Dear Swim Profesor: I hope you can help w/more advice. I”m still a beginner swimmer. My teacher told me I need to work on my kicking, and I’d like to get some fins. Saw some lightweight flippers at Todd & Moore, and then just regular swim fins (I guess). I think I need “short fins” [...]

How can your swim instructors take your lessons program to another level?  This email exchange demonstrates how Swim Lessons University training can help your Learn to Swim program experience the same success, not only in the pool, but on making an impression on your customers–the parents.   Your Swim Teachers are the lifeblood of your program.   [...]

Hello Swim Professor!   I am a new instructor. I have a friend up North in CT who has an almost 3 year old who is TERRIFIED of the pool. She clings to mom’s neck. She has had a couple of scary incidents with inhaling water (falling into a kiddie pool and not being able [...]

Dear Swim Professor, I am teaching a class in my hometown with kids 15 months to 2 years.  I am having some difficulty with the back float.  Lots of squirming and crying.  I did the resting head on shoulder and singing songs.  Do you have any other suggestions, if you do please let me know.  [...]

When teaching young learners, or maybe I should say teaching a student who has never butterfly kicked before, I have found most of the competitive butterfly kick drills only make “learning the kick” more difficult.  In fact, in some cases, they even promote bad habits!  For example, while the kickboard is a fabulous tool for [...]

At Swim Lessons University, we have added a brand new course:  Lifesaving Strokes 402.  Swim Instructors will learn some of the most effective teaching techniques on how to teach the Sidestroke, Elementary Backstroke, and Treading water. Not only are these important skills for a child to learn if he/she ever wants to become a certified [...]

When teaching swim lessons to adults, especially those who are beginner swimmers or learning a new skill, there are two aspects that REALLY JUMP OUT that make them different from teaching children to swim. First, adults tend to have, we’ll call it, “low swimming-self-esteem.”  They are embarrassed and they are far from confident that they [...]

One great new theme that my young swim lesson students  have really enjoyed is an “Invisible Buddy Day.”  While adults may find it a little bizarre, young children love hanging out with “invisible buddies!”  I can’t tell you how much fun this can make a strokes class for a four or five year old.  In [...]

If you’re anything like me, you’re always looking for ways to be more creative and make your swim lessons more fun, without taking too much away from practice time.  Nothing is more satisfying for a swim instructor, or for a swim lessons parent as far as that goes, than to see the children truly enjoying [...]

One of the most common misunderstandings about learn to swim classes is that each child has to be at the “exact” skill level.   While there are certainly benefits to dividing children up based on their skill level in swimming lessons and I definitely recommend it, you will always have a range of swimming abilities and [...]