Training Session with Olympic GB Swimmer Craig Gibbons

2018-05-14

On Monday the 14th of May 2018, the Glendower lAPS team attended a training session, with Olympic GB swimmer Craig Gibbons. He told us that it is important to make sure all your strokes are technically good, because in the future you might want to swim a different stroke. After we warmed up, he taught us the importance of a good relay takeover. He said in order to get a quick time, you need to be able to judge when the other swimmer is going to touch the wall. The relay dive he taught us was a dive where you step, and then jump. It was very useful for a quick take-off. It was difficult to master at first, but with some pointers and a bit of practice, it really made a difference. After that, Craig also stated the importance of a good finish. He said you have to reach for the wall and touch it with your fingertips to get the fastest time. He told us to look at the T to see when to touch. This would stop us from slowing down at the finish and would prevent us from having to look for the wall. We finished up with our relays. It was our first attempt at a 6 x 50 relay but we did really well. We experimented with the dives, and most of us found it to be quicker. The Olympic pool was huge, but really cool. We can’t wait for lAPS! We also had the privilege of seeing the Paralympic gold-medallist Ellie Simmonds, and we were luckily to get to say hello and have a team photo with her. Thank you so much to Miss Laporte, Miss Pennick and Mrs Rekrut for coming with us.

Olivia (Y6)
Swim Capitan