Teaching Swim Lessons – Freestyle?
I’m a swim coach at my summer pool, and I’ve been swimming for all my life. I’m giving this little girl who is on the team swim lessons, and I just can’t seem to teach her the proper way to breathe in freestyle.
1) She lifts her head and extends her neck when she breathes
2) Before she puts her face back in the water, she lifts her head up so she’s looking at the other side of the pool.
I tried a lot of different things to isolate the breathing so she could focus on that, but it didn’t work, and I’m not sure what to do. I really want to be able to help her because she’s trying so hard and really wants to get better (Also, she’s young – 8 years old) Any advice on how to teach an 8-year old side breathing in freestyle would be much appreciated. Thank you!
I teach swimming and freestyle breathing is probably one of the hardest things for kids to pick up.
Firstly, keep trying to explain it to her in every single way possible – telling a kid that they have to breathe to the side works for some people, but not for all. Try ‘roll your head to the side’, ‘look at the bottom of the pool, look at the lane rope’, ‘talk to the fish, listen to the fish’, ‘breathe with your ear on the water’ ‘chin on your chest, chin on your shoulder’ – every way you can think of to describe it, one will eventually stick.
Secondly, bring it right back to basics – practice turning her head to the side while standing, then have her bend over with a hand on the edge and one down on her leg, turning her head to the side – make sure she has her ear and the edge of her goggles in the water. Give her two empty milk/juice/anything bottles (or two boards) and have her hold one up and one down and practice kicking and breathing to the side – gently place your hand on the back of her head and roll it to the side and back down to get the movement correct. When she finally has that correct, try 1-armed freestyle – kick with both arms on the board and when she needs to breathe have her do one arm stroke, breathing to the side, and then eyes back in to keep kicking. Then progress onto freestyle with a board, and finally try it again without a board.
Two troubleshooting things – if she’s lifting her head up and looking forwards when she’s breathing I’ve often found that it’s helpful to walk in front of the kid and tell them they have to hide their eyes from you – if you see their eyes you’re going to pull a silly face at them. It makes them very, very aware of when they’re doing it and I’ve found that (after you stop walking in front of them) it usually make a huge difference.
Another thing – it sounds like she’s having her face out for for a long time while she’s breathing which usually implies that she’s needing a long time to breathe. Check for bubbles to see that she’s actually exhaling under water not just holding her breath then breathing in and out when her head is turned. Bubbles are important!
Hope something in there helps!
I’m not a swim instructor, but have been a competitive swimmer since I was a kid.
I’ve seen many beginners do the same thing, and this is mostly because they’re scared, or do not know how to breathe.
For starters, have her start at the wall, and hold one hand on the rail and one underneath the water, fingers facing downward. Then have her kick and practice breathing to one side only; maybe ask her to count 3 seconds between breaths. Tell her to just turn her head to the side, without exaggerating the movement too much.
When turning the head for a breath, it is ONLY and inhale. The exhale should be underwater. (I’m a competitive swimmer so breathing is kept to a minimum, but should be done the same anyway).
==>For her 1st problem, i’m not too sure why, maybe it’s because she doesn’t know how to breath. Tell her it is for inhaling only and breathing should not take too much effort. With practice, it should be as natural as breathing in air and on land.
==>For problem #2, it’s probably when she is trying to do her freestyle stroke and it gets awkward to breathe to one side when your opposite arm is about to take the next stroke, so she begins turning her head the other way. Tell her to breathe only to one side, to get used to it.
SOLUTION: Practice breathing on the right side. to solve problem #2, let’s pretend you teach her to breathe on her right side. So…this means she should INHALE a breath AS her right arm takes a stroke, and END her breath as her right arm enters the water. She will take the left arm stroke while EXHALING underwater, and continue her pattern.
—ask her which side she’s more comfortable breathing with.
hope this helps!!
I’m a swim instructor and caption of my varsity swim team so I always teach my kids to take 3 strokes and breath to one side, take 3 more strokes and take a breath to the other side. Hope I helped.
This is a common breathing problem and not sure if I can reach the other side problem.
Try this simple trick, which ever side she breath from. When she turns her head to her breathing side, have her look down and under her arm pit. This position will cause the water to flow past her mouth giving her ample breathing space and the proper head position.
Also have her wear goggles so she can see the other end of the pool or the lane line when she rotates her head down.
Hopefully this will help hrepetitione head problem. Have her practice this at the side of the pool to insure she gets the repetition correctly.