Good turn out too! Looks like we are ready to get the year off and running!
Mike took some time at the beginning of practice to reiterate the form and function of the elements of the stroke.
Basically:
The catch: when the torso is rotated with the outside shoulder forward, and the inside shoulder back, engaging the abs and obliques the paddle should be buried at the forward most position that is comfortable for you to get the maximum power when you ...
Pull: ...pull yourself to the buried blade, thereby forcing you to untwist from that rotated position. The stroke ends when you are sitting up and the paddle comes even to your mid-thigh. at which point you will slice it out for the...
Release: the paddle is sliced out and away from the side of the boat as the lower arm's wrist relaxes and the elbow bends slightly, simultaneously the body begins to rotate forward as you snap into the...
Recovery: is only a word used to label the action.. there is very little time to actually "recover" from anything. The recovery needs to be a snappy decisive action of rotating yourself back to the catch phase...
While it is a fast motion you can relax for however briefly it takes to get back to your next stroke.
Overall: Your head needs to be up, to open up the chest and allow for easy breathing. Your eyes need to be forward and watching the stroker.
What is important is to note is how each phase depends on the execution of the phase before it.. they tie together into once continuous fluid motion. the body is never at "rest" during the entire stroke. You are either rotating or un-rotating, pulling yourself up to the blade or snapping
the paddle back to its set position. There is no pause at the top or at the back of the stroke. The triangle stays intact as the body moves it thru the stroke.
Today we worked on wet-starts and familiarized ourselves with the call, as from here forward we will ingrain the wet-start sequence at every practice.
We did some drills: zipper, roller coaster and front half/back half. (can be reviewed on the "drills" tab)
It was a great day to be on the water with like-minded friends and oh yea! there was a dolphin in the back bay- I think Paula was going to call SeaWorld to let them know.
Have a great week team- see you next week-
Jan 16th: videoing and reviewing and applying it immediately, dont miss out!
January 16: Technique and conditioning
January 23: Technique, conditioning and steering clinic
January 30: Orientation
January 23: Technique, conditioning and steering clinic
January 30: Orientation
