Bay - Swimming: steps to success

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bay, Scott, 1964- author.

Title: Swimming : steps to success / Scott Bay.

Description: Champaign, IL : Human Kinetics, [2016]

Identifiers: LCCN 2015037240 | ISBN 9781492508441 (print)

Subjects: LCSH: Swimming--Training.

Classification: LCC GV838.67.T73 B39 2016 | DDC 797.2/1--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015037240

ISBN: 978-1-4925-0844-1 (print)

Copyright 2016 by Human Kinetics, Inc.

All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying, and recording, and in any information storage and retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

The web addresses cited in this text were current as of September 2015, unless otherwise noted.

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Photograph (cover): miljko/istock.com

Photographs (interior): David Haas

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Illustrations: Human Kinetics

Printer: Versa Press

We thank Volusia Flagler YMCA and the city of Daytona Beach as well as Teresa Rand and Joe Woodens for assistance in providing the location for the photo shoot for this book.

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E6544

This book is dedicated to my family.

The world of swimming has been very good to me. Growing up in Winter Haven, Florida, I was able to go from the kid who got cut from other sports to Olympic champion. As a television commentator for swimming, I get to continue my passion for the sport that I love.

I have known Coach Scott Bay for many years, and weve had many great talks about swimming: its history, its evolution, and, most important, the recent advances in technique. We have worked together at several clinics, and we always have a great exchange of ideas and observations. Coach Bay is truly a student of the sport.

In Swimming: Steps to Success, Coach Bay explains the elements of technique that are part of good swimming. There will always be variations by elite swimmers, and I encourage you to explore some of your own. This book can serve as a jumping-off point where you can get sound advice on stroke technique and instruction.

So... whether you picked up this book out of curiosity or sought it out because you want to see what swimming has to offer, you will enjoy Coach Bays detailed instruction and continue your journey into the amazing world of fun, fitness, and competition in swimming.

Best wishes to you on your journey!

Rowdy Gaines

Three-time Olympic goldmedalist and TV commentator

Swimming has been practiced as both a sport and a recreational activity for thousands of years. People at the highest levels of competition swim with such grace and ease that it seems almost effortless. For a beginner or novice, on the other hand, swimming may seem like an exhausting chore that can be done well only by people who possess a natural talent for it. The truth, however, is that anyone can learn to swimand swim well. With this goal in mind, Swimming: Steps to Success shows you how to feel more comfortable in an aquatic environment and takes you through a progression of skills for each of the competitive strokes.

Step 1 starts with the basicsfloating and finding your natural buoyancy. Step 2 addresses ways of manipulating the water for propulsion. Steps 3 through 6 cover the fundamentals of the four competitive strokesfreestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. Steps 7 and 8 focus on turns and starts, and step 9 addresses open-water and survival swimming. Step 10, the final step, gives you some guidance for continuing your swimming journey.

The Steps to Success approach to swimming is systematic in building on a solid foundation of skills and techniques. Each step should be approached in the following manner:

1. Carefully read all material in the step.
2. Study the technique photos and, if necessary, use a mirror or a friendly observer to duplicate them yourself.
3. Study the common errors that coaches look for so that you can avoid them!
4. When reading about and executing the drills, keep in mind that they are often designed as overcorrections for a specific technique flaw. Drills are intended to help you create a new pattern of movement. After completing each drill, remember to score your success.
5. At the end of each step, review the key points in the Success Summary to make sure that you understand the material. Then total your scores from the drills in that step and make sure that youve achieved the needed level of success before moving on to the next step.

As you make your way through the steps, you will begin to appreciate that swimming is not so much about brute strength as it is about the timing and rhythm of your movements. Getting it right takes a lot of thoughtful practice, and you will benefit from revisiting the steps when you have trouble with a particular skill or technique.

Swimming is a journey, and this book is designed to help you work through that journey one step at a time. Each step is laid out with a focus on a certain skills or techniques and ways to increase or decrease the difficulty. If you have trouble with a particular skill or step, remember that swimming consists of complex sets of movements that are not part of any other athletic activity. Be patient with yourself; the key is your progress. As with any journey, no matter how long or short, this one begins with the first step.

This book is a guide to help you better understand the fundamentals of swimming, which can be defined simply as the act of propelling oneself through the water. Because an instructional book cannot reasonably address all of the rules and regulations applied to swimming, this introduction provides an overview of the sport and introduces certain swimming terms commonly used by coaches and swimmers. Throughout the rest of the book, each term is further defined in the context in which it is typically used.