S1E03 Theoretical Dolphin Kick!

Theoretical Dolphin Kick! (理論のドルフィンキック！, Riron no Dorufin Kikku!) is the third episode of the Free! anime series which was aired on July 18th, 2013.

Plot
Haruka catches a cold from his swim in the newly restored Iwatobi High swimming pool. The next day, while taking the train to school, Nagisa tries to recruit Rei Ryugazaki to join the swim club to which he bluntly refuses. Gou proposes that the swim club join an indoor gym so they can practice swimming until summer, but due to its expense, they seek sponsorship from the faculty.

Miho admits that they won't get sponsored until their club earns accomplishments in tournaments, but would still require a fourth swimmer. Nagisa informs Haruka and everyone of Rei's perfect candidacy due to his feminine given name. This prompts Nagisa to wait for Rei after practice, much to his surprise and continues to pester him about joining. The next evening, while doing pole vault training, Rei's coach admits that his form wouldn't improve unless he stops calculating his movements beforehand, much to his frustration. Gou informs the club that she had successfully scheduled a joint swimming practice with the Samezuka team at their indoor pool, but they would still require a fourth swimmer.

The following morning, Nagisa meets up with Rei on his run to school and explains his reasoning for wanting Rei to join prompting Rei agree on a trial basis. At the joint Samezuka-Iwatobi practice, Rin continues to give Haruka and everyone the cold shoulder. Rei tries to avoid swimming in the time trials, but is forced to and much to everyone's surprise, it is revealed that he cannot swim. Although he ends up marveling at Haruka's beautiful swimming form, realizing that Haruka swims with passion rather than calculation. The next day at his pole vaulting practice, Rei doesn't use his calculations and falls. He approaches the spectating Haruka and everyone and admits that he would like to achieve a form similar to Haruka's and officially joins the swim club while tasking Nagisa with teaching him how to swim.

Characters
List of characters in order of appearance:

Navigation
Theoretischer Delfinkick!