Off The Blocks Swimming Podcast · Off The Blocks Swimming Podcast

The Shannon Rollason Podcast Episode 94 - REWIND Sprint Freestyle

·1 hr 42 min·5 clips

Shannon Rollason says sprint freestyle is only 50 metres, and you cannot actually sprint it flat out the whole way.

1. Off The Blocks Swimming Podcast focuses on Shannon Rollason's sprint freestyle ideas, his current squad work, and his explanation of 'slay your dragon.' 2. Robbie Cox hosts the conversation, Shannon Rollason is the coach being questioned, and both matter because the show is built around practical coaching answers. 3. The episode asks how a coach identifies sprint freestyle, trains it, and decides when a career or season is complete. 4. Shannon says his breaststrokers are 'chugging along pretty good' and that one swimmer's descending set led to a New South Wales PB four or five days later. 5. He describes the set as three 100s freestyle at A2, then a 200 breaststroke, repeated three times, with heart rate getting over 180. 6. He says one breaststroker needs rate more than stroke count, while another swimmer needs counts because her strengths are different. 7. Shannon explains that breaststroke is not one style, comparing his current swimmers with Rega and saying different athletes need different rhythm windows. 8. He says he used to coach too much rate early on and has spent years pulling the stroke back toward efficiency and less drag. 9. The Ash Barty discussion begins with Shannon saying her retirement surprised him, and he notes that she won junior Wimbledon in her second year of tennis before going to cricket. 10. He defines 'slay your dragon' as achieving the goals that matter and then being able to move on without bitterness. 11. Shannon says reaching potential is not tied to age, and he points to Jodie Henry as a Commonwealth champion, world champion, Olympic champion, and world record holder. 12. He says staying in sport too long can create bitterness, and he prefers to finish coaching earlier than later if the personal balance is right. 13. Shannon says the danger in coaching comes when it becomes all-consuming and family life loses out. 14. He recalls Joe King telling him his greatest coaching challenge would be keeping his marriage and family intact. 15. He says that time in Denmark helped him choose family first and confirmed that success is easier to step away from when some goals have already been met. 16. Robbie Cox says the pre-meet period makes him grumpier and more protective of lane space, while Shannon tells him to keep his cool. 17. Shannon says coaches should not change their tone before a race, because the athlete still has the same job even if the meet feels bigger. 18. He cites Bob Bowman's view that race-day talk with Michael Phelps was not about swimming because the work had already been done earlier. 19. Coaches who work with sprint freestylers, breaststrokers, and age-group athletes will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting celebrity gossip or general sports chat may skip it.

As heard by us

Sprint freestyle, kept honest by starts, breakout speed and the first 20 metres.

Robbie Cox and Shannon Rollason keep bringing the conversation back to the same point: sprint freestyle is usually decided long before the race looks settled.

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Why you'd press play

You want sprint freestyle broken down from the first stroke.

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