Beginner-Intermediate

Children at this level should be able to swim both Freestyle and Backstroke for about 15 metres.

Specifically this is the level that breathing co-ordination is fine tuned on Freestyle, but you are also working at refining technique and increasing distance swum on both strokes.

If children are new to the level, they could be quite nervous particularly as this is the first level that the teacher can chose to be out of the water, although some in water work will be beneficial and give a quicker result. Also it may be their first time in deep water without equipment. On the first lesson revise the more advanced Beginner C drills to test strengths and weaknesses. Fear may cause them to under perform on the first lesson, but they also may have forgotten a lot.

The Principle aims of Beginner – Intermediate are to

• develop rhythmic breathing on Freestyle, and as a direct consequence, extend the distance the swimmer is capable of swimming.

• gain confidence swimming unaided in deep water

Secondary aims are to

• Build a strong kick

• Refine gross arm movements on Backstroke and Freestyle

• Develop better efficiency with Life Saving/Survival Backstroke arms through the use of stroke counting drills and longer glides.

Freestyle Kicking Drills

As recently as ten years ago, competitive swimmers used a variety of differing kicking rhythms. Distance swimmers tended toward a 2 beat kick; middle distance swimmers a 4 beat or 4 beat crossover; and sprinters leaned toward a 6 beat kick style. In other words, they kicked 3 times on each arm.

These styles grew out of what a swimmer did ‘naturally’ to balance his body while swimming. However, distance swimmers with 2 beat kicks also had very short, choppy strokes and a rapid turnover of arms. Coaches justified this style claiming that the swimmers were using their upper body and conserving energy by switching off their legs.

Now-a-days, this theory has changed. My personal viewpoint is that a swimmer’s ‘natural’ instinct in the water is not necessarily the best way of doing things, since water is not man’s natural medium and most of our instincts, are land based. Hence we should not apply our land based instincts in water, but re-learn better ‘aquatic’ practices. I believe that a 2 beat, 4 beat or 4 beat crossover develop because the swimmer is in some way unbalanced, and this is their way of compensating. However, this compensatory mechanism is not the best, most efficient or even fastest way of swimming.

This follows the current trend toward the worlds best swimmers having a great 6 beat kick irrespective of whether they are a 1500m Grant Hackett, or a 50m Sprinter. My claim then is that we should be teaching all swimmers to use a solid 6 beat kick ie a perpetual kick which the arms fit into. Most 1500m swimmers are now attempting to use a 6 beat kick. Grant Hackett and Ian Thorpe both do huge volumes of kicking and their kicking times are phenomenal.

If we are to develop the swimmer of the future, we must ensure that we are spending adequate time building a solid kick, and for this reason I am building into the curriculum more kicking competencies.

To do this, all classes should begin with a kicking warmup, with or without fins depending on the level, and using strokes and distances appropriate for the level. At this level children could expect to swim 50m Freestyle kick with board and 50m Backstroke kick with board over knees, as a warm up. This is a good routine to get into so they can get straight into the lesson, if you are running a bit late.

Refine the kick down. Get them to ‘boil’ the water with just the heels breaking the surface rather than the whole foot lifting out of the water. Get them to always listen to the sound their feet make, even if their face is in the water. Rather than making a crashing sound, it should sound more like a ‘slurping’ or suction sound.

Side Kick Drills:

Side kicking is one of the base drills used to correct and extend both Freestyle and Backstroke. Both of these strokes are called “Long Axis’ strokes as rotation occurs in the long axis. Side kicking develops this concept. Most work on these strokes from now on will incorporate some aspect of the side kick into it. 1. Side Kick - Base Drill # 1

This is one of the most important drills you can teach. With a slight change in head position it becomes a Backstroke Drill.

In these 2 drawings, the swimmer’s face is turned slightly upward rather than sideways. This is acceptable, however the hand resting on the leg should be rotated so that the palm faces upward. This is called Position number One. Note the following points; ♦ The feet are kicking sideways. If the swimmer has rotated

enough, the shoulders will lie perpendicular to the water; the belly button, hips, knees and ankles will also be facing sideways. If the feet are splashing or breaking the surface, it is an indication that the lower body at least has not rotated enough. The belly button will probably be facing toward the pool bottom instead.

♦ The ear is resting on the upper arm. ♦ One goggle is underwater while the other is above. The swimmer should be aware of what he/she is

seeing. They should have a ‘split’ screen’ vision. ♦ Aim for a straight line from the tips of the fingers to the tips of the toes. ♦ The outstretched arm or steering arm is held completely still and floats just below the surface. Control of

the steering arm is crucial to the catch phase of the stroke. When you are introducing this, please use our Teacher’s Resource Picture Book to point out swimmers with both good and poor head positions – talk about who the champions are and follow the text as it will aid you in your descriptions. A picture tells a thousand words and used wisely, can also build excitement toward the sport of swimming by using role models to show. The following order should be followed when teaching this drill.

I. Practice lying down on the pool deck first to establish a frame of reference as to how it feels. Equal practice on both sides, with the ear resting on the upper arm.

II. With board and fins III. With fins, no board (it is critical to get kids to keep their ‘steering’ or ‘pointing’ arm at the surface. Tell

them NOT to use this hand to paddle, but that they need to be able to control what it does. They should feel the cool air on the back of their hand and the warm water on their palm so they are aware of where their hand is in relation to the surface.

IV. With board, no fins V. This drill is an interim drill and you may skip it, but I have had quite a bit of success with it for those

lacking ‘steering arm’ control. Using a single arm floatie (not arm band), around the wrist of the swimmer’s steering arm, rather than holding a kick board. It is a good way to ease dependence on holding a float.

VI. Finally with no equipment at all.

Position #1

Blowing Phase

2. Side kick – Base Drill # 2 This drill teaches swimmers to rotate irrespective of their head position and to the same degree on both sides. Most swimmers will naturally rotate somewhat when they take a breath. However, when they are not breathing, many will tend to lie too flat in the water. This drill specifically targets body rotation during the non-breathing phase. It is important that the side rotation does not alter at all. Explain to swimmers that some strokes they will be breathing on, and some strokes they will be blowing underwater. Irrespective of whether it’s a breathing or a blowing stroke, swimmers must experience a full stretch onto their side, between strokes. The drill begins exactly as above, but the swimmers face will be turned sideways to breath for 6 kicks, then turn to blow bubbles looking toward the pool bottom for 6 kicks. The drill continues alternating 6 kicks with side breath and 6 kicks blowing. The important point is to keep the shoulder, hips and feet rotated sideways throughout. Backstroke Australia is quite weak at producing international backstrokers and one of the reasons is with crowded pools, swimmers are fearful of doing much backstroke work. At H2O we recognise that if we are to develop strong, confident backstrokers, we need to address the unique challenges and difficulties that Backstrokers face, and teach strategies to ensure safe swimming free of fear. Challenges unique to Backstroke include;

Ø Fear of finishing correctly on their back and injuring themselves Ø Fear of swimming crookedly and hitting another swimmer Ø Discomfort of water up the nose Ø Difficulty overtaking other swimmers

Let’s look at each of these more closely and the strategies teachers need to use to overcome them. These MUST be well developed at Beginner –Intermediate level, so swimmers can proceed through our system with confidence. Finishes Beginning ten (10) metres from the wall, swimmers are shown the backstroke flags and how they are used to count strokes from the flags to the finish. Good backstrokers will take 5 strokes. Younger weak swimmers will take 6 or 7 strokes with some even higher. The teacher instructs swimmers in single file to swim to the wall, finishing with their hand extended and touching the wall on their back. With each successive practice, teacher adds further details and refinements until all swimmers can confidently swim in, count their strokes and on the last stroke kick the remainder to the wall. It is important that swimmers get into the rhythm of their stroke from about 10 metres out and hit their rhythm BEFORE they get to the flags, or their stroke count will be inconsistent. The fisrt time they attempt this, teachers need to keep a watchful eye and stand at the finish to ensure swimmers don’t bump their heads or hit their arm. Instruct swimmers to count their number one stroke with whichever hand is in the air when they are directly under the lane rope. Count to 6 strokes and leave that hand extended and kick to the finish. If there is still a lot of space from the sixth stroke to the finish – go to 7 strokes the next time etc.. until each swimmer has a stroke count that finishes with no more than about 30 centimetres from the wall ie ending with a short kick to finish. Once a swimmer has established their own individual stroke count, they need to be able to repeat this every time.

Swimmers must be trained to

Ø ALWAYS count whenever they get to the flags and to Ø NEVER take an extra stroke, even if they finish short of the wall.

Swimming Straight Lauriston is fortunate to be indoors and if you look at the roof you will notice there are lines above each lane that can be used as guide lines for backstrokers. The lines vary in their position above each lane so swimmers will need this pointed out to them. One lane has the roof line corresponding to the black line on the bottom. All others are to the left or right. Teachers need to tell swimmers to either swim directly underneath the line on the roof, or to keep to the left or right of it, depending on their lane. An extra strategy which will also help them when swimming in outdoor pools is to teach them to use their peripheral vision. Do this simple exercise… Stand looking straight ahead. Raise your arms out to the sides and wiggle your fingers. Now start slowly bringing your hands around to the front and stop them at the point that they come into your line of vision out of the corner of your eyes, (without turning your head). This is your peripheral visions. Swimmers are now instructed to swim backstroke and use their peripheral vision and keeping their head in place, to see the lane lines close to their arm as they swim. Both these strategies use the sense of sight. A third strategy uses the sense of touch and involves body rotation. If they rotate their body adequately as they swim, the left foot should graze the lane rope to their right every arm cycle. If they fail to graze the lane rope, they might have drifted onto the other side of the lane. Water up the Nose This can be a real deterrent to swimmers enjoyment of Backstroke. Many swimmers compromise their head/body position as they don’t know how to stop water from going up their nose. The teacher should check to see if swimmers are breathing in and out through their mouth, or through their nose. Swimmers need to be taught an upside down torpedo. Show the photo in the yellow picture book of Lenny Krayzelberg in underwater streamline and point out the flow of bubbles from his nose. Good backstrokers blow underwater from either their nose only, or a combination from nose and mouth. The key is to blow a slow, steady stream from the nose until their face breaks the surface. Many swimmers run out of air prior to the face breaking the surface as they can’t control the rate they blow their bubbles at. Having competitions to see who can blow a steady stream of bubbles for the longest time, will help develop breathe control on both Freestyle and Backstroke – which is a critical skill to being able to gain mastery over other aspects of their stroke. Overtaking other swimmers Generally speaking, backstrokers who are swimming backward and upside down are essentially swimming blind and should not overtake other swimmers unless they do so at the ends. Once these skills have been mastered, the rest of this level is devoted to extending the distance swum, revisiting the fundamentals (Head/body position and kick), and fine tuning arm action, getting a controlled hand entry (pinky first, silent, minimal splash) and developing body rotation. With the exception of the head position, the body rotation drills on Backlstroke are the same as for Freestyle. Lastly, teach a rudimentary Backstroke start (again, refer to picture book for guidance).

Survival Backstroke This stroke should have been taught at Beginner B and revised at Beginner C using a flutter kick. It is now important to introduce the concept of stroke efficiency which will be carried through at all successive levels and into squads. It is an incredibly important concept for swimmers to understand and will develop greater power if done well. Using a pullbuoy to isolate their upper body, swimmers will do arms only survival backstroke and count to see how many arm strokes (a stroke cycle is “Up; Out; Down; Glide). However many strokes they take in 25m, they repeat and try to do less with each successive lap by pulling more firmly and by gliding further between strokes. Have a competition to see which swimmer can do it in the least number. A good count for young swimmers is 15/25m; a great count is 12 or less. Breaststroke Kick This is mainly taught at Inter level, but can begin here. Recommend when teaching this initially, the teacher gets into the water and does some kick work holding the wall with teacher turning the feet out and manipulating the movement. Do short distances only, limited to 5 metres with head down no breathing. Don’t go past the flags. Beginner- Intermediate – Transition building distance

1. Freestyle for 25 metres. Perfect breathing to one side, work on balance & control with leading arm + good body rotation, good stroke length still with straight arms. Ensure a steady kick with slow controlled arm speed (“fast feet, slow arms”)..

2. Backstroke for 25 metres. No overlap in arm action ie hands stay opposite. Fine tune head/body position; build kick strength; fine tune arm action + hand placement.

3. Survival Backstroke for 25 metres with flutter kick. Arm action shows reasonable distance per stroke (not kick dominated) ie strong arms with sufficient glide between.

4. Breastroke kick (4 kicks holding streamline position no breathe). Correct turnout of feet. 5. Torpedo. Starts every pushoff with “Push/glide/kick/swim” sequence. 6. Perform an elementary dive (unassisted) from the side of the pool. Start with hands in streamline and

hold this position until fingertips break the surface.