Coaches Clipboard: Buoy Kick

Welcome to this week’s installment of the Coaches Clipboard!

On a regular basis, Swimming World will be bringing you a drill, concept, or tip that you can implement with your team. Each article is designed to be easily understand, outlining the what, why, when, and where of each concept in addition to pictures and videos. While certain weeks may be more appropriate for specific levels of swimming (club, high school, college, or masters), Coaches Clipboard excerpts are meant to be flexible for your needs and inclusive for all levels of swimming. Check out last week’s article here.

This week is an in-water body position drill for your swimmers using pull buoys. Instead of using the buoy to support the hips, your swimmers will use the buoy as they would a kickboard to create a greater sense of their hip and body position. See the info and picture below to learn how to implement the drill with your team!

Photo Courtesy: James Sica

The What:

As stated above, this drill utilizes one of the most common swimmer accessories, the pull buoy, in a slightly different way. A snorkel is also recommended to help prevent the swimmer’s hips from dropping when they would normally lift their head for a breathe.

Instead of placing the buoy between the legs, the swimmer will instead hold it out in front of themselves as they would a kickboard. Place the buoy at it’s lowest height so it is creating the least resistance possible. Wearing a snorkel, the swimmer will kick with the buoy extended trying to create a straight line from the top of their head down through toes.

Push Further:

To challenge your swimmers on their body position, ask them to adjust the pull buoy to a higher height (think how you would use a kickboard during a “tombstone” kick set). This will create more resistance and in turn make it more difficult to keep an ideal body position.

The Why:

Initially it may seem this is not much of a drill at all; why substitute a pull buoy for a kickboard? The answer is body position. When using a kickboard, it is easy to use your upper body to balance as you move through the water. This usually results in low hips and a poor body line, particularly as swimmers get more tired. In extreme cases poor body position while kicking can create tightness in the neck, shoulders, and back.

While a simple departure from kicking on a board, this drill does a great job of forcing swimmers to evaluate their hip position. They cannot balance forward on the buoy as they can a board; the buoy is too light and doesn’t provide the same amount of support as a kickboard. Additionally, the outstretched arms and low head position keeps the entire body in a straight line. As a coach, this drill is helpful to identify which swimmers may be pressing down with their arms (and by extension, the buoy, which will become submerged) instead of using their core and legs to maintain a good body line.

While kicking on a board can certainly have a place in any program, this drill acts as a nice counterbalance to help build good body position habits during practice.

The When:

This is a great drill to add early in your season to help set good habits. Add this drill this during warm-up or secondary sets to check in with hip/body position, making sure to check which swimmers may struggle with their body position when you take away the kickboard.

Push Further:

You can create innovative sets that involve switching between pulling and kicking with a buoy. When doing this, it is helpful to explain that your athletes should be looking at the differences in their body position when they’re pulling versus when they’re kicking. Challenge them to keep the high hip position they have pulling when they transition to the kicking drill. This is a great way to add in thoughtful aerobic capacity work. See the sample set below for inspiration:

***use snorkel and buoy for everything

300 pull negative split

4 x 75’s as 25 buoy kick/25 drill/25 streamline kick fast

250 pull negative split

4 x 100’s as 50 buoy kick/25 drill/25 streamline kick fast

200 pull negative split on 3:00

4 x 125’s as 75 buoy kick/25 drill/25 streamline kick fast

In Conclusion:

This is a simple drill that can utilized in several different areas of your daily practice to help check-in and promote good body position in your athletes. Awareness of body line is essential in all strokes and nearly every aspect of swimming. Did this drill work for your swimmers? Comment below to share how your athletes reacted to this quiet drill and don’t forget to check back for regular postings of Coaches Clipboard!

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