Blog 1297: Northampton Open

This weekend saw a group of Long Eaton swimmers compete in the Northampton non National qualifiers summer festival. A last chance for swimmers to compete Long Course prior to the season starting with short course races in October. The swimmers were a credit to the club, much improved in terms of behavior and nutrition and warm up protocol. When these basic skills are done right this leads to fast swimming and this was proven by the amount of swims that were long course pb's, conversions in to short course pb's and swims that were faster than short course pb's for many of the swimmers. One of the proudest moments of the meet was when a judge turned round to me and said "I have to say your swimmers technique is outstanding, its great to see young swimmers swim and not just bash it out." I dont normally mention individuals and in this gala everyone that competed did a fantastic job and showed the rest of the swimmers and coaches there how important it is to have great underwater work even on the sprints with our swimmers often coming up ahead after starts or turns, but I do have to mention 2 400m races that have stuck out for me. Bethany Dennis who did every skill we have been working on in training Straight arming into turns 7.5m streamline underwater kick and no breathing straight arm finish which won her heat for her and Ryan Cendrowski's 400m free race, he had just done his first ever 200m fly and his race was a reminder of how exciting longer distance swimming can be, with Ryan gaining ground every turn then the swimmer next to him gaining during the swim until the last 50m where Ryan pulled away to win an excellent race by over 3 meters. Jacqui Marshall Northamptons direct of swimming and GB Coach was commentating and was always impressed by our swimmers skills especially the underwater phase, she kept mentioning about how important it is to practice all 4 strokes at an early age, as strength gains will change swimmers style in the water, something we as a club do work on. So we are doing things right and the more disciplined we arfe in the skills the faster we will improve. Keep up the hard work guys.