The No. 14 UCLA women’s swim team has had a tremendously
successful season thus far with a 4-1 record, coming up short only
against No. 2 Arizona. It has set multiple new meet records and
many Bruins have achieved personal best times.
But with the NCAA Championships in view, there’s room to
improve and to keep getting faster.
“We’ve been working on race strategies,” coach
Cyndi Gallagher said. “Everyone’s in shape. The whole
country’s in shape. It now comes down to who can compete the
best.”
In order to take the Bruins to the next level, Gallagher has
intensified the competitive atmosphere during their practice time.
Rather than focusing on conditioning, the Bruins race each other in
practice.
“It’s important to race each other so you can
compare yourself with your teammates,” new transfer Isabell
Fischer said. “It pushes you to be better.”
Gallagher has made an effort to simulate real racing conditions
during practice. Not only does she record the Bruins’ times
and in what order they finish, but she also uses the official horn
that signals the Bruins to dive into the water to begin their
race.
“You can’t just swim fast at meets or it’ll
take you by surprise,” Gallagher said. “We’re
practicing as if we were at a meet.”
Another technique Gallagher has used to improve the Bruin squad
is videotaping them during practice and reviewing the tape with
them afterward.
“We want to see the small details of our
techniques,” Gallagher said. “We’re especially
focusing on our technique when we get tired and start breaking
down.”
Reviewing the videotape will enable the Bruins to visualize what
they need to do to make their strokes as efficient as possible in
order to tighten up their technique and shave down their times.
“The video makes it much easier to see what you’re
doing wrong,” sophomore Silke Nowotzin said. “It makes
you much more comfortable with your strokes.”
LOOKING AHEAD: The Bruins now head into the
final and toughest stretch of the season. They first go to Northern
California to face No. 1 Stanford and No. 4 California on Jan. 19
and 20, respectively. Then they will square off against crosstown
rival No. 10 USC on Feb. 3. The Bruins know they will need to step
up if they want to be competitive against these teams that have had
outstanding seasons.
“We need to continue to believe we can compete with the
best,” Gallagher said. “Just because we’re not
national champions doesn’t mean we can’t be.”
STAYING HOME: Gallagher has opted not to take
her team to the Long Beach Grand Prix ““ a club meet ““
this weekend because she feels the Bruins’ time would be much
better spent at their regular practices.
“We’d just miss too much training,” Gallagher
said. “We get a lot out of our practices, and it’s not
worth it to be down there when we could be here getting
faster.”