{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"In At The Deep End","title":"Coach's Corner: Why connection comes before everything else","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1274,"description":"This is the first ever Coach's Corner, a brand new monthly series from In at the Deep End. \nBetween main episodes, Salim will take a deep dive into one coaching topic at a time, answering the questions you send in and sharing tips, techniques and advice picked up across 20 years of swim coaching. And you can help choose the topics, just email in or leave a voice message about what you struggle with, what you want to improve, or what's holding you back, and Salim could cover it in a future episode.\nTo kick things off, this episode is all about connection, the thing most swim coaches skip straight past. Fear of open water doesn't care how fit or experienced you are. It's hit Olympic swimmers, seasoned triathletes mid-race, and pool swimmers who feel completely at home in a lane but freeze the moment they're in a lake or the sea. Salim breaks down why building a genuine connection with the water, before you even think about technique, is the real foundation of confident, efficient swimming.\nIn this Coach's Corner, Salim covers:\nHis five-step process for building water confidence\nWhy coaching often has nothing to do with swimming at all\nWhat Vicki Anstey had to overcome before she could even begin training for her record-breaking Pacific row\nWhy \"the push and glide\" is the fastest part of any length, and how top Olympians already use it\nThe moment Joe Wicks, one of the fittest men in the country, panicked fifty metres into an open water swim, and how connection work turned that around\nThe three pieces of kit Salim recommends once you're ready to start working on propulsion\nWhy Salim describes swimming as a performance art rather than a sport, built on doing less to get more\nCoaching tip of the episode:\nBefore you touch technique, get connected. Stand on the poolside or the water's edge and treat the water as your friend, not an obstacle. Calm heart rate and comfort in the water aren't a nice-to-have, they're the foundation everything else is built on.\nComing up in...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/FpnWipFnX7j-_6lV_aI5Q9A6Au1CU8O6osUzKr79alA/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mYzU5/ZjY1N2QxNGQxZjZk/MTcwZTRiYmIyZDhk/NWVkYi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}