The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
many, many moons ago, I asked the question about the proper way to do the frog kick. Some answered with thoughtful, even insightful posts that discussed the situation with a fair amount of thouroughness and clarity. I was even directed to a video of the kick, but it still plum eluded me. I was getting more and more convinced that I just could not bend my legs like that.
So two days ago a good friend cooked up a "kick class" put on this evening by Herb Sugden in Lake Brantley High's pool. What a blast!!! I am way tired from the 3 hours in the pool, but boy I got to learn a lot in a short time. I learned a lot about cavern as well. First off, we worked on trim. I was one of the few that he did not need to mess with. In fact he asked me if I was already in a cave class (had to adjust the trim some more to accomodate the inflated ego after that). Then we played follow the leader... just watching him kick was great. It felt really awkward at first, but I could feel the power increase with every minute. A few thoughtful pointers along the way, but I feel I am finally on the right track. Give me another couple of years to actually perfect this!
Then he told us to play with the reels he brought. So there I was, just finished a copter turn so I could reel the line back in, and all of a sudden...no air! Now I have read you guys talking about it, and in my mind I steeled myself as to how I would do it, but here it was. Fortunately, the first thing I did when I hit the pool was to check my valves, so I knew I could reach them. So I tilted my head down, loosened my belt a tad, felt the tank shift towards my head, and it was just enough for me to reach back and turn it back on. Way cool! Not sure which one of you was responsible for teaching me that trick, but it really worked well.
Then we did a mask off-eyes closed-line drill for 100 meters with 3 turns. Then it was ooa drills. We took turns being ooa and swimming @ 30 meters with the recipient on the long hase and in front. That done we did mask off-eyes closed-ooa-line drills for about 50 meters and at least one turn. A bit more practicing and critiquing on the kicks and the evening came to an end. Too cool.
But the really cool part, was in understanding why Herb had us do all those tasks for a class on kicking. It took our mind off the kicking so we could relax a tad and he could really see how we were doing in that area. Three hours on just kicking would have gotten boring pretty quick. Still, I spent three hours kicking none the less. Now I can't wait to take that cavern class...
Oh yeah... he says you guys are filling my head with too much crap. Just thought I would pass that on... :tease:
So two days ago a good friend cooked up a "kick class" put on this evening by Herb Sugden in Lake Brantley High's pool. What a blast!!! I am way tired from the 3 hours in the pool, but boy I got to learn a lot in a short time. I learned a lot about cavern as well. First off, we worked on trim. I was one of the few that he did not need to mess with. In fact he asked me if I was already in a cave class (had to adjust the trim some more to accomodate the inflated ego after that). Then we played follow the leader... just watching him kick was great. It felt really awkward at first, but I could feel the power increase with every minute. A few thoughtful pointers along the way, but I feel I am finally on the right track. Give me another couple of years to actually perfect this!
Then he told us to play with the reels he brought. So there I was, just finished a copter turn so I could reel the line back in, and all of a sudden...no air! Now I have read you guys talking about it, and in my mind I steeled myself as to how I would do it, but here it was. Fortunately, the first thing I did when I hit the pool was to check my valves, so I knew I could reach them. So I tilted my head down, loosened my belt a tad, felt the tank shift towards my head, and it was just enough for me to reach back and turn it back on. Way cool! Not sure which one of you was responsible for teaching me that trick, but it really worked well.
Then we did a mask off-eyes closed-line drill for 100 meters with 3 turns. Then it was ooa drills. We took turns being ooa and swimming @ 30 meters with the recipient on the long hase and in front. That done we did mask off-eyes closed-ooa-line drills for about 50 meters and at least one turn. A bit more practicing and critiquing on the kicks and the evening came to an end. Too cool.
But the really cool part, was in understanding why Herb had us do all those tasks for a class on kicking. It took our mind off the kicking so we could relax a tad and he could really see how we were doing in that area. Three hours on just kicking would have gotten boring pretty quick. Still, I spent three hours kicking none the less. Now I can't wait to take that cavern class...
Oh yeah... he says you guys are filling my head with too much crap. Just thought I would pass that on... :tease:
