How to Swim Successfully at the Big Meet

 What if you qualify for your JO’S and you have only one shot at getting it right? Think about the time and effort that goes into qualifying for the JO’S, traveling to the meet and not performing at your best. The following information could help you reach your personal best time and get into the finals.

Success at championship meets is largely dependent on preparing effectively to meet the challenge. You must be physically prepared. No one can expect to do their best, without doing those hard yards in workouts in training months in advance. The key to physical preparation of a swimmer is, your training in workouts should be more challenging and demanding than the physical demands of the competition

Training sets and intervals need to be tough and challenging you must swim your workouts out of the comfort zone. If you are prepared in the manner, there should be no challenge that you will face at the JO’S

Prepare Mentally for the meet, without a doubt the mental aspect of swimming successfully at a championship meet is crucial. I would like you to think about the JO’S as just another meet. The pool is the same length, the water is still wet, the event is still the same. The fact that there are more swimmers entered in the meet, a few more clubs from different areas, and a bit more noise makes no difference: the job is a simple one: if you are prepared for the reality of the meet environment you could relax knowing that you will swim fast when you need to.

Prepare technically– Races are won and lost by fractions of and inch. Swimmer who win at championship meets are those who have prepared to do the little things well under the pressure of the race by practicing them well in training

For Example:

• Not breathing inside the flags during starts, turns and finishes
• Streamlining until your feet go past the flags on every push off
• Learning to kick at a high rate of speed under water in fly, back and free

At championship meets ….there are no little things, everything can make a difference