How to Do a Backstroke Racing Start
- 1). Wait for the referee to tell you to get into the water.
- 2). Place your feet against the wall of the pool, beneath the surface of the water. Reach up with your hands and grab the backstroke handholds on the base of the starting block. In this position your knees should be up against your chest with your back facing the opposite side of the pool.
- 3). Pull with your arms to compress your entire body up against the starting block. Do this only after the referee tells the swimmers to take your mark. Your body is compressed into a tight ball now, ready to explode outward.
- 4). Push off with your legs, launching your body up and out, and swing your arms back over your head to extend them as far back as they will go. Do this at the sound of the starter (usually a gun or horn).
- 5). Arch your back and try to enter the water with your hands first and then your head. Your body should be completely extended as you enter.
- 6). Begin kicking as soon as your legs are underwater. Angle your hands and head slightly toward the surface of the water.
- 7). Begin stroking as soon as you break the surface.
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