Swimming 1
Swimming 1
Swimming 1
S wimming
• Self-Discipline
• Confidence
• Being a team-player
• Enjoying Life
2.1 The common competitive strokes
Freestyle
Backstroke
Breaststroke
Butterfly
Freestyle
Freestyle is the first and most important stroke to learn.
Learning how to float on your back is very important. With this knowledge, swimmers become
more comfortable when learning how to breathe for each stroke as well as adding kicks and arms
more easily. If a swimmer is too stiff or tight then having the head and belly up will not matter
much.
Not everyone can keep their stomach up forever, that is why being more relaxed is helpful
because then a person can push their head and stomach out of the water when necessary. A
mastered back float is also key in learning how to perform a rollover between the stomach and
back for swimmers. The swimmer learns about the rotation of the body and keeping a still head
while moving.
Breaststroke
Breaststroke and butterfly are what competitive swimmers call short axis strokes, where freestyle and
backstroke are long-axis strokes. Short axis strokes do not move the body in a rotating movement but
a forward movement of sweeping the arms out and in.
Breaststroke tends to be called the “frog stroke” because the kick and arm movement looks like a
frog.
The kick is the hardest part to master due to the unusual movement of the legs compared to freestyle
kicks. The feet come towards the bottom, then swing outwards and come together at the end with
straight legs.
The arms are easier to understand as they sweep out, comes under the chest and shoot out together
in front.
The breath occurs every arm stroke with the head coming up when the arms sweep out and it goes
down when the arms are shooting forward.
Butterfly
In comparison to breaststroke, the butterfly is not as complex in its movements.
The butterfly is simple but does need muscle strength and flexibility. The kick is
often called “dolphin kick” as it looks very similar to how a dolphin moves through
the water. The arms come under the stomach, out behind the body and come
around to the front.
When the arms are out over the water horizontally, it looks like a butterflies wings;
hence the name of the stroke. Age plays a part in butterfly because of muscle and
flexibility in a swimmer; therefore there are two ways to learn the stroke.
The five adjustments skills for
Non-swimmers
1. Breathing
This is a frequently overlooked basic skill, but it is an important one. If
are not comfortable breathing while swimming, you won't be able to
enjoy it completely and learn new things. The basic idea is that you
need to breathe out with both your nose and mouth when your head
is underwater. Then when you lift your head to the side take a full
breath before putting your face back down.
2. Floating
Before you start kicking and stroking, first learn to float in the water.
Floating helps you to get used to the habit of moving through water
properly. Floating helps to keep your body on the surface of the water.
Our body experiences a vertical buoyant force when immersed in
water and floating helps to keep your body in a horizontal position.
Floating is important because if you accidentally fall in the water you
will be able to float on the surface till you are rescued.
3. Your body movement should
be well coordinated
In swimming, all your body parts should be well coordinated
with each other. You must be able to move the muscles of your
lower back, abdomen, and hips in a synchronized way to keep
moving forward. Your hands should move and cut through the
water first, followed by your elbow and then your body should
make way through the water.
4. Kicking
Kicking is another important skill to learn if
you want to master swimming. Kicking helps
your body to move in the forward direction.
Many swimming coaches use kickboards to
support swimmer's body
5. Strokes
Now that you know how to float and kick, it is time to learn
some strokes. Strokes are the arm movements that help to
pull the body through the water. The front crawl, sidestroke,
backstroke, and butterfly are some of the common
swimming strokes.
4 different floating
1. Survival Float
The survival float uses very little energy, making it ideal for situations
when you don’t know how long you’ll need to stay afloat. Lie on your
stomach with your face underwater and your arms and legs dangling.
When you need to breathe, bring your head back up and out of the water
while pushing down with your arms and legs. After you take in a breath,
hold it and relax completely for a few seconds to drop back into the water.
When you need to breathe again, exhale as you bring you bring your face
out of water
4 different floating
4. Treading Water