Breakout Timing
Swimmers practise the moment to take the first stroke after a push-off, so speed carries straight into swimming.
- Stages
- Stage 6, Stage 7
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Skills
- Streamlining, Front Crawl, Turns
- Equipment
- None
- Age
- 8–99 years
- Group size
- 1–14 swimmers
- Time
- About 4 minutes
- In a lesson
- Skill Development 1, Skill Development 2
- Shared by
- SwimShare Resource
Safety notes
- Short underwater distance only.
What it develops
- Efficient front crawl with rotation and rhythmic breathing
- Turns with streamlined push-offs and underwater phase
- Efficient front crawl over distance
- Turns suited to each stroke
How to run it
- Push off in a streamline and kick.
- Feel the glide slow down – that is the moment to start.
- Pull with the bottom arm first as the body rises.
- Take two strokes before the first breath.
Teaching cues
- Pull as you slow.
- First stroke, then breathe.
- Stay long.
Make it easier
- Push and glide, stand when it slows (to feel the moment).
- One stroke then stand.
Make it harder
- Backstroke breakout.
- Breakout after a turn.
Common faults
- Breathing on the first stroke.
- Stopping to wait for the surface.
Corrections
- 'No breath on the first stroke.'
- Start the pull a little earlier.
Assistant / L1 role
- Tell each swimmer whether they breathed on the first stroke.