When senior swim team captain Nils Rykken prepares to taper, he looks forward to taking a break from intense swim practice.

“It’s always nice because it’s much less difficult than the rest of the season, so people usually like it more,” Rykken said.

Boys’ swim coach Joe Yeager said tapers are a method of keeping swimmers in shape after peak week, which is a week of intense training.

“The benefit of tapering is that you build up stamina by working harder (and) faster in the same amount of time as you were before and then you slowly taper off,” Yaeger said. “It keeps your body in peak fitness level we can keep you at and then it leaves your body for the spurts of swimming that is really fast.”

Rykken said tapers, which last for about a week and a half, give swimmers a chance to focus on technique and rest, which improves their performance.

“(Tapers) usually consists of lots of sprints with lots of rest in order to prepare for big competitions like Sections or State,” Rykken said.

Freshman swimmer Will Matthews said he enjoys tapers and the opportunity to get stronger.

“(Tapers are) the part of the season where practice gets easier after peak week, which is the hardest sets we have during the season,” Matthews said. “It slowly builds up your energy for the last and final meets of the season.”

According to Rykken, Tapers involve a variety of exercises which help swimmers improve as athletes.

Rykken said the team focuses on improving starts, turns and overall technique.

Matthews said he enjoys focusing on technique rather than just endurance.

“We do a lot more breath control than normal,” Matthews said. “We do a lot more technique for our strokes instead of working on our endurance.”

Rykken said the JV and Varsity teams are working toward different goals.

“Junior varsity kids taper to go faster during big meets whereas varsity kids taper (in preparation for) Sections (or) State,” Rykken said.

Matthews said he notices a large improvement in his swimming after doing a week of tapers.

“I think the difference that (tapers) actually makes is just really crazy because you drop so much time afterwards. It’s crazy how much that works,” Matthews said.
The JV section of the boys’ swim team will start tapers Feb. 6 and the Varsity team will begin the week of Feb. 13. Sections will take place Feb. 23 and 25 at Art Downey Aquatic Center in Edina.