Class Management , Backfloats, Wall Crawls, Rollovers and Safety Skills

Welcome to Day 3. It’s going to be a busy day. You’ve already participated in all of the songs and the hippo exercise. You're singing them in your sleep at night. You’ve got this! Today you will be teaching the 1st half of each class AND you will be learning new skills in the 2nd half of the class.

Your focus for today will be

Class management for 1st half

Your trainer is there for you. Talk to them ahead of time if you want help in specific areas. It’s ok to ask them the why’s for a skill.

• LS 1 & 2 teach through Skill #6 on the lesson plan.
• LSA teach throughSkill #5 on the lesson plan.
•  So many class management things to think about
• Gathering the class in a specific location before starting directions, 
• Using the non-listening parent’s baby for the example
• Class flow and pace, speak clearly
• Interact with corrections and why’s

2nd half Thoughts as you work through wall crawls, backfloats, rollovers and return to the wall

Now you get to drop out of the spotlight and focus on some of the more difficult skills to teach. Yesterday was about the foundation skills, breath control, balance and buoyancy, that lead to comfort underwater. Today is about skills that build on that foundation. 

Remember, you have 25 plus years and thousands of hours of teaching experience helping you. Years ago at HFSS and most swim schools you would hear crying almost every half hour. Forcing backfloating was often the cause. You will learn tips and tricks for teaching backfloats that help our students learn this skill calmly and effectively.

• Wall work and wall crawls
  • When a student can hang on the wall and the parent can remove their hands it is often the first time our young students are completely independent from their parents in a pool. 
  • Holding onto the wall is a great position for entry into a backfloat. 
  • Wall crawls help a student navigate their environment to find a step safely when they are not able to crawl out. 
• Backfloats
  • Learning to backfloat is a process. A progression. Simple building blocks. Learning to backfloat often takes more patience and time than all of the building blocks that come before backfloating. 
  • We will demonstrate several holds today and we'll assist the parents as they work through them. You might notice as the parent becomes more confident, the baby becomes quieter - the parent support will become less and less needed.
  • Notice today - backfloats may be blended with activities such as swim to the wall, wall crawls and singing a song.
  • Every student and every parent is different. We do NOT keep distressed babies on their backs.
     
• Rollovers
  • Rollovers are a life saving skill - babies are learning to rollover onto their back to get air.
  • Progression for rollovers can be started early on above water. We model the skill to initiate good muscle memory by having the student sit on the wall and bring them forward into the pool keeping their face out of the water and rolling them over onto their back. 
  • If a student or parent is uncomfortable, rollovers may be practiced with student’s face out of the water.
  • Once comfort underwater is established, the back to belly with their face in the water rollover is executed. The student should advance into a horizontal swimming position.
  • Rollovers can also be an effective way to solidify a backfloat. 
  • No barrel rolls!