Wild Shark Swim School – How to help swimming progression

Little ones & beginners

Swimming can be daunting at first & there are lots of skills to learn, so try some of these to help:

Problem:	Try this:
Holding their breath / not blowing bubbles.	In the bath or pool, put a small floaty toy in front of their mouth & ask them to blow it away. Then slowly get them to move their chin downwards into the water until their bubbles are blowing it away.
Won’t put their face in the water.	Wearing goggles at home in the bath or shower, practice putting your face in the water.
Won’t pick their feet off the floor.	When you come swimming outside of lessons, have them try the following from standing holding the side, to putting their face in the water, to lifting their feet off the floor with their face in & returning to standing:
Sinking (usually their bottom & legs).	Getting their face in the water is key to body positioning. Face in allows them to float on the surface better & creating less drag, thus not sinking.
Won’t put their ears in the water when on their back.	Water in the ears is a funny sensation that a lot of people struggle with, but this is remedied with persistence in the bath or when swimming on the weekends. Little by little putting the head back in the water.

Intermediate & advanced

(for more information, see below Swim England expected standards diagrams)

Problem:	Try this:
Head too high on front crawl – chest lifts, arm action disrupted, legs drop.	Head down so looking straight at the floor when face is in the water blowing bubbles.
Snaking of the body on front crawl – arm pull is too wide.	Underwater, arms pull straight back to the ribs.
Slapping the water in front crawl.	Hands enter the water fingertips first.
Knees bent excessively when kicking in front crawl or backstroke.	Straighten the legs & kick more from the hip than the knee.
Sinking in backstroke.	Push tummy up & tilt head back more.
Slapping the water in backstroke.	Hands enter the water little finger first.
Asymmetric kick ‘screw kick’ in breaststroke (one leg rotates at the knee & the same hip dips).	Both legs need to move in unison – bend, kick out (keeping frog feet) & snap together.
Pulling too far back in breaststroke.	Hands should only come back as far as the chest before pushing forwards again.
Arms not coming out over the water in butterfly.	Pull harder on the underwater start of the arm pull to get more power & height to the arms when they come out of the water – PULL, flick, over.
Kicking from the knees in butterfly.	The undulation starts from the shoulders – shoulders, tummy, hips, legs.