There are many different kinds of freestyle out there. Some have huge rotation, some have little rotation. Some have straight arm recovery, some have high elbow recovery. Hand patterns are different, and turnover rates are different. Even hand entries are different from swimmer to swimmer. So what are the things that I see as being common in good freestyles.
Recovery: Elbow leads and hand relaxed
The Catch: Hand gets below the elbow, and fingers are not outward (deep catch fingers tend to be down and more shallow catch tends to have fingers pointed inward).
The Pull: Hand doesn't cross mid point and hand tends to lead the push (not the elbow)
The Finish: Hands push past the hips.
The Kick: Balance press with feet (directionally) and only a slight bend in the knees with the motion deriving from the hip flexor.
Through the various freestyles I have seen these seem to be the things that are in common. Swimmers find the comfort stroke as long as they do the main concepts of good freestyle. Have the commonalities, and then the rest is dependent upon the swimmer, as not every swimmer can swim alike. Watching a swimmer and trying them to emulate that swimmer is not always the best way to teach swimming, as a stroke concentrating on perfection normally is very mechanical and not always the fastest.
I am still a newbie when it comes to coaching (yes, 10 years is still a newbie), especially with as little as I knew when I began coaching. I could have missed things, or have something that may not be common in all high level freestyles. But to this point, this is what I have seen.
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