Most young swimmers don’t get slower because they aren’t working hard enough — they get slower because a small technique leak is quietly adding drag or wasting energy every single stroke. A high head, a crossed-over hand entry, or a kick that comes from the knee instead of the hip can cost tenths of a second per lap without ever showing up as an obvious flaw on deck.
This guide breaks down six of the most common freestyle technique errors in youth competitive swimmers and the specific drills coaches use to fix each one. Work through them in order during warm-up or technique sets, and layer in one fix at a time rather than trying to rebuild the whole stroke at once.
Quick Answer
The fastest technique gains for young freestylers usually come from fixing head/body position, building a high-elbow catch, cleaning up hand entry, adding rotation, kicking from the hip, and finishing the pull past the hip. Drill each one individually — catch-up drill for timing, closed-fist swimming for the catch, fingertip drag for entry, side-kick drill for rotation, and streamline kicking for a tighter kick — before combining them into full-stroke swimming.
6 Technique Fixes That Make Freestyle Faster
1. Fix head position first. Swimming with the head up is the single most common flaw at any age, and it drops the hips and legs, adding drag for the whole length of the pool. The fix: eyes should look down and slightly forward, with the waterline hitting around the crown of the head, not the chin. A kickboard set with ‘look at the bottom’ cues, or simply counting tiles on the pool floor, retrains this fast.
2. Build a high-elbow catch instead of a straight-arm pull. Many kids drop their elbow on entry and pull straight back with a stiff arm, which slips water instead of holding it. The fix is an early vertical forearm: after the hand enters, the elbow stays higher than the hand as the forearm rotates down and back, so the swimmer is pressing water toward the feet, not just pushing it down. Closed-fist freestyle is the classic drill for this — swimming with fists instead of open hands forces the forearm and elbow to do the work of catching water, and swimmers immediately feel the difference when they open their hands again.
3. Clean up hand entry and the catch-up timing. The hand should enter fingertips-first (not thumb-first), with the palm angled slightly outward before it rotates into the catch, and it should enter roughly in line with the shoulder — not crossing over the body’s centerline, which causes a snaking, zig-zag path through the water. The catch-up drill directly builds this: one arm stays extended out front while the other completes a full stroke cycle and ‘catches up’ to touch it before starting the next stroke. It slows the stroke down enough for young swimmers to actually feel a clean entry and a full extension.
4. Add body rotation so the stroke comes from the core, not just the shoulder. Swimmers who stay flat on their stomach can only reach and pull with the arm; rotating the hips and shoulders together (roughly 30-45 degrees each way) adds reach, engages bigger muscles, and helps the recovery arm clear the water. The side-kick drill builds this directly: kicking on one side with the bottom arm extended and the top arm resting on the hip, then rotating to the other side every six kicks (a ‘6-kick switch’ drill), teaches the body to rotate as a unit instead of twisting just the shoulders.
5. Kick from the hip, not the knee. A common youth error is a big, bent-knee ‘bicycle kick’ that creates drag and burns energy without adding much propulsion. The fix is a narrower, faster flutter kick that starts at the hip with a relatively straight leg and a relaxed ankle. Streamline kicking on the stomach and on the back, done off every wall push-off, reinforces both the tight kick and a strong core-driven body position at the same time.
6. Finish the pull past the hip. Many young swimmers stop pulling too early, near the belly button, which cuts the most powerful part of the stroke short. Coaches often cue swimmers to ‘flick water at your thigh’ at the end of the pull, or use a stroke-count drill — counting strokes across the pool and trying to hold or lower that count while keeping the same speed — to reward a longer, more complete finish rather than a short, choppy one.
How to Build These Fixes Into Practice
Don’t try to correct all six at once. Pick one focus per warm-up or technique set — for example, closed-fist freestyle for the catch on Monday, side-kick drill for rotation on Wednesday — and give it two to three weeks before layering in the next fix. Keep drill sets short (25s to 50s) and swim them slowly enough that the swimmer can actually think about the cue; drilling fast just reinforces the same bad habit faster.
Pair every drill with one full-stroke swim immediately after, so the swimmer practices transferring the feel of the drill into normal freestyle. A simple 25 drill / 25 swim, repeated four to six times, is one of the most common formats coaches use for exactly this reason.
Tips and Common Mistakes
Don’t skip video. Young swimmers often can’t feel the difference between a high elbow and a dropped one, or between a rotated stroke and a flat one — a phone video from the side or from underwater makes the fix obvious in a way verbal cues can’t.
Avoid over-kicking on drills that are meant to isolate the arms, like catch-up or closed-fist freestyle; a big kick can mask a weak pull and defeat the purpose of the drill.
Bilateral breathing (breathing to both sides on a rotating pattern, such as every three strokes) is worth adding once rotation improves — it helps keep the stroke symmetrical and often exposes a one-sided rotation problem that breathing to only one side hides.
Progress is not linear. It’s normal for stroke count or split times to look slightly worse for a week or two while a swimmer rebuilds a habit — that’s usually a sign the drill is working, not that it’s failing.
Explore more: More training and performance tips.
Youth freestyle technique drills FAQs
What is the single best drill to start with for a young freestyler?
The catch-up drill is usually the best starting point because it slows the stroke down and forces good extension and timing without changing multiple things at once.
How often should a youth swimmer do technique drills?
Most club programs build drill work into two to four practices a week, usually during warm-up or a dedicated technique set, rather than as a separate standalone session.
Can these drills work for kids who are new to competitive swimming?
Yes. All six fixes and drills here are standard building blocks used with beginner and intermediate age-group swimmers, not just advanced athletes — just keep the drill distances shorter and the cues simple.
Will fixing technique really make a swimmer faster than just swimming more laps?
For most young swimmers, yes, at least early on — reducing drag and improving the catch increases distance per stroke, which usually lowers race times faster than adding yardage with the same flawed technique.
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Photo by Gentrit Sylejmani on Unsplash.
