Swim Tip

Presented by Brandy Maben, Camp Director
Arizona Swim Camp

Nike Swim Camp Tip: Control your race before you enter the pool!

The daily skill progressions and challenging swim sets are adjusted to reflect skill and performance levels.

“Golf is a game in which one endeavors to control a ball with implements ill adapted for the purpose.” - Woodrow Wilson.

I like this quote because if you replace “Golf” with SPORT and replace “ball” with MIND it often makes perfect sense.

“Sport is a game in which one endeavors to control a mind with implements ill adapted for the purpose.” – Coach Maben

How hard can swimming a 50 yard freestyle (or any stroke) be? Yet often we find ways to “screw it up” or “underperform” or even “fail." Every time you get up on that block in a Championship Meet and get ready to compete at your best, do you fear this will happen? How can it be so hard to accomplish something so simple? Why would our brain which is so good at figuring things out not be able to manage a situation that we practice and practice and practice for, and did I mention – PRACTICE for. The reason is simple -- our mind truly is ill-adapted to perform at high levels unless we have the right tools (implements). Over the next few weeks I am going to explain some simple tools that we will be learning and practicing at our Nike Swim Camps this summer to help us better control our mindset in big meets. The tools are very simple but need to be sharpened through practice to become effective in meets. Each year after swim camp and throughout the next year, I get numerous campers contacting me about how to handle the pressures of competition and I use these tools to help them “focus”. Each year after swim camp ends I get emails or calls detailing how athletes have successfully used the tools we teach at camp to get that cut time or move up to that next level.

My first tool is called a “breath-focus”. For example, let me use golf again. Think of it like having one of those really fancy putters that helps you better control the balls movement on the green. Like the “putter” being the last club used before the ball goes into the hole, the “breath-focus” is the last strategy used before you dive into your race. All a breath-focus is, is a deep relaxing breath immediately followed by a clear “focus” point. on the most important element to the success of your race. The deep breath helps you control your physiological response to the race and the focus point helps you control your mental thought process. The “old adage -- killing two birds with one stone” applies to this simple tool.

For the breath part, we know that a deep breath -- in through your nose drawing the air all the way down into your diaphragm and briefly holding it --stimulates a relaxed response. Then as you release the air slowly -- very slowly -- out of your mouth you begin focusing with your full attention on one thing that you plan to do during your race. You want this one focus point to be one of the most important cues to the success of your race. This focus point could be a race strategy (e.g.: a tight streamline to 15 meters or your breathing pattern during the first part of your race), a technique cue (e.g.: tight turns or high elbow catch) or a manner in which you plan to swim the race (e.g.: “be the first to the 15 m mark” or “no one beats me into the walls”). You want the focus point to trigger an undistracted and controlled motivation within you. This tool should be used every time immediately before you get up on the block (whether in a meet or practice). It becomes a part of your routine as you are conditioning your mind to be “in the moment” and “concentrating only on what is within your control”. By practicing, this regularly you have built a “putter” in your implement bag that is better than your competitors who are using that “cheap” putter they picked up at Walmart or a yard sale. This “putter” is part of a skill-set that lets you perform at a level above your competitors, but it takes practice to use this type of “special club” or tool.

Over the next few weeks, I will be outlining more mental training strategies that the highest level athletes use regularly to help them replace their “bad” thought processes with tools that allow them to easily succeed. We will talk about other strategies such as self-talk hints, concentration skills and incorporating the right types of goals into your races.

Each of these seem simple yet they require more in-depth discussion to make them adaptive mental skills. If they were so easy to figure out, why is it so hard to swim that flawless and successful 50. Each of these strategies like the “breath-focus” will have one purpose in mind and that is to better control your mindset when it counts!

Check out more swim training tips to help take your game to the next level!