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Swim School Summer 2020

WHAT ARE TRIATHLON SWIM SCHOOLS?

These hugely popular courses run for 1 hour per week in the evening, for 10 weeks, in and around the Loughborough area.

The fastest and most effective long term way to improve your swim speed is by improving your technique.

During this 10 week course places are limited to 16 participants and there will be three highly experienced coaches (Head Coach Mark Pearce will always be one) providing feedback and direction throughout the session.

Using a combination of swimming technical aids, drills and feedback we work to optimise your stroke to provide maximum speed for less effort, whatever distance you are racing over.

As well as learning what to do, the coaches are also encouraging you to understand why you need to do it. This helps to promote a strong learning effect and results in you retaining more of the information and technique.

We work through a curriculum that progresses through the elements of your stroke in a logical and integrated manner as shown in this animation.

Week by week we progress through the curriculum working on developing

  • Control of breathing
  • Body position in the water
  • Core control
  • Rotation
  • Alignment
  • Timing
  • Propulsion.

We currently only run two of these annually.

WHEN IS THE NEXT SWIM SCHOOL?

The Summer 2020 course will run from 3rd May – 5th July 2020, which is 10-weeks.

The course is currently in the final stages of planning and will be available to book by mid March 2020

If you would like advance notice of the booking date, please use using the form at the bottom of the page and we can put you on an advance notice list.  Places go very quickly, our most recent Swim Technique and Training course sold out in 30min.

Here are a few of Mark’s thoughts on the process of improving swimming technique:

 

MORE INFO

If the FAQs below don’t answer your questions please get in touch.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Who Are Swim Schools For? + -

Our swim schools are for any competent swimmer who wishes to push their level on. We use a range of techniques to measure and analyse all aspects of the swim stroke and body position which contribute to better swimming. Video analysis is also used as a fantastic live tool to help you improve FAST!

Swimmers are grouped in lanes with similar abilities so the coaching can be tailored and the swimmer can gain the very most from the school.

As long as you can swim and are willing to work hard and improve then our swim school is for you!

How does it differ from our Technique & Training Course? + -

This is a 100% technique focussed course, lasting 1hr.  Whilst they are not always easy, the fitness element is not the key part of this session.

Numbers are significantly lower than on the T&T sessions, to enable the coaches to really coach and work with you on your technique.

What Do Swim Schools Cover? + -

Our syllabus covers a wide range of both theory and practice. The end goal is to get you swimming faster but most importantly – more efficiently.

A large part of swimming is about being efficient in the water. Over the course of the course, we cover the key elements of front crawl stroke starting with developing a strong platform for your stroke. As the weeks progress, we build upon this platform by introducing new drills to work on the next level of technique. 

So in practice, we start with working on body position.  This is affected by your kick, core activation, head position and breathing, so we work on each of these elements to allow you to hold an efficient body position – the platform for you to move your stroke on.

Other aspects we then cover include:

  • Breathing
  • Rotation
  • Alignment
  • Arm action

As with body position, these are all influenced by a variety of factors, and we implement a range of drills to enhance whatever is relevant for each individual.

SAMPLE COURSE CURRICULUM

WEEK 1 – Kick

WEEK 2 – Body Position

WEEK 3 – Breathing

WEEK 4 – Alignment

WEEK 5 – Timing

WEEK 6 – Catch/Propulsion

WEEK 7 – Catch/Propulsion

WEEK 8 – Open water Skills

WEEK 9 – Open Water Skills

WEEK 10 – Stroke Rate

What Feedback Can I Expect? + -

Feedback from our experienced coaches is in a “live” form, and video analysis may be used to actually show you where we are trying to help you.

Sometimes we may use some feedback within the session using the large screen, we may also take clips using the app HUDL Technique which enables us to record at very high frame rates and provide some diagrammatic feedback.

Hudl 2

We also do large scale group analysis which is posted on the group specific, password protected pages each week. This is a simple voice over for each person with in the group providing key points to work on over the next week.

Each week we will also post a session that you can do during the week that focusses upon the key areas we have worked on in that weeks session

Where Does Swim School Take Place? + -

Most of our Swim School sessions take place at King Edward VII Science and Sports College, Coalville but may also take place at Loughborough University Swimming Pool or other open water locations as appropriate. Please check on the location when choosing which of our Swim Schools is most suitable for you.

 

What Will I Need? + -

Below are some links to popular equipment we use on a regular basis. Other options are available in most cases, and more info on how we use these ‘toys’ can be found on the blogs, and individual pages.

ESSENTIAL

Finis Fins – Short stiff fins to provide some extra propulsion, essential for many drills.  However not too big so they change the dynamics of the kick.

Finis Axis Pull Buoy – This is a unique take on the pull and one of the key ‘toys’ we use.  It isolates the legs more by fixing around the ankles and encourages core activation.

DESIRABLE

Finis Agility Paddles – Unique paddles with no straps, this encourages feel for water and reduced dropping of the wrist in the catch

Finis Freestyler Paddles – Usually used as training paddles these also help with alignment under the water and provide feedback on ‘S’ in the pull phase

Finis Snorkel – Useful for exercises when rotating to breath is distracting.

Finis Tempo Trainer – Useful for working on arm turnover rates, and in training sessions for timing.

A drink and a snack are also advisable.

How Much Does It Cost? + -

The standard price for the 10 week swim school is £130

There are discounts available for coached athletes.

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