Winning swimming video series
Collins, Michael
Finally! Richard Quick and his wife, June, (pictured at right), have put together a new swimming video series, featuring the drills, exercises and techniques that he has used with his highly successful Stanford swim team. His athletes have included Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres, Misty Hyman, Shelly Ripple, Tara Kirk, Summer Sanders and many other phenomenal athletes.
Due largely to the influence of Bill Boomer and Milt Nelms, Quick’s methods and focus of teaching stroke mechanics have changed significantly since producing the tapes of the early ’90s.
Since 1993, Quick’s focus has been teaching swimmers from the “inside out” instead of from the “outside in.” In other words, the drills and exercises focus on posture, body alignment or maintaining the line and maintaining balance, by using core body muscles before focusing on what the extremities (arms and legs) are doing.
Quick’s new series goes into far more detail than other videos. Quick’s “Winning Swimming Video Series” has a separate tape for each stroke and one tape on the techniques needed to be faster underwater (an area largely ignored by many swimmers and coaches).
Two tapes feature Richard’s wife, June, who uses dryland exercises to build strength, flexibility and core stabilization that can be applied in the water. Learning to do it on land is an important step to mastering body position in the water.
The tapes combine several methods for teaching:
* Quick’s detailed explanation as expert demonstrators do the drills;
* Classroom theory using Milt Nelms’ outstanding handdrawn illustrations to diagram the desired body positions and movements; and
* Exercises demonstrated on land, drills demonstrated in the water and shown from both above and below the surface.
There are 10 tapes in the series. Here are the titles:
* The Foundations of Posture, Line and Balance
* Winning Freestyle
* Winning Backstroke
* Winning Breaststroke
* Winning Butterfly
* Winning Walls: Underwater SwimmingThe 5th Competitive Stroke
* Winning Walls: Turns for all Strokes
* Winning Starts
* Swimalates: Pilates for Swimmers (June Quick)
* Swimmer’s Shoulder: Prehab and Rehab (June Quick)
If you are a coach, swimmer or parent who would like to understand more about how to swim correctly and see what the world’s top swimmers do in order to become faster, then I highly recommend viewing these tapes and incorporating the drills and exercises suggested.
The tapes are appropriate to just about any swimmer, although very young children may become a little bored or lose interest if they watch an entire tape in one sitting.
I have used the tapes to show only one or two skills, and then take the swimmers to the pool to execute what they just saw. I have seen significant breakthroughs in the smoothness and lack of struggle in their swimming, which has resulted in much faster times by using less energy.
Anyone not applying the proven principles shown on these tapes will soon find himself or herself outdated and at a significant disadvantage to those who learn to master and apply the skills taught and demonstrated.
You can find them in the “Swimming Videos” section of the Swimlnfo.com Swim Shop at www.swiminfo.com/ swimshop/shop.asp?iCatId=3 or by calling 1-800-352-7946 ext. 1.
Michael Collins is the head Masters coach at Irvine Novaquatics and a former USMS Coach of the Year.
Copyright Sports Publications, Inc. Jul 2003
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved
