There are many different events within the swimming discipline, and each event has a variety of distances.
The Spartan swim teams have begun their seasons successfully. Out of three matches, the women have won all three, while the men have won two. | Abby Sanford/The Minaret
These include: the 400 yard Freestyle Relay; 50, 200, 500, and 1000 yard Freestyle; 100 and 200 yard Backstroke; 100 and 200 yard Breaststroke; 100 and 200 yard Butterfly; 400 yard Individual Medley; and the 100 and 200 yard Medley Relay.
These terms may sound straightforward, but their implications are more detailed.
The freestyle event means that swimmers are free to swim any style they choose, including styles that are not represented in an event.
Freestyle relay uses four different swimmers to swim 100 yards each.
For the backstroke, the swimmers swim backwards so they start in the water, rather than diving in like all other events. The breaststroke is a forward swim in which the swimmer’s torso does not rotate.
The butterfly stroke, or just “fly” as it’s commonly referred to, is like the breaststroke, except the swimmer uses both arms simultaneously.
Finally, the medley events are a combination of all four strokes.
The individual medley is where one swimmer swims the strokes in the following order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.
The medley relay uses four different swimmers to swim the four strokes in the order of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
The University of Tampa swim team prepares for events based upon the event competition schedule at the NCAA Championships, according to Coach Brennan.
The NCAA Championships is a three-day competition that consists of the 50 yard Freestyle, 200 yard Individual Medley, 50 yard Freestyle on the first day.
Day two involves the 200 yard Freestyle, 100 yard Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Butterfly and 400 yard Individual Medley.
Finally, on day three, competing swimmers partake in the 100 yard Freestyle, 200 Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Butterfly and 1,650 Freestyle.
Another factor considered during training is that preliminary rounds are held in the mornings, while finals are held in the evenings.
This is why the swim team practices twice daily, once in the morning and again in the afternoons, so their bodies are prepared to compete twice daily and at different times of the day.
There are clearly a plethora of events, and a lot of different lengths for each event. The UT swim teams are large teams, the men’s team consisting of 24 swimmers and the women’s consists of 20. The swim teams practice and compete together, making a great deal of work for the coaching staff. The coaching staff must coordinate who swims when before practices since they have only eight lanes to work with for all 44 swimmers.
“We don’t pull the training set out of our heads on the pool deck. It requires a considerable amount of preparation prior to each session,” Brennan explained.
Coach Brennan was quick to credit his coaching staff for the amount of work they put into preparing the teams for each meet.
“They put in long hours for little pay because they love the sport and the institution they represent,” Brennan said.
His staff includes Assistant Coaches Jim Kiner, Ryan Gober and Phil Murray. They must be committed to UT because as Brennan points out, they are all graduates of the university’s swimming program.
Therefore, they share and understand Coach Brennan’s philosophy and style of coaching, which results in a consistent and great coaching staff to prepare the swimmers and put them in a position to win every time.
April Weiner can be reached at april.weiner@spartans.ut.edu.
Loading ...
