In our first Coach's Corner (Training tips for the holiday break), commenter Aquaholic asked “How do club coaches coordinate/schedule/time the tapering for high school swimmers for their March championship meets (sectionals, Jr Nationals) with the earlier high school championship meets like WMPSSDLs and METRO’s?”
Potomac Marlins head coach Bill Marlin breaks down the process of how coaches determine a swimmers optimum taper period for championship meets, including multiple meet tapers.
Coach Bill Marlin – Potomac Marlins
“As a USA club coach, I have to take into consideration many things in deciding when to start resting my swimmers for their March championship meets. It would be easy if all I had to think about was, “How many days out from the big meet do I start resting my kids?” Problem is, it is never that easy.
There are as many responses to a taper as there are kids in the training group.In a typical training group you may have males and females, sprinters and distance swimmers, older swimmers and younger swimmers, hard bodies and soft bodies, hard workers and floaters, nine month swimmers and eleven month swimmers. Each of these groups have different needs during a taper. If you try to do one taper for everyone, you will get different results for different kids. Some will swim great, some will swim poorly and some will simply hang on to previous levels.
The art of coaching is to figure out what to do with each of these different groups of swimmers with in the same training group. That is where the experience of the coach can play a major factor in the success of the taper.
My main concern during a taper phase is to maintain the aerobic capacity of the swimmers. Frequency, speed, and intensity are the three key ingredients. Swimmers need to maintain their current training schedule of 5-6 workouts per week.
Training less than five days a week will lessen the affects of the taper and I don't taper anyone who may only be training 3 days a week, as they are pretty much on a taper all year long.
Speed is important to maintain so I have to balance sprinting and pace work with aerobic maintenance.
And finally, intensity is a must. Taper is not a complete rest. Swimmers must keep working hard during the taper, it's only the volume that decreases.
I typically taper kids for their highest level meet that they achieved. Where that meet falls within the PVS meet schedule and what meets precede it have to be taken into consideration as well. Are we going to do a minor taper for a meet several weeks before the big meet, or are we going to swim through the other meets to get to the big one? This may depend on the individual swimmers goals. Are they focused on the USA swimming schedule or is their primary goal the high school championship meets? As a USA club coach, my main concern is the PVS and USA meet schedule, not the high school championship meets. That is what the parents are pay for and why the kids come to me to train.
What if I have to taper for championship meets for high school and USA swimming? Read on here.