Today’s blog is a response to a post against the use of Life jackets and Flotation devices.  Here are my thoughts: First off, Life Jackets save lives. An absolute MUST for non-swimmers in residential pools and lakes, especially if they are not within arm’s reach of an adult.  I think most would agree that a [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

One of my Swim Lessons University talks in 2010-2011 was titled, “Tricks to Making Learning Fun.”  In this presentation, I shared with my attendees 14 Swim Lesson Tips and Success Strategies that I have found to be fun and practical to adapt in your learn to swim classes. Tip #4 was one I learned from [...]

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 [...]

“Close your mouth!” Many parents (and even swim teachers) remind their children when taking swimming lessons.  I assume they are afraid that their child will choke on the water, or worse . . ..  But truth be told, while you may not want your child swallowing the pool water to reduce the risk of a [...]

I was dumbfounded this morning as I watched two former competitive swimmers, now swim instructors, do freestyle demonstrations with their eyes closed!  These were great age group swimmers. In fact, one of them was even a state champion! Ironically, later this afternoon I received a call from the assistant superintendent of the school district, where [...]

Today’s blog features a letter from Swimming Instructor Pietjie Dauth of Namibia, a country in Southern Africa, who has reached out to us for guidance concerning a student she is teaching who has Asperger Syndrome.  Asperger syndrome is  considered a high functioning form of Autism,  an au   In today’s blog, I have shared the [...]

Did your student plateau?  While incorporating sound swimming progressions can help push progress along, many times teachers and parents unnecessarily get frustrated when learning “appears” to slow down, and this is often referred to a swimming plateau. What swim lesson instructors and parents must understand is that the child is STILL LEARNING even when it “appears” [...]