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.
Master Freestyle Kicking – Are Your Basics Solid? Plus, Fresh Teaching Resources!
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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. Below is a basic drill to help fine-tune your freestyle leg kicking. Click here for detailed information on front crawl leg kick technique. 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. |
Hi! I'm Mark, creator of Swim Teach
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.
The Swim Teach Weekly 1–2–3 One teaching goal. Two ways to communicate it. Three phrases to try. Welcome to this week’s edition of The Swim Teach Weekly 1–2–3. 1 LEARNING GOAL Turn to the side to breathe without lifting the head. Front crawl breathing can quickly disrupt an otherwise reasonable stroke. Swimmers often know they need to turn their head, but when the breath feels rushed, they lift forwards instead — dropping the legs, losing balance and making the next breath even harder....
Swim Better Weekly - One small change to make swimming easier. Hi there, Mark here. Hope all is well with you. Welcome to this week’s Swim Better Weekly - one small change to make swimming easier. The problem The pool feels threatening before you’ve even begun practising. You may see other swimmers moving confidently through the water and feel as though you should be doing the same. That can make the first goal feel enormous: “I need to swim.” Why it happens Fear tends to grow when you treat...
Hi, Mark here. Hope all is well. You know that frustrating moment in a swimming lesson. You explain the skill.You demonstrate it.You simplify it. …and the swimmer still looks confused. It is easy to assume that the exercise is not working - or that the swimmer simply cannot do it yet. But sometimes, the problem is not the skill. It is the words. One swimmer may respond to a clear, direct instruction. Another may need an image they can picture, a rhythm they can follow or a physical sensation...