Hi this is David Farkas with shaquatics water polo. Today we're going to explain our freestyle
swimming progression. There's three freestyle issues that I see with our players. One is
their kick, two is they don't use their body to swim they mainly use their arms,
and three they don't side breathe correctly. This freestyle progression we're going to teach
you is going to cover all three of those problems. There's three parts to our freestyle progression.
The first part is kicking on your side. You put one arm up and one arm down and you do freestyle
kick sideways in the water. When you breathe, turn your head to the side and breathe. If your
right arm is outstretched in front of you your right ear will stay on your shoulder when you
side breathe. Tucking the chin and laying the ear down will help you side breathe correctly.
This is the most important drill because it provides the foundation for the next two. Get
really good at this before moving on. Here's a few mistakes to watch out for. Be careful not to pick
your head up when you side breathe. You'll see Brittney here is picking her ear up off of her
shoulder. You want to leave your ear on the shoulder so that you can side breathe correctly.
The second mistake students will make is bending their knees too much while kicking. Brittany is
doing her freestyle kick and bending too much at the knee, she's not initiating the kick from
the upper part of the leg she's just bending the knees and moving the feet. A good way to
work on your freestyle kick is to lean back on your elbows pick your legs up straight,
point your feet and do a slow kick with your legs completely straight. Rest and do it again. The
whole leg kicks completely straight. What we want to get here is the whole leg moving and initiating
the kick from the upper part of the leg and not initiating the kick from the feet. When you get
in the pool your legs will naturally bend a little bit in the water but hopefully now you
will start the movement from the upper part of the leg and not from the feet. The second part
of the progression is ten kicks take a stroke. You do ten kicks on your side then take one
stroke. When you take a stroke, you get all the way over to the other side. Then repeat. You will
take one breath around kick number five. Ten kicks one stroke, ten kicks one stroke. It's important
not to breathe right before or right after your stroke. You're practicing turning your legs hips
and shoulders while taking a stroke and you're practicing that while you leave your head down,
relaxed, and stationary. Do not move your head while turning your shoulders, hips,
and legs. Part three. This part of the progression is the first part that starts to look like regular
freestyle. Four kicks per stroke, breathing every third stroke. So you're going to take a stroke
every four kicks and take a breath every three strokes. It helps to say it out loud then say it
in your head when you're doing it in the water. Emphasis on the words in capital letters. STROKE
kick kick kick STROKE kick kick kick BREATHE kick kick kick STROKE kick kick kick STROKE kick kick
kick BREATHE kick kick kick STROKE kick kick kick STROKE kick kick kick BREATHE kick kick
kick STROKE kick kick. You start saying it when your hand enters the water. You say 'STROKE' when
your hand enters the water. Every time you take a stroke you want to turn all the way on your side
and reach and glide for four kicks. It's okay to exaggerate the movement we want to get all
the way from one side to the other. How do you know when and where to breathe? If your left
arm is the third stroke, you will breathe to the right when the left hand enters the water. If your
right arm is the third stroke you will breathe to your left when your right hand enters the water.
A common mistake that we see his is students picking their head up before they turn to the
side. So if you find yourself picking your head before you breathe you need to go back
to step one and you need to focus on your side breathing. Another common mistake is
pulling as soon as you enter the water instead of reaching and gliding. If you
don't reach when you enter the water you're going to be slower and expend more energy.
Let's quickly review what we just worked on. We started with freestyle kick on our side,
then we moved on to 10 kicks take a stroke. Next we went to four kicks breathing every
three strokes. Make this progression part of your warmup and part of your regular routine and you'll
be pleased at your results. I'm David Farkas from Shaquatics Water Polo we'll see you next time.