[PHOTO BY TODD KIRKLAND ] [PHOTO BY UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA ]
“We work on turns every day. It begins in the weight room, working on explosive movements for explosive turns. We have turn work throughout all sets and all workouts. In a 3,000-yard workout, that could be up to 117 turns.” — Braden Holloway, head coach, North Carolina State
There he stressed low, fast, tight flips. To encourage that, he used a long, red lifeguard buoy and had swimmers flip into it so that the heels pushed the buoy away rather than land on top. Then and now, he has his swimmers keep their feet/legs low in the water during the turn. “Getting the heels to touch rear ends helps keep turns small, low and tight,” he says. “We concentrate on push-offs after the turn a ton—both in the weight room and the water, where we stress a tight streamline. We’ll do swims/sets, focusing on strong, explosive push-offs with no kicking until the feet reach the flags followed by six dolphin kicks before breaking out.” He has ratcheted up his focus on the push-offs and turn speed. “We’ve put significant emphasis on the amount of power put INTO the wall, and how much speed and power is generated upon leaving the wall, working to minimize the loss of generated power. In doing so, we focus on lines, foot plant, body position, head position and dolphin kicks. “At Virginia, we’ve done significant analysis with video and force velocity sensors to aid with this,” he says. “We are fortunate to partner with distinguished professor of mathematics, Dr. Ken Ono, who has worked with USA Swimming and national team members in this regard. He utilizes underwater video and sensors to help target inefficiencies in stroke and turn mechanics. We’ve incorporated his findings into verbal training cues for our athletes, and he has used his findings to improve our training practices,” says DeSorbo. IN KNOXVILLE At the 2019 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, Tennessee sprinter Erika Brown wasted no time on her turns, finishing second (21.23) and fifth (46.99) in the sprint freestyles. “One thing we all agree on,” says her coach, Matt Kredich, “is that repetition is key. A turn done once per length is not a lot of repetition. Usually there is not a cost in doing a poor turn in practice—and there may be some benefit to the athlete—i.e., more breath, less uncomfortable, easier to streamline. But...by allowing swimmers to practice things we don’t want them to get better at, are we really furthering our cause?” he asks. “At Tennessee, we have a high standard. In warm-up, we almost always do repeated turns per length—some in the middle of the pool—or start at the halfway point and do 20 turns in a row. We’ll also start on the wall and do underwater turns by: • Pushing off the wall underwater and turn, forward or back, at the second line, letting momentum carry you to the third line; • Pushing off the wall underwater, turning at the second line, unfolding and coming back underwater; • Pushing off on the surface, taking two strokes, doing a surface turn and returning.
“We’ve put significant emphasis on the amount of power put INTO the wall, and how much speed and power is generated upon leaving the wall, working to minimize the loss of generated power. In doing so, we focus on lines, foot plant, body position, head position and dolphin kicks.” —Todd DeSorbo, head coach, Virginia
“Sometimes swimmers go back and forth from the wall to eightto-10 meters, alternating a no-wall turn with a turn on the wall. “Walls complicate things a little bit,” says Kredich. “If swimmers do no-wall turns, they can be more aggressive. When doing those, we eventually have swimmers come back and repeat the skill on the wall so they are doing a full turn.” The Volunteers divide the turn into seven segments: approach, rotation, landing, jump (push-off), “flight” (the period after the jump and before creating additional propulsion), underwater propulsion and exit (breakout). Using both directions in an eightlane pool, athletes will jump to the second line, the third and fourth lines, where they are not allowed to create any propulsion until their heads (or feet) cross the third line. The drill that the team does twice a week magnifies any number CONTINUED ON 16 >> APRIL 2021
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