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"If I kick harder then I will stay afloat and swim further." ...a common misconception among beginners learning to swim. Relaxed and smooth is the key to an effective and efficient front crawl leg kick. Hi, Mark here. I hope all is well with you. In this edition of Swim Teach News, we are looking at front crawl leg kick technique and a basic exercise to help practice and fine-tune it. If you're a teacher, my resource library is packed with drills and lesson plans to help make your teaching efficient, effective and fresh. Leg Kick Technique Using a Kickboard. A great exercise to try out is kicking, holding a float or kickboard in both hands straight out in front. Aim: to practice and learn the correct kicking technique. Holding a float or kickboard out in front isolates the legs, encourages correct body position and develops leg strength. Key Actions
Technical Focus
Common Faults
Need More Drills To Improve Front Crawl?Download a full set of 22 basic drills to improve front crawl, covering body position, leg kick, arm pull, breathing and timing and coordination. 'How To Swim Front Crawl' will have you swimming with smooth and efficient technique. Click here to discover my Freestyle eBook. Resources for Swimming Teachers Swimming teacher resources that save time by taking the hard work out of teaching swimming. Click the button below.
That's it for this week. Stay focused, stay in touch and stay safe. Happy swimming! Cheers Mark ps - did someone forward this to you? Subscribe here. |
I've been teaching swimming for over 30 years and I built Swim Teach so that I can share all my knowledge, wisdom and experience from the thousands of swimming lessons I have had the pleasure of teaching. Take a look back through my previous newsletters and see what you missed.
What’s the one thing that can instantly re-energise a tired swim class? Hi there, Mark here - hope you’re doing well. Over the years I’ve found that no matter how much experience we’ve got as swimming teachers, a few simple tweaks can make a huge difference to how our lessons run—and how much our swimmers get out of them. I’ve pulled together some of my best tips that I use myself, and I thought you might like to try them out in your own lessons: My Top Tips for Better Swim Lessons ✅ Know...
Always wondered why confident swimmers look so relaxed in the water? Hey, Mark here. Hope you're doing well. For many beginners, putting your face underwater feels like the biggest hurdle in swimming. But once you get comfortable with it, everything changes. Swimming becomes calmer, smoother, and far more enjoyable. Here’s a simple 3-step way to build confidence underwater. 1️⃣ Get the face wet Start gently. Splash water on your face, blow bubbles, or chase a floating ball at the surface.This...
What’s the biggest challenge you face when teaching an adult to swim - fear, technique, or simply unlearning old habits? Hey, Mark here, I hope you’re doing well. This week, I'm tackling that sometimes tricky task of teaching adults how to swim, inspired by an article I wrote a while back. Why adapting your style matters Adults come to the pool with all kinds of backgrounds: varying fitness, flexibility, and confidence levels. The key is to meet them where they are, not push them into a...