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Swimming Question of the Week - February 17, 2009

Posted by Glenn Mills on Feb 17, 2009 10:01AM (2,088 views)

Please answer on the survey if you're a swimmer, coach or parent.

Swimmers:
1) Have you ever, or do you take private lessons?
2) Did you take these lessons from your coach or from an outside source?

Coaches:
1) Do you encourage or discourage your swimmers from taking outside lessons?
2) Do you provide your swimmers with private instruction?

Parents:
1) Have you ever sought out private lessons?
2) Were the lessons offered by the coach or by an outside organization?

Survey results here.

Responses

Alina	Responded Feb 18, 2009 12:57AM I'm a swimmer and a coach and no I've never taken private lessons. I've been blessed with great coaches all along.
Ali Farahani	Responded Feb 18, 2009 05:23AM I am a fitness swimmer and have never taken private lessons. Although, I have learned most of my skills by reading swimming books and watching training videos. Also, have recorded numerous videos of myself to identify and correct swimming errors.
Tomás	Responded Feb 18, 2009 03:10PM I have never taken swimming lessons and all of my training comes from outside sources. Nonetheless I realize the importance of a coach...the point here in CR, is that we don't have good coaches or at least I haven't find one with which I can feel comfortable.
adrian	Responded Feb 18, 2009 08:15PM I do take swim class (learn to crawl)once a week , but my coache is horrible she just goes and takes coffe she never swimms with us in pool,I learned much more in my own and from this webbsite and dvd's. The costs are 100$ for 10 classes, its like 10$/class/ 1 hour .
stan	Responded Feb 19, 2009 09:27PM As a swimmer and a coach, I'm a new convert for private lessons, with two conditions: 1) The swimmer and instructor must be highly motivated, and 2) the coach must know a lot about swimming. The swimmers goals must be well known at the start. Videos are a great help. Feedback is vital to stroke improvement.
mbswimchick	Responded Feb 24, 2009 07:30PM I'm a swimmer, and a swim instructor, and a coach. I think private instruction is really helpfull, as so many swimmers can just thrash their way through a group workout, and never improve. Having an instructor take the time to analyze and offer suggestions and drills on a personal level, can make a remarkable difference! I took the standard Parks & Recreation Department swim lessons when I was little, 6-7 years old. Every kid I knew took the same lessons, growing up at the beach in Southern California. They put about 30 of us in a shallow pool, and had some high school kid yell instructions at us, like- swim to the other side! Some of us progressed, and some kids never made it past the shallow pool. Basically, it was just pool time. There were no individual instructions. They declared most of us as "pool safe" after a few weeks, and then we were allowed to go to Open Recreational Swim. We mostly practiced Cannonballs there. I was fortunate to get to be a part of the Junior Lifeguards program that we have on the beaches in summer. That was really like a boot camp for kids! We did lots of runs and buoy swims to build our endurance. But no one ever told us how to swim better. After that, I swam on a kids club team, and then on the high school swim team. Both gave us workouts and pool time, but no individual instructions. I made it all the way through high school swimming, on strength and determination alone. I was a thrasher! I never had a coach suggest ways to smooth out my stroke, I mostly learned by watching other swimmers. I did OK in races, won lots of medals, but that was more because I was competitive, than good. I really would have appreciated some personal attention from a coach...but our high school coach was a history teacher, and I'm not sure if he knew how to swim. In college, my coach wanted to convert me from a sprinter to a distace swimmer, because he measured my verticle leap (or rather the lack of). He put me in a lane by myself and had me swim endless yardage. It was possible for me to get by as a sprinter by just thrashing through the workouts, but this did not work for distance. During our first season, I tore my left rotator cuff, and ruptured some tendons. I'm sure the years of right-side only breathing, and using muscle rather than technique, were factors. The doctors told me that if I quit swimming and did not use my left arm for about a year, it would heal. For the most part it did. I have always loved swimming, and being in the water. I became an instructor, at first as a way to be in the water after my injury. I became a coach, because I was inspired to offer something better than what I had growing up. I think a mix of personal instruction, and group workouts, are the ideal way for swimmers to get the most out of their pool time.