8 different ways you’ll use your swimming lessons this summer
Enjoying the water during summer is the greatest gift a parent can give a child. Being able to swim well, creates countless outdoor opportunities for children to take the plunge and immerse themselves in the spectacular environments Australia has to offer.
Here are eight ways to use your swimming lessons this summer.
1. Water confidence
Water confidence increases with floating, breath control, kicking, turning and back floating.
Developing strokes such as freestyle and breaststroke increase efficiency to cover greater distances.
Whether choosing to be IN, ON or UNDER the water, understanding a range of conditions and locations is key to enjoying the water. Knowing your child can swim, creates confidence in their ability to handle all conditions and situations.
2. Playing in the shallows
When enjoying the great outdoors this summer, your child will need a gentle start to adjust to a different environment away from the pool.
Introduce your child to the water by playing in the shallows. Building sandcastles and creating damns knocked over by the tidal waves is the perfect place to experience the unpredictable behaviour of the ocean.
Being comfortable with water rushing in and out is a sure sign your child is gaining confidence. Lying down in the shallow water and creeping like a sneaky crocodile is a sign of confidence in floating and water lapping around their body.
3. Wave jumping
One of the most important skills to master before jumping over waves is knowing how to stand up when a wave knocks you over. That’s all part of the fun waving jumping! Learning to control your body from a face down swimming position, to placing two feet on the bottom in water, takes practice. It is an essential skill in all swimming lessons, and it starts from day one in the pool.
This essential skill requires coordination and balance to find your feet without thinking about it. Even non swimming adults have difficulty finding their feet if they have not been taught how to stand up.
Jumping in is fun, but always check the conditions haven’t changed overnight!
4. Floating
Floating is a foundational skill for confidence and is mastered at swimming lessons. There is nothing more relaxing than floating on your back and staring up at the sky watching the clouds float by.
Or better still, a view of the spectacular underwater world, floating motionless to watch schools of fish swimming by when snorkelling.
The skill of floating can create lifelong memories.
5. Direction
Whatever activity is on your list, knowing which way to go and how to get there is essential. To move in a direction requires kicking, stroking, and paddling, sometimes with a head above the water, lying on your back, or looking down.
Paddling on a surfboard, kicking on a boogie board to catch a wave, or steering the tube back toward the shore all require an understanding of direction.
6. Deep
There is nothing more exciting than taking a leap into deep water. Breath holding skills turning around under the water, rolling, knowing which way is up and kicking to edge without touching the bottom requires confidence.
Knowing how to tread water and keep your head above the water is and essential water safety skill and opens the exciting opportunity to explore the deep-water spaces. Anything where you can’t touch the bottom it is deep. If you can’t swim in deep water, you can’t swim!
7. Under
Learning to swim with your eyes open is a fundamental skill for knowing which way is up. Ducking under waves, swimming down for shells or simply exploring the floor of a stream, lake or ocean, breath holding, diving down, and pushing off the bottom are confident ‘under’ skills developed in swimming lessons.
8. Exploring
Climbing onto a tube, boogie board, surfboard, standup paddle board or an inflatable pink flamingo, climbing ON means falling OFF. Even when mastering the art of floating, be prepared to go under, get wet, turn around and climb on again.
Understanding and knowing how to move your body through the water in a range of movements will ensure your child has an exciting time challenging themselves to stay on and not fall off. But we all know they will!
Fishing, rock hopping and exploring the riverbed all feed the natural curiosity of a child. Although it can be an adventure playground, it is important to know that accidentally falling in the water can occur.
Swimming lessons teach children to not only move in a straight line but to roll from front to back, go down and come up, jump in and turn around. Our swim schools also offer adult swimming lessons, ensuring that individuals of all ages can acquire the essential skills for water safety
These are the precious lifelong memories are made from learning to swim.