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 was never good at flip turns as a kid, but re-taught myself to do them as an adult. My "aha" moment came when I started thinking of it as leading with my head through the turn, rather than my arms. I just thought, "arms loose by sides, tuck chin to chest" - with momentum that should flip you over, details of form can be worked on later.
Also, since your student is new to turns...could water up the nose be an issue? I used to have problems with that, and in trying to get the turn (and the feeling of drowning) over with, I would end up flailing my arms around. I found that humming a song (I used the national anthem) during turns solved the problem almost immediately, it helped me to breathe out my nose steadily and without panicking. Don't have to do that anymore, but it was really useful at the time :) .
I was never good at flip turns as a kid, but re-taught myself to do them as an adult. My "aha" moment came when I started thinking of it as leading with my head through the turn, rather than my arms. I just thought, "arms loose by sides, tuck chin to chest" - with momentum that should flip you over, details of form can be worked on later.
Also, since your student is new to turns...could water up the nose be an issue? I used to have problems with that, and in trying to get the turn (and the feeling of drowning) over with, I would end up flailing my arms around. I found that humming a song (I used the national anthem) during turns solved the problem almost immediately, it helped me to breathe out my nose steadily and without panicking. Don't have to do that anymore, but it was really useful at the time :) .
