Kicking-All Strokes-Remember how it feels

One of the most useful bits of advice that I received when I first gained my qualifications as a swimming instructor, more than 20 years ago, was to ask a student if they can remember how the correct action feels and copy that feeling.

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I was reminded of this the other day when I had a student that was having particular difficulty with getting their legs to kick the way they needed to. I had tried to explain it to them a number of times and I had taken hold of their legs and kicked them for them so they knew what I meant. But they just didn't get it.

Then I took hold of the legs once more as they held onto the side of the pool and kicked their legs for them as before so they would know how it feels to kick correctly.



I then said "close your eyes and concentrate on how this feels".

When they had done this I said "try to remember how this feels"

I then asked the student to do the kicking themselves but to try to copy the feeling that I asked them to remember

Suddenly they were kicking correctly.

Very useful stuff and it works for all sorts of swimming actions.

Try it!

Enjoy
   Richard