Championship Swim Training / Bill Sweetenham, John Atkinson

Whether you're a coach looking to build or supplement your program or a swimmer seeking to improve your technique and time, you'll benefit from swim coaching legend Bill Sweetenham's proven methods for improving performance in the backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley.

Sweetenham has spent his career developing world-class swimmers first for Australia, then for Hong Kong, and now for Great Britain. He engineered Australia's success at four Olympic Games and five Commonwealth Games and has coached 63 top swimmers in international competitions to 27 Olympic and World Championship medals. Now, through Championship Swim Training, he and coauthor John Atkinson, a former national team coach in Australia and current national youth coach with British Swimming, provide the detailed plans and strategies to help all swimmers maximize their swimming potential.

Beginning with Sweetenham's five golden rules for swimming that apply to all swimmers regardless of their background Championship Swim Training is divided into two parts.

Part I, Technique Drills and Sets, deals with training zones and benchmark sets so critical to effective training and goal setting. Also included is a series of drill progressions and checklists that can be applied to each stroke and the individual medley. These progressions will help pinpoint stroke deficiencies and improve stroke technique as well as sculling, starts, turns, finishes, and kick and pull training. The checklists give swimmers and coaches tips for training and competition.

Part II, Workouts and Programs, is full of information for coaches to plan the long-term development of juniors through masters swimmers. Sample training sets are provided and can be customized to suit the level of that swimmer or squad. Part II also covers the critical tapering phase to get swimmers ready for competition and provides detailed racing strategies. Dryland conditioning suggestions help swimmers train all year round, whether in or out of the water. And no world-class coaching book would be complete without a chapter on how to completely and objectively evaluate your training program.

Championship Swim Training provides a complete roadmap for coaches and swimmers who want to follow a systematic and proven way to record-breaking times!