In the freestyle, the competitor may swim any stroke but the stroke usually performed is the Australian Crawl. This stroke consists of an alternating overhand motion of the arms and a flutter kick that can either be a six-beat or a two-beat (kicks) per two arm stroke. The shorter races, the 5O and 100, are the "sprint" events. These events are usually all out races from the start to finish. A fast start (getting off the starting blocks quickly) is very important in both the 50 and 100 freestyle races. You will notice swimmers doing flip turns each time they reach the end of the pool. This is the fastest possible turn method and is taught and practiced from very early on in your child's swim experience with STAR. After each turn, the swimmers come off the wall in the "streamlined" position. In other words, the body position resembles a pencil. The skinnier and sharper the "pencil," the farther they will travel off the wall. The freestyle swimmer finishes the race when any part of their body touches the wall.