What it is
The three cue commands for streamline posture in Level 2: Lock your thumb, Squeeze your ears, Look down (front) or Look up (back). Streamline is performed for three body lengths on front and back, with or without kicking, and body posture is of utmost importance.
Essentials
- Lock your thumb.
- Squeeze your ears.
- Look down (front) / Look up (back).
- Body flat, straight, narrow, long.
- Head in water, perpendicular to bottom (front streamline).
- Body near surface (back streamline).
Progression
- Streamline three body lengths on front and back, with or without kicking.
- For backstroke streamline: soldier position first, then back crawl arms.
- Streamline then front crawl arms, five body lengths.
- Streamline then back crawl arms, five body lengths.
- Swimmer is ready for Level 3 when they streamline well with head in the water and are kicking.
What goes wrong
- Swimmer cannot do a basic back glide: keep them in Level 2 regardless of front streamline ability.
- Swimmer struggling on their back: build trust and confidence in a safe environment rather than pushing them into Level 3.
- Fear or anxiety: remove it by providing ample support and using walls and benches.
- Head lifted to see where they are going: ears stop squeezing, rest of body falls out of alignment.
- Head tucked too far down (chin to chest): face pops out of the body line and creates drag.
How you know it worked
Swimmer holds a flat, straight, narrow streamline with head in the water (face to bottom) and is kicking. They can do it for three body lengths on front and back.
How you teach it
The three cues are deliberate, tested commands, each targeting one specific action. Pair them with visual cues: for lock your thumb, put hand on hand and wiggle the top thumb wrapping around the bottom; for squeeze your ears, put hands in streamline above the head and open and close the elbows; for look down, draw a circle around your face and point to the floor. On deck, "look down" means look straight ahead in soldier position—chin into the spine, no tilt up or down, arms directly over the shoulders, hands over the head, everything stacked. In the water, look down means the whole face points to the bottom. For backstroke, say "look up" explicitly for swimmers who need the reminder, though most will know.
Streamline should be short—about two-thirds of a body length—when it is immediately followed by front crawl arms. Kicking is encouraged; catch-up stroke is fine. Knees stay low in the water without bending too much. Arms go straight up to the ceiling and push water naturally without straining the shoulders. The explicit language "streamline first" matters: beginners will not initiate streamline on their own between the wall and their stroke; they will push off with their face and flail. Say "begin immediately in streamline" so the glide starts the instant they leave the wall.
Volume is the point. Do thousands of streamlines. Hundreds of front glides in position 11. Use fins, kickboards, barbells, floats, noodles—anything to build confidence and practice pushing off the wall and kicking to move. Set up Level 2 in the green sections to the left. Still rely on benches and platforms for best results; gliding from bench to bench is ideal.
Feedback: walk the deck, point to your own eyes or face and point down as a quick visual cue. When a swimmer corrects, give a thumbs up or brief verbal praise. You do not need to correct everything; a positive environment lets you use a quick name-and-command bark for the one swimmer who drifts off. The goal is that the three cues become automatic so the swimmer stops thinking about the minutiae and just moves from here to there.