2012 US Olympic Team Assistant Coach; 3x Olympic Coach;
8x NCAA Coach of the Year, 12 X NCAA Championships at Auburn
A great turn helps you take your momentum into the wall and carry speed and power off of it. Three-time Olympic coach David Marsh demonstrates the skills and drills he uses to help swimmers of all levels maximize their turns. Using on-deck analysis and footage above and below the water, he breaks down the components of fast, efficient turns and transitions, and then puts them back together.
Long Axis Turns
Coach Marsh starts with a drill progression for teaching the tight, fast spin needed for effective turns. He provides long-axis, turn progression drills for freestyle and backstroke. The progression starts with the approach, progresses through the turn and into the breakout. This progressions builds low, narrow, tight turns that take advantage of the swimmer's speed into the wall. It also enables the swimmer to use their core body strength to get off the wall and into the ideal body line as quickly as possible and with minimal energy.
Short Axis Turns
Peter Verheof, a former world-class butterflyer and recent U.S. Olympic assistant coach, joins Coach Marsh as they show how to build short-axis (butterfly and breaststroke) turns. They teach the turn from the three-stroke approach all the way through the breakout. As in the free and back turns, the result is a tight, fast turn that uses core body strength and a quick return to the ideal body line for the fastest, most efficient turn possible.
IM Turns
Finally, Coach Marsh covers IM turns, emphasizing the backstroke to breaststroke transition. He describes the balance of safety and speed he looks for from swimmers of different experience levels. He describes how elite swimmers use the challenging back-to-breast crossover turn, breaking it down with drills and a variety of camera angles. He also addresses how coaches can help younger swimmers build toward that turn.
Order now and start using the skills and drills from this presentation to turn walls into a competitive advantage.
37 minutes. 2014.