Freestyle
• It is key that we are hands on with this skill. Instructors hands should be on the knees to hold them straight.
• Use a large barbell.
• Only the heals should come out of the water
Kicks on Front w/ assistance ~ 101
• Use cheek to cheek position
• Children can often do the arm motion by themselves but need assistance with floating to stay up.
• We are only focusing on the arms so legs can stay straight w/o kicking.
• Movement to the island is not necessary since we are hands on with no required distance.
Elementary backstroke arms with Assistance ~ 101
Step 1 - Teach the Arms
• The pull of the arm stroke starts in the streamline position.
• The hands turn out & the elbows go back slightly (but never past the shoulders) as the hand points down and uses power to push the water under them.
• At the bottom of the pull, the elbows should be high and hands are down.
• The hands come together, palms up, just under the chin then push water up to the chin and out.
• The hands will be above the water as the recovery starts. With palms up, the hands will both shoot forward into the streamline position at the same time, ending with the whole body in a streamline glide.
Step 2 - Add the Breath:
• Bring their shoulders and head out of the water as soon as the hands seperate in the pull. They will take a breath and by the time that breath is completed, the hands will be in recovery and shooting out into streamline. The head & shoulders will resubmerge after the hands pass the chin.
• Once in streamline, the body will undulate slightly as the head and shoulder go back down and the hips raise slightly.
Important:
• A noddle can help with the form of the arms but is tough to undulate with. Remove the noddle once the arms are mastered but before you start to teach the breath.
• Swimmers have a tendency to allow their arms to go down to their stomachs to pull. They also can get their elbows to far back - watch to ensure this does not happen. Keep the arms making small circles in front of the body at all times and never allow the hands to go past the shouders or too far down.
Breaststroke arms & breathing 4 yds. ~ 301
• Legs stay together
• The Body rocks with the shoulders and head, going down while the hips come up.
• After each kick, slighty bend the knees & snap the feet.
• You can introduce this with hands by the side but to pass they must be in a streamline position.
Steamline Dolphin Kick 4 yds. ~ 301
• One elbow will then tuck into the body ("elbow your brother") and at the same time the body will turn onto its side and legs will tuck into the wall.
• The other arm will come up out of the water & overhead ("call your mother"). The hand will pass just above your head (ear) and go straight out to meet the other hand that is there waiting.
• During the turn the head is above water looking up but once the top hand passes the ear, the head will resubmerge and the swimmer will do a hard push off the wall into a tight streamline.
Open Turn ~ 501
•Teach to roll (breathe) towards a landmark.
• Should have motion (kicks, floats, or paddles) & using circle swimming.
• Need to ensure they roll in the SAME directions.
• Using the arms is key when rolling.
Log Rolls w/o Assistance ~ 201
• Arms are straight above their head but apart.
• Head in neutral position, NOT tucked.
• Kick is not part of this.
Glides 5 ft. on back ~ 201
• Teaching whip kicks on the back first to ensure proper form before doing it on their front.
First teach this by sitting on the side of the pool:
• Legs straight, feet pointed
• Switch from feet pointed to feet flexed
• Once flexed, move to the up position which is the heels coming close to the bottom. DO NOT let the knees come to the chest in a tuck position.
• With flexed feet, seperate the legs and whip around the sides back into a straight leg and pointed toe. The knees will come apart but only slightly.
• Do not let the hips rotate. The motion is: feet apart, knees, then quickly whip around.
• After they have muscle memory and can do the motion correctly sitting, provide them with a kickboard and practice in the water (on their back).
Important:
• The whip kick is a small kick. The legs do not come apart significantly so teach them not to bring the legs all the way to the side when they whip around.
Whip kicks on back 4 yds. ~ 301
• Catch = Hands never come together in a streamline, this is a glide we taught in 201. The hands will enter the water with the thumbs & index finger first & at the same time. Next, the elbow bends and goes high while the arms will create the shape of a diamond with the chest & the shoulders. Elbows bent, hands move in slightly, and the fingers point towards the bottom of the pool.
• Power = Arms are in the diamond with the hands bent slightly in towards the bottom, push the water below the body and out. Always keep the elbows above the head and do not move the hands any further together than they already are. As the hands pass below the body, they are at about half a shoulder length apart. As they push back they will come out just enough to clear the hip on the finish.
• Finish = Hands are straight, and push the water behind them to fully extended their arms and "splash" the person behind them.
• Recovery = Palms are facing up & arms will remain relatively straight. Once the arms are out of the water, they will go horizontally wide with palms facing up and the thumbs will be just above the surface of the water. Arms will ride just above the water & circle around until they are a shoulders length apart.
• Can be referred to as Diamonds (the catch) & Zombie (the Recovery).
• With Butterfly arms, there is no kick involved.
Butterfly Arms ~ 401
•Teach how to get their stroke count with the backstroke flags. Line them up at the flags & teach them that the flags marks the 5 yd. mark from the wall. Point out the the lane line colors and the solid colors of the lane (between the wall & flag) then the alternating colors. These are the swimmers visual cues while doing the backstroke. They need to swim and count their strokes (do this several time to be accurate). To do the flip turn, take the count of strokes and subtract one. They will swim that amount of strokes and kick into the wall. When they make contact with the wall, they will turn their body around, put both feet on the wall, and push off in the streamline position on their back. They submerged and doing dolphin kicks on their back until they reach the surface.
Flip turn ~ Backstroke ~ 601
• Should exhale with their nose & empty as much air from their lungs as possible.
• When coming up for air, should inhale through their mouth.
• Watch to ensure breathing pattern is done correctly, you should see bubbles from the nose.
• This is not a skill just to simply get kids up and moving
Independently Bobs Underwater 10x ~ 201
• Back floats should be mastered before they are doing this independently.
• This is the same as the 101 skill but you start to do this independently.
• We are introducing the "Power" phase of the backstroke with the arms pushing the water when they go from "T" to "Touch" so we want the hands to use power when pushing the water towards their feet.
Elementary backstroke arms independently 4 yds. ~ 201
• They learned the arms in 301 so this puts it together with the whip kicks. They must master whip kicks before you introduce it with the entire stroke.
• It is one kick to one pull.
• The kick will be initiated at the start of the recovery of the arms. When the hands go face up below the chin, then legs start to go.
• The rest of the kick, the whip part, will occur as the hands shoot forward and push the body into a strong streamline glide.
• There should be a focus on holding the glide for several seconds to recover before initiating the next stroke.
Breastroke with glide 7 yds ~ 401
• This is taught as it's used in multiple strokes with the pullouts.
• They can start with arms by the side but to master this skill, arms need to be in a streamline position.
• It's easiest for them to start with their face above water.
Streamline Dolphin Kicks on Back 7 yds. ~ 401
• Progression to Teaching ___:
1. Stand & do a summersault;
2. Do a summersault then plant feet on bottom of pool, get in the streamline position, then jump;
3. Stand close to the wall, finish summersault with feet on the side of the wall, push off into a back streamline (and stay on their back);
4. Line up with the flag, swim to the wall , do the summersault, push off in the back streamline, then do the dolphin kick. With every dolphin kick rotate a little more onto the front until you are past the flag and all the way on the stomach. Do not pass the 15 yd. mark;
5. The final step is to swim 25 yds, do a flip turn, then stop when you have surfaced.
Flip turns ~ Freestyle ~ 601
• Adding in Finish & Recovery.
• Finish = Exit the water with a straight arm.
• Recovery = Getting entire arm out & around back to the catch (we don't focus on bent elbows yet).
• Teach arms first with a short distance (4 yds.) then once arms are mastered, add in roll breathing.
• Teach arms in these stages:
1. Use a small barbell doing one arm at a time, while you are hands on to get the correct form.
2. Use a small barbell again but alternating arms - less Instructor support is used in this stage;
3. No equipment - independent swimming;
4. Adding Breathing with Arms.
• Roll Breathing is only going halfway (not all the way on their back) - once breathing is down the island distance should increase.
Swims on Front with Roll Breathing 7 yds. ~ 301
• The recovery is added in for this level.
• Recovery = straight arm - while the thumbs come out of the water first, the rest of the arm follows and the body will rotate. Once the arm is completely over head, the opposite arm will start to come out and the entire body will roll its axis to get the arm extended out as far as possible. The hand will rotate 180 degree once it's above the swimmer so the pinky is the lead finger and the palm is facing outwards.
Backstroke 15 yds. ~ 401
• At this point they already know the kicks from 301 except they are doing it on their stomach.
• Have them push off in a streamline position and whip kick for 4 yds under water.
Whip Kicks 4 yds. ~ 401
• This is the first time they are combining the arms and the kicks. There are two kicks for every arm pull.
• The first kick happens when the arms enter the water and are in the recovery phase.
• The second kick helps to get the arms out of the water during the catch phase.
• To breathe, take the head out of the water during the catch phase. The face will look forward and when the arms come around the side of the body and enter the water in the glide position, the face will go back into the water as the arms pass.
• It is recommended you only breathe every two or three stroke.
Butterfly 15 yds. ~ 501
• The Swimmer will touch the wall at the end of the stroke with both hand at the exact same time.
• One elbow will then tuck into the body ("elbow your brother") and at the same time the body will turn onto its side and legs will tuck into the wall.
• The other arm will come up out of the water & overhead ("call your mother"). The hand will pass just above your head (ear) and go straight out to meet the other hand that is there waiting.
• During the turn the head is above water looking up but once the top hand passes the ear, the head will resubmerge and the swimmer will do a hard push off the wall into a tight streamline.
• After the streamline push, the swimmer will do one dolphin kick, then the butterfly arm power phase to get their arms are by their side and they will continue to glide. The final part is a whip kick that also recovers the arms to the streamline position.
As soon as they are in the streamline kick, the swimmer must immediately separate the hands & begin the breaststroke pull.
Open turn ~ Breaststroke ~ 501
• In the Recovery phase, elbows change to be the high elbow instead of straight arm recovery from 301. The hand should never come higher than the elbow.
• Should only turn their head with the natural rotation of their body. Half the face & one goggle remain underwater when breathing.
• Continue to breathe always towards the "landmark" go prepare for bi-lateral breathing.
Freestyle with Rotary Breathing 15 yds. ~ 401
• Streamline Flutter Kicks on back MUST be mastetered before you add backstroke arms in.
• Focus on catch and finish (power is learned in elementary backstroke).
• Catch = When hand enters the water, the pinky is first, elbows in, and hand points towards the side of the pool.
• Finish = Use straight arms, thumbs coming out and pinky in.
Backstroke 7 yds. ~ 301
• The difference is the distance, and the glide should only be held for 2 counts before initiating the next stroke.
• Open Turns are also taught
Breaststroke 15 yds. ~ 501
• The Swimmer will touch the wall at the end of the stroke with both hand at the exact same time.
• The pullout will be the same as for Breaststroke (elbow your brother, call your mother).
Open Turns ~ 501
• The Swimmer will touch the wall at the end of the stroke with both hand at the exact same time.
• The pullout will be elbow your brother, call your mother
Open turn ~ Butterfly ~ 501