Do you drill with skill?

Recently I had a swimmer repeat a previously practiced drill. His initial comment was ‘back to the beginning….!’

Yes and no. Yes the drill was at the beginning of his learning sequence, but now by no means was it being practiced with beginner skill.

Initially practiced for general comfort and alignment, shifting now to fine motor control to enable more subtle complex propulsive movements allowed him to realize that he was practicing a ‘beginner’ drill with ‘advanced’ skill. Since then I have had several swimmers use the same drill all with different skill focus – stability, breathing patterns and control and the impact on alignment, core control to enable effective catch and kick just to name a few.

Here are some tips to drill with skill:

• Know the purpose of the drill – what skills are you learning from the drill and how does it apply to the whole stroke?
• Immediately after drilling, take your skill into the whole stroke and see if you can feel the improvements.
• Check that you are drilling correctly – use video or ask a team mate, friend or coach to watch and give you feedback
• Go back to basics, what have you learned about your swimming? What is now easy? What skill can you work on now?
• Appreciate the process, embrace the challenges and the enjoy the success!