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In addition to the preparatory exercises, some core exercises are required.
The child swims 25 meters using the freestyle kick with arms resting along their sides, breathing forward as an exception. This exercise focuses on building strength and endurance for the freestyle kick. The kick is crucial for longer distances as it provides stability and rhythm to the swimming technique.
In this exercise, you don't just turn every third arm movement, but every arm movement. You also breathe on your back each time. The exercise helps with correct coordination, as a turn is made with each arm stroke and there is therefore no possibility of turning at an inappropriate time. It is also a fun challenge for the children and promotes their stability in the water.
The child pushes off the edge of the pool and remains stretched for one to two seconds. This is followed by five curl-ups with alternating legs. The child does not breathe. The arms can be stretched or slightly bent. This exercise transfers the coordination of the arms from the windmill exercise into the water. Breathing is deliberately omitted as the child is not yet breathing in a coordinated manner on the side.
For the windmill forward exercise, stand on the land with both arms at the side of your body. Start by slowly rotating one arm anticlockwise with the palm facing downwards. Then follow with the other arm and finally both hands simultaneously, but asynchronously. This exercise promotes arm coordination and helps to understand the basics of the crawl. The crawl with an efficient elbow bend is developed further in later courses.
In this exercise, the body rotates 90 degrees in both directions, both from the prone and supine position. The hands remain at the sides of the body. In a further step, a complete rotation is performed while maintaining the lateral hand position. This makes it easier to correct the water position on the back and return to the starting position after the 90-degree turn. The change of direction during the body rotation promotes body control in the water.
In this preparatory exercise, the turn is practiced with a swimming board. Alternatively, a pull buoy can also be used. The buoyancy of the swimming board enables the learner to return to a comfortable position in the water without any problems after a turn. The board prevents the face from remaining under water after the turn. However, turning onto the back requires a stronger body rotation to turn the board over. This exercise trains this more intensive rotation.
The rotation during freestyle swimming occurs with the third arm stroke. The body rotates from the shoulder, so that the underwater phase of the freestyle arm stroke transitions midway into the end of the backstroke arm pull. Occasionally, some children bring both arms either backward or forward and attempt to rotate without an arm stroke. Clear communication usually helps address this issue. If you are a confident swimmer yourself, you can demonstrate the proper technique or show the child a video, emphasizing the rotation in conjunction with the arm stroke.
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The back rotation is prone to errors, especially when the face briefly submerges during the turn onto the back. The correct response is to stretch the body, tilt the chin back (gaze at the ceiling), and kick the legs vigorously to return to the surface. A common mistake is trying to sit up, which pulls the hips and chin down. This error is sometimes addressed by placing the hands at the sides, but the core exercise requires fully extended arms to prevent the body from sitting up.
