Teaching the freestyle arm movement, one step at a time
Teaching children to swim is a wonderfully rewarding activity/job/career. There is something about watching kids improve in the aquatic environment (to borrow a cliché) that only teachers understand. On paper it’s an easy task, as kids love water. However becoming a first class teacher takes decades, not weeks, and ask anyone who is in this category, learning from the children never really stops.
Ask yourself ……why?
From our experience at uSwim and Aquatic Achievers, the primary attribute all great teachers have is a love of children. Not just when children are cute and well behaved. You need to be truly fascinated and in awe of the honesty, fragility, lovability and outright hilarity of children. Another key attribute fantastic swim instructors have is emotional intelligence.
- You need to be an empathiser
- Wonder what people are feeling,
- Walk in other’s shoes,
- Listen, observe and enjoy other people.
Also, a love of seeing people improve over time and a desire to become a better swimming instructor will ensure your enjoyment of teaching kids to swim.
Decide if you want to be a swim coach, or swim teacher – they are completely different!
Many people think lump swimming teachers and swimming coaches into the same basket, when really there is huge fundamental difference. The difference is that swimming teacher’s job is generally (there are teachers who specialise in adult swimming lessons) educating younger children from the age of 3 months on the foundations of swimming and water safety. A swimming coach is someone who trains kids and adults to become faster at the four competitive swimming strokes -Freestyle, Backstroke, Butterfly, and Breaststroke. Coaches are generally dealing with swimmers after the teachers have got them to a certain swimming ability (or in some cases children and people teach themselves). A major consideration is that teachers are obligated (to a degree) to teach all children, whether they are good, bad, slow, fast, big small, friendly, anxious, aggressive etc…. to enjoy the water.
Some people are great swimming coaches and great teachers, but just because someone is a great coach/teacher, don’t assume they are both.
No background needed whatsoever.
One of the biggest misconceptions out there is that you need a swimming background to be a teacher – NO WAY. Quite often our best teachers at our swim schools are non-swimmers. And vice versa, some of the worst teachers are ex-swimmers who have no idea what they are doing and no affinity with children.
Become certified, get insurance
Most western countries have laws or guidelines about becoming a swimming teacher. Many poorer or developing nations don’t. Find out what is legal and get it done. Insurance is also important as accidents can occur in water at all times. Most of the time you will need swim teacher’s accreditation to get insurance. Either way find out how your system works, it’s worth the time.
Specialize when you start
There are many sub categories you can break swim teaching up into. We strongly recommend that in the beginning you specialize in one area so you can build you confidence with that age/ability. For the sake of this article, I will use the system at Aquatic Achievers, however there are many other ways to do this.
Babies
We usually classify babies aged between 3 months and 3 years. Here you will be instructing parents on how to teach their own children, similar to train the trainer.
Solo
Aged between 2.5 and 4 years, this is commonly viewed as the hardest group to teach, because they are so unpredictable. The solos are going through that stage in their life where they are testing the boundaries, so experience and good strategy is a must. Don’t be surprised when a darling 3 year old turns into a nightmare who throws tantrums.
LTS
These kids can range from 3 years and above. Here we are teaching the basics of swimming safety, and also stroke preparation. These kids generally respond to upbeat and entertaining classes where skills are reinforced by repetition and muscle memory.
Stroke correction
Here we are at the crossroads before squads. This area is where we want to improve the technique of Backstroke and Freestyle, so that children can swim well and enjoy the aquatic environment. Repetition is also key here, however swim teachers also need to become good at motivating kids to continually do an activity that in itself is tiresome and difficult. Great swimming instructors have kids begging to come back next week after a hard swimming session.
Watch other great teachers
Watch brilliant teachers and you learn, simple as that.
Be aware the cycles/complacency
A common tendency for swimming instructors is become cocky after some success. We see it all the time after about 1 year of teaching. Almost everyone goes through it. The kids love you, parents praise how good of a teacher you are and you listen and think you can do no wrong – big mistake. It’s at this point you need to search for the really difficult teaching situations, which are endless. Here are some examples:
- the babies who want stop crying,
- The parent who is terrified in the water with their baby
- the overweight 8 year old that cannot kick properly,
- the 3 year old who screams continuously,
- the 4 year old who won’t put their face in the water,
- the seven year old who disrupts the class by punching others,
- the little girl who hates male teachers,
- the petrified 5 year old who cannot stop shaking,
- the 6 year old who is as stiff as a board – the list goes on and on.
A realization that you can always become better will help you deal with these harder kids/situations.
Neil Douglas who started aquatic Achievers and still teaches today at the age of 64 said he learns something every time he hops in and is always watching children’s behaviour and body movements.
Quite often we get asked from people around the world if the uSwim program can be used to teach adults how to swim.
Firstly, i must say that teaching adults is not our expertise even though Nick and myself have taught adults before (Nick Recently taught a mother from Lebanon with a huge fear, yet was able to overcome it after 3 weeks of lessons). There are specialists out there who only concentrate on this area and their experience should be respected.
Saying that, from what i have seen the fundamentals uSwim addresses should be the same in adults as in children. Adults must be able to take a breath and hold it. They then must learn to Float in the water by letting their muscles relax and become buoyant.
A British couple (Christina Fonfe) who we met at the Drowning conference in Vietnam perform a wonderful service of teaching Sri Lankan women how to swim. They emphasize teaching these quite often scared ladies how to breath and float at the same time. Then with practice the relaxation is obtained.
You can see their amazing work at
http://www.icanswimcanyou.com/
For many adults who cannot swim the fear of water can be overwhelming. Often it has existed for a lifetime and can only be overcome with small step by step improvements combined with continual encouragement. Just like kids though, every able-bodied adult should be able to eventually learn. Thats where uSwim is handy because it breaks these steps down and the studnet can go at their own pace.
We have had perhaps 20 or so adults email us and all have stated they improved their confidence greatly using the program, most of them being anxious or nervous swimmers.
Make sure you start on level 2 at
http://uswim.com/
please give us feedback
Ben Douglas
Some drumming at the village before our bus ride
Singing on the bus
Day 7,
Although there were some clouds, there was definitely more hope of a clear and fine day for the beach. Going to the beach is such a huge treat for these kids as it’s an expensive exercise, Linda said that they get 1 of these types of trips for the major school holidays.
After getting Martine, we arrived the atmosphere on the village was electric. Kids were running, playing, laughing. When you are dealing with large numbers of children there always those that stand out for various reasons. One boy Florence, had struck me as particularly mature and had something that drew you to him. He brought out his Djembe, and someone else brought out a Ravanne, a traditional Mauritian instrument. The music and singing started, all that was needed to entertain 70 kids was a drum. I don’t use the word frenzy very often, but this is what I was in the middle of.
2 busses straight out of the 1960’s pull up, I am invited to sit down the back on the 2nd bus with the loud kids doing music, I felt quite cool, unlike at school.
ice creams at the beach
We were going to Flic en Flac beach, a wealthier tourist town on the south west coast.
The sun was out, and the next 5 hours, was simply amazing. There were sandcastles competitions, I played drums on the beach with my buddy Papito, I started a ball game by throwing little balls into the water, the kids attempt to catch as if they’re lives depended on it. They would catch in the water and bring them back to me, it was a great game.
cute eh !
I was chatting to Linda, when she pointed out a brother and sister who had been abused by their own family. It is so hard to think that these smiling happy kids once went through that. Both were receiving councilling, but Linda was worried about the vicious consequences this has once children grow up.
I had told Linda that I would shout the whole group an ice cream, which was a surprise. They have ice cream vans all over the place. For the cost of a CD I was able to witness 70 grateful and happy kids, waiting patiently and enjoying something so simple.
I got the ice cream man to come back when we were leaving as I had to see it all again.
We loaded on the busses and the sugar levels were up. I was ushered into prime position down the back again, this bus had all the rowdy kids and the singing and dancing started while bus was doing about 80km/hour down the highway. Kids were standing on seats, climbing over each other, dancing in the aisle. Without condoning, it made me think out how much we wrap our kids in cotton wool these days. Same as during the week, when we were swimming in the cold and I asked Linda if they will get sick, she laughed, and said, ‘these kids are tough’.
Flic en Flac, Mauritius
We got back to the village and I was destroyed. I said a few goodbyes, but thought would come back on Sunday or Monday.
if you would like to see a video on the trip click HERE
if you would like to see website click HERE
wrapping up a great day with a few mates
Having a few laughs at the village before our swimming lesson
Day 6
Last day of official lessons, pooring down rain.
Three cheeky grins
At the village we took some photos of the kids, they have not seen an iphone before so I show off what you can so with the photos.
Today we took the best 9 swimmers (or the 9 who I think can improve the fastest) form the 98 kids along with Josset and Linda. On the bus the excitement was up as the children were proud to be chosen in the group. You could tell they were all very keen to impress and try their best once we got to the pool.
I went through all the drills for Freestyle, explaining at each stage to Linda and Josset the important things to look for in each skill, Martine was copying from the English list I gave her the corresponding Creole interpretations.
The improvement was so pleasing and apparent, and the group is extremely efficient compared to the earlier lessons.
The youngest in the group Alexander is magnetic, he hardly speaks, he just observes and smiles when you look at him, just one of those really likable kids you come across when teaching swimming. If there is one I could bring home it would be him I think. His biggest problem is that he tries too hard, most of the time I am telling him to slow down.
Next went through some very basic safety drills. The biggest lesson is to never self-rescue a drowning person as they are likely to pull you down in their desperation. I gave some examples by getting them to try and rescue me and the message definitely got through when I pushed and held them under for a split second. Instead you should use a pole, rope, or kickboard.
One of the most funny parts was Josset was too scared to jump into the deep (the beautiful lady is trying so hard). With sheer terror on her face, she asked me to push her in cause she could not jump, wow, what amazing commitment. I did not push her, but I jumped in holding her hand, and she did panic, which was a little scary but I got her to the side coughing.
Backstroke was next, after all the floating practice the kids were all now able to kick on their back.
A cold day of teaching, but a great pleasure to see such improvement
We finished off with some games, the kids are very competitive but always congratulate each other afterwards. We had been in the water for 1.5 hours, one boy Florence had blue lips and my pinkies were numb so we got out.
I was little concerned that my presents for these 9 were kangaroo and koala mini-toys and I thought the boys would think this was lame, but no, they were all very thankful to get the gifts and had koala and kangaroo fighting matches in the bus.
On the way home one of the real quiet girls nervously asked me to write in her 2009 diary. We all ate Bom Bom’s (lollies) and tim tams, kids all felt very proud of themselves.
I am not sure if it was the cold but I was exhausted after today. Thinking of how the week went, I could not be happier with what happened.
I think the most powerful thing that could happen was for the teachers and the kids to see real improvement using the uswim techniques so they begin to trust me, and this happened. I discussed the possibility with Linda of having a certificate or standard within the village (e.g. the kids swim 200m Freestyle, float for 5 minutes, then 300m backstroke, that if the children complete they are recognised). This would act as a motivator for kids to practice their swimming and you could even give these kids title of “master swimmer’ or something. I will ponder over red wine.
End of class and time to get warm
Tomorrow is our beach excursion funded by project dovetail ($300 for busses). I have enough junk food to make them all sick, and am just preying the sun is out.
to see a video of the trip click HERE
to visit the website click HERE
Gifts and lollies for a job well done
Day 5
A few of the boys on a mauritian winters morning
No one told me that Mauritius is capable of producing cold days before I came. Raining this morning with a chill in the air (same as Australia, it’s the middle of winter). The kids are now looking for me to turn up at the village each morning, and both of us are enjoying the chats.
Off to the pool, and a mixed group with one 17 year old and a few really young ones. It was very cold in the pool, we broke the group up immediately by ability, and Josset took the better group at first. Today we would be finalizing the best 8-10 for tomorrow’s session. The reason is that the best or most natural swimmers are the ones that I can show the full progression of steps so Josset and Linda will see how the program works in the limited time. Once I leave then these children will be the example for the rest.
The lessons are now running efficiently, with Linda translating as I am talking. She has her lifeguards certificate and understands what I am doing.
Josset really getting into the lessons now
After the first group I tell her 3 kids I want for tomorrow, she warns against the oldest one. She explains that she loves them all, however this one is constantly lying, he even stole her purse once, (what a slap in the face I thought). She explains that he sets a bad example and all except the vulnerable ones are smart enough to distance themselves, plus when he turns 18 he will leave on his own accord.
I am not complaining but it was cold, windy and raining. I asked Linda if the 2nd group would want to swim and she said yes, I thought ‘the lessons must go on!”.
Glad we did cause this group was full of really eager kids who were shivering, teeth chattering, but having so much fun we all forgot about the cold. The little girl from the very first day was in this group, and it was good that Josset and Linda saw how much her confidence had grown just by gaining control of her breath, this builds their confidence in me. After she swam each time the whole group would clap
2nd group for the day, ready to head back to the village
We got back to the village and Linda had arranged for me to have lunch with one of the families, in their house. The house mother Danielle, had obviously taken great pride in cooking. The family consisted of 2 real life sisters and two real life brothers, 3 other children, even though in the house all the children call themselves sisters and brothers. There is a policy when orphans arrive they do not split up brothers or sisters. One of the brothers was very quiet, Linda asked me if I was curious why he doesn’t speak, she told me that he is a gentle 17 year old who mentall capacity of an 8 year old, but he loves watches, even broken ones, and needs help shaving each morning.
I have been taking plenty of photos and am very sensitive to using them on the website or in blogs etc. Linda said that there is absolutely no problem, as long as I don’t sell the images for money and don’t use a child’s full name. she said that the village can only benefit from the exposure which I agreed.
Linda is a gentle lady, but you can tell she’s scared of no-one and she’s one of those people you would not want as your enemy. We were chatting about how some of the children have been molested. One of the very young girls I had taught had been through this, her father after being let out of prison showed up at the village, asked to see his girl. Linda said no way, he started shouting abuse and threatening to kill Linda. When I asked if she’s scared she sort of shrugged but didn’t say anything. Apparently there were many more stories like this with parents who’s children were in here for a reason. – my admiration for her grows each day and with each story.
A beautiful lunch with an sos family. Lots of chilli, Mauritian style
On a lighter note, Aussies will be happy to know that Tim Tam’s are quite a popular treat over here, and at $1 per pack, I have bought plenty.
to see a video from the trip click HERE
to visit the website please click HERE
Day 4
Hangin out at the village before lessons
Finally had a decent sleep, alarm at 6:30, I have been waking at 4 or 5 each morning because of the time difference.
Group photo after a great morning of lessons
Today I had my helper – Martine who is a 19 year old native Mauritian and family friend of the Project Dovetail director, Danielle.
Its obvious and nice to know that the children are getting used to me. We got to spend a good hour at the village interacting with kids and the house mothers. These wonderful ladies become the mothers of 7-8 children they do not know. They are all so gentle, and loving its really great just to sit and watch them around the kids. Apparently some of the cheekier kids know how to get them going and this happens all the time. Linda soon regulates if things go too far or become disrespectful.
demonstrating breath control, no bubbles
Martine was commenting on how the children get along, there are 98, and they all just seem to laugh and joke, find things to do. I feel Aussie kids would be bored out of their brains here. We asked Linda (the boss mother) is this just for show for us, and she said no way, the kids really genuinely love each other. Its almost like they subconsciously understand that their fellow orphans have not had an easy life and act accordingly. It makes me think a lot of parenting, childhood, growing up, actually I have not stopped thinking since I arrived.
They find my inability to speak French/Creole amusing, asking questions they know I can’t answer.
So off to the pool, today was very sunny, and a bit warmer. There were 4 kids from yesterday so I wanted ‘Josset” to take them through the exact drills we did yesterday while I handled the new ones. There were some that were very hesitant. One girl in particular was embarrassed about being scared. So all we did was work on her breath control to build confidence. By the end she was smiling and very proud of herself, because she could hold her breath for 10 with her face in the water, with me counting in French and everyone giggling at the pronounciation. The rest of the kids were congratulating her.
Make sure the head is back for 'pat the dog'
The 4 from yesterday improved dramatically, it was so apparent Linda made a comment about the difference in one day, one boy in particular – Ronaldo (cool name eh). When you teach for a while you see some kids just move naturally in water and he is certainly one.
It was pleasing to see Josset really start to understand the progression of skills.
Also Linda is realizing why you need to go one step at a time and identify what skill a child should work on before moving to the next.
to see a video from the trip click HERE
to visit the website click HERE
'Josset' beginning to instruct the children, with her enthusiasm she will make a great teacher
Day 3 – 1st day of lessons,
Firing up mauritian style
So I had to give some thought over the weekend to how we would structure the lessons.
We only get the pool (which is the best pool in Mauritius, where the athletes train) for 2 hours per day. We have it for 4 days this week, Monday through Thursday. Then Friday we have another outing at the beach, Project Dovetail is paying the $300 for busses.
I have one house mother ‘Josset’ who is very keen to learn and become the swim teacher for the village.
We have 98 kids to get through so I figured if we get through all the children in 3 days, that will give me Thursday to show Josset exactly how the lessons should run with a select group.
I asked Linda to give me the best 30 today including Josset, 2 classes of 15 for an hour each. The kids were really excited and hard to calm down sometimes, but overall they are very attentive and polite.
Vorgee donated these great caps and goggles
I used Dad’s old technique of getting the best swimmers to show the others each drill to create the motivation to do well.
We started with lots of breath control, and floating, trying to get the kids to relax and feel the buoyancy of the water. As with most children, they tend to want to thrash around and move fast. Any good swimmer knows that you need to work with it and be graceful with your movements.
Despite it being sunny, its fairly cold (in the middle of winter), but I am the only one feeling it.
The coach at the pool, a man named Ajay came over and was fascinated by what was going on.
Once again the language barrier was not a big issue, almost everything can be said through body language and the tone of your voice.
He was training 2 girls heading to the Indian Ocean games in Seychelles next month. The 2 girls were deaf. Half an hour later he had 2 guys, each with only one leg. All had fantastic strokes from what I could see.
starting with simple breath control and floating
Ajay began talking to Linda and by the end of it wanted to be involved with the teaching the orphans after I left.
During the second class Linda informed me of a mentally handicapped boy who was 10 years old, but the mental age of a 6 year old. He was struggling with most things but was trying hard every time. Each child received a few lollipops (BoBo) after the swim, but I gave a big KitKat to the one who tried the hardest in each group.
The second group’s KitKat went to the handicapped boy, not because I felt sorry for him, but he actually tried the hardest. I was next to him on the bus, after I gave the KitKat to him, he broke it up into 5 pieces and handed all of it out to other kids. The last kid handed the piece back and said something in French.
I had to look away as it was emotionally overwhelming watching this play out. I did not want the kids to see me react to this. Later I was thinking that these kids probably don’t know exactly what each other has gone through, however there seems to be a subconcious awareness that their fellow orphans have not had an easy life, and this leads to selfless and unusual behaviour I never saw growing up in Australia.
Cant wait to start getting ‘Josset’ throwing a few instructions around tomorrow.
Bus trip back to the village
to visit uswim.com click HERE
to see a video from the trip please click HERE
To see a video of the trip click HERE
to visit uswim.com please click HERE
Day 2
The SOS kids ready for a day at the beach, they usually get 2 outings like this per year.
Today I met 40 of the 98 children at Mont Choisy beach, half hour north of Port Louis. I had not met these children (apart from a couple) and they were the older ones, from ages 8 -13. I saw women cutting sugar cane by hand on the way in the cab, on the hilly areas the tractors cannot get to. Beach is probably 1 km long, pristine dead flat water, Aussie style white sand. Sailboats everywhere, water skiers kayaks etc. more like a lake than a beach because of reef about 1km out to see. In the trees behind the beach there are guys selling everything from kebabs, chips, burgers to fresh coconuts for the water to drink, to pineapple drenched in fresh chilli that they grow up the road. I tried, kids found funny, face went red and almost dry reached at how salty it was.
Linda announced to everyone that today when we swim ‘Ben’ would be helping teach. They all looked confused and I thought I had a bunch of ‘too cool’ teenagers on my hands.
Could not have been further from the truth.
At first they were stand-offish then I showed one girl how to torpedo kick. Getting swamped by 40 kids all eager to become better swimmers is something I will never forget. The mothers restored some order. So for the next 3.5 hours with a little break for a kebab and Sandcastles in the middle, I would show the kids how to torpedo kick, do Catch-up freestyle, Backfloat and for some perform Pat the Dog.
getting the head position right for Backfloating
Technically speaking, they had all the tendencies we see in our swim schools, heads up and arms forward for torpedo kicking, while many were tense on their back.
But because the age group is older than we teach in Australia, the improvement was rapid for most. I was amazed at how many could Backfloat.
‘Ben, teach me’ was the phrase of the day (remember they do not speak engish). For these older kids language was almost no barrier. All you need is ‘’ah ah ah” for something done poorly (then a demo), and “bravo, bravo” for something done well.
I was apprehensive before the trip how effective the whole ordeal would be. After today, there is no way this group of kids will not get better cause they are all so keen to learn. I feel that because these older teenagers will remember the steps in the uSwim/Aquatic Achievers program, they can teach and critique each other after I leave. This was already happening with the kids quick to point out when another had the wrong arm position.
2 of the girls loving the beach
Monday is our first proper lesson.
SOS children village, Mauritius, July 2011
to see a video from the trip click HERE
to visit uswim.com click HERE
The kids after the 3rd official lesson
When nick and I first started talking about uSwim 4 years ago, we always wanted the chance to teach children from all cultures, backgrounds etc.
6 months ago, after learning of Project Dovetail which is a non profit which gets money and resources and funnels into good causes, I thought we could potentially set up a swim program for one of the orphanages. The orphanage in question is the SOS village, buau Bassin, Mauritius, 98 children. 10 house mothers, Linda and Rajen as the bosses.
The motives for going are many, including
- Help these kids become safe, happy swimmers for life
- the challenge of teaching non English speakers
- teaching older children than normal (aged 4-16)
- testing the uswim program in a different environment.
Day 1:
These kids are more advanced than aussies, they even warm up.
Alarm did not go off because of time change.
I was driven through some pretty severe Mauritius traffic, on the way to pick up my helper, organised by project dovetail.
After getting little lost, I was relieved to meet Martine, a 19 year old Mauritian helper organised through Dovetail, who had spent 2 years living in Australia. Her English was perfect. People here in the working classes speak a regional kind of broken French, called Creole.
Martine had never been to the SOS village but had heard of it. In fact everyone in Mauritius I have met knows about the village. First we met Linda, a warm lady who immediately oozed selflessness. I was then introduced to the village manager, a gentleman named Rajen, another giver.
Linda suggested we see the village. Very different to your movie orphanage, this was 14 little 2 story blocks, 7 children each, one house mother. The house mother cooks and the children all have jobs and chores. They go to normal school like other kids.
The first house I went into was not spotless, but clean. The children were respectful and quiet and one asked the mother if he could show me his room. A chopped up set of golf clubs led to the topic of Selmets recent victory, and the proudest display of a trophy I had ever seen.
The teenagers look after the young ones, the children do not leave the village until they want to, unlike traditional government orphanages where children leave at 16 completely unprepared.
After saying bonjour, Linda began to talk about how we would attack the lessons.
The local municipal pool (where the athletes train) had given us 2 hours per day for a week.
Today would be needed to suss out the pool, depths, communication, behavior issues, so I suggested we start with the hardest group, the young ones who were anxious in deep water.
Another boy grabbed my hand and would not let go until on the bus, where I received a cuddle and lots of questions in French.
We all loaded into the 15 seater.We get to the pool and its perfect. Little shallow area to get wet and practice our first skill of breath control
An Olympic 50 metre with perfect 1.2 depth, leading down to 1.8
Amazing new stretching moves
After I got changed I came out to see all the kids stretching and doing squat type movements, and they were serious.
Starting with our first skill - Breath Control
I handed out our goggles donated by Vorgee (thanks Johnny and the team), and began showing how to take a breath, hold it, then blow out afterwards. Most of them do what other nervous/excited kids do and inhale or try to blow bubbles, causing ingestion. That’s why nervous kids must learn to hold their breath and not blow bubbles. They all got the hang of it, I wish I had video.
I then asked for the most nervous 3 kids.We sat them on the 50m pool’s edge, none were gonna get in but using the same techniques as we use at aquatic achievers, they all slowly began floating on my shoulders.It was great to have Martine for instructions, photo ops and a bit of discipline, when the kids were too anxious or excited to listen.
Of the 12, only 2 did not end up floating for 6 seconds on my shoulders horizontally, and only 1 did not lie down on her back (asupported backfloat). The one who didn’t was more worried about me, the scary white guy. A tan should sort this out.One girl in particular was petrified and after 15 minutes was floating and obviously extremely proud of herself. She got 20 Australian cents after the session for being the bravest.
A very brave girl, showing Breath Control and then a Front Float.
1 hour 20 minutes later were all out, after changing I told one of the boys to pick a yellow flower and give it to Linda, well that started an avalanch of flower giving until the tree was almost bare.
We got back to the village and said goodbye after hearing that one of the boys I had just taught had a glass eye (from an accident with a pole), one was mentally the age of a 2 year old (5 years) and another’s mother who was a prostitute had her throat cut and murdered not long ago.
Tomorrow we are heading to the beach. This is the children’s one activity for their 3-week school holiday.
Next Monday we have 4 lessons in a row, there will need to be lots of preparation to make sure this goes smoothly.
I am told children are given up quite regularly here as poverty is common and mums often decide to give children over to those more capable – relatives or orphanages.
Like all kids, this girl is very proud after attempting something she was nervous about.
ben douglas
Games such as diving are great safety practice
This week i had a great conversion with a parent regarding their child. The topic was how to increase their 7 year old’s core or abdominal strength so they could swim faster.
The parent asked if doing more lesson per week was going to help, and they even suggested exercises at home such as sit-ups or push-ups. Having had this discussion before, i knew the parent would be surprised with my answer.
You see the biggest workout i have seen a child get is when they are playing in water with their friends. The excitement, the energy, the activity is very different from the environment of a swimming lesson. swimming lessons are concentrated learning combined with conscious effort. Playing is unconscious effort which is far easier to maintain and overall more enjoyable. Lessons are crucial for technique and working on specific skills, so its important that children experience and combine both. Playing is such a wonderful form of exercise because the movements and actions are spontanious and natural, using the tiny muscles to dive, turn, float – whatever it is when playing in water. This is fantastic for buoyancy and definitely helps perform specific strokes. Quite often at Aquatic Achievers experienced teachers will see a child swim for the first time and ‘know’ that they have a pool at home. Its obvious by the way they move and how their body interacts with the water.
Playing is also the best way for children to develop a natural awareness or ‘feel’ for safety (you can see videos of safety games by clicking here). By this i mean kids are very good at testing boundaries (such as how long they can hold a breath, how far underwater they can swim, how many times they can ask for a chocolate before mum gets angry) and do this without even thinking about it when playing. No teacher can ever warn young swimmers about every possible danger they may encounter, so the more unique environments and situations kids have experienced, the greater their chance of recognising and avoiding danger.
The best young swimmers enjoy 'Freetime' or 'Playtime' for a natural affinity with water combined with structured lessons to improve technique
So, recapping, playtime at swimming is far from a waste of time. Save the 5-day-a-week training for when kids are teens or older, when they want to to train. For now one or two concentrated lesson per week combined with fun, unorganised play will provide the best foundation for them to be better, safer swimmers.
Dont forget you can use our uSwim App for safety reminders by clicking this link - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/uswim-teach-kids-to-swim/id411167209?mt=8
ben douglas
