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The quick and the dead…. (improving reaction times)

Australian swimmer -reaction times

I am going to run through a few reasons you want your athlete to improve reaction times. Then I will give a couple of examples of fun activities to help coach them for it. Along with keeping swimmers engaged while doing so.


Michael Phelps dive - reaction timesSo obviously getting off the starting block first in a race of any kind is an advantage but if we are talking about any race over a 50 freestyle you might be thinking, “it’s not THAT important”, having witnessed a tie for first place in a 1500m at the UK School Games when I swam I feel in every race there is a need for a fast reaction, here are the top reasons why it is important.

Confidence in your reaction times

There is nothing that will ruin a race quicker than a bad start. That slight hesitation, a mistake, a slip on the block, and loss in reaction time means a swimmer mentally will not fully recover. It changes their mindset from their first underwater to their first few strokes and can literally ruin any race. I have seen 200 freestyles where a bad reaction led to a misplaced first 50. Sadly the problem is that the swimmer was too tired to race at usual speeds. The nerves of a swimmer are settled with a good reaction time and once they are in the water they can go about their business. If the start is a worrying area then it can drain their confidence in the entire event.

He who hesitates is lost

A hesitation on the Start of a race - reaction timesstart can put you in the worst position in swimming, just behind enough to catch every wave from the opposition. This can make the beginning of a race much more hard work. Because you to miss a breath or take in water and in shorter races, it can be an insurmountable deficit.

Free time. How it can improve reaction times

Number three, it’s free time. If there is a way to go faster in the pool by exerting no more effort, you would be foolish to not take advantage of it. That is what a Woman diving - reaction timesfast reaction times do, with the amount of time spent on perfecting turns, underwater kicks and finishes just to drop a fraction of a second this free time available needs to be utilized by every swimmer.

Constantly forcing swimmers to learn skills in the pool can cause mental fatigue and they switch off and perform worse. The best way to work on things like can be done through fun activities outside the pool. Then they don’t even realize they are working on it. As a finisher to a dry land practice is the Tennis Ball Biggest Fangame.

Tennis Ball Biggest Fan game.

How to Play;
Split the team into pairs, each pair is given two tennis balls. Swimmer 1 holds their arms out straight in front of them with one ball in each hand. Swimmer 2 takes up the same position with their arms straight in front of them. Their hands placed on top of the other swimmers’ hands. Swimmer 1 then randomly drops one tennis ball and swimmer 2 must react. Swimmer 2 has to catch the ball before it hits the ground. Once they have practised this a few times they each take three turns, the best score of successful catches wins. In the event of a tie they play sudden death taking one turn each until one drop’s and one catches.

Then the winning swimmer will find another winner to challenge. The losing swimmer becomes a fan for the swimmer they lose to cheering them on in the tournament. If you are cheering for someone and they lose you then join the fan base for the swimmer who beat them. Eventually, you end up with a grand finale of your last two swimmers. The team is divided into two groups all cheering on their teammates to catch tennis balls. It gets competitive, it gets loud and it is really fun. While working on swimmer reaction times and also developing a great team atmosphere it helps to lead them into their pool session.