Mermaid Tails
Legs together like a mermaid's tail, swimmers wiggle through the water with a dolphin kick.
- Stages
- Stage 3, Stage 4
- Difficulty
- Developing
- Skills
- Dolphin Kick, Coordination, Body Wave
- Equipment
- Float, Noodle
- Age
- 6–99 years
- Group size
- 1–10 swimmers
- Time
- About 5 minutes
- In a lesson
- Skill Development 1, Skill Development 2
- Shared by
- SwimShare Resource
Safety notes
- Allow breaths whenever needed; dolphin kicking face-in is tiring.
What it develops
- Kick on the front, back and side
- Show early actions for all four strokes
- Show dolphin kick and early butterfly movement
How to run it
- Swimmers hold a float out in front, legs together.
- Kick both legs together in a wave: chest presses, hips rise, feet flick.
- Travel across the width.
- Progress to no float, arms streamlined, with face in.
Teaching cues
- Legs stuck together.
- Wiggle from your chest.
- Flick your feet.
Make it easier
- Hold the wall and practise the wave.
- Noodle under the chest.
Make it harder
- Streamlined dolphin kick underwater after a push.
- Dolphin kick on the side.
Common faults
- Kicking only from the knees.
- Legs separating.
Corrections
- 'The wiggle starts at your chest, not your knees.'
- Imagine the ankles are tied together.
Assistant / L1 role
- Walk beside the swimmer and gently press between the shoulder blades in rhythm to show where the wave starts.