By Louis Tharp

They found my TI blog and one of them wants to know why he’s not mentioned more often. I’ve been focusing on the novice swimmer, the low maintenance one.

So now I have to make up for it by paying attention to the more advanced swimmer.

But first, the novice swimmer:

Life was good tonight for this former wrestler. Good enough for the inaugural 25-yard hand-lead on each side with very good balance. Yea, I hear all you out there laughing. Some of you don’t’ even use the vaunted hand-lead drill anymore because on a zero body-fat wrestler turned triathlete, it produces two results: he competes with the robot pool vacuum in a remake of 30,000 Leagues Under The Sea, and he doesn’t come back for lesson two.

I use it because it builds aqua-character. There are so many ways to play with this drill that produce so much rich entertainment for the coach that not using it would be like fitting Ben Rothlesberger with a chastity belt.

My novice would swim (very loosely defined, sorry novice swimmer if you’re reading this) three laps and then go into hand-lead position for as long as he could hold his balance. Last time he could hold it for 4 seconds. Tonight he was holding it so long that he’d get bored and take three strokes in order to stay awake, and he was thriving on this boredom.

He declared at one point that he could do this drill for a lap. But before that, we had more work to do.

First was nailing the stretch in hand-lead position. He had to feel the stretch in his lats and shoulder, and then understand how it contributed to balance. Second was head position. Not only in line with his body, but motionless. Third was a gentle low-amplitude kick.

The stretch and head position contributed to balance. But the gentle kick made balance more difficult because it replaced a kick wide enough for a poll dancer to use as her grand finale.

At times like these I think about a conversation I had with a venture capitalist. We were talking about how we could commercialize E-ZPass so people could use it at drive-through windows — fast food, dry cleaning, prescriptions. He said to me, "I can’t see 79th Street." meaning that he couldn’t see the end point of this investment. I said, "I can’t see it either," so we didn’t do that deal. And nobody else has either. (E-ZPass? It’s the windshield-mounted plastic transmitter that lets highway authorities raise tolls without you knowing or caring because you wiz through without digging for more change than you dug for yesterday.)

My novice swimmer could see 79th Street. Tonight it took him about 75-yards to get balanced, and the rest of the night was me giving him obstacles to his balance which he overcame. He was swimming with his brain so there wasn’t much that could stop him.

I even gave him the fear drill which didn’t phase him either. I’ve given up telling people to create this cute little circle around their mouth and nose so their head is in line with their body while they’re doing a hand-lead or back drill. They might do it once, but then the head is back to its old raised position. 

Instead I weld this head position into place by letting them know they are about to do the fear drill where water will be flowing over their face and they will have to breathe anyway. Swimming is about overcoming fear and this is the first step. Fear is the motivator and the imprinter of correct water posture for the long-term, especially when you tell this to a triathlete with a reminder that triathlons are held in open water, with waves and elbows that get in the way of breathing.

If you tell them this with confidence and let them know they have ultimate control over their fear, they’ll do well.

Since I’m reminiscing tonight, this reminds me of the jump off the 7-meter board at West Point. Every cadet has to jump, feet first from at least the 7-meter platform into the diving well. Rumors about water entry speed range from 35 to 80 mph. Who knows. One cadet could not do it. The Captain running the test watched him try twice but retreat to the steps without jumping. After the second try, with the cadet clearly rattled, the Captain, from the deck 7-meters below, quietly told the cadet to move to the edge of the platform. Then he told him to jump. The cadet did it. The Captain’s voice established order as well as compassionate dominance which allowed the cadet to trust words instead of being controlled by fear.

I think it’s the coach’s ability to establish order and compassionate dominance that builds trust. If you can do this, your cadet or your swimmer will climb over walls for you, or walk through them if they’re Rangers.

Next blog, I promise I’ll get to the high maintenance, more proficient swimmer. Ha. that’s his punishment for not letting us use the hot tub tonight.

 

 

 Louis Tharp is a competitive age-group swimmer and a TI triathlon swim coach who is currently taking a few semesters off from West Point coaching in order to work one-on-one with Nicholas Sterghos, an ’09 West Point graduate and pro triathlete. Learn more about Nicholas Sterghos.

 Louis Tharp‘s book, "Overachiever’s Diary, How The Army Triathlon Team Became World Contenders" is available from Total Immersion. Read a sample chapter and reviews from the top triathlon and swimming media at Overachiever’s Diary. Buy Overachiever’s Diary on TI.

His home pool is Club Fit, Briarcliff in Westchester County, New York.

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