More Indy Videos

Hi everyone. Its been a fairly quiet week so I figured I would post more videos from Indy.

Video #1: Mens 400IM Championship final
Finalists: Andrew Ford, CAN Ouss Mellouli, TUN, Tyler Clary, USA

After a poor race in the morning, Andrew Ford was determined to take the opportunity to race the best in the world. Ouss Mellouli also showed he's more than just a distance freestyler.


Video #2: Mens 200FR Championship Final
Finalists: Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Collin Russell, Tobias Oriwol, Ouss Mellouli

Very solid race both in the morning and at night from Oriwol. Interesting 3 way showdown between Phelps, Mellouli and Lochte.
*NOTE: If anyone knows the name of the song playing in the marchout, please email me. Its stuck in my head and I don't know what its called.


I had posted a few athletes giving shout outs to HHBF when I returned but I'm not sure how many people actually got to see them. I wish I had time to re-post them all, but below you will find Ouss Mellouli's and a link to the post with everyone's. Please take time to view them.

HHBF Recognition

We have done fantastic work this season and as a result, here are just a couple of HHBF athletes who have been identified as exciting swimming prospects and have been invited to training camps in the next few weeks:

Central Region "FUNdamental" Camp (April 2nd, in Scarborough, ON) selections were made by a combination of FINA points between 200FR and 200IM. The 40 athletes in the region (8-9 year old girls and 9-10 year old boys) were selected to participate. Representitives from HHBF are:

Rachel Ironside
Darien Zuraw
Michael Jickling
Jake Wilson


Central Region "Learn to Train" camp (March 26th in Oshawa, ON). Selections were made by FINA points between 400FR and 200IM. The 45 athletes in the region (10-12 year old girls and 11-13 year old boys) were selected to participate. Representitives from HHBF are:

Justin Lochert
Chris Zanewycz
Carter Defortest
Frasier Stitt
Ashton Sicard
Victoria Gibson
Shannon Kent
Emily Collis
Shannon Jickling
Olivia Olson

It should also be mentioned that the following Blue Fins were also identified and selected back in October for the October Learn to Train Camp in Oshawa:

Aurora Zuraw
Clancy Harris
Nolan Haas
Quinn Jaggard


Swim Ontario Train to Compete Camp hosted by the University of Western Ontario is one that I have been trying to get athletes into FOREVER, but it is a very competetive camp that generally include the fastest swimmers in the province and in some cases, all of Canada. The selection criteria is as follows:

Eligible Swimmers
Females Males
3 Females born 1997 3 Males born 1996

3 Females born 1996 3 Males born 1995

3 Females born 1995 3 Males born 1994


Method of Application: Club Coach Submission.
Qualification Period: September 1, 2010 to February 27, 2011.
Submission Deadline: Friday, March 4 at 12 Noon, 2011.

Submission Details

Club coaches must list the Event, the SC time and the Current FINA Short Course Ratings for their swimmer.

Submissions must be based on the sum of FINA points accumulated from two (2) different 200 meter events, plus the 400 IM. The 3 highest scoring swimmers, submitted in each gender and in each year of birth, will be selected.

More details can be found here: http://swimontario.com/page.php?id=1859

I am proud to announce that Kyle Haas has been selected for this camp and is only the second Blue Fin ever to have the honor of this selection (Tasha Truscott being the first). My feeling is that there are at least 3 more Blue Fins hot on his heals for selections when they reach the selection age.

I am very proud of what HHBF has acheived so far this season and that we are being recognized for it. Good work, everyone!

Good Swimming Is Easy

Bad news is that I'm sick as a dog! I feel terrible; achy, stuffed head and sore throat and I'm exhausted above all. I had to take yesterday morning's Elite practice off to sleep and this morning's Platinum and Regional Development practices off to get a little extra rest. I have to shake this thing before Monday, when my wife goes back to work from maternity leave and I become the primary "responsible" parent at home with my kids.

The good news is that our swimmers in Platinum, Elite and Regional Development are swimming very well this week. From early on in the week, I have been pushing these groups to focus on FR, FLY and BR pullouts: purpose, pull pattern. A lot of our swimmers have gotten into the habit of allowing their hands to sweep away from their bodies rather than staying on top of their hands and keeping their elbows high.

As you can see with the Phelps video above, Michael enters the water with the smallest surface area available, his hand (rather than his whole arm). By minimizing his contact surface area, Michael can reduce the resistance against him and start an effective pull. When he pulls, his hand pulls water straight down. his fingers are always facing the inside of his body: they never point away from his body. By pointing his fingers away from his body, he would be driving water sideways, away from him; rather than grabbing it and pulling it towards him... in other words... wasted energy.

I started noticing that our swimmers were losing ground in races this way back in January. The reason to swim this way is pretty simple: its allowing your body to do something immediately easier. However, you are sacrificing speed, power in the process and putting unnecessary strain on muscles that don't need it... and the kicker is, the incorrect motion doesn't save any energy, in many cases, its just more comfortable. Because it is not a good angle of attack at the front of the stroke, it is less powerful. Some swimmers get comfortable with the motion for that reason an lose their sense of impact and power.

The goal for the next few weeks is to practice proper technique over an over an over with FR, FLY and BR Pullouts (all are fundamentally the same motion). We'll try it in different ways, trying to create the brain myelin and muscle memory to do it effortlessly. We'll try it at different difficulties and intensities to force technique through fatigue. We'll try to race with it. My plan was that once the 21 day period was done, everyone should have this well under control. We've been doing this since Monday and at last night's Platinum and Elite practice, I saw some of the best swimming that I have seen all season.

Good swimming is easy, but only after you create the right environment and mindset for it... which was proven by these groups this week.

More Indy Video

Hi Everyone. I have obtained more video from the Indy Grand Prix. The video is below. Some of the races are fantastic, but my shakey hands and the echoy pool deminish the effect a little (sorry).

First up, the final in Mens 200BK. Ryan Lochte vs. Matt Hawes & Tobias Oriwol. Please listen closely for the lane assignments.

Although Tobias posted the 5th fastest time in the world in the morning prelim session, Matt posted the 3rd fastest and Ryan Lochte posted the 2nd fastest time to eclipse him. It was a very awesome race!

Mens 100FLY. Michael Phelps. Need I say more?


Women's 50FR Final. Hardey, Poon, Volmer, Kenedy, Franklyn... this is a stacked heat!


Some more races coming soon... it just takes forever to upload these videos. More to come later this weekend.

Its SHOUT OUT time!!

Good day, everyone. I'm back from Indianapolis, safe and sound. Thanks to The OSCC, Swim Ontario, Dean, Kevin, Paul, Derrick, Don and JR for allowing me to be part of the trip and for sharing all of your knowledge with me. I learned a lot and had a FANTASTIC time!

One of my new favorite swimmers that I encountered is Ouss Mellouli (Mellouli is the gold medalist in the 1500 at the 2008 Olympics and owns the second fastest time ever in the event). We struck up a conversation on Friday afternoon and he is a SUPER nice guy.


Matt Hawes was a swimmer on Team Ontario for this trip. He was 6th in 100BK (55.48) and 2nd in the 200BK (1:58.85). All times LC, btw. Matt is a great racer, he also broke the SC OUA record in 200BK by 4 seconds earlier in February.


Richard Hortness is a Canadian Olympian and National Team Member. Also a great guy!


We all know Joe Bartoch, he's a friend of HHBF. For those of you who don't: Joe is a 2008 Olympian, National Team Member and holder of the National Record for 100FLY (also a former world record holder). I had to chop this video short so it ends pretty abruptly(thanks, Matt Kwatyra).


Chantique Payne is a sprinter from Guelph. She had a phenomenal 200IM on Saturday and I roped her into saying "Hi" during her blood lactate test. Smile, Chantique!


Andrew Ford is also from Guelph. He posted a 2:02.76 in 200IM on Saturday, which was in the top 15 in the world. He's an intensely fast swimmer and a funny guy. He also wants to say hi.


All in all it was a great trip. Thanks to Ouss, Rich, Joe, Chantique, Andrew and Matt for recording shot outs to HHBF. I forgot my camera but I have some good races taped on the Guelph camera. Once I am able to pick it up, I'll upload some of the races. They didn't turn out so well on my ipod.

Also, please follow Matt Kwatyra (mkwatyra) on twitter. He wants his reach in the swim community to be larger than mine. Good luck, bro!

Mike Thompson
Head Coach
HHBF

Friday night finals

Matt Hawes had a great night posting 55.4 for his 100bk and coming 6th. I spent a lot of time with him and his Coach (Derrick Schoof) tonight taking a look at their warmup and prep. Matt was to better his turn, kick out and catch of his stroke and was successful in most of those aspects.
"It was a solid race and a good time," said Schoof of the race. "It sets us up well for the 200 tomorrow. He's a much better 200 swimmer."

I just watched Phelps almost get caught in 200fly (but he went 1:55.34) and Ouss Mellouli set the fastest time in the world so far this season in 400fr (3:48.28) and am suffering from some serious heart burn. The coaches loung has good food, I just can't control myself.

Mike

Friday night finals

Matt Hawes had a great night posting 55.4 for his 100bk and coming 6th. I spent a lot of time with him and his Coach (Derrick Schoof) tonight taking a look at their warmup and prep. Matt was to better his turn, kick out and catch of his stroke and was successful in most of those aspects.
"It was a solid race and a good time," said Schoof of the race. "It sets us up well for the 200 tomorrow. He's a much better 200 swimmer."

I just watched Phelps almost get caught in 200fly (but he went 1:55.34) and Ouss Mellouli set the fastest time in the world so far this season in 400fr (3:48.28) and am suffering from some serious heart burn. The coaches loung has good food, I just can't control myself.

Mike

More Grand Prix

The term smart phone has made me chuckle this weekend because I tend to say "stupid phone won't get any service!" about every hour. Sorry for the lack of post last night.

Some really fast swimming last night (Phelps was 1:46 for 200fr, Tobias was an outstanding 1:50) and Canadians won 2 individual medals (Andrew Ford and Erica Morningstar) and the Canadian girls relay teams swept the podium in the 4x100fr relay. Boys relay (Hortness, Oriwol, Bartoch and Russell) won overall in the same event.
Had dinner with Kevin Thorburn, Derrick Schoof, Dean Boles, Mike Blondell and Benoit Lebrun. That was great! Learned a lot about high level performance in that 90min.

This morning I spent some time with national center Coach John Rogers. I listened to him speak to several international level coaches to see what they are doing and why (for my benefit). I then stood behind Michael Phelps's Coach, Bob Bowman and listened to what he had to say about Michael's 200fly (although he was clearly speaking to himself, not to me).

Something that strikes me is how normal some of these swimmers are. Phelps looks just like any dude that you'd meet on the street (but his legs are freakishly short). Ryan Lochte is hugely muscular but kind of short. Ya, Jason Lezak is massive, but I may be a little taller. Goes to show that these guys are human.

Having too much fun!

Mike

Indianapolis Grand Prix meet info

Hi everyone. I just found out that NBC will be doing a live broadcast of this meet. I'm SUPER excited for things to get going tomorrow because there will be some extra fast competition. Finals begin at 6PM eastern standard time. Visit the website:
www.universalsports.com/swimming/index.html

I encourage all HHBF swimmers and parents to make time to watch this. Anyone who is interested in swimming (honestly, if you're reading this you clearly are) should check it out. Support our athletes.

Indy grand prix day 1

Hi everyone. I left with swim Ontario yesterday and arrived in Indianapolis, IN for the Grand Prix. From the initial looks of it, there is going to be some very fast swimming this weekend! Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochtie, Jason Leezak, Katie Hoff and others are all in the heat sheets as well as numerous world record holders and fast people. I will be checking in as much as possible but my useless blackberry won't pick up reliable service down here (anyone from blackberry reading this, i'd gladly take sponsorship and a free phone) so when I do get pockets of service and my phone is not dead I'll be sure to update. Hope everyone is doing well at home. See you soon.

Mike