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> teaching 5 year olds the butterfly and other high energy/low safety strokes without teaching elementary backstroke, breaststroke, sidestroke. I am amazed at

> teaching 5 year olds the butterfly and other high energy/low safety strokes without teaching elementary backstroke, breaststroke, sidestroke. I am amazed at how few of my early millennial peers have never heard of the elementary backstroke.

qzx_pierri 7y ago
I was taught this in my university’s swimming course. They called it the survival stroke as well. I’m glad I learned it, because if I were ever caught out and needed to swim farther than normal, I could totally see myself making it back (although a lot slower)
kubanczyk 7y ago
I just googled "elementary backstroke" and yeah... I'm in my forties, pretty proficient swimmer, and nobody ever showed it to me. I watch my kid's lessons and I'm sure I didn't see it being shown to them. They got into what I google as "backstroke" straight away, without the "elementary" phase.
- bradknowles 7y ago
  When I took swimming lessons at the YWCA in Wilmington, NC (where they did after school daycare in the late 70s), I went all the way through their process. My next step would have been to get into SCUBA. They never taught the “Elementary Backstroke” to us, even though this was Wilmington, NC and we were just fifteen minutes from the beach. The backstroke I learned was more like the crawl, just done on your back. After a while, I stopped bothering to use my arms and did a lazy backstroke using just my legs. I could do that for hours on end. The lazy backstroke wasn’t YWCA approved, but it worked well in the ocean and in pools. The only danger was that you couldn’t see what you might be about to hit.
- bsurmanski 7y ago
  I just looked it up and turns out that's my favourite stroke! I didn't know it had a name, I just called it the "Jellyfish" :) I don't think I was ever taught it. I think I just discovered it playing around in the water one day.
  - mark-r 7y ago
    That's one of my favorites too! I didn't know it had a name either. When I want to play around, I try swimming backwards. On my back, with my feet straight ahead and motionless, I stroke backwards with my arms so I move in the direction my feet are pointing.
dlsso 7y ago
Never heard of this "elementary backstroke" but I'm a pro at "chickenwings, airplane, torpedo."
watwut 7y ago
I was never taught that and I am older than that and used to swim competitively. I never seen anyone swim that. Likely, it was never standard think to teach.
- jhloa2 7y ago
  I don't think that I was ever explicitly taught it as a child but at some point I stumbled across it by accident it's one of my favorite ways to swim casually. As someone else mentioned above, it totally feels like a jellyfish swim :)
- smileysteve 7y ago
  I learned it in a RedCross program; which makes me think it was standard. I suspect that it was never taught for competition, partly because of its energy efficiency through low performance. I also wonder if it's more common around lakes and oceans; as it's great for going over waves with minimum energy.

qzx_pierri 7y ago

I was taught this in my university’s swimming course. They called it the survival stroke as well. I’m glad I learned it, because if I were ever caught out and needed to swim farther than normal, I could totally see myself making it back (although a lot slower)

kubanczyk 7y ago

I just googled "elementary backstroke" and yeah... I'm in my forties, pretty proficient swimmer, and nobody ever showed it to me. I watch my kid's lessons and I'm sure I didn't see it being shown to them. They got into what I google as "backstroke" straight away, without the "elementary" phase.

bradknowles 7y ago
When I took swimming lessons at the YWCA in Wilmington, NC (where they did after school daycare in the late 70s), I went all the way through their process. My next step would have been to get into SCUBA. They never taught the “Elementary Backstroke” to us, even though this was Wilmington, NC and we were just fifteen minutes from the beach. The backstroke I learned was more like the crawl, just done on your back. After a while, I stopped bothering to use my arms and did a lazy backstroke using just my legs. I could do that for hours on end. The lazy backstroke wasn’t YWCA approved, but it worked well in the ocean and in pools. The only danger was that you couldn’t see what you might be about to hit.
bsurmanski 7y ago
I just looked it up and turns out that's my favourite stroke! I didn't know it had a name, I just called it the "Jellyfish" :) I don't think I was ever taught it. I think I just discovered it playing around in the water one day.
- mark-r 7y ago
  That's one of my favorites too! I didn't know it had a name either. When I want to play around, I try swimming backwards. On my back, with my feet straight ahead and motionless, I stroke backwards with my arms so I move in the direction my feet are pointing.

dlsso 7y ago

Never heard of this "elementary backstroke" but I'm a pro at "chickenwings, airplane, torpedo."

watwut 7y ago

I was never taught that and I am older than that and used to swim competitively. I never seen anyone swim that. Likely, it was never standard think to teach.

jhloa2 7y ago
I don't think that I was ever explicitly taught it as a child but at some point I stumbled across it by accident it's one of my favorite ways to swim casually. As someone else mentioned above, it totally feels like a jellyfish swim :)
smileysteve 7y ago
I learned it in a RedCross program; which makes me think it was standard. I suspect that it was never taught for competition, partly because of its energy efficiency through low performance. I also wonder if it's more common around lakes and oceans; as it's great for going over waves with minimum energy.