CTS' underwater speaker facilitates communication with athletes during workouts.

Communicating with the athlete presents a challenge in swimming, since the athlete is in, or under, water where communication is limited. CTS offers an underwater speaker that allows the coach to speak to athletes while they are swimming. When coaches are training swimmers in technique, the swimmers no longer need to stop swimming in order to get fine-tuning from the coach. Using the underwater speaker, a coach can remind swimmers to keep a high elbow or a streamline position coming off the wall. It is no longer necessary to stop swimmers, talk to them, start them, stop them again and reiterate your instructions.

How do coaches use the speaker?

Auburn University Head Swim Coach, David Marsh, has his sprinters do their repeat starts from underwater. This puts the swimmer in the same underwater position that they would be in if they did a block start. He can tell swimmers to drop under and then talk to them in order to line them up just right before doing an underwater horn start. Marsh also does hypoxic sprints by having the swimmers exhale while they are underwater. These techniques work much better when you can communicate with the athlete while they are underwater.

How does the underwater speaker work?

It works just like a regular speaker. Simply plug it into the Championship Start system and speak into the microphone. For the greatest amount of freedom, a wireless microphone is available for the CTS ChampStart. A single underwater speaker works well for an eight-lane 25-yard pool, by placing the speaker around the midpoint. For 50-meter pools, two separate speakers are recommended.

Bob Clauson is a nationally renowned authority in swimming and meet management.