SwimPath Blog

One area of SwimPath's unique brand is the SwimCamp... not so unique in its title as there are many offerings of clinics and tuition days spread around the country in various guises. Most of which provide a great informative day or days out, leaving the swimmer with an enriched sense of learning and development in a condensed period of time! The fact of the matter is that they work - undivided attention from a group of interested swimmers having the opportunity to spend up to and beyond of 4 hours a day in the water honing new skills with consistent guidance from experienced and knowledgable practitioners. Not to mention the various asides such as nutrition, land training, psychology etc. In short, as long as the day is organised, has clear focus and objectives, is delivered succinctly and professionally, and what's more is FUN - because we all know that kids learn better when they are enjoying themselves - then its going to be successful.

So if the formula is seemingly straightforward, what makes some clinics stand out from the rest? Why does SwimPath offer an experience that most likely won't be found in every pool up and down the country?

The answer is in the detail - and by detail we mean keeping it simple!

Many clinics country wide will offer a days tuition, attempting to cram all and every detail regarding stroke improvement - as well as starts, turns, psychology, nutrition, strength training etc - with the plan of delivering an all encompassing 'swimmer' experience. And this it may provide extremely well. Sometimes though this can result in information overload...

At SwimPath we want swimmers to learn, improve, to take away something definitive that they can incorporate into their own training regime. And to do this effectively we focus our single day clinics on only one or two skill elements - and we explore these with photos, videos and discussion then try it in the pool with drills and fast practice. Understanding the reasons behind a skill is the most important factor to its successful performance, its cliche but on a SwimPath camp you'll get quality, not quantity!!!

For us pedagogy is key, but as well as the science behind its methodology, it is the art in its delivery that reigns supreme. And we believe the combination of todays top swimmers - either qualified themselves as licensed coaches or trained in house on our own scheme - alongside experienced and innovative practitioners (some of whom were yesterdays top swimmers!!!!) offers the perfect mix of content, coaching and practical application, with demonstrations from some of the best in the business!. With Jemma Lowe and Rebecca Guy already part of the South and North West Teams respectively and Individual Medley star and Olympian Tom Haffield soon to start flying the SwimPath flag in Wales, keep an eye out and a bookmark on our page to find out when the next SwimCamp is coming to your area!

Because as well as the swimming content,  its certainly no bad way to spend an hour at SwimCamp lunch picking the brain of some of Britain's most successful swimmers!

So what does make Jemma Lowe tick and fuel her desire to spend another year at the top? For the answer to that you'll have to tune in to next weeks blog...

So it seems Mr Lochte caused a bit of controversy at the Worlds this summer by performing his fly kicks (on the freestyle leg of the I.M) on his back!!

But it's freestyle right so that's ok?

According to FINA, probably not....

Despite not being DQ'd in Kazan, Lochte's kick exploits have caused swimming's governing body to re-look at the laws within IM - and as a recent article on Swimswam states - by adding further clarification to what constitutes the freestyle leg...

The basis of the current rules is that the freestyle leg on an IM can be anything other than back, breast or fly - and thus most of time folk will swim front crawl! However, the concern over Lochte's front crawl leg is that he did 15m of it on his back, which means he was swimming backstroke of a portion of the leg and so contravening the rule of not being allowed to swim one of the 3 other strokes...

Current perception therefore is that the rules will be changed so that on embarking on the freestyle leg of an IM the swimmer must be on his or her front...

Here's the interesting bit...

So if Lochte turns breast to free to come off the wall on his front (as we would see in a breast to breast or fly to fly turn) and performs 15m of fly kick underwater before swimming front crawl - has he not completed a portion of the leg swimming butterfly??

It raises the question whether therefore the freestyle leg will not be allowed to contain any fly kicks...

Or can they only be done on the side? (thats not a stroke right?!)

Or is the can of worms opened even further by looking at the technical laws of backstroke that state the entire swim must be completed on the back for it to be legal. And so if a swimmer kicked 15m underwater on the back, came up and turned onto the front then he/she would be DQ'd - and vis a vis therefore the 15m underwater on the freestyle leg if done on the back does not constitute backstroke because the swimmer comes up on the front thus rendering the lap NOT backstroke...

There's quite a few forums and chat on this subject already and it has been debated ever since he did it!

For my mind I don't accept that 15m underwater fly kick on the back is backstroke. It is an element of backstroke swimming that has come into the sport as swimmers have become more adept at fast kicking underwater - and rules, such as 15m distance, have been introduced to embrace and regulate its use.

Without a severe overhaul of all regulations of what constitutes strokes and allowable underwater phases I'm not convinced there is an issue...

After all, his winning time of 1:55.81 was nearly a second slower than the time he won the same event in 2 years previous (1:54.98) and nearly 2 seconds slower than his own World Record (1:54.00)!

So in conclusion kids, don't kick on your back on the freestyle leg of the 200 IM. Not because its illegal, but because it makes you slower :)