Clarion University Swim Camp - Day 1

Last week, we followed three swimmers through Penn State University's Swim Camp. This week, we will follow five older swimmers (Maddi Thompson, Addison Crawley, Jamie Mason, Lindsay Dudek, and Tyler Sheets) plus one of our coaches (Leland Thompson) to see how they fare at Clarion University's Swim camp.

Leland:
The first day at camp was mainly to get the swimmers and divers used to how the camp is going to be run. The athletes had a meeting on freestyle (mainly body positioning, the stroke itself, and the kick). The swimmers then went to their first technique practices which were all freestyle drills. The athletes then went to dinner and then back for their second technique practice on freestyle. The athletes completed all freestyle drills with the last ten minutes completing flip turn drills. The students then came back to their dorm rooms for games, showers, and sleep time. As a coach I learned many new drills for the swimmers and much about the freestyle head positioning, pull, roll, and recovery.

Madalyn:
I feel like I am in heaven with all the free ice cream I can imagine. My brother and I had an ice cream competition today and he beat me even though I thought I won. I learned about rolling on the side and about how the roll can add up to 6'' of legnth to your body and can take up to 20 feet off of a 100 freestyle when done correctly

Jamie:
Today we realized how the camp will be run. The camp is split up into three groups; Elite, Stroke, and Combination. We are in the combination group and after watching the Elite practice I am happy for that. Tomorrow will be our first Elite practice and I am nervous for that. The cafeteria and dorm are nice, there are alot of friendly athletes here.

Tyler:
Todays practice was very easy I learned how to balance myself on the water and to keep my feet underwater while kicking (boiling water) and that the ankles should be the only part of my foot surfacing. They placed us in a dorm, each of us with a roommate. My roomates name is Jordan, he is from NJ and is about the same skill level as I am, but was placed in the Elite group. He seems like a nice roommate and I am looking forward to the rest of the camp.

Lindsay
I learned some new helpful drills such as "head-up freestyle", this helps with watching my hand placement in the water and my reach, roll, and underwater pull. The camp is known for its "Buddy System", the camp prides itself on not losing athletes. Madalyn is my buddy and we are not allowed to leave anywhere without one another - no matter if it is the cafeteria, pool, weight room, we have to be together. It is nice having someone there to help me with the first day of camp.

Addison
We got to eat dinner at the University's cafeteria, and the food was suprisingly good. I ate spagetti and pizza with apple juice; and all of us ate ice cream for desert. After dinner we went back to the pool for our second stroke practice with coach Dave Sheets from Duquesne University. The practice went well and we learned about freestyle. At the beginning we had to complete a 100 IM to determine what lane we would be placed into.