I have a student who is struggling with flipturns!
Former Member
So I've been a pre-competitive swim coach since May now. I love it! However, I have a student in one of my lower level classes who is really struggling with learning flipturns. No matter what I suggest or what approach I take, class after class, he is rarely able to progress to doing half of a somersault, let alone a full somersault (which he has never done).
I tell him to tuck his chin on his chest, keep his head straight, hands and arms at his side, legs up to chest in cannon ball, but no matter what, he really struggles to get his head and upper chest down away from the surface of the water, and then his legs straighten out behind him and it's all over.
Swinging kickboards out to his side as he initiates the maneuver has rarely helped.
What are your suggestions? I am stumped. :sad:
I tell him to tuck his chin on his chest, keep his head straight, hands and arms at his side, legs up to chest in cannon ball, but no matter what, he really struggles to get his head and upper chest down away from the surface of the water, and then his legs straighten out behind him and it's all over.
Get him to think "flip," not "somersault." I don't bring "legs up to chest in cannon ball" at all, and I doubt I'd get around if I did. I bring my head to my knees by bending sharply at the hips while my legs are still straight, and bend the knees to bring the feet toward the backside only as I am already well on the way to being upside-down. Abs initiate the movement, with some assist from hip flexors for an especially snappy turn.
I also don't keep my hands at my sides. I bend my elbows to bring my hands to my head at the same time as I am bending at the hips to bring my head to my knees.
People with really tight hamstrings probably have a lot of trouble with flip turns. Can your student bring his head to his knees with his legs more or less straight when he is standing or sitting?
I don't remember learning flip-turns, but I did teach my dad to do them. We started, as quicksilver suggests, by swimming to the middle and flipping there until he understood how to go over rather than just straight down.
I tell him to tuck his chin on his chest, keep his head straight, hands and arms at his side, legs up to chest in cannon ball, but no matter what, he really struggles to get his head and upper chest down away from the surface of the water, and then his legs straighten out behind him and it's all over.
Get him to think "flip," not "somersault." I don't bring "legs up to chest in cannon ball" at all, and I doubt I'd get around if I did. I bring my head to my knees by bending sharply at the hips while my legs are still straight, and bend the knees to bring the feet toward the backside only as I am already well on the way to being upside-down. Abs initiate the movement, with some assist from hip flexors for an especially snappy turn.
I also don't keep my hands at my sides. I bend my elbows to bring my hands to my head at the same time as I am bending at the hips to bring my head to my knees.
People with really tight hamstrings probably have a lot of trouble with flip turns. Can your student bring his head to his knees with his legs more or less straight when he is standing or sitting?
I don't remember learning flip-turns, but I did teach my dad to do them. We started, as quicksilver suggests, by swimming to the middle and flipping there until he understood how to go over rather than just straight down.
