Bastrop YMCA Swim League Procedures Manual Revised 3-17-14
Swim League Bastrop YMCA 2014 The following packet will provide you with information and details about Bastrop Swim League. The information provided will get you through the season and show you drills, progression, skills, and materials used to create a successful season. We (coaches, volunteers, aquatics staff, and YMCA staff) all want to provide the opportunities for participants to become successful individually and as a team. This packet will help us be successful as a team, staff, aquatics department, and YMCA team. Table of Contents: 2... General Swim League Information 3... Session/Registration/Tryout Dates 4... Session Prices 4... Tryout Information 5... Strokes, Turns, Starts, Finishes, Relays 8... Drills 12... Practice 13... Monthly Practice Layout 15... Meets 1
General Information: Description: YMCA of Austin Swim League is a skill-building program that focuses on the development of swimming techniques for all ages and abilities. Our trained coaches work to improve swimmers' skill level, advance swimming endurance and promote a healthy lifestyle. Our program embraces the YMCA core values and promotes progression at an individual level. Teams are organized by ability levels and are designed to help team members improve and refine the four competitive strokes, sets, starts and finishes. Purpose: The purpose of the YMCA of Austin Recreational Swim League is for children to learn and develop their swimming technique and gain an enjoyable aquatic experience. We offer competition within the Swim League with other Austin YMCA Leagues. We do offer the option for our swimmers to compete in a monthly swim meet. Swim meets are purely a fun learning experience for the swimmers that choose to participate and are treated as such. Code of Ethics Swimmers will not use offensive or abusive language to anyone at the meets or practices. Be respectful of program members, coaches, staff and other swimmers. Swimmers, parents/guardians, and other family members shall not participate in unsportsman-like conduct. All participants are required to maintain good sportsmanship. Violation of any of the above can result in suspension and/or expulsion from the program. Prerequisites: Ages 6-17 (Ages 15-17 do not have the option of competing in the meet, but will have the opportunity to help out with coaching responsibilities and step into a leadership role.) Ability to swim 50 yards continuously Must have completed Minnow level or higher, or in Red Cross Lessons Level 3 or higher. A certificate of completion of the swim lesson course will need to be presented at tryouts. If no certificate available, must be able to present the skills learned in Minnow level. YMCA of Austin member/participant There is a maximum of 25 participants allowed in each session, unless there is additional staff available for additional sessions. 2
Session Dates: *Typical Seasons for Austin YMCA Swim League areas follows. Bastrop YMCA Swim League is active only during Season 2. Season 1: January-April Season 2: May-August Season 3: September-December Session 1: 1. Member Registration: March 31-May 10 2. Open Registration: April 13-May 10 3. Tryout Date: May 14 th 4. Session Dates: May 19-June 21 (5 week session) 5. 1 meet scheduled 6. Practice: Thursday (eve), Friday (eve), Saturday (morn) sessions Session 2: 1. Member Registration: May 4-June 14 2. Open Registration: May 18-June 14 3. Tryout Date: June 18th 4. Tryouts exempt if: a. Participated in previous Swim League Session b. Were referred to the league by a Swim Instructor c. Passed the appropriate levels of Swim Lessons to be included in the League 5. Session Dates: June 23-July 26 (5 week session with Holiday week) 6. 1 Meet Scheduled 7. Practice: Monday & Tuesday (morn), Wednesday & Thursday (eve) Session 3: 1. Member Registration: June 9-July 19 2. Open Registration: June 22-July 19 3. Tryout Date: July 23 rd 4. Tryouts exempt if: a. Participated in previous Swim League Session b. Were referred to the league by a Swim Instructor c. Passed the appropriate levels of Swim Lessons to be included in the League 5. Session Dates: July 28-August 17 (4 week session) 6. 1 Meet Scheduled a. Can participate if participated in the previous 2 leagues 7. Practice: Monday & Tuesday (morn), Wednesday & Thursday (eve) **All session dates, times, days, etc. are subject to change at any time. Notification will be given if this happens. 3
Prices Per Session: Members: Non-Members: $40/session $88/session Tryouts: Tryouts will be held prior to the start of each Swim League session (Refer to Page 3). Skills will be tested based on what swimmers need to know prior to starting Swim League. Coaches will collaborate and discuss who is skilled enough to participate in Swim League, based on the skills that are tested. Those who do not have adequate skills to participate will be required to take an additional Swim Lesson or attend the Stroke Clinic. After this Swim Lesson or Stroke Clinic is completed, the swimmer will be able to participate in the next Swim League session. Certificate of Completion will need to be presented at the Swim League session attending. Tryout Criteria: Must swim one length of pool in 80 seconds or less. Front stroke and back stroke will be tested with time. Must tread water for 1 minute without struggle. Must have knowledge of 4 different strokes and be able to show that. Must be able to dive from a starting position. With or without arm swing. If criteria are not met, the swimmer will have the following options: Swim Lessons: Minnow/Fish or Flying Fish/Shark Stroke Clinic: If available at that time and/or Minnow/Fish or Flying Fish/Shark is not available. **Registration fee will be pushed toward the Lessons or Clinic and additional fees are excluded. 4
Strokes, Turns, Starts, Finishes, Relays: These guidelines are recommendations followed by the Austin YMCA Swim League. They need to be used as a guideline for all aquatics directors and swim coaches for rules at a meet. Any disqualification based on the techniques below will be determined by the aquatics director. Their judgment call on whether a swimmer is disqualified is at the discretion of the hosting aquatics director alone and the decision is final. A. Freestyle Stroke Technique Start: A head first surface dive is the appropriate start to this event. The swimmer is allowed to be completely submerged for up to 15 meters during the start. Stroke: Any swimming stroke or combination of strokes can be used except in the medley events. Turns: A flip turn can be used. A hand touch is not required but some part of the body must touch the wall. The swimmer is allowed to come off the wall and remain submerged for up to 15 meters. Finish: When the swimmer s hand touches the wall after the prescribed distance. B. Backstroke Start: Starting in the water with both hands on the gutter or on the starting grips. Stroke: The swimmer shall push off on his/her back and continue swimming on the back throughout the race. Some part of the swimmer must break the surface of the water throughout the race, except it shall be permissible for the swimmer to be completely submerged during the turn and for a distance of not more than 15 meters after the start of each turn. By that point, the head must have broken the surface of the water. Turns: A backstroke flip turn may be used. The swimmer must first touch on their back if they choose to use an open turn. Finish: The swimmer must touch the wall on their back after the prescribed distance. C. Breaststroke Start A head first surface dive with a breast stroke pull out is appropriate for this event. During this start the swimmer may take one full arm stroke completely back to the legs and one kick while wholly submerged. Stroke From the beginning of the first arm stroke after the start and after each turn, the body shall be kept on the breast and both shoulders shall be in line with the water surface. All movements of the arms shall be simultaneous and in the same horizontal place without alternating movement. The hands shall be pushed forward together from the breast and brought back or under the surface of the water. The 5
D. Butterfly hands shall not be brought back beyond the hip line, except on the first stroke after the start and each turn. Some part of the swimmer s head shall break the surface of the water at least once during the complete cycle of one arm stroke and one leg kick, except during the first cycle after the start and each turn. Kick All vertical and lateral movements of the legs shall be simultaneous. The feet must be turned outward in the back movement. A scissors or flutter kick or a downward butterfly kick is not permitted. Breaking the surface with the feet shall not merit disqualification unless followed by a downward butterfly kick. Turns & Finish When touching the end of the pool at the turn and finish, the touch shall be made with both hands simultaneously at the same level, either at, above, or below the water level. Start A head first surface dive is the appropriate start to this event. The swimmer is allowed to be completely submerged for up to 15 meters during the start. Stroke After the starts and turns, a swimmer is permitted one or more leg kicks, but only one arm pull under water, which must bring him/her to the surface. Both arms must be brought forward together over the water and brought backward simultaneously. The body must be kept on the breast, and both shoulders in line with the water surface, from the beginning of the first arm stroke after the start and after each turn. A swimmer is allowed to be under water for up to 15 meters in the pool and at that point, the swimmers head must have broken the surface of the water. Kick All up and down movement of the legs and feet must be simultaneous, but shall not be alternating in nature. The use of the scissor or breaststroke kick is not permitted, and the swimmer will be disqualified. Turn When touching at each turn, the touch shall be made with both hands simultaneously at, above, or below the surface of the water. Once a touch has been made, the swimmer may turn in any manner desired with the exception of a flip turn. The shoulders must be at or past the vertical toward the breast when the swimmer leaves the wall. Finish At the finish, the body shall be on the breast and the touch shall be made with both hands simultaneously at, above, or below the water surface. E. Individual Medley: 100 yard swim Start A head first surface dive is the appropriate start to this event. The swimmer is allowed to be completely submerged for up to 15 meters during the start. Stroke Please see A through D. The order is as follows: Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Freestyle. Turns Butterfly to Backstroke, swimmers touch with two hands and push off wall on back. Backstroke to Breaststroke, swimmers touch wall on back and push off on stomach or do a flip from their back to their front. Breaststroke to Freestyle, swimmers touch with two hands and push off wall onto stomach. 6
Finish When any part of the swimmer touches the wall after the prescribed distance. Relays Freestyle Relay Four swimmers on each team. Each swimmer is to swim one fourth the prescribed distance continuously using any desired stroke. Medley Relay Four swimmers on each team, each to swim one fourth of the prescribed distance continuously in the following order: Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly and Freestyle. Rules for Relay Races: No swimmer is allowed to swim more than one leg of the relay in order to qualify it as an official race. Each swimmer, after the first, may be in motion, but must have both feet in contact with the pool edge until the instant the preceding swimmer touches the edge. Any team member or relay team may be disqualified if a teammate enters the pool before the race is finished. Only A Relays score in dual meets. (At Event Trials and League Championships, relays are timed finals and may be raced in several heats). 7
Drills: Workouts include endurance, speed and drill techniques, with a healthy dose of teamwork and sportsmanship. Stroke Drills: o Chair Kicks (dolphin kicks) Have the participant lie on the edge of a lounge chair where the hip of the participant is at the edge of the chair (or as close to the edge as possible). Explain to them the process of the dolphin kick. Tell them to go through the motions of the kick making sure they understand the motions and how to execute them. You may want to move behind them and grab their feet and take them through the motions so they understand what it should feel like. This can also be done on the edge of the pool. o Roll Over Drill (pulls and pushes of the freestyle arm stroke) The participant starts out in a general freestyle arm stroke. They go about 3 strokes then as they pull through on one side, they will pull so that they turn over to one side. They will turn over toward the side that they stroked with. They will then go 3 more strokes on their back and repeat the process to flip from their backs to their fronts. The process will be repeated throughout the race to ensure that pulling is occurring throughout the stroke. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqlgjzotihm o Fist/Tennis Ball Stroke (used to teach the use of hands and arm stroke) Give each participant 2 tennis balls, or if there are not enough, you can also make each participant fist up both hands. I like them to hold onto something just because it doesn t give them the option of letting go. Have them begin lap swimming and tell them that you are looking for proper body movement and arm stroke all the way through the body. This helps to teach proper arm stroke movement and allows them to understand this will help the pull of the stroke when they are swimming with hands out. o Single Arm Drill (understand basic stroke technique) Basically you are swimming and stroking the way you would while you are swimming with 2 hands, but you are only using 1 hand while the other is by your side. Be sure to emphasize body position to make sure they are not compromising their body position just to do the drill. Modifications: Use a kick board to hold onto with the non-working hand and use the other hand to stroke with. o YouTube Stroke Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guulnjedku8 Kicking Drills: o Kickboard Kicking (emphasize the kick and technique of the kick) 8
Give each participant a kickboard. Have them begin laps and tell them they are working on a certain kick for a certain stroke. As they go along the lap, make sure the legs are moving and moving correctly. Stop to correct as you go making sure they understand the movement. o Wall Kicks (emphasize the kick and technique of the kick) Have the participant grab onto the wall with both hands. This will also be beneficial when working with breathing techniques, because you want their body flat so they need to have their head in the water while they are doing this. On coach s command, have them start kicking, watching them as they continue to kick until you tell them to stop. You can also direct them to a slow kick, fast kick, or low kick. This will help them with conditioning as well. Tread Water Drills: o Ring Dive Water Tread (conditioning) Decide on a time that you think the participants need to tread water. Have about 5 or 6 rings, or more if you think more are needed. Start the clock and all participants need to be treading water. They have to keep their head above water and use their arms and legs to keep them up. As this is going on, the coach will call a name of a participant. When the name is called, that participant will dive to the bottom of the pool and retrieve a ring. When they re-surface, they will hand the ring to the coach and continue to tread water. You can call more than one person at a time if there are a lot of participants and less time to do the activity. Advanced Options: have them hold their hands out of the water while treading Strength Drills: o Pop Out Drill (arm strength) Have the participants line up against the wall in the pool. Give them an amount of pop outs they need to do. They will start and they will pop out of the water, all the way to where they are standing on the edge of the pool. They will then jump back into the water and repeat the process until the number of pop outs that was assigned is completed. You can do this in addition to other drills to spread out the pop outs. Like abs, pushups, etc. o Bubbles Drill (learn to take breaths and improve lung strength) Have the participants get in the pool where they are up to their chest in water. They need enough room to bend a little bit to just get their face in the water. Tell them they will put their face in the water, blow bubbles while the count to 3, the come up and take a breath. As they take a breath, make sure they know that they need to tilt their head to one side and then the other, alternating on each breath. They also need to know that they need to turn their head to the side without lifting their forehead up or out of the water. A teaching directive would be to take the ear to the sky. 9
Conditioning Drills: o Stroke Count (Play Golf) (works with speed and using arm pulls to gather more distance) Have the participants start a lap swim and tell them to swim as fast as they can for one lap. While they are swimming tell them to count each stroke they take. When they get to the end of the lap, discuss the number of strokes taken by everyone. Give them adequate rest time, then tell them to do it again and tell them to try to get the same distance in fewer strokes. So, the number each participant receives should be smaller than the previous number. Discuss with them that this should decrease by utilizing the pull of the stroke. The more pull is involved, the less number of strokes will have to be taken to go the same distance. Starting/Finishing Drills: o Repeated Flip Turns (learning flips turns when changing directions) Have the participant stand about 3 stroke lengths or more away from the edge of the pool. The participant will then stroke toward the wall and go into their flip turn. They will push off the wall and glide out as far as they can until they start to slow down. Start with just a glide, add one stroke to the top of the water, then add where they will stroke out 3 or more strokes. This progression will allow you to emphasize the glide off the wall. Games: o Water Polo The pool will need to be set up based on the area used and the skill level of the athletes playing the game. Basic rules of Water Polo apply. The participants will be split into 2 groups (trying to make the groups as equal as possible). Each group will be assigned a goal. Each group will also need to decide as a group who will be goalie and who will play what position, if necessary. Once the groups are decided, play will begin by coach throwing the ball up in the air in the middle of the playing field. Each team will try to score a goal by placing or throwing the ball into the goal at their respective ends of the playing field. A time limit will be given before the game starts and play will continue until play is stopped by a coach or time has run out. o Tennis Ball Relay Many tennis balls will be dropped into the water all over the swimming area. All participants will be split up into even groups. Usually no more than 4 or 5 to a group depending on time. Give each team a starting point and a ring or bucket to place the tennis balls when they are retrieved. On GO, each team will send out their first member to retrieve 1 tennis ball. The participant will get a tennis ball, swim it back to the relay starting point, and drop the tennis ball in the ring 10
or bucket. The next person has to wait for the first person to place the tennis ball before they go. The 2 nd participant will then begin the same process, retrieving 1 tennis ball and bringing it back to the relay start point. This process will continue until all balls are retrieved or time is up. You then count the number of ball retrieved for each team. The team with the most balls wins. Give a consequence to those that did not retrieve enough tennis balls. This can be something related to a swim, pop outs, strokes, etc. Do not give consequences that will not benefit their swimming skills. Additional Resources o http://www.active.com/swimming/articles/a-drill-for-each-stroke-875786 o http://www.active.com/swimming/articles/drills-to-improve-your-swimming o http://www.usms.org/articles/articlesearch.php?categoryid%5b%5d=5 11
Practice: Practice Sessions: YMCA Swim League offers up to 4 practice times per week and swimmers are encouraged to attend all classes when possible. Participants are also encouraged to come to the facility and practice on their own time in addition to practice. Practice times will be as follows: What to Bring & Wear: Session 1: Thursday & Friday Evenings - 6-7:15pm Saturday Mornings 9-10:30am Session 2 & 3: Monday & Tuesday Mornings 8-9am Wednesday & Thursday Evenings 6-7pm Arrive to practice facility on time and bring appropriate attire for pool Personal items need to be left in a locker or somewhere on the pool deck Family-appropriate, clean swimsuit and swim attire is required (girls require a one piece, boys require long shorts or tights) Sandals or flip flops only in pool area Towel & goggles Water bottle Swim Caps Practice Layout: All practices will run approximately 1 hour-1 ½ hours. This will give the child enough time to get warmed up, worked out, and have time to get out of the pool, clean up, and leave the facility. Participants are encouraged to arrive on time for every practice. By no means is this enough time to get to the peak of your swimming ability. Getting to the pool on your own time and practicing extra on your own time is strongly encouraged. Part 1: o Part 2: o 5 min warm up Typically participants get into water and swim down and back, using any stroke, to warm up legs, arms, and body. Basic drills can be incorporated here that are light to get the muscles ready for workout. 15 min drills 12
Part 3: o Part 4: o Part 5: o Drills will be included here based on the focus of the day. Examples: Diving, starting, finishing, speed, conditioning type drills. 20 min stroke technique Choose a stroke to focus on for that practice Discuss the progression of steps for this stroke with the participants Break down the stroke into different parts to help the participants better understand the stroke techniques and how to change if they are doing something incorrectly. Add stroke drills to focus on that stroke once the participant understands the stroke technique. This can lead into Part 4 from time to time for extra conditioning if needed. 30 min conditioning Students should do drills and laps with different strokes to get conditioning. The focus here should be on going distances and being able to swim for long periods of time. Occasionally you want to incorporate speed conditioning here because a lot of the events focus on speed and not just going for long distances. 5 min cool down This should incorporate some type of light work to cool down the muscles before leaving practice. You can add stretching here This also can be a treading water exercise that they will still get the conditioning, but it will slow their bodies down a bit so they are cooled down enough to stop practice. Monthly Practice Layout: 5-Week Layout o Week 1: basics of freestyle, breathing basics, flip turn basics, drills based on learning the freestyle stroke, breathing basics, flip turn basics o Week 2: re-emphasize freestyle, breathing, flip turns, introduce backstroke and breaststroke, drills based on learning the backstroke and breaststroke, introduce dives with drills and progress o Week 3: re-emphasize and continue working on freestyle, add speed and more conditioning here with this style of stroke, drills included here to emphasize getting faster and being able to go longer, introduce butterfly, basics, drills to help improve stroke and kicking 13
o Week 4: continue emphasis on butterfly, add drills to improve all strokes, emphasize more speed and conditioning in this week, bring back the importance of flips and breathing, learn importance of starting and finishing, reemphasize diving o Week 5: become meet ready, emphasize the layout of a meet and what the process of a race will be like, continue drills for speed and conditioning, but they need to be race specific and they need to mock the layout of the meet, relays will be set and discussed here as well 4-Week Layout o Week 1: introduce freestyle and backstroke, drills used to help participant understand stroke, how to do it, how to fix movements, introduce breathing and flip turns o Week 2: reemphasize freestyle and backstroke, reemphasize breathing and flip turns, introduce breaststroke and butterfly stroke, drills incorporated to learn the strokes o Week 3: reemphasize all strokes, introduce diving and drills used to learn the progress of the dive, add speed and conditioning drills here to go longer and faster o Week 4: become meet ready, discuss starts and finishes and help them understand the rules of each for every race, continue drills for speed and conditioning, but they need to be race specific and they need to mock the layout of the meet, relays will be set and discussed here as well Practice plans need to be followed by the coaches at all times. There will be adjustments based on the needs to the participants and what needs to be worked on, but the basis of the practice layout will be the same. Communication is key, and if we are all on the same page with practices and meets and layouts of both, we will progress a lot farther with a lot more success. Drills need to be incorporated that will allow participants to learn the things they need to know to better prepare them for a meet. Progression of steps is important to learning a skill. Learn how to break each skill down to parts to show the participants how it will work separated, then put them all together to show the complete skill. 14
Meets: Swim Meets: Meets are scheduled against other YMCA teams in the Austin area, typically at other Y's on Saturdays and Sundays. No score is kept at swim meets; we will award prizes for 1 st -4 th place in each event. Meet times will be as follows: Typically meets will start at 9:00am. This is subject to change at any time. What to Bring & Wear Arrive to meet facility at the time the coach asks and bring appropriate attire for pool Personal items need to be left in a locker or somewhere on the pool deck Family-appropriate, clean swimsuit and swim attire is required (girls require a one piece, boys require long shorts or tights) Sandals or flip flops only in pool area Towel & goggles Water bottle Swim Caps Meet Schedule 2014: Saturday June 21 Northwest YMCA Saturday July 26 Southwest YMCA Sunday August 17 Northwest Championship Meet Age Divisions: Volunteering: Children must be at least 5 years of age to compete in swim meets. 8 & Under will swim 25 yard events, and 100 yard relays. 9 & 10 will swim 50 yard events, and 200 yard relays. 11 & Over will swim 100 yard events, and 200 yard relays. All parents are asked to be available to volunteer if their child is swimming in a meet on that day. We will utilize parent volunteers during meets in order to help them run quickly and smoothly. Parent volunteers are used as timers, ribbon writers, getting kids to their events, etc. Parents, please refrain from discussing matters of the meet directly with the Aquatics Director. Address any concerns to the coach and they will take care of the matter. 15