How to Prepare Swimmers for a STAR Meet

Imagine: Hosting a 3-hour swim meet where the focus is not on TIMES, but on how well swimmers execute such things as Strategy, Technique, Attitude, and Racing for place rather than for time. This week we explain how to host your own STAR Meet and how to prepare your swimmers to succeed at such a meet.

**Monday**

**Denniston Drills: Streamline Pushoff**

It all starts with the pushoff and streamline. Every length. Every time.

<https://www.goswim.tv/lessons/173-streamline-pushoff>

0400 - the shape

0971 - hitting the surface

1653 the shape

1936 hitting the surface

2131 the glide

2890 the shape

3525 getting parallel

3892 reaching the surface

4275 the glide

10044 better

10628 shallow or push

11086 Beautiful

**Tuesday**

**Bruno Fratus: Start-Underwater Dolphins**

Imagine a meet where swimmers are rewarded for being consistent with the number of dolphins they take off every wall.

<https://www.goswim.tv/lessons/2429-start-underwater-dolphins>

0414 how many dolphins

0992 Setting up the line

1622 the streamline

2397 getting horizontal

2869 over practicing

4606 shallower at race pace

5556 over practicing

10726 three at race

11597 initial kick to level

11906 three to break out

13024 over practicing

13213 three to break out

14037 shoulder must clear the surface on recovery

14453 driving the head forward

14786 look how low the breakout is

15366 throwing the arm into the recovery

**Wednesday**

**All Strokes: Stroke Count**

Stroke counting should be automatic for every swimmer and for all four strokes. But a STAR Meet pushes swimmers a little farther: to know and achieve their ideal stroke count for a particular distance and event.

<https://www.goswim.tv/lessons/2321-all-strokes-stroke-count>

0711 Head lift on breaststroke

2576 try to make the breakout point consistent

3984 Count the dolphins on freestyle

5535 maintain consistency on the dolphins various strokes

10975 Count the dolphins on butterfly

12567 vary the dolphin kicks to change the stroke count

13700 Count the dolphin kicks on backstroke

15442 vary the dolphin kicks to change the stroke count

**Thursday**

**Free Drill: First Breath Second Arm**

One thing you can evaluate at a STAR Meet is whether a swimmer breathes immediately after the breakout – or has the discipline to breathe on the second or third stroke. Here’s how to train for a better breakout.

<https://www.goswim.tv/lessons/1483-freestyle-first-breath>

0992 what coaches want

2072 what coaches get

3467 a good compromise

4267 Poor breakout

10481 slightly better

12271 a good compromise first stroke of second arm

21621 first stroke of second arm

**Friday**

**Dominik Meichtry: Smooth Freestyle Focus on Flutter Kick**

Swimmers might have a 2-beat, 4-beat, or 6-beat kick. At a STAR Meet, it’s all about having a steady, consistent kick. Here’s what that looks like.

<https://www.goswim.tv/lessons/1142-smooth-freestyle-focus-on-flutter-kick>

The whole video Constant kick

**Saturday**

**Joao de Lucca: Head Position**

At a STAR Meet, you can challenge each swimmer not to have a best time, but to have the most stable head position in their heat. Here’s how to train for that.

<https://www.goswim.tv/lessons/2170-head-position>

0283 low head position

0743 how much of the head is showing

1709 Hidden breath

2752 Head down

2953 Head completely underwater

3390 precision

3851 the image

**Sunday**

**All Strokes: Wax On…Wax Off**

At a STAR Meet, you can reward swimmers for holding a certain stroke count per length. Here’s a short set that will prepare swimmers for this kind of challenge.

<https://www.goswim.tv/lessons/1878-wax-on-wax-off-set>

1561 nine strokes 12.5 seconds

3016 10 strokes 13.3 seconds

4583 11 strokes 12.5 seconds

10008 12 strokes 11.7 seconds

10486 swim a little easy

11053 start at the end

12193 12 strokes 11.3 seconds

13531 11 strokes 11.7 seconds

14983 10 strokes 11.3 seconds

20425 nine strokes 11.5 seconds


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Sept. 17, 2024 - STAR Meets