Butterfly can be a very challenging stroke, however here at the Swim ARCademy we believe that the learning and development of this stroke should start as early as possible.
We want to challenge the stereotype and take advantage of a student’s mental and physical plasticity at a young age.
There will be times that it seems difficult however we encourage everyone to keep pressing on and practicing! Constant practice of the techniques while a student develops mentally and physically is key to the mastery of this stroke.
Mastery of Butterfly may take years of practice but it will eventually come and the results will be so satisfying!
Key points for Butterfly:
Kick
- Movement originates from the core/hips, the chest remains aligned with the core of the body and the pivot point is at the hips.
- As the calves and feet push down to kick, the hips move up and surface above the water.
- The legs go back up and recover, causing the hips to submerge again.
- Picture a Dolphin or Mermaid swimming in the water!
Arms
- The arms begin in a glide position above the head, pull both arms down and towards the legs simultaneously.
- The arms are straight when clearing the water surface; swing arms around from back to front, palms facing out and thumbs re-entering water first, resetting the body into the glide position.
Breathing & Timing
- As the swimmer begins the pull from the glide position, they would use that momentum (from both the pull and the movement of their body) to bring their head upwards and take a breath.
- After the breath, the swimmers head re-enters the water as their hands swing around and return into the glide position.
- The basic understanding of the timing is “kick/pull, kick/glide”; you can further explain it as “Step 1: kick and pull (together), Step 2: kick and glide (together)”.
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