Practice Plan for The Catch and Synchronization

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Practice Set for Catch

Skills To Build

• Feel a firm grip on the water
• To hold that sense of grip steady as you pull through
• To feel the catch mostly empowered by the torso, more than the small shoulder muscles
• To feel the body slide forward in response more than the catch arm slides back
• To feel the body slide straight forward in response to the catch pressing straight back

You want to feel your catch get a grip like your foot gets a grip on the ground to propel your body forward. The better the shape and path of the catch, the more force available to transfer into forward motion.

Focal Points

• Set the Catch with hand in line with shoulder
• Elbow goes wide and high (forearm angles inward and downward)
• Gather forearm before pulling back with shoulder
• Hold the ball and rotate body around it (forward, past that ball)
• Press the ball straight toward your hip
• Hold steady pressure from start to finish
• Feel hip pull the catch hand (with an ‘elastic band’)
• Shallow catch (send the ball right under the side of your body)
• ‘Arm-wrestle’ shape of the arm
• Send the ball under the hip and leg

Choose 3 or 4 of the focal points above to work on today.

Then, for each focal point, work through these activities, as far as you can go successfully. Take one focal point and work through the list. Then take the next focal point and work through the list again, and so on.

Practice Set

• 4 to 6x, for each side, 1 Arm Drill for Catch for 6 seconds (time of comfortable breath hold)
• 4 rounds of ‘4 to 6x Superman To Skate (for Catch and Extending Lead Arm)‘
• 4 rounds of ‘4 to 6x Swing Switch with pauses’
• 4 rounds of ‘4 to 6x Swing Switch without pauses’
• 4 rounds of ‘4 to 6x gradually faster switches’
• 4 rounds of ‘6 to 8x whole strokes’ holding the same focal point (no breathing)
• 2 rounds of ‘4x whole strokes, Interrupted Breathing, 4x whole strokes’

 

Practice Set for Synchronization

Skills

• to maintain catch skills and…
• to feel clear, immediate connection of catch on one side, torso rotation, and extension on the other side
• to feel smooth transfer of power from catch side into extension
• to feel proportional slide forward to amount of pressure in the catch

You want to feel the two sides of the body working together now, through the torso rotation. The rotation of the torso is empowering both the catch and the entry/extension, taking more of the load. When each arm is timed well with the torso rotation, the stroke feels so much more smooth, fluid, and long-lasting. You experience more sense of acceleration on each stroke.

Focal Points

• Catch holds a point while extending arm leads the body past it
• Set the catch at exact same moment that fingers enter
• Gather with forearm first, before pulling back with torso rotation
• Start rotation a fraction of a second before pulling
• Feel catch blended with torso rotation (assisting it)
• Feel the entry/extension blended with the torso rotation
• Feel the catch blended with the entry/extension

Choose 3 or 4 of the focal points above to work on today.

Then, for each focal point, work through these activities, as far as you can go successfully. Take one focal point and work through the list. Then take the next focal point and work through the list again, and so on.

Practice Set

• 4 to 6x, for each side, 1 Arm Drill for Catch for 6 seconds (time of comfortable breath hold)
• 4 to 6x, for each side, 1 Arm Drill for Entry for 6 seconds (time of comfortable breath hold)
• 4 rounds of ‘4 to 6x Superman To Skate (for Catch and Extending Lead Arm)‘
• 4 rounds of ‘4 to 6x Swing Switch with pauses’
• 4 rounds of ‘4 to 6x Swing Switch without pauses’
• 4 rounds of ‘4 to 6x gradually faster switches’
• 4 rounds of ‘6 to 8x whole strokes’ holding the same focal point (no breathing)
• 2 rounds of ‘4x whole strokes, Interrupted Breathing, 4x whole strokes’

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