Swimming Club Training
This is where you are Training to Train, Compete and Win! (TTCW)
(This session is for Adults and Juniors (8yrs+) who can swim a minimum 100m front crawl)
During the following 3 phases swimmers will be encouraged to compete and experience the adrenaline rush of racing and bringing together all the hard work.
Training to Train - Building the Engine
Growth and Development
The Athlete Development Support Pathway (ADSP) is about achieving the correct training, competition and recovery throughout a young athlete’s career, particularly in relation to the important growth and development years of young people. It provides a framework within which all sports should plan their training and competition programmes.
All human beings go through the same developmental stages from childhood to adulthood, though these stages can be at different times and each stage can vary in length. There is also a gender difference in that girls tend to develop earlier than boys.
Competition should be regarded as an integral part of a swimmer’s training programme. Age group and youth swimming provide opportunities for young people to develop their potential in preparation for senior swimming. Towards this goal, consideration should be given to the physiological, psychological and emotional development of the young swimmer.
“Success is a journey not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.”
Arthur Ashe – US Champion 1968, Australian Champion 1970, Wimbledon Champion 1975 6 7
The ADSP's greatest proportion of a young person’s energy is derived aerobically. Anaerobic metabolism as a proportion of overall energy output is small. After puberty, aerobic capacity increases significantly and an increased proportion of the overall energy requirements are met from anaerobic metabolism. Therefore, energy derived aerobically is very important in swimming.
During the Training to Train stage, there is an emphasis on aerobic and endurance conditioning. The cardiovascular system determines the efficiency of the heart and lungs; these organs are developed through building up work on longer distances. Swimming and multisport events are endurance sports – ie none are similar to the 100m track event, which only lasts a few seconds.
Towards the end of this stage preparations should be made for the development of strength, which for girls occurs at the end of this stage and for boys at the beginning of the next stage. Similar to the previous stage, if insufficient time is devoted to this stage or it is missed, the young swimmer is unlikely to reach their full potential.
Training to Compete - Optimising the Engine
During this stage there is a continued emphasis on physical conditioning with the focus on maintaining high volume workloads but with increasing intensity. The emphasis is on developing individual strengths and working on weaknesses. This is achieved through practising technical and tactical skills based around specific strokes at all distances, or specific distances across a range of strokes. To meet these needs, the training year is divided into cycles of training and competition and the ancillary capacities should be refined more specific to the individual’s needs.
Training to Win - Maximising the Engine
This is the final stage of athletic preparation. The emphasis should be on specialisation and performance enhancement. All of the swimmer’s physical, technical, tactical, mental and ancillary capacities should now be fully established with the focus shifting to producing the best possible performance. Swimmers should be trained to peak for specific competitions and major events, therefore, all aspects of training should be individualised for specific events. There should be two, three or more training cycles, depending on the events being trained for. During this stage, training should continue to develop strength, develop core body strength and maintain suppleness.
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