Coach's Tips on Stroke Technique

COMMON PROBLEMS WITH STROKES

It is important to remember that stroke development coincides with Human Development. While we may expect a 9 year old to be breathing to the side in Freestyle, it is appropriate for a 6 year old to still be breathing with their head up. Be patient with your child. It is important to me as a Coach to have them develop strong technique especially in the summer. We will be doing drills and work on specific strokes during practice.

--Coach Jeanne

STREAMLINE
This is the most important swimming technique for any age. It gets the body in line with the water and prepared for any stroke. I want to see streamline off of every wall.

Freestyle Face in the water—when your head comes up, your feet go down. Breathing—we want each swimmer to develop a breathing pattern. They need to breath all their air out in the water before they turn their head to breath in. I will often have 8 and U’s “hmmmm” with a kick board so they will learn this timing. Turning the head—As with streamline, it is so important to have the body in line with the water. The body follows the head, so if the head is moving around, so will the rest of the body. The Pull—In Freestyle we want to see the hands exit the water below the hip-line. Many individuals (especially younger children) “drag” their arms in the water. The goal is to get their arms completely out of the water and “reaching” for the wall. With older children, it is important to be sure they have “high elbows” in their pull. The Kick—A flutter kick comes from the hip. Many children kick from the knee or do a bicycle kick. The shorter and faster the kick, the better.