3 Pattern Must Do’s Before Starting This Season
You want to improve your patterns this season, then follow the three steps I am going to lay out for you.
Goal Set
Please do not skip this step. It is very important and necessary.
How many pattern changes per lap do you want in the routine?
How many unique patterns changes do you want in the routine?
How many pattern changes for the entire routine?
What types of pattern changes do you want?
Underwater (the pattern change starts and finishes under water)
In a hybrid (the pattern change starts and finishes in a hybrid)
On the surface (the change starts and finishes with the head out of the water)
Not sure about what is reasonable for your level of competition? I would watch teams that placed ahead of you at your last competition as a gauge. If you won then look at the competitors in the next age group.
Is there anything else you want to consider for your patterns?
Make your goal setting specific to your team.
Map It
This can be done lots of ways, but whatever system you decide to do be sure to map out each lap of the routine. I would even go as far as putting which swimmer moves where.
Here is an example of an entire beginner routine mapped out. ↓
Plan it
Beside each pattern decide what the pattern will be for.
When you start planning out your patterns you may see patterns that need to be changed and adjusted based on what you want to place there.
For example, perhaps you want to do a highlight next and your team is a line. The line may not be ideal to get to the type of highlight you want, so you need to put another pattern change before the highlight or change the line pattern all together.
You may even notice duplicates of pattern changes and patterns that you could change to add more variety to the routine.
Here is an example of one lap being planned. ↓
These examples may be too elementary for you, but I wanted to give you an idea on how you could approach pattern building.
You want better scores for your patterns?! Take some time NOW to Goal Set → Map It → Plan It.
Take some time NOW to Goal Set → Map…
If you interested in getting some ideas for patterns and pattern changes check out my PATTERN BOOK. There are pattern ideas for teams of 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8. There are even specific pattern changes for you to copy and try at your practice.
Yours in Synchro,
