Swimming Tip of the Week: Side Kick Freestyle Drills

Swimming Tips by Coach Ian Lee of THAT Masters Swim Team http://www.thatswimteam.org

Freestyle: is the Side kick, 12 kick swim, 3-12-3 progression.
The focus of this is to work on several aspects of freestyle, starting with balance. With the balance aspect it is important that you focus on making yourself comfortable on your side, and rolling side to side.

A. Side Kick: 1st step in progression

1. Body position

• Your body should be totally on side
• This means you should be kicking sideways

2. Arm position

• 1 arm extended fully in front of you
• This arm should be straight and still palm down
• Your extended arm shoulder should be next to chin
• Opposite arm should be straight and resting on your side
• Opposite arm shoulder should be out of water

3. Head position

• Head should be inline with spine.
• Should develop head position & balance both with face in water and out of water
• When in water head should be still, looking down, with shoulder resting next to it
• When breathing face should be turned sideways, still in line with spine

B. 6 kick swim: 2nd step.

The number of kicks is arbitrary. The focus is getting onto side and being balanced. In this drill you start on one side and find your balance. You then rotate to the other side and find your balance on the opposite side.

1. Body position, arm, & head position

2. Transition

• You want to practice the transition from one side two ways.
• The first way you are focusing on keeping your head still while rotating your body.

a. One way keeping your head still and looking down.
b. This can be done with a snorkel or turning your head to the side and breathing when your are balancing on your side

The second way is working on breathing in your balanced stroke, with minimal effort.a. The other way is with your head to the side in line with your spine.
b. When you’re rotate your body from one side to the other your head rotates with it.

C. 3-6-3: Third step

3. Body, arm, & head position should be the same as the 6 kick swim drill.
4. The difference is that you take 3 strokes between each side kick.

a. kick 6 kicks on the side, then take three strokes and kick six kicks on opposite side

b. Keep in mind that you should be transition your roll into your stroke, so make sure you roll onto side every stroke.

c. Try to only breathe when you are doing your side kicks, keeping your head still while taking strokes.