Teaching a 15 year old to swim?

Question

She can swim, but i am teaching her the strokes to be on a swim team. Me myself, i have been on a swim team for 9 years, but i was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what drills to do with her, working especially with freestyle and getting the basics of racing down. Any tips are greatly appreciated. 10 pts. to the best answer! Thanks!

Answer 1

It's sort of hard to answer your question without much of an idea as to what she knows but I'll give it a shot!

Make sure that she is comfortable with the idea of breathing to the side instead of lifting her head out of the water. A lot of younger kids (though at 15 she's not really in that category) have problems with that because it just doesn't seem natural. If you are going to be teaching her flip turns let her practice flipping away from the wall first. Also you should be sure to tell her that you're supposed to be on your back at first after the turn but to get on your front before you surface. For starts, let her practice off the side of the pool before she gets on the block and show her a couple of variations (both one and two feet forward). Let her do whichever seems more comfortable. If she's going to be racing be sure to mention when she should get on the block and what all of the buzzer sounds and such mean. You might want to tell her a couple things to avoid doing to prevent being disqualified.

I hope this helped. Good luck!