What it is
Swim backstroke (back crawl) for a continuous 20 meters without stopping, with body in soldier position.
Essentials
- Streamline underwater on the back
- Arms straight above the water
- Elbow bent to push the water
- Hips rotate with the arm strokes
- Constant flutter kick
- Head held with chin slightly tucked
Progression
- 3 × Streamline on Back (SL on BK). Begin underwater, lay on your back, hands on head, grow into streamline. Push off in a straight line. Focus on a long, flat glide looking up with bubbles in streamline.
- 3 × SL on Back + 3 BK After Flags. Start underwater, lean back, grow into streamline. Stay in streamline until the flags. After the flags, take three backstroke strokes. Count each stroke when the thumb exits the water (recovery phase).
- 3 × SL on BK + 3 HLBw/R (Head Lead Balance with Rotation). Body in soldier position, kick with face up. Rotate hips and shoulders from parallel to perpendicular to the surface, through both sides. Keep a constant kick to maintain a straight body line.
What goes wrong
- S-curve arm motion or straight-arm pull → cue bent elbow, pull finishing at the thighs; neither S-curve nor straight arm.
- Head turning or dropping → head remains still, chin slightly tucked, eyes above body targeting over the toes.
- Kick dying during arm strokes → rumble kick continues through the arms and drives movement and tempo.
- Hips dropping or over-rotating → body rotates no more than 45°; hips swing with the arm stroke to pull water using the torso.
- Streamline collapsing → correct the streamline first before adding strokes; body must be a long, flat line.
How you know it worked
Swim backstroke (back crawl) for a continuous 20 meters without stopping, meeting all requirements: streamline underwater on the back, arms straight above the water, elbow bent to push the water, hips rotate with the arm strokes, constant flutter kick, head held with chin slightly tucked.
How you teach it
Cue language: "Long reaches to 11." Every stroke starts in position 11. Focus the swimmer's attention on body position and the motion of the arms rather than on "swimming" as a whole. Do the motions of back-crawl arms and fly more as choreography than as swimming—this isolates the pattern before adding speed and distance.
The kick is the engine: a steady rumble kick drives movement and tempo, so if the kick stops the swim stalls. Emphasize that the kick continues through the arm strokes; it does not pause for the pull.
Rotation is limited: hips and shoulders swing no more than 45° with each arm stroke. The torso, not the arms alone, pulls water. Arms pull underwater with a bent elbow, finishing at the thighs. Bonus refinement: fingertips point to the outside walls during the pull, and the head stays still while the body and hips rotate.
When a swimmer is not getting it, change the delivery or the activity rather than repeating the same correction. Use the challenges as quick, game-like reinforcement: L-Shape Push-Off (push off the wall in an L shape, swim to halfway), Flutter Kick with 11-Eat-11 (kick on the back doing the arm pattern to halfway without letting the face fall underwater), Back Float to Back Flip (two feet flat on the wall, three double-arm strokes no kick, turn into a back flip at the flags), and Vampire Sleep on Lane Line (feet on the lane line, arms crossed over chest, belly button and face above water for 5 seconds). Be loud, fun, and talk a lot; play games with purpose.