Aquatics Coaching Guide - Special Olympics

Practice water drills for flutter kick
Special Olympics Aquatics Coaching Guide
Created: February 2004
Teaching Aquatics Skills - Stroke Development
Freestyle/Front Crawl
Coaching Tips
Once this is learned in slow motion, the athlete can increase the speed until they feel like they are "whipping"
their lower leg back and forth.
Teaching Points
1. Flutter kick while holding onto the pool side. Works best if one hand is on the top of the wall and the other is
directly below it approximately one-half-meter deep for support.
2. Kick while gliding away from the wall. These drills can be done with or without kickboards.
Exploration Drills
These drills are meant to help athletes feel their kick better and to help them to correct their own mistakes. You can ask
the athlete to do it incorrectly so that they can feel the correct form better.
Kick as fast as you can.
Kick as slow as you can.
Kick with lots of splash.
Kick with no splash.
Kick with no leg bend at all.
Kick as if riding a bicycle.
Flutter kick on your side. Use a kickboard or some other flotation device. This assists the athlete to feel the kick
both forward and backward.
Kick with fins.
Kick across pool with head up. If swimmer can do this and keep their mouth above water for breathing, they
know they have a very strong kick.
Coaching Tips
Do not point toes. This will cause a cramp in the arch of the foot. Relax the ankle and let the force of the water
move the ankle joint for maximum force from the foot.
Pull the knee back. Do not pull the foot backward. Pulling the foot back often causes a cramp in the calf.
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