world a better place. and trying to manipulate one coach against the George Haines, Doc Counsilman, Don Gambril and other!” What? Too harsh? I was furious that this Peter Daland were at the top of the swimming world Mom was trying to lay a guilt trip on me by pulling when I started coaching and they set a standard of this six-year-old child in the middle of two coaches. excellence as coaches, teachers and involvement in But taking this personally was not helping this child governing the sport that still motivates me today. or this Mom. Bill Boomer. His devotion to the value of technique Although manipulating the coaches was exactly in fast swimming and his willingness to share his what this Mom was trying to do, the first response knowledge has been an inspiration to me and his would have left more options for everyone and friendship is a cherished treasure. allowed for open communication between all parties MS: My high school swimming coach, Dick Wells, concerned. Wonderful thing hindsight. This Mom’s has always been my coach hero. He introduced me to next phone call was to the Swim Club’s President the fun of swimming. George Haines, Peter Daland, who thankfully agreed to act as a mediator. First on Don Gambril and Doc Counsilman have all been the agenda was an apology from me for my harsh great role models as well. words. Although it helped us to move on, it would How do you handle a disappointing swim by one have been so much easier if I had held my tongue in of your swimmers when there are five days to go the first place. The mediator made a nice statement in the meet? that we should all work together to help Joey meet RQ: Life is very much about how one handles his goals. setbacks. I very quickly ask athletes to learn from all After a meeting with both parents where we their experiences and move on to the next reviewed the criteria for each of our groups of opportunity to test yourself. swimmers and that “moving up” required an agreement between the coaches, swimmer and the

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parents. This Mom said fine but we still had to water for more than 20 feet before holding convince Joey and explain to him why he couldn’t onto the wall to rest when he first came to me. move up to the Silver Group. At this point I think the After three months he was competing in three Mom still felt we would melt and change our minds strokes without getting disqualified, and by allowing him to swim in the next group. He was a cutting minutes off his times. Don’t you just dear, doe-eyed child, and a very hard worker. I love those 8-and-under swimmers? Many smiled and told Joey that both Coach Brad and I had times parents of this age group begin to see seen tremendous improvement and we both enjoyed Olympic Medals for their child after such working with him. I asked him if he thought he had dramatic improvement. I don’t think it hurts to improved any since August? To which he replied that remind them that their child not only worked he had. I told him he was seeing the results of all his hard but their coach had a plan for continued hard work in learning our progressive drills. I told progress. I like to videotape my swimmers now him that he still had some goals to accomplish in the on their first day, then show them the “before- Bronze group and if he was still willing to work hard and-after” film a month later. I also keep to accomplish these goals then we would be all too attendance records and dated “lesson plans.” happy to move him to the Silver Group when the 5. Be a professional Swim Coach. Be a problem time came. We told him he could take time to solver. Be a humble hero. consider what we had discussed and if he still thought he needed to quit swimming then we would be sad but we would respect his decision. Joey continued to Hyponatremia in Distance Athletes swim with me in the Bronze group until the following Pulling the IV on the ‘Dehydration Myth’ school year when he proudly moved up to the Silver By Timothy D. Noakes, MB ChB, MD Group and is now reaching for the Gold. So what are The Physician and Sportsmedicine, Vol.28, No.9, September 2000 The strength of modern medicine is its relentless the lessons learned from this near disaster? quest for an elusive perfection. That quest requires 1. When you receive an emotional call at home that we examine our errors even more closely than from a parent, count to 10 and consider the our successes. It is for this reason that the case report response that will allow you time to gather of Flinn and Sherer is so important. For it records a information and meet them face to face. Don’t potential tragedy that was prevented by expeditious try to solve problems over the phone. and appropriate medical care – care that conflicted Sometimes it helps to have an objective with popular dogma. The timeworn understanding is mediator, especially in emotionally charged that collapse during or after prolonged exercise is situations. caused by dehydration; both are prevented by 2. Try not to take things personally. This is so inordinate fluid ingestion; and immediate treatment much easier said than done. Think first what is should be intravenous fluids. I have termed this best for the swimmer, then try to identify the traditional litany the “dehydration myth”. It has been real problem, and more importantly a relentlessly perpetuated, always in the guise of good reasonable solution. science. 3. Make sure you have written guidelines for the Drinking (Water) to Death progressive groups within your team, and Flinn and Sherer conclude that their recruit communicate often with both parents and developed the complications of hyponatremia as a swimmers as to where swimmers stand. result of drinking too much plain water during a Periodic progress reports are a great idea. This series of exercises that included a 10km hike with an Mom had not been to practice during the Fall 18kg pack. He had been actively encouraged by his season but had seen great improvement at our military leadership to drink water, presumably in first two swim meets. Shortly after this copious amounts, to prevent exertional heat injury. incident I began to give written progress The debate of whether exercisers drink too little, reports every two weeks to my swimmers. I too much, or the correct amount during endurance think it helped to keep the lines of exercise – and whether such fluid ingestion actually communication open, and to demonstrate that I influences the risk of heat injury-has been contested am keeping track of their progress and goals. with vigour in the pages of this journal for more than 4. Keep accurate records of the swimmer’s a decade. In addition, the journal has previously progress. Many parents and swimmers develop reported a case of water intoxication in a marathon amnesia when it comes to remembering how runner. Despite drinking copiously during and after far they’ve come. Joey couldn’t maintain a the race, that runner (whose case was also described horizontal position and make progress in the

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in the American Review of Respiratory Disease) within minutes of drinking fluids orally, where did received 1.5L of intravenous fluids because “the the idea arise that much lesser degrees of dehydration emergency room physicians assumed that the patient are (1) life-threatening and (2) must be treated was suffering from volume depletion, as they had immediately with intravenous fluids? observed repeatedly that day in other marathon The second body of evidence – also conveniently runners”. The illogic in such assumptions has been ignored – is that up to 1969, endurance athletes were repeatedly argued. encouraged not to drink during exercise. Yet there are A characteristic of this debate has been the almost no documented case reports of complications inability of some to comprehend the obvious. experienced by these athletes. Thus, the impressively Whereas there are no case reports or clinical trials titled review article “Heat Stroke and Hypothermia in that unambiguously link exercise-induced Marathon Runners” mentions only one case of dehydration with specific, life-threatening, exercise- heatstroke in a competitive marathon runner, that of related disorders; the evidence that iatrogenic fluid Jim Peters in the 1954 Empire Games Marathon in overload can have very serious consequences is Vancouver. Reasons other than dehydration absolute and irrefutable. Indeed, there are now at explained Peters’ collapse. Competitive distance least 21 publications describing the life-threatening runners were, like Peters, able to set world records at consequences of fluid overload in runners, triathletes, a wide range of running distances without ever army personnel, and even recreational hikers. How is consuming anything (let alone maximal quantities) it possible that this evidence can be so long ignored and without apparently suffering life-threatening and that athletes can continue to be encouraged to complications (as is now frequently reported in those “consume the maximum amount that can be who drink too much). tolerated” during exercise, without any cautionary Perpetuated Error reference whatsoever to the dangers of drinking too The first error identified by the case reported in much? It is a scientific paradox, for which any logical this issue may well be the perception and explanation continues to elude me. perpetuation of the dehydration myth within the Moderate Dehydration Not Hazardous United States Army (and among other groups) Compared with this irresistible proof, the despite an avalanche of contradictory evidence. So evidence is nonexistent that the modest levels of ingrained is this myth that attempts by a local dehydration in endurance athletes – body mass losses Chicago columnist to warn runners about the dangers of 2-8% – have any health consequences during of over-hydration following the death of a runner in exercise. the 1998 Chicago Marathon were met with howls of Consider first the definitive series of studies indignant protests from runners, doctors, and exercise undertaken in the Nevada desert during World War scientists (Eric Zom, personal communication, II. There, in one study, groups of army conscripts October 1999). exercised during the day in desert heat for as long as I suggest that the resulting desire to administer they could, usually up to eight hours, without any intravenous fluids to collapsed exercisers, fluid ingestion whatsoever. During this time they commendably avoided by Flinn and Sherer, has would cover up to 34km. At the point of fatigue, developed because the physiologic term dehydration caused by “dehydration exhaustion”, subjects has become established as a specific medical exhibited the following symptoms and signs … “they diagnosis encompassing almost any form of collapse grew peevish and intractable … others walked in in endurance athletes. But dehydration is not a silence and were unresponsive”. All developed diagnosis of a specific medical condition, and there is marked physical fatigue and ultimately became no proven relationship between dehydration and any “incapable of even mild physical effort”. Yet … condition associated with collapse in distance “there were no obvious after-effects of dehydration. athletes. In my view, intravenous fluids are almost We do know that man can suffer a water deficit so never required in the management of post-exercise incapacitating that he can neither walk nor stand; yet collapse, for the simple reason that they have no he recovers his walking ability within a few minutes effect on the physiologic abnormality that is most of water ingestion, and his feelings of well-being usually present: postural hypertension secondary to within half an hour or less after he begins drinking. peripheral blood pooling and inadequate peripheral With a meal or two intervening, his recovery is vasoconstriction immediately on the cessation of practically complete in 6-12 hours.” exercise. If these army subjects, who developed levels of Diagnose, then Treat dehydration twice as great as those usually measured To return to the specifics of this case report, two in modem endurance athletes, were able to recover points are of note regarding overall management.

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First, definitive treatment was not begun until always alert the clinician to a probable diagnosis of diagnosis was complete. An intravenous line was hyponatremia in anyone who has exercised for a placed at the field aid station only to provide prolonged period with ready access to fluid – intravenous access (not to treat a presumed especially if the patient has been encouraged to dehydration with rapid infusion of a large volume of “force fluids” to prevent heat injury. fluids), and the blood sodium concentration was Rational treatment. For the majority of collapsed measured as an immediate priority. Second, an athletes, then – i.e. those with exercise-associated appropriate treatment algorithm was followed. collapse – the sole treatment required is nursing in Diagnosis first. Diagnosis before treatment, in my the head-down, Trendelenburg position. Since view, identifies the kernel of solution. These authors adopting this technique, we have essentially removed avoided the usually uncontrollable urge to treat with the need ever to give intravenous fluids to these intravenous fluids any exerciser admitted to a athletes, regardless of the intensity or duration of the medical facility regardless of symptoms and clinical effort they had sustained, For example, in the recent signs. Rather, they followed good medical practice, 226km Cape Town 2000 Iron-man Triathlon, we which is to establish a reasonable working diagnosis intensively evaluated in the medical tent at the race before initiating any therapy. This practice is finish all the athletes who completed the race. This especially important if that (unnecessary) therapy can included 290 triathletes and approximately 100 also cause a fatal outcome in an otherwise healthy athletes who had either run the 42km marathon or person. who had cycled the 180km course as individual My colleagues and I have shown that two factors members of relay teams also participating in the race. predict the likely diagnosis in exercisers who are It was not necessary to treat any athlete with admitted to the medical facilities at endurance events. intravenous fluids; despite the fact that the race was The first is whether collapse occurs before the finish held in midsummer temperatures that approached of the race or after the athlete completes the event; 30°C at midday, the time the marathon race began. the second is whether or not the athlete is fully Treatment of the other exercise-related conditions, conscious or has an altered level of consciousness, hyponatremia and heatstroke, is described ably by however subtle. Athletes who collapse after finishing Flinn and Sherer and elsewhere! the race are almost always fully conscious and are Hyponatremia versus Heat suffering from the sudden onset of postural In regard to classification of exercise-related hypertension, so-called exercise-associated collapse. collapse, the only very minor quibble I have with Formerly, this condition was called heat exhaustion, Flinn and Sherer is their (albeit updated) definition of but that term is inappropriate for reasons previously heat exhaustion. These authors suggest that heat described. The patient described here did not finish exhaustion is a form of heatstroke in which there are the exercise bout; hence, the differential diagnosis only minor changes in mental status and function. As excludes exercise-associated collapse, which should this distinction can only be made retrospectively, I be diagnosed only in persons who collapse after would prefer that all patients with an elevated rectal finishing the race. As the patient had been exercising temperature and mental changes at the time of in the heat, the moment he lost consciousness the collapse be diagnosed with heatstroke and the initial differential diagnosis included hyponatremia, a severity assigned only when the patient has cerebrovascular accident, and heatstroke, probably in recovered. that order. The initial distinction is made by The danger in the novel definition proposed is that measuring the rectal temperatures as was done in this subjects with the subtle mental changes characteristic case. As it was in the normal range of 37-40°C, a of hyponatremia – which, as this case report shows, diagnosis of heatstroke was excluded. The next most can progress to convulsions and coma with probable diagnosis then becomes the hyponatremia of frightening rapidity – may be diagnosed as cases of exercise, confirmed by prompt measurement of the heat exhaustion and treated inappropriately; perhaps serum sodium concentration. with intravenous fluids. Rather, I argue that, if the Although the authors report that the recruit was rectal temperature is not elevated to 40°C at the time alert and oriented when first seen, the mental changes of collapse, the patient does not have a heat illness, in hyponatremia are subtle. It is improbable that his and another cause for collapse must be sought. very low serum sodium concentration (113mmol/L) We have found that athletes who are fully did not cause an altered level of consciousness, conscious, and whose rectal temperatures are below however elusive. Subtle mental changes without 40°C, do not require active cooling because their other clinical evidence of a defined medical body temperatures will normalise without condition, and with a normal body temperature, must intervention. Nor are their symptoms of collapse

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caused by their (normally) elevated body by the expeditious measurement of the rectal temperatures. Rather, they are likely to be suffering temperature, and the correct diagnosis of this case from postural hypertension and will recover rapidly was immediately established by the equally rapid when treated in the head-down position. measurement of the serum sodium concentration. The Introducing a new definition for heat exhaustion condition was caused by a fluid intake that was, at the can only lead to more confusion and further hamper very least, 6.5L in excess of requirement during nine the general acceptance of a concise and logical hours of moderate military exercises. Such approach to the assessment and management of the inappropriate fluid replacement was caused by the collapsed exerciser. Mental changes in an exerciser promotion of the twin dogmas that hold that whose rectal temperature is less than 40°C should heatstroke is caused by dehydration, and that it is only be ascribed to a heat injury if hyponatremia and prevented by copious fluid ingestion during exercise. hypoglycaemia have been excluded by appropriate There is no scientific evidence whatsoever for either blood testing. belief. Rather, as this recruit and these authors Too Much Fluid Can Hurt discovered, “Too much fluid can hurt”. To summarise, once the recruit convulsed and It is not a novel observation. lapsed into coma, the most likely diagnosis was the hyponatremia of exercise. Heatstroke was excluded

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