Technique Hold Repeats
Short repeats with one technique focus each, building to a longer swim that keeps every focus – technique first, distance second.
- Stages
- Swimming – Stage 10
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Skills
- Front Crawl, Stroke Efficiency, Endurance & Pace
- Equipment
- None
- Age
- 9–99 years
- Group size
- 1–16 swimmers
- Time
- About 8 minutes
- In a lesson
- Skill Development 1, Skill Development 2
- Shared by
- SwimShare Resource
Safety notes
- Lane swimming: agree a direction (e.g. clockwise) and leave five seconds between swimmers.
What it develops
- Front crawl technique held over longer distances
- Backstroke technique held over distance
- Breaststroke technique held over distance
How to run it
- Choose three focus points for the stroke, e.g. head still, long reach, kick from the hips.
- Swim 3 × 25 metres, one focus per length, with a short rest between.
- Then swim 75 metres continuously keeping all three focus points.
- Swimmers rate each focus out of three; repeat the set once more if time allows, trying to raise the lowest score.
Teaching cues
- One thing at a time, then all together.
- Slow enough to do it well.
- Notice when it starts to slip.
Make it easier
- Use widths instead of lengths and 3 × 1 width + 1 × 2 widths.
Make it harder
- Increase the final swim to 100–150 metres.
- Use stroke count as a fourth focus.
Common faults
- Speeding up so the focus disappears.
- Forgetting the first focus by the third length.
Corrections
- 'If it gets messy, slow down – don't stop.'
- 'Say your three cues in your head as you swim.'
Assistant / L1 role
- Hold up a card with the current focus at the end of each length so swimmers can see it as they turn, following the teacher's order.