PoolTalk

When baby can sit, baby can swim

A swim teacher in Georgia has tips for teaching children.

Swim Instructor Julie Bragg has taught children how to swim for 38 years. Bragg says, "I just love it, to be able to touch all these lives and to know that locked in every little human being is this desire to be independent."
Bragg says swimming is a natural skill and you can teach your child at home, here are some of her tips:

- start around 6 months or as soon as your baby can sit up
- use showers to allow them to get used to the water
- use a backyard pool to teach them how to breathe under water, instead of telling them to hold their breath
- help them float in the water horizontally
- buy an instructional book
Bragg says most importantly, don't use flotation devices. Bragg says it will teach your child to bob in the water vertically when they're born to swim horizontally.

One-on-one lessons for a child

This pool owner in Florida realized that the backyard pool was a great place for formal swim lessons. The instructor came to the child (from The Orlando Sentinel):

Finally, I engaged the services of the spritely Miss M, a young instructor at one of the area Y's.  She was willing to come to our backyard pool once a week on an indefinite schedule to teach Chairman how to swim.  And the results have been fabulous.

In just a few lessons, Chairman has gone from rigid fear to eagerness and budding ability.  She greets Miss M with a smile and is making solid progress in kicking, paddling, bubble-blowing, floating, etc.  I mill about the pool area and get an idea of what she's learning.  Then she insists that we "practice" during the week to be ready for the next lesson.

I understand the "final exam" is likely to consist of Chairman going in the deep end fully clothed and managing to get herself out safely. Maybe even by the end of the summer.

Miss M tells me that some kids seem to thrive in the group lessons (which I did, when I was a youngster) and others really do better one-on-one at first.  Either way works fine; the important thing is to get them swimming.

Video tips, stroke by stroke

Tony Austin of SCAQ has more great video, this time of Laure Manaudou, and he says: "I think Laure could have beaten Kate Ziegler in the 1500 at World Championships if her race load hadn't of been so diversified."

Watching Ian Thorpe

Bill Anders watches Ian Thorpe on YouTubeN and has a revelation. Now Bill swims faster: "See his flow through the water. Especially the glide as his lead hand hits the water and sits for a second before he strokes. The glide is the key. And it’s something that I knew at one time but managed to forget about in the past year or two during my infrequent swims.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not comparing myself to Ian. Not even close. Hell, his shoe size is literally twice mine! And who can compete against such flippers? But watching this video was a forehead slapper for me. How could I be so foolish?

So yesterday, after a session of “pyramid” intervals (100yd, 200yd, 300yd, 400yd, 500yd, 400yd, 300yd, 200yd, 100yd), I did some 100yd repeats. Every single one was significantly faster than my average 100yd speed during my 1000yd test last week. My first few were even 20 seconds faster than that average 100yd time! My last one (#10), when I was pretty much knackered, was still 8 seconds faster than my average 100yd time. And I wasn’t breathing anywhere near as hard as I was when I did my 1000yd test. Gotta love it."

Special swim lessons for special needs students

The child center in Prince George, British Columbia, is emphasizing swimming lessons for every child, according to this PG Free Press report: “Water can play a significant role in helping children with special needs enjoy physical activities,” said Child Development Centre (CDC) physiotherapist Angela Naeth. In January, the CDC partnered with the City of Prince George in a pilot swim lesson program for children aged four to 13 with physical limitations. Naeth added: “Some children require help to get into the water because they are not ambulatory without their walker. We provide instruction and education about how to transfer them. Our goal is to assist them into the Red Cross Swim Kids program and provide skills for life long leisure and fitness activity, to offer swim lessons to those who may not be able to participate in a normal swim lesson class provided by the leisure services department due to physical limitations and the need for guided instruction. We want to improve the quality of aquatic programs for children with disabilities.”

Swimming in Uganda

Charities are working to help the poor of Uganda by teaching them to swim. The project is financed in part by tourist dollars and officials are pleased that so many people who live near a lake can now use it safely. From the AP interview with Patrick Tumwijukye, manager of a local charity that is coordinating swimming lessons on Lake Bunyonyi:

Tumwijukye says the programme, run by the nonprofit Lake Bunyonyi Development Company, has taught 2,200 Ugandans to swim since it was first launched in 2003.

"At first the ladies were resistant to lessons because they didn't want to expose themselves and get wet, but they are changing their minds and now they enjoy swimming." he says.

"We don't have anyone ready to compete in the Olympics yet, but we hope to do that in the future."

Learning to swim

A blogger in England, DesiGirl, writes about learning to swim as an adult: "It was day 4 yesterday and whilst I still haven't learnt how to float from end to end without the aid of the brightly coloured pieces of foam, I am loving every minute of it. I will never be a threat to Ian Thorpe but for the first time in my life, I don't care." The whole post is worth a look.

Swim lessons and Ian Thorpe's ski instructor

One person making a difference. The Sydney Morning Herald has the story of Thorpe's ski insturctor, Julia Cane, and her work to help children in the tsunami-damage zone learn to swim:

Excerpt: "She saw that a Sri Lankan charity, Association for Lighting a Candle, was organising swimming classes for poor children on the tsunami-devastated south coast. Although Sri Lanka has many beautiful beaches, most people cannot, or are reluctant to, swim.

Ms Cane plunged into the deep end and called Ian Thorpe, whom she once taught to ski. He put her in touch with Australian Swimmers, which represents Thorpe and others in the sport.

Soon donations of kickboards, goggles and swimming costumes were coming in, as well as cash Ms Cane raised at a picnic for family and friends.

The proceeds were a drop compared with the big charity drive at the time of the disaster, but they were enough to encourage the association's founder, Elmo Jayawardena, an airline pilot, to push ahead with a swim-for-safety program. Next month an initial batch of 100 children will hit the water in a six-lane, 25-metre swimming pool the association build in the town of Moratuwa, near Colombo."

Start swimming at 6 months

In Texas, one Brazonia County community offers $30 swimming lessons. Excerpt: “We nurture the healthy and successful development of kids throughout the year through aquatics and other programs,” program director Paxton Warren said. “Family Fitness’ aquatics programs, like the Red Cross Learn to Swim program, are designed to instill confidence in participants and make learning new skills fun and challenging in a positive way."

Learn to swim, in Fiji

In a few days, it will be easier to learn to swim in Fiji. From the Fiji Times:
"December 4 marks an important day in the development of the sport of swimming in Fiji. Nadi's first professional Learn to Swim School will open its doors. Island Swim Academy run by husband and wife team Cindy & Karalo Bolakoso will offer learn to swim classes for all ages and abilities and be based out of the American International Christian School Pool in Nadi."