Teaching the Basic Swimming Strokes

In order to teach swimming the instructor first needs to establish a trust relationship with the child. With this bond being established the next important step is to get the child comfortable with water in their face. It is impossible to learn to swim if you are not comfortable with water in your face and self-submersion of the face.

Before teaching a stroke we need to concentrate on a few basic elements of swimming. We have to decide which stroke we are going to teach first and why.

At the swimming school we teach backstroke as a first stroke. If a child is capable of floating on his back you only need to add an effective kick and the student is capable of getting from one side of the pool to the other. Should he fall in, he should be capable of turning to a back-floating position and kick to the opposite side of a home pool.

During this stage of teaching many other elements of swimming are thought. Streamlining face down and face-up. Kicking, both freestyle and backstroke, with a kickboard. After these basic skills are accomplished the arm motion is add in both backstroke and freestyle.

At this stage we only concentrate on backstroke and freestyle. Most kids find freestyle breathing to the side difficult, not to mention bilateral breathing. Generally few kids master proper bilateral breathing before the age of six or seven.

Breaststroke is introduced after they have mastered basic backstroke and is efficient in freestyle kicking with the aid of a kickboard. Breaststroke takes time to master, as it is a technical stroke requiring significant rhythm and timing. Likewise butterfly in addition requires strength and stamina.

The swimming school’s normal program is based on two half-hour swimming lessons per week, running from beginning August to the end of May. For those who are interested we offer a program with three half-hour lessons per week year-round. This program aims at preparing the swimmer for competitive swimming.

The rate at which the child progresses, depends on the age at which they start, their natural ability and personality. Clearly an adventures child will progress quicker than his pear that is by nature cautious.