PROGRESSIONS FOR BREASTSTROKE – PART 1

LEARNING THE BREASTSTROKE TECHNIQUE FOR NOVICE SWIMMERS

Teaching swimming strokes with correct technique is slower at first but leads to safer swimming and a love of the sport. Today what I witness when watching some swimming teachers is what I would call teaching survival swimming. The basics are not perfected. It does take time and parents say they just want their child to be safe if he/she should fall in the water. Teachers are then pressured to produce results quickly. By teaching the technique progressively and correctly the child will become a better swimmer and because swimming becomes easier with correct technique they learn to love the sport and do better at it.

This article is designed for the Novice swimmer learning their strokes. The child should be water born and confident in the water.

Do not be afraid to give teaching Breaststroke a try. It can be difficult, but not impossible. The main propulsive factor in Breaststroke is the leg kick, but the arm pull and timing are very critical too. I will be doing articles on the Arm pull, Breathing and Timing at a later stage.

I am sharing some ideas I use to introduce the stroke to the Novice learning from the “get go”. Where you see the abbreviation TP it stands for Teaching Point . TP is a way of describing an action that the swimmer can visualize and then put into practice.

Body position

The basic push and glide should be taught at the beginner level. Make it fun.

SOME DRY LAND EXERCISES TO SHOW THE CORRECT POSITION FOR A STREAMLINE THIS CAN BE DONE BEFORE THEY GET IN THE WATER.

Lying on a towel on front

Toes and legs must stay zipped together.
Arms straight, extended in front of head, squeezing the ears.
Hands one over the other. TP “ Make a turtle”

Have competitions between the swimmers “who can do the best streamline?”

Example 3 x cactus arms hold 10 seconds – into the streamline position hold 10 seconds.

This exercise should be done everyday before they swim to make sure this very important position becomes a habit in the water too. It is the basis for all strokes, turns and dives.

In the Water

Mushroom float . Tuck up in a tight ball. Knees to chest, heels to bottom, head on knees.

Make this fun. “How long can you hold the float before taking a breath. “

Keep the head down and open out in to a pencil position on the front.

Once the streamline position has been developed we can progress to the Breaststroke leg kick.

Brief Description of the breaststroke kick.

The swimmer starts from a streamlined position on the front. The heels are brought up towards the bottom with the knees hip width apart. The feet are turned out into a Dorsiflexed position where the catch of the water takes place. The swimmer continues by kicking slightly out and straight back with the heels and instep of the feet. The kick accelerates to finish together with the toes pointed and ankles together. TP “ Make the ankles kiss”. The legs can be lifted up together towards the surface in this position to get the body back into the streamline position ready for the next stroke. Make sure the swimmer does not kick down again after the up kick. This would be considered a dolphin kick which is not allowed. The kick is known as the WHIP KICK due to the speed the legs come together, like snapping a whip, quick and fast.

DRY LAND PRACTICES

Swimmers lay face down on a towel, legs hip with apart and straight to begin with. Ask the swimmer to bend their knees, keeping the upper leg flat on the ground. Soles of feet looking towards the ceiling. Take a kick board and place on the swimmers’ flat feet. Ask the swimmer to lift the board upwards using their legs only. I tell them to imagine they have a pot of tea, Cup and saucer on the board. Both feet push the legs upwards. You want the swimmers to think about lifting their heels up to their bottom and not bending at the hips. Practice this a few times so the swimmer can feel the process required.
Repeat position number 1 without the kick board on the soles of the feet and try to replicate the correct leg action.

“Heels to bottom, turn toes out, kick back with heels, squeeze legs together, ankles kiss.”

Teaching the Breaststroke kick In the water.

You can start in the water and manually go through the action of the kick while the child holds on to the side or holds two small kick boards, one under each arm pit.
For young swimmers and even adults I like to use 2 boards to begin with. Breaststroke rule is all movements must be simultaneous and symmetrical. This means the arms and legs move the same way on the same plain in opposite direction. They mirror image each other. Using the 2 boards to begin with helps the beginner find their balance in the water. Sometimes when only using 1 board the swimmer can lean to their dominant side and not remain on their front. This can lead to what is called a screw kick or uneven kick which is illegal.

With one board held under each arm pit they float on their front with legs held straight out behind them. The swimmer can keep their head up at this stage. Ask them to lift their heels up to their bottom, turn the toes out to face the lane ropes and then kick straight back and together. Try to keep the knees close together during the recovery, shoulder width apart. Ideally, you want the knees to be pointing towards the bottom of the pool. TP “Try to get the heels wider than the knees.”

You can try 2 boards held under the arms on the back too. Now they must try to keep their knees under the surface. There should be nominal flexing at the hips. With this drill the child can see the legs and you can correct them as they try the movement. The hands are kept by their legs and when they bend the knees they try to touch the fingers with their heels. The swimmer can progress to a streamline position of their back, keeping their knees under the surface.

When we are at the beginner level teaching this stroke do not get too dogmatic about keeping the knees together or hip with apart. It can be a very stressful movement to the knee joint for some pupils and they can experience pain or discomfort. This will put them off trying the stroke. At this stage do your best to make the kick legal. If the swimmer shows potential for the breaststroke you can modify the kick later in their career. TP” “ Make the letter W”

Once they can perform the kick comfortably with 2 boards they can try with 1 board. Recently I was introduced the ONECORE float designed by Jade Edmistone former Breaststroke World record holder.

I find them excellent aids for all strokes especially Breaststroke. I will put a link for her web site at the end of this post.

I, personally, find I have to introduce the breathing at this point in the swimmers learning process. This can help with the timing of the Breaststroke later on. Either using the one float or the Onecore float held in a streamline position the swimmer ‘s head lifts as the heels are recovering up towards the swimmer’s bottom. TP Heels up, head up”. The swimmer inhales then places the head between the arms as the legs kick back. Hold the glide here. You want the kick to take place when the head and arms are in the streamline position. TP “No gap between ears and arms.” “Hide the ears” “ squeeze the ears tight”

This will make the swimmer faster as there will be minimal drag from the head being kept up. This will take time and patience, but very beneficial later on when they start training Breaststroke.

The swimmer can follow with the above exercise, but not using and float, just keep the arms streamlined in advance of the head.

Now we can go to Part Two Introducing the Breaststroke Arm Pull

July 26, 2015

LEARNING THE STROKES

Learning to swim is a skill. What is a skill? Skill is a learned ability to repeat a given movement a number of times with the correct action. Skilful swimming has the characteristics of efficiency, using just as much effort as is needed, and permanence, can be repeated consistently. “Practice does not make perfect, only perfect practice makes perfect”.

How is a skill learned?

The learning of skills for most individuals is a progression through definite stages and when teaching a skill it is important for the teacher to remember the following points:

Individuals will start at different points
Individuals will learn at different rates
Individuals will have different desires to learn
Individuals will have unique levels of potential
The teaching methods used will influence success

When teaching swimming it is quite easy to see evidence of all the points above. The class of beginners who arrive for their first lesson with differing background experience. The swimmer who moves through the classes very quickly, whilst others take a number of courses to progress. The swimmer who, regardless of how hard he/she tries, does not have the potential to make a swim team. The factor common to all these individuals is the process they go through in order to acquire a skill. Being told how to perform a skill is not enough on its own; the individual must also practice the skill. If the skill is practiced under the guidance of a qualified teacher he will provide the initial information of how to perform the skill, followed by an opportunity to practice. After the practice the teacher will provide feedback and possibly further information. The circle of learning is continuous. “Repeat and repeat.”

Feedback

Feedback provides motivation, e.g. praise combined with action for improvement and a focus for the teacher to draw attention on areas of performance to be considered during subsequent attempts.

For a skill learning to occur:

Activities must be appropriate to the individual (Ability groups)
Learners must see a good model (Demonstrations must be correct)
There must be ample opportunities to practice
Learners need to know how they have performed (Praise)
Learners must experience the enjoyment of success (Badges, awards etc)

Learning a new skill

In the initial stages of all physical activities muscle tension is high. As pupils begin to learn a new skill they are not aware of which muscles to use or the amount of effort to be exerted. The consequence of this is that he/she uses more muscles than necessary and creates a lot of tension in all the muscles.

Continued learning

The internal and external feedback, which the learner receives, enables him/her to establish which muscles need to be used and the amount of effort required to make the movements apparently effortless. The pupil now knows exactly which muscles to utilise and the precise amount of effort required. The pupil has now grooved the movements and is able to perform them repeatedly without apparent effort. The brain works like a video recorder. Each time the pupil performs a skill a recording is made of the movement. This recording continues as the skill is developed. Once the skill can be performed well the brain then stores this recording and replays it each time the skill is to be performed. As the performer becomes more competent at the skill he/she begins to feel as if he can do it without thinking about it. When a beginner first attends swimming lessons much of his attention is taken up with focusing on the surroundings and basic activities relating to water confidence. He finds it difficult to process any additional information related to acquiring the movement skills. As the pupil becomes accustomed to his new environment, and feels comfortable in his surroundings, he is then able to focus on the techniques required to swim.

Role of the teacher

The teacher needs to be aware of individual needs, watching and assessing participants carefully and continually. Set levels of work for each individual. The individual rather than the blanket approach.
Control the amount of information being processed by the teacher. Focus on one particular aspect of the skill and limit the quantity of information and feedback to an amount with which the learner can cope.
Select activities that are appropriate to the developmental stage of the learner. It is easy for the teacher to look at the techniques of a good swimmer and then try to teach the same style to a swimmer in the early stages of skill development, regardless of the fact that this skill may be wholly inappropriate at this stage.
The teacher is the swimmers’ eye and it is his feedback, which will motivate and inform.
Skill learning will be accelerated if the lesson is enjoyable. The learner may arrive screaming and crying but it is important they leave smiling and wanting to come back.

Muscle memory

When describing the Frontcrawl, Freestyle, Backcrawl, Breastroke or Butterfly there is an easy format or anagram that can help you with the development process and that is “BLABT”

B = Body position
L = Leg action
A = Arm action
B = Breathing
T = Timing

When teaching the strokes it is important to remember Newton’s Law of Action and Re-action. Every action has an equal and alternate re-action. If you remember this when looking at faults it will help you to correct the fault. For example if the legs are too low look for the opposite end of the body, the head, as it will probably be too high. When studying a swimmers’ stroke you must view it from all angles, front, side and back in order to get the overall picture. Sometimes it is necessary to ‘over correct’ in order to get the correct movement in the stroke, e.g. in backstroke hand entry a lot of swimmers ‘over reach’ and enter at the back of the head, if you imagine the face of the clock in relation to the head and body position the head being 12 o’clock you would ask the swimmer to enter their hand at 3 o’clock. The swimmer will do what he thinks is the right movement and will probably get near to the correct entry required.

Next time we will focus on each individual stroke.

November 8, 2012April 21, 2025

TO WEAR GOGGLES OR NOT TO WEAR GOGGLES…

THAT IS THE QUESTION?

These suggestions are my opinion after 50 plus years teaching and coaching swimming while living on 3 different Continents. There are always exceptions to every rule and the teacher must follow their beliefs and what works best for them.

Swimming goggles are a necessary part of competitive swimmers equipment. It enables the swimmer to put their face in the water for several hours at a time without developing sore eyes and their vision is clear and not marbled when underneath the water. You have to find the right goggles to fit comfortably over the eyes and the bridge of the nose. Ideally, the competitive swimmer should have at least 2 pairs in their kit bags at all times, just in case one pair break for some reason, and they should have at least one other pair that they keep especially for swim meets or diving practice. These should be kept extra tight in order to take the extra water pressure on the face which occurs during the dive. There is nothing more annoying than having ones goggles come off during a race. Swimmers must be taught how to put their goggles on for safety. The eye portion should be placed on the eyes first and the strap then pulled over to the back of the head. I have seen a swimmer put their goggles on putting the strap to the back of the head and then pulling the plastic eye portion to the front of the face. They accidentally let go too soon and the plastic portion sprang off their hand and straight in their eye which resulted in the swimmer being blinded for life in the one eye. It’s worth taking a little extra time to fit the goggles on.

After saying this I would strongly advise beginners to NOT wear goggles when starting lessons no matter what their age. It is a safety aspect when learning to swim that the beginner learns to open their eyes in and under the surface of the water. Most beginners hate to put their eyes and face in the water but with gradual instruction and encouragement they will achieve the desired results.

PROGRESSIONS:

With the beginner in the water have them cup the water in their hands and wash their faces.
Blowing ping pong balls on the surface with the hands held behind the back.
Gradually, encourage the beginner to put their eyes, nose and face in the water for a short time and when they surface to BLINK, BLINK, BLINK.
Going under the surface and blowing bubbles, surface and BLINK, BLINK,BLINK.
Start challenging the beginner to pick up objects from the floor. Large objects at first and then smaller hoops or rings with different colours, asking the beginner to pick up a certain colour ensuring they are opening their eyes underwater.
Placing hola hoops under the water and they have to swim through the hoops.
Push and glides on the surface progressing to push and glides to the bottom and resurfacing. This is an important learning instruction for starting the learn to dive process.

Once the beginner has got to this stage you can introduce goggles but every lesson the goggles should be taken off for a short period to ensure they do not lose the knowledge and feel of swimming without goggles. If they are ever in a situation where the fall into water, for whatever reason and they do not have their goggles on, they should not panic.

Another essential part of the learner’s equipment is the swimming cap. I notice today that this is not something that is insisted upon as it used to be. In these times where “kids rule “ children are allowed to swimming lessons without a swimming cap, usually because they do not like them! A swimming cap is as essential to a learner as the one piece swimming costume is.

It keeps the hair off the face and helps when learning to breathe. I have seen beginners develop throwing their head back in order to move the hair off the face. This disrupts the whole development of stroke technique.
It is more hygienic and helps the pool to keep cleaner. Hair is continually being lost in the water. This accumulates in the filter system and with the grease and other chemicals floating around can make huge blockages in the filtration system.
It makes teaching the strokes so much easier for teacher and learner without worrying about hair in their face and eyes.
For the competitive swimmer it makes for better streamlining and less drag.

I believe every child learning to swim should wear a swimming cap and no goggles in the initial stages. Parents will argue that their child has sensitive eyes or does not like wearing a swimming cap as it hurts their head. Get over it. You want them to learn correctly and maybe develop into a competitive swimmer one day. I can assure you if they depend on goggles and never wear a swimming cap from the get go they will NEVER develop to their full potential. Also, insist on a proper swimming costume and not baggies. Parents do not understand the concept of drag and how difficult it is for the beginner to learn to swim with swimming costumes that drag them down.

Well, good luck with this issue but where possible, stand your ground and insist on:

Swim cap
No goggles in the beginning
Proper swimming togs

September 18, 2012September 18, 2012

THE FIRST SWIMMING LESSON

The Beginner Swimmer - entry and exit into and from the pool

I have been teaching swimming for over 40 years and I have tried to study, read, explore and digest everything there is out there to make me a better teacher. I can tell you now there is NO right way or wrong way to teach swimming. There are as many methods as there are religions and no one can say which is the right one but everyone believes theirs’ is the right one!

Whatever works best for you but do not be dogmatic in your approach and always try something new. You never know it might just work on some children.

How do we approach our first swimming lesson? There are 5 basic steps to take to make sure you start the child off on the right road. This edition will discuss the first step.

ENTRY AND EXIT

A child will develop confidence and feel more secure once he/she knows they can get in and out without help.

POOL STEPS
No matter which way you look at it this is where everybody should start. The child must learn to get in and out of the pool safely and without hindrance to anybody else.
If you have steps leading down into the pool you can begin with those. Hold the child’s hand and walk them down into the pool. Songs are great i.e.” The Grand old Duke of York”. Children need to feel safe so hold their hands at first. The water moves and sways and can be quite scary and sometimes a child can lose their footing and be put off. Take it slow until the child becomes acclimatised with the motion and movement made with and in the water. As they become more confident you can progress to maybe running down and up again. Make it fun and gloss over any mess ups with a smile and a joke as if nothing really matters. Let them always see you smile or laugh.

FROM THE POOL SIDE
This is more tricky and the child may need a little help initially as they need to use the strength in their arms to undertake this approach. The child sits on the side facing the pool with their feet dangling in the water. They place one hand either side of their body. Take one hand over to the other and twist round to face away from the pool but try to keep the feet still in the water. “Who’s got muscles?” Keeping their hands in place the lower themselves down into the pool. Hopefully, the pool is shallow enough for them to stand. The relief on their faces when the find they can touch the bottom is a treat in itself. If the pool is not shallow enough maybe you should put some kind of swimming aid on to help them feel more secure. Just in case they do let go of the side! With this method ideally they should maintain holding the side as their bodies sink to maybe shoulder level. Hold on and let them feel the floating sensation as they bounce gently up and down, still holding on. That’s enough for now. Let them then try to push up and climb out of the pool using their arm muscles. At first some children will need a little help with this but as they get more secure and develop their strength they will get out easy enough. It is important that they learn to do this by themselves as quickly as possible. They have got to pull themselves out for safety sake and you do not want to be hurting your lower backs continually helping them. If mum or dad are around keep them away too. They love to help their little ones but, really, it is not helping!

You can make a game of this too. “Turn around, jump up and down 10 times and climb out. Who can do it the fastest?”

The muscles that the are beginning to use doing this exercise are the same arm muscles they will be using when they start to swim. Encourage this method in the early stages.

JUMPING IN
Children can be quite scared to jump in at first so do not rush this either. Always make sure the stance is right from the get go. Two feet placed on the edge of the pool with the toes curled over the edge. “Like a little bird holding onto a branch” and the feet slightly apart. You can hold their hand to start with and do not let them go under in the beginning. The shock of leaving the side is enough at first. Soon they begin to trust you a bit more and you can let them go under but keep holding the hand. Make sure the child jumps with 2 feet at the same time. You do not want them to step off one foot at a time. They will eventually progress to jumping in by themselves. Make sure they land on 2 feet and stand still. Children love it once they can jump in by themselves but they must learn to make sure the area is clear before they jump in. Accidents happen so quickly and they must be made aware that other swimmers might be in the water.

DIVING
The final entry of course if to Dive into the pool. I will do an article on diving and the progressions at a later stage as this is an exercise all on it’s own and I am sorry to say that I have witnessed a lot of bad methods from teachers who think diving is an exercise taught at the deep end of the pool and so the reluctant child is dragged to the deep end and force to dive with horrible repercussions. Watch this space for learning to dive.