If you’ve tried to learn a skill over internet (music lessons, dance instruction, singing lessons) you may agree that virtual learning is challenging. Even with awesome available technology (like Zoom), technique help is most efficiently done in-person with hands-on direct feedback. But recently I’ve experimented with remote swim lessons which really work!
Sometimes we just don’t have the in-person option. Such is the case with David Ripley. He lives in Washington & I live in Idaho. But he needed more in-depth swim technique help. So, we got creative & tried our hand at Remote Swim Lessons! It’s been a fascinating & amazing experience! Kudos to David for being willing to experiment…and we’ve found that remote swim lessons really work!
In David’s own words:
“When I began triathlon training with Coach Michelle it was a straightforward process even though we live in different states. The bike & run plans were the easiest to follow. But, swimming, to say the least, was more challenging.
Coach Michelle described how to do each swim drill & provided demo technique videos. But replicating Back Balance, Side Glide, Sweet Spot drills in the pool turned out not to be so easy. Without direct feedback on my technique, I felt I was swimming ‘blind’.
During my off-season, we decided to try remote swim coaching. Coach M gave me drills to work on, my wife filmed me doing those drills & then we sent the videos to Coach M. Using stop-motion, slow motion & lines drawn directly onto my videos, Coach M provided invaluable direct feedback on how to adjust each drill.
At long last I began to experience the proverbial ‘ah-ha’ moments! I could immediately see what I was doing correctly & incorrectly. Now doing the drills has changed from: ‘Why am I doing this drill over & over? This is not how I swim.’ to ‘These drills ARE how I will swim more fluidly. These drills are simply swimming in slow motion!’. As I progress through the drill sequence, I am excited to see how my swim speed improves!”
A side-by-side comparison of David’s before (right) & after (left) swim technique!
Interested in remote swim lessons? Click here for more info!