Session 4 - Entry and catch of butterfly arms again!

Here is my plan and reflection from practice session four.

This session follows the same design as session three as I needed more work on this aspect! Think I am getting close to mastering the entry and catch of butterfly arms now, complicated I tell you. Again the design of this session is put together with reference to Dudley, D.(2007).

Design of session: 

1. Make sure hands enter the water with thumb and first finger first, in line with shoulders.

2. When hands enter water make sure elbows are slightly bent.

3. When hands have fully entered the water straighten elbows and your hands will then travel slightly outwards.

4. From entry position your arms will then extend forwards, downwards and a little outwards this is where the point of catch is found.

5. The catch should occur outside your shoulder width.

6. The movement will change to downwards as well as backwards.

7. The elbows are also kept in a high position at this point as the pull begins.

This session will follow a extrinsic feedback design (Franklin,W. 1996) in which the focus is to receive ongoing feedback throughout the session from an outside source. This approach will allow things to be picked up from the entry and catch which needs improved. Therefore resulting in gaining a better overall movement of the entry and catch of butterfly.

References informing design:    

Dudley,D. (2007). Swimming the butterfly step by step guide. Retrieved from http://www.swimming-techniques-learn.com/swimming-the-butterfly.html

Franklin,W. (1996). Coaching and feedback. Retrieved from http://www.diving.about.com/od/coaching/qt/feedback-1.htm

Statistics/ detailed information collected: 

30 entry and catch of butterfly arms movement were preformed. 

20 were the correct technique. 

10 were incorrect. Where I either was doing to many dolphin kicks for the catch movement of the arms, or both arms were not in time with each other.

1 hour practice session. 

Reflection: 

I feel having another session on the entry and catch of butterfly arms really helped. As I knew what the movement pattern already was, it was just about concentrating really hard on getting the kick movement and arm movement correct and working in with each other. Using an extrinsic feedback design (Franklin, W. 1996) was a real success in learning the movement. As this allowed someone other than myself to see what was happening and how it could be improved. As relying on feedback from yourself you don't often pick up many things that need improvement which others can see really easy.