Head First: Diving and Streamlining

Step 1: Position feet so they are flat on the wall, knees together, bottom near edge and hands together above head

Step 2: Lean forward and dive out (not down), attempting to get hands and head in water first (not belly, which is kind of what he did in this picture). Push off wall with feet.

Step 3: Keep straight and kick with flutter kick (kicking from the hips and keeping legs straight, in small, quick kicks, not kicking from knees)

Continue to kick straight forward as far as possible until needing to come up for air

Dive. Kick. Swim.

Nothing really new (except the fact that he has gotten much more graceful at it) as I did these exercises with him since that lovely fall of 2007 when we managed to get to the local YMCA's pool once a week or so. (Hunter, at the time, was two).

But in our new swimming journey (in which Hunter has made his way above the water and made the adventure a lot more exciting) diving and streamlining has suddenly begun to take a key role in refining his swimming technique and improving his form, endurance, and confidence.

The benefits I have suddenly realized from this activity:

1. Helping him learn to keep his body straight and parallel with pool floor
2. Helping him learn the flutter kick (which is hard for him, he always wants to kick from the knees) by isolating it and being in a relaxed position
3. Improving his ability to hold his breath as he tries to get as far as he can before coming up for air

Convenient how these benefits perfectly line up with one of our big end-of-summer goals: learning the crawl stroke.

Which I only realized recently, what a nice activity this is. And so much more than learning how to dive.

Yay for those great realizations.

"Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness... make thy way straight before my face."

Psalm 5:8

Hunter is 5 years, 3 months old