The importance of technique

In swimming, your success as an athlete hinges on how efficiently you can move through the water. It’s a medium that’s nearly 800 times denser than air, and requires an entirely different set of technical skills than any other land-based sport. For this reason, any flaw in form is magnified exponentially in the water.  Working on improving technique regularly can drastically improve your overall swimming efficiency, speed, and confidence in the water. Being able to move through the water efficiently determines how well you swim far more than being in great shape does. Two swimmers with comparable fitness levels will most likely not swim with the same efficiency and rate of speed. You don’t have to be in amazing shape to work on the fundamentals, which is why everyone from novice to elite should work regularly to improve their stroke mechanics. Every time you are at practice you have the opportunity to improve, take advantage of that.

Technique questions to ask yourself.

Butterfly

  1. Do I keep my chest down and hips up...is my breath low and early?

  2. Do I keep my elbows high so I can catch a lot of water?

  3. Am I pulling underneath my body?

  4. Does my kick come from the hips...and do I kick all the way through to my ankles and toes?

Backstroke

  1. Do I connect my hips to my shoulders for good rotation and a powerful pull?

  2. Are my arms flowing and constantly moving on the recovery?

  3. Do I go immediately down to the catch; or do my hands stall near the surface?

  4. Does my kick follow right along with the rotation of the hips?

Breaststroke

  1. Do I get into streamline on every stroke?

  2. Are my hands moving quickly from catch to extension?

  3. Am I using my entire body (core) – head position, hand speed, and hips -- to get a powerful stroke?

  4. Do I recover my heels quickly... and slam them together quickly...on every kick?

Freestyle

  1. Is my breath low and quick and in rhythm with my stroke?

  2. Am I rotating equally to both sides?

  3. Is my kick steady and constant?

  4. Are my hips rotating my shoulders?

All Strokes

  1. Am I pulling my hands past my body or my body past my hands?

  2. Am I swimming with my entire body, not just my arms and legs?

  3. Am I sending energy forward?

  4. Am I streamlining and transitioning from underwater to theeffectively?

The Season is off to a great start.

I am extremely proud of how well the Centennial swimming and diving teams opened the 2016 season this weekend. After evaluating the meet I am very proud of how well we competed, and was pleasantly surprised by some great performances. Both the men and women have a lot of returning strength and some really great newcomers. We have had a great start this season, however we still have some gaps to fill and we need to swim like we have got something to prove (because we do).

Some standout performances came from Sophomore Daran Towns and Juniors Jenna Washburn and Sam Carlson.  All three earned a pair of individual wins in Friday’s competition. Towns won the 200 and 500 freestyle, Washburn won the 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke and Carlson won the 50 and 100 freestyle events. Single event winners were Freshman Shelby Drake (50 freestyle), Freshman Alex Castro (100 Breast) and Sophomore Josh Gutierrez (500 Free).

A lot of swimmers made automatic time standards for Valley in our very first weekend of competition. They are Daran Towns (50, 100, 200 and 500), Sam Carlson (50 Free), Jenna Washburn (100 Free and 100 Breast) and Shelby Drake (100 Back). Swimmers with consideration times are Shelby Drake (50 Free), Ellie Cruz (50 Free), Kaleb Kingston (50 Free), Kelly Washburn (100 Back), Alex Castro (100 Breast) and Heip Bui 100 Breast.

Our first out of town invitational competition is the Villanova Invitational in Ojai on March 19. The following is a list of swimmers that have achieved two or more travel time standards in the last 12 months and are therefore allowed to attend out of town travel meets.

Affonso, Abigail

Albiar, Nick

Blattenberg, Ashley

Bui, Heip

Carlson, Sam

Castro, Alex

Colson, Edward

Cruz, Ellie

Do, Viviann

Drake, Shelby

Drewey, Kaley

Eucce, Taylor

Feola, Chris

Gutierrez, Joshua

Hargis, Katherine

Hargis, Matthew

Hernandez, Haley

Hure, Dominic

Hure, Gabrielle

Kingston, Kaleb 

Kritsch, Madison

Lara, Zelyah

McNairn, Ian

Mountain, Michael

Palmer, Brynn 

Risenhoover, John

Robles, Esteban 

Sweaney, Caden 

Towns, Daran 

Villacano, Paige

Warren, Autumn

Washburn, Jenna

Washburn, Kelly

 

If you’re name is not on this list it’s not too late, you can make travel cuts at the Foothill or Clovis meets.

Great Job so far everyone,

GO(lden)HAWKS!

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Centennial Swim and Dive

Welcome to Centennial Swimming 2016    

    For those of you new to Centennial Swimming - Welcome. You have joined an activity that is well worth the time, effort, and dedication. You have not only joined a swim team but have taken the chance to enter a way of life that can reap you long term benefits such as goal setting, time management, learning to rise above the “uncontrollables”, accepting defeat as a springboard to success, accepting victory in a gracious matter, and becoming a team player in and out of the water.

    You need to turn in the proper paperwork to the school so you are cleared by the school to participate. This lets us know that you have had your physical and are eligible to participate on this team.

    Practice begins Monday, February 1, 2016 at the Greenacres community pool. The practices begin at 3:00 pm and go until 5:15 pm for returning Group One. The Group Two practices begin at 3:45 pm and go until 6:00 pm. Practices will include land training and training in the pool. For the swim training you will need a swimsuit or suits and goggles, caps are optional but recommended. For the land training you will need shoes that you can run in and comfortable (warm) clothing. All of this can be purchased at Action Sports, Dick’s, Sports Chalet or other sporting goods shops around town.

    Be sure to turn in the proper paperwork to the school so we can look forward to a great start to what is going to be a great season.