TRAVELLERS SPORTS SWIMMING COACHING MANUAL

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Travellers Sports Manual: Coaching Swimming

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1 Travellers Sports Manual: Coaching Swimming page 1 of 9: TRAVELLERS SPORTS SWIMMING COACHING MANUAL CHANGE HISTORY Issue Date of Issue CR/DR No. of Pages Changed and Numbers Pages Reasons for Change Picture and format changes First Issue

2 Travellers Sports Manual: Coaching Swimming page 2 of 9: Table of Contents Introduction... 2 Water safety... 3 Exercises to help very young children become more confident in water... 3 Circle Tide... 3 Sharks and Minnows... 3 Starfish Tag... 3 Coaching the strokes... 4 Front crawl... 4 Breaststroke... 4 Backstroke... 5 Butterfly... 5 Diving... 6 Tumble Turn... 6 Backstroke Turn... 7 Breaststroke and Butterfly Turns... 8 Tips to become a successful coach... 8 Obey Water Safety... 8 Be patient... 8 Repeat the exercises... 8 Demonstrate the exercise yourself... 8 Physically show the children the correct technique... 8 Speak Clearly... 8 Concentration... 8 INTRODUCTION As a Travellers Swimming Coach, you have the opportunity to coach and develop swimming and share your skills to children who may never have learnt swimming before. Your placement will make a huge difference to those children you coach and will impact their lives in many ways. This coaching manual has been specifically designed for your swimming placement incorporating the skills that you will need to have when on your placement. This manual has been designed for the coaching of 4 18 year olds in mind.

3 Travellers Sports Manual: Coaching Swimming page 3 of 9: WATER SAFETY Water safety is essential. When volunteering on a Travellers swimming placement you might be teaching children of a very young age. Teaching basic water safety is essential as many children do not understand the basics of water safety. Water safety does and don ts: Do Teach the children to put their hands on the side and slide their bodies into the water Inform the children who the lifeguard is and where he or she will be based Use the shallow end to teach the children and let the less confident children go at the shallowest point Wear the appropriate clothing for swimming Inform children of water safety before they enter the pool Read and obey all rules and posted signs. Inform children where the nearest water buoyancy aids rings & poles are Use the steps Don t Let the children swim over the lane dividers Let the children run around the pool Let the children go near the pool if there is a pool cover on Let the children dive or jump into the swimming pool without your permission EXERCISES TO HELP VERY YOUNG CHILDREN BECOME MORE CONFIDENT IN WATER Many children will not be confident in the water. To increase children s confidence, playing water based games is a good way for them to feel safe. Here are some fun games you can play with children when coaching: Circle Tide 1. In the shallow end get the children to stand in a circle facing the person on their left 2. Get the children to follow the person in front of them around in a circle 3. The children should start to create a plug suction with the direction they are going in 4. On the command of the coach the children should stop walking around in a circle and feel their bodies moving from the plug suction they have created This will teach the children about how strong and dangerous water can be Sharks and Minnows 1. Select one child to be the shark the rest are the minnows 2. The shark gets to roam around the middle of the pool, the minnows have to swim past the shark without being tagged to get to the other side of the pool 3. If a shark touches any part of a minnow, the minnow is now caught and becomes a shark 4. The minnows keep going from side to side until the last minnow is left. He or she is now the winner Starfish Tag Starfish Tag is derived from the classic playground game that is loads of fun in the pool. 1. The game should take place in the shallow end

4 2. Select one child to be the tagger 3. He or she has to try to tag the other children in the pool Travellers Sports Manual: Coaching Swimming page 4 of 9: 4. Once a child is tagged he or she has to stand still until they are set free 5. Tagged swimmers can only be set free if someone else taps them on the shoulder or swims under their arms or legs. Try setting a time limit to the game and see who can win the most tags. COACHING THE STROKES FRONT CRAWL Front crawl is the fastest stroke and gives you the feeling of being powerful in the water. It is often hard to get the hang of at first because it can be difficult to concentrate on breathing correctly. 1. Swim with all of your body close to the surface of the water, keeping your hips and legs behind your shoulders. Imagine you are trying to swim through a narrow tube without touching the sides. A good way of doing this is to put your face in the water and keep your legs kicking all of the time. 2. Try to use long fast kicks, making sure all of your leg is moving up and down. Your knees should bend a little bit and your feet should make a small splash. Try counting to six quickly and kicking your legs in time with this. 3. Your arms provide the power for the stroke, so one arm should follow the other through the water and over the top. Try putting your hand into the water in front of your head and stretch it forwards as far as it will go, slicing it into the water with your thumb first - the less splash the better. 4. Increase your speed by bending your elbow and pushing your hand towards your feet, keeping it going until it reaches the top of your leg. Lift your arm out of the water and try to control it as it goes back to the starting point. 5. Breathe regularly. Your face is in the water so you need to remember to turn your head when you want to take a breath. Try to turn your head smoothly, leaving the side of your head resting in the water. BREASTSTROKE Breaststroke is a traditional stroke popular with people who like to swim for fitness. 1. The most important thing about breaststroke is to keep your body level at the surface. Your shoulders need to be in line and your hips also need to be flat in the water. 2. Move your feet and legs together like a frog - this is usually the most troublesome area of breaststroke. It is the only stroke which uses these movements and can be difficult to get both legs to do the same thing at the same time. Here are a few tips to help synchronize your legs: Bend your knees and lift your feet up to your bottom Turn your feet out so that you can push back with the bottom of your foot Move your feet out and in again to meet each other

5 Travellers Sports Manual: Coaching Swimming page 5 of 9: Straighten your legs with your knees touching You can try this sitting on the side of the pool with your legs dangling in the water Alternatively, you can do it in the water holding on to the rail with your legs stretched behind you. 3. Take long stretches between each stroke with your arms. A really good tip is to make sure you can always see your hands. This will help to get the arm action right. Start by stretching your arms out in front of you, just under the surface of the water. Then press both hands out and round to draw a full circle, making sure your hands stay in front of your shoulders. Your hands should finish by stretching forwards again. Your arms and legs should stay in the water all of the time, making no splash at all. 4. Breathe in as you finish the circle, lifting your face out of the water. Put your face back into the water as you stretch your arms forward to begin the circle again. 5. The last step is to put the stroke together, so: Pull with your arms and breathe in. Kick your legs. Stretch out with your body level in the water. Start again. BACKSTROKE The backstroke is different to most strokes because you cannot see where you are going. It is a good idea to count how many strokes it takes you to swim a length so you will know when you are getting close to the end of the pool. Try and swim with all of your body close to the surface of the water, almost like you are lying on your back in bed with your head on a pillow. 1. It is difficult to keep your body travelling in a straight line if you don't kick your legs. Use long fast kicks, making sure your legs are moving up and down. Keep your knees underwater and bent a little, and your toes should make a small splash when you kick. 2. The arms provide the power in backstroke, making a circling action as they move in and out of the water. You start by putting one arm in the water in a straight line above your shoulder. Once your hand is in the water it should push down and towards your feet. Bend your elbow slightly and pull your arm by your side to your thigh. Keep pushing your hand towards your feet until your elbow is straight. Then lift it out of the water, back to its original position and repeat the motion again. 3. Keep the arm straight all of the time it is out of the water. The left and right arms do the same movement, but not at the same time. One should come out of the water at about the same time as the other enters it. BUTTERFLY Butterfly needs both stamina and technique, but the body movements are not difficult because you will have done many of them before in other strokes. When racing butterfly, your arms must come out of the water on every stroke. They must not drag through the water when they move from your hips to the entry position. 1. Both of your arms work at the same time and keep moving throughout the stroke. Put your hands in the water in front of your shoulders and pull them towards your feet.

6 Travellers Sports Manual: Coaching Swimming page 6 of 9: 2. When your hands reach your thighs, lift them out of the water and throw them back to the start. You should keep your head in the water all the time, except when you need to breathe in. If you lift your head up at other times it will be almost impossible to get your arms over the water. The easiest way to breathe in is to push your chin forwards so that your mouth comes out of the water. The difficult part is getting everything in the right order, so: Kick your legs down as your hands go in Kick your legs down as your hands come out Keep your head down when your arms go over the water Keep your head down until your arms are near your thighs Breathe in quickly Remember to try to improve one bit at a time DIVING Most top swimmers use the grab start to get their race under way. This gets you moving off the blocks quickly and into the water smoothly. The starter will not begin the race until everybody is ready and still. This is really important because you can be disqualified if you fall in before the start or if you are slow getting ready. 1. The better your starting position, the better your dive, so: Head: Tucked in as close to your knees as possible Hips: As high as possible, lift them up and try not to push them back Legs: Curl your toes over the edge of the block and bend your knees slightly Arms: Should be in a "hands on" position, this means one hand on top of the other. Stretch your arms down, point your fingers to the floor and put your palms on the front of the wall or starting block. 2. Push off with as much power as possible. Press hard with the palms of your hands and throw your arms forward. Look up slightly as you push away to get your body to follow your head. If you look up for too long however your feet will go in at the same time as your hands. As soon as your feet leave the starting block: Tuck your head in Push your hips up Streamline your body so that you go into the water head first 3. As you approach the water, imagine you are trying to slide through a hole without making a splash. As you go in, let your hands and head lift slightly. Try to hold the "hands on" streamlined position until you are close to the surface and ready to start swimming. A really good tip for making a smooth change from diving to swimming is to imagine that there is no join between the two. Someone watching should not be able to see where one finished and the next one started. TUMBLE TURN The main purpose of the tumble turn is to finish one length and begin the next as fast as possible. In freestyle races, you do not have to touch the wall with your hands. Any part of your body is fine, and using the feet gets a much faster turn.

1. The turn is basically a somersault and twist. Here's what you need to do: Travellers Sports Manual: Coaching Swimming page 7 of 9: Swim towards the wall. Forward somersault just before the wall.

7 1. The turn is basically a somersault and twist. Here's what you need to do: Travellers Sports Manual: Coaching Swimming page 7 of 9: Swim towards the wall. Forward somersault just before the wall. Place your feet on the wall and stretch your arm out. Push your feet hard on the wall and twist on to your front. 2. There are a number of different ways to practice the turn: Push away from the side and do a somersault. Try swimming five strokes and then do a somersault. Swim towards the wall and do a somersault, putting your feet on the wall as you go over. Practice pushing away from the side underwater and streamlining - swimming flat and thin with one hand on top of the other. Add a leg kick and start to pull as you reach the surface. Finally, put the whole thing together - swim, tumble, push off, streamline and swim. 3. Extra tips Swim to the wall quickly. Turn when you see the "T" on the bottom of the pool. Tuck your head in tight. Put your feet on the wall approximately 50cm below the surface. Stretch your arms out before you push away from the wall. BACKSTROKE TURN 1. The hardest thing to do in the back crawl turn is to find the wall. There are a couple of ways to do this. The first is to look for the flags across the pool and count your strokes from the flags. The other is to count how many strokes it takes to get from one end to the other. You need to leave space to turn on to your front and tumble, so don't count all the way to the end of the pool. 2. It is best to learn the front crawl tumble turn first before trying the back crawl tumble. The two turns are almost the same - they just start and finish differently. When you swim towards the wall on your back, you are allowed to turn on to your front to do the turn. Practice swimming on your back and rolling on to your front. 3. After your tumble, you should already be on your back with your feet on the wall. Push powerfully, stay on your back and begin your stroke. After your tumble, you should already be on your back with your feet on the wall. Push powerfully, stay on your back and begin your stroke. Extra Tips Count your strokes and learn when to turn on to your front. Throw your arm over your opposite shoulder to roll. Keep your head tucked in and your arms by your side as you turn. Don't swim on your front - only go on to your front when you start to turn. Kick hard to get back up to the surface.

8 Travellers Sports Manual: Coaching Swimming page 8 of 9: BREASTSTROKE AND BUTTERFLY TURNS 1. The same type of turn is used for both butterfly and breaststroke. The laws say that you must touch the wall with two hands, so a touch and pivot turn is used. The main thing to remember is that you don't need to hang on to the wall. The quicker you touch it and pull your hands away the better. 2. Try to practice swimming into the wall and touching with arms stretched. You may find you need to change the speed of the last couple of strokes so that you can do this. 3. As you touch the wall, turn sideways by taking one hand off the wall and driving your knees towards your chest. Pull the elbow of the arm you have taken off the wall down, and then kick off the wall as you complete the turn so that you are back on to your front. Have just one stroke underwater after the turn. TIPS TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL COACH OBEY WATER SAFETY As the swimming coach, the children are going to look up to you. You have to set an example by following the water safety rules strictly, because if you don t then the children will certainly not. BE PATIENT For many of the children this will be the first opportunity to have a swimming coach who will coach them the proper techniques involved with swimming. Language barriers and their swimming ability may be frustrating but it is important to be patient when coaching. REPEAT THE EXERCISES If the children do not understand the exercise or correct stroke then repeat it until they do understand. Skipping it because they do not understand or can not do it will not help them when they are trying to learn how to swim. DEMONSTRATE THE EXERCISE YOURSELF Almost all of the children will have not seen a proper stroke technique before in their life; explaining a technique will often be very hard for them to understand. The best way to explain a technique is to demonstrate it yourself. When you are coaching you should be prepared to get into the water to demonstrate how to do a particular stroke if the children can t master it. PHYSICALLY SHOW THE CHILDREN THE CORRECT TECHNIQUE A good way for children to learn the technique is to show them out of the water as well. When coaching front crawl for example, you can show the child a correct technique by moving their arms for them. Doing this with every child will improve their stroke technique. SPEAK CLEARLY When you are coaching it is important that you speak clearly and in a loud voice if coaching to a large group. Also, ask the children if they understand and don t be afraid to repeat yourself if they do not understand which they often don t because of your accent. CONCENTRATION Children s concentration spans are known to be less than adults. Having the full concentration of the children will increase the value of all exercises considerably. Be realistic, let the children have some fun pool time as well as serious coaching, especially those of a younger age whose attention span will be less than the older children. Children playing in the pool will also increase their confidence in the water.

Travellers Sports Manual: Coaching Swimming page 9 of 9: Copyright 2010. TRAVELQUEST LIMITED. All Rights Reserved.

9 Travellers Sports Manual: Coaching Swimming page 9 of 9: Copyright TRAVELQUEST LIMITED. All Rights Reserved. No part of this document may be used, translated into another language, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of TRAVELQUEST LIMITED. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this document, TRAVELQUEST LIMITED assumes no responsibility for omissions and errors. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of information contained herein. TRAVELQUEST LIMITED reserves the right to revise any information contained in this document without prior notice. Questions or comment regarding this document or the project to which it relates should be directed to: Travellers Worldwide 2A Caravelle House, 17/19 Goring Road, Worthing, West Sussex BN12 4AP, England Tel: +44 (0) Fax: +44 (0) info@travellersworldwide.com Web:

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