When teaching young learners, or maybe I should say teaching a student who has never butterfly kicked before, I have found most of the competitive butterfly kick drills only make “learning the kick” more difficult.  In fact, in some cases, they even promote bad habits!  For example, while the kickboard is a fabulous tool for about every kick, i.e., freestyle, breaststroke, and even scissors kick, I don’t want it anywhere near my young butterfliers.

Why?  Because it promotes a “premature knee bend.” While a child is attempting to keep the legs together, the fly kick with a kickboard makes it nearly impossible for a beginner to get the core involved.   An elite swimmer, on the other hand, who’s kick is  “automatic” can handle it, and it can be even really useful to work on tightening those abdominal muscles.  But for a young learner, it simply encourages him/her to draw the knees forward, which is a major setback and promotes extreme frontal drag.  Other butterfly dolphin kicking drills such as side body dolphin, vertical dolphin, and back body dolphin are all great ways to practice kicking.  However, I would still save those drills for a swimmer who can already “do the stroke legally.”   I personally avoid them for the swimmer learning how to do the kick, because they are simply too complex at this point in time.

The drill I primarily emphasize with beginners learning how to butterfly is a drill we call the “body dolphin butterfly kick.” The drill is done in a prone position, and you teach your swimmer to make the butterfly kick  one that incorporates the entire body, not just the legs.   In our Advanced Swim Strokes 301 lesson plan , we use the learning cues “Kick the head down, kick the head up.”  I also like the cues “bottom down, bottom up,” as they really seem to help the young learner get the hang of using the core involved vs. just kicking from the knees down.  In terms of getting the fundamentals of the fly kick, I also like to remind my young learners to kick the legs together like one big flipper.  I also like to ask my young students to pretend they are a dolphin or a mermaid.

While I don’t like to get to detailed when teaching beginning butterfliers, I think it’s important for teachers to understand the action of a good butterfly kick.   In a nutshell, the legs are fairly straight during the upward action of the kick, and then flex just before the downward action of the kick.  The legs continue to accelerate kicking downward until the legs are hyper-extended.

Lastly, when teaching body dolphin butterfly kick, discourage your students from dunking the head.  While you want them to kick the head downward to promote the necessary undulation, a kick that’s too deep will only slow forward progress and increase frontal drag.

In the new Swim Lessons University Butterfly 301 DVD, we share a brand new approach to teaching butterfly that includes incorporating a child’s imagination with the use of caterpillars, inchworms, and butterflies.  All aspects of teaching the butterfly are included, from the kick, pull, recovery, undulation, breath timing, and the timing of the stroke and kick.  You will absolutely love seeing your students put their butterfly all together with this creative new approach!  Order your Butterfly 301 DVD today!

The International Swimming Hall of Fame has named Jim Reiser the recipient of the 2015 Virginia Hunt Newman Award for his curriculum and approach in teaching infants, toddlers, and children to swim.  Jim was the first American to win the award in 10 years.

If you would like to learn more about the Swim Lessons University certification program and curriculum, make sure to visit us at www.SwimLessonsUniversity.com 

We have training and certification programs designed for both private instructors as well as organizations like YMCAs, Recreation Departments, Athletic Clubs, and more.

Swim Lessons University is currently being utilized by recreation departments, YMCAs, America Camp Association swim lessons programs, as well as by private swimming instructors in 45 states and over 30 countries!

You can also call us toll free at 1-866-498-SWIM (7946).

As children start summer swim teams earlier and earlier, there has been a shift in emphasis of teaching only the competitive strokes.   The problem is that learning the Sidestroke, Elementary Backstroke, and Treading Skills is still extremely important.  Not only are these lifetime skills (you can do them at about any age), they are also the foundation of the majority of skills you have to know if a child wants to pursue becoming a lifeguard someday.

At Swim Lessons University, we have a course called:  Lifesaving Strokes 401/402/403.  Swim Instructors will learn some of the most effective teaching techniques on how to teach the Sidestroke, Elementary Backstroke, and Treading water.

In our video course for swim teachers, we break down these complex skills into simple, easy-to-follow steps and progressions. You will see Jim Reiser teach two seven-year olds how to swim strokes that they have never tried before . . . EVER!

As always, you will get to see awesome underwater footage of the children learning the skills, as well as stroke demonstrations. The video also includes graphics that emphasize the critical techniques, components, and progressions! You are certain to absolutely love the arrangement and the thoughtful organization and breakdown of the strokes and skills.

Lastly, while this video was designed especially for children between the ages 4 to 12 year old, you can easily adapt it to teach students of any age!   In fact, when we conduct the course locally at The Swim Lessons Company, the course titles and age categories are as follows:

Lifesaving Strokes 401 – Sidestroke, Elementary Backstroke, & Treading for 3 – 5 year olds.

Lifesaving Strokes 402 – Sidestroke, Elementary Backstroke, & Treading for 6 –9 year olds.

Lifesaving Strokes 403 – Sidestroke, Elementary Backstroke, & Treading for 10 – 12 year olds.

Lifesaving Strokes 404 – Sidestroke, Elementary Backstroke, & Treading for 13 years and over.

As in all Swim Lessons University courses, there is an awards bracelet/wristband in which we will soon have available under Swim Instructor Tools.  The Lifesaving Strokes bracelet will be turquoise in color, and will feature five (5) skill abbreviations and stars in which the student would have to master the fundamentals in order to graduate from the course.  The skills and requirements are as follows.

Scissors Kick (SK) – Performs the traditional or inverted scissors kick for 30 feet.

Elementary Backstroke Kick (EBK) – Performs breaststroke kick on the back for 30 feet.

Sidestroke (SS) – Performs the sidestroke for 30 feet.

Elementary Backstroke (EBS) – Performs the Elementary Backstroke for 30 feet.

Treading (T) – Performs the skill of treading for 30 seconds.

Here’s an 7-minute edited sample of the 60-minute Lifesaving Strokes 401/402/403 DVD course.

The International Swimming Hall of Fame has named Jim Reiser the recipient of the 2015 Virginia Hunt Newman Award for his curriculum and approach in teaching infants, toddlers, and children to swim.  Jim was the first American to win the award in 10 years.

If you would like to learn more about the Swim Lessons University certification program and curriculum, make sure to visit us at www.SwimLessonsUniversity.com 

We have training and certification programs designed for both private instructors as well as organizations like YMCAs, Recreation Departments, Athletic Clubs, and more.

Swim Lessons University is currently being utilized by recreation departments, YMCAs, America Camp Association swim lessons programs, as well as by private swimming instructors in 45 states and over 30 countries!

You can also call us toll free at 1-866-498-SWIM (7946).