"Feel of the water on the hand is vital for an efficient and successful
competitive swimming stroke. My holed paddles do it best!" - Coach Dick Hannula
The History of Han's Paddles
by Dick Hannula
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I started swimming competitively in 1944 and coaching swimming in 1951, and we didn't have any swim paddles. The first paddle that I purchased was at the end of the 1950's. It was a heavy medal paddle with a gripping unit for the hand in the center of the paddle. Each paddle weighed about 2 pounds. It was a weapon of destruction as a swimmer pounded his or her way down a pool lane. I bought only one pair and it was kept out of reach of my team members. |
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| I started thinking paddles before commercial swimming paddles became available. About 1960, I would have our high school shop teacher pour fiberglass over gloved hands of our swimmers, attempting to make a useable mold. These fiberglass hands would immediately fill with water and were useless. Next we started using very thin and pliable aluminum sheet metal shaped rectangular to cover the hand. Rubber bands cut from tire tubing were used to attach the paddle. We swam with these paddles and they provided a great feel of the water. The disadvantage was that the metal was sharp enough to nick and wound fellow team members passing too close. We actually avoided accidents in the 2 year period that we used them. Then the solid plastic paddle was introduced and we purchased those paddles in the interest of safety. |
| Solid plastic paddles didn't provide a feel of the water, and swimmers began to develop too many joint injuries through over-use. It became apparent that we still needed to develop a better paddle. |
| 1985 – The introduction of HAN'S PADDLES, the original holed paddle.. I wanted to create a paddle that provided much better feel of the water, and reduced joint stress. HAN'S PADDLES had large holes and a considerable number of holes within the paddle. It wasn't a solid piece of plastic. It provided a much improved feel of the water, and much less joint stress. It is one of the most versatile paddles ever made. It can be worn on the hand forward, the normal position; it can be reversed with the pointed end forward(which also serves as a finger tip paddle), and it has a special backstroke drill position. It is a great introductory paddle, adaptable for use in drills, swimming, and pulling. It is also a great paddle for speed and sprint training. It lends itself to fast stroking tempo while minimizing joint stress. |
| 1993 – The introduction of my 2nd paddle, GRIPPER. This is a larger or over-sized paddle. It has all of the advantages of the many large holes within the paddle to increase feel of the water. It also has enough flexibility to assist with water feel. The big difference is in the patented tread on the water surface side of the paddle. It has grooves or tread to better grip and hold the water. Why an oversized paddle? I wanted to design a paddle to maximize distance per stroke and promoted hip/trunk rotation in the long axis strokes. GRIPPER does this very effectively. It is not designed for over-use. It is designed for special drill work to improve stroke technique. The large paddle helps each swimmer determine the point of the hip rotation in the long axis strokes. This is described in my drill section. GRIPPER provides the swimmer with the feel of maximizing stroke distance from each arm stroke. Only the bigger, stronger swimmers should swim, and pull with the GRIPPER to develop strength. |
| 1998 –GROOVER arrives. I saw a need to develop a paddle that grooved the stroke as naturally as possible into the best stroking pattern. Drills can help, but I wanted a paddle that was simple, and easy to use in all 4 strokes. The paddle had to be interchangeable from right to left hand in order to be simple. The paddle had to have a fingers attachment that provided maximum stroke stabilization. The paddle had to have my patented tread to hold the catch position with maximum elbow position efficiency, prior to the arm action that results in pushing the body past the "anchored" arm. GROOVER grooves the stroke on the entry by placing 2 fingers in an optimum position on the paddle for the most effective hand pressure. . This unique feature is slightly on the inside of the paddles in free, and fly; and slightly on the outside of the paddles in back. Breaststroke is best served by using a slightly different attachment as illustrated in the directions. |
| GROOVER is the paddle for developing technique naturally. It is great for drills, swimming, and pulling for most swimmers. It gets you into the flow of the stroke (the groove) without over-pulling at the top of arm stroke. It feels good, and it feels fast. It feels easy. Getting in the GROOVE is relaxing, and efficient. This is what swimming should be. Swimming has to be smooth, efficient, seemingly effortless in order to develop power, and speed. GROOVER does a great job of doing just that. |
| 2003 - The New and Redesigned GRIPPER is introduced. The GRIPPER now has a contoured design to enable the fingers to make the downward movement into the catch and for a better water feel. The paddle has been slightly reduced in circumference, and the holed pattern has been modified to place more feel of water on the hand. The GRIPPER is again in green. The tread on the water side of the paddle is still featured. |
Please check out all of the Han's Paddles Web Site...
Order direct from Han's Paddles Inc.
e-mail: dick@hanspaddles.com
fax: 253-566-3562
phone Dick or Sylvia Hannula: 253-564-6674
Copyright © 1998, 2000, 2003 Dick Hannula and The Megaplex. All Rights Reserved.
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