Beginners' Swim Pull Tip from Yanti

Something that another poster asked about (other strokes) reminded me of this, and it's a useful mental image and drill that's helped many beginning swimmers/triathletes who are more comfortable with breaststroke start to make the transition to a solid freestyle pull.

Most beginner swimmers who can manage the breaststroke are a lot closer to freestyle than they think.
The pull in breaststroke and freestyle are nearly identical.
Look at #2 and #3 below (taken from Gator Swim Team, Coach Steve Franklin).

I've asked newer swimmers to try doing the breaststroke with the same pull they do in freestyle (usually a straight arm windmill pull). They can't. Somewhere here, it clicks that doing freestyle with a breaststroke pull is the way to go.

Ignoring legs/kick for the moment, I have them glide, then pull breastroke with one arm only. (Similar to several sculling drills). At some point, I get them to rotate their bodies slightly to the pull side so they can breathe as they pull.

Again, this is just a start, and a drill. There's no magic formula or trick, and different images and metaphors will help make things click for different swimmers. It's just that this one has helped so many okay-breaststrokers struggling-freestylers to make that transition, so I wanted to share it.