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Freestyle
Developmental Swimmers
Very basic skills and progressions for coaches of What to look for
novice swimmers. Establish Alignment And Balance And A Stabilizing Kick At
The Beginning Of Every Swim/Drill
Head in line with spine
Head steady
No splash entry
American Swimming Coaches Association.
Length of stroke
acceleration
Rolling to breathe
Thanks to
Glenn
Mills at
Go Swim
Build freestyle on a foundation of: Is there a best progression for any of the strokes? NO.
Kicking Is there a straight line progression for any of the strokes? NO.
Streamlining Sometimes we build the strokes from several directions at once.
Alignment
Free and back must have great kicking – start there. Breast
and fly need correct timing – start there.
Reducing resistance is more important than In some cases there are clearly some things that need to be
increasing propulsion. done before others. DON’T RUSH. Do the basic fundamentals
The kick, while it is propulsive, serves primarily to better than basically well. .
stabilize and align the body
Shape shifting
Novice Streamlining
on deck with
help
Shape shifting
on deck oyo
Shape shifting
standing in the
water
Holding the
shape into a
streamline kick
Hands
not
stacked
one on
top of
other;
arms not
straight;
space
between
arms and
head;
head too
high.
Better Steamlining
Shape Shifting
Looking for Head
below the arms
Shoulder is not
very steady
here. Notice Nice
bending the steady
knees too much shoulder
on the kick – but
which leads to lifted
the movement in head on
the shoulders. first
stroke
For Swimmers
having difficulty
kicking
backstroke and
maintaining
body position,
this “freestyle”
drill is a nice
transition to
backstroke
kicking.
Hundreds…
Ask
Nice to have a bunch in your toolbag so you can swimmers
pull one out for a special need to watch
However, for developing swimmers it may be better themselves
to have fewer drills done properly and every drill is – watch the
head for
aimed at getting them to swim basically well. Basics alignment
first, hold the exceptionals for a bit later. and
stillness.
Practicing
the drill on
the deck
increases
the
likelihood
that the
drill will be
done
“nearly”
correct in
the water.
Sideglide with Three Stroke Switch Sideglide with Three Stroke Switch
84 85
This is a
good drill for
thinking
about one
stroke at a
time; for
working on
recovery; for
working on
length and
alignment.
Purpose is to learn
to keep head down.
The kick board
offers a temporary
“crutch” to allow the
swimmer to focus on
the head position.
Catch-Up Free with Tennis Ball More Catch-Up With Tennis Ball
94 95
Key words are: reach, roll, breathe Key words are: touch, roll, breathe.
The swimmer rolls to breathe after
the thumb of the stroking hand
98 touches the thigh. 99
The purpose of
pulling on the
hose is to work
on alignment
during hand
entry and the
ability to keep
alignment when
breathing.
First created by
Jack Nelson.
100
For a novice
swimmer, this
stroke has
pretty good
balance.
“It’s not learned until it’s done under Common Freestyle Stroke Faults
114
pressure.” 115
Drills should seek to lower the head in line with the spine and use A misplaced entry creates a poor “setup”. When the setup is incorrect
rolling to breathe rather than lifting to breathe the rest of the stroke is hard to correct. It should also be noted that
there is a relationship between the shape of the recovery and the
pattern of the pull. When there is a low wide recovery of the left
1. side kicking, then side glide drill arm the right arm often has a wide pull. We have found that by
2. catch up drill using a kickboard correcting the recovery many pulling problems are also corrected.
3. one arm freestyle, opposite arm down, opposite side 1. high straight arm recovery
breathing 2. low wide straight arm recovery
a) “reach, roll, breathe”
3. cross over entry
4. one arm freestyle, opposite arm forward, same side breathing
4. “crushing water molecules” entry
a) “touch, turn, breathe”
5. bobbing 5. no extension entry
Skills
Kicking – from quality kicking
Body position and alignment – from quality kicking, side
glide
Steady head – from kicking
One arm free, one arm side, one arm backstroke Deep, up, and over
progression Roll shoulders, Snap the hips, Head steady
Shadow swimming or mirror swimming
Laying on the deck, practicing arm placement at
entry, with partner coaching.
Begin with
streamlining,
then a
stabilizing
kick, THEN
take one
stroke.
Begin with
streamlining,
then a stabilizing
kick, THEN take
one stroke.
Nice drill
Fins for relating
free to
back;
and for
working on
good
alignment
Fins make it
difficult to roll
but make it
possible for
weaker
swimmers to
do backstroke.
The most common problems in backstroke are in four areas: weak kick, misaligned Entry stroke faults Drills for entry problems
entry, no body roll leading to shallow pull, poor pulling pattern.
1. over reaching 1. water shadows
Drills for legs 2. wide entry 2. dryland practice with
1. for flexibility, plantar flexion before practice 3. back of hand entering partner
2. for strength, kicking: 4. “crushing water 3. recovery around the
Note that
What is the
she pulls a
biggest issue
streamlined
here? NO
lower body
TIMING
through the
(among about
water.
a hundred
THEN she
other things. )
kicks a
Fix the timing
streamlined
FIRST.
upper body
through the
water. 2
engines,
alternately
working.
This is
same Timing: Pull,
swimmer, Kick, Stretch.
after Head is a little
about 2 high. Arms pull
weeks. a little too wide
and too far
back. Kick is a
little wide.
Sit on side of pool and kick - "up to the wall, toes out, around “Up, Kick, stretch”
and together" for kicking with or without board, timing drill
Kick on back using board, Switching, kick on back, kick on belly
“What come up on the word up?”
Hands, heels, head
Kick with board, face in: "breathe, kick, stretch"
“out, up, kick, stretch”
Kick on front, hands down, touch heels. "up, kick, dive"
For whole stroke
Kick on front, hands out front: "up, kick, stretch" Hands go out, then hands come in as head comes up, heels come up, kick,
Sitting on the board, sculling
stretch
Cobra, "strike"
Describing the kick: “out, around, and down”
Float: coach shouts "up-kick-down"
Describing the arm stroke: “S-l-o-w, quick”
Crescendo pull
Describing the arm stroke: “out, up, and forward”
Noodles in the arm pits
“Chest down, hips up”
Y breaststroke
Swimmers with illegal kicks with one foot turned in are usually
not kicking FLAT on their bellies. They are kicking a bit on their
side.
Have them kick down the side of the pool, pointing their belly
button toward the wall (in the opposite direction they are
currently kicking) and ask them to pretend to “brush the side of
the pool with the big toe.” This turns the foot out and flattens
them out.
The coach can lie on the side of the pool and hold the
swimmer’s feet in the proper position while the swimmer, using a
kick board, moves through the kick motion. After three motions
holding on to the feet, let the feet go and have the swimmer
perform about 3 kicks. One or two will be good. Repeat.
“UP,
KICK,
GLIDE”
Most novice swimmers can perform a “legal” kick on their back, even if they cannot
do a legal kick on their belly. In this drill we are transitioning from back to belly in
hopes that it will allow them to learn how to feel the 164
water on their belly. 165
166 167
She is
“cheating” a
little here by
using her arms
a bit. Not a big
issue… and
good to see
them figuring
out how to use
their hands.
(Head is a little
high though.)
168 169
“Touch you
heels with
your hands.”
“Chest down,
Hips Up”
“Up, Kick,
Dive.”
Purpose of
this drill is to
With Board make the kick
Without Board
more 3
dimensional
and to add
dolphin action “3 Dimensional Kick” means out, around, and DOWN. Width,
170 to the body. length, and depth.
Key words:
“Out, up and
forward.”
Watch the
hips go up as Here, we are
the legs kick asking them to
down and the pause after the
head goes “out” just as a
down. temporary
overcorrection to
emphasize the
width. We do
not want
swimmers to
pause at this
point during the
normal stroke.
Purpose is to
isolate the
arms – not to
worry about
the timing.
“Handcuffs” is
a mind picture
image to
remind the
swimmer to
keep the arm
stroke out in
front. Over-
correction.
181
Kicking faults Kicking drills Establish Alignment And Balance And A Stabilizing Kick At The
Beginning Of Every Swim/Drill
1. knee and foot turned in 1. deck manipulation
Set up – hands enter outside the shoulders
2. Not finishing kick 2. swimmer holding board, Stroke width and pattern matches athlete’s “swimming
coach holding feet moving strength”
3. dropping knees in correct pattern Stroke pattern is drag oriented with a slight taper inward
4. not getting toes out 3. sitting on the edge of the “fingers forward, fingers back”
pool, bring feet to wall, Chest down, hips up
turn toes out, kick out Head out before the hands, in before the entry
around and together End of stroke “rounded out” for novice
4. kicking on back with kick kick hands in, Kick hands out (kick in, kick out)
board Little finger first on recovery
5. stretching exercises Minimal splash
Chin plowing the water
184
examples next…
Similar to
wigglers
except
under
water.
Try to go
4 or 5
kicks on
one
breath.
We also kick
with head up.
It changes
body position
but: it moves
emphasis
away from
head
movement to
chest and hip
movement…
AND I can talk
to them!
And for me… it works.
--- continued
o Maximum 3 strokes
--- continued
Progression - 3 Progression - 4
216 217
3. alternately work on all types of dolphin 4. Slowly add length to the arm stroke. Too
kicking. Do not introduce kicking as part of much length too early leads to recovery of
the whole stroke too early. head and arms at same time.
Avoid drills that require the hand to stop at the sides. One of
the worst stroke difficulties to correct is the butterfly stroke that
gets stuck at the hips. Short strokes at first. Lengthen with gain
in strength.
Having novice
swimmers do
butterfly from a
dive gives
them some
speed which
helps the
stroke.
If we can get
half way down
the pool on 3
or 4 strokes,
that’s a good
butterfly start
for a young
butterflyer.
This young swimmer doesn’t quite make the middle on 4 strokes.