Swimming World Presents “Special Sets: Getting Ready to Race”

Special Sets: Getting Ready to Race

By Michael J. Stott

As college swimming rolls into its championship season in February and March, meet warm-ups take on even greater importance. Between Carol Capitani at Texas and George Kennedy, who is now an assistant coach at Loyola University Maryland after retiring as head coach of Johns Hopkins after the 2015-16 season, the two coaches have 38 years of college head coaching experience. In that time, each has employed general and specific swimming warm-up elements to elicit successful meet performance.

Capitani has led her Lady Longhorns to seven Big 12 championships, a 58-11 (84.1%) dual meet record and six top-five NCAA finishes in her seven years in Austin. “I always find it interesting that even at this level, some athletes still have no idea how to warm up properly for regular or even championship meets,” says Capitani. “It is a good reminder that we are in the education business, and our goal is to help our athletes become as self-sufficient as possible and to learn how to warm themselves up through trial, error and paying attention to how they feel in the water!

Kennedy guided his Hopkins team to 28 top-10 NCAA finishes in 31 years (with 15 top-fives). He agrees with Capitani that warm-ups in college are a continuing educational process. “I work to inform the athletes on the components and get them to try different warm-ups in practice. As coaches, we would encourage the athletes to get back in the water before their races. Event order mattered. If swimming the first event, we would have swimmers do more early on. If they had late events, we would urge doing less during general warm-up and more right before the race.”

To access the sets coaches Capitani and Kennedy use for warm-ups and warm-downs,
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FEATURES

016 THE TOP 5 STORIES OF 2019
by Dan D’Addona
From the debut of the International Swimming League to a worldwide youth movement, 2019 marked the start of a new era in swimming.

018 2019 ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
by Shoshanna Rutemiller, Dan D’Addona and Michael Randazzo
Diving: Shi Tingmao & Xie Siyi
Artistic: Svetlana Romashina & Svetlana Kolesnichenko
Water Polo: Ashleigh Johnson & Francesco Di Fulvio
Disabled: Sophie Pascoe & Reece Dunn

020 EVENT SPECIALIZATION…WHEN?
by Michael J. Stott
Many coaches are postponing specialization in favor of creating well-rounded swimmers for what lies ahead, leaving preordination behind so that other coaches, human nature and physical development can take its course.

022 READY AND REFOCUSED
by David Rieder
At last year’s World Championships in Gwangju, Ryan Murphy came home with three silver medals, but his first individual long course World title still eluded him. With his focus now set on the 2020 Olympic summer, the 100 back world record holder and 2016 triple Olympic gold medalist is looking ahead to Tokyo with confidence.

026 TAKEOFF TO TOKYO: THE BOYCOTT
by John Lohn
Years of hard work went unfulfilled. Dreams turned into nightmares. Sadness and anger abounded. The repercussions of the United States’ decision to boycott the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow were severe. This summer marks the 40th anniversary of a toxic mix of sports and politics.

030 2019 WORLD & AMERICAN RECORD PROGRESSION
by Taylor Brien

032 ISHOF: SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
by Bruce Wigo
Dr. Kevin Dawson, who recently received the Harriet Tubman Prize for his book, Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora, corrects and revises the history of swimming to include and recognize the contributions and accomplishments of Africans to aquatics.

036 MENTAL PREP: BEFORE THE BEEP WITH RYAN MURPHY
by Shoshanna Rutemiller

COACHING

010 LESSONS WITH THE LEGENDS: RAY DAUGHTERS
by Michael J. Stott

014 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: STRATEGIES TO ACCELERATE SKILL LEARNING
by Rod Havriluk
There are many different skill-learning approaches that can help a competitive swimmer improve his/her technique. For example, competitive swimming strokes “can be taught in their entirety or broken down into parts.” While both the “whole” and “part” approaches can help swimmers progress in all four strokes, selecting the most appropriate method can accelerate skill learning.

042 SPECIAL SETS: GETTING READY TO RACE
by Michael J. Stott
As college swimming rolls into its championship season in February and March, meet warm-ups take on even greater importance.

044 Q&A WITH COACH WENBO CHEN
by Michael J. Stott

045 HOW THEY TRAIN SARAH BACON
by Michael J. Stott

TRAINING

013 DRYSIDE TRAINING: TIME TO RESET—READY, SET GO!
by J.R. Rosania

JUNIOR SWIMMER

047 UP & COMERS: RYAN HOGAN
by Shoshanna Rutemiller

COLUMNS

008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT

009 BEYOND THE YARDS

025 THE OFFICIAL WORD

035 GUTTERTALK

048 PARTING SHOT

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Swimming World Presents “Special Sets: Getting Ready to Race”

Special Sets: Getting Ready to Race

Get Swimming World Magazine and Swimming World Biweekly FREE When You Become A Member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame

Want More? Subscribe With This Special 2-Year Offer!

New! 1-Year Digital Only Subscription for just $39.95 Order Now!

Get Swimming World Magazine and Swimming World Biweekly FREE When You
Become A Member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame