On February 9, 2020, TWIM and the Sammamish YMCA hosted a Starts and Turns clinic led by Coach Brad Hering.
Brad, Head Coach of SWYM in Stanwood, has devoted 27 years to coaching swimmers of all levels up to and including several Olympians, both in the US and internationally. Most recently, he was voted 2019 USMS Pacific Northwest Region Coach of the Year. In addition to being a fantastic coach, he’s a fabulous swimmer as well—making 7 USA National teams in his younger years and is a 6 time USMS National Champion. It was truly a privilege to have him join us for the evening as he makes learning new skills fun, very approachable, and often hilarious.
We started out by analyzing the “Caleb Dressel” start and then took to the pool to try it out.
Brad explained that starts and turns involve a certain level of “swimming gymnastics” and that requires a fair amount of strength and flexibility so we started out learning some helpful ways to stretch.
And we moved on to break down all of the details of the start beginning with the correct stance on the block, reaction, flight, entry, streamlining, dolphin kick, and breakout–all essential parts of generating speed and continuing momentum from the start.
And then it was time for the swimmers to try it out…starting with a few drills and working up to the start.
After everyone had their fill of flying through the air and into the water we moved on to turns, breaking the flip turn down into several drills that provided each swimmer feedback on aspects they were doing well and those that could be improved. Knowledge that can be applied to each and every future practice. (No lazy turns allowed…)
It was a great evening of learning for everyone in the pool and on deck. We thank Coach Brad for his time and willingness to share his knowledge.
Thanks also to the Y for their help promoting and coordinating this event and for the use of the facilities.
And a final thank you to Kim and Michelle and the tireless efforts of this guy on the right without whom, there would be no TWIM or fantastic clinics.
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A special thank you to Coach Zena, Dan Phillips and all of the other coaches that helped with this amazing event. Zena thank you for the toes over the blocks and the reminder to work on stretching out my stroke. I have been practicing!