Tuesday, November 19, 2013

UIC swimming coach Noelle Wilhite’s role in injury prevention


No pain no gain, right?

Wrong. According to Noelle Wilhite, assistant varsity coach for the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams at the University of Illinois at Chicago, an athlete’s performance will suffer if an injury is left untreated.

Wilhite said there are ways to help prevent injuries in swimmers by designing creative training programs. Wilhite has coached swimming for 13 years and triathlon since 2003. She uses her triathlon training and coaching background as a way to cross train her swimmers.

“If I know today is an aerobic conditioning day, I can have some of that be dryland. Lets go jump rope and do some med ball stuff and plyometrics, and then get in and swim and then do a little sprinting,” Wilhite said.

 Wilhite said cross training not only avoids stroke repetition, but also helps prevent injuries and keeps athletes focused to counteract the burnout of swimming laps everyday.

“The more you do that one activity, the higher risk of injury. It not only keeps them mentally stimulated, interested, and also improves their athleticism. But it certainly prevents injury,” Wilhite said.

Starting the season with aerobic-based conditioning and slowly increasing the volume of swimming, introducing equipment and sprinting later on in the training programs to prevent injuries is important said Wilhite.

According to Wilhite, shoulder injuries are the most common problem swimmers face.

“The freestyle stroke can lead to shoulder injuries if the mechanics aren’t correct. I’d say that’s another thing we really try to be diligent about—stroke mechanics and skill and drill work because proper stroke technique leads to less injuries,” Wilhite said.

 Wilhite said head coach, Paul Moniak and her highly recommend athletes to condition and train during their off season to keep a high-level of physical fitness. Depending on the situation, Wilhite would tell an athlete who has a history of injuries to decrease their swimming and work on cycling, running and different dryland activities.

“We advocate a lot of cross training, so that maintaining fitness, even touching the water a couple times a week, the body gets a break from the repetitive movement,” Wilhite said.

 Wilhite said she encourages athletes to inform their coaches of any injuries or irritations they may have to treat injuries as quickly as possible to avoid lifetime injury.

“Living with chronic pain is no way to live,” Wilhite said.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Dear Urban Swimming Chicago reader

Dear Reader,

Thank you for visiting Urban Swimming Chicago, I hope you enjoy reading about coaches' perspectives, athlete features and swimming tips. My goal is to provide a hub of information about swimming, focusing on high school and club teams.

Over the past couple of months I have watched the number of page hits increase on days where I have posted an article about an athlete or a coach. The majority of my audience is from the United States with 1,068 views from last month, Indonesia came in second with 23 views, and Ukraine is third with six views. Overall, readers from 10 different countries have discovered Urban Swimming Chicago.

The "Chicago swimmer Rebeca Martinez qualifies for Junior Nationals and Speedo Sectionals" article topped the popular posts with 144 views. This article may be the most popular because it is about a Chicago high school athlete with many state records under her belt. Martinez said she shared the article with friends and family who are active in the swimming community.

The "St. Ignatius swimming head coach David Stephens leads his teams to win IHSA Sectional Championships" is the second most popular article with 87 views. David Stephens is well known within the Chicago area as the head coach of St. Ignatius men and women’s swimming and diving teams, as well as founder and head coach of the Chicago Wolfpack Aquatic Club. He has been active within the swimming community in Chicago for 13 years.

I send a copy of the finished product to the interviewee to see my work before posting articles onto the blog and to make sure everything written about them is accurate. 

I hope, reader, that this insight of who my audience is has been helpful. I post an article every Thursday, along with pictures of my swim meet adventures and swimming tips. 

And remember: Just keep swimming!

Sincerely,
Monica Stabile
Urban Swimming Chicago









Wednesday, November 6, 2013

The Guide to a Perfect Breaststroke Technique


Speedo created a video, presented by ProSwimwear to help improve breaststroke technique. 
Let me know what you think!






 

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