Just like many of you, I will be watching some of the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in Melbourne, Australia with keen interest. With match ups like Kyle Chambers versus David Popovici in the 100m freestyle and many other world class swimmers it will be not only fantastic racing to watch but also the opportunity for coaches and swimmers of all ages to learn from the best.
The event is being held in Melbourne, Australia with live broadcast around the country from 11:00am for the heat sessions and 7:30pm for the finals sessions. All events will be shown live on Channel 9 in Australia.
When we are watching these events on television, the work done by the production crew is outstanding and there are so many opportunities for us to learn. From a technical perspective, we have the benefit of the incredible vision as it streams to us in high definition footage. We can watch the races from above the water, from several different angles including side, front and from behind, and underwater via strategically placed static cameras. Include with that the images from the mobile camera running up and down the side of the pool and there is much to watch.
Through this smorgasbord of images we get to see the subtle technique and skill execution differences from swimmer to swimmer. For me it reinforces how important it is at this elite level that attention has to be paid to every detail.
Some key footage to watch includes:
- Taking up the starting position
- Exploding off the block at the start
- Angle of entry into the water on dives and backstroke start
- Angle of body and kicking underwater
- Angle of breakout
- Breakout from below and above water
- Stroke technique in all strokes
- Approach to the wall in turns
- Turning actions for each stroke
- Push off wall and streamlined position
- Pacing of races
- Breathing patterns
- No breathing into the wall in freestyle and butterfly
- Last 15m of a race
- Last 5m of a race
- Finish in each event
Watching the swimming from these various angles will assist athletes to improve more quickly and assist coaches to put together some footage to show specific elements of each stroke and race to their athletes..
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