This week’s tip is to add a snorkel when working on your butterfly, which we know may seem counterintuitive. The breath is so intrinsically connected to the undulation in butterfly that also affects the pull, recovery, and kick. But there are many ways that using a snorkel can help correct some of the most common […]

What happens when we succeed? How does our body behave? How does our brain process and “save” this new input? What about defeat? How does our body react to it? And our brain? One cannot exist without the other – this shows us the intimate relationship between both of these experiences External and internal factors […]

Realize and embrace that your role is way more important than teaching technique or winning races and meets. We are nearing the end  of March Madness, basketball’s version of swimming championships. This led to an interesting conversation about if a coach is that critical in the performance of athletes in all sports. Being a sports […]

Age group swimming is easy to love when things are going well. Coaches and parents love witnessing age groupers improve. If kids are continually dropping time, you feel like you must be doing something right. You probably are. Watch out, though, because the validation you feel from your kids getting faster is a trap. Growth […]

Given the individual discrepancy among swimmers’ motivations, there is no universal solution for how all age groupers should be coached or parented. Imagine that you’re a 10-year-old swimmer and have just made your first state cut. You’ve been swimming for about three years now and have continued to drop time at each competition. You go […]

Although this may be exactly what is needed for beginners and swimmers without much insight into the sport, this could hinder the success for experienced athletes. Throughout any swimmer’s career, they will encounter many different types of coaches with differing coaching styles. A healthy coach-athlete relationship is crucial for success, but this is only possible […]

Writing about why the positive events in your life happened may seem awkward at first, but please stick with it for one week. It will get easier. I discovered a simple exercise that can help us—and our kids—with our mental well-being and happiness. Our kids work hard every day to improve technique, speed and endurance. […]

Another way to think of rotation is like a washing machine. At the end of a washing cycle, the washer spins the clothes super fast to help whick away water from the clothes. All swimmers have heard the words: “rotate more” during their Freestyle. As coaches, we can definitely see when a swimmer is swimming […]

There are several variables in the block phase, the most important being a good stable setup on the block to allow for the most powerful take-off. In any timed event the start is a critical component to the perfect race. This is especially true if we consider the start in any sprint event. A slow, or […]

Coaches, athletes and officials should never underestimate the power and influence kindness can be for others, especially when we truly never know what an individual may be going through. I never knew that when I jumped into the pool for the first time at age 5 that swimming would have such a profound and lifelong […]