Streamline and Kick Progression

What it is

A progression that builds the feeling of flex, lifting and flexing, and finally pushing on the water. It sequences the breaststroke kick into discrete chunks before reassembling them into a single kick in streamline.

Essentials

• "Go slow. Repeat each step many times."
• "Do a streamline and hold 'flex' for a few body lengths."
• "Do a streamline then lift the feet up, and flex them. Pause in this position for a few beats."
• "PUSH the water with the inside of their feet."
• "Push off in streamline (no kick) at the surface, remain in streamline or move to Position 11, then do a single breaststroke kick."
• Flex is the most important chunk: the inside of the foot is what pushes the water.

Progression

1. SL + Flex – Do a streamline and hold "flex" for a few body lengths. (Staff training: four repetitions so the swimmer knows what flex is.)
2. SL + Lift & Flex – Do a streamline, lift the feet up, flex them, and pause in that position for a few beats. (Staff training: four repetitions.)
3. Single kick with an exaggerated glide – After flex and lift & flex are mastered, provide the opportunity to PUSH the water with the inside of the feet. Encourage the swimmer to feel the power and strength of a single breaststroke kick. Prolong or exaggerate the glide after the kick.
4. SL + 1 BR K – Push off in streamline (no kick) at the surface, remain in streamline or move to Position 11, then do a single breaststroke kick.

Comes before: Lift, Flex, Push (sitting on the side). Related: Breaststroke Arms.

What goes wrong

• Advancing to the push before flex and lift & flex are mastered. The source is explicit: "After flex and lift & flex are mastered begin providing opportunity."
• Pushing with the wrong part of the foot. The cue stresses the inside of the feet; the staff training identifies this as the critical point of the kick.
• Skipping the pause/freeze in the lift-and-flex position, which removes the moment the swimmer registers the position before adding the push.

How you know it worked

The swimmer pushes off in streamline with no kick, holds streamline (or moves to Position 11), then executes one breaststroke kick and rides a prolonged, exaggerated glide. They can feel the power and strength of that single kick.

How you teach it

The whole progression is a chunking strategy: break the breaststroke kick into its component movements, let the swimmer own each one in isolation, then reassemble. The staff training frames it as "we broke it into chunks, and then we're putting it back together and doing them all as one." Pacing is the primary lever—"Go slow. Repeat each step many times" is not a suggestion but the operating rule. The staff training gives a concrete rep target (four of each chunk) before advancing, which is a useful default when the source's "many times" feels vague.

The streamline itself is doing double duty: it is the body position for every step, so each repetition reinforces the streamline habit while the feet learn the next chunk. The staff training calls this out directly—"streamlines are good habits"—so the swimmer is not just practising the kick; they are accumulating streamline time.

The pause in the lift-and-flex step is a deliberate freeze. The staff training uses the image "freeze like you've been frozen by a stun drive, and then stop." This gives the swimmer a held moment to feel the position before the push is added, and it gives the coach a clear visual checkpoint: feet up, toes flexed, body still. If the swimmer cannot hold that freeze, the lift or the flex is not yet stable.

When you do add the push, keep it to one kick. The staff training is explicit: "So I would do just one breaststroke kick." The exaggerated glide that follows is not a separate drill; it is the feedback loop. A long, smooth glide tells the swimmer (and you) that the push was clean and the body stayed in line. If the glide collapses, the push was probably off-axis or the body broke streamline.

Position 11 enters at the final step as an optional transition: the swimmer may remain in streamline or move to Position 11 before the single kick. This keeps the progression connected to the broader freestyle and breaststroke lesson flow without forcing a position change that might disrupt the streamline the swimmer has just built.

Source: Teaching Swimming: Fun and Effective Instruction (4th Edition, v4.2, 2024), p. 49; Staff Training video, Breaststroke Arms & Kick, 10:09–12:31.