Excerpt from Regina Leader Post - Facitities planning

Rather than use my own words, I'll use an excerpt from the Regina Leader Post regarding the proposed facilities.

From the Leader Post

"Some key plan highlights include:

• Establishing a capital reserve to support community-group-led projects.

• Keeping open all eight of the city’s existing indoor ice arenas, as well as the six new arenas at the Co-operators Centre. The city would handle scheduling.

• At the Lawson Aquatic Centre site: adding a new indoor leisure aquatics facility, then using the existing for competition/training; adding outdoor aquatics.

• Enhancing the North West, Sandra Schmirler and South Leisure Centres. As the South does not have an aquatics facility now, adding one there is a goal.

• Replacing Wascana Pool with an outdoor aquatic park with pool, comprehensive spray pad, accessible playground, concession and support spaces.

• Both repairing and enhancing the existing Regina Performing Arts Centre.

• Adding 10,000 sq. ft. to the 13,000-sq.-ft. Neil Balkwill Civic Arts Centre, and addressing issues of access/parking.

• Establishing a new Heritage (Core) Community Centre and consulting the community regarding the Pasqua Recreation Centre, which requires repairs.

• Building the North West Link pathway — potentially as early as next year.

• Planning for replacing the Regent Par-3 golf course with other recreation.

• Keeping Dewdney and Maple Leaf pools open until the community indicates the facilities are no long needed.

• Having fewer, but better quality, outdoor rinks, with a rink within three kilometres of most homes, and developing three outdoor pleasure skating sites.

A potential Mosaic Stadium replacement is not within the scope of the plan."

So there you have it. interesting no?

I've been to pools all over the world, and i will put the Lawson Aquatic Centre as on of my favourites. It is a very fast pool ,the deep tank - short course particularly so, it has relaxed feeling about it and let shows' it self off as a "Cathedral" of sorts. However the pool is getting old. Well lets be honest the whole City of Regina infrastructure of building and leisure facilities are old. The last pool to be built in the City was the Sandra Schmirler Pool in the South East in 1989.

The increased recreative needs of the general public and the increased needs of sports teams with the near professionalism (in commitment - not pay) of all amature youth sport (not just aquatics), and yet the ever squeezed timetables of the facilities seems to put public needs against (sometimes aggressively) the sports groups. neither one wants the other one there and in recent times the coach of a high profile team was heard advocating "lets just kick them out, so we can take over". This attitude does not serve us well. Surely as a famous Beatle once said, "we can work it out".

So that brings me to a recent meeting I was able to attend as part of ongoing consultations with user groups and the City's facility planning. The City disclosed with the user groups (swim teams, diving, water polo, synchro) what it considers its plan on building new facilities and the time table for which it feels it can get them all built ( find the newspaper report here). Remember we were just at the aquatics meeting, there were other meetings for other sports groups (football, hockey. soccer etc) who are all wanting facilities.

I came out of the meeting with mixed feelings.

I am a natural sceptic, but I got a good sense from the City Staff. This is a vast undertaking by the City, a comprehensive overhaul, rebuild and new build of facilities in the City of Regina. They seemed to have taken on board issues from previous "town hall" style meetings. The cost alone is going to be staggering, $40 million minimum for a replacement of the Lawson Aquatic Centre, plus a replacement for the Wascana pool, plus additional aquatic upgrades and replacements and additions. I for one am glad it will be happening, and the City should be complimented of doing so.

The other feeling was of disappointment. when the city was disclosing its plans it was like a kid being told it was getting a bike for Christmas, in August, "we want it now" was what I heard from various corners of the room. Granted the pools are dated, and it would have been nice for this to have happened 1 year, 5 years, 10 years ago. But lets be fair here, the Lawson has about 15 years of life left. The very fact that the pools will be built should make us feel 'warm and fuzzy', but oh no not us, we need this facility now. This statement could be read the following way. We need this facility now, because I won't get to be coaching at it/my kid won't be swimming by then etc. Do they realise how much money and time will have to go into this development - from the green light to the first splash would be 3 years, so having a time table of all jobs completed by 2020 is fair.


I have lots more to say on the subject, but that will have to wait

read the newspaper article here

Masters Training session Thursday 24th Nov 2009

I did the below training set with 3 groups yesterday 2x Regina Masters and 1x Level 10 Fitness. The results were great- we had swimmers hitting times for either 4x100 or 6x100 that they had only had done on a one off swim before.

Only issue we had was that the Pool Temp was high in the second two practices and swimmers were starting to over heat.

terrific over all though.

Warm Up
8x75 as odd - Fc/ch/Fc even ch/fc/ch
8x25 Kick (various body positions - See Natalie Coughlin Vid)

Main Set
the goal is to try and discipline a "turn a round time" of 15 sec from target time. swimming a 1:45.0 with 15 sec rest = 2:00 turn around.

6x100 all at 400pace (or faster) Rest 15 sec only
1x150 easy recovery
6x100 all at 400pace (or faster) Rest 15 sec only
1x150 easy recovery.

If the set is daunting...it is. so the possible alternatives are as follows if you cannot manage 6 in a row.

either
3 sets
4x100 @400pace on 15-20 sec rest
1x100 easy recovery

or
4 sets
3x100 @400pace 15-20 sec rest
1x50 easy recovery

Swim down
1x4000 Choice

Total 2,800 in 60 mins

Rotation and kick in freestyle - Natalie Coughlin

Here I am again today, I feel quite enthused today, so I'm adding a video from Natalie Coughlin - 10 time Olympic medalist and recent Dances with Stars contestant. The video quality is very good. You can see the smooth rotation of her stroke and the tremendous use of the kick. Notice the "early catch" from the Thorpe videos on the earlier post.

enjoy



Now go and practice - what else you gonna do?

Early Catch Freestlye Demo by Ian Thorpe

Hello all, here is another first for me. embedding a video clip in a blog. hope it works.

here are two clips of 20sec and 17 sec of Former Aussie Swimmer and Olympic legend Ian Thorpe. For all those you have been swimming with me before know that I advocate a "early catch" or High elbow insweep on Freestyle. you can see here to what extent Thorpe was able to attain this.

Enjoy






Now go and practice - what else are you gonna do?

Thursday Nov 19th Regina Masters Swim set

Warm Up

1x400 Easy Choice (long and loose)
8x50 Kick/Swim (working on what kick, determines what stroke on the swim)
16x25 - 4 on each stroke ez/fast x25

Main set

3 sets (all on 10-15 sec rest at a moderate pace)
4x75 R1- Fc/Fly/Fc R2- Fc/Bk/Fc R3- Fc/Brst/Fc
2x150 IM/Fc x25
1x300 Pull breathe 5

Total 3900m 90mins

Hey Gang,
Just had a great email from a former colleague, country man and Yorkshire man David Lyles. I worked at the University of Bath with him and he has had great successes with swimmers making Olympic games, such as Darren Mew (who qualified for the 2004 olympic final in fastest place on the 100m Breaststroke.) I learned a tonne of stuff from Dave. Dave's wife, Jenny is Chinese and they both moved to Shanghai about 5 years ago.

From and email sent Nov 19th 2009

"Hi All,

This is just a short mail to let you all know how we got on at the China National Games last month, and also to thank all of you who have helped us along the way with kit, camps, nutrition, encouragement or support.
Firstly, let me tell you this was a 'Nationals' like no other I have seen anywhere - it really is 'The Chinese Olympics' in size and spectacle. From torch relays and opening ceremonies to athlete village accommodation and bussing in/out of venues it is as close as you can get to the real thing. I am sure many of you saw some of the results or times from the event including the staggering world record in the Women's 200 Fly. I am very proud - and more than a little relieved - to tell you that our small group of 7 swimmers brought home a haul of 10 medals, including 4 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze. 4 swimmers won relay gold and three of them also won the remaining 6 individual medals. We would like to share these results with you here:
The Shanghai men's team has not won gold for 8 years, but not only won the 4x200 Fr Relay but also broke the National Record - which was held by the Chinese National Team!! Our 2 boys - both 17 yrs - split 1.49.0 and 1.47.2 on the first 2 legs to give us a 10m lead!
We also had the first 2 legs of the women's 4x100 Med Relay and split 59.5/66.0 to hand over another lead.
Individually, silver was won in the 1500 Fr - 14.59 and in the women's 200 Br - 2.23.8 whilst bronzes came in the 400 Fr - 3.48 100 Br 66.3, 100/200 Bk 59.5/2.09.0
In additional, we had 2 finalists in the men's 200 Fr and 1 in the Women's 800 Fr so you can immagine we were delighted with the consistency over the spread of events.
The three of us have just returned from a wonderful holiday in New Zealand and started back at work yesterday - Tuesday. It is now time to re-evaluate, re-negotiate and re-plan for our next move. We will keep you informed.

Best wishes to everyone and all the best for Christmas and the New Year - hope to be in touch soon

David, jenny and Jasmine "


Pretty interesting huh?

Health Matters -- Breathing for Asthma sufferers

From time to time, my secret swimming gnome has been doing his research and brings me interesting links to stories attaining to Health and well being. here is the first submission. Its an article from the New York times which offers some interesting ideas on Breathing.

find it here


Disclosure. Neither I nor my research gnome are Doctors and have no medical training (other than a 1st aid award). we publish these article as an interest piece and hope that the readers can make their own informed decisions regarding the pieces.

barbaric and un-European

This is why I love Wikipedia

"One watershed event was a swimming competition in 1844 in London . Some Native Americans participated in this competition. While the British raced using breaststroke, the Native Americans swam a variant of the Front crawl, which had been used by people in the Americas, West Africa and some Pacific islands for generations, but was not known to the British. As the front crawl is much faster than the breaststroke, the Americans easily beat the British: Flying Gull won the medal, swimming the 150 feet (46 m) in 30 seconds, and second place went to another American named Tobacco. Their stroke was described as making a motion with the arms "like a windmill and kicking the legs up and down. As this produced considerable splashing, it was considered barbaric and "un-European" to the British gentlemen, who preferred to keep their heads above water. Subsequently, the British continued to swim only breaststroke until 1873."

The comment regarding splashing as barbaric and "un-European" to the British gentlemen I found most amusing.

Kick board, check, pull bouy, check, supersuit...check! the new role of the supersuits. a training aid. get out your cheque books!

From an article with No Suits (see previous post about the naturist swim meet) to a suit about the future of the "super suit" that are banned as of Jan 1st 2010

very interesting concept from Michael Phelphs coach.

find it here

what do you think?

Sunday 15th Nov Regina Masters Practice

Warm Up
4x75 D/s/k
4x150 Dec 50's 1-3
8x50 Kick swim x25

Main Set
2sets
10x100 Best effort - Best Ave 30sec rest
1x200 Easy

Swim Down
1x300 Easy

Total 4000m 90 mins

Anyone for Breast stroke?

Morning all,

I was looking for swimming articles of interest (as I usually do - told you I'm a nerd for this stuff) when I came across really great article in the "female section" of the British daily newspaper The Daily mail. I'm sure you will enjoy the subject matter. I provides some answers to the questions of what swim suits are legal.


The article can be found here

By way of "for the record" the men's 50 free world record stands at 20.94 LC and 20.30 SC while the women's stands at 23.73 LC and 23.25Sc

Enjoy

Friday 13th Nov Regina Masters practice

Warm Up
10x100 #1-3 F/c Drill/swim #4-6 Ch Drill/Swim #7-9 Free Dec 1-3 #10 Kick

Main Set

4x50 Kick Dec 1-4
1x100 Kick for Time (recorded for future article on kicking)
2x100 IM
1x200 IM (either 100IMx2 or 200IM)
4x50 Choice Dec 1-4
1x100 Choice Fast
2x100 Pull breathe 5th stroke
1x200 Pull breathe 5th Stroke.

Swim down
1x200
Total 2600m 60mins

Blast from the Past

Remembering the "S Pull"

The idea of swimming with the 'S-Pull' was a development in swimming around the mid/late 70's by the Coach to Mark Spitz, Doc Counsilman - who suggested it allowed the pull duration to be increased. This was also to suggest a movement away from straight arm pulling. This "S Pull" required the swimmer to place had entry at the front of the stroke with thumb down, then sweep the hand in an outwards direction, then sweep back in before sweeping out again by the hip. Thus making an "S". Many swimmers including myself were taught this method.

The S-Pulls' suggested benefits were dispelled in the late '80s (could have been 90's), as upon analysis of the stroke it didn't seem take account of rotation of the body when swimming. Also when looking at other activities that use the hand to pull the body over, like rock climbing or even climbing out of the pool, we notice that to effectively move the body upward we need the hand to press in a linear fashion. we wouldn't get very far if, in order to get out the pool our hands slipped away as we pressed.

Also most swimmers trying to perform an S-Pull overdo the sweeping action, drawing a "2" instead causing the hips to swing, the feet to fish tale and therefore create more drag (and that's not the rocky horror show type of drag I'm talking about either)

Injury, Injury they've all got an injury

A major problem with the S-Pull is that it usually requires the swimmer to enter a thumb first entry in to the water. This more often than not will lead to shoulder injuries. This action twists the rotator cuff and as the hand is being pressed with a straight arm, all the strength of this is transfered along the arm and creates an enourmnous amount of pressure onto this twisted rotator cuff. you should avoid an S shape pull if you suffer (or don't want to suffer) from any shoulder injuries.

Instead of trying to create an S-Pull, the "I Pull" is the letter of choice - focus on the hand entering flat, finger tips first. and press directly back behind you. Concentrating on fingers facing the bottom of the pool with the arm pit open. Pull the finger tips/wrist then bend the elbow so that the wrist is underneath the elbow and the forearm is near vertical. This is the "high elbow" we all hear and talk about. If any part of swimming is the "Holy Grail" this high elbow is it. It will take practice, but then again, what else you going to be doing huh?

Thursday 12th Nov - Training set Regina Masters

Warm Up
3x300m #1 F/c Drill/Swim x25 or x50
10x50m odd - kick/swim (no board) even - Drill/Swim

Main set ( IM based)
2 sets
2x75m as 100IM -25m of 1 of the strokes
2x100m as 100 IM
2x125m IM as 100IM +25m of 1 of the strokes
4x50 Fast Kick
1x400 F/c dev 100's 1-4

Swim down

1x300m easy choice

Total 3900 in 90 mins

Who Am I and What do I do?

I am known in the Regina area as "Swimcoach Jason", I am very fortunate to be coaching some great people in Masters swimming and in the Trialthon game. I coach the Regina masters Swim Team, City of Regina Masters Noon Hours, Level 10 Fitness, I also coach the Regina Marlins and advise Synchro Regina on aquatics training.

In a pervious life I was a full time swim coach in the UK working at the University of bath with Ian Turner (Great Britain Head Coach) and Andrei Voronstov (now head coach of Russia). I was lucky to have a great bunch of swimmers and assistant coaches striving for swimming at a high level. I was on the British swimming world class potential team as a team coach. I coached successfully with the Regina Dolphins with Jasen Pratt and have had high performance trips for Sakatchewan. I also represented Canada as a team coach to an International meet in the US with the Canadian Para Olympic swiming team.

In the Beginning.....


It would seem that the whole world is blogging but me. I'll see how it goes, as I was never a very good diary keeper. For those who know me I have a nerdy/geeky obsession with all things swimming, even synchro.....yes even that.

It was the summer of 1976 that my life really changed. A small little event called the Olympic Games was on. in very strange and foriegn land. Representing Great Britain David Wilkie a moustashioed God would win the 200m Breaststroke breaking the world record by 3 seconds (by the way he way the 1st high level swimmer to wear a swim cap in races). I was in awe, the whole familly was crammed around the B&W TV set and cheering. That was it, i wanted to swim like him. So I begged my parents to take me swimming.

The following summer I was watching Patrick Duffy and Ron Ely in the mid 70's. Patrick was the man from Atlantis and Ron was Tarzan and both had adventures that involved lots of swimming. I remember clearly my cousin Wayne and I spending all summer playing "man from Atlantis" and taking turns at who was tarzan and who was the crocodile, at the Halifax Baths in the town centre of Halifax West Yorkshire, England. we could swim underwater doing dolphin kicking better than swimming on the surface. Come to think of it all this underwater stuff that Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlan do so well, was actually started in the 70's with Patrick Duffy (who knew?).

What should I blog about?

I will endevour to put up some interesting training sets, points of techneque, ideas for pacing and news from either the local and the international scene. stay tuned for futher details.......