Vertical body wave

The child pushes off from the pool wall and treads water in place. The body remains vertical. On command, the child transitions into the body wave. The legs are kept together, and the kicking motion originates solely from the hips. The hips move alternately forward and backward, with the legs following. The arms rest along the sides of the body and can perform slight counter-movements to the hips for added stability. The child should aim to sustain the wave motion for five seconds, followed by a pause (water treading). This sequence should be repeated multiple times, and the duration can gradually be increased to 10 or 15 seconds if needed. Moving the hips alternately forward and backward is more intuitive in a vertical position and forces the child to move their hips quickly and powerfully to stay afloat. These characteristics make this exercise particularly effective for learning the body wave motion.