Alpha Sharks SWIM CLUB has proven to be the undisputed dominant force in local swimming by winning a record 11 successive Powerade Aquatic Centre international meets this year.
Their opponents should note that Alpha have set their sights on even more titles by bringing in a United States specialist to fine-tune the skills of 12 of their swimmers.
Dr Rod Havriluk of Tallahassee, Florida, who has worked with Barbadian swimmers before, spent a week conducting sessions with some of the top performers from Alpha.
Beginning at 9:30 a.m. and finishing at 4:30 p.m., Havriluk ran sessions on the freestyle on Monday last week, the backstroke on Tuesday, butterfly on Wednesday, and breaststroke on Thursday.
Friday was reserved for starts, turns, finishes and a recap of the week’s work.
National representatives Deandre Small, Sariyah Sherry, Tiffany Titus, Kendi Bynoe, Reanna James, Jonathan Manning, Brandon Thompson, Damon St Prix, Jelani Forde, Shannon Smith, Alex Sobers and Destiny Harding seized the opportunity for the intense week of training with the American expert.
The intensity of the training did not allow for groups of more than 12 swimmers.
Havriluk is a bio-physicist whose doctorate is in sports science as applied to swimming.
Virtual image
The expert who heads Swimming Technology Research in Florida has created a virtual image of the “perfect swimmer” and by the use of biodes and underwater video the Barbadians were monitored to determine if their body movements matched the virtual perfect swimmer’s.
According to one of the driving forces behind bringing Havriluk to Barbados, Joanne Sherry, the American specialist also uses technology to assess where swimmers were increasing or losing force in their strokes.
“Once that assessment is done, the swimmers can make the adjustments to ensure that they maintain the highest and consistent force in their strokes,” said Sherry.
“The underwater cameras and video match up with ‘the perfect swimmer’ also showed our swimmers where their body positions or limbs were not correct which is always a problem when coaches try to tell swimmers what they are doing wrong,” added Sherry.
The swimmers each received a DVD of their week’s performances which they can review and work on their drive to stay ahead of the local opposition as well as continue to win medals for Barbados while pursuing their Olympic dream. (KB)
