How to have a successful swimming lessons experience

By Greg Treadway - Northside ISD, San Antonio, TX

How do I know when my child can swim adequately?
The American Red Cross puts as their finals skills for completion of their swimming lessons program as: 500 yard swim any stroke combination, 200 yard Freestyle, 15 yard underwater swim, 50 yard breaststroke, 100 yard backstroke, 50 yard sidestroke and 25 yards of Butterfly.

The American Swim Coaches Association / SwimAmerica has a 300 yard Freestyle, 100 yard Backstroke, 50 yard Breaststroke, 100 yard Individual Medley, 50 yards Elementary Backstroke and 50 yards Sidestroke. There is no underwater requirement.

The YMCA promotes as their stroke completion as 100 yards Crawl Stroke (Freestyle), 100 yards Breaststroke, 50 yards Inverted Breaststroke, 50 yards over arm sidestroke, 25 Butterfly and a 200 IM.

United States of America Swimming endorses both the ARC and ASCA for their novice or entry level standard.

There are other safety aspects and requirements for all of these programs, such as treading water, diving, surface diving, the use of personal floatation devices and general pool and waterfront rules. All of these programs have different requirements. They all differ in the distances for the strokes. But they all agree that the need to swim at least 200 yards continuously using a variety of strokes is a necessity.

The underlining fact is that you need to have a good endurance base as well as proficiency at several different strokes to be considered safe in the water. At the same time there is never any guarantee that there won’t be an accident. No one is Drown proof!

What are the swimming strokes?
Freestyle / Front Crawl: This is an alternating over arm stroke using the flutter kick. The face is in the water and breathing is done by turning the head to the side every 2 strokes (traditionally) or 3 stroke (bilaterally). Freestyle is the most efficient stroke for speed and distance.

Backstroke / Back Crawl: Same arm motion and kick as Freestyle but done on the back.

Elementary Backstroke: Used as a survival stroke, it is performed by sliding both hand up the sides of the body to the shoulders and then extending the arms out away for the body and pushing the hands down toward the feet back to the starting position. The kick is a breaststroke kick (frog kick) modified for the back position. There is a glide after the completion of the stroke.

Breaststroke: This is a one of the resting or survival strokes. It is done on the front with the arms working together in a circular sculling motion, raising the head forward to breath. The kick is also done in a circular motion simulating a frog. (Frog kick) This stroke can be modified and swum with the head out of water. This modification is not very efficient.

SideStroke: This stroke is used for life guarding and as a resting stroke. Is it done in a side floating position with the face out of the water. The arm stroke starts with the bottom hand extended ahead of the body and the top arm at the side. They move toward each other where the bottom arm is pulling the water and the top arm is sliding up the side of the body. They meet in front of the chest at shoulder level where the top arm now pushes the water toward the feet and the bottom arm slides back to its’ glide position. The legs do a scissors kick. This is where the top and bottom legs bend up toward the abdomen and the top leg is extended forward, the bottom leg is extended backward into a lounge and the both are squeezed back together in a straight glide position. The pull and kick are done simultaneously so that there is a long glide between each stroke.

Butterfly: A competitive stroke where the arms simultaneously more in a keyhole shape with and over water recovery. The kick is the Dolphin kick.

How long does it take for the average child (6-12years) or adult to learn to swim?
The average child takes approximately 30 hours for swimming lessons before he/she can swim consistently and confidently 25 yards of the pool Freestyle. This is only an average. It may take some kids more and some kids less. Adults who are starting for the first time usually take a little less at around 20 hours. Adults tend to have more fear of the water, but then due to having more desire, coordination and strength they learn at a faster pace. There are always exceptions. Students in their teens are usually very fast learners.

When should I start my child in swim lessons?
There are many differing opinions about when to start. Some will even say as early as 6 weeks where the infants still had a reflex to hold their breath. Most will say, with parents in the water, 6 months to 1 year for starting. Others will want to wait until the child is four to five years old, so that they are able to follow directions and have developed some balance, strength and coordination. At these young ages the American Association of Pediatrics does warn of possible long tern effects of placing infants underwater more than 3 times in class and for not more than 5 seconds at a time. Ear and sinus problems can be attributed to excessive underwater exposure with infants.
Getting your child acclimated to the water through different exposures like the bath, shower, garden sprinkler, wading pool, splash pads or sprinkler parks or just going in the pool with them, will create a good foundation before they take the formal lessons.

How often should my child take swim lessons?
Most swim lessons programs range from 30 – 50 minutes long. Again there are those that are shorter, typically private, and a few that are longer. Classes typically meet Monday thru Friday during the summer and 1-3 times a week during the school year. Children tend to progress faster with more practice, thus swimming everyday is better. The problems that many students and parents face are availability, scheduling and affordability. Is there a program close by? Is there room in our every day family schedule? Can we afford all the lessons? Everyone’s situation is different so lets just say that a continuing regiment of lessons throughout the year is best. Whether it is once a week during the school year and every day in the summer or twice a week year round the results will be good for with that much exposure. Parents and students get frustrated because they are not any better at the beginning of this summer than they were when they ended last summer, yet they had no lessons or only a few exposures to swimming all during the school year. This is the problem that all learn to swim schools face every June.

Swimming is a skill that takes practice. You don’t learn over night and you can’t retain the skills year to year without practice. Think of taking piano less for 2 weeks in this summer and then again for 2 weeks next summer. Did you improve your skills? Without practice during the year you are probably staring over. Swimming unless practiced at least once in a while will have the same results.

How can I help my child be successful in the swimming lessons?
All students need times when they can learn through exploration. Take your child to the pool for Family Swim time. Swimming is a sport or recreational activity that can last a lifetime. Your child whether he/she is a beginner or more advanced needs to go to the pool and have time just to play. This is also a time that they will begin to practice and develop important skills and techniques while they are having fun. Many children only go to the pool for class and so never get any practice time or enjoyment from being there. Children whose parents show enjoyment for the water tend to learn faster that those who have parents who don’t swim.

This could be due to the parents passing on their own fears to their children or just not taking them to the pool because they don’t enjoy it.

Playing in the pool also build the child’s strength, stamina and general skills. Going to the pool and playing with your child under safe, supervised conditions is one of the best ways to help your child be successful in swimming lessons.

Why should my child take lessons when they already “know how to swim”?
After your child has successfully completed a nationally recognized program, this could happen as young as 8 or 9 years old, the best advice is that they take at least one session of an organized swimming program per year. This could be swimming lessons, a summer league or year round swim team, synchronized swimming, diving, water polo, or even scuba. Some facilities offer Junior Guard programs as well as Lifeguard classes.

The need to have periodic structure for correct stroke technique is invaluable. Many adults find that they forgot how to swim after several years of not being in the water or having someone correct their stroke. Children forget year to year if they don’t have the structure and practice time. (Back to the piano.)

Going through a Lifeguard class, even if they don’t intend on working as a lifeguard, teaches young people how to react in an emergency. Too many people panic in an emergency situation. Having the knowledge that you get from lifeguard class not only may save the life of the victim of an accident, but also the life of the rescuer.

The Olympic swimmers all have a coach watching and correcting them while they swim. These are the best swimmers in the world.
The bottom line is that swimming is a life long activity that needs to be practiced for a lifetime.