Every kid, teen,
and grown up should learn how to swim.It’s a fun thing to do, keeps you safe, keeps you trim.
It’s best to take
lessons from someone who knows all about swimming and how stroke
technique goes.
Swim coaches
teach you to move body parts.You’ll learn how to travel, to stop, and to start.
You’ll learn how to
balance without moving at all. You’ll learn to do butterfly, back,
breast, and crawl.
Then with
practice and practice, lots of time in the pool, you’ll learn to make
choices.You’re nobody’s fool.
You’ll know what
is safe. You’ll make the call.You’ll know how to rest without moving at all.
You’ll know how
to travel, the stops, and the starts.You’ll know how to move all your body parts.
You’ll be a great
swimmer. No need to explain.Everyone there will see YOU rule the lane.
We swim for good times!
You learned on the previous page that to swim means to be able to move about in the
water by yourself, and to be able to stop and rest without wiggling
around. Kicking and wiggling in the water makes you tired.
The real good times in the pool start when you learn how to
swim.
If you haven't had swimming lessons yet, get some
lessons right away! A good swimming coach can help you learn
faster than you can learn by yourself. You also need to practice.
It takes lots of practice to become a skilled swimmer.
How do you know when you can swim?
Use the S.W.I.M.™
Model to evaluate your swimming ability.
STABILIZE:ability to
maintain body awareness and control (resistant to change, consistent,
self-restoring)
WEND:ability to direct one’s
course, proceed, and move about with purpose
IDLE:ability to stop, relax and
rest (without exertion and disengaged from the “load”)
MEASURE:ability
to calculate, judge, and make decisions
Check yourself:
Look it up! If you do not know the meaning
of the words used to describe the components of the S.W.I.M. model,
look them up!
Stabilize: Can you control your body and
not wiggle around uncontrollably in the water?
Wend: Can you move around and go from
place to place in the water?
Idle: Can you stop while you are
swimming and rest quietly in the water without moving?
Measure: Do you swim well enough that
you don't have to think about your arms and legs and your breathing?
Can you judge distances in the water? Can you recognize
dangerous situations and make a plan to not get into difficulties in
and near the water?
Learn to swim so that you may have lots of
Good Times in the pool.
Do take swimming lessons and
practice your swimming skills.
Do Not take your swimming skills
for granted. Take some time to practice every visit to the
pool. Practice your skills first and then start playing.
Refine your swimming strokes.
Even when you have mastered all the components in the S.W.I.M. model
you should refine your swimming technique so that you can swim all
the strokes well.
How
can you help keep yourself safe?
Be smart. Learn the components of
the S.W.I.M. Model so that you can accurately assess your swimming
ability.
Be patient. Take swimming
lessons and then practice, practice, practice. Check your progress
against the S.W.I.M. Model and then go on to refine your swimming
techniques.
Be a good sport. Know your
limitations. Participate in only those swimming pool activities
that you know you are capable of doing safely.
Test
yourself...
What
are the four components of the S.W.I.M. Model?
