How comfortable are you with diving into the pool? Is it only from a seated position? Can you do it from a kneeling position? If you’re not sure, work with a coach to get you ready for a standing start. Once you can dive in from the side, you can follow the steps below to get from the side to the starting block to a good racing start.
Being intimidated by the starting block is normal for most swimmers in the beginning, especially ones who learn to swim as adults. You’re stepping onto an elevated platform that isn’t level. Just these two factors alone can heighten a sense of anxiety. And once you’re up there, natural human fear of heights makes the pool seem really far away. The steps to becoming more comfortable diving off the block are like getting comfortable in any other strange environment: you want to build a sense of control gradually. Trampoline
When practicing starts, always check pool rules and work with a coach or training partner.
Scott Bay is a USMS-certified Masters coach and an ASCA Level 5 coach and has been actively coaching and teaching swimming since 1986 to swimmers of all ages. The Masters swimmers he currently coaches include national champions, All Americans, and world record holders, who have swum to more than 300 Top 10 swims and 30 world records in just the past 5 years. Throughout his career Bay has taught thousands how to swim or how to swim better. He’s also written numerous articles on technique and coaching and contributed to USMS’s coach certification curriculum. Bay presents at clinics across the country and has written an instructional book, “Swimming Steps to Success.” (Human Kinetics, 2015). Bay is the past chair of the USMS Coaches Committee, and the Head Coach of YCF Masters.
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