FUF Teaching Tips #7

Face-Up First Teaching Tips #7 Thanks for watching! BEGINNING BACKSTROKE TIP #1 Arms stay at surface Typically, when We begin teaching backstroke, our young swimmers are still working on obtaining or improving their back floats. It's ok to start working on backstroke arms as long as you keep stable balance as the primary focus. With this in mind, teach a modified a backstroke pull. The arm pattern should be a longer version of the Tickle T Touch/Starfish arms, with the hands and arm staying at the surface and sweeping around to the side. This keeps the swimmers shoulders and hips stable and in line with the surface. Don't worry. There is plenty of time to learn proper rotation and a competitive style pull pattern down the road. We'll get there. This is the easiest, fastest, most effective way to learn backstroke when you are brand new to swimming. TIP #2 No feet Keep the feet still. Start with pull only backstroke. I say "arms only." Continue to work on good swimming balance by letting the feet drag. You want to wait until they float/are levered to the surface by balance floating before adding kick. If you do it this way, the kick will be propulsive when you eventually add it in, rather than being used to get the legs to the surface. Be patient. TIP #3: Get arms to alternate and go in the right direction The first step in learning backstroke is to get the arms to alternate, and to learn to get the arms going in the correct direction to move. Tap the swimmer on their shoulder to indicate which arm should move next. To cue for direction, tell the swimmer to reach back to try to touch you. TIP #4: Say the stroke words "Up - Back - Touch your legs" works great. You can also try, "Up - Back - Swim" and "Up - Back Push," to get a more propulsive stroke. Sometimes you have to get swimmers to pull harder and sometimes you need to cue them to be more gentle to feel the water better. It vary's from student to student. Have the swimmer say the words out loud for each stroke. TIP 5: Positive feedback for each propulsive stroke In the video, the last swimmer has a very nice, propulsive stroke on the very last right arm of the turn. The coach immediately says, "nice one." Be sure to give immediate positive feedback for each properly executed propulsive stroke. Swimmers will make the connection. Final note: Don't rush the backstroke process. Take your time and don't hurry to add the kick or change the pull pattern. Keep the pull pattern the same - around to the side - for all three face-up strokes until the swimmer establishes a very stable back float. Backstroke Videos SWIM MODEL (Idle):    • Idle   SWIM MODEL (Idle):    • SWIM MODEL Idle   Fun Beginning Backstroke Swim:    • 100 yard Backstroke   Do you have a tip for teaching beginning backstroke. Please share. [email protected] We swim for good times!® You can too. CONNECT https://www.faceupfirst.com https://www.practicemakeshabit.com   / neal.jeanie   mailto:[email protected] My videos are made on my iPhone using iMovie, with my wet, pruney fingers, typically while standing in the pool between lessons. :)