The Athlete Development Support Pathway

We as a Competitive, Sports and Fitness Swimming Club, we structure and plan our lanes, sessions, coaching, and athlete's development around the Athlete Development Support Pathway for Swimming (ADSP)

What is the Athlete Development Support Pathway for Swimming (ADSP)?

This is simply the long term athlete development model, made specific to the swimming journey.

What does the model represent?

The model is a framework for the development of children’s physical literacy (fundamental movement skills and sport specific skills) and aims to encourage lifelong participation in sport and physical activity (in this case aquatics). The Model Includes seven key stages, with clear progression routes from 'Active Start' right through to 'Active For Life'.

Key features

Active Start (Baby Swim School)

This stage should be fun for children and include both unstructured and structured free play in order to develop children’s basic movement skills. The aquatics aim here is also to develop their general water confidence.

FUNdamentals (Swim School stages 1-10)

Again this stage is about fun and enjoyment, with the key focus on the development of movement skills. Play should remain a key aspects at this stage however with more focus on structured play. The aquatics aim here is the development of core aquatic skills.

Learning to Train (Academy Squad and Junior Squad)

Aimed for those age 8-11 (females), and 9-12 (males), this stage should focus on two key areas:

1. The development of specific skills and technical elements needed within sports.

2. Individual’s physical, social and emotional development. 

Training to Train (Senior Squad)Swim Development or ‘Training to Train’ is the progression for our swimmers along their development pathway. These groups range typically from 11 to 16 years. Their main focus of training continues to develop the techniques of all 4 strokes learnt in Swim Skills but with an increased training load and higher intensity. There is an increased focus on developing both aerobic and anaerobic energy systems through progressive overload training.  Swimmers will compete more and at a higher level and will learn more around race tactics but also preparation, goal setting and the process of training and competing.

Train to Compete (Senior Squad)

Swim Competition or ‘Training to Compete’ is for our older swimmers who are continuing on the competitive swim pathway.  These groups are typically 15 years plus. At this stage the volume of training does go up often with multiple sessions in a day but more significantly the intensity of training and the amount of work across all 3 energy systems increases. At this stage we develop and refine individual race skills and tactics with a focus on higher level competition and a lifestyle to support that focus.  Our programme evolves into a core strength, power and mobility structure to support the physical conditioning to compete more often and at a higher level.