Swimming Game – Streamline Line Walk

Category: Group Activity

Core Skill: Dryland / Core Strength / Streamline

Name: [Streamline] Line Walk

Ideas come from many different areas. This game was inspired by talking with another coach about her exercise training she was doing at her gym. The basic concept is like what I call an “indian run.” Thought I’m sure there is a better term for it.

An Indian run is when a team (soccer, football, baseball, etc.) jogs in a single file line around a playing field field. It begins when the last person in line sprints to the front. When that person gets there, the next person at the end of the line sprints to the front of the line. This continues as the line jogs around the field.

According to my brief research, you could call this a “Goose Run.” Geese, when flying will rotate from the outsides in, allowing the goose at the front time to rotate through so they don’t get exhausted while flying long distances.

I’ve started doing dryland activities with my most beginning swim team group, and this activity is a good way to work on core strength and streamlining well. There are some catches that aren’t included in the video that will help with the effective streamline learning.

WHO:

Play this game with any group of swimmers that you work with. It will work with 5 year-olds through 18. You can play this with beginners and advanced swimmers. The only skill they need to know beyond just seeing it once is streamline. Participants must know the three things to streamline:

Lock your thumb
Squeeze your ears
Look down (or while walking straight ahead).
Really 3.5: Aim your arms directly up while walking, not in front of your face or tilted.

What:

Streamline Line Walk works on three main things: a) teamwork, b) streamline, c) strength building. Generally we’ve used this as a streamline test to ensure that everyone that is doing the Goose Walk knows how to do streamline correctly. If they get sloppy, or forget any one of the three key parts of streamline, they have to go back to the line and do it again. We do this to make sure they take the streamline portion seriously, and when you’re in the line holding plank for 20 seconds or crab stand, it gets difficult. You want to move, you want to switch, and someone messing up means more time for you struggling.

How:

Have everyone line up. If you have a line on the floor, it is best. If not, just line up along a wall, or in a rough single file line. Mark a clear start and a clear finish. This could be the actual line on the ground where it starts or finishes or something like a shoe.

Pick two poses to hold while waiting for your turn in the line. I suggest Crab stand, where you push your belly to the sky lifting up off the ground with your feet and hands, and standard plank. You can do forearm plank, chair pose, tree pose, stand on one foot, side plank, down dog, up dog, warrior 1, 2, or 3, etc.

The person at the head, gets up, does streamline and walks in streamline down the line to the tail, or the end of the line. That person then joins the line in their pose.

Everyone shuffles down one spot, and the next person walks from the top of the line to the bottom. Continue until everyone has cycled through two times.

If someone does not streamline correctly, or well, or sloppy, they have to start over.

Switch pose the line is holding after every successful streamline walk, or after 2 successful streamline walks in a row.

Have you played this game? Share in the comments below.

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