Really swimming now


Level 2.



In the past few days, William has made a great leap in his swimming skills. Where once he was scared to get his face under water... where once he was afraid to jump off the side of the pool and into the water, much less jump off the diving board... now not only does he jump off the diving board or off the side of the pool on his on initiative, he also swims freestyle to his teacher. In the photo above, the teacher stood far back from the edge of the water, William jumped in, and swam to the teacher. He also swam from the teacher back to the steps at the corner of the pool.

The teacher -- I think his name is Kenny -- remarked to William, "I think you might be ready for Level 2 next time." Today was the last day of this session of swimming classes. The kids are all taking the introductory, Level 1 class. From what I've seen, Level 2 is individual instruction (or at least far fewer students), with focus on developing actual swimming skills (instead of just acclimating to being in the pool and under water).

Later, as another lifeguard/instructor came out to distribute plastic leis (i.e. Hawaiian) to the kids to mark the end of this session of classes, Kenny told him "Hey, check this out!" and had William jump in the pool and swim toward him. The other lifeguard then asked, "Can he swim on his back." Nope. But still, William impressed everyone.

There are still a few things he needs to master, I think, before level 2. I guess he needs to swim on his back. I think he needs to learn how to take breaths while swimming. Right now, he swims with his head entirely under the surface. Maybe one or two other things. I'd like to see him master the breaststroke.

I think it's clear that not only is he the best swimmer in his class from daycare, but I think he's even better than his friend C., who has been taking swimming classes elsewhere for quite a while. Her best stroke is a semi-frantic dog paddle, while William already has a rudimentary and remarkably strong (for a 5-year-old) freestyle stroke.

William's huge advantage over his friends is that he swims up to twice a day: Once during swimming classes for half an hour (M-Th), and during the evenings at home for up to an hour on many days. Apart from constantly pressuring him to get into the water, and to get his head under water (at home and at class), I've also been repeating his lessons at home as well as teaching him a few things on my own. At swimming class, they take a traditional approach which, among other things, eschews goggles. At home, starting last year, I let him use goggles or a mask and snorkel. I had observed that most kids who were afraid of swimming were afraid of getting their heads under water -- either their hair wet, or water in their ears, or water in their eyes. Since William already gets his hair and ears wet and closes his eyes during baths, I figured that goggles or a mask would get rid of his fear of getting his eyes wet. So, since last year, he's been more willing to go under, even if coaxed, and nowadays, he's not scared of getting water in his eyes, either.

Today, at home, I tried introducing him to the breast stroke and other ways of getting his head above water while swimming, but he needs more practice. Then, we tried some snorkel practice. Previously, the mask and snorkel were used just so he could see better under water while swimming. Today, I showed him how he can use the snorkel and mask and just float at the top of the water, kicking or paddling only when he wants to move around a bit. After a couple of tries, he mastered it, floating peacefully at the surface of the water, head down and breathing through the snorkel, and just moving around when he wanted to see something else. Plus, he was floating without needing me to hold him.

Posted: Thu - July 12, 2007 at 10:04 PM          


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