(Photo: Blake Bernard/WCSN)
Following a long weekend, the ASU swim team returned to practice looking to focus on one thing – speed. After losses to USC, UCLA and Air Force, Arizona State swimming needs to find a way to get some confidence back. One way to do that is to generate practices that improve mental toughness and speed.
On Wednesday, the swim team participated in a practice designed to simulate the speed of a normal swim meet. The team put on fast-skin technical swim suits, similar to the ones used in big meets such as the Olympics. The “tech-suits” are made to repel water and compress certain muscles to make a swimmer faster. The team was very excited to wear the suits in practice.
“It was just an inspiration today,” ASU junior Barkley Perry said. “That was the main focus of the workout, and just to throw some suits on and have some fun.”
Before the swimmers entered the water, they had a meeting. Perry said the team meeting was designed to recognize the inspirations around them.
“We talked as a team about what inspires us, and that inspiration went into today’s practice,” Perry said. “The main focal point of that meeting was team. Everybody was relating it to team. That is how we’ve grown so much since the beginning of the year.”
This past weekend Perry recorded his fastest time in the 200-yard backstroke with a 1:47.06. After weeks of technical improvement, he now has the confidence to take down his school record time of 1:42.50.
“In the first couple of swim meets, I was still working on my technique,” Perry said. “Going into USC and Air Force, my coaches and I saw the 1:42.50 backstroke technique. We saw the good underwater works, the good breakouts and stroke count.”
Perry’s coaches were extremely excited about the fast swimming the team produced today. Following a tough weekend, the coaches wanted to produce a new level of confidence.
“Our goal today was to give them some confidence and let them know how fast they can actually swim,” assistant coach Misty Hyman said. “We’re in the midst of beginning a little bit of rest for our big invitational swim meet at Texas A&M, so I think we just wanted to build confidence and I think we did that.”
Hyman went on to mention that she is proud of the team’s effort and said they deserve a practice like this.
“The biggest thing is that they get to recover, and that is part of the reason why they are having so much fun,” Hyman said. “They’ve earned the right to rest, and the resting is going to be the most important part. I think it will be really fun to see what they are going to do when they recover.”
