Swimming with the Ball

Once athletes are comfortable in the water and comfortable with the ball, it is time to put these skills together. The ability to swim with the ball is like dribbling in basketball-  it’s inevitable and a constant in the sport. 

Because of this, it is important to spend time on this skill and teach the correct fundamentals first rather than just throwing athletes into a game. Fundamentals that are often passed up and not developed correctly include: head up, high elbow strokes and keeping the ball in front of you. 

In order to swim correctly with the ball, athletes must master the breaststroke kick and flutter. By teaching swimming, holding the ball and pushing the ball, an athlete learns to create a “cervix swim” with head up and high shoulders -- this refers to when an athlete swims and is ready to take a shot at any time by having the knees high on alternate breaststroke kicks and by constantly jumping forward (which forces the head up and draws the shoulders to be ready for a shot).

The Crawl Phase is about developing the fundamentals and ingraining these skills in the body and mind of your athletes. Take the time in training to practice swimming with the ball (in different ways) as that is a core way of movement and vital to your athletes’ future success.

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