Training Partners: Pool and Open Water Practice
By Michael J. Stott
While pool and open water practice may seem dissimilar, the two are actually remarkably complementary. Open water offers a host of transferable skills, including variety, aerobic benefit and strategic training.
Swimming World queried four coaches with outstanding open water credentials on how two seemingly different training environments actually enhance swimmer development:
Catherine (Vogt) Kase (associate head coach, USC; head U.S. open water coach, 2016 Olympics and 2009-2013-2015 World Championships)
“I love the aerobic benefits of open water—half the time, no walls, can still mix up speeds, strokes and build endurance. I have seen great benefit of swimming fast in the pool following an open water race one to two weeks later. Most of the top open water athletes winning medals are doing pool training and open water racing. The key is you have to get kids that BUY into training outside the box in open water. Pool and open water training complement each other,” she says, “and keep things interesting.”
Bill Rose (former chairperson for the USA Swimming Open Water Steering and Open Water Swimming committees; coach of innumerable international open water champions)
“Ninety-five percent or more of open water training is in the pool,” he says. “And the type of training hasn’t changed too much because the 1500 is the pool race for which they prepare. The best training for open water is swimming in an open water race.”
Tyler Fenwick (associate head coach, University of Virginia; assistant head U.S. open water coach, 2018 Pan Pacs)
“Change is good! Having athletes swim in a different environment can serve to inject excitement into their seasons. At Tennessee, we had practices where we took the entire team to a quarry and ran a variety of practices. There was a lot of fun, smiles and hard work!”
Ron Aitken (head coach and CEO, Sandpipers of Nevada; head U.S. open water coach, 2014 (ages 17-18)-2016-2018 Junior World Championships)
“We don’t look at pool and open water training as separate things. It is a part of our program; open water is just another event. We still train athletes for pool events, just like we do for open water. We help swimmers understand they are capable of doing open water by swimming 5,000-yard sets every once in a while. Truthfully, it equates to a 5K, so they get the confidence they can do it.
To read more about how these coaches incorporated pool and open water swims in their training,
plus a sample set from Open Water Olympian Andrew Gemmell,
check out the full July 2019 issue of Swimming World Magazine, available now!
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FEATURES
016 EXPLOSIVELY FAST…AND ONLY A SOPHOMORE
by Dan D’Addona
Torri Huske of Yorktown High School in Arlington, Va., is a national high school record holder, the fastest female this past high school season in two individual events and Swimming World’s Female High School Swimmer of the Year. And she still has two more years remaining of high school!
018 SHARING THE SAME PATH TO SUCCESS
by David Rieder
Swimmers Carson Foster and Luca Urlando: both are high school juniors…both were U.S. teammates and four-time gold medalists at the 2018 Junior Pan Pacs in Fiji…and both were named as Swimming World’s Male High School Co-Swimmers of the Year. And they also share the Olympic dream of competing next year in Tokyo!
022 THE BATTLE FOR FIRST
by Dan D’Addona and David Rieder
Not only did this year’s top high school swimmers turn in impressive performances, but six of the top eight will be returning next season, providing optimism for another year of fast swimming.
024 TOP HIGH SCHOOL RECRUITS
by Chandler Brandes
Swimming World takes a look at the swimmers it considers to be the 10 best high school recruits (both male and female) from the Class of 2019 and where they’ll be attending college in the fall.
027 HISTORY IS ON THEIR SIDE
by David Rieder
Back before Mack Horton, Mireia Belmonte, Tyler Clary, Kyle Chalmers and Caeleb Dressel became Olympic gold medalists, they were World Junior champions. Who will emerge from the 2019 FINA World Junior Championships and follow the same path as many of those before them?
029 PIONEERS OF TITLE IX
by Bruce Wigo
Swimming World takes a look back to the years when there were only isolated opportunities for girls to swim while in high school. We also remember two pioneers who helped make swimming a high school sport for women: Donna de Varona and Sandra Bucha.
032 NUTRITION: AROUND THE TABLE WITH MICHIGAN LAKESHORE AQUATICS (Part 3)
by Dan D’Addona and Dawn Weatherwax
COACHING
010 LESSONS WITH THE LEGENDS: JERRY HOLTREY
by Michael J. Stott
014 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: THE PREVALENCE OF SHOULDER PROBLEMS IN SWIMMING
by Rod Havriluk
Shoulder injuries are as prevalent now as they were 40 years ago. This is especially troubling given what we know about technique adjustments to prevent shoulder injury. To decrease the number of shoulder problems, it is vital that injury management strategies emphasize prevention and not just provide treatment.
036 SPECIAL SETS: LISA BRATTON—WOMAN AT WORK
by Michael J. Stott
Coaches preach that swimming is a process, a journey honed by dedication and perseverance. Presenting Exhibit No. 1: professional swimmer Lisa Bratton.
038 TRAINING PARTNERS
by Michael J. Stott
While pool and open water practice may seem dissimilar, the two are actually remarkably complementary. Open water offers a host of transferable skills, including variety, aerobic benefit and strategic training.
041 Q&A WITH COACH RICK ROWLAND
by Michael J. Stott
042 HOW THEY TRAIN SCOTT TOLMAN
by Michael J. Stott
TRAINING
013 DRYSIDE TRAINING: CHAMPIONSHIP SPEED
by J.R. Rosania
JUNIOR SWIMMER
034 GOLDMINDS: WE, NOT ME!
by Wayne Goldsmith
What makes swimming teams great? It’s the power of selflessness.
045 UP & COMERS: ERIN GEMMELL
by Shoshanna Rutemiller
COLUMNS
008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT
009 BEYOND THE YARDS
031 DID YOU KNOW? CLARE DENNIS
044 HASTY HIGH POINTERS
046 GUTTER TALK
048 PARTING SHOT