has coached National Age Group record holders and Olympic Trials finalists
Today's athletes will thrive on the challenges that Coley Stickels' Mega Drills for Freestyle provides. These drills will not only teach your swimmers the most up to date freestyle techniques, but they will also engage your swimmers by making them think and feel at the same time.
Providing a "solve the puzzle" challenge, these drills will develop a consistent feel for the critical aspects of the stroke, including:
- High elbow catch with an early vertical forearm, forward elbow and a hollowed arm pit
- Thumb in towards belly button in the pull phase of the stroke
- Rhythm of the stroke and timing of the breath
- Long, high neck extending the spine to create a flat back
- Flutter kick
Throughout the instruction, Stickels' shows you how to train the most advantageous catch position. He incorporates small sculling to train the initial catch phase and progressive longer sculling movements that eventually transition into the full arm pull.
Stickels emphasizes a "thumb towards belly" movement pattern under the body in his pull phase of the stroke. Many of his drills include snorkel work, as well as underwater recovery that allows the swimmer to watch and see for themselves where the hand travels on the pull portion of the stroke.
You will see several drills that train timing for both the stroke itself along with teaching the timing of the breath. For stroke timing, Stickels' drills isolate the hand and hip connection that leads to proper body hand/body timing for the stroke. For breathing timing, you will learn how to teach your swimmers to minimally turn the head for a breath and quickly get the head back to midline with eyes to the bottom of the pool. These drills are excellent to assist swimmers that have a late breathing habit or swimmers that stop their kick during the breath.
In his Turn Approach Drill, Stickels teaches how to coordinate the last arm pull into the wall with the flip turn. The result of this drill is a fast, tight turn with the feet quickly getting to the wall without excessive leg movement.
Breakout drills are also included to help you teach your swimmers both the timing of the breakout stroke and proper alignment to minimize drag in the kick-to-stroke transition.
Stickels' drill innovations allow the swimmer to feel the most important stroke components and to train skill essentials such as the turn and breakout. Stickels reinforces that drill work is a perfect way to reinforce stroke positives and also isolate and solve problem areas of the stroke to create more engaged, purpose-oriented swimmers.
42 minutes (plus 17 minutes of Individual Medley technique). 2013.
MD-04390B: with Coley Stickels, 14x NCAA All American with University of Arizona;
has coached National Age Group record holders and Olympic Trials finalists
Discover backstroke drills that run the gambit from simple, single focused drills to complex and multi-faceted drills. These drills reflect the most current techniques being used by world class backstrokers. Each drill is explained in detail, demonstrated, and narrated with helpful instructional tips.
Also included are stroke error detection and corrections along with visual cues to watch for that are invaluable in assisting the backstroker to enhance their "feel" for every critical phase of the stroke.
Presented by Coach Coley Stickel's, these drills reflect his core values for the stroke that center around the following key concepts:
- Maintain a relatively flat backstroke
- Leading high elbow catch
- Quick hands through the end phase of the pull
- Hips in line with the spine
Establishing an advantageous catch position is a major focus in the majority of Stickel's drills. These catch-focused drills begin with simple sculling drills that help develop a keen feel for the catch. Stickels teaches a quick, high elbow catch so that immediate pressure can be applied for propulsion. You will learn drill challenges that combine a variety of arm movements that transition into the catch position.
Stickel's emphasizes a quick hand exit on the end of the pull phase that will allow the swimmer a quicker stroke tempo and avoid getting "stuck" with a deep finish. You will see specific drills for training the quick exit into recovery.
Swimming with the hips in line with the spine will keep unwanted swaying out of the stroke. Stickels introduces drills for creating line awareness that begin with limited arm movement, just focusing on the body position and are followed by engaging the arm and leg motion of the stroke while maintaining line awareness.
The unique Approach Drill is perfect for teaching highly efficient turns. The drill reinforces the deep freestyle-like set up stroke that precedes the crossover stroke into the turn. The drill also heightens flag awareness for the swimmer that will assist in judging the wall.
This presentation is a rapid fire array of backstroke drills that will allow your swimmers to develop a feel for each of the most critical positions for the stroke, while at the same time training stroke fluidity and efficiency.
33 minutes (plus 17 minutes of Individual Medley technique). 2013.
MD-04390C: with Coley Stickels, 14x NCAA All American with University of Arizona;
has coached National Age Group record holders and Olympic Trials finalists
Coach Coley Stickels presents ultra creative drills and variations for developing hand speed, proper body position and timing for the breaststroke. At the heart of Stickels drill-based philosophy is that of presenting the athlete with fun, fresh, and challenging drills to help them "etch" a better feel for the critical elements of the stroke.
Stickels' drills center around his key points for swimming efficient breaststroke, including:
- Quick heels on the kick
- High hips on the glide phase
- An exposed lower back as the hands accelerate forward
- Moving the hands forward quickly
- Keeping the body low over water (45-degree angle) before transitioning onto a flat and long line
Stickels' drills are creatively intriguing and range from simple to complex. Each of the drills includes detailed instruction to properly execute the drill but, equally important are the focus points presented. Along with identifying common mistakes breaststrokers make, Stickels offers advice for correcting these errors.
Arm Movement
Learn a variety of drills that isolate the outsweep and insweep. This includes movement pattern work combined with feel work, to enhance the kinesthetic awareness for the swimmer. These arm movement awareness drills are executed with a wide range of leg and body position movements.
Leg Movement
Stickels uses the traditional breaststroke kick, single leg and alternating leg kicks along with flutter kicking and dolphin kicking. These leg movements are paired with a wide variety of arm and body movements that heighten body segment awareness.
Breathing
The breathing movement in breaststroke is key to attaining proper timing for the stroke and attaining an ideal body position. Stickels' strives for his breaststrokers to attain a 45 degree angle at the highest point of the stroke before accelerating into a very flat recovery line with high hips. The drills in this segment feature an array of breathing patterns that allow the swimmer to feel proper head and body positioning for the breath.
Timing
The timing of the stroke is perhaps the biggest challenge a breaststroker faces when attempting to perfect the stroke. These drills uniquely train critical phases that enhance proper timing. The timing of the outsweep, insweep, breath, kick and glide is a skill that takes precision and refinement. Stickels' shows how to coach swimmers to be patient, so the can be felt and learned.
Pull Out
Learn pull out drills that combine to breakdown the initial outsweep, insweep, and the critical timing for the arm recovery with the kick and the breakout position for the first initial stroke.
Stickels is a highly creative coach who understands the techniques and nuances of world class swimmers. The drills in this video will greatly benefit all swimmers by enabling them to develop a heightened feel for the stroke and improve their stroke timing.
54 minutes (plus 17 minutes of Individual Medley technique). 2013.
MD-04390D: with Coley Stickels, 14x NCAA All American with University of Arizona;
has coached National Age Group record holders and Olympic Trials finalists
Coach Stickles presents unique and highly efficient drills for training the latest successful trends in swimming butterfly. These drills are incredibly effective for today's athlete; they challenge the athlete to think about and feel what they are doing while focusing on the critical phases of the stroke.
Stickels' drills revolve around his keys to successful butterfly:
- Minimal outsweep to initiate the stroke
- Maintain low chin position when breathing
- Double-kick timing
- Dolphin kick into the breakout stroke
Stickels utilizes drill training for the butterfly to teach and train:
- Timing
- Body awareness and tactile sense
- Efficiency and distance per stroke
Stickel's drills run the gambit of complexity from basic to advanced. Each of the drills includes instruction, rationale, nuances, and demonstrations from several swimmers. Stickels also discusses the common challenges he encounters with the stroke and offers tips and suggestions for stroke correction.
Several of Stickels drills isolate arm motion of the stroke. Included in these arm movement drills are: movement and awareness drills for the catch phase that teach a fingertip down position with forward elbows, pull pattern drills, and exit drills that focus on the finish motion of the stroke that transitions into a low recovery and efficient entry.
Breathing drills included focus on executing the breath with a low chin.
Many of Stickels' drills include undulation and proper body balance in the stroke. The uniqueness of these drills is that the undulation is executed with varying arm positions of the stroke.
In terms of teaching the swimmer to execute proper timing of the two kicks per arm cycle, Stickels uses a series of drills that create kick awareness; from drills that utilize little to no kick into drills that are executed with an over kick.
Stickels believes that executing a correct breakout stroke in the butterfly is essential. He includes drills that train the transition from underwater kicking into a highly efficient breakout stroke.
All of these innovative and creative drills are immersed in instructional methodology but also many of the drills include important conditioning components that will assist a swimmer to be more confident when racing in butterfly events.
55 minutes (plus 17 minutes of Individual Medley technique). 2013.
MD-04390E: with Coley Stickels, 14x NCAA All American with University of Arizona;
has coached National Age Group record holders and Olympic Trials finalists
Mega Drills for Dryland Training features a refreshing mix of new, unique exercises and traditional exercises that include challenging spins. Coley Stickels teaches and demonstrates exercises with compound movements, many of which are swimming specific and all have a positive carry-over toward developing swimming athleticism.
This program is easy to implement and requires minimal equipment including: pull up bar, TRX or Jungle Gym straps, stretch cords, jumping box and med balls.
With an emphasis on developing core stability and increasing swimming strength, Mega Drills for Dryland Training takes a unique approach to increasing athleticism for the advanced swimmer.
Warm Up - Stickels demonstrates eight dynamic, multi-faceted exercises for his warm up series. These exercises feature low repetitions and are mostly swimming-specific. They include push-ups, somersaults, squats and core development exercises.
Dynamic Push-up Series - Learn 10 different advanced push-up exercises/routines. The emphasis here is on core stabilization, quick and light hands and explosiveness; all essential to developing highly athletic swimmers.
Pull-up Series - Learn 16 challenging exercises that incorporate pull-ups. This series provides a plyometric focus on the lats, forearms and core strength, and affords muscle group variation.
TRX-Jungle Gym Strap Series - Stickels presents 17 multi-dimensional exercises that develop incredible core strength and stabilization, balance, endurance, explosiveness and involve multiple muscle groups working together. The instability of the hanging straps forces the athlete to use a wide range of muscle groups for stabilization.
Cord Series - This series delivers eight unique exercises that offer a wide range of resistive challenges. Stickels combines movements in multiple drills to force core engagement. These drills train the extremities, while simultaneously building core strength and balance through stabilization.
Plyometric and Agility Series - In this segment, Stickels shares three complex exercises (two plyo and one agility) that show how to group short reps of several different exercises into one to train explosiveness and agility. Through this, Stickels demonstrates how creativity can create incredibly effective combinations for training explosiveness.
Stickels' Mega Drills for Dryland Training program exudes imaginative creativity and variety that engages and challenges athletes to improve their core strength, explosiveness, and agility. Coaches or trainers looking to infuse freshness and swimming-specific athleticism into their dryland program will greatly benefit this instruction.
61 minutes. 2013.