Stretching

Question
Mr. Weber:

I am a head age-group swimming coach (mostly 9-11 year olds) and I am looking to develop their flexibility and muscle tone for the summer season.  I have two questions:

1.  I have a typical stretching routine, but are there any stretches that you know of that are inappropriate for young swimmers?  I am having trouble finding any resources for age-group swimmers.

2.  I have been thinking about incorporating surgical tubing into our workouts for dry-land practice (since most of them are too young to get into the weight room at our facility.)  What is your opinion on using tubing for young atheletes?

Finally, what traits did you find most encouraging/useful/likeable (or hateful, depending) in your coaches?  What would you look for in a coach?  I am conducting a coaching meeting for the other coaches for the team, and I would like to have a do/don't list of coaching attributes.

Thanks a lot!

Lorena Kerr

Answer
Lorena-
1.  There really aren't any stretches that are inappropriate for young swimmers.  The only thing you have to watch and be careful about are partner stretches, make sure the kids are very careful and don't overstretch their partners.  Only going for stretch and stopping when their partners say to.  It's very easy to pull or strain muscles when doing them.  The only other suggestion I have is to do some exercises/jogging to get the muscles warmed up before stretching, warm muscles stretch easier and further than cold ones.
2.  I think that using surgical tubing is a fantastic idea.  It's an easy way to simulate the proper stroke techniques, in whole or in part.  I trained and trained my athletes with tubing all the time, I even used it in association with weights with my older swimmers.
    Finally for the most part it's hard to pinpoint "good" traits.  For young athletes it's very important to stress technique, you can't swim fast if your technique is not correct.  Make sure you let your assistants know what techniques you teach and see if they have the same basic ideal you do.  I've had problems as an assistant when I teach very successful techniques and have a head coach come along and teach a less effective technique when my kids would move to their group, which frustrated the kids, their parents as well as myself.  The other thing I look for in someone coaching young athletes is a "have fun first" attitude.  Young kids need to have fun 90% of the time.  It's very possible to work hard and have fun at the same time.  Any life long activity has to be fun in order to keep people interested.  Try to keep a win at all costs attitude out of your organization
Best of luck with your season.
I hope I have helped, if you need any other suggestions let me know.
George