Breaststroke Turns
By Kelsey Savage Hays
6/20/10
For most young swimmers, it’s tempting to focus on stroke technique and improved endurance to lower your personal best. But the little details, like efficient turns, can be the difference between an “A” and “B” swimmer. Coach Charlie Kennedy, head of Suburban Swim Team and assistant coach at Swarthmore College, has taught breaststrokers like Brendan Hansen, “A great turn is a momentum maker, but a poor turn is a momentum breaker.”
Here are a few tips to take advantage of your walls:
According to coach Kennedy, a breaststroke turn is made up of three elements: the set-up, the pivot and the push-off.
During the set-up, swimmers reach for the wall, hitting it with outstretched arms as they complete their glide. Swimmers should touch the wall with their palms instead of grabbing onto the edge—grabbing the edge only gives them an excuse to hang on. To achieve perfect timing, swimmers must count their strokes to hit the wall perfectly during every set and race. Of course, mistakes happen, and if a breaststroker ends up farther from the wall than expected, Kennedy advises driving with an extra strong kick instead of taking an additional short stroke.
Next comes the tricky part: as the swimmer palms the wall, his knees snap into his chest and he turns to one side, using hips as his pivot. The breaststroker drops his left arm while sneaking the right arm past his ear, rotating his body to the left. The arms meet in streamline position behind the head. To help explain the proper arm action, Kennedy tells his athletes to “elbow your brother and call your mother.”
After the feet plant on the wall—at a slight angle, a natural result of the pivot—the swimmer pushes off and starts the pullout. In a really great turn, the swimmer capitalizes on the forward momentum and comes off the wall with even more power.
Once the swimmer has the concept of the open turn down, it’s time to start practicing. Kennedy keeps his swimmers thinking about speeding in and out of the wall by timing turns: A great breaststroke turn, from hands hitting to feet leaving, takes .6-.7 seconds. “The pivot is a struggle for a lot of kids,” says Kennedy, “so timing helps them focus.” Kennedy also suggests starting fifties in the middle of the pool, for an extra turn in each fifty. And of course, reminds Kennedy, “each workout offers about 300 chances for perfecting both flip and open turns, so take advantage of every one.”
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