Learning the dolphin kick and body undulation is one of the easier steps to learning the butterfly stroke, but it is one of the main components to master as it has a huge effect on the success of the stroke. The design of my session is put together with reference to Keller, C. (2013).
Design of the session:
1. Lie flat on your stomach in the water, head in line with the body and the face looking down.
2. The legs and feet are kept together, the toes point away from the body towards the pool end.
3. Press chest down in the water, then release it.
4. As release the chest, press the hips down synchronously, then release them.
5. As you release the hips, you start again to press chest down, and so on.
6. When the hips go down, the legs should simply follow along, with knees slightly bent.
7. When hips go up, the legs again follow along, the knees extend and at this moment you can add some force and execute the kick.
This session will follow a blocked repetition design (Schmidt, R.A.1991) in which the focus is to repeat the body undulation and dolphin kick drill as many times as possible. This approach will lead to rapid improvement at the time of the session, but may not be the best outcome for long term improvement in the skill.
References informing design:
Keller, C.(2013). Learn the dolphin kick and body undulation in the butterfly stroke. Retrieved from http://www.enjoy-swimming.com/dolphin-kick.htmlSchmidt, R.,A.(1991). Organizing and scheduling practice. Motor learning and performance: from principles to practice. Chapter 9. Human Kinetics.
Statistics/ detailed information collected:
30 body undulation/ dolphin kick were done.
25 were the correct technique.
5 were the incorrect technique, were I was moving my arms as well and not streamlining .
Correct timing of adding the force to the kick needs more practice.
1 hour practice session.
Reflection:
Keller, C. (2013) mentioned that as the knees extend you should add force and execute the kick. I found this very hard to do in this practice session as I was concentrating on getting the correct technique of the body undulation and dolphin kick, not focusing on adding force and power to the kick. I feel that once I am confident and have mastered the dolphin kick it will be a lot easier to add power to the kick.
The blocked repetition design mentioned by Schmidt (1991) was really well implemented into this session. As it allowed me to just focus on the one aspect of the butterfly stroke which lead to great progress in mastering this aspect of the skill.
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