Good morning! 

8 and Under Swimmers did a GREAT job in the meet on Monday! I had several emails and/or questions that said "My child swam really fast, but did not take their arms out of the water, did they swim incorrectly?" 

To clarify, we DO coach the 8 and Under Swimmers to do what we call "Great Dane Arms" these are long pulls in front of them, and INSIDE of the water. This is not a drill we do in practice, this is how we coach them to swim. At this age they are not fast enough or and their kick is not strong enough for them to need to lift their arms out of the water. Furthermore, it is inaccurate and incorrect to tell a swimmer to LIFT their arms out of the water. When a swimmer is fast enough AND their pull is strong enough, the wave they create will NATURALLY lift their arms out of the water. We coach them to create a wave in front of them (Great Dane Arms) and under them, which when kick and pull are strong enough will NATURALLY lift their arms out of the water. When you are 3 to 4 feet tall, your head tends to be the heavier part of your body, so when you LIFT your arm out of the water, the head tends to be the counterbalance causing them to become vertical in the water and loosing forward momentum. 

You will notice when you watch the summer Olympics next month, that a lot of the starts, swims, turns, and technique are not what they were 5-10 years ago. Swim technique and strategy are always evolving and changes, and we do our best to update our coaching with the newest swim practices. 

Please feel free to reach out with any further questions.

Hammerheads Coaches