Tips
for Junior Swimmers
Here
are a few hopefully helpful hints for our swimmers and parents to think about
both before and on the day of events. Stretches:
Your muscles work best when they are warm and stretched before swimming. Take your stretching seriously as doing them properly will reduce injury and improve your performance. There are warm up exercises to learn on the Sharks notice board on poolside. If you do your stretches before every training session it will become a habit before you swim. At galas we hope one of our team captains will be there to assist you with your stretches before the warm up. Warm up:Make
sure you arrive at each event well before the warm up time.
Warm up is to get your body prepared for the race.
It is not the best time to practice dives, starts, turns etc. as you
should practice these everyday in training.
Your warm up should start with several lengths front crawl before
changing to backstroke and finally your event stroke. Speak to Glen for further
advice. Remember to keep moving, no
walking or stopping! Food
and Drink:
Food
is energy and when bringing food to gala’s you need to think about the type of
food you bring with you. Most swimmers enjoy:
The most important thing is plenty of drinks. You de-hydrate when swimming and on poolside so you need non-fizzy drinks to replace the fluids lost. It is important to drink water or squash but do not drink fizzy or pure orange juice as these dehydrate you. Bottled sport drinks are fine. Keeping
Warm:
Always
wear a dry t-shirt and have a towel available on poolside.
It is important to keep your muscles warm while waiting for your next
event. Dry yourself properly before
you put your dry clothes on between events. Stay
with Team Managers:
It
is vital that you stay with your team and team manager during gala’s.
You may miss your race if your team manager calls you for your event and
you are not with your team. The
team manager will have a list of events and which races you will be swimming.
You will be called 2/3 races in advance to prepare for your event.
At Open meets your cards will tell you which events you are in, these
must be posted in the right box before your warm-up ! Times
Try
to keep your own record of your times. If
you know your times, you will have something to aim for. Try
to beat you own time. Be aware of
the club records for your age group. These
can be found on the Sharks notice board or on the Sharks web-page. Aim
to reach and then beat them!! Set
yourself goals and when you reach them, set some more! Training:
Be on time for training, remember your stretches and warm up to prepare your body for swimming. Learn how you swim so you know when you are swimming well and when things aren’t quite right so you can correct them. Learn how many strokes you take per length, how many strokes from the flags before your backstroke turn, how many hands to touch the wall at the end of a race. Practice your turns and finishes every time. It’s heartbreaking to swim an excellent race only to be disqualified for something silly like a one hand touch. LISTEN
to Glen when he is talking and try to remember any tips he may give you when you
are swimming. If you mess around
and talk when Glen is trying to talk you will not know what you are doing and
waste your own and everyone else’s training time.
There is a TOP 20 training tips sheet as well as lots of other info. on
the notice boards which offer some good advice. Please
do look at the boards as you will learn from what you find. Learn
by your mistakes:
Everyone
has good days and bad days. If you
make a mistake, learn by it and remember it for next time, don’t worry or be
put off. These are some basic tips for the younger swimmers. We hope they may be of some use. The main thing to remember is to work hard in training and LISTEN to Glen. Do this and you WILL improve. Most
importantly-
ENJOY
YOUR SWIMMING !!!!! Steve & Mel Molyneux (Junior Team Managers) |
|
HOME SCHEDULE RECORDS SIGHTINGS COMMITTEE STAFF NEWS TIPS SPONSORS |