Robert Boder's Get in the water is a book of innovative methods to educate coaches, athletes and parent in basic skills of competitive swimming. It is a starting point to understand many important aspects of the sport:
- learning to do the strokes for speed and injury prevention
- proper physical and mental training
- interaction between of coaches with parents
- appendices of rules, swim terms, meet (events, scoring, to dos) and equipment to buy.
The book starts by briefly covering the science for efficient motion through water in simple terms. There are pictures and diagrams even beginning swimmers can understand and is appropriate for coaches to use in teaching strokes. After that it has age group training techniques, coaching tips, suggestions for Masters and Triathlon training. It is a short and thorough introduction to these topics. The sections for parents are based on his age group swimming experience and dealing with team parents. It is a realistic assessment of what to look for and expect to find in an appropriate program. Very successful Masters swimmers have commented on the explanation clearity and instruction value that went far beyond what is only directed to entry level swimmers.
