Do we have to wear swimming hats? Swimming hats are to be worn because: Health and safety Cleanliness Benefit swimming Protect hair / hold keep ear plugs secure Wearing a hat ensures that all hair is neatly tucked away which enables the teachers and swimmers not to get their fingers tangled in the hair. There is a risk without a hat that hair can become tangled around lane ropes and equipment. Secondly, swimmers often stop to move their hair from out of their face whilst swimming, therefore enabling swimmers to continue swimming without interruption. Pools are regularly cleaned, however, sometimes ...

How quickly should my child progress? As a parent, you always want the best for your children which we understand and appreciate. We work with our children and parents to establish the childr(en’)s best learning style and ensuring they have and easy transition and positive experience with Core Aquatics. In addition, progress is often quicker as we adapt our teaching to the children’s learning style. Progression is another matter entirely…! Every swimmer will equally have their own progression path to follow. Acknowledge their progress: Appreciate where your child has started.  For example, blowing bubbles or getting a child’s face wet can ...

Practice and its role in learning how to swim In this post, I set out to answer some of the questions that tend to crop up time and time again, around how quickly swimmers progress in lessons and what you can do to speed up the process! So, if you want to find out more, keep reading! Why aren’t you swimming after a couple of lessons? Wouldn’t it be great if we could all swim like Olympians after a couple of swimming lessons? Well, perhaps it wouldn’t be so great for swimming teachers – I guess we would all need to ...

Swimming – the only sport that can save a life! Swimming is great fun and one of the best forms of exercise you can do, but it’s also a very important life skill. Drowning Prevention Week The Royal Lifesaving Society UK hold an annual Drowning Prevention Week, their national campaign. In support of the DPW here are some important points for water safety. How many people drown in the UK? Every year, about 400 lives are lost to drowning in the UK – equivalent to one person drowning every 20 hours . Every day, people die and suffer life-changing injuries ...

Learning technique or swimming distance? Technique seems to be forgotten about by swimmers/spectators! There is one noticeable stereotype that the vast majority of swimming lesson spectators share – expecting lengths to be swam back to back with little feedback.  Instead allowing distance to develop with learning safe technique is more effective and efficient. ‘Why isn’t my child swimming lengths up and down the pool?’ Simple, technique is priority over distance! We fully appreciate that a large percentage of parents/guardians just want their child(ren) to be safe and can swim. Not everyone wants to become a competitive or Olympic swimmer (although some expect this overnight!). However, technique is ...

Can you spot a good swimming lesson provider? Swimming lessons are an investment! When you’re paying for a service, you expect good quality! So, it goes without saying that you’d want to find the best swimming lesson provider that you can for yourself or your child! But could you spot a good swimming lesson provider? Read on to learn what you should be looking for and the questions you should be asking! Ask if the lessons follow Swim England’s ‘Learn to Swim’ pathway or equivalent The Swim England ‘Learn to Swim’ pathway is the national syllabus that swimming teachers should ...

Expectations of swimming lessons As a parent/guardian: All parents expect their children to learn to swim and be safe in and around water. It may be surprising that some parents seem to want their children to be Olympic swimmers overnight. Some parents allow children to progress in their own time. The important message is to allow measurable progress each lesson and encourage foundation skills to be mastered. Learning to swim is a gradual process not a ‘quick fix’. Naturally, everyone learns at different paces. Consider what are reasonable expectations – a swimmer putting their face in the water can seem ...

Consistency and progression Consistency is important for progress; fundamentally consistency can have an equally significant impact upon swimmers’ confidence. Swimmer progress Muscle memory Confidence The above three points are all linked together, nevertheless, each point is important on their own. Therefore, each element will be considered and links highlighted. Swimmer progress A swimmer’s progress is multifaceted; some facets are outlined below: parental influence/actions/support swimmer’s ability learning style confidence attendance (consistency) teacher – patience, knowledge, understanding, support, tuition swimmer’s behaviour / attitude Bringing the above list together, by having a positive swimming lesson experience, with the right support, consistency of attendance/teacher ...