By: Maggie Hong

In competitive swimming, there are four basic strokes: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. In this article I will go over how to do these strokes, a few drills you can practice for each, and how they can benefit you.

Freestyle, or front stroke, is often the first stroke people learn. It is performed by floating on your front, kicking your feet, and making pulls forward with your arms. This stroke is good for practicing your speed in the water, as well as developing arm, shoulder, and leg muscles. To improve your freestyle stroke, try making fists as you do your arm pulls. This will allow you to practice using your whole arm to pull water, not just your hand, and result in a more powerful pull.

Backstroke is much like freestyle, but performed while floating on your back. Instead of pulling forward, your arms should rotate backwards, toward your head and along your side. This stroke is good to improve your floating, or if you aren’t comfortable with your face in the water. To improve your backstroke, try doing a one armed stroke: only pulling with one arm for a lap. As you rotate your arm, your body should rotate toward that side, allowing for a good strong pull.

Breaststroke is known as a recovery stroke, meaning it is typically less intense than freestyle or backstroke. However, many modifications can be made to this stroke to make it more or less intense depending on your preference and ability. Breaststroke is performed by floating on your front in streamline position (arms extended above the head, hands meeting and parallel to the floor), doing a single whip kick (bending the knees and pushing them out behind your body), and then pulling the arms from the streamline position downward and out to lift your head above the water. Once you take a breath above the water, dive back down into streamline and repeat. To improve your breaststroke, try placing a tennis ball or small, soft object under your chin while you swim. This will stop you from moving your head up as you make your pull, taking strain off your neck and adding height to your stroke.

Butterfly is often regarded as the hardest competitive stroke, but it can be easily developed with knowledge of breaststroke. To perform butterfly, begin in a streamline position. Do a dolphin kick (like a flutter kick, but with both feet together and core engaged), and then raise your arms out of the water, each arm extending out to either side like butterfly wings. Then bring your arms down and forward, pulling along your sides. To breathe, take your head above the water during your pull. To improve your butterfly, try executing your pull with a flutter kick rather than a dolphin kick. This will help you to isolate your pull so you can focus on executing it correctly.

Even in a state like Minnesota where it’s winter for half the year, swimming can still be a great activity. Whether you do it competitively, for fitness, or for fun, swimming exercises your whole body and won’t hurt your joints like other sports might. It is a lifelong sport, and can help you feel confident and strong.

For more information, please visit:

• https://troopleader.scouting.org/program-features/swimming/basic-swimming-strokes/