Freestyle Drill – Finger Drag

Posted on December 3, 2008 by Andy Scherer

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, children of all ages…..your Hamden North Haven Swim Team Coach is back with another freestyle technique drill! In a previous post regarding freestyle drills, I discussed the 3 Touch Drill which is a great addition to your drill sets when you want to work on a high elbow recovery for freestyle technique. Another great freestyle drill is the finger drag. The finger drag is a slight variation of the 3 touch (or vica versa) which also promotes a high elbow recovery. That being said, all the other details of the stroke still prevail throughout this drill (entry point, high catch, rotation, proper pull, proper kick, proper breathing).

So, how do you do the finger drag drill the right way?

After the pull phase of the stroke simply drag the tips of your fingers on the top of the water with an exagerated height on the elbow. You want to essentially be carrying the lower half of the arm with the elbow, and while keeping the tips of the fingers in the water move your hand up the side of your body (almost in a “tickle” motion). Try to keep the hand as close to the body as possible as your pass by the should and head, start your rotation to the other axis while maintaining the high elbow and fingertips in the water. Finally, complete the recovery phase by entering by the wrist of your arm transitioning to the pull. I would suggest that the swimmer breath every three strokes while doing this drill, but it is always up to the individual swimmer and/or coach.

Some things to keep in mind whie you are coaching this or observing this as a parent:

Is the hand or the elbow coming out of the water first following the pull phase
Is the swimmer completing the pull phase fully which will lead smoothly into the recovery
Is the swimmer staying streamline, or are they “wiggling” to maintain a steady high recovery
Where is the hand entering the water, and is the elbow hitting the water first
Is the kicking pattern varied while they are doing this drill

I’m sure there are a lot of other things running through your head as you are watching your swimmer do this drill, but those are just a few to keep in mind. Later on this week I will touch base on the zipper drill which is a variation of the finger drag and the 3 touch drill. As I always say, make sure that you are reenforcing the good habits so you get rid of the bad ones, and always encourage the swimmer to do better (never discourage in any way)!

Happy Swimming, and Go Typhoons!

Freestyle Drill: 3 Touch

Posted on December 2, 2008 by Andy Scherer

There are always multiple ways to extend, modify, or add on to a swimming drill. The 3 touch drill is a great example of how to modify an existing freestyle drill in order to cultivate a more exagerated movement. That being said, let’s go into the variations of the 3 touch freestyle drill.

The purpose of this freestyle drill is to promote a high elbow recovery and proper axis rotation throughout the entire freestyle stroke. When this drill is done by the Hamden North Haven YMCA Swim Team, we exagerate the shoulder and hip rotation to almost a seventy-five degree angle. The pull phase of the stroke leads directly into the high elbow recovery with the first touch being at the hip. The elbow remains high and the second touch comes at the shoulder/arm-pit. Now, as a modification, you can make this dril a 2-touch and focus on an extended entry after the second touch. However, in my opinion, the third touch (at the head/temple) is one of the most important because it forces the swimmer to have a high elbow all the way to and through the entry phase. After the third touch, it is very important for your swimmers not to enter the water by the head, but to extend, rotate, and enter the water at the wrist of the transitioning arm.

It seems like a lot to think about when you are coaching this drill (especially with less experienced swimmers). So, as a coach, here are some things to think about as you are watching this drill:

Shoulder and hip rotation
Breathing patterns (are you teaching your swimmers every other or every three)
Exhalation and inhalation should be as normal as possible (no elongated breathing during the drill)
Kicking patters – are the swimmers stopping or scisoring their kicks during the drill or during the breathing? If they are, break the habit.
Are your swimmers actually touching each point or are they just skimming the water (similar to a finger drag drill)
Are your swimmers entering the water properly and starting the normal rotation and pull phase properly

As always, you want to make sure that everything the swimmers are doing is creating or reenforcing a positive swimming habit so their strokes become more natural. I’ll go into other drills later on throughout the week that are similar to this 3 touch freestyle drill (finger drag and zipper). If anyone has any comments please feel free to leave them on the blog or contact me at any point!

Freestyle Drill – Distance Per Stroke

Posted on November 20, 2008 by Andy Scherer

I was asked by one of our Hamden North Haven Swim Team members this past week about DPS (Distance Per Stroke), and why we do this drill in practice. His thought was that DPS was essentially a pulling set and therefore we should just go into a pulling set and not do DPS. My thought was, “Oh no, he is not doing the drill the right way”!

The reason that DPS is done as a drill is to practice making the pulling phase more effiencent as well as determining the correct timing of the stroke; therefore making the swimmer faster. Distance per stroke is where you want to maximize the distance that you get from your stroke while holding the maximum speed with the pull. In other words, each pull will propel you through the water. Obviously the swimmer will hit a peak speed during the pull. At the point of the peak your other arm should be poised and ready to pull to maintain that speed. So, it’s not just a pulling set or just a pulling drill, but an efficiency drill where you are truly working on getting the biggest bang for your buck!

Freestyle Hand Placement

Posted on November 18, 2008 by Andy Scherer

This, I promise will be one of those short and sweet posts for freestyle technique!

There are several methods of thought out there with regard to hand position and placement during the entry phase of freestyle. In my travels throughout the swimming world, I have come to agree almost whole-heartedly with one of those schools of thought. This theory being that a good swimmer enters the water with a relaxed hand, more of a middle-finger/ring finger entry (not necessarily flat handed entry, but more so cupped and ready to start a high catch.

In my opinion, this style of entry cuts down on wasted movement in the water and significantly increases the chance of a proper catch and efficient pull (respectively). The primary reason being that I have seen almost every type of freestyle entry there is in the swimming world (though almost all swimmers differ slightly from detail to detail), and this technique has proven to me that it is the most efficient. Along with this, a significantly high percentage of high-performing freestylists appear to utlize some form of this entry.

So, if you agree, great, if not I would love to hear your thoughts so please feel free to leave a comment for our Hamden North Haven Swim Team blog!

Early Vertical Forearm

Posted on November 13, 2008 by Andy Scherer

I know this is somewhat redundant and as you read it turns into a bit of a swimming coach’s rambling thoughts on a late night before Master’s Swim Team in the morning, but I want to stress the importance of an Early Vertical Forearm in proper Freestyle Technique! As I mentioned in the previous post, the early vertical forearm (EVF) sets up a swimmer for a more efficient propulsion in the pull. So, one of the questions that I got tonight with regard to the blog post from yesterday was, “How often do young age group swimmers do the proper catch during freestyle”?

To be quite honest, I smiled and asked myself how truthful I wanted to be with the parent. Now, this parent (mind you) has swimming experience and knows the technical jargon of the swimming world so I am going to make this user friendly with my response:

“Typically with a swimmer that is just coming out of any regular swimming lesson swims their freestyle (and truly any other competitive stroke that they have learned) with a dropped elbow. The reasoning behind this, in my opinion, is because it is the natural evolution and modification of their stroke. They went from not knowing what to do with their arms as a very very beginner to all of a sudden getting some sort of propulsion from their pull. This improvement in their overall stroke was highly rewarded by (most likely) the instructor as well as the parent. So, moving forward, the instructor now concentrates on the recovery portion of the stroke and the finish of the stroke in order to make it look more like a freestyle stroke. Once the student has the general concept of the follow-through and the recovery into entry the actual pull is never truly corrected or adapted to its fullest potential. It’s at that point that the swimmer now has the general concept of freestyle, backstroke, and most likely breaststroke that the parent moves the swimmer either out of lessons or into swim team. So, they have about 2 – 3 years of practicing an advanced version of doggy paddle. The long and short of it, in all honesty, is that very few age group swimmers have the proper entry/catch/pull/recovery for freestyle”.

Now, before all of the swim lesson parents out there panic and take their kids out of a lesson program, please keep in mind that this is truly (at least in my opinion) the natural progression of the stroke. For example, if you look at the progression of the competitive backstroke it looks completely different now than it did in its origination. Your swimmers’ stroke is the same way. With the right coaching and the right instructors in the corner for support your swimmer will learn and have fun at the same time! And not to turn this into a my swim lesson program vs any other swim lesson program, but I (as the Aquatic Director and the Head Coach) have a lot more say in what technique as well as how much technique we will be teaching the swim lesson participants. I also develop the curriculum for each of the levels based on the YMCA of the USA and my experience with our community. Anyway, before this turns into a plug for our YMCA Swim Lessons, the best answer to this question is:

The stroke will evolve properly with time and effort from the swimmer, coach(es), and parent(s)! Until they are seconds away from qualifying for YMCA Nationals, let the swimmers have fun!

Now, if you were to ask, “What can you do to help your swimmer achieve the Early Vertical Forearm”? I would say that it were an excellent question and show you different games that you can play with your kids while you are in the pool as well as on dry land. However, if anyone wants these “games” and ideas please feel free to let me know via e-mail or leave a comment; I cannot give away all of my trade secrets to the internet world!

As always, all the best and happy swimming! Go Hamden North Haven Swim Team (the YMCA Typhoons, of course)!!!