By Torrey Hart
January 15th, 2020

SwimSwam thanks SwimmersBest for sponsoring “Drill of the Month.” This is a SwimSwam recurring feature that brings drills and idea submissions from various creative and innovative coaches all over the world.

The first SwimmersBest Drill of the Month in 2020 comes to us from Mark Glover, aquatics director and head coach at the Suzhou Singapore International School.

SSIS has an 8-and-under development team quad as well as groups teams for ages 9-15 and over. Glover has over 30 years of experience teaching and coaching swimming from beginner to elite level, and has spent the last several years in China coaching swimming within international schools
competing nationally and internationally at various meets including the FOBISA Swim Championships, ACAMIS Swim Championships, Shanghai Swim League swim meets.

“As a coach, I do like to think outside of the box for new drills and training sessions, this comes with experience which I am happy to share with other coaches and athletes — we should never stop learning and looking for new ideas,” Glover said.

HOW TO PERFORM FLIP THE BOARD DRILL
“Basically we use the drill in two ways,” Glover said. “One, to ensure swimmers flip-turn straight and not to the side. Fast flip means faster turn, big splash, i.e. knocking the boards over with the water splash is achieved by fast flip, too slow and only a ripple of water, not straight and splash misses the boards,” Glover said. “We do half-way swim and flip for backstroke and freestyle and also use this drill in relays, miss the board, go again… fun but productive.”

CHECK OUT THE DRILL BELOW: