Engagement is rooted in presence and focus, two qualities we aim to nurture in all our members through the elegant and exciting vehicle of sprint swimming. A developed sense of engagement can be applied across life - to school and university study, to our interpersonal relations where we learn to connect and listen to each other… in fact to virtually any activity we end up pursuing whether it be learning a musical instrument or walking in the hills!

The marriage we seek is between movement and mental skills. For a swimmer to take a stroke without some directed mental activity is a stroke wasted. Our swimmers are encouraged to place more emphasis on the mental content of their swimming than simply the amount of effort applied to sustain a particular pace - the former enhances the latter. Learn to train with that mental focus, and your race times will take care of themselves!

Our swimmers and coaches have had to divorce themselves from their own preconceived ideas about how to train and how to learn the physical skills involved in swimming. This is what Bruce Lee was alluding to.

If you own a dog and unexpectedly it jumps up at someone, it is not the dog’s fault - it’s yours. This is the analogy we use to get our swimmers to understand that their stroke is their responsibility, not someone else’s (not, for example, the coach’s). Take full responsibility for your stroke in the same way an owner has to take full responsibility for their dog’s behaviour!

Practicing the wrong thing only makes you better at… doing the wrong thing! Don’t undo any progress you are making by allowing yourself to switch off and practice the very thing you are trying to correct. Always maintain that focus.

Whenever you swim there should be an inherit sense of ’forwardness’ that permeates the whole of the stroke. When you do so all your actions will become aligned and purposeful. You should try to avoid simply performing a series of movements without having a clear sense of where you are ultimately going. Always try to catch hold of the water with intent rather than just raw effort!

Replace the notion of flexibility with one of mobility. The difference between the two is significant. Simply trying to become as flexible as possible fails to acknowledge the need to develop corresponding strength and stability through the range of motion of each joint. That strength should be built by adding progressive resistance to suitable flexibility exercises. In particular the inherently unstable shoulder joint warrants strengthening the rotator cuff and scapular stabilisers.