Karlyn does something a little different on her turns.  Watch how she splits her feet as she goes over the top.   Karlyn’s coach at Cal State Bakersfield taught her this trick in 1998, and people now describe her turns as “weapons of destruction.”

By splitting her feet, Karlyn finds that she gets a more stable base and a more powerful push off.

Right after the push, her legs come back together for the streamline.

Going into the turn, Karlyn does a dolphin kick for extra umph to start the somersault.  

She pushes off on her back, then goes to her side and stomach.

Another focus point that Karlyn uses for flip turns is to find her knees.  She rolls into a ball and almost WHACKS her knees.  She tries to actually see her knees.  

Tuck, roll, find your knees, plant, and then explode on the push off.  

A good drill for practicing your flips is to do freestyle in…and backstroke coming out.  Then modify it to your side…then your stomach.

Karlyn believes that if you can’t see your knees, you’re not getting tight enough on your turns.




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BONUS - Flip Turn