Breaststroke
I’ve just completed my week of poolside teaching and coaching breaststroke.
Over the week, in 45 minute and 1 hour sessions I’ve worked with 41 kids age 7-12 learning breaststroke across the grade range of our club’s grade 3 to 7 (NPTS 5-10) and 32 young teenagers 13-15.
By Saturday morning there’s a pattern.
Warm up
FC/BC 40/100m smooth
BR 50/100m Observe their Breaststroke
Main Set
Pick through a choices of my six favourite drills
Apply the drills
Adjust according to how they respond
For teaching groups include some ‘fun’ after 15 mins, at 30 mins and to end.
For training groups (non-competitive squads) the ‘fun’ comes in the form of the variety of drills, STFs (Starts, Turns and Finishes) and sprints against the clock.
| GROUP | DRILL | PURPOSE | TIPS |
| G3/G4 | Breaststroke arms standing(Poolside, or shoulder high in the water) | Establishes the correct arm action. Begins to address swimmers who pull down to their thighs. | Clear demonstration. I may lean over a bar, or woggle or just the edge of the pool |
| G3/G4 | Breaststroke arms with a woggle (noodle). | An excellent way to give swimmers a physical barrier to their arms which otherwise may drop to the waist. Doesn’t always work! | Push of gently so you don’t lose your noodle. Hand out only one colour to avoid hassle who gets what colour! |
| G3/G4G6 | Kick with a float. Hands over the top. Use as pull-buoy as a variation on this and before kicking without a float at all. | Steady kick. Always kick into a streamlined glide. | Explosive inhale, blow out slowly. |
| G6/7T2 | Backstroke arms with a FC flutter kick | Keeps the body horizontal and moving forward making it easier to develop what may at first be a weak arm stroke in front of the shoulders. | Keep the flutter kick steady. |
| G6/7T2 | Backstroke arms with a dolphin kick | Creates a fluid, rolling action. Useful to get the swimmers to feel they control what their body can do. | Keep the dolphin keep from the hips and continuous. |
| All groupsTeaching and Training | Two Kicks OneArmpull2KP | To develop the kick and put emphasis on the gliding action. | Make them work. Do it a few times, as 25m, 50m or 100m until they do the drill perfectly. |
| Extended glide. | Glide for one, or two seconds counting ‘One Mississippi’ | Many cheat and so making it a two second glide is more likely to achieve the desired effect. Be emphatic about streamlining the glide. | |
| STFs | Starts, turns and finishes on BR | Mark the middle of the pool. Dive and transition to the mid point. Turn from the mid-point and back. Finish from the mid-point. | At a competitive pace. Keep doing until they have the dive and transitional right, typically going for a three second count on the first glide and a two second glide on the second. |
Coaching and Teaching Swimming 