I taught swimming as my first part-time job in high school and I got the same impression you have about the learning process being mostly subconscious. Feedback can be necessary for less intuitive aspects of stroke technique but kids seemed to improve at this level of swimming by figuring out what something should feel like and then orienting towards that sense.
For example, some would hold their head up while trying to get onto their back, which would inevitably keep their hips too low to float, even while moving backwards. I’d usually explain or demonstrate what was going on but the real hump to get over was whatever aversive sensation they’d get when having their head back in the water. Sometimes it was that having water in their ears felt foreign or that having their head on the same plane as the rest of their body felt almost like falling backwards. Once that sensation didn’t bother them, they’d be able to put their heads backwards and seemingly “feel” that pull up on their hips. The benefit of my instruction was essentially just getting them safely to that point where it clicked and then that process took care of the rest. Sometimes there would be minor regressions where the fear seemed to take a few classes to be extinguished but the subsequent attempts generally went more smoothly.
Congratulations!
I taught swimming as my first part-time job in high school and I got the same impression you have about the learning process being mostly subconscious. Feedback can be necessary for less intuitive aspects of stroke technique but kids seemed to improve at this level of swimming by figuring out what something should feel like and then orienting towards that sense.
For example, some would hold their head up while trying to get onto their back, which would inevitably keep their hips too low to float, even while moving backwards. I’d usually explain or demonstrate what was going on but the real hump to get over was whatever aversive sensation they’d get when having their head back in the water. Sometimes it was that having water in their ears felt foreign or that having their head on the same plane as the rest of their body felt almost like falling backwards. Once that sensation didn’t bother them, they’d be able to put their heads backwards and seemingly “feel” that pull up on their hips. The benefit of my instruction was essentially just getting them safely to that point where it clicked and then that process took care of the rest. Sometimes there would be minor regressions where the fear seemed to take a few classes to be extinguished but the subsequent attempts generally went more smoothly.