Good, Better, Best---A Practice Guide One of the huge slogans you hear from the Chicago Bears, and their amazing success, this season comes from an old nursery rhyme, “Good, Better, Best. Work until your Good is Better and your Better is Best!” This is very true in the world of swimming. A GOOD swimmer will attend 50% of scheduled practices, show up 1 minute before practice enter the water exactly at the last possible minute, and do exactly what they are asked to do no more…no less. A BETTER swimmer...

The Ten Commandments for Parents of Athletic Children Reprinted from The Young Athlete by Bill Burgess included in “The Swim Parents Newsletter” I--Make sure your child knows that - win or lose, scared or heroic – you love him/her, appreciate their efforts, and are not disappointed in them. This will allow them to do their best without a fear of failure. Be the person in their life they can look to for constant and unconditional support. II--Try your best to be completely honest about your child’’ athletic ability, his/hers competitive...

5 Habits of Mentally Tough Swimmers Internal fortitude. The will to win. The ability to master and persevere. These words usually get tossed around when coaches discuss elite swimmers. Those at the top of the podium all come from different backgrounds in terms of genetics and ability, but the one thing they all have in common is the will to do what is required. The will to overcome feelings of lethargy, doubt or tiredness to complete the task and set at hand. This is what it is to be mentally...

Sisyphus, Newton's Laws, Goal Setting and Swimming Fast If you have ever studied or read mythology at one point or another you have come across the story of Sisyphus. Sisyphus was punished by the gods by having to push a stone up a hill and have it roll back down for all eternity. Let's translate this into a positive swimming lesson where the top of the hill is your goal and pushing the rock is your physical, emotional and mental effort. There are three things we can learn from Sisyphus'...

Great Info From USA Swimming!! Share with your Swimmers!! "Coach I'm really nervous!". I have heard these words over and over again during my 35 year career in coaching. Discussing what anxiety is and why it’s caused, there are two types of anxiety-somatic (dealing with the physical symptoms of anxiety) and cognitive (dealing with the mental and emotional symptoms). This article will address how to gain control of your anxiety so you can regain control of your performance. Reducing Somatic Anxiety Since somatic anxiety has to do with the body,...

In an Academically Achievement concious community, like Barrington, sometimes it is good to take a breath and take a look at how both our desire and need for Academic success meshes with our desire for Athletice success as well. This article is from SwimSwam.com Enjoy! With another school year rather rapidly approaching – seriously, where did this year go? – comes another bout of the juggling that happens between a swimmer’s training & competition schedule and their schoolwork. For those attending college this fall, the expectation is that for every...

  In the final Fast Swimming Techniques Video on the Freestyle Flip Turn, Gary Hall Sr. talks about The Push Off and Breakout. Learn the fastest swimming techniques as well as mistakes to avoid during the Push Off and Breakout. A lot of Swimmers form bad habits especially training in crowded lanes where the Push Off and Breakout are rarely executed with speed and precision yet this is the most critical part of a Race! Don’t take for granted the speed that is generated off the wall and thanks for...

Best Ways to Handle Sugar for Young Swimmers   9/16/2014     By Jill Castle, MS, RDN Sugar, the sweet stuff added to foods in baking and other food processing techniques, is something young swimmers should have a handle on. After all, sugar (or sucrose) is a carb, but it doesn’t have a lot of nutritional power, nor does it offer the long-lasting energy found in complex carbs, like bread, beans, and fruits and veggies.  According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), American youth are eating too much added...

Freestyle Recovery: Swing Forward, Relaxed and Wide   7/21/2014     by Russell Mark//National Team High Performance Consultant The freestyle arm recovery should be a controlled and relaxed throw of the hand, whether you want to have a classic high elbow recovery or a recovery that is more open (see both in the video below). 1 The freestyle arm recovery is the most visually recognizable motion in swimming, and is therefore one of the aspects that is most often coached.  The recovery itself doesn’t create forward movement, but a good...

Creating a Culture for Barrington Swim Club—What Can We Learn From New Zealand Rugby? I recently read and article about Sir Graham Henry, former Head Coach of the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Team. The piece was about how Henry took over as the coach of an already successful program and what he did to empower individuals to create an amazing culture of Excellence and Leadership. Here are some things that we can learn from the All Backs Rugby Team at BSC to keep pushing our team's culture to the...