New Trier Aquatics (NTA) is a not for profit age group aquatics team that utilizes pools all around the North Shore. NTA is a registered member of USA Swimming and Illinois Swimming. NTA is committed to excellence in aquatic sports for all of its members. We have a dedicated coaching staff and a supportive parent board that work together to create a positive atmosphere for all our athletes.
Members of New Trier Aquatics range in age from 6 through adults. NTA provides instruction, training and competition at a level appropriate for the age and ability level of the athlete. We train all athletes, from the novice to the national level competitor.
We offer year-round programs in a controlled competitive environment for all abilities. Our athletes thrive in a training atmosphere that promotes respect for others, nurtures high self esteem, and fine tunes physical fitness.
having Cici bring her head up more is not "nitpicking". she isn't even doing a drill. just high tempo backstroke. spin drill should be done practically sitting upright
I think that leg kick is overrated. Lots of great swimmers don’t do it. Florent doesn’t kick with the back leg and his start is as good as Caeleb’s except for maybe a bit slower underwaters to the 15m mark. This leads us to the point that maybe that kick is not what makes your start so good. More spectacular - yes. More “like Dressel” - yes. Faster? - Not sure.
Made a good point. But the best way to compare is to see the difference between before and after the back kick, not comparing one swimmer with another. Not sure about Florent but he could have gotten even faster with kick back?
Been swimming most of my life as an amateur, my coach was a national breastroke champion and I swear it took him so much time to get me to understand how to swim it properly. Took me a bit to learn how to do the kick and how to "glide" my hands through the water instead of trying to "separate" it, but the timing and waiting for the kick to finish took me a lot of time. Coaches in the vid said "patience" and that was exactly what my coach told me day after day, once it clicked for me, breastroke became my absolute favourite style and it's been my go to in all sorts of open waters 20+ years later.
PS. What really taught me was workouts of breaststroke kicks with a board + butterfly/freestyle kick with a breaststroke pull + lots of laps 1 pull + 2 kicks, if you don't get the timing you die :D ;)
Most common problem I see with back stroke is that the top side shoulder doesn't clear the water, which is part of why we use rotation because that reduces drag. With freestyle, your shoulders are on top of the water, so maybe 40 degrees max rotation gets the top side shoulder out of the water. With back stroke, your shoulders are under the water a bit, and you need 45 or maybe a bit more degrees of rotation to get that shoulder out of the water.
Great video. Question: what should my son do when it's really cold out during our winter months (Florida) before his race? He is 13, and he seems to really either have a mental block or when diving in things sting. We attempt to keep him dressed warm up until his race, but sometimes they hold the kids on the block to long and then the race is bad. Cheers and continued success.
This is a great demonstration AND diagram, thank you for clarifying more details on this stroke! (side note; the background music overpowered your voice a little bit)
Thank you so much for the informative video Coach Chris! Will this information help me be better than Loyola 100 breaststroke champion Nathaniel Guenther, who beat you in the 100 breaststroke?
