How much stroke technique does one need? What guarantees are there that it will produce results? Should it substitute for yardage? Sound familiar? Probably more questions than answers.

For years, I have brought to my swimmers attention that if there isn’t one exact way of doing a certain thing in swimming, then there are three or four. What will work for some swimmers may not work for others.

Take breaststroke for instance. There are more variations of breaststroke than butterfly, backstroke and freestyle. Some of today’s swimmers have switched over to the “wave action” style. Many are having problems maintaining the stroke throughout the entire event. This includes age-group and senior level (the kids) and Masters (the adults). They will use the “wave action” style for about 75% and then change over to what they have been accustomed to in the past.

In butterfly, it’s basically the breathing that varies. Most swimmers will use forward breathing. Occasionally, a swimmer will use side breathing. A swimmer who breathes to the side will at times have a tendency to ride their hips lower in the water, which will cause more drag. Keep in mind that Melvin Stewart holds the American Record in the 200m fly. He uses side breathing.

For Backstroke, it’s basic for most. The swimmer who maintains a steady turnover and a strong kick in the second half of their event will usually come out on top.

As for freestyle, there’s a little more technique involved. What breathing pattern (one-sided or bilateral) should one use for which event, and how often should one breathe for that particular event. Also, to use a 2, 4 or 6 beat kick enters into the picture.

This all leads to one thing. What is the perfect stroke? I really feel that today there is too much emphasis placed on stroke technique. As the late Matt Mann (Head Coach of the University of Michigan) once said,

“The only way to swim fast is to swim fast.” Some of our best swimmers have the worst stroke that you have ever laid eyes on. This holds true especially in freestyle. For the coach of those swimmers to say “Do this or change that” would be suicidal. After a great swim, the first words a coach should say to his swimmer is “Good job, now go out and break another world record.”

Should stroke technique substitute for yardage? There seems to be more emphasis on stroke technique than ever before. Why? Some of today’s swimmers appear to be looking for the easy way out with less yardage and more stroke work. For some, could this be a “cop out”? The late coach Sherm Chavoor used 90% conditioning and 10% stroke mechanics as part of his program. We all know the caliber of swimmers he turned out. Mark Spitz, Debbie Meyer and Sue Pedersen just to name a few. Yale’s famous Bob Kiputh use to say,

“Form is not as important as conditioning.” Should we return to the days of the “blood and guts” type swimming? Who knows? To sum it up, the pros and cons of this topic will continue on for a long time.

Dick Jackson is Head Coach of the Pennypack Masters, Philadelphia. His swimmers have reached the levels of USMS Top Ten, National Champion and USMS All-American.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) recently published a chart compiled by Brian Schrader and Dennis Pursley containing “USA Swimming World Records by Year”. This chart illustrates a sharp decline in the number of world records established by American swimmers since 1976. The number has declined from 16 to 1. Coach Jackson comments, “Lately, it appears that things are not getting any better.”