Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation

PNF. Fabulous phrase if you learn to say it fast and fluently. This is a post from Tom to his club coaches:

First - check the Wikipedia articles on these topics so you know what I'm talking about;
Proprioception
Neuroplasticity
also here

I had an opportunity to work with the Regional group today, and it was great - I really enjoyed spending the time with that group, it's something I hope to be able to do more often this year now that we have Ben coaching Provincial. While I was watching them swim (we were working on underwater kicking) I was thinking about how they respond to teaching differently than the National group kids I work with most of the time.

As we age our brains change. They adapt themselves to the stimuli they most frequently encounter, they do this by first devoting 'space' in the brain to the specific activity, then figuring out the most efficient possible method to route the stimuli towards the required action. The simplest example I can think of is the DS game 'brain age' this is actually a marvelous application of this idea where your brain is trained to do things with increased quickness to get to the next level.

For the little kids most of you are working with the stimuli you are providing them with should be extremely varied. Verbal communication is important because it teaches them to come together and act as a well managed group. Quietly listening to instructions is an important skill they must learn during these periods. Utilizing visual cues is also important - whiteboards, models etc. are all vital because they provide continued reference and good 'story telling' ability for you. For the younger kids (JD and Regional), however, by far the most important stimulus they can interpret is kinesthetic - how does it feel to do a great streamline? What is it like to move FAST through the water? Discussing this in your groups is a great idea, but you must also provide them with ample opportunity to feel this. Get them in the water and keep them moving.

For instance, for my kids I might have them do a bunch of 25's for a teaching set. After each one I may provide them feedback as a group or individually. I think for the younger kids they need to move more than they are. If they swim across the dive tank they must then get a few words of instruction then head back... sitting listening for too long is boring! Plus they won't pay attention. What you want to do is encourage their brains to adapt to the feeling of moving through the water, specifically underneath it (for better streamline) and holding it (for better 'feel'). If you can teach them these two things in Junior Dolphins then you've provided them with the building blocks to succeed later on. The more movement based, feeling they get the better.

Of course you need to be on them ALL THE TIME about how to do it better - an example might be for the JD kids do 10 widths in the dive tank on underwater breaststroke swimming. Have a coach at each end who says no more than 5 words to the kids as they come in to the wall. Go over these specific word cues with the kids before they start - things like SNAP .... what does it mean when they hear that from the coach? Have them repeat it as a group after you say the word.

Underwater swimming I think can be the best thing for these kids. Underwater breaststroke, underwater kicking, breaststoke pullouts, freestyle, etc. can really help them feel what's going on and what to do.

Similar things apply to all the groups - we look to do a lot of underwater work with national group especially on the dolphin kicking and breaststroke.

Don't be afraid to make the kids swim a lot... just be on top of them and make sure they are doing it well... the more good swimming they do the better they will get. It's not about how fast they swim, but how they swim fast.