Description
Easy Freestyle Weekend Workshop
Minneapolis, MN
April 28-29, 2012
Location: YWCA, 1130 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55403
Registration: [Click Here]
Description: This two-day course takes you through all the Total Immersion drills and numerous strategies for full stroke mechanics. Resulting in a freestyle that is faster, easier, and more efficient for the long haul. Numerous video sessions will be uploaded for free to snapfish for your viewing after the clinic, including instructor narration to remind you of your strengths and opportunities for improvement.
We'll teach you the four key skills of a Fishlike Freestyle:
1. Cooperate with Gravity - Most swimmers fight gravity trying to stay on top of the water. We teach you to find your natural equilibrium by sinking into weightlessness. Learning to relax into the water breaks the "survival- stroking" cycle, and frees your arms and legs for their best use. Besides, gravity is a powerful natural force; doesn't it make more sense to use it than fight it?
2. Take the Path of Least Resistance - Once you understand that you must swim through the water -- and mindful that water is almost 800 times denser than air -- it’s logical to focus more on how well you streamline than how you pull and kick. We'll teach you to shape yourself to cut through the water like a torpedo by alternating a right-side-streamline with a left-side-streamline. Each stroke will move you farther and faster with less effort.
3. Swim with your body - Traditional thinking about swimming treats the body as having an “arms department” that pulls you forward and a “legs department” that pushes you forward. In Fishlike Freestyle, you swim with your whole body, instead of your arms and legs. We'll teach you to propel with a simple 2-beat kick, relaxed and rhythmic weight shifts, rather than arm-and-leg churning.
4. Breathe easy - We'll also teach you about breathing easily as you swim. No more breathlessness, no worries about choking. The air is free, take all you need.
SCHEDULE: Our schedule will be as follows (subject to minor revision):
Saturday
10:30 Check-in
10:30 - 11:45 Orientation and foundational instruction (in the classroom)
12:00 – 2:00 1st underwater videotaping and group instruction in the pool
2:15-3:15 Lunch (Bring a bag lunch) There are also carryout restaurants
within a block of the pool
3:15 - 4:15 Classroom workshop and review of video #1
4:15 - 6:00 Group instruction in the pool and 2nd underwater videotaping
Sunday
7:30 Locker rooms available
8:00-9:30 Group instruction in the pool and 3rd underwater videotaping
9:45-11:00 Classroom workshop and review of videos 2 and 3
11:00-12:00 Lunch (Bring a bag lunch)
12:00-1:30 Group instruction in the pool and 4th underwater videotaping
1:30-2:30 Classroom wrap-up
WHAT TO BRING:
For the classroom: Pad and pen for note taking.
For the pool: An extra suit and towel if you want dry ones for the afternoon swim, and an extra pair of goggles. We recommend that male students wear a Speedo-type brief or close-fitting triathlon swim shorts, rather than loose-fitting swim trunks, which can make balance even more of a challenge. Nose-plugs can be very helpful in avoiding distraction in Sweet Spot, in wavy conditions. You may also want to bring a thermal rash-guard type shirt or vest for extra warmth in the pool.
What about fins? ‘Kicking challenged’ swimmers may find fins helpful in achieving ease, but since we began using the "TI Buddy System" in balance drills, the percentage of those choosing to wear fins has dropped from 30% to under 10% of a typical class. And most students move along pretty nicely, once we advance from balance drills, in which all propulsion comes from the kick, to "Switch" drills, in which core-body rotation provides most of your propulsion. Towels are available for 50cents
DIRECTIONS: From the airport: take 55 West to merge onto 62 West. Merge onto 35W North. Take the left exit to downtown (65N) and take the 11th St/ E Grant St Exit. Take a slight left on the 11th Street ramp, and turn left on 11th Street S. Turn left into the YWCA right before arriving at Nicollet Mall. There is street parking available or lot parking at the YWCA.
LODGING: Doubletree Guest Suites, 1101 Lasalle Ave, Minneapolis, MN (0.09 miles away) 612-332-6800; Hilton Minneapolis, 1001 Marquette Ave, Minneapolis, MN (0.13 miles away) 612-376-1000; Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, 1300 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis, MN (0.13 miles away) 612-370-1234; Holiday Inn Mnpls-Dntn, 225 S 11th St, Minneapolis, MN (0.18 miles away) 612-341-3300
TRANSFER POLICY: Weekend workshops: If a request to transfer is received 8 days or more prior to the workshop, a $100.00 transfer fee per person will be applied to a future workshop, and the deposit will be credited toward that workshop.
CANCELLATION POLICY: Weekend workshops: NO REFUND will be issued for cancellations LESS THAN 8 days prior to the scheduled workshop unless a doctor’s note can be provided. For cancellations at least 8 days prior to the scheduled workshop, any monies paid above the $250 deposit will be refunded in full. The $250 deposit per person remains non-refundable, but may be transferred to any future workshop within one year of initial registration.
QUESTIONS: Call 800-609-7946 (845-256-9770 from outside the USA) or fax 845-256-0658. For questions about the facility and local TI programs, call Dave at 952-807-3774
