Home › Stage 4

Streamlined Front Kick

Front crawl kick with arms locked in a streamline – builds a long, flat body and a kick that starts at the hip.

Stages
Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7
Difficulty
Developing
Skills
Streamlining, Front Kick, Body Position
Equipment
None, Float
Age
6–99 years
Group size
2–16 swimmers
Time
About 4 minutes
In a lesson
Introduction / Warm-up, Skill Development 1, Skill Development 2
Shared by
SwimShare Resource

Safety notes

  • Swim in lanes or waves so streamlined swimmers don't collide at the wall.

What it develops

  • Swim front crawl with side breathing
  • Push and glide in a tight streamline
  • Front crawl with breathing timed to the arm action
  • Streamlined underwater push-off with kick
  • Efficient front crawl with rotation and rhythmic breathing
  • Turns with streamlined push-offs and underwater phase
  • Efficient front crawl over distance
  • Controlled underwater skills

How to run it

  1. Push off in a streamline: hands stacked, arms squeezing the ears.
  2. Kick with small, fast kicks, face in, eyes on the floor.
  3. Lift the head briefly to breathe at first (Stage 4) or turn to the side under one arm (Stage 5+).
  4. Swim a width, rest, repeat focusing on one point.

Teaching cues

  • Long body.
  • Small fast kicks.
  • Kick from your hips.
  • Eyes down.

Make it easier

  • Hold a float with straight arms.
  • Kick on the side, one arm extended, to breathe easily.

Make it harder

  • Hold the streamline for a full length with side breathing.
  • Add six kicks, then three strokes of front crawl, then back to streamline.

Common faults

  • Bending at the knees (bicycle kick).
  • Arms apart, head pushed forward of the arms.
  • Legs sinking when the head lifts to breathe.

Corrections

  • Use a float held long to feel a straight-leg kick, then return to streamline.
  • Check the streamline standing: top hand grips the bottom thumb.
  • Breathe by turning, not lifting (see One Goggle In).

Assistant / L1 role

  • Walk alongside one lane and watch only the knees. Say 'long legs' when they bend, nothing else.

Helps with