Front crawl with side breathing 8 meters

Front crawl with side breathing 8 meters (skill)

Definition: A Level 3 testable skill: front crawl with breathing 8 meters. Strong kick. Long reaching arms returning to position 11 with each stroke. Head remains down when not breathing, turns only to the side when breathing. Spine straight. Streamline first underwater that turns into FR at surface. Breath during arm stroke and done by recovery.

Core cues:

1. "Position 11"
2. "Streamline"
3. "Locked Thumb, Squeezed Ears, Face down."
4. "Avoid lifting head"
5. "look at bottom"

Coach interpretation:

• Position 11: Position 11 is a crucial habit building skill; spend significant time teaching it with excellent straight arms.
• Streamline: In Level 3 all swimmers need to be doing streamline correctly.
• Locked Thumb, Squeezed Ears, Face down: The three things of streamline.
• Avoid lifting head: Watch for swimmers picking their head up vertically on streamline and freestyle; every time they do they're learning a bad habit.
• look at bottom: Encourage swimmer to look at bottom and give actions to get desired result.

Teaching strategy:

Start pushing off the wall on the surface, build up to pushing off the wall in streamline underwater. Do SL + Position 11 for 5 kicks, do 1 free arm stroke keeping other hand in position 11, 5 more kicks in 11, other arm. Use rotation method and short distance repetition. Use the 4 x SL + [something] formula and format. Use bench positioning for best results (moving closer or further apart according to swimmer's comfort). Give feedback effectively. Side breathing and movement: Freestyle and side breathing will be the bulk of level 3. Discuss feedback for swimmers that lift, discuss alternative actions, and approach problem sideways.

Common errors and corrections:

• Lifting head: Avoid letting swimmers lift their heads. If you see swim instructors not giving feedback on lifting head, they're ignoring the problem. Every time a swimmer picks their head up vertically on streamline and freestyle they're learning a bad habit. Discuss feedback for swimmers that lift, discuss alternative actions, and approach problem sideways: encourage swimmer to look at bottom and give actions to get desired result.
• Sloppy free arms or lazy SL and Position 11: When feedback is lackluster, when direction is lacking, swimmers will get sloppy and do things wrong. When instructors are silent, bad habits form. Fix them immediately and with direct specific language.

Progression:

Level 2 is about horizontal progress. Level 3 skills include Front crawl with side breathing 8 meters, Back crawl with body at surface 8 meters, Demonstrate "11, Eat, 11" on deck, and in water during front float, Demonstrate breaststroke kick sitting on edge of water, Demonstrate butterfly arms while on deck, and in water during front float.

⚠ Language below was not found in the source — do not publish as-is. Most often this means the original sits inside a table or a multi-column layout that extraction could not read cleanly:

• “Do SL + Position 11 for 5 kicks, do 1 free arm stroke keeping other hand in position 11, 5 more kicks in 11, other arm.”
• “Rotation method and short distance repetition.”
• “Bench positioning for best results (moving closer or further apart according to swimmer's comfort).”
• “When feedback is lackluster, when direction is lacking, swimmers will get sloppy and do things wrong.”
• “When instructors are silent, bad habits form. Fix them immediately and with direct specific language.”

Short verified cues (confirmed present; check by eye): “Position 11”, “Streamline”, “Avoid lifting head”, “look at bottom”, “Level 3 skills”