Freestyle is the stroke every competitive swimmer must master. Ohio State Coaches Bill Wadley and Bill Dorenkott show you drills to develop the elements of fast freestyle in all of your swimmers, and then add the styles and techniques individual swimmers need to master swimming for every athlete, at every distance.
This presentation begins with a detailed demonstration of how to attain the proper body position for successful freestyle. The common theme that both Coach Wadley and Coach Dorenkott profess is that of finding ways to increase propulsion and decrease drag. Attaining a long position that is stabilized with the core will assist greatly in drag reduction.
To enhance the swimmers feel for attaining an ideal body position while moving in the water, a series of 12 kicking drills are demonstrated to maximize pull in the power zone. Drills for sprint and distance freestylers build core power for every stage of the stroke cycle
The drill progression builds on the kicking and core body series, adding strength and timing in the pull, from catch to recovery. The coaches discuss characteristics of a great freestyler, and adaptations coaches must make for differences in swimmers. Drills develop optimum hand placement, catch, pull, and recovery. An "open arm pit" drill series follows that is designed to train a "full arm full or water" catch position with an open arm pit. This high elbow catch with hip rotation style keeps the pull in the power zone - an out-front, open-armpit pull. This is an essential skill, particularly for sprint freestylers, for establishing an ideal catch position.
Dorenkott and Wadley then follow with an additional 25 propulsion drills that combine to train proper body position while training the catch, pull, finish and recovery. Emphasis is placed on front quadrant (asymmetrical) freestyle with good length and line-up - especially for your mid to long distance freestylers. Included in these drills is a "hip slide" sequence that a hip dominated swimmer can implement to enhance his or her natural stroke tendencies.
In all, nearly 40 drills, skills, and innovations are packed into this presentation that combine to create a highly efficient stroke that enhances propulsion while continuously decreasing drag. The benefit of having two DI head coaches and exceptional demonstrators make this product unique. Underwater footage enhances the instruction.
As a swim coach, I am always interested to find the most up-to-date principles in how to swim the four competitive strokes as efficiently as possible. Coach Wadley and Coach Dorenkotts' Freestyle DVD not only did a terrific job of explaining the techniques used in the freestyle stroke but also they provided excellent freestyle drills to reinforced these concepts. I will be getting the whole set of instructional DVDs, which will be all I need.
- Coach Bod, Houston, Texas
67 minutes. 2013.
MD-04330B: featuring Bill Wadley, Ohio State Head Men's Swimming Coach; 2010 Big 10 Coach of the Year, and Bill Dorenkott, Ohio State Head Women's Swimming Coach; combined they have won 13 Big Ten Championships and have coached 118 NCAA Champions
Developing the right backstroke kick and body position enables your pull to maximize time and acceleration in the power zone. Ohio State Swim Coach Bill Wadley and Bill Dorenkott share their philosophy and techniques for breaking down and constructing high caliber backstroke - from the kick up.
On-Deck Instruction
Learn how to set up the proper body position and posture for the backstroke. The components of this proper positioning include swimming with a long and neutral neck and a flat back position that is accomplished by engaging the muscles of the core. You will see a series of five body position kicking drills that teach the swimmer to carry proper body position with propulsion from the kick.
Backstroke Drills
In the Backstroke Drills segment, Wadley and Dorenkott present an additional 24 drills:
- Free-to-Back Connection Drill Series - Enables the swimmer to feel the connection of freestyle and backstroke.
- Catch and Recovery Series - Trains the swimmer to maintain speed and power from the recovery into a quick catch position and body rotation.
- Tempo Drills
- Weighted Drills - Enhance foot speed and core stability.
Underwater Technique
Coach Dorenkott teaches four undulation drills that emphasize driving the undulation from the back and chest, rather than just the knees and feet. Dorenkott presents a series of five underwater drills that include breakout drills that teach how to transition from dolphin kick into the flutter kick and how to attain an ideal body position beginning with the first stroke.
Full Backstroke Swimming
Dorenkott and Wadley pull together all aspects of the stroke and demonstrate stroke technique and tempo for the 200, 100, and 50 meter races.
Excellent demonstrations and underwater footage enhance the instruction in this comprehensive presentation. This video not only teaches the main stroke segments but also shows how various unique drills can be used to train the small nuances of the stroke.
82 minutes. 2013.
MD-04330C: featuring Bill Wadley, Ohio State Head Men's Swimming Coach; 2010 Big 10 Coach of the Year, and Bill Dorenkott, Ohio State Head Women's Swimming Coach; combined they have won 13 Big Ten Championships and have coached 118 NCAA Champions
More than any other stroke, the secret to great breaststroke is to maximize propulsion and minimize drag. Coaches need to analyze every aspect of each swimmer's stroke to look for ways to achieve these goals.
Ohio State Swim Coaches Bill Wadley and Bill Dorenkott take high level breaststrokers through a drill series to build a championship breaststroke. They address the three crucial aspects of the stroke necessary to maximize propulsion and reduce resistance:
- Reduce drag with great body position by lining up the four Hs (hands, head, hips, heels).
- Shorten your time outside the streamline position to maximize acceleration.
- Stay in the Power Zone during the pull with excellent kick and body position.
The Kick
Starting with the kick, Coach Wadley and Dorenkott present 14 kicking drills that create a narrow, fast kick that reduces resistance. This progression of drills begins with the technical aspects of the kick and progresses through breaststroke-specific body positioning with an efficient kick.
These drills assist with:
- Developing hip flexibility which is essential for a great kick.
- Creating an explosive finish kick.
- Maintaining a high center of gravity with a flat back, long neck and weightless arms out front.
- Timing the kick to master the rhythm of the stroke: pull, breathe and then kick.
- Developing foot speed in the kick and feet-together recovery.
Included in this section are advanced skills for the finish of the kick that allow the feet to drop into an ideal glide position following the accelerated finish of the kick.
The Pull
Discover 13 drills that teach and train the pull phase of the stroke. These drills include sculling drills to enhance the feel for each phase of the pull, small pull drills that train the catch, and out-sweep, and full pull drills that train how to properly wrap the corner and accelerate into an ideal glide position. Also included are pulling drills that assist in teaching the timing of the stroke including underwater drills that teach a swimmer to decrease resistance in all phases of the stroke.
The Pullout
Coach Wadley presents a five-phase pullout sequence that begins with how to attain the most efficient push-off, and then adds the arm movement, the dolphin kick phase, the arm recovery, and kick into breakout. Putting the sequence together ends with a fast, powerful, and effective pullout and breakout. Demonstrations of the full stroke include tempo for the 200, 100, and 50 meter distances.
The more than 35 skills and drills presented include invaluable insights from both coaches into successful breaststroke swimming. Underwater footage and expert demonstrations greatly enhance the instruction. Order now!
68 minutes. 2013.
MD-04330D: featuring Bill Wadley, Ohio State Head Men's Swimming Coach; 2010 Big 10 Coach of the Year, and Bill Dorenkott, Ohio State Head Women's Swimming Coach; combined they have won 13 Big Ten Championships and have coached 118 NCAA Champions
Stop fearing the butterfly! Ohio State Swim Coaches Bill Wadley and Bill Dorenkott show you how to combine technique, precise drilling and repetition to help your swimmers learn to love the power, finesse and rhythm of the stroke.
Coaches Wadley and Dorenkott believe in developing a butterfly stroke with a balanced make up of finesse, power and rhythm with the goal of creating a stroke can become effortless. Their construction of such a stroke begins with establishing a body position that will reduce drag and make it easier for a swimmer to be able to maintain an efficient stroke over a longer period of time.
With the body position established, Coach Dorenkott demonstrates posture cues to help athletes feel the right body line. He proceeds with a series of undulation drills that can be implemented to establish more of a full body kicking action that will help balance the chest press and lift, and the upward and downward sweep of the kick for an even power transfer from core to feet. Focusing first on amplitude, and then on frequency, he shows how to build a balanced and powerful basis for full stroke. Introduction of the arm action follows with Coach Wadley presenting a series of single arm drills that allow the swimmer to focus on that recovery and pull in the stroke. Wadley teaches a low "close to the water" recovery that helps to keep the stroke flatter and more forward focused on the landing. Drills are designed to:
- Develop a kick powerful enough to be heard by the swimmer.
- Create acceleration through the pull
- Develop a quick recovery that does not sacrifice kick power or amplitude
The timing of the breath is crucial for the stroke to be most efficient. Late breathing is a habit that many younger swimmers develop that can become quite challenging to correct. Coach Dorenkott presents two drills that are specifically designed to teach or in some cases re-teach a swimmer to breathe at the proper time. Drills done on land and in the water develop breathing in the power zone of the stroke and a steady, two kick-per-cycle rhythm. Tempo is driven by the speed of the kick first, ensuring athletes keep the body connection.
Coach Dorenkott also presents a unique series of combination drills that are designed to let a swimmer focus on specific critical stroke components, one component at a time before combining them with full stroke swimming. Demonstrations include both male and female swimmers that give invaluable insight into how to best incorporate swimmers individual strengths into the stroke.
These butterfly drills will help swimmers use Power, Finesse and Rhythm to make their butterfly easier and more successful!
64 minutes. 2013.
MD-04330E: featuring Bill Wadley, Ohio State Head Men's Swimming Coach; 2010 Big 10 Coach of the Year, and Bill Dorenkott, Ohio State Head Women's Swimming Coach; combined they have won 13 Big Ten Championships and have coached 118 NCAA Champions
The biggest improvement gain a swimmer can make may occur in learning how to execute a better start.
Ohio State Coaches Bill Wadley and Bill Dorenkott share effective strategies and efficient techniques that provide stability and reaction readiness for the forward start.
Coach Wadley breaks down the set up for a successful beginning with the pre-block routine. In the break down, Waldley demonstrates how to get the best possible grip on the block you can get.
Block set up is then presented with a detailed explanation of foot position, ideal leg angles, the hand position for grabbing the block and instruction on the hip height and core stability. The "take your mark" position is discussed prior to demonstrations of full forward starts.
The coaches have a variety of swimmers demonstrating multiple forward starts. They also offer detailed instruction and explanation of how best to carry the speed from the dive into the breakout and quickly establish race stroke tempo.
The back start segment includes proper block set up along with strategies that will assist younger swimmers in quicker learning of the skill. A 4-step progression is presented that assists the swimmer in getting the hips over the water for a clean powerful back start. Dorenokott details strategies on how to best carry start speed into the dolphin kick and transition into the flutter kick along with how to attain the ideal body position for the breakout. The teaching cues that Dorenkott present make it easy for both coach and swimmer to understand how to perform in ideal breakout.
In the relay exchange segment the coaches detail and demonstrate the importance of the finishing swimmer coming into the wall in a full extension that will give the takeoff swimmer the best opportunity to have a fast, efficient, and legal exchange. Free relay and medley relay take offs are demonstrated and both moderate and race speed.
50 minutes. 2013.
MD-04330F: featuring Bill Wadley, Ohio State Head Men's Swimming Coach; 2010 Big 10 Coach of the Year, and Bill Dorenkott, Ohio State Head Women's Swimming Coach; combined they have won 13 Big Ten Championships and have coached 118 NCAA Champions
Teach your swimmers how to properly approach the wall for a turn set up no matter what the stroke.
Ohio State Swim Coaches Bill Wadley and Bill Dorenkott share long axis and short axis turn drill progressions for each of the four competitive strokes. They begin the presentation with freestyle turn instruction that includes two unique flip turn drill progressions that each of the coaches use with their respective teams. These progressions contain over 10 drills that train a swimmer on every aspect of the turn, the approach, execution, wall set up, push off, strategies for getting off of the wall with maximum speed and power and the all important breakout with the timing of the first stroke and how to align the body for a seamless transition into the breakout stroke and establishing race tempo. The technical aspects of the flip turn apply to the backstroke turn.
In the back turn segment, the coaches focus on the importance of the swimmer getting from his or her back to the front and how to accomplish this with a fast, connected rotation and transition into the summersault. Also discussed are strategies in body angle for an ideal push off and underwater travel segment before adding the flutter kick and establishing race tempo.
Similar to the long axis turn segment, the short axis turn instruction for fly and breast include each coach presenting an effective drill progression for these turns. Coach Dorenkott divides the open turn into the front half and the back half and presents a unique progression for each before pulling the entire turn together.
Coach Wadley presents an away from the wall sequence that focuses on executing a "reverse tumble" to generate a tight rotation, something he believes is essential to a fast turn. Both sequences are clearly explained and demonstrated along with full turn demonstrations of each.
In the IM Turn segment, the major focus is on:
- Back to Breast Crossover Turn - The secret to teaching the crossover turn
- Fly to Back - Preparing to maximize the underwater dolphin
- Breast to Free - How to carry your speed through the turn
Teach your swimmers the fundamentals of the turn through effective drill progressions and attention to detail that will lead to championship results.
72 minutes. 2013.