What it is
A good streamline is the ultimate goal after establishing comfort gliding with the face in the water. All glides lead to streamline; an excellent streamline is a habit to be over-emphasized. SL = Streamline.
Essentials
- "Lock your thumb" — stack the hands, wrap the top hand's thumb around the bottom hand's palm, lock and press into the thumb. Tight, strong, locked hand on top of hand.
- "Squeeze your ears" — elbows squeeze the ears (younger swimmers); as mastery grows, "squeeze the back of the head with your elbows." Target word: ears. Goal: just behind the ears.
- "Look down" — head aims at the floor during most streamlines. Backstroke SL: "Look up."
- "Do a streamline first, then do 3 free" — speak in "streamlines."
- Help swimmers by squeezing their elbows together.
- Focus all feedback on the three elements of SL.
Progression
- Supported front glides — establish body posture, line, and balance at the surface so learners can adjust head and arm position.
- Independent glides across benches / horizontal motion.
- Position 11 — foundation drill; every competitive stroke flows through it.
- Streamline — the goal. Gliding alone is streamline.
What goes wrong
- Swimmers want to see where they're going, producing incorrect body position. Correct with the Pinocchio cue ("drag your long lying nose on the ground") and mirrors on the pool bottom to encourage aiming the face down.
How you know it worked
The swimmer feels "weird" when they push off the wall without a good streamline. Streamlining well has become such an ingrained habit that skipping it feels wrong.
How you teach it
Repeat the three things to a good streamline over and over and over. Practice on land (standing, laying) and in the water (floating). Comfort in SL comes with a lot of practice; the goal is to make swimmers feel "weird" if they forget to streamline, so the habit is so ingrained that pushing off without one feels off.
For "squeeze your ears": younger swimmers think in relatable targets — elbows squeeze the ears. As mastery grows, shift the cue to "squeeze the back of the head with your elbows." The target word stays "ears"; the goal is just behind the ears.
For "look down": use the Pinocchio image and put mirrors on the pool bottom. Most incorrect SL body position comes from swimmers wanting to see where they're going; aim the face down, avoid looking forward.
Streamline and swimming are two distinct, separate events — the streamline comes first. Gliding alone is streamline; front glides build to SL.
Feedback is progressive and specific. Attempt 1: "Well done on kicking, remember to look down too." Attempt 2: "You kept kicking well, and you looked down, but now you forgot to lock your thumb." Attempt 3: "Well done on all 3, Johnny!" Focus all feedback on the three elements.
Command language: remove trailing "okay." Speak in sentences that end in a period. Speak and demonstrate — show the streamline while standing, doing all three things correctly, or show pictures, videos, or other swimmers. Speak with confidence; avoid filler words. Instructors should be underwater to the shoulders throughout the lesson and demonstrate streamline, front crawl, back crawl, soldier, and streamline on back.