What changes when you systematize skill development?

 

With focused work, coaches often start seeing changes within weeks, and over the first couple of months they see:

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• Better skills that hold up at race speeds

• Simpler, more focused practices that directly target the most important skills

• Faster performances in training and competition

 

If you’re responsible for a competitive program and keep seeing the same skill issues despite more drills and more feedback, you’ll see versions of your own problems in the results below.

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Featured Coach Results

 

Conor – Cavalier Aquatics (Program Wide Skill Development System)

 

Conor wanted a unified skill development system across his entire program, from youngest to senior swimmers, instead of ad hoc “fixes.” Together we aligned the whole team around clear skill priorities and outlines strategies for integrating skill work into training. Swimmers now get daily, structured repetition and progression on all skills, and the plans have “opened a world of possibilities to train both skills and fitness at once,” with the entire program pulling in the same technical direction.

 

Hannah – Army West Point (Championship Prep & “Stuck” Athletes)

 

Multiple swimmers were stuck heading into the last month before championships despite strong training. One 100 fly swimmer who hadn’t gone a PR in 3 years and was consistently 3+ seconds off finally hit a best time this season after just 2 weeks of implementing our changes. Two others hit massive season bests, and Hannah gained confidence in diagnosing problems and reorganizing training to get athletes unstuck late in the year.

 

Kyle – Waverly Aquatic Club & Waverly High School (Practice Design & Macrocycle)

 

Practices were being written day to day without a clear long term plan. Together we built a structured macrocycle and practice design framework that clarified phase by phase goals, integrated skill work directly into main sets, and made sessions easier to build and more effective. The new plan contributed to four podium finishes at the New York State Meet, and Kyle continues to use and refine the framework each season.

 

Zo – Cercle des Nageurs de Quatre Bornes, Mauritius (Body Position & Propulsion With Limited Time)

 

With only 90-minute sessions, Zo needed to improve body position and propulsion without adding volume. By embedding floating and propulsive drills into warm ups, kick sets, and sprint prep, about 60% of his group showed visible improvements in just a week. Some swimmers went from 8–10m to nearly 20m dive and glides, and over a few months they saw roughly 10 second drops in 200–400s, all while shifting the program from quantity to quality.

 

Below you’ll find more detailed results, organized by problem type, so you can quickly find examples that match what you’re working on now.

 

Body Position & Propulsion

 

Gunther – Chinook Aquatic Club

 

Coach: Gunther Niklas, Chinook Aquatic Club

 

Problem: Freestyle breathing, head position, arm recovery, and catch weren’t translating from drills to fast swimming.

 

“Before we worked together, I felt that many of my swimmers were under performing… We would perform drills and the swimmers would receive feedback, but the outcomes were not too impressive.”

 

Change: We moved away from stand alone drills and started using constraints inside his sets to give immediate feedback while swimming. The focus was on stabilizing head/body position first, then cleaning up recovery and catch mechanics within real training sets.

 

Result: Gunther’s group saw significant time drops at their next meet once skills were stable and the stroke mechanics actually held up under race conditions.

 

Coach’s words: “After consulting with Andrew, we started utilizing constraints to give the swimmers immediate feedback… The swimmers in my group experienced significant time drops at our last meet.”

 

David – Hammerheads And Koalas

 

Coach: David Hopton, club coach

 

Problem: Group wide freestyle entry and catch issues were limiting speed and efficiency.

 

“I came to Andrew because I felt like my athletes had some consistent problems across the group. Namely, entry issues that made it hard to get into an effective catch.”

 

Change: We focused on improving arm recovery, entry, and catch mechanics across the group and then locked those changes in with repeatable test sets:

 

• 8×100 best average

• 8×100 threshold on fixed rest and RPE

 

Result:

 

• On an 8×100 best average set repeated 6 weeks apart, his athletes dropped their team average by 1.9 seconds, down to 1:09.4.

• One newer swimmer went from 8×100 threshold holding 1:20 on 1:30 at RPE 8/10, to 8×100 holding 1:16.5 on 1:30 at RPE 6.5–7/10.

 

Coach’s words: “In the last month, we’ve seen athletes make significant improvements in their entry and catch, and it’s translated to faster times.”

 

Zo – Body Position, Speed & Propulsion with Limited Time

 

Coach: Zo Rajaofera, Cercle des Nageurs de Quatre Bornes

 

Problem: Swimmers lacked efficient body position and propulsive skill, and with only 90 minute sessions it was hard to create big technical changes that held up at speed.

 

Change: Zo implemented floating/body position work and propulsive drills (hand position, paddles, dog paddle, etc.) almost every day. He built them into warm ups, kick sets, and sprint prep so swimmers were constantly feeling better alignment and pressure instead of just “doing more metres.”

 

Result:

 

• Within the first week, about 60% of the group picked up the floating work and started swimming smoothly on the surface with far less splash and noise.

• Dive and glide distances improved from roughly 8–10 meters to close to 20 meters for some swimmers.

• With only 90 minute sessions, the approach has shifted the program to quality over quantity, making every minute count.

 

Coach’s words: “In just a few weeks I started seeing real changes in my swimmers’ body position. About 60% of the group picked up the floating drills quickly, and you could see them moving smoothly on the surface with far less splash and noise. Some are now gliding close to 20 meters off a dive, and in the 200–400s we’ve already seen drops of around 10 seconds after a few months of focusing on these fundamentals. With only 90 minute sessions, Andrew’s methods have helped me make every minute count – quality over quantity – and I feel like we’re finally on the right track.”

 

Breaststroke Skills: Undulation, Body Line & Pulling

 

Andreas – Breaststroke Hips & Alignment

 

Coach: Andreas Dyb, Tromsø Swim Club

 

Problem: Breaststroke undulation and body line fell apart at speed and under race pressure.

 

“Before working with Andrew, I struggled to develop technical skills that would hold up at higher speeds and under race pressure. The skill I found most challenging was the breaststroke undulation.”

 

Change: We built a focused progression to:

 

• Keep hips high during breathing

• Lift hips effectively during recovery

• Maintain a clean body line throughout the stroke cycle

 

With specific moments and cues so swimmers could feel correct undulation, then progressively made the drills more race specific.

 

Result:

 

• Within three weeks, swimmers showed major improvements in keeping hips high during breathing and recovery.

• Body line was significantly better across the entire stroke, especially at higher speeds.

 

Coach’s words: “The most valuable part of this journey was learning how to give swimmers specific moments and cues that help them feel how a skill should be performed, and then progressively refining those skills to become more and more race specific.”

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Sara – Breaststroke Pull & Feel Based Skill Work

 

Coach: Sara Landolt, McFarland Spartan Sharks

 

Problem: Overwhelmed trying to fix “all the things” in breaststroke using mostly words and video, without a simple way for swimmers to feel changes and own their pull.

 

Change: Sara shifted to a feel first, constraint based approach for breaststroke. Instead of explaining everything verbally, she used targeted changes in hand position, resistance, stroke count, and time so swimmers could feel differences in their pull and connect those sensations to better mechanics.

 

Result:

 

• One breaststroker immediately noticed a different sensation in his forearms and pull on day one of the new progressions, which made him curious and engaged.

• Swimmers began experimenting with guided changes, understanding which variations helped or hurt their stroke and why.

• Breaststroke sessions went from exhausting, repetitive explanations to collaborative skill experiments, increasing hunger for improvement, trust, and ownership in the group.

 

Coach’s words: “Before working with Andrew I felt overwhelmed trying to fix all the things with my words and video. Over the 30 days he showed me a different approach – helping athletes feel changes in their stroke and improve based on what they feel. For example, one breaststroker used changes in hand position, resistance, and stroke count/time to improve his pull and felt the difference on day one. 

 

Any coach can benefit from equipping swimmers with methods to feel how specific guided changes help or hurt – it’s an effective, powerful combination that creates hunger for more, trust, and ownership.”

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Bree – Breaststroke Progressions Across Ability Levels

 

Coach: Bree Renz, club coach

 

Problem: Running monthly stroke & turn clinics for 3 groups (ages 4–18) with widely varying abilities, and needing breaststroke strategies, drills, and sets that actually work for everyone. Bree competed in breaststroke herself, but many of her staff dread coaching it.

 

Change: Bree and Andrew built a tiered breaststroke progression:

 

• Grouped swimmers as illegal, near legal, next level, and skilled, with clear criteria for advancing

• Validated existing drills Bree used and added new, feel‑based drills:

  • For kick: jumping on land/in water to feel pushing with full, flat feet; jumping with feet hip‑width apart vs. wide to feel alignment

  • For pull: side‑wall pull and heads‑up breaststroke

  • For timing: underwater breaststroke to coordinate movement sequence

 

This gave her a repeatable structure she can run each month, regardless of who shows up.

 

Result:

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• Coaches now have a clear roadmap for progressing swimmers from illegal to legal and then to higher‑level skill.

• Bree has more confidence that her clinics can serve all levels, not just the middle.

• Clinics are more purposeful: kids advance as they develop, instead of just “doing drills.”

 

Coach’s words: “We have monthly stroke & turn clinics which draw swimmers with a wide range of abilities – three groups, ages 4–18. The challenge is to have strategies, drills, and sets that work with different levels of swimmers. Andrew helped me develop an approach for all the skill levels by splitting swimmers into illegal, near legal, next level, and skilled, and giving me clear drills for each.

 

I’d recommend this to coaches who want to offer more to their swimmers. I’ve coached on and off since high school, but rules and strokes have changed. I’ve used the internet a lot, but working one‑on‑one with someone on specific issues has been invaluable.”

 

Practice Design & Skill Systems

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Conor – Program‑Wide Skill Development System

 

Coach: Conor Hassard, Head Coach, Cavalier Aquatics

 

Problem: Conor wanted a unified, program‑wide skill development system instead of isoldated skill work. Something that aligned the youngest through senior swimmers and made turns and skills a deliberate part of the training plan, not an afterthought.

 

Change:

Working together, we:

 

• Took his existing ideas on skill development and turned them into a concrete, program‑wide framework.

• Aligned the entire squad, from youngest to seniors, around the same key skills and language.

• Built in daily repetition and progression so swimmers saw and felt technical changes while still training fitness.

 

Result:

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• The whole program is now moving in the same technical direction, with clear expectations at each level.

• Swimmers get structured, progressive skill work every day, rather than occasional sets with a technical emphasis

• Conor has a repeatable model to design future cycles that train skills and fitness at the same time, instead of choosing one or the other.

 

Coach’s words:

 

“Working with Andrew allowed us to take our thoughts on skill development and put them into action in a meaningful way. The whole program is now aligned from our youngest swimmers to our senior swimmers. In addition to our original training plan, we designed two of our cycles specifically with a focus on open turns and flip turns. The swimmers have benefitted from the repetition every day along with the progression of the turns. Andrew’s plans have opened a world of possibilities to train both skills and fitness at once.”

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Kyle – From Day to Day Practices to a Long Term Training Framework

 

Coach: Kyle Ackland, Waverly Aquatic Club & Waverly High School

 

Problem: The program lacked a clear long term direction. Practices were built day to day without a unifying framework, and skill work wasn’t clearly tied to training outcomes.

 

Change: Working with Andrew, Kyle built a structured macrocycle and practice design framework:

 

• Clarified long term goals and phase by phase training outcomes

• Integrated constraints and skill work directly into main sets instead of isolated drills

• Created a repeatable process for building effective, purposeful practices

 

Result:

 

• Practices became easier to design and more effective, because each session now fits into a clear long term plan.

• Athletes are more engaged and invested, understanding why they’re doing specific drills and sets.

• The structured training plan contributed to four podium finishes at the New York State Meet, and Kyle continues to meet with Andrew several times each year.

 

Coach’s words: “In a world of hot takes and quick fixes, Andrew’s advice is practical, actionable, and technically sound. While his stroke analysis is excellent, the greatest value for our program has been in workout design and macrocycle planning. Prior to working with him, our program lacked a clear long term direction. With his guidance, we built a structured training plan that ultimately resulted in four podium finishes at the New York State Meet. I can’t recommend Coach Sheaff highly enough, and I continue to meet with him several times each year.”

 

Mike – 6‑Month Swim Plan for a Triathlon Transition

 

Coach: Mike Harvey, club coach

 

Problem: Designing a 6‑month program for a competitive swimmer transitioning from racing pool + triathlon to focusing solely on triathlon, while preserving the hard‑earned swim advantage and balancing coached and self‑led training.

 

Change:

Mike and Andrew worked together to build a full 6‑month framework in just 3 weeks:

 

• Defined the balance of coached vs. self‑led sessions

• Clarified swim types and volume targets

• Built a clear weekly and monthly structure that keeps training fresh and engaging

• Reviewed stroke mechanics and layered targeted drills directly into sets so technical changes would translate to open water

 

Result:

 

• Mike walked away with a complete, practical 6‑month roadmap he can reuse and adapt for future triathletes.

• The athlete has a structured plan designed to preserve and extend their swim advantage while shifting fully into triathlon.

• Stroke mechanics and drill work are now directly connected to the demands of open‑water performance instead of being bolted on as generic technique.

 

Coach’s words:

 

“I set out to design a 6‑month program to support a competitive swimmer transitioning from racing both pool and triathlon to focusing solely on triathlon—while preserving the swim advantage built over years of competition. What made this especially impactful—we built the full framework in just 3 weeks.

 

Working closely with Andrew, we mapped out a clear, practical structure: balancing coached and self‑led sessions, defining swim types, setting volume targets, and keeping the training fresh and engaging. We then reviewed stroke mechanics and layered targeted drills directly into the sets—fine‑tuning key elements to improve efficiency and translate performance into open water.

 

Andrew brings a deep well of knowledge and, more importantly, a genuine willingness to share it with those ready to learn. If you're a coach looking to elevate how you support your athletes, he’s absolutely someone worth connecting with.”

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Meg – Turning “Drills to Fill Time” Into a System

 

Coach: Meg S., club coach 

 

Problem: Practices were written to fill time instead of systematically developing stroke rate, rhythm, underwater pulls, and making the most of limited swim time.

 

“The context of writing a training protocol surrounded more of filling time than meeting the needs of the athletes… I would see issues I needed/wanted to correct and throw a drill at them. Sometimes it worked. But I did not have a systematic approach… We need to be fast. We cannot afford to be sloppy.”

 

Change: We took the drills she already knew and slotted them into a clear, purposeful progression:

 

• A structure that turned “swimming for an hour” into “training and learning”

• Drills chosen and ordered to specifically improve turnover, rhythm, and underwater pulls

• A simple system that could be repeated and adapted, not reinvented every day

 

Result:

 

• Drills became purposeful, not filler.

• Stroke became more power driven; turnover increased.

• Swimmers moved more efficiently through the pool.

• Times dropped and athletes learned how to swim fast and stay relaxed.

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Coach’s words: “Instead of throwing stuff at the wall, and hoping it would stick, I knew how to use the drills to maximize the training effect to get the results I wanted to see.”

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Championship Prep & Stuck Athletes

 

Hannah – Turning “Stuck” Championship Swims Around Late in the Season

 

Coach: Hannah Saiz, Army West Point

 

Problem: Multiple athletes were “stuck” heading into the final month before championships .  They were giving full effort in practice but not seeing it in results, including a 100 fly swimmer who hadn’t gone a best time in 3 years and was consistently 3+ seconds off.

 

Change:

 

We went beyond symptoms (“that doesn’t look right”) and focused on seeing the stroke with fresh eyes and finding root causes. Hannah used specific technical and constraint based progressions to change how her athletes felt the water, then built practical, simple adjustments into their existing training so they could execute new skills under race pressure.

 

Result:

 

• One 100 fly swimmer who hadn’t hit a PR in 3 years dropped his first best time this season after Hannah implementied the changes.

• Two other swimmers hit massive season bests and gained confidence in their ability to execute skills that had been out of reach weeks before.

• Hannah herself gained confidence in diagnosing problems and reorganizing training to help athletes get unstuck late in the year.

 

Coach’s words: “One of the best things about working with Andrew is getting an opportunity to see swimming with different eyes. As a former high‑level athlete I often felt things coaches couldn’t see; as a coach, I don’t always know where to look to find the root of a problem over the symptoms.

 

I had a kid who hadn’t gone a PR (and had been 3+ seconds off) for 3 years in the 100 fly hit his first best time this season after just 2 weeks of working with Andrew. Two others hit massive season bests and gained confidence in skills that had been out of reach in previous weeks.”

 

Want Similar Results In Your Program?

 

If you coach a competitive squad and keep seeing the same skill issues over and over despite more drills and more feedback, you don’t need more random ideas – you need a simple, repeatable system around ONE key problem.

 

Two ways I can help:

 

1. 30 Day Swim Skill Sprint

 

Fix one big skill development problem and build a plug and play system around it through 3×45 minute 1:1 calls, practice integration, and video review.

 

→ Join the 30 Day Swim Skill Sprint Waitlist

 

2. Deeper Consulting For Teams

 

If you want help building a full skill development system across groups or an entire season, reach out and we can see if a longer engagement makes sense.

 

→ Learn About Team Development