Butterfly

     Butterfly became a stroke in 1953. It is considered to be the hardest and most strenuous of all strokes. As far as speed goes, it is about the same speed as backstroke at the Olympic level. This stroke requires a lot of upper body strength, and can take a long time to master.

The Pull

1. You should stay as flat as you can all the time.
2. Your arms are what really propels you. Your fingers should enter first, then your wrists, then your elbows; they should enter the water in front of your body. Your arms should be almost straight at this point in the stroke.
3. Next, pull your arms back towards your sides until your elbows are bent at about a 90 degree angle.
4. At the end of the pull, move your hands outwards again to avoid hitting your body.

The Kick

1. The kick used for this stroke is the dolphin kick. It involves both legs kicking at the same time, starting at the hips and moving down to the toes.
2. The timing of the kick is what is really important. What some coaches will say is "Kick your head up, kick your head down". This means that you kick up when you go up to breathe, and kick down when your head goes back down.
3. The timing is what is hard about this stroke, after you do it for awhile, you will start to get the hang of it.

Other

1. Breathing can be done to the side, or to the front; the front being the most common method.

Backstroke

     Backstroke must be swum on the back at all times. Technically, in backstroke events, any combination of arm and leg movements can be used as long as the swimmer stays on their back. However, the stroke used in competitive swimming is the back crawl, which is what I’m describing here.

The Stroke

1. Keep your body as flat as possible at all times.
2. Your arms will give you most of your power. As one arm is pulling underwater, the other one is recovering (this gives a windmill effect).
3. You want to enter your arm into the water with your little finger first. Then pull our arm back toward you. Your elbow will bend after about 10 inches or so into this, which will cause your hand to apply force. Your arm will end up making a "S" or "Question Mark" shape during this process.
4. The kick is just a normal flutter kick, with both legs kicking alternately. Legs should be kept fairly straight, and you will get about 6 kicks for every complete arm cycle you do.

Breaststroke

     Breaststroke is all about timing. Once you get this down, the stroke is relatively easy. All your leg and arm movements must go together correctly, or you could be disqualified. You can only move on a horizontal plane, which is what distinguishes this stroke from the butterfly.

The Pull

1. The pull begins with your arms together in front of our head. Move them outwards; palms out at first, then turning so the fingers are facing downward, to about shoulder width; then bring them back in towards your chest. The result of this should be your arms move in front of you in a sort of heart-like shape.
2. When your arms are pulling toward your chest is when you bring your head up to breathe.
3. Right after your hands get to your chest, thrust them straight forward to a streamlined position again. Your hands can either be palms together or both palms flat, but palms together (like in a praying position) seems to be more common.

The Kick

1. In this stroke, a lot of your power comes from the kick.
2. You should start with your legs bent, your heels up by your butt, and your feet turned outward slightly - the soles of your feet should be facing backwards still.
3. The kick is sort of hard to explain… it looks like a frog’s kick. What you basically want to do is bring your feet away from and back to your butt in an almost circular motion.

Other

1. The timing is what is crucial in this stroke. Basically, the arms recover as the legs pull, and the legs recover as the arms pull. You get the feel for how it works after a while.
2. You must come up and breathe once every time during the arm recovery, except during the underwater pullout, which is done right after the start, and after each turn.

Freestyle

     In freestyle races you can technically swim any stroke, but the one most commonly used is the front crawl. This is the fastest stroke and also the easiest to learn.

The Stroke

1. Your body should rotate side to side slightly, as this will make your pull more efficient. (It’ll do this anyway since you breathe to the side.)
2. Arms take strokes alternately, while one is recovering, the other is underwater, pulling. Your arm should enter the water, tips of fingers first, in front of you and pull down and backward. During recovery, the arm should be bent in a way that the elbow is above all other parts of the arm.
3. The kick is simply just a flutter kick, where the legs kick in an alternating fashion. This kick should be shallow, your feet should break the surface of the water.

Other

1. Timing is very easy to work out in this stroke.
2. Breathing is done to the side. When you bring your arm out of the water for recovery, turn your head to the side and breathe under the arm. You don’t have to breathe every stroke, and should breathe as little as possible.

Basic Rules

     In all starts, the first command given is to either "step up" on butterfly, breaststroke, freestyle (or anything else started from on top of the block); or to "step into the water" in backstroke or medley relays. The swimmer must do so promptly. (Sometimes swimmers must stand behind their block before their heat starts.) When the command "take your marks" is given, the swimmer must get into the starting position immediately. Delays could result in disqualification. One false start is sometimes permitted.

Grab Start

     A grab start is when the swimmer is on the block, at the front, with feet together and hands gripping the front of the block on both sides of the feet; or with feet about shoulder width apart and hands gripping the front of the block between the feet. The swimmer’s head should be looking downward, and their knees should be slightly bent. Upon starting, the hands are thrust outward and forward, bringing the body into a streamlined position, and the legs propel the body into the water.

Track Start

     A track start is similar to the grab start, except this time only one foot is at the front of the block. The other foot’s toes should be back about 5 inches or so from the front foot’s heel. When the swimmer leans forward, the rear leg will bend farther than the front. Hands are placed on both sides of the foot in the front. When starting, the hands are thrust outward and then forward, bringing the body into a streamlined position. This start gives a good, solid base for a strong push-off.

Swing Start

     A swing start is usually used in relay turnovers. If this is the case, the swimmer will stand with both feet shoulder-width apart at the front of the block, arms stretched out in front of them. As the previous swimmer comes in, the arms "follow" the swimmer as they approach the wall. Right before the swimmer hits the wall, both arms circle backwards, which will end up in a streamlined position as the swimmer leaves the block.

Backstroke Start

     The backstroke start is started in the water. There is a bar on front of the starting block, which the swimmer holds onto. The feet are placed on the wall, with one leg slightly lower than the other. The swimmer brings up their body, so the legs are bent nearly double and the head is between the arms. Upon starting, the arms and head swing backwards in almost a backward dive as the legs push off the wall to provide thrust. The back should be arched.

Butterfly

     In butterfly, the swimmer approahces the wall with the arms at the end of the recovery - stretched out in front of them. The touch must be made with both hands touching the wall at the same time, and on the same horizontal plane. When touching, the head should be down. When turning, one shoulder lowers, and the opposite arm is brought over the water and around to the front. As it enters the water, the head is in the water, and both arms straighten while the push-off is being done. The swimmer pushes off in a streamlined position.

Backstroke

    The first thing to do before attempting a backstroke turn is to figure out your stroke count - this is the number of normal arm strokes it takes you to get to the wall from the flags (5 m. from the wall in a 50 m. pool). Basically what you do is swim normally from the flags and count your strokes, when you are 2 or 3 short of your stroke count, (i.e. If your stroke count is 5, you would turn over after about 2 strokes) turn over onto your stomach using your arm to help (this will look like one freestyle stroke) and do a freestyle flip-turn (below), only pushing off on your back and dolphin-kicking to the surface.

Breaststroke

     The breaststroke turn is similar to the one done in butterfly. The touch is made after the recovery, when both arms are extended. The body must remain flat. Then, one shoulder will drop as the other is rotated around over the water. Both arms straighten, and the legs push off in a streamlined position. Breaststroke swimmers are allowed one stroke underwater after each turn and the start (underwater pull-out).

Freestyle

     The turn most commonly used in freestyle is the flip-turn. The swimmer glides towards the wall and without touching it, does a forward somersault in front of the wall, rotating to the side slightly at the end. The swimmer will push off the wall with their feet nearly sideways, straighting out while streamlined gliding takes place.