Grade 8 Freestyle Review Presentation

Prehistoric man learnt to swim in order to cross rivers and lakes 

2500 BC - There were Egyptian hieroglyphics that depicted swimming.

17th Century - Japanese Emperor ruled that school children should learn swimming.

In early 19th century, the National Swimming Society of Great Britain began to hold competitions. 

Most early swimmers used the breaststroke, or a form of it

1846 (Please note this corrected date) - The first swimming championship in Sydney Australia was held.

1896 - The sport made its debut at the Olympic Games

1908 - The Federation Internationale De Natation de Amateur (FINA) was form.

The first mention of the stroke in a competitive context was reported by The Times newspaper in 1844.

Based on a stroke used by native South Americans, the first version of the crawl featured a scissor kick.

In the late 1880s, Frederick Cavill travelled to the South Seas, where he saw the natives performing a crawl with a flutter kick. 

Cavill settled in Australia, where he taught the stroke that was to become the famous Australian crawl.

In 1922 Johnny Weissmuller became the first person to swim 100m freestyle in less than a minute.

Considered the fastest of the four competitive strokes, it is swum almost universally in competitive swimming. 

For more information - https://www.swimming.org/sport/history-of-front-crawl/

Keep a straight leg

Kick from the hips

Point your toes

Small, fast kicks

Kick feet at the surface

Create white water

Roll your body

On recovery, hands low

Maintain high elbow

Hand close to body

Move in a straight line

Pull and roll

Stiff forearm and begin recovery

Stroke and roll head to the side

Non pulling arm in front

Keep head low with side of face in water

Look behind you

Breathe in through mouth and breathe out through nose

Bring arm over water

Finish stroke