In what order are the swimming strokes taught?

The common order is freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and finally butterfly. Freestyle is the most efficient and energy-economic stroke so it serves as the base, backstroke works on a similar mechanism, breaststroke demands precise technical coordination, and butterfly is the most physically demanding. It is a convention, not a law — some schools teach breaststroke early because the face stays out of the water.

Why is freestyle taught before breaststroke?

Because the research backs it: measurements of energy expenditure found freestyle to be the most economic stroke, while breaststroke is the most energetically expensive. On top of that, breaststroke is described in the professional world as a highly technical stroke that is difficult to master — the timing of pull, kick and glide trips up even experienced swimmers.

At what age can a child start swim lessons?

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends beginning swimming classes after a child's first birthday, and notes there is no evidence that infant swim lessons reduce the incidence of drowning. Structured stroke instruction comes later, once there is a base of confidence in the water. This is not medical advice — for a child with a specific medical condition, talk to your pediatrician.

How do I know my child's technique is correct?

Three signs you can spot from the deck: the child exhales bubbles continuously in the water instead of holding their breath, in freestyle the whole body rotates to breathe rather than just the head, and in backstroke the head lies steady in the water without the chin lifting. If all three are happening, the foundation is healthy.

Are swim lessons enough to prevent drowning?

No. The World Health Organization recognizes teaching school-age children basic swimming and water safety as an established prevention approach, and the AAP treats lessons as one layer among several. Close adult supervision remains the primary protection — even for a child who swims well.

Swimming Strokes and Proper Technique

The four swimming strokes — freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly — differ in technique and difficulty and are taught in a graded order: freestyle, the fastest and most energy-economic stroke, serves as the base; backstroke shares a similar mechanism; breaststroke demands precise technical coordination; and butterfly, the most physically demanding, is learned last.

Why has your kid been in lessons for six months and is "still just doing freestyle"? That is probably the question a swim coach hears most often from the pool deck. You stand there, watch other kids dive in and swim breaststroke, and yours is doing laps with a kickboard again. It feels like being stuck. In reality, it is exactly what is supposed to happen — and there is science behind it, not just "that's how it's done". Let's break it down.

The four strokes — who's who

Freestyle: the base for everything

Freestyle is the fastest of the four strokes, simply because it is the most efficient movement in the water — that is how NBC's Olympic guide defines it. And it is not only about speed: a study that measured energy expenditure across the competitive strokes (Barbosa et al., 2006) found freestyle to be the most economic of them all. Translation for parents: it is the stroke where your child gets the most meters for the least effort, which is why everything else is built on top of it.

The key technique point in freestyle is, surprisingly, the breathing. U.S. Masters Swimming stresses that the efficient way to breathe is to rotate your entire body to the side — not just the head. A child who turns only the head breaks the body line in the water and loses the very efficiency freestyle was learned for.

Backstroke: same engine, sky instead of floor

Backstroke comes second in the order, and not by accident: its mechanism resembles freestyle — alternating arm strokes and a continuous leg kick — just lying on your back. In the energy measurements it is also the second most economic, right after freestyle. Technique here comes down to one thing: the head. According to USMS, keeping the head too high or too low affects the entire body position and balance in the water. Watch your child's head — if it lies quiet, the rest usually sorts itself out.

Breaststroke: the slowest, the most technical

Here comes the surprise most parents don't know about. Breaststroke looks "easy" because the face stays out of the water and you can see where you are going — but the Olympic guide defines it as a highly technical stroke that is difficult to master, and also the slowest of the four Olympic strokes. And in the energy measurements? Breaststroke is the most expensive — it demands more energy than butterfly. Its essence, in the words of USMS, is three words: pull, kick, glide. The problem is that the timing between the three has to be precise, and that kind of coordination is simply unfair to demand from a child who has not built a base yet.

Butterfly: the final boss

Butterfly is the most powerful and physically demanding stroke — in exactly those words, per the Olympic guide. USMS adds the breathing secret: the arm movements dictate when you breathe, and the head must go back down into the water immediately after the breath, chin forward. Anyone attempting butterfly without strong shoulders and a well-built body wave gets mostly back pain and frustration. That is why it is learned last, and that is perfectly fine.

Why this order — and when it gets broken

The freestyle → backstroke → breaststroke → butterfly order rests on the logic we just saw: start with the most economic stroke, move to its close sibling, and only then approach the strokes that demand precise coordination (breaststroke) and explosive power (butterfly). Worth saying honestly: there is no single binding international standard. Some schools teach breaststroke early precisely because the face stays out of the water, which calms beginners. It is a convention, not a law of nature — but when the goal is proper long-term technique, the freestyle base pays off. If you are wondering what fits your child's age, we have a full guide to learning to swim by age.

Three mistakes you'll see in every beginner

Holding the breath. Mistake number one, and the worst one for how the water feels. According to USMS, holding your breath increases the carbon dioxide in your body, which can result in a feeling of panic. The fix: exhale bubbles into the water continuously, and lift the head only to inhale. For kids who are anxious around water this matters twice as much — we cover it in our article on water anxiety in children.
Turning the head instead of the body. In freestyle, breathing with the head alone breaks the body line. Rotating the whole body keeps the efficiency — and it is a difference you can see from the deck.
An unbalanced head in backstroke. Too high — the legs sink. Too low — water on the face and panic. The head is the steering wheel of backstroke.

A moment of perspective: this is not just sport

It is easy to forget why we started. The World Health Organization counts around 300,000 annual drowning deaths worldwide, and recognizes teaching school-age children basic swimming and water safety skills as one of the established prevention approaches. In Israel the picture is not abstract either: according to Beterem data published on Ynet, in an average bathing season (2017–2021) 16 children and teens drowned, and in a six-year breakdown 37% of drownings happened in pools — not at the beach. Among ages 0–4, about two thirds of drownings occurred at home and around it. The home and neighborhood pool is a real risk zone, and structured, supervised instruction is part of the answer. We collected everything a parent needs to know in our water safety guide for parents.

What about a starting age? The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends beginning swimming classes after a child's first birthday, and stresses there is no evidence that infant swim lessons reduce the incidence of drowning — and that lessons are one layer within a multi-layered approach in which adult supervision remains the core. We wrote about the earlier stage in our complete guide to baby swimming.

And when choosing a framework for stroke instruction, the WHO offers a good checklist: a safety-tested curriculum, a safe training area, screening and student selection, and student-instructor ratios established for safety. Those are the criteria to ask about — at any school, including ours. We also have a full guide to choosing a swim class with every question worth bringing to the enrollment call.

Swimming Strokes and Proper Technique: A Guide for Parents and Beginners