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I swear I get the craziest looks sometimes when people come up and ask if they can share the lane with me. I usually respond with, “Of course, would you like to circle swim”?

They look at me kinda funny and say, “how about we just split the lane.”

I cringe a little and reply with a “sure why not,” and off I go to continue on with my workout in my tiny little half a lane (usually with a few laps of butterfly, so they know what they are getting themselves into:)).

Maybe I’m overreacting, but its just an irritating a pet peeve of mine.

Here’s why…

I never really thought there was any other way to swim laps than circle swimming when I was swimming competitively because it just seemed so logical. We had to swim 4, 5, 6+ to a lane, and the only way to accomplish this was to circle swim. After I quit, I was a lifeguard at the local pool and swam there occasionally, and I noticed how passionate some people are about circle swimming, silly as it may seem.

I didn’t get it until one day, all 8 lanes were filled up with 16 people, who of course were splitting lanes. This left any new swimmers to hang out on the deck until someone got out or they could convince their counterparts to share the lane and swim in those god awful circles. I’m getting dizzy just thinking about it!

Anyways, this same situation happened to me just the other day. A younger guy pulled the lane split routine on me (surprising because he looked like he swam competitively at some point), and about 10 min later there were 4-5 people on deck looking agitated because all of the lanes were full.

A pool’s capacity is not 2 x the number of lanes, so please make sure you do your part to keep it that way. Its only fair.

Here’s a few easy to follow lap swimming etiquette tips to help…

Pick An Appropriate Lane

When you arrive at the pool if there are no open lanes, scope out the situation and try to choose a lane that has swimmer(s) that are close to your skill level. Some pools will actually designate one side of the pool for slower swimmers and the opposite side for faster swimmers. Just make sure you choose accordingly so you’re not running people over or vice versa.

Volleyball coaches often face certain hurdles that are common to all coaches. How do you take a bunch of players who have never played before and teach them the skills necessary to become an effective force? How do you create volleyball drills to erase the bad habits learned from elsewhere and have your players perform the way you expect them to? The good news is that both of these questions can be answered in the same way. You create good beginner volleyball drills. This is not to imply that you have only beginning players on the team, this is more in the realm of the beginning technical drills in the new season. Using these drills will correct bad habits or teach new players just the same.

One of the first beginning volleyball drills you may want to work on will be for passing. A good way to get the concept down is to have the team divided into pairs of players. The first player tosses an easy ball to the second, who then correctly passes the ball back to the first. You will want to set up a set number of correct passes, then the players change out their rolls. This ensures a good rotation, and allows both players in each pair to learn the correct method. Once the basic passing drill is mastered, add some difficulty by having the players pass it back and forth to each other. You can even have contests to see which pair can keep the ball going with correct passes the longest. These volleyball drills will condition the player on the correct form to follow when passing a ball that is coming in a steady and known trajectory.

Volleyball drills that work on setting the ball are crucial to successful game play. Setting is important for players to correctly perform as they can work as a pass and also set up critical kill shots. In order to drill on the correct form required for a good set, have pairs of players stand on opposite sides of the net. The players will then volley the ball back and forth, using only sets. This will reinforce the mechanics of the set, so the performance will become an automatic thing during play. Once the players are proficient with this, you can add a challenge by having the players move around to the court into different zones while continuing to set the ball. Adding these types of variations in your volleyball drills will help ready your players for real game situations.

In learning golf, the fundamental movement of a good golf swing consists of bringing the club behind your head and swinging it down to hit the golf ball. After hitting the ball, the swing continues up until the golf club sits on top of the opposite shoulder.

Golf for beginners is not easy but knowing the fundamentals of a good golf swing will give you the advantage and will prevent you from developing bad habits while playing golf. Learn how to improve your game through the fundamentals of a good golf swing:

1. Grip – This is very basic since getting a good grip or strong hold on everything gives excellent performance especially for a golf swing. You must hold the club with your fingers and not with your palms. It is your index finger that plays an important role which can guide the club directly through the swings. The hands should remain steady but you should not hold on too tightly on the club as it may result in a poor shot.

2. Posture – Good posture is important in producing a good golf swing. All parts of our body play a vital role. Knee flex, hips, back, hands and arms all become an important factor. Feet should be shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent and the back straight. The hands and arms should be held loosely. Bending at the waist allows golfer to maintain good posture.

3. Pivot – There is a proper position for a good pivot turn. Pivot is how you rotate your body during the swing. In learning golf, a good pivot is important in making a good hit on the ball. The best pivot is a basic weight shift from one side to the other. You use this weight shift to push the ball forward.

4. Back Swing and Forward swing – There are two parts of a golf swing: the first part is the back swing and the second part, the forward swing. When doing the backswing, you take your grip, set yourself up and your hands in the club and then swing it behind your shoulders. While with the forward swing, you take your arms and you just swing the club at your target.