Teaching Method

Every minute of your class I’m focused on one thing – getting you or your child to become the best swimmer possible. If you or your child requires a slower pace of instruction; more time to work on relaxing your float, perfecting your kick, improving your stroke; or, getting more comfortable in deep water, you consistently receive the time and personalized attention.

Before beginning, I like to take a little time getting acquainted. For children, that means walking over to look at my whale bones or looking at some underwater photography and arousing their sense of curiosity; giving them a chance to share; build trust; and, find out a little bit more about each other.

For adults, I want to hear your concerns about the water, discuss your goals, and explain my unique approach. We always begin out of the water.

Beginners:

  • We begin with a brief demonstration and discussion of  buoyancy.
  • We will time holding our breath out of the water.
  • You will learn how to clear your nose of water out of the water (Trade secret).
  • Sitting in a warm Jacuzzi, you will observe me holding my breath with my face in the water (10 seconds) and clearing my nose as I come up out of the water. (Trade secret)
  • You will practice the technique.

When you are comfortable with these steps, we will begin preparations for an assisted front float in the Jacuzzi.

John was very patient and took time teaching me the basics in a way I could mimic and understand.”    Wendy – June 09’

Most adults are floating within the first 15 minutes at which time we begin learning the front kick. Ninety nine percent of my adult students transition into the pool near the end of the first class and are comfortably kicking across the pool.

Assisted Front Float:

  • We will observe both a ball floating and a ball held down below the water rising back to the surface. We will discuss the explanations for what we have seen. I will then demonstrate a front float to you.
  • In the Jacuzzi, you will first observe and then learn a simple technique for standing up from a front float position. Confidence in this technique will give you a feeling of control and allow you to relax more while learning assisted front float.
  • You will observe me doing an assisted float (floating while resting my hands on the blue tile) for 10 seconds and clearing my nose as I rotate from a front float to a standing position.
  • You will practice assisted front float.
  • When you are comfortable, usually within a minute, we will work through a second type of assisted front float before transitioning into an unassisted front float.
  • After you have mastered front float, we begin learning front kick.
  • After practicing and demonstrating the correct technique for front kick, we will transition into the shallow end of the pool where you will practice moving your float with front kick.

To get an understanding of what you or your child may expect to achieve in a package of 4 lessons, please reference either the 2nd or 3rd response in the F.A.Q. section.

At this point, we will proceed to learning and perfecting other skills listed in the skill level section.

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