Breaststroke Kick

Hello Swim Fans,

Here we are at the end of the week, I hope you are all doing well and prepared for the weekend. For those of you that are going to the Turlock meet I am excited to watch you swim! For those of you that did not sign up…shame on you, luckily CVA will most likely be taking deck entries talk to me about it if you are interested!

CRAB FEED!!! It is right around the corner get your tickets sold and let’s have a successful evening!

Now the moment you have all been waiting for, a description of the breaststroke kick. It is used for leisure swimming, rescue swimming, and competitive swimming; all three styles have slight variations and today we will only be discussing the competitive style. Breaststroke kick is the most unique amongst all competitive swimming kicks. Unlike other kicks that rely on an up and down motion to generate propulsive force, breaststroke uses a circular whip and squeeze. We begin the kick in our standard 4 H position. The knees will bend sending the ankles on a path outside the knee. This is sometimes slightly confusing, the explanation I like to use is, “The inside of the ankle should go to the outside of the hip.” As the ankles are being drawn up the feet turn out and the knees MUST stay close together. As the ankles are being drawn into position the legs will bend at the hips dropping the knees slightly; this allows the feet to remain underwater. Once the legs have drawn the ankles fully back and the feet are turned out the lower leg is thrust back in a whip-like semi-circular motion. Once the legs are almost fully extended they come together in a forceful squeeze expelling water and giving the swimmer a powerful forward motion. There are two very important qualities a swimmer must have to develop a successful breaststroke kick 1) Good flexibility in their knees and hips, & 2) A little bit of natural talent. Many swimmers who struggle with the breaststroke kick have usually one of two problems, 1) They separate their knees and “lead with the knee,” or 2) they do not turn the feet out and wind up with a scissor kick.

Well, there you have it breaststroke as seen by Coach Ryan. I hope you have all enjoyed this weeks series of blogs on the odest of all strokes…the Breaststroke. Next week I will be discussing backstroke (My arch nemesis), so until then let’s swim fast, focus on swimming well, and have fun!!!

Peace out homies and homettes,
Coach Ryan