I think of Level 4 as “swim team ready.” It’s the level where swimmers are beginning to be independent in the water and truly expressing that independence with long-distance swimming, butterfly, and breaststroke.
You can structure your level 4 class in many different ways; coaching, out of water instruction, endurance building, and advanced progressions.
This post will look at the core testable skills for Level 4 and highlight a few ways that you can teach Level 4 with a repeatable lesson plan that lets swimmers thrive.
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Level 3: Side breathing Front Crawl –> Level 4: Competitive Strokes
Level 3 is introducing breastroke arms, butterfly kick and arms, and side breathing for front crawl. In Level 4 we’re finishing those 4 competitive strokes and looking at long-distance swimming with streamlines, flip turns, and open turns.
- Refining Freestyle and Backstroke with flip turns and streamlines.
- Swimming legal butterfly and breaststroke
Testable Skills
- Front crawl 20 meters with bilateral breaths.
- Back crawl 20 meters with body in soldier.
- 3 times, streamline with no kick, then do 1x (11, Eat, and 11), then 1x (BR kick in position 11).
- Streamline + 2 strokes Fly w/ breath on #2
- Swim 50 meters Front or Back Crawl
Circle swimming and “sets”
Whether you’re doing 25’s (1 length) or 50’s (2 lengths without stopping) you should be enforcing circle swimming.
No suprises here, the Rotation Method is a variation of circle swimming but in a smaller space. Essentially you want to follow these things:
- Start on the right side.
- Push off one at a time (usually you go when the person ahead of you gets to the flags; about 5 yards from the wall).
- When you get to the other side, move out of the way so everyone can touch the wall.
- Return on your right side, or the left side from where you started.
Sets are a group of activities or swims that have a common time, distance, or stroke
Start with simple sets first. Here are a few examples:
- 3 x { 4 x 25 on 1:00 Free
1 x 50 Heads and Tails Back Kick in soldier
} - 4 x 100 Heads and Tails Odds Freestyle, Evens Backstroke
The first is a more complex set and the second a straightforward one. You do a certain distance for many reps.
Use sets to provide endurance training, repetition and opportunity for failure and learning, and to give swimmers a chance to practice swimming!
Sets are longer form activities that should be reserved for high-quality swimming. Avoid having novice or poor swimmers do longer swimming without rest.
** If you see a swimmer doing poor form, bad swimming, do not let them continue swimmig a longer set incorrectly. Stop them, adjust the distance or activity and ensure that swimmers are doing GOOD swimming for longer distances. If you ask a poor swimmer to do a 100 free with bad technique, then they will learn bad habits that will make their swimming suffer.
Controlling longer distances
Longer swims are great! Control those opportunities for longer swims to minimize struggle swimming, poor form, and bad habits.
Example set:
6 x 25 FREE w/ FINS
Swim to the other side doing Freestyle with side breathing. Do a streamline. Do it with FINS.
Leave on an interval 1x 25 every minute, on the minute, or with 10, 15, or 20 seconds of rest before doing another 25.
Emphasize Hip Rotation and swimming in position 11.
2 x 100 FREE kick with kickboard
NO Fins. Work on endurance.
Do this activity as close as possible to the 6×25 FREE with fins. The goal is to quickly move into this 100 Kick without the fins to maximize the physical feeling of wearing fins.
Refresher and endurance building set. Can be social.
Challenge: 3 x Handstand, flip, SL jump
Do a handstand with your legs together and toes pointed to the ceiling. Hold it for 2 seconds (or 3), then do a front flip where you land on your feet without otherwise touching the bottom.
After landing, jump straight up in streamline to burst out of the water.
Bilateral breathing
Breathing to both sides during freestyle.
Breathing every 3 or always looking at the same side of the pool
You can introduce bilateral breathing by asking swimmers to do short swims (25 yards) with a breath on every third stroke. Alternately you can ask swimmers to breath looking at the same side of the pool on each 25 / length. For example have swimmers breath looking at the South side of the pool if they’re swimming East and West (so that they breath to their right on one direction and to the left on the other).
The goal of side breathing to both sides is to promote a balanced symetical stroke and the ability to quickly take a breath to either direction during a race without interrupting their oxygen needs or form.
Breaststroke Swim
In Level 4 we start putting the Breaststroke Arms and the Breaststroke Kick together into a full stroke. Start with short distances and only 1 arm stroke with a breath and 1 kick in position 11.
Once swimmers demonstrate competence and forward propulsion with the kick then start doing 2 or 3 strokes and then Freestyle swim the rest of a 25, eventually building to a full 25 of Breaststroke.
Breaststroke arms: 11, Eat, 11
Breaststroke Kick into Position 11
Put the arms and kick together
Breaststroke Kick Dance:
Right foot only.
Left foot only.
Both feet, together.
- Toes up
- Toes down
- Toes up
- toes down
- Heel up
- Heel down
- Toes out
- Toes in
- Toes out
- Toes in
- Heels out,
- Heels in
- Toes out, toes UP
- What’s this called? FLEX!
BR Kick sitting on the side
Put the edge of your butt on the side of the pool, legs extended forward.
Bend the knees to press heels and feet against the wall of the pool.
Flex toes out to the sides.
Draw a circle while maintaining “flex” to splash the water with a squeeze and a push.
DO 10 times. 10 slow breaststroke kicks.
3 x SL + 2x (11, Eat, 11, 2 second glide)
Streamline underwater. At surface do position 11, eat, then back to 11 and a short pause before repeating.
This is the breaststroke arm MOTION, not the swim. Does not provide forward movement yet.
Sweep hands in to face, no elbow chicken wings
Butterfly: Simple arms with powerful kick
Introduce the arms and the “swim” by starting with a strong kick that gently slips the arms into the flowing body motion.
Stick to limited arm strokes and shorter distances until swimmers can master their breathing, arm strokes (without struggle), and a powerful kick that is not interrupted by both.
Pepper Butterfly arms
Review fly arms on deck. Then, in the water do a streamline with a strong fly kick throughout and 2 fly arm strokes at the surface.
Focus on timing; hands in position 11 when the hips are rising at or above the surface.
3 step progression into doing fly strokes well:
3 x SL + no K + 2 FLY strokes
No kicking throughout. Glide on SL first, then at the surface move the arms in the fly motion.
Okay for the recovery, from hips to 11 to push the swimmer backwards.
Thumbs aim down, and should be only part of hand touching water.
Arms do not recover UP, or above the body. Natural to the sides and forward motion.
3 x SL + no K + 1 FLY Stroke with a 1/2 kick from “airplane” to 11
No kicking on the streamline until the very end of the arm stroke.
Glide on SL first, then at the surface move the arms in the fly motion.
Okay for the recovery, from hips to airplane to push the swimmer backward.
Add 1/2 kick
Once the arms get to “airplane position the swimmer should initiate a 1/2 kick pressing their butt in the air and their lungs forward until the arms reach position 11
Thumbs aim down and should be only part of the hand touching the water.
Arms do not go UP over the water or over the body. Natural and easy movement around the sides.
3 x SL + 2 FLY
SL w/ fly kick, continue kick through the two strokes.
NO breath on #1. Optional breath on #2.
Hips should RISE when the arms reach into 11.
Breathe at the beginning of the stroke when the hands push water down from 11 to the hipline. Hips should drive down to bottom too.
Connect hips to the arm strokes.
Longer swims, with limited fly strokes with breath; using fins
2 x 25 Heads and Tails with FINS: 4 stroke of fly after the streamline then Fly kick only rest of the 25. Breath on strokes 2 and 4.
2 x 25 Heads and Tails: 2 strokes fly with a breath on 2nd stroke, then Freestyle swim rest of the 25.
2 x 25 Heads and Tails with FINS: Fly swim; breath on even strokes.
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