Ohio State Drills & Skills for Freestyle

Freestyle is the stroke every competitive swimmer must master. Ohio State Coaches Bill Wadley and Bill Dorenkott show you drills to develop the elements of fast freestyle in all of your swimmers, and then add the styles and techniques individual swimmers need to master swimming for every athlete, at every distance.

This presentation begins with a detailed demonstration of how to attain the proper body position for successful freestyle. The common theme that both Coach Wadley and Coach Dorenkott profess is that of finding ways to increase propulsion and decrease drag. Attaining a long position that is stabilized with the core will assist greatly in drag reduction.

To enhance the swimmers feel for attaining an ideal body position while moving in the water, a series of 12 kicking drills are demonstrated to maximize pull in the power zone. Drills for sprint and distance freestylers build core power for every stage of the stroke cycle

The drill progression builds on the kicking and core body series, adding strength and timing in the pull, from catch to recovery. The coaches discuss characteristics of a great freestyler, and adaptations coaches must make for differences in swimmers. Drills develop optimum hand placement, catch, pull, and recovery. An "open arm pit" drill series follows that is designed to train a "full arm full or water" catch position with an open arm pit. This high elbow catch with hip rotation style keeps the pull in the power zone - an out-front, open-armpit pull. This is an essential skill, particularly for sprint freestylers, for establishing an ideal catch position.

Dorenkott and Wadley then follow with an additional 25 propulsion drills that combine to train proper body position while training the catch, pull, finish and recovery. Emphasis is placed on front quadrant (asymmetrical) freestyle with good length and line-up - especially for your mid to long distance freestylers. Included in these drills is a "hip slide" sequence that a hip dominated swimmer can implement to enhance his or her natural stroke tendencies.

In all, nearly 40 drills, skills, and innovations are packed into this presentation that combine to create a highly efficient stroke that enhances propulsion while continuously decreasing drag. The benefit of having two DI head coaches and exceptional demonstrators make this product unique. Underwater footage enhances the instruction.

As a swim coach, I am always interested to find the most up-to-date principles in how to swim the four competitive strokes as efficiently as possible. Coach Wadley and Coach Dorenkotts' Freestyle DVD not only did a terrific job of explaining the techniques used in the freestyle stroke but also they provided excellent freestyle drills to reinforced these concepts. I will be getting the whole set of instructional DVDs, which will be all I need.
- Coach Bod, Houston, Texas

67 minutes. 2013.