How to Teach Front Crawl Breathing

I would like some tips on how to teach front crawl breathing. How do I correct my 7-year-old's freestyle stroke? Does he raise his head above water instead of turning to the side to inhale?
Thank you very much!!

This is very common, especially with children learning to swim.

The head has to turn to the side to breathe during a freestyle to help maintain a horizontal body position. If the head is raised to the front, it will cause the legs to sink and the stroke to become harder work.

Success when teaching anything to a child depends on how you explain it and what words you choose that they can relate to and understand. Here are a few things to try.

Explain that when he breathes, he must ‘roll’ his head to the side so that one ear faces up to the sky and the other ear remains in the water.

You could try teaching him to look at his shoulder when he needs to breathe. This will also ensure he turns his head to the side and not facing forward.

Another possible solution could be to use a focal point in the room or along the poolside. You must use something that runs along the pool because he will be moving along. For example, a poolside handrail, windows or seating area.

A simple trick with young children is 'look at the fish, then listen to the fish'. This encourages the correct head movement when breathing.

The above teaching points can be used when kicking with a kickboard. Use the opposite corner hand grip on the kickboard, where one hand holds the top corner, and the other holds the opposite bottom corner. This causes the arm holding the bottom to be bent, giving a space in which the head can be turned when breathing.

It goes without saying that when the breathing action is used with the arm action, the arm on the side the breath is to be taken must have pulled back to create the space in which to breathe.

My ebook How To Teach Front Crawl contains over 20 separate swimming exercises to help all parts of freestyle, including breathing. It also contains lesson plans tailored specifically to front crawl breathing. You can download it, print out the parts you need and take them to your pool to try out. Click the link below for more information.

Are One-To-One Swimming Lessons Better Than Group Lessons?

I would like my children to learn how to swim, and I wonder, are one-to-one swimming lessons better than group lessons? Aliya is 7, and 2 boys aged 6 and 4. In your experience, what do you think is the best way to go about it? Also, my husband cannot swim and would like to learn. Anyone you would recommend? Group or 1 to 1?

Deciding between one-to-one and group swimming lessons is always a trade-off between the amount of tuition time received and cost.

One-to-one lessons are generally more expensive than group lessons because you pay for intense tuition. With that in mind, your children's progress in learning to swim will be much quicker. I guess, at the end of the day, that is really what you are paying for.

The biggest frustration I hear from parents talking about their child and their swimming lessons is that in a group, they have such little attention and are often left holding the side of the pool for some time before being given some guidance and asked to swim.

Don’t get me wrong, group swimming lessons have their place and work well when conducted by a good swimming teacher who controls their class and gets the best out of their pupils.

Group lessons work best for children that can already swim and need technique improvement, as they can all focus on the same aspect of the swimming stroke being practised. For young children and beginners learning to swim, progression in group lessons is much slower than in one-to-one swimming lessons.

It all comes down to your children, and you know them best! You know their current standard of swimming and how each one of them will respond in a group or a one-to-one situation.

I recommend a one-to-one swimming lesson, but the cost is much higher. You may find a swimming teacher that will teach your two boys in a one-to-two lesson, and providing they do not hinder each other, that may work well.

As for your husband, one-to-one lessons are a must for an adult. Every adult is different, more so than children, and the intense tuition in a private lesson always gets the best results.

As for finding a good swimming teacher, the best way is to ask around. Word-of-mouth recommendations are the best. Ask other parents in the playground at school pick-up time. Some of those may be off to their swimming lessons then and there.

I hope you find this information helpful, and I wish your children and husband every success with learning to swim.

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