Expert coaching on offer at ASA Winter Swim Camp

Kara Martin 15:43 18/12/2013
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Striving for success: Young swimmers at the ASA Academy.

    Boasting top-notch swimming facilities and more and more world class meets, Dubai is fast becoming a breeding ground for some sharp pool talent, which the guys at the Active Sports Academy are keen to promote and support.

    That’s why their upcoming winter training camp is specifically designed for those swimmers that form part of a school swimming squad, or more importantly, form part of a club-performance swimming squad, and want to fine tune their speed, ability and technique for a more polished display in the water.

    Taking place across December 22-24 and December 29-31, the six-day camp will consist of a structured programme of dry and wet training, and will include drills, training sessions, stretches, dry (land based) exercises, video feedback on stroke, and more.

    Active Sports Performance Swimming (ASPS) coach Neil Watson, who has swum for his homeland on the impressive South Africa national team, as well as winning gold medals at FINA World Cup events, said: “We’ve designed the camp around a more technical side of swimming.

    “We were hoping to get not just our own squad, but other kids here in the UAE, up to the level of stroke that we’ve grown up doing (in South Africa).

    “Each day will focus on a specific stroke with the last two days focusing mainly on dives and turns in all strokes.

    “We’ll do video analysis too so the kids can see what the strokes should look like and what they themselves look like in comparison, because you don’t really know what your body looks like when you swim.

    “We also have a lot of videos of the breakdown of how some of the pros swim that we’ll show so kids can try and understand all the movements a bit more.

    “Then there’s a whole dry land system that we want to go through which we think swimmers should be doing before or after training, or on days when they’re not training at all just to try and stay on top of body power and all that. Then we’ll finish the whole day off with a swimming/training session in the water.”

    Watson, who will be joined in teaching by fellow South African swimmer Cameron Bosch, also a former national team member and a regular coach around various pools in Dubai, says the camp is open to anyone regardless of age, so long as they swim at performance level or equivalent.

    “It’s not just for kids wanting to come and do a swimming camp, it’s all about a long-term development goal, to build kids up to be champions, not now necessarily but at least helping them grow into something of significance,” he added.

    “UAE sport is, to be honest, a little bit behind a lot of other countries but it’s got so much potential to pick up and what we’re trying to do is to show what we can achieve – we have the facilities, but there’s not as much structure as there should be [in terms of talent and performance]. We hope to build up that as much as we can.”

    What: Active Sports Academy Winter Performance Swim Camp

    When: December 22-24 and 29-31, from 8.30 to 14:00 each day

    Where: Regent International School, The Greens, Dubai Fees: One day costs Dh200, three days Dh500, and six days Dh900

    Contact: www.activeuae.com

    Email: [email protected] Tel: 050 559 7055

    Recommended