When swim instructors start teaching formal swimming strokes in their learn to swim classes, we often forget how monotonous the repetition involved with mastering a new stroke becomes.  This monotony leads leads to boredom, and boredom leads to uninspired students.   Uninspired students leads to students “going through the motions.”  If your students are “going through the motions,” the chances of them making technical improvements, or even fundamental improvements in their stroke are drastically reduced.  You can give the best, corrective feedback available, but if your students aren’t inspired to make a change, they simply won’t.

How do you change this?  First, understand the way a typical child  approaches his/her activities.  Unlike adults, very few children are naturally inspired to be the most technically-sound kid on the block.  What do we know about children?  They want to race, play around, go underwater, and simply have fun–especially when they are in the swimming pool!  So as swimming instructors, we have to be one step ahead.  Here is a simple little game I use with my stroke classes that the kids really love, it’s called the “Olympic Games.”  Here’s are some basic instructions:

Step #1:  Give an Overview, i.e., “Now we are going to play a game called the Olympic Games.”

Step #2:  Determine the skill you will award them on based on their performance:  “If you show me super nice, big strokes on your freestyle, will will pretend you won the gold medal.  If they are good, we will pretend you will won the silver medal, and if they are pretty good, we will pretend you won the bronze.   If they are bad, we will pretend you won nothing at all (I am usually silly when I say this and rarely give nothing at all).

Step #3:  Start your student, and upon completion, give your student some feedback or a brief evaluation.

Step #4:  Tell him/her what medal he/she won.

Step #5:  Celebrate it in a fun way, whether it’s doing a body bump, a high five, or pumping their fists-make it fun and let them come up with some fun ways to celebrate on their own.

Swim Lessons Games really can lead to improvement.  I hope you and your students enjoy this game while making some stroke technique strides in the process!

The International Swimming Hall of Fame has named Jim Reiser the recipient of the 2015 Virginia Hunt Newman Award for his curriculum and approach in teaching infants, toddlers, and children to swim.  Jim was the first American to win the award in 10 years.

If you would like to learn more about the Swim Lessons University certification program and curriculum, make sure to visit us at www.SwimLessonsUniversity.com 

We have training and certification programs designed for both private instructors as well as organizations like YMCAs, Recreation Departments, Athletic Clubs, and more.

Swim Lessons University is currently being utilized by recreation departments, YMCAs, America Camp Association swim lessons programs, as well as by private swimming instructors in 45 states and over 30 countries!

You can also call us toll free at 1-866-498-SWIM (7946).

I really enjoy traveling via Amtrak.  Traveling in their View Liner suite is great, and I prefer it any day over flying or a long drive.  But Amtrak is really “missing the boat” on their customer service and their “policies” on their Amtrak Guest Rewards system.  Suddenly they are reminding me of the airlines.  My blood pressure is probably off the charts right now they have me so angry.   So here is the experience I had today, and followed by my professional advice on how to take care of your loyal customers.

NEVER BUY AMTRAK POINTS! The Amtrak Rewards system  doesn’t add up or make any sense. They had an Amtrak Points Rep tell me to buy $270 worth of points to and my next trip would be free.  It ended up being a free trip via Coach which is worth about $100.00. Their terrible policies don’t even let their managers refund my $270 for the points I purchased three days ago!  Their excuse:  Because points are through a 3rd party service, points.com!   Well someone has by $270 and I would bet Amtrak has most of it!  Talk about bad customer service. My blood pressure is off the charts right now!  By the way, I called points.com.   They told me they didn’t have authority but Amtrak did.  They put my call back to Amtrak.  Do you see the pattern?  I feel like I have been robbed.

If you’re going to have a “guest rewards” system, shouldn’t the goal be to make your guests feel special?  Well I feel “especially ripped off.”

If you’re in business, whatever you do, do what you can to make your guest feel special.  Let them know that you care.   Throw out policies that will make them never want to use your business again and tell their 800 plus friends about their bad experience on facebook (which is what I just did).   I guess big companies, especially those that have a monopoly on their market can afford it.  I know my swim school can’t.   And I know one thing for sure… I NEVER want to make a customer as mad as Amtrak made me today, especially without ever coming up with a solution to make things right.  Every business is going to fail their customer at one point or another for one reason or another.  But what makes you great is how you react and respond to the problem.   I was going to tell all my Swim Lessons University and Swim Lessons Company friends and followers about how Amtrak fixed my problem.  Instead I am telling anybody and anyone who wants to listen that it feels like Amtrak just robbed me of $270.00.

After presenting this water safety lesson to nearly 10,000 children last year, and over 50,000 children in the past 6 years, I can now share it with you!   You can find the “Water Smart 101 DVD on the Swim Lessons University website today!

Whether you are a swimming instructor or a school teacher—Water Smart 101 is a program you can easily adapt and teach in the schools (not in pools) in an effort to save lives by educating our youth before they are let out for the summer.

Water Smart 101 was inspired by South Carolina State Representative Wendell Gilliard, who reached out to me last year to create the program. Representative Gilliard proposed a bill in South Carolina that requires one hour of Water Safety Instruction in the classroom in every elementary school in the state.

This DVD is part of an entire curriculum which consists of this DVD, lesson plans, a homework assignment, and exam. The homework features a Water Safety Promise that both the child and parent(s) study together, discuss together, and sign together. The content of the Water Safety Promise is then reviewed in the next day’s lesson, which is followed by a written exam.

By the time children enter kindergarten, they are old enough to understand both the pleasures and risks involved with the water. To be truly successful, I think it is critical that we not only teach the children how they can keep themselves safer, but also involve their parents.  Parents are obviously a vital link in the overall plan, as they can further reinforce the importance of this water safety education and you can include them by having them participate in the homework assignment and sign the Water Safety Promise.

You will never be able to drownproof a child, but you can teach them to be 100% Water Smart!” If all of our children are 100% water smart–here’s no telling how many lives will be spared.

My goal is to help you make teaching water safety in the classroom both effective and as easy as 1-2-3.  As we get into the content of Water Smart 101 DVD course, I’m breaking it down and sharing with you what you can do to make your lesson engaging, fun, and effective.  The presentation on the video was a LIVE presentation that I did at a local elementary school in South Carolina, while incorporating tips to help you re-produce the same presentation.

There is also a bonus section that allows school teachers to simply put the DVD in and PLAY IT for their classroom.   In that part of the DVD, I spoke to the camera and did the presentation so the teachers don’t have to do it.  They can simply put it in the DVD player and press “play!”     I assume swim school owners and swim instructors will likely learn how to do the presentation and do it presentation themselves, which we teach in the video too!.

The International Swimming Hall of Fame has named Jim Reiser the recipient of the 2015 Virginia Hunt Newman Award for his curriculum and approach in teaching infants, toddlers, and children to swim.  Jim was the first American to win the award in 10 years.

If you would like to learn more about the Swim Lessons University certification program and curriculum, make sure to visit us at www.SwimLessonsUniversity.com 

We have training and certification programs designed for both private instructors as well as organizations like YMCAs, Recreation Departments, Athletic Clubs, and more.

Swim Lessons University is currently being utilized by recreation departments, YMCAs, America Camp Association swim lessons programs, as well as by private swimming instructors in 45 states and over 30 countries!

You can also call us toll free at 1-866-498-SWIM (7946).