Silver Group Update

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Andy Scherer

Wow! I am utterly impressed with the number of swimmers that we have already on our Silver practice group! To give you an idea of why I am in awe, we started this venture that has become Typhoon Swimming a little over 3 years ago with 24 swimmers. Today, we currently have 22 swimmers enrolled just for the Silver Group!

With that said, I cannot thank you all enough for participating in our program, and it’s our goal to have as much fun with the swimmers as possible (with a little coaching along the way as well, right?)!

I have been asked, “What happens if we get over 30 swimmers on the Silver Group? How will you be able to maintain adequate attention for each individual swimmer?”

First and foremost, this is an outstanding question and one that I’ve been thinking about for the past couple of weeks. The coaches and I have worked out a plan that will break down the Silver group into 4 squads (for lack of a better term). The first 10 who registered for the Silver Group will be in “Squad 1″, from 11 to 20 will be “Squad 2″, from 21 to 30 will be “Squad 3″, and from 31 to 40 will be “Squad 4″. We will also add another practice day (Thursday at 4:30pm).

So, here’s where we get a little creative and fix the issue of “too many swimmers”. Squad 1 will practice Monday, Tuesday, and Friday (during their assigned times). Squad 2 will practice Monday, Thursday, and Friday (during their times), Squad 3 will practice Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday (during their times), and Squad 4 will practice Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday (during their times).

And, finally, if we do (in fact) have that many swimmers on the team, we will also be looking into adding an assistant age group coach to help Coach Lauren and, hopefully, save some of her sanity!

With all of that said, nothing is going into play just yet, but please make sure that you register for the season as soon as possible so that we can make the needed alterations and move forward! Again, thank you so much, and we are all looking forward to an outstanding season!

p.s. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact me at 203 248 6361 or AScherer@cccymca.org.

Practice Canceled on 1-12-2011

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Andy Scherer

Due to the impending white stuff that Mother Nature has so conveniently and abundantly blessed us with over the past few weeks (including this evening into tomorrow), we will be closing the YMCA on 1-12-2011. This also means that we will be canceling practice for the Typhoons as well.

Enjoy the snow!

Four Days Til Swim-A-Long

Posted on October 25, 2010 by Andy Scherer

The third annual Hamden/North Haven YMCA Typhoons Swim-A-Long is approaching fast! As one of the larger fundraisers for the team, Typhoon families have 4 more days to raise funds (event is on 10-29-2010). Please remember that pledge forms and pledges are due the day of the Swim-A-Long, and swimmers are broken into their respective groups.

This means that there is no practice this Friday, but there is (obviously) the Swim-A-Long in the following order:

Gold, Junior, Senior @ 5:00 – 6:15pm
Silver @ 6:15 – 7:15pm

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns, and I look forward to a great event this upcoming Friday!

Dry-Land Canceled For Gold And Silver Tonight (10-22-10)

Posted on October 22, 2010 by Andy Scherer

Coach Laura is competing against Rutgers this evening, and Coach Nicole is home for the weekend which means that our dry-land for the Silver and Gold groups will be canceled this evening (10-22-10). Coach Kathy and Coach Andy will be at the helm for all groups tonight for in-water practices.

See you tonight!

-Coach Andy

Practice Is On For Columbus Day

Posted on October 9, 2010 by Andy Scherer

I have received a few e-mails asking about the practice schedule for this coming Monday (Columbus Day, October 11th). We are having regular practice at regular time(s) for Columbus Day.

Also, as a quick reminder, we will be having dry-land for Silvers and Gold from 6:00 to 6:15 instead of being in the water at 6:00. We will primarily be stretching with the groups for that 15 minutes but will also include some light core work as we venture further into the season to better our overall swim technique and therefore help prevent injuries.

For more practice schedule information please check out our practice schedule page, or leave a comment below.

Get Ready To Swim: Clinic Is Coming Soon!

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Andy Scherer

Time is flying by and we are less than a month away from the start of our pre-season swim clinic! The clinic has always been a great learning opportunity for all swimmers, and a great deal of fun for everyone. So, without further ado, here is the clinic schedule for each of the groups:

8 and Under Swimmers

The 8 and under swimmers will meet on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday for two weeks (full clinic schedule available here). During the first week the coaching staff will focus on streamlines, basic and intermediate freestyle technique (kick timing, arm timing, and breathing pattern) which will be customized for each swimmer’s ability, and backstroke technique (body position while swimming backstroke). During the second week, we will work on the odd strokes (breaststroke and butterfly) while also working on starts for all strokes.

9 and 10 Swimmers

The 9 and 10 swimmers will be in the water on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evening for the two week clinic. The first week will go over freestyle and backstroke technique, and starts & turns for both of those strokes. For freestyle and backstroke, the kick rhythm and body position will be primary focal points as well as establishing a high catch. The second week will work on breaststroke and butterfly technique as well as their individual turns. The swimmers will learn drills that form a great body undulation and timing. We will also be introducing proper individual medley (IM) transitions.

11 and 12 Swimmers

The 11 and 12 year old swimmers have a little more time in the water which will allow the swimmers to build more endurance which is needed for the age group. The swimmers have clinics on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings. The first week will be introducing and detailing the majority of freestyle and backstroke drills that they will utilize throughout the year. We will be working significantly on their catch, kick rhythm, body position, breathing patterns, and turns for the strokes. During the second week, we will work primarily on breaststroke, butterfly, and IM with an emphasis on stroke timing, undulation, kick technique, arm technique, and overall body position during the separate phases of each stroke.

13 and Over Swimmers

The two primary difference between the 13 and over swimmers (in comparison to the 11 and 12 swimmers) will be the Wednesday evening that they are in the water for clinic. During the Wednesday practice, the swimmers will have an opportunity to learn advanced technique for the strokes, turns, and starts.

Overall, I am extremely excited for the upcoming clinic, and even more excited to see the swimmers (and parents) back on the pool deck. As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact Coach Andy via e-mail or call 203-248-6361.

Registration Opens Sunday

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Andy Scherer

Just wanted to send out a quick reminder that registration for short course season starts this upcoming Sunday (August 1st). We will be capping each group at 20 swimmers so please make sure you reserve your spot on the team sooner than later.

Along with that, the Typhoon’s practice schedule has changed. We have made life a little easier for the parents with swimmers in multiple age groups, and will be able to utilize all 4 lanes of the pool for two nights out of the week!

As always, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact coach Andy via e-mail or call 203-248-6361.

Go Typhoons!

Practice Schedule Updated

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Andy Scherer

Even though we just ended the long course season, the coaching staff is very much so looking forward to the upcoming short course season which starts in September. With that said, we have revised the practice schedules for the Hamden/North Haven YMCA Typhoons to work out better for the working families throughout the community.

You can find the updated swim team practice schedule by clicking here: practice schedule. And, if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below or contact Coach Andy.

Go Typhoons!

Last Week of the Summer Season

Posted on July 18, 2010 by Andy Scherer

As we enter the final week of this summer season, I want to thank all of the Hamden/North Haven YMCA Typhoon parents and swimmers for their 3 1/2 months of hard work and dedication! You have all done a great job this season as parents have supported both the swimmers and the team, the swimmers supported each other and gave it their all throughout practices, and the coaches who put their time and effort into helping the swimmer attain great results.

With all of that said, Thursday will be our last day of practice as the 13 and over swimmers will be in competition on Friday evening, and Wednesday evening’s practice is canceled for the Senior group to get down to the yardage (well, more-so the rest) that we need this week. If there are any questions about this, please let me know.

The coaches and I are looking forward to an outstanding performance from all of the Typhoon swimmers! We wish all of you the best throughout this week as well as going into Yankee Cluster Championships this upcoming weekend.

Go Typhoons!

What Is Taper?

Posted on July 17, 2010 by Andy Scherer

I have been having quite a few parents ask about “taper”. Some parents have a general idea, some parents know a great detail of what they used to do as swimmers, and some have no idea. Either way, it is a good thing for all parents to understand what taper is, and what type of taper we (the Hamden/North Haven YMCA Typhoons) use.

First and foremost, taper is the significant decrease of yardage per hour while maintaining intensity within the practice sets. So, while we will practice for relatively the same amount of time, there is more purposeful (and fast) swimming with more rest after each swim or set.

With that said, let’s take a look at the three different types of taper:

Step Taper — This is where the yardage per hour for practices drop in a step direction. So, the first week of taper will yield a specific amount of yardage that will stay throughout that entire week. The second week of taper will step down to a lesser yardage and maintain that specific yardage throughout that week, etc. So, if you were to graph out the yardage per day it would look like steps going down.
Linear Taper — This is where the yardage per hour is dropped consistently per day of training. So, for one day it will be 2000 yards per hour, the second day is 1900 per hour, the third is 1800 per hour, and so on until the final day of training. If this were to be graphed out, it would be a straight (diagonal) line down from upper left to lower right.
Progressive Taper — This is a combination of step taper and linear taper where the yardage is exponentially and mathematically decreased each day to look like a ski slope that plains out at the end of the training (if it is graphed). This has been scientifically proven to be the most efficient form of taper through a 14 – 21 day taper process.

We utilize a progressive taper with our Juniors and Seniors as we typically plan for a 14 day taper period. Again, this has been scientifically proven to be the most effective form of taper throughout several studies which involve highly trained athletes. Typically, sprinters will see a decrease in time of 3% to 6% while mid-distance and distance swimmers will experience a 2% to 4% decrease in time.

For the Silver and Gold groups, we do more of a steep step taper where we will decrease the yardage within the last week of training to a significant exponential amount. This allows swimmers (and coaches) to focus strictly on race technique, starts, turns, and breathing patterns.

Hopefully this helps our parents a bit in understanding what taper really is along with which kind of taper we use throughout our seasons. However, if you do happen to have any questions, comments, or feedback just leave a comment below.