|
TEACH YOUR CHILD TO SWIM
-
Children should learn how to swim as soon
as they are able to crawl to water.
-
The goals of swimming instruction should
be, first, face-up comfort and lifesaving endurance in the water,
and then development of advanced swimming techniques.
B-T Aquatics has
several tools for you to use in judging your child’s ability to swim.
The easiest to understand and use is our S.W.I.M.™
Model. Four components make up the basic skill of swimming.
Work towards mastery of these four components before moving on to the
advanced stroke techniques.
Stabilize:
ability to maintain body awareness and control (resistant to change,
self-restoring)
Wend:
ability to direct one's course, proceed and more about with purpose
Idle:
ability to stop, relax, and rest without exertion (disengaged from the
"load")
Measure:
Measure: ability to calculate, judge, and make decisions while in
the water
Our Face-Up
First®
Skills Sheet lists the skills and techniques that are part of our
curriculum. Face-Up First is a competitive program. All of
the skills included in our curriculum help prepare students for future participation
in competitive swimming.
Regardless of which swimming curriculum you use, work toward mastery of
the
S.W.I.M.™ Model
components. It's critical that swimmers be able to stop and rest
in the water. Many people can pass a swim "test" by swimming
quickly across a pool. True swimmers can rest effortlessly and
balanced in the water for a long period of time.
In
addition to the
S.W.I.M.™ Model and
the Skills Sheet, B-T Aquatics offer several swimming challenges to give
students a chance to test their swimming abilities. Parents and
caregivers can also use these challenges to evaluate their children's
skill level. See the challenges at
B-T AQUATICS AWARDS.
What do others say?
The American Red Cross says a 500-yard swim any stroke combination,
200
yards freestyle, 15 yard underwater swim, 50 yards breaststroke, 100
yards backstroke, 50 yards sidestroke, and 25 yards of butterfly.
The American Swim Coaches Association / SwimAmerica says 300 yards
freestyle,
100
yards backstroke, 50 yards breaststroke, 100 yards individual medley, 50
yards elementary backstroke, and 50 yards sidestroke demonstrate
long-term swimming safety. (They have no underwater swimming
requirement.)
The YMCA
recommends 100 yards crawl stroke (freestyle), 100 yards breaststroke,
50 yards inverted breaststroke, 50 yards over-arm sidestroke, 25 yards
butterfly and a 200 yard individual medley.
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 300 yards continuously using a variety of strokes
is a necessity.
Your
child needs to have a good endurance base as well as proficiency at
several different strokes to be considered skilled in the
water. At the same time, there is never any guarantee that there won’t
be an accident. No
one is “drownproof” or “watersafe.”
Children, especially young children, aren’t even
“livingroom safe.” All children need supervision.
Take your child to the pool for open swims for fun and family fitness.
Keep your child enrolled in a swimming program until he/she can
successfully complete all of the challenges.
Even
after achieving mastery of the all the challenges, young swimmers should
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. We all need
periodic technique instruction in any sport or activity.
Swimming is a necessary safety skill and a fun, healthy activity that
should be practiced for a lifetime.
Eventually, all swimmers should participate in a lifeguard training
class, even if they don’t intend on working as a lifeguard. Lifeguard training teaches
young people how to react in emergency situations.
from CNN, posted May 24, 2010:
Most
Children Under Four Should Learn to Swim Pediatricians Urge
(About time, AAP! -jn)
Questions?
Click to ask Coach Neal.
BACK: Course Home Page / Contents
NEXT: Safe Pools & Safe Water
|
Water
Safety Education