How to Run Shallow Pool Drills

Pool time is often hard to come by, leaving swim teams to practice during a pool's off-hours and at any pool they can find. Practice pools for many swim teams are not comparable to racing pools. Some pools are too shallow to dive into or do flip turns. Modify your practice drills when you are in these pools and see if you can get into a deeper pool for at least one practice before a meet.

Instructions

    • 1

      Begin all drills from inside the pool. Do not allow your swimmers to do racing dives into a pool that is too shallow. Have them start at the wall, with their hands grasping the wall behind them and their feet on the wall with knees bent, ready to push off. When you begin the drill, have them bring their arms around and push off with their feet as if they are diving in.

    • 2

      Have swimmers do open turns in place of flip turns if the pool is too shallow for proper flip turns. Swimmers' times will be slower than usual, so explain this to them when you give them their times.

    • 3

      Spread out the lane lines or remove them so as to avoid the heavier traffic the open turns will cause at the wall. You can still run one circle per lane, but taking out lane lines will provide some extra room.