This past Saturday we held a DEVO Camp in Saint Stephen, coached by Karl Russel, and hosted by Saint Stephen Shark Attack Swim Club. We had 27 swimmers from four different clubs including FAST, TIDE, SWRD, and SSSA. The Camp was divided into 3 different sessions, pool time from 12:30-2:15, dryland from 2:15-3:00, and more pool time from 3:30-5:30.
The first session focused on 4 main skills: Underwater fly kick; turns; Kicking; and Stroke efficiency. The swimmers started the practice together working on underwater kick, focusing on holding strong streamlines and engaging the kick from their core. The swimmers were then split up into 3 groups to do stations focusing on one of the three remaining skills, each station lasting approximately 20 minutes.
For the dryland session the swimmers did a beginners yoga set specifically for swimmers. The yoga session focused on the basics and was meant to help improve mobility throughout the thoracic spine and the hips. These are some of the yoga positions they swimmers learnt: Child’s pose, Downward dog, Cat-Cow Stretch, Supine Twists, Corpse pose, Upward dog, and Mountain pose.
The swimmers then had a quick half hour break to get a snack and rest a little before the final pool session. The final pool session focused on Starts and finishes, butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke. For the first half hour the swimmers practiced their starts and finishes focusing on reaction time and super tight streamlines when entering the water. They then split into three groups and did stations with each station focusing on either fly, back, or breast.
Overall the camp was a great success and we saw lots of improvements from the swimmers. We are hoping that the swimmers enjoyed the camp and that they learnt something new.
We want to hear your feedback from the camp so if you wouldn’t mind completing this quick survey it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!