BALANCE IS KEY

Today’s students were extra tough, a couple who have been medal winners in the state Senior Olympics for years and strong swimmers for many decades.  On top of that they are my neighbors and dear friends of 20+ years.  What focal point would convince them to un-learn old school swimming?  They had participated in a Total Immersion workshop in the 1990’s when Terry Laughlin was the only one teaching the technique so they were familiar with the TI style of swimming. Nonetheless, I knew I’d lose them if I started where I like to start (at the beginning with the Superman glide). So after watching them swim a length I decided we’d focus on bringing the elbow up out of the water and calming the kick.  We must have also talked about 57 other pointers but kept the main focus on the elbow up and calming the kick.  They did great and even swam in sync.