When the red hand points straight up, the show begins. Each swimmer flips at the far end wall, then pushes off and glides. Then breaking the surface, one by one, the swimmers form a new line, a line that charges ahead like an angry serpent. The practice builds from start to end from slow to fast to faster. Strokes and formations change from lane to lane.
Swimmers pass in bursts of speed in elegant precision.
There's a place for everyone and everyone knows their place. A practice that appears to run itself is a well run practice indeed. But sophisticated movement patterns never take shape on their own, it's the coach who designs and directs an orderly practice. This former national technical director of Canadian swimming suggests making practice sessions more productive by optimizing the use of space and time. A choreographed practice takes advantage of every cubit of space and every unit of time.