Why do lane coaches teach freestyle first?
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Anonymous
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I am new to our neighborhood pool so I am too afraid to ask the swim team rep, but what is the reasoning and thought process as to how and why the (teenage) lane coaches teach the Lane 6 kids freestyle. My kid has been working on freestyle for 2 straight weeks now with the exception of one day last Friday when the lane coach, seemingly randomly, had the kids do backstroke for swim practice. My kid - who absolutely struggles and hates freestyle (water in her face, can't seem to get the hang of breathing, hates having to dive in, etc.) - just loved the backstroke. Did super well the whole practice and even practiced it on her own over the weekend during family pool time.
So, why do the lane coaches not switch up the strokes? Why don't they try out different strokes for different kids? Why has it been 2 solid weeks of the same old freestyle that hasn't really clicked with my kid (and a whole bunch of other kids judging from observation during practice and during Saturday's time trials)? Isn't backstroke fundamentally easier anyway? ANd isn't the backstroke a natural go-to if freestyle is just too difficult to get the hang of? Wanted to ask one more thing: Does your swim team play fun water games or fun swimming games? All the kids ever seem to do is laps and kick board? Isn't there a way to make swim practice not so mundane? A bit more fun (at least maybe for the last 15 minutes of practice)? I don't mean to sound ignorant. We're new to swim. New to the team. I don't know what is considered "normal" for swim team practice. I don't know how this, I admit limited, swim team practice experience compares. |
Anonymous
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Swim team is about the strokes, not water games, so that sounds typical. Our swim team does have more fun practices on Fridays during the summer (e.g. belly flop contests).
One reason to focus on freestyle is that there are more kids swimming freestyle in races than the other strokes, at least in our league. So the team needs at least six strong freestyle swimmers for each group, compared with three backstrokers. As for breaststroke and butterfly, it's harder for young kids to do them correctly and not get disqualified in a race. Swim team coaches can help them improve, but swim lessons are probably even better for that. |
Anonymous
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The front crawl (freestyle) is often the focus of initial young swimmer development. They have to learn the breathing pattern and build stamina otherwise they won't be able to keep up with their "training" group.
Backstroke is challenging for a lot of kids but comes naturally to others, like yours. Some people teach breaststroke first. Breathing pattern is aided by stroke cycle. Hang in there, your kid will figure it out with time. Swimmers that can't do freestyle don't really exist on swim teams. Fun and games will come later after the team gets into a routine and kids get into "swim" shape. |
Anonymous
| Freestyle is the best stroke to learn first because you basically can’t DQ when swimming it. You can do any other stroke during a freestyle race… hence the name. This is not the case for the other strokes. Your daughter won’t DQ from doing freestyle “wrong” unless she is submerged at the finish or pushes off the bottom of the pool during the race. |
Anonymous
Oddly enough, our daughter is completed uncoordinated and slow at freestyle, but an A meet swimmer at breaststroke (and much faster at breast than at free). Hard to believe but it does happen. |
Anonymous
*completely* uncoordinated |
Anonymous
How old? I've seen this happen with youngsters and beginners but by the time they get some swim experience the freestyle comes around just from exposure in warm-ups, etc. |
Anonymous
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Usually freestyle or breaststroke is taught first to kids. Freestyle because it's like the mother sauce of strokes - helps kids get a feel for catch, rotation, flutter kick, coordinated breathing etc. Breaststroke because it's technically complicated and harder to learn later.
If kids know how to float, backstroke is an easier stroke to learn because they can breathe however they want. If your daughter doesn't swim freestyle well, don't you want her to learn? I assume the coaches' goal is for all kids to know freestyle by the end of the summer. They are probably spending so much time on it because it's the stroke that is used for conditioning, warm ups, and cool downs. It's also the stroke that you can swim for longer distances with less exertion. Hunter Armstrong, a backstroke specialist, recently said that he swims mostly freestyle in practice. I would guess that every year round swim club's practices consist of no less than 75% freestyle. The coaches might be getting the little kids ready for the routine of swim practice, which will be maybe 50-100 yds of warm up, then drills and stroke work (this is when backstroke, breaststroke, fly are taught), and then ending with 50-100 yds of cool down. Warm up and cool down are almost always freestyle or freestyle kick. |
Anonymous
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If your child is in “the lanes”, swimming 8&U, swim team practice is a workout. There are no games. Sometimes they work on team cheers.
My youngest is in the junior / mini / LTS part of the team and they practice in the smaller pool without lane lines. They play games that work towards proper stroke development. At our pool, the goal of minis is to swim 25 free and 25 back at the last B meet of the year. The goal of 8&U is to get all swimmers legal in all 4 strokes by the last B meet. |
Anonymous
| We're in NVSL and our pool is in a middle division - we usually move between 9 -11. Our team is definitely "fun." Yes, the practices are serious but usually in the last few minutes, the kids get to do something fun like do a crazy dive off the diving board. While FCPS is still in session, our practice is held while the pool is still open so the team only gets a couple of lanes for practice. I haven't been to an afternoon practice in several years because my youngest is driving age and drives himself to practice. It's possible there aren't games going on right now since the pool is so crowded. But once school is out and the pool is closed when swim team is practicing, the practices will definitely have a fun element every day. |
Anonymous
Right now the coaches are working on the 8 and unders become legal and with enough stamina to get to the other side of the pool without holding on to the lane ropes. Fun and games won't help that. That stuff does come later in the season. And many teams have spirit activities and dress up themes for meets. Tell your kid to hang in there, the fun will be coming 
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Anonymous
Same at our pool (also in a middle division). There is always a fun element to practice, typically at the end of each day. Friday practices are almost entirely fun. |
Anonymous
This was me as well, I was top ten in the CCSDA in breaststroke but mediocre at free. Before I got boobs that made me slow at everything. I still think free should be taught first, though. |
Anonymous
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Sure there are fun elements at some practices but laps with and without a kick board is literally what a swim practice is. They are doing different drills along the way to keep it from being entirely the same. If you like swimming it’s not mundane.
Further, Freestyle is fundamental and required to properly condition for breath control and overall physical fitness. So really nothing else should be done until that is mastered. There is a reason there are coaches, they know this. |
Anonymous
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Breaststroke is easier for uncoordinated kids who can't handle the asymmetry of crawl and don't feel extremely dominant on one side of their body.
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