Follow Critical Path For Skill Development
It is easy now for me to have all this stuff in mind because I think and teach on it just about every day. But I am hoping you too will come to have this memorized by interacting with the concepts more often.
Hence, this is why I invited you into the Mediterra Swim Dojo, and why I continue to write to you about these things. It is essential to the organic practice plan to keep the critical path of skills in your mind – the more you have internalized the principles the less you need to live by rules. The more you integrate understanding and wisdom internally, the less you need external authority to push you to do what you need to do to reach your goal.
Level 1 Skills First
Advanced stroke skills are dependent on the strength of your fundamental skills. The more you’ve practiced and automated fundamental skills the easier it will be to improve advanced skills. Here is the order of stroke skills to master: Balance, Stability, Shape, Rotation Angle, Patient Arm, Recovery, Entry Path, Rhythmic Breathing, Catch, 2 Beat Kick, Synchronization
Level 2 Skills Second
Likewise, the advanced speed skills are best developed in order too:
- Achieve Optimal Stroke Length
- Achieve Consistent Stroke Length
- Increase distance with SL control
- Achieve Optimal Tempo (while protecting SL)
- Achieve Consistent Tempo
- Increase distance with Pace control (SL x Tempo)
You can mix/match, or blend these a bit if you like – it can be made as complex and interesting as you could ever want it to be. But this order is about as simple as we know how to make it for the way humans are physiologically and neurologically designed, within the boundaries physics imposes on anything moving through water.