The tennis ball under chin drill is used to correct head position for breathing in which stroke?

• A. Breaststroke
• B. Butterfly
• C. Freestyle
• D. Backstroke

Answer: (A)

In breaststroke, breathing is tied to keeping the head in a low, streamlined position while you lift just enough to breathe. The tennis ball under the chin drill trains that small, controlled head lift and helps you avoid lifting your head too high or tilting it forward, which would disrupt your body line and create drag. If you try to lift too much to breathe, the ball won’t stay in place, cueing you to reset your head position and keep the chin tucked while you breathe. This builds the habit of a compact, efficient breath during the breaststroke cycle.

This drill isn’t as well suited to the other strokes. In freestyle, the breath is taken with a rotation of the head to the side, and the drill would interfere with the natural side-into-rotation motion. In butterfly, breathing is synchronized with a strong, more pronounced head lift as part of the arm recovery, so the drill would constrain the necessary motion. In backstroke, the head stays relatively neutral with eyes looking upward, and forcing the chin to stay down with a ball would disturb the ideal alignment.