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Chlorine Chronicle (Archive)

Swim Tip On Freestyle

----- Coach's Corner -----

This month our guest coach contribution is from Steve Papai who coaches half of the B Group. He also coaches age group swimmers in the Nepean Kanata Barracudas. I thank Steve for his article and I'm sure it contains helpful tips for every NMSC member. Enjoy!

Focus: Hand and Arm Entry

The start of the Freestyle stroke is the entry. Have you ever thought about your entry? Your hand and arm should enter the water similar to a dive making minimal splash. Entry should happen in line with your shoulder and just comfortably short of full extension. After entering the water, the arm is then fully extended which will clear any bubbles on the palm of your hand. This will allow you to start your pull with water in your hand rather than air that may cause some slipping in your pull. Your hand and arm entry should be relaxed. Save your energy and power for the propulsive phase (sculling "S" pattern) in your stroke.

Common Errors in Entry:

• hand entry crosses the centre line of the body
• hand enters too close to the head
• attempting to reach too far forward before entering the water
• slapping the hand into the water rather than sliding it in
• elbow enters the water at the same time as the hand.

Practice The Following:

• Minimal splash on entry
• fingers, wrist and elbow, enter the water through the same hole
• the hand should be pitched, thumb side down, about 45 degrees
• Enter just comfortably short of full extension
• High elbow on arm recovery, allows your hand to slide into the water straight

Try swimming in slow motion and find out how you enter the water. Using these tips, help other swimmers in your lane with their hand entry. Experiment with poor entries and figure out why they are poor. How can we use these hand entry tips to help our other strokes like back, breast, and fly? Learn and have fun!!!

Steve Papai, Coach, B Group