Finish on a Full Stroke
Practise arriving at the wall at full stretch – no gliding in, no tiny extra stroke – with the right touch for each stroke.
- Stages
- Swimming – Stage 8, Swimming – Stage 9, Swimming – Stage 10
- Difficulty
- Developing
- Skills
- Stroke Efficiency, Turns
- Equipment
- None
- Age
- 8–99 years
- Group size
- 1–16 swimmers
- Time
- About 5 minutes
- In a lesson
- Skill Development 1, Skill Development 2, Recap / Safe Exit
- Shared by
- SwimShare Resource
Safety notes
- Backstroke finishes use flags and a stroke count – swimmers reach back with one hand to protect the head.
What it develops
- Streamlined push-offs, turns and finishes
- Turns with a streamlined underwater phase and breakout
- Starts, turns and finishes as part of a swim
How to run it
- Swimmers start 10 metres from the wall and swim in, watching (or counting) so the last stroke finishes with a full reach.
- Front crawl and backstroke: one hand touches at full stretch; breaststroke and butterfly: two hands together.
- Partners watch for gliding in or a short 'chop' stroke.
- Repeat from slightly different distances so swimmers learn to adjust their stroke length on the approach.
Teaching cues
- Reach and touch, don't glide.
- Head down until the touch.
- Two hands together on breast and fly.
Make it easier
- Practise from 5 metres with front crawl only.
Make it harder
- Combine with a backstroke finish using flags and a stroke count.
- Finish after a full length.
Common faults
- Lifting the head to look for the wall.
- Gliding the last metre.
- One-hand touch on breaststroke.
Corrections
- 'Use the T on the floor to judge it.'
- 'Kick all the way in.'
- 'Lunge, don't float.'
Assistant / L1 role
- Kneel safely at the wall to watch the touch and give a thumbs-up for a full-stretch finish.