Preparing to Win

When I was 9 years old, racing In Mumbai, my coach told me that I would never get over the nervousness I felt on the starting blocks, no matter how many times I raced. I didn’t believe him at the time, but looking back over twenty years of competitive swimming, I think, I have to agree with him. I was as nervous for my first race at 7 as I was for my last one at 27!

Many swimmers do better in training, where there is little pressure, and end up clocking slower times at meets when it matters most. The best athletes in the world, however, figure out how to be at their physical and, more importantly, mental best when it really matters. Through my competitive career in the pool, though the nerves never left, I got consistently better at dealing with the stress of competition, the excitement, and the pressure that inevitably comes with it.

There are only two ways you are ever going to approach a competition. One is stressed and scared, and the other is excited and waiting to get up there and win! I tell swimmers that I train, that you have to consciously develop the skill, just as I did over a period of time, to recognize the nervousness, excitement and all the pressure of expectation that exists, and use that energy to drive you to do your very best on race-day. This is as important as the hours of physical training you put in to be your best.

I often joke with swimmers about how we train several kilometers through a training week, and come race-day, swim so little! So, we must love racing because it is so much less work. Most laugh and agree, and there are a few who admit that race prep and race-days are what they hate the most !

So to start the year, I’m going to share some thoughts on how you can prepare and deal with stress leading up to race-day to race better. My advice comes from what I’ve learnt through training with some of the best coaches in the world, observing what the world’s best did at big swim meets, as well as figuring out for myself, little ways and means of distracting from what isn’t good for my focus, and paying attention to what really is!

5 Tips for a Better Backstroke

Since I'm doing so much work with swimmers on stroke correction these days, the second blog in my series of tips on stroke correction focuses on getting better in the pool in backstroke!

Head position:

You need a steady head to go through life smoothly, and it's literally as important to have a steady head if you want to swim your backstroke in the best way possible. It's the most important part of your body in this stroke.The more steady you keep your head, the straighter you will swim. No one wants to swim more than the race distance and swimming crooked with an unsteady head will only slow you down, and yes increase distance. A steady head promotes rotating around your spine and avoids lateral movements. One drill that I always did to work on developing steadiness was to place my goggles on the centre of my forehead and swim laps, without allowing them to fall off. Remember, the less movement your head has, the more stable you will be in the water, and the faster you will go.

Rotation:

Learning to rotate around your spine in backstroke is key to swimming efficiently. I would always work on trying to get my shoulder to graze my chin and get it totally under my chin on each stroke.That way my body would be entirely on its side, with my pulling arm digging deep into the water for a better pull.The "six kicks on each side" drill was my favourite, as it helped strengthen my rotational power when done at speed and this also helped me swim better freestyle. In short, swim backstroke on your side, not on your back !