Swimmers learn in many different ways.  

They learn with visual cues – from seeing you demonstrate, or by seeing video and photos of world-class swimmers.

They learn from verbal cues – from hearing an explanation of what to do – either from you or from a video.   Verbal cues are even more effective when you can paint a word picture of how the swimmer should feel or what he will look like when he’s doing something correctly.

Swimmers learn by doing – by having you physically guide their movements until they are part of correct muscle memory.

They learn from visual feedback.  This can be instant feedback from mirrors placed on the bottom of the pool…  

…Or it can be delayed feedback from seeing video of themselves as they swim.

And they learn by using mantras – simple and easily remembered sequences of words that can be repeated in the swimmer’s mind.  

A great teacher will incorporate all of these styles of learning, and will be aware of which methods work best for each swimmer.   

My advice is to try them all.   Start by having a basic teaching progression that takes you step by step from floating to whole-stroke swimming.  But within that framework, try everything you can to keep your teaching fresh and memorable and fun.   


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How to Teach So Swimmers Will Learn