Week 4: Feb 22 -Feb 26

This week has been the best one so far! I have finally conquered my timing problem and was able to finish with time to spare and talk to the swimmers. I also finally learned how to time everybody correctly with the stopwatch, so that's exciting! Usually a USA swimming certified coach would be the only one who can coach the swimmers, but because the assistant coach, who is also USA swimming certified, helps me pick out what's wrong with the strokes and tells me different drills that can help, it's okay for me to tell the swimmers what to do.

This week group 1 did new drills to fix their strokes. Swimmer A has been swimming with their eyes up, to fix this we did Josh Davis catch-up drill, which is where the swimmer does three strokes and then kicks with their face in the water with their hands in a Superman position. This helps with head movement and introduces the feeling the swimmers eyes looking straight down. Swimmer B needs to stretch their arms out more instead of just diving their hand straight out. They needs to reach out by rotating and grabbing the water. To help with this we did six kick switch with one stroke, where they kick on their side for six kicks and then take three strokes and kick on the other side. This introduces the feeling of reaching on their side. Swimmer C is still entering the water with their hand turned, this loses the potential for pulling any water because their hand just swipes right through. To make their pull more efficient I had them do Josh Davis catch-up drill and really focus on their hand placement as they pull the water. 

In group 2 the swimmers seem to be crossing over. I mentioned to them the correct way to pull and why they shouldn't cross over while swimming. They did the fingertip drag drill to slowly enter their hand in the water above their shoulder rather than above their head. Pulling from above your head can create shoulder problems, which is like a bottomless pit of pain for swimmers. 

At the end they did a 50 sprint swim freestyle. 

Swimmer A went 33 seconds, last week they went 32.

Swimmer B went 34 seconds, last week they went 33.

Swimmer C went 35 seconds, last week they went 36.

Swimmer 1 went 34 seconds, last week they went 34.

Swimmer 2 went 36 seconds, last week they went 37. 

Swimmer 3 went 39 seconds, last week they went 38. 

This past weekend all of the swimmers went to Regionals, a three day swim meet in Phoenix, also Swimmer B's goggles filled up with water in their 50 sprint, this can cause unnecessary head movement. Swimmers are always faster at a swim meet because the adrenaline kicks in and you are their to do your business and go as fast as you can. Here are the personal bests thus far for the swimmers in my project.
Swimmer A's fastest recorded time, according to USA swimming, in a swim meet for a 50 freestyle is 30.01.
Swimmer B's fastest recorded time, according to USA swimming, in a swim meet for a 50 freestyle is 32.31.
Swimmer C doesn't swim the 50 freestyle time at a swim meet for their age group yet.
Swimmer 1's fastest recorded time, according to USA swimming, in a swim meet for a 50 freestyle is 29.93.
Swimmer 2's fastest recorded time, according to USA swimming, in a swim meet for a 50 freestyle is 31.84.
Swimmer 3 doesn't swim the 50 freestyle time at a swim meet for their age group yet. 

Week 3: Feb 15- Feb 19

We're moving along guys! All my swimmers said that they were enjoying the project, which is great news because it's a known fact that you do better at something you enjoy doing... according to my lit review anyways.
My adviser/ coach  was able to observe me performing the project this week. This was extremely helpful because it's difficult trying to point out the things swimmers are doing wrong, especially in freestyle, because that's the stroke we use the most and are most likely to evolve to be more efficient.
In group 1, the individualized coaching method, each swimmer did an initial 50 freestyle (2 lengths) so I could see what each swimmer needed to improve on this week. Swimmer A has started to move their head too much. To help with this I had them do a drill I had the others do last week, where they held the board and did freestyle with it. Swimmer B isn't pulling as much water as they should, this leads to a less efficient stroke because more work needs to be done to move through the water. I didn't assign a drill for Swimmer B I just told them to swim big and pull through the water with a flexed wrist and cups. Swimmer C has been entering the water with their hand turned to the side, this also leads to a less efficient stroke because your hand just swipes through the water as you pull underwater instead of grabbing and pulling the water through with fingertips pointing down. To help Swimmer C I had them use paddles,which are plastics boards about the size of your hands that swimmers use to pull through the water with more strength. Swimmer C used the paddles with no straps, that you would usually use to keep the paddles from falling off, but to make sure the swimmer put her hand in the water correctly they had to hold on the paddles with their fingers and pull all the way through. The swimmers of group 1 each did 3 50's of their drills. After each drill I gave them feedback on their stroke.
For group 2, the grouped coaching method, the swimmers started with 6 kick switch, which is a drill where you kick on your side 6 times and then do 3 strokes and then kick 6 times on your other side. This drill helps with side breathing and rotating their freestyle, which is important for reaching out and grabbing the water to pull all the way through. They did 1 50 of that and they looked good so we moved to fingertip drag drill to help with their hand control as they enter the water, which they did 2 50's of.
This week the swimmers did another 50 freestyle sprint off the blocks.
Swimmer A's time was 32 seconds.
Swimmer B's time was 33 seconds.
Swimmer C's time was 36 seconds
Swimmer 1's time was 34 seconds
Swimmer 2's time was 37 seconds.
Swimmer 3's time was 38 seconds.

Week 2: Feb 8- Feb 12

I started my project!! YAY! I currently have 6 swimmers, 3 in each group. For the sake of confidentiality I will call the swimmers in group 1, the individualized coaching method, Swimmer A, Swimmer B, and Swimmer C. In group 2, the grouped coaching method, I will call the swimmers Swimmer 1, Swimmer 2, and Swimmer 3.
I first had all the swimmers do a 100 freestyle (4 lengths) to see their strokes and get an idea about what their strokes were like and what they each needed to improve on. I noticed Swimmer A was breathing too late, to correct this I had them slow down and perform the fingertip drag drill, where they do freestyle but drag their fingers across the water slowly.  Swimmer B moves their head too much when they swim, to fix that I had them do a drill where they hold a kick board and have one hand on the board at all times while doing freestyle. For Swimmer C, they were pushing their head down too low, I had them do the same drill as Swimmer B. For the group with the grouped coaching method, they all seemed to be swinging their arms, to help fix this they performed zipper drill, where the swimmer pretends their side is a zipper and drags their fingers across the side of their body while doing freestyle.
I had them each do 3 50's of the drills I assigned. After each 50 I gave each person in group 1 feedback and gave the whole group 2 feedback together. They them swam to the other end of the pool where they each performed a 50 freestyle sprint.
Swimmer A's initial time was 32 seconds.
Swimmer B's initial time was 35 seconds.
Swimmer C's initial time was 34 seconds.
Swimmer 1's initial time was 34 seconds.
Swimmer 2's initial time was 37 seconds.
Swimmer 3's initial time was 40 seconds.
These are the initial times after about 10 minutes of stroke work.

Week 1: Feb 1- Feb 5

This week I finalized my methodology and turned in my syllabus, outlining each week.

Although my outside adviser and I discussed when what days would be good to perform my project, he changed his mind and is currently thinking about what time will work best. In the mean time I have prepared who the swimmers are that will be participating and explained what will be expected of them. I chose 4 swimmers per group under the age of 14. For this project to work they must be present for each practice session otherwise the data will be skewed.  

As soon as my coach/ outside adviser tells me what days we can perform the project we can start the project. I look forward to putting all this in motion and concluding what is the best coaching style to use to help a swimmer improve.