Have You Ever Wondered?

We pretty much do all the time...wonder that is.

We are thinking all the time about how to get our swimmers to swim faster; how to get them to realize the relationship between effort put in and results obtained; how what they do away from the pool has bearing on what they do in the pool; how the dry land component can add or actually subtract from what they are doing; how their emotions can help or hinder their progress; how to understand that what a high school coach wants may not be in the best interests of what they want personally from the sport and how to resolve that conflict; how they can actually get really good grades and stay very fit in the pool; how they can manage their time so that homework gets done and morning practice can be a regular thing for them...the list is endless. All the things we think about apply to our Masters swimmers as well with the obvious change in emphasis as their lives go through various stages of time commitments and focus.

But what we really do is wonder...if all the information that is available to all the swimmers, coaches and parents is, well available, how come much of it is ignored? That's what stumps us a lot of the time. In this day and age of information availability how can so many people either not be aware or not know how to apply it or simply not "get it"? It mystifies us.

Take something as simple as head position in freestyle. When you watch the fastest swimmers in the world and see their heads down and their hips up how can you as a swimmer or coach allow yourself or those you coach to swim with their heads up, water at the hair line and hips riding low in the water? Or since you know the importance of the kick in all strokes why don't you spend real practice time getting faster and stronger at that segment of your swimming? Perhaps if you kick 10x100 on the 2 mins and you could swim them on the 1:30 you are giving up 5 minutes of practice time and therefore total yardage but at the expense of the kick power...we wonder about that kind of stuff.

And if everyone knows that the cells produce ATP from oxygen and lactic acid why don't they train both systems? And if they do, why don't they allow enough recovery so that the swimmers can actually swim at or at the very least, near race pace in practice to know what it feels like?

It seems to us, that if you like doing something and it gives you a real sense of satisfaction then why not do it as well as you are able? Hmmm...maybe that is the answer...we think not but who are we to be all knowing...