What it is
The head should be aiming at the floor during most streamlines. Aim the entire face down; avoid looking forward. Backstroke SL is "Look up."
Essentials
- "Look down"
- "Tell swimmers to be Pinocchio and drag their long lying noses on the ground."
- "Drag your Pinocchio nose" on the bottom.
- "Aim the entire face down."
- "Breathe quickly by lifting the head up then quickly returning to the balanced face aiming down position."
- "Return to looking down quickly after breath."
Progression
- Comes after the streamline hand and ear squeeze work (3 things for Streamline).
- Within Position 11 (3 things for Position 11).
- Leads into Front Crawl Arms – Freestyle, where all freestyle swims should begin with a streamline and arms should start and end in Position 11.
What goes wrong
- Swimmers look forward to see where they're going → aim the entire face down.
- Sinking during breathing → reinforce a "strong kick you breath" to keep the swimmer at the surface throughout, and return to looking down quickly after breath.
How you know it worked
Swimmer looks down without looking forward and continues swimming while maintaining a long, straight body line.
How you teach it
Put mirrors on the bottom of the pool to encourage swimmers to aim their face at the bottom. The Pinocchio nose cue ("drag your long lying nose on the ground") gives a concrete, playful image that prevents the forward-look without requiring the swimmer to think about "down" abstractly. Breathing is where the position breaks: the head lifts, the torso bends into a "banana" shape, and the body position at the surface is disrupted. Rather than treating this as a failure, use it as a repeated reinforcement opportunity—each breath is a chance to find the balanced face-aiming-down position again. Cue the lift to be quick and the return to looking down to be quick. At Level 2, fold "look down" into the three key steps for an excellent streamline (lock your thumb, squeeze ears, look down) and give specific, progressive feedback: first attempt, "Well done on kicking, remember to look down too"; second, "You kept kicking well, and you looked down, but now you forgot to lock your thumb"; third, "Well done on all 3, Johnny!" This builds the habit of checking all three simultaneously. In drill work (e.g., 5 kicks in Position 11 + 1 arm stroke), cue "Look down when kicking" and "Return to looking down" after each breath to keep the habit active through the set.