The range of competency couldn’t be greater. Some swimmers are fluid and precise – they have butterfly nailed. At the other end of the spectrum their are swimmers who make an ungainly hash of it – their arms barely breaking over the water, arms bent and lacking symmetry while their kick with legs akimbo come from their knees.
And everything in between. All are keen to get it right, yet while some respond to demonstrators and explanations others do not.
To give them all a fighting chance I used the set I used with a Junior Academy lane on Monday. We moved slowly through sets of progressive drills:
Dolphin kick underwater
Dolphin kick at the surface head up
Dolphin kick ‘Salmon Fly’ head up and down.
Biondi Drill
single-arm
And 2+2+2
There was improvement across the board with all showing a more fluid, long legged kick. Putting it all together was another matter, but some 15 minutes of fly drills, 11 x 50m as 25m lane clear took some guts and stamina.
PC1 FLY Weds 29 Jan 25
Phase
Activity
TRT/Rest
Dist:
Dur:
Total
W/U
+FINS
100m FC Kick
100m FC Swim
100m BC Kick
100m BC Swim
15”
400
12
12
TECH
4 x 25m Fly +fins and buoy
Emphasis on body position, stroke undulation, kick from the hips, arm stroke, and timing.
5:00
100/
500
6
18
MAIN
DRILLS
1 x 100m Fly Single Arm
1 x 50m Fly 1+1+1
1 x 50m Fly Single Arm with partner
15”
200/
700
8
26
KICK
100m Fly Kick on BC
2 x 400m FC on 9.00
100/
800
1 x 50m 4K 1P
1 x 50m Fly with pull buoy
100/
900
KICK
100m FLY KICK ON BC
100/
1000
DIVE
4 x 25m Fly Dive – transition. Breathe every other stroke. Head down.
30”
100
/1200
6
35
SPEED
DIVE
2 x 25m Fly relay takeover
2 x 25m Fly to BC relay takeover
2 x 25m BC to BR relay takeover
2 x 25m BR to FC relay takeover
15”
200/
1400
10
45
KICK
100m FLY KICK ON BC
100/
1500
6
51
S/D
200m FC Slow, easy, silent …
5:00
200
/1700
6
57
TOT
1700m
1 hour
We ended with 3x50m as relays. It was more competitive than usual as boys were pitched against girls.
