Breathe both sides and sight
Ready when: nothing, this is the first card; the child swims 100 m comfortably.
What you are learning
Breathing to both sides in front crawl, and lifting the eyes for a moment to sight a landmark ahead. In open water there are no lane lines, so swimmers breathe both ways to see round them and sight to stay on course.
Words on this card Open water, Course, Sighting, Landmark, Bilateral breathing, Lane line
- Open water
- A lake, river or the sea, as opposed to a pool.
- Course
- The route of a race, marked by large floating buoys that swimmers turn round.
- Sighting
- Lifting the eyes just above the water for a moment to see where you are going.
- Landmark
- A fixed object, such as a flag or a tree, used to sight on.
- Bilateral breathing
- Breathing to both sides in turn, which happens when you breathe every third arm stroke.
- Lane line
- The floating rope that divides a pool into lanes.
Set up
A pool lane; a landmark at the far end.
Weather: a lifeguard on duty
Show it first for the one teaching
- Stand in the shallow end and show the breath: turn the head to the right as that arm pulls back, breathe, and put the face back in.
- Do the same to the left.
- Show sighting: lift the eyes just above the water for a moment, like a crocodile, then turn the head to breathe.
Your part while they practise
Watch from the side; do not coach technique.
Step by step
- Swim 20 strokes breathing only to the right.
- 20 strokes breathing only to the left.
- 20 strokes breathing every third stroke.
- Lift the head to sight a landmark every so often.
How much: 4 rounds 10 min a session 2 days a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Sight and call
You hold up a number of fingers at the far end; the swimmer sights and calls the number at the wall.
Who plays: the swimmer against their own best; you stand at the far end.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- The swimmer swims a length breathing every third stroke
- Every few strokes you change the number of fingers you hold up
- The swimmer sights at least 3 times and, at the wall, calls the last number seen
- 6 lengths
- Fair play
- A grown-up swimmer sights every 6 strokes.
- Points
- 1 point for each length breathing both sides; 1 point for the right number called.
- Fouls
- No points for that length
- Breathing to one side only
- Stopping to look instead of sighting while swimming
- Pulling on the lane line
- Winning
- Beat your best from 6 lengths.
- 4 points for 1 star
- 8 points for 2 stars
- 12 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
10 strokes.
30 strokes and sight every 8 strokes.
What you will see, and what to say
- the hips drop when the head lifts
Look forward, keep the body flat
Only the eyes come up. - the child breathes only one side
Switch sides
Every third stroke.
Self-check
100 m with breathing both sides and 3 correct sightings of the landmark.
Stop and get a coach when
The child coughs or is out of breath often.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains bilateral breathing, sighting.
awiseathlete.com/sports/marathon-swimming/marathon-swimming-b1