Swim Clinic: Swimming is an Odd Sport

Swimming is an odd sport. Try running or skating while holding your breath for up to 10 seconds at a time and then getting to take a breath for only a fraction of a second. Be sure to do this while running or skating your fastest. At least in those two activities you get to be vertical. Swimming is a horizontal activity. One great thing about skating is that you can stop slicing the ice and continue moving just by gliding. It’s possible to raise an arm in victory in your 100m dash before crossing the finish and not slow down too much. Now try that in a medium that is more than 800 times as dense as air and you’ll finish last.

That density of water is a game changer and what really sets swimming apart from all other sports. For all the hullabaloo made about wind tunnel testing and aerodynamics engineering of Formula 1 cars, that’s nothing compared to the hydrodynamic hazards heaped on swimmers. This is why the technique and form we take to make our way through the water is of vital importance: the drag forces on a swimmer are overpowering. We need to be very smart about traveling through the water as efficiently as possible.

To help us cut through the water as smartly as we can, our Highlanders swimmers recently had the honour of hosting swimming biomechanist Amber Hutchinson to our Spafford swimming pool. Amber has worked extensively with Olympic and Paralympic swimmers to help them achieve their best. She brought her video analysis tools, excellent coaching instincts, and above all, her extensive experience watching thousands of athletes move through water to help our swimmer athletes. All of this combined to give each of our athletes rich insights for improvement in their technique across all competitive strokes. As coaches, myself and Tia Taylor also learned a great deal and our Highlanders benefited from hearing a different perspective and voice. It was a tremendous day for education and growth.

Our Highlanders had about four very densely packed hours of instruction and feedback from Amber. The opportunity to bring her here was partly good timing that she was in Nova Scotia and available to work with us. The other aspect is the huge advantage that KES Swimming has in owning our own pool through the generosity of donors Mr. Elliott and Mrs. Barbara Spafford. Were it not for their gift we probably would not have had the means or flexibility to invite Amber, and we definitely hope to have her on our campus once we enact her words of advice.