Swim smooth!!!
Swim Smooth Coaches Educational Course
Receiving the awesome news that I had been selected to attend the Swim Smooth Coach Education Course in Mallorca was so exciting. I could feel my heart was jumping up and down and I had the biggest grin on my face. This was going to be a fabulous 3 days!!!
Swimming, learning, more swimming and lots more learning.
What an opportunity to further my coaching skills, meeting Paul Newsome and Adam Young and all the other 20 coaches from Prague, Dubai, Ireland, Switzerland and various parts of the UK.
The course was held in Colonia Sant Jordi, Mallorca, Spain. Sunshine, sea swimming and being surrounded by the other swim coaches who were just as excited to be selected and keen to learn. I was in heaven!!
To see Paul Newsome in action coaching a big group of swimmers was motivating, inspiring and impressive. I like how quickly he learnt our names, engaged with us all where it felt like he actually cared and remembered bits of information about our strokes which is hard when you have seen 20 swimmers just being video analysed, they all seem to blend into one. Tough!!!
The days were long and totally full on. The amount of information that was passed onto us was huge. I never once felt that Paul or Adam were withholding information and not willing to share. “Power is gained by sharing knowledge, not hoarding it”
I arrived a day early to swim at the Best Fest Open Water Festival which was awesome!!! Blog post coming.
A Facebook group was set up for all the coaches but the funny thing is it’s really hard to match a Facebook profile photo and the actual person. I had this desperate, please be my friend look on my face. Eating dinner on your own in a massive hotel is not my idea of fun and besides it's always nicer to share a glass of wine with someone. I was on the lookout to make friends. Which I did do!!!
A brief overview of what we did each day.
Day 1
· Understanding the Swim Smooth theories and methods.
· Video analysis, fault identification, stroke correction and CSS development.
The CSS (critical swim speed) development was very insightful.
Day 2
· Correct drill allocation.
· 45min technique pool session using some of the Swim Smooth drills.
· Ramp test
Day 3
· Speed coaching. You are given video footage and have to analyse the faults quickly.
· Coaching business strategies
· How to become a Swim Smooth certified coach
The overall course was a fantastic experience from start to finish. Adam Young was kind, professional and patient in answering all my millions of questions. My mom taught me well!!! Paul Newsome’s coaching experience is remarkable and his passion about helping swimmers improve their swimming was so evident. The on-tap knowledge from a wide range of coaches meant you knew when you got back home, you still had a support network and were able to grow professionally.
We definitely worked hard but after each day we headed to the sea for a quick dip before dinner. The laugher was contagious, the sea water cleared our full minds and the cooler water temperature made our skins tingle. With clear sea waters where you can see the sea bed you had to take every opportunity to splash about. As you all know I do like to take a couple of photos so, we played with the underwater camera to get some great shots.
The Best Centre is a venue dedicated to swim training camps and competitions. This is where all our pool training took place.
Pretty amazing!!!
The Best Centre was founded and run by former Olympic swimmers James Parrack, 1988 Seoul Olympic games and Matthew O’Connor, 1992 Barcelona Olympic games. The 50m pool was buzzing with talent using The Best Fest as training grounds for the World Championship Open Water Competitions. The Canadian team really stood out.
Watching Anna Karin an Olympic swimmer who represented Sweden at the Seoul games and also a Swim Smooth coach in Sweden was a real treat. The Best Centre 50m pool definitely didn’t disappoint and with clear blue skies, crystal clear slightly salty water and bright sunshine it was hard not to have a bad coaching day. The Harpenden pool was slightly dull after having been coaching outside.
We used The Best Centre for our coaching of the guinea pig swimmers and our 50 minute technique session. Performing the swim drills yourself under the watchful eye of Paul meant you did the drills to a high standard and they were done correctly, so having a better understanding of how the drills should feel, can then be transferred to your swimmer who you are coaching. Good drill work transfers into a better front crawl.
I loved swimming with swimmers who were faster than me as it kept me on my toes and allowed me to push myself which I know doesn’t happen when I swim on my own.
The course does not allow you to call yourself a Swim Smooth Coach but all knowledge and learning is a positive which I can share with my Pool2Lake swimmers.
The overall course was amazing!!!
Thank you Swim Smooth for the opportunity.
