Streamline & Position 11: essential building blocks for all strokes.
Streamline
Streamline
Three things to an excellent Streamline:
- Lock your thumb
- Squeeze your ears (with your elbows)
- Look down (or up if doing Backstroke)
Review Streamline while standing on deck:
Three things for an excellent Streamline:
Lock your thumb:
- Stack hands one on top of other with fingers pointing in direction person will travel.
- Wrap the top hand’s thumb around the bottom hand’s outside palm (near pinky).
- Squeeze tightly and “lock it in.”
Squeeze your ears:
- With the thumb locked, pull on your hands while squeezing the elbows against your head.
- Target the ears with your elbows first.
- As mastery improves, have the hands raised above the shoulders and squeezing elbows just behind the ears.
Look down (or up for backstroke):
- Aim the face directly to the bottom of the water.
- Push the water with the crown of the head; the top.
- During backstroke aim face up
- Avoid tucking the chin. Instead slide it backwards perpendicular to the body’s upright posture.
Position 11
Position 11
Three things to an excellent Position 11:
- Keep your arms straight
- Stay at the surface
- Look down
Position 11 after a streamline:
Three things for an excellent Position 11:
Keep your arms straight:
- Palms should hover near the surface of the water
- Palms face downwards
- Arms extend forward above or in front of the shoulders
- Elbows should be straight; not bendy
Stay on the surface:
- Keep the body at the surface of the water
- Hands remain at the surface or just above it
- Back of the head should be above the water
- Kicks keep the body moving forward and balanced at the surface without sinking
Look down:
- Aim the face directly towards the bottom of the water.
- Push the water with the crown of the head; the top.
- Avoid tucking the chin. Instead slide it backwards perpendicular to the body’s upright posture.
Monthly Lesson Plan: Streamline & Position 11:
Challenges in this lesson plan:
Take the Elevator Down
Describe going underwater and putting your feet on the wall for a streamline like “Taking the elevator straight down.”
Most beginner swimmers will put their feet near the surface of the water, or not push off at all.
Encourage dropping down first, then rotating so that feet go to the wall, then growing from a “little sprout” into streamline.
Challenge: Handstand rewind
Push off the wall towards the T mark like you’re going to do a handstand, but don’t; instead push on the ground so you launch back at the wall and hit it with your feet.
Challenge:
Handstand REWIND!
1: Hands on T mark.
2: Hands 1/2 way between T and Wall.
3: Hands on ground as far away as possible!
3 x SL + 2 FLY Kicks on each side
Around the World Fly Drill
Do 2 Fly kicks on your stomach.
Do 2 fly kicks on your side
On your back
On your other side.
Better swimming.
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