Basic Skills

In any club or squad, all swimmers should be able to achieve the following basic skills. These all appear to be common sense, and they are continually reinforced by the coaches, but if you do not concentrate on these basic steps when you are in training they will not naturally be carried forward into competition.

All swimmers want to go faster, but what are you going to change to make that happen? It is not enough to just swim more lengths, you have to pay attention to the detail.

1. Feet to flags as a minimum streamlining off all walls. As soon as a swimmer breaks from the streamline position, they introduce extra drag and begin to slow themselves down. They should have their body stretched so that they are as long as possible and have their ears between their arms.
   • Longer bodies are less affected by turbulence, this is one of the basic principles of aqua dynamics. Imagine a small boat in a rough sea, now put a big cruise ship or aircraft carrier into that sea. This is why it is important to stretch in your streamline position and reach throughout your stroke.
   • By stretching in your streamline position you are increasing your bodies rigidity, again reducing drag.
   • It is important that your head is not too high in the streamline position, and you do not arch your lower back. You will surface too quickly and you will increase drag.
   • When breaking the streamline position always start your freestyle stroke with the hand on the bottom, this removes unnecessary movement and reduces drag.
2. No breathing in the last 5m in either freestyle and butterfly. By keeping the head down, the swimmer does not break the rhythm of their stroke and will be able to achieve a faster finish. Small changes in the length of the stroke can also be made at this point due to the visual link with the wall.
3. No breathing on the last strok in and the first stroke out of turns. This goes back to the last point where there is a continuous movement pattern. The main outcome from the turn is to carry forward the momentum gained from the swimming speed into the rotation and then maintain the speed off the wall for as long as possible. By breathing you limit the speed that you can maintain but swimmers do need enough oxygen to get maximum benefit from the underwater phase of the turn.
4. Fast rotation on turns. In order to best benefit from the swimming momentum, rotation times on turns should be less than one second in all strokes. This is measured from the last hand entry to the feet touch and therefore requires the swimmer to turn in the first third of the stroke in freestyle and backstroke.
5. Win the close ones - don't finish on a fade. If you can lose by one 100th of a second, then you can also win by the same margin. Make sure that you give yourself every opportunity to be in the best position at the end of the race. You can do this by keeping your head down in the last five metres, finishing on a full stroke (no gliding into the wall) and reaching onto your side in freestyle and backstroke.