Level Introduction & Hand Holds

Welcome to Day 4. Since you have almost perfected teaching the first half of the Little Snapper classes it’s time to own the 2nd half of the class.

On Day 3 we asked you to focus on these areas. 

• Gathering the class in a specific location before starting directions, 
• Class flow and pace
• Interact with corrections and why’s

Today you will cover the topics below as well as leading all songs and the second half of the class.

• Safety Skills
  • Safety skills are an important part of every lesson as they teach the baby what to do if they fall in the water. The two safety skills we teach are "Jump in, return to the wall, climb out" and "Jump in, rollover, float".
• Ring Diving
  • Learning to independently get rings off the bottom is one of the last skills mastered by our young students. It requires mastery of all the skills to learn how to get “bottoms up and swim down”.
• Positive and constructive feedback

Safety is our #1 priority.

Once we get our students comfortable underwater we often encourage the parents to allow them to play independently on the ledges or steps while the parents step back and watch carefully. Quite often the students step off the ledge or jump in from the side. We teach the parents to respond by either pushing them back underwater to safety on the step or helping them rollover and float, not to pick them up and rescue them! There has to be a consequence for entering a pool uninvited.

Why is that so important? You could be teaching the CEO of Walmart or the Heart Surgeon from Mayo but they are not aquatic experts. You are. You are telling them how to handle their student in the water. We once had the Commander of Phoenix Fire poolside at 32nd St during his baby daughter’s first class with submersions. He started crying. His position meant that he went to almost every single child drowning call. He was shaking as his wife submerged his daughter. We’ve had parents whose siblings drowned or one of their own children had drowned. You have no idea who you are teaching lifesaving skills to and how much encouragement and support they need. Learn to be the most positive and supportive human being possible when teaching these classes. Some of our parents honestly believe that early swimming will guarantee an Olympian. Don’t make any promises on that dream!

Be confident in speaking with the parents/caregivers. They are enrolled in swim lessons to learn how to teach their child to be safe in the water. You are the expert!