IV. Junior
A. Attendance (once in the group)—completes 4-5 practices/week with consistently strong effort
B. Attitude
1. Approaches practice with purpose
2. Formulates clear season-long goals
3. Embraces hard work and big challenges
C. Skills
- All stokes
- Accelerates hands from catch to release of all stroke
- Pushes off walls underwater in “spear”
- Dives from blocks keeping head down and goggles in place
- Propels self efficiently with the three basic prone sculling movements
- Propels self with three basic supine sculling movements
- Supports streamline with kick alone for at least 50 yards in each stroke
- Performs intermediated drills and dry progressions, for example
- Crawl and back
- 1-arm swimming with the other arm by side
- Rolling human stroke
- Long-axis drill
- Fly
- One-arm swimming with other arm back and chin-forward breathing
- Three hand-lead body dolphins followed by three strokes
- Three sculls with hand-lead body dolphin and pull through on third scull
- Breast
- Two pulls/one kick or two kicks/one pull
- Breast with dolphin kick
- Double-pullouts
- Freestyle
- Head centered and spinelined
- Bilateral breathing
- Moderate body roll
- Beginning hip snap
- Flip turns even when fatigued
- Backstroke
- Head centered and spinelined
- Moderate body roll
- Beginning hip snap
- "Machine gun" kick
- Continuous arm action
- Consistent use of flip turns
- Double-pullouts
- Butterfly
- Dolphin kick initiated from trunk
- "Kick-in, kick-out" timing
- Chin-thrust, low-angle breathing
- Breaststroke
- Pull-breathe-kick-glide timing
- Out-slow, in-fast pull
- Feet wider than knees on kick
- Performs moderately long pullouts
- Turns
- Accelerates into wall
- Long,powerful pullouts and fast-snappy kickouts
- Deep-arm breakouts (ba and cr) and no-breather breakouts (fl and cr)
D. Knowledge
- Knows half of stroke tenets, acronyms, and applications
- Describes intermediate drills and drill progressions and knows purpose of each
- Explains minor rules of strokes, starts, and turns
- Explains proper technique and diagnoses stroke flaws at Gold level
- Uses the pace clock to monitor repeat times and send-offs of any multiple of 15
- Counts stroke cycles for 50 yards and adds count to the 50 time
- Takes 6-second pulse check and converts to heart rate (HR); explains relationship between HR and exertion level and change in HR and fitness level
- Recalls racing times in best six events and all goal-set times
- Knows relevant time standards for these events
- Sets seasonal training and racing goals and discusses them with the coach
E. Training
- 20 im < 40:00
- 20 x 1 cr @ 1:45 (make all)
- 5 x 2 im @ 5 (<3:15)
- 3 x 5 cr @ 9:00 (< 7:00)
- Runs long gravel loop (1.6 mi) in < 15 min
- Performs basic med ball and other dryland movements with moderate range-of-motion and speed-of-movement
- Descends short practice sets; holds pace on long one
F. Racing
- Has completed 200 IM, 200 and 500 free, and 100 in back, breast, fly
- Has KY State times in at least 3 events
- Performs warm-ups and cool downs at meets; checks on relays; cheers teammates
- Begins to evaluate own races objectively and consults with coach
- Competes at least one day/month