Freestyle is the stroke most children learn first, and the one they will spend the most time refining over the course of their swimming journey. Getting it right matters: good freestyle technique reduces effort, increases speed, and builds the foundation for learning the other competitive strokes. It is also much easier to develop good habits early than to correct ingrained bad ones later.
Whether your child is just starting to put their arms and breathing together or is working on refining a more established stroke, understanding the key elements of freestyle technique gives you the context to support their learning and to have useful conversations with their Aquabliss swimming teacher. This guide covers each element of freestyle in turn, the most common technique problems in young swimmers, and what actually helps.
These corrections are best made by a skilled teacher over time, not all at once. Too many technique cues simultaneously confuses young swimmers. The Aquabliss teaching approach introduces corrections progressively and in a way that suits each child’s learning stage.
| Take Freestyle to the Next Level at Aquabliss From Kids Learn to Swim through to Stroke Development and Squads. Year-round classes across 6 NSW locations. Book or Check a Class |
The Four Elements of Good Freestyle Technique
1. Body Position: The Foundation of Everything
Good freestyle starts with the body being as horizontal and streamlined as possible. A child who swims with their hips dropped or their legs dragging significantly increases the water resistance acting on their body, which makes every stroke less effective and more tiring. The ideal body position is a long, flat line from the top of the head to the toes, with a very slight downward angle from head to hips. The face is in the water between strokes. The ears are submerged. The hips are near the surface. Common body position problems in children include:- Head too high: lifting the head to breathe rather than rotating causes the hips to drop. Teaching children to rotate their head to the side rather than lifting it is one of the most impactful technique corrections available
- Hips and legs dropping: often linked to insufficient kick or to the child not being comfortable having their face in the water
- Excessive bobbing: moving up and down rather than forwards in a horizontal line, often caused by a kick that is too large or too asymmetric
2. Arm Action: The Engine of Freestyle
The arms provide most of the propulsion in freestyle. In the context of children’s learn-to-swim programs, including the Aquabliss Kids Learn to Swim program, straight arm freestyle is taught as the initial arm action. Straight arm freestyle involves the recovering arm swinging forward over the water surface in a relatively straight line, which is easier for young or smaller swimmers to execute and gives teachers a clear, visible stroke to coach. The key phases of the arm action to understand:- Entry: the hand enters the water in front of the shoulder, fingertips first, with a slight outward angle. Crossing the centreline (reaching across the body) is a common error that causes the hips to swing and disrupts the streamlined position
- Catch and pull: after entry, the hand feels for the water, then the arm pulls from in front of the body through toward the hip in a relatively straight path through the water. The pull should feel like the hand is pressing on something solid
- Push and release: the pull continues until the hand passes the hip, at which point the arm exits the water and begins its recovery
- Recovery: in straight arm freestyle, the arm swings forward over the water surface toward the next entry point. The thumb-down hand position helps the arm to recover cleanly
| 💡 One arm at a time: If your child is struggling with the coordination of two arm actions together, ask their teacher about single-arm drills. Focusing on one arm’s pattern at a time, while the other arm leads or holds the wall, allows children to isolate the movement and build it before putting both arms together. |
3. Breathing: The Part That Takes the Longest
Breathing technique is where most children’s freestyle falls apart, and it takes longer to consolidate than any other element of the stroke. The challenge is that the natural human instinct when the face approaches water is to tense up, hold the breath in, and lift the head. All of these instincts work directly against good freestyle technique. Good breathing in freestyle involves:- Rotating the head rather than lifting it: the head should rotate to the side as the arm on that side begins its recovery. One goggle stays in the water; the other is above it. The mouth clears the water just enough to inhale
- Inhaling quickly: the breathing window in freestyle is brief. Children need to practise taking a quick, efficient breath rather than pausing to ensure they have fully inhaled
- Exhaling into the water: between breaths, the child should be breathing out slowly and steadily into the water through the nose and mouth, not holding their breath. Children who hold their breath and then try to exhale and inhale in a single breath window typically struggle with the timing
- Consistency: breathing every two strokes on the same side is what most children learn initially, and this is completely appropriate for beginners. Breathing every three strokes (bilateral breathing) can be introduced later when the basic pattern is consolidated
4. Kick: The Stabiliser
The kick in freestyle serves two primary functions: propulsion and stabilisation of the body position. For most recreational swimmers and children learning to swim, the kick provides more stabilisation than propulsion, but a consistent kick is essential for maintaining the horizontal body position. Good freestyle kick characteristics:- Initiated from the hip: the kick action should come from the hip joint, with the knee bending slightly as the leg moves backward and then straightening as it moves forward. Kicking from the knee alone creates a bicycle-like movement that is inefficient and often causes the legs to drop
- Narrow beat: the kick width should be relatively narrow, not wider than the width of the body. A wide kick creates drag and slows the swimmer down
- Relaxed ankles and pointed toes: relaxed ankles allow the feet to create more surface area as they move through the water. Tense, rigid feet are significantly less effective. Slightly pointed toes (plantarflexion) add to the propulsion surface
- Regular rhythm: the most common kick rhythm in freestyle is a six-beat kick (six leg movements per full arm cycle). Beginners often have a less regular rhythm, which is fine, but a consistent kick is better than an irregular one
Common Technique Problems and What to Do
| Problem | What it looks like | What helps |
| Head lifting to breathe | Hips drop, legs drag, stroke breaks | Practise head rotation drills; body rotation cues |
| Crossing the centre line on entry | Hips wiggle sideways, stroke looks snaky | Wide entry drills; fingernails-in-front-of-shoulder cue |
| Holding the breath | Breathlessness after short distance | Blowing bubbles out constantly; exhale-then-inhale drills |
| Kicking from the knee | Bicycle-kick appearance, poor body position | Hip-driven kick cues; kick board practice |
| Short arm pull | Arms exit early, poor propulsion | Press-past-the-hip cue; hands touching thighs on exit |
| Splashing and wide arms on entry | Broken water surface, loss of streamline | Reach long cue; fingertips-first entry focus |
How Parents Can Support Freestyle Improvement
The most helpful thing a parent can do is avoid trying to coach from the poolside during lessons. Your child’s teacher has their full attention and a specific plan. A parent calling technique corrections from the viewing area splits the child’s attention and can undermine the teaching. What you can do outside of lessons:- Reinforce positive messages: tell your child what you noticed going well, not what looked wrong. Confidence in the water is as important as technique
- Encourage consistent lesson attendance: improvement in swimming is cumulative and closely tied to frequency. Missing lessons creates gaps that cost more than the lesson they skipped
- Ask the teacher one specific question after each session about what to focus on at home, and follow their guidance rather than applying your own corrections
- Consider school holiday intensive programs if progress has plateaued: a week of daily lessons can unlock progress that months of weekly lessons have not
| Ready to Take Technique Further? Aquabliss Kids Stroke Development and Squads programs offer expert technique coaching. Book an assessment to find the right program. Book a Free Assessment |
Frequently Asked Questions
Freestyle breathing is typically introduced in the early stages of the Kids Learn to Swim program, which follows the Pre-Schoolers program. Most children are developmentally ready to begin working on breathing technique from around 4 to 6 years of age, though this varies significantly by individual. Breathing is the most complex element of freestyle and often takes the longest to consolidate. Patience, consistent lessons, and trust in the teaching progression will get there.
In most cases, it is better to let the teaching happen in the pool and to focus on encouragement and fun when you are with your child around water outside of lessons. If you have noticed a specific technique point you want to discuss, raise it with the teacher rather than correcting it directly. The teacher can confirm whether it is something they are already working on, suggest a specific cue that aligns with the teaching approach, or reassure you that it is a normal part of the learning progression that will improve with time.
Yes. Aquabliss School Holiday Intensive Programs condense one month’s worth of lessons into a single week. For children who are working on consolidating freestyle breathing or body position, the frequency and repetition of a week of daily lessons can produce noticeable and lasting improvement. These programs also include one free lesson per week and are a great opportunity for children not yet enrolled in regular lessons to experience the Aquabliss teaching approach.