Dan Mascolo
Associate Head Coach
Cheshire Y/Sea Dog Swim Club (CDOG-CT)
In a conversation with another coach, I explained a test set
that I had devised years
ago that I use several times per season to both help gauge their
progress throughout the season as well as to help the kids realize what
kind of intervals they can actually handle at practice. I am sure that
other coaches do this or something very similar.
The X-Set
5 X 100 Free @ “X”
1:00 Rest
5 X 100 Free @ “X” - :05
1:00 Rest
5 X 100 Free @ “X” – :10
1:00 Rest
5 X 100 Free @ “X” - :15
1:00 Rest
5 X 100 Free @ “X” -:20
This
set has evolved over the years so now we cap the set at 5 rounds, so
that you can “win” the set instead of not having a goal in front of them
to strive for once they
have passed their best result. I do this set with my 3 Age Group
practice groups ages 9-12. Swimmers continue until they miss a send off
at which point they are “X”terminated. They climb out and give the coach
their results and then rejoin the group going
75’s instead of 100’s.
We start the first test each season with the same sendoff
Age Group 1 (9-10’s without Age Group Champ cuts) starts at 2:00
Age Group 2 (9-10’s with AG Champ cuts; 11-12’s without cuts) starts at 1:45
Age Group 3 (11-12’s with AG Champ cuts) starts at 1:30
After
the first test we will adjust the starting time looking at how many
swimmers “win” the set. Usually we will start the set :05 faster
starting with the second test and
keep it there for the rest of the season. We keep an all time top 5
list and kids really fight to get on that list.
Labels: Age Group, Freestyle, Mascolo