The statistics are staggering.
Drowning is the leading cause of death for children one to four years old, and the second leading cause of death for children ages 5-14. Two children die every day from drowning. But participating in formal swim lessons can reduce the risk by 88%. Here’s why learning how to swim is essential.
Swimming can save their lives!
Swimming is the only activity or after school sport that can save your child’s life or teach them how to save someone else’s. Being comfortable in the water is a necessity in life, because even if kids don’t go to a swimming pool regularly, they should be at ease near any body of water. Water is everywhere.
It improves their social life
Rare are the times where you’ll find a kid who doesn’t enjoy a good pool party, a summer dip to cool off or a chance to just splash around. Taking swimming lessons early means that your kid will fit right in at a party or during play time without you having to worry about him or her being an outsider.
It’s an incredible, low-impact workout
There’s a reason why swimming is a preferred workout. It’s something you can continually do without putting stress on your joints. Swimming isn’t the easiest thing to do, but it gives people a high-intensity workout without stressing joints and muscles the same way that running or lifting weights do. It’s a workout that they can start early and never stop.
Confidence is key
Find a child swimming in any body of water and, chances are, they’re confident. Swimming gives kids something to do where they’re truly in charge of how quickly they improve. Kids will feel like if they can handle swimming, they can handle just about anything.
Ultimately, it’s more of a question as to why shouldn’t your child be swimming, rather than why they should. Kids greatly benefit from everything that swimming offers, and there’s no doubt that they should be involved early and often.
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SWIM LESSON LEVELS AND DESCRIPTIONS
SWIM STARTERS: A/Water Discovery and B/Water Exploration
Parent/Child 6months-3years old
Accompanied by a parent, infants and toddlers learn to be comfortable in the water and develop swim readiness skills through fun and confidence-building experiences, while parents learn about water safety, drowning prevention and the importance of supervision. Swim starters helps our youngest participants build a foundation for learning how to swim.
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Stage A / Water Discovery: Parents accompany children in stage A, which introduces infants and toddlers to the aquatic environment through exploration and encourages them to enjoy themselves while learning
about the water.
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Stage B / Water Exploration: In stage B, parents work with their children to explore body positions, floating, blowing bubbles, and fundamental safety and aquatic skills.
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SWIM BASICS: 1/Water Acclimation and 2/Water Movement
Preschool 3-5 • School-Age 6+
Students learn personal water safety and achieve basic swimming competency by learning two benchmark skills:
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Swim, float, swim—sequencing front glide, roll, back float, roll, front glide, and exit
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Jump, push, turn, grab
The three levels within Swim Basics include:
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Stage 1 / Water Acclimation: Students develop comfort with underwater exploration and learn to safely exit in the event of falling into a body of water. This stage lays the foundation that allows for a student’s future progress in learning to swimming.
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Stage 2 / Water Movement: In stage 2, students focus on body position and control, directional change, and forward movement in the water while also continuing to practice how to safely exit in the event of falling into a body of water.
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SWIM STROKES: 3/Water Stamina and 4/Stroke Introduction
School-Age 6+
*NEW SWIMMERS IN THE GROUP WILL NEED A FREE SWIM EVALUATION WITH OUT SWIM LESSON COORDINATOR.
Having mastered the fundamentals, students learn additional water safety skills and build stroke techniques, developing skills that prevent chronic disease, increase social-emotional and cognitive well-being, and foster a lifetime of physical activity.
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Stage 3 / Water Stamina: In stage 3, students learn how to swim to safety from a longer distance than in previous stages in the event of falling into a body of water. This stage also introduces rhythmic breathing and integrated arm and leg action.
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Stage 4 / Stroke Introduction: Students in stage 4 develop swim stroke techniques in front crawl and back crawl and learn the breaststroke kick and butterfly kick. Water safety is reinforced through treading water and elementary backstroke.
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ADVANCED SWIM STROKES: 5/Stroke Development and 6/Stroke Mechanics
School-Age
Students are introduced to butterfly, breaststroke, and sidestroke while refining their stroke technique for all major competitive strokes. These are currently being handled in private swim lessons only.
PRIVATE/SEMI PRIVATE LESSONS
Do you want individualized attention, flexible scheduling, and a focus on a specifically desired learning outcome? Contact Angela Begin, Swim Lessons Coordinator, to schedule a Private or Semi Private Lesson. Semi Private lessons must have at least two students participating.
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email swimlessons@mdiymca.org FMI