TERRY GATHERCOLE LECTURE – LEIGH NUGENT ON BREASTSTROKE
National Youth Coach, Swimming Australia
Physical Characteristics – there is no one common body type in men or women that typifies a great Breaststroker. A valid observation is that in the sprint events for Freestyle, Backstroke and Butterfly. The most successful swimmers tend to be in the taller height range, but in Breast stroke it is not uncommon to see shorter athletes being as equally successful as the taller ones.
It is essential for Breaststrokers to be very flexible in the lower limbs. Flexibility is particularly important in the hips and the ankles. The capacity to achieve maximum dorsi-flexion with the feet is paramount in generating effective thrust throughout the range of the kick.
Talent identification. Breaststrokers tend to be only Breaststrokers so we are looking for frogs not sharks. Look for the athlete who has natural dorsi-flexion, well developed legs – they are the ones who dorsi-flex when swimming Freestyle kick. They are usually better coordinated when using their body symmetrically.
There are some basic elements common to all styles of Breast stroke…
Flat, streamlined body position.
Outward and inward scull of the hands.
The head and shoulders rise in preparation for the breath at the same time or soon after the hands begin to scull in.
The legs remain streamlined during the out and in sculling phases of the hands.
The feet recover during the recovery of the arms and the kick is performed during the completion of the arm recovery.
The feet follow a generally narrow but elliptical path as they thrust back.
The head rocks as a counterbalance in response to the other movements of the body (although not always the case).
There are many different styles of Breaststroke, which creates the illusion that there are dramatic differences in the technique of the stroke. Essentially the timing and force applications are very similar from one swimmer to another. The resistive forces on the Breaststroker’s body moving through the water are greater in Breaststroke than any other stroke. As a consequence, the swimmer must be taught and trained to swim in a way that reduces the resistive forces as much as possible. Timing is critical in the execution of efficient Breaststroke technique. Breaststroke seems to be more susceptible to technique and timing breakdown than any of the other strokes. The most common way of avoiding technique breakdown is to include significant volumes of part stroke and whole stroke combination drills.
WAVE ACTION BREASTSTROKE
Wave Action Breaststroke is the concept which underlies today’s modern Breaststroke technique. This style of Breaststroke was being experimented with in the 80’s but was significantly refined and developed by Hungarian Coach, Joseph Nagi, in the latter part of the decade. The undulating action created by this technique effectively reduces the resistive forces on the Breaststroker as well as providing improved positioning of the body and limbs for force application. The wave technique pays particular attention to the reduction of resistive forces on the body. The maintenance of the widest angle possible at the hip (the angle created between the lower torso and the thigh) throughout all phases of the stroke is a feature of this style. No propulsion occurs during the simultaneous recovery of the arms and the legs. As a consequence, it is advantageous to minimize this period of rapid deceleration. This minimization is achieved through rapid recovery of the arms and the legs along with a lunging forward of the upper body and shoulders. Rather than written descriptions, the best understanding of the stroke is gained from watching footage of Nagi’s video of Mike Barrowman and viewing footage of the world’s best swimmers performing using this technique.
FLEXIBILITY
Excellent flexibility is an essential quality in the execution of great Breaststroke. The main areas of importance are the shoulders, spine, hips and ankles. The ritual of stretching should be performed daily to gain the necessary improvements in joint structure and soft tissue mobility. Flexibility in the hips and ankles is paramount in order to maintain the feet in a dorsi-flexed position at a 90 degree angle to the direction of thrust.
