These kids are the youngest novice swimmers on the team, most of them fresh out of lessons, and they are initially able to swim a little backstroke and freestyle. Their attention spans are brief, their energy levels are high, and their control aver their bodies in the water is low. But their daily improvement is noticable; to a good coach, they are as moldable as soft clay to a potter.
A good development programme should put the following goals for these young swimmers:
- Teach love of swimming. Teach them that racing is fun, win or lose; that working hard and getting better is gratifying; that learning and refining skills is enjoyable; and that doing things well is great. These youngest swimmers should be excited about coming to practice, bugging their parents to let them come more.
- Teach all four strokes, starts and turns. Most comments from coaches at meets and practices should concern technique, not winning or times. We want these swimmers to gain control ever their bodies in the water and to learn to be comfortable with many movements, rhythms, and speeds. They should learn the rules of the four competitive strokes and be able to swim and race legally.
- Help them become swimmers. Kids at this age need to learn the basics of swimming, including how to use a pace clock, how to start on time, how to get their times on repeats (preferably all repeats), how to do elementary sets, and how to behave at swimming meets. If novices can master these behaviors, it saves a lot of time for the coaches at more advanced levels of the programme, and they will not need to go back to the first step in the progression.
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