Stroke Technique - Freestyle

Body position
o The body should be in a prone, streamlined position and almost horizontal position. The head, shoulders, hips and feet should be on or close to the surface.

Leg action
o Upbeat- start the movement at the hips, the leg lifts upwards with ankles and feet stretched.
o Downbeat- the movement starts at the hips and travels through the leg. The foot drives downwards until the leg is fully extended.

Arm action
o Entry- arm enters the water between shoulder and head, arm not fully extended, slide in, thumb first with palm facing out (approx 35) and fingers together.
o Catch stretch out under water, scull out to catch
o Downsweep- elbow high, hand starts to accelerate
o Insweep- pitch of hand turns inwards, elbow flexes to 90, acceleration continues.
o Upsweep-pitch of hand change to backwards and outwards, hand passes hip, palm turns inwards.
o Exit elbow leads, little finger follows
o Recovery-close to body, elbow high, relaxed, extend forward to entry.

Breathing
o Turn the face to the side as the body rolls, towards end of propulsive phase
o Keep one eye and one ear in the water, bow wave
o Return face to C/L as the body rolls back.

Timing
o There are a number of different timing patterns in Frontcrawl the 2 beat, 4 beat and 6 beat leg action.

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