Float, glide and kick
Ready when: Water confidence games (b1) started.
What you are learning
The glide: pushing off the wall long and narrow like an arrow and sliding through the water, then kicking with long legs and pointed toes, on the front with a board and on the back. A good glide is the shape every stroke starts from.
Words on this card Shallow end, Glide, Kickboard, Width, Lane, Turn
- Shallow end
- The parts of the pool where a child can stand, and where they cannot.
- Glide
- Pushing off the wall and sliding through the water long and narrow, like an arrow.
- Kickboard
- A float held in the hands for kicking; a float held between the legs for arm practice.
- Width
- Across the pool, and from one end to the other.
- Lane
- A marked strip of the pool, and the rules for sharing it.
- Turn
- Turning at the wall, and the way a race begins.
Show it first for the one teaching
- Stand with your back to the wall, arms stretched over the head, hands on top of each other.
- Push off with both feet and slide toward the child, long and narrow.
- Hold the board in front and kick from the hips with long legs and pointed toes; then lie on the back and kick gently.
Your part while they practise
Hold the child's board at first; stand in front.
Step by step
- Push off the wall long and narrow like an arrow, hands on top of each other.
- Glide to the parent.
- Kick on the front with a board: long legs, pointed toes.
- Then on the back with a relaxed kick.
How much: 5 pushes and 4 lengths of kicking 15 min a session 3 days a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Glide and go
Push and glide as far as you can, and when you slow down, start kicking; mark how far the glide went.
Who plays: the child against their own best; you mark and count.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- Push off the wall and glide
- When the glide slows, call "go": the child starts kicking
- Mark where the glide ended with your hand
- 5 pushes
- Fair play
- A grown-up glides with the hands by the sides.
- Points
- 1 point for each body length of glide; 1 more point for kicking to you without stopping.
- Fouls
- No points for that push
- Lifting the head during the glide
- Pushing off the floor instead of the wall
- Grabbing the lane rope
- Winning
- Beat your best glide.
- 2 points for 1 star
- 3 points for 2 stars
- 4 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
A shorter glide.
No board.
What you will see, and what to say
- the hips sink
Push your belly button up
Flat like a board. - the knees bend too much
Kick from the hips, long legs
Straight legs.
Self-check
Glide 2 body lengths and kick 10 metres with the board.
Stop and get a coach when
Not needed beyond watching.
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 streamline, kicking.
awiseathlete.com/sports/swimming/swimming-b2