Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sept 29, 2008 - Coach Talk Position, Line, & Balance
Posture, Line, and Balance – Coach’s Notes Sept 29, 2008
The following thoughts are from Richard Quick (Auburn coach, prior Stanford coach, 6 times at the Olympics as a coach).
Richard Quick talked about posture, line, and balance.
For posture, he talked about being as streamlined as possible. This means that the body is flat. The back is flat, the gut is in, and the body is in a position to create as little drag as possible. Do the following with help of another swimmer. Push off the wall on your stomach at the surface of the water. As you glide forward there should be no water across the small of your back. If there is this means that your body is arched and not flat. This flat position is not a natural one, but one provides the least resistance through the water. Get feedback from the other swimmer and try to work on a flat position.
Line, in free, this means that the body is straight as an arrow. If you watched the Olympics from below the surface, you’ll note that the swimmers body stays in line and doesn’t move back and forth. If you draw a line from the top center of the chest to the navel, this line stays pointed down the lane at all times. In fly “line” means not going too high above and below the horizontal line. Too much dolphin motion wastes energy and creates drag.
Balance, in free head not too high, hips not to low.
Everyone has a certain potential power. The ideas of posture, line, and balance are intended to make the best use of your energy.
The following thoughts are from Richard Quick (Auburn coach, prior Stanford coach, 6 times at the Olympics as a coach).
Richard Quick talked about posture, line, and balance.
For posture, he talked about being as streamlined as possible. This means that the body is flat. The back is flat, the gut is in, and the body is in a position to create as little drag as possible. Do the following with help of another swimmer. Push off the wall on your stomach at the surface of the water. As you glide forward there should be no water across the small of your back. If there is this means that your body is arched and not flat. This flat position is not a natural one, but one provides the least resistance through the water. Get feedback from the other swimmer and try to work on a flat position.
Line, in free, this means that the body is straight as an arrow. If you watched the Olympics from below the surface, you’ll note that the swimmers body stays in line and doesn’t move back and forth. If you draw a line from the top center of the chest to the navel, this line stays pointed down the lane at all times. In fly “line” means not going too high above and below the horizontal line. Too much dolphin motion wastes energy and creates drag.
Balance, in free head not too high, hips not to low.
Everyone has a certain potential power. The ideas of posture, line, and balance are intended to make the best use of your energy.
# posted by gladorca's blog @ 8:35 PM 
