ELITE INTERNATIONAL AGE GROUP SWIMMERS ARE TESTING 3S TRAINING STRATEGIES: 3S TRAINED SWIMMERS DOMINATED HUNGARIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Hungary has long established traditions in the sport of swimming and has placed its athletes on podiums of all major International events, from European Championships to the Olympics. In London Hungarian swimmers captured two gold and one bronze medal, which is hardly a shabby performance for a nation with a total population of less than 10 million.
Considering its limited number of potential swimmers, Hungarian coaches are forced to rely on the quality of preparation, projecting higher expectations from every participant. Clearly this approach pays off and clearly leading Hungarian coaches know one or two tricks about training, especially at age group level (just think of Katinka Hosszu and Lazlo Czech, if you do not know any other examples).
Last Spring one of the leading Hungarian swimming clubs, home for Daniel Gyurta, Olympic Gold medal winner in London and World Champion in Barcelona 2013, decided to explore Super Sport Systems training methodology and training design tools more closely. The decision was to give 3S a chance, but at a level of age group swimmers in their preparation for the National Championship in August. Coaches wanted to stage an experiment in which they a) wanted to test the “clean” outcome of the 3S program when followed closely and b) compare 3S protocols and suggestions against preparation plans and methods of the leading Hungarian breaststroker. Considering the fact that 3S headquarters are separated from Hungary by almost five thousand miles, we had no chance to “cheat” on Hungarian coaches or influence their decisions.
The results came back last week after the end of our national championship among pre-cadets (12-14 years old). The club delegated 4 swimmers to the national championship and grabbed 4
medals overall placing among the best clubs in Hungary based on the number of participants ratio.
Coaches can speak now about their observations on the 3S system, and this is what they had to say:
“… I am amazed by the quality and amount of special endurance we were able to achieve following 3S in the very short time we used it…”
“… Our leading swimmers dropped over 20 seconds from their previous best times in the 400 meter medley event”
“… we decided to test our athletes on all possible range of distances and events and some swam in 8-10 heats during the course of the championship event. All of them were unshakable…”
“… with 3S we received all the confidence necessary to make the next step in preparation, which is beating the national record…”
“… all of our athletes looked confident, relaxed and … happy. No signs of overtraining. Simply Amazing!”
“… If I will have to evaluate 3S, its precision and efficiency, I would give it 9.5 out of 10…”
Well, elite coaches in any country are a hard crowd to impress. And I have to say, at 3S we were certainly impressed with the courage these Hungarian coaches displayed. With all honesty, they had a lot to lose… especially if our training suggestions conflicted with their coaching styles and their athletes’ perception. However, the results of their little experiment exceeded everybody’s expectations (well, maybe not ours).
We would like to offer our sincere congratulations to our colleagues in Hungary, and welcome them proudly into our family of 3S coaches. We wish them every continued success!
Sergei Beliaev based on report of Victor Hornyak, Sandor Szeles Swimming Club, Hungary