Learning to Swim is More than Learning to Float: The Importance of a Comprehensive Learn to Swim Curriculum for Young Swimmers
Ensuring children’s safety around water is a top priority for parents, especially during summer. Many enroll their kids in infant self-rescue programs, hoping they’ll learn to save themselves. While these programs can seem effective in the short-term, they might not provide the foundation needed for long-term swimming success. Let’s explore why comprehensive, ongoing swim lessons, like those at Pikes Peak Athletics, are crucial for skill retention, overall progression, and safety.
The Myth of Retained Skills
A common misconception is that skills learned in infant self-rescue programs are retained indefinitely. These programs teach valuable survival techniques like floating and rolling onto their backs but often lack the depth needed for proper stroke development. Without ongoing practice, these skills quickly diminish, creating a false sense of security.
At Pikes Peak Athletics, we observe noticeable skill regression after breaks. For children under 4, this can happen in just a few weeks. Swimming requires fighting natural survival instincts like panicking and flailing. To avoid regression, swimming must be a long-term commitment, whether through continuous lessons or regular practice at the local pool once skill competency has been reached.
Developmental Considerations
Children under 4 are still developing physically and cognitively. While they might show impressive skills in self-rescue programs initially, their abilities will plateau without continuous practice. Consistent lessons help children build a foundation for strokes and water safety skills, ensuring ongoing progression as they grow.
Regular lessons in a comprehensive learn-to-swim program help children to first develop comfort and reduce anxiety, which can be a barrier to learning when theyโre older. Early reduction of this barrier allows children to focus on skill development when they progress to more advanced classes, like when swimmers turn 4 and get to move on to Little Pikes 1!
Progressive Curriculum
Pikes Peak Athleticsโ program focuses on a comprehensive approach to water safety and skill development, covering the following 6 key competencies through water safety skills bolstered by stroke development:
- Entering and Exiting the Water Safely: Techniques for using stairs, ladders, and different types of pool edges.
- Safe Submersion: Breath control, submerging, swimming along the pool bottom, and surfacing.
- Personal Buoyancy: Floating on front and back, regaining footing, and using breathing techniques.
- Orientation: Head and hip positioning, transitioning between floating and treading.
- Propulsion: Effective kicks, modified strokes for survival, and conserving energy.
- Safety for Self and Others: Recognizing unsafe situations, water emergencies, and safely helping others.
Building Confidence and Independence
Swimming is not only a valuable life skill but also a source of confidence and independence for children. Ongoing lessons offer a structured environment where children can develop their skills at their own pace, building confidence with each new milestone achieved. This confidence extends beyond the pool, empowering children to tackle new challenges with resilience and determination.
Trauma Prevention
Infant survival programs often use methods that can be seen as abrupt or forceful from a child’s perspective. These programs may involve sudden submersion or repetitive practice of survival skills without the gradual buildup of comfort and trust in the water. Since the primary focus of survival programs is on physical skills rather than emotional well-being, young children may not receive necessary emotional support and reassurance during lessons. Some survival swimming techniques may inadvertently use negative reinforcement, where the infant learns to avoid discomfort rather than positively engaging with the water. This can all lead to a heightened stress response, causing young swimmers to develop water-related trauma and long-term aversion to swimming.
The key components of a strong learn to swim program, like Pikes Peak Athletics, includes:
- Gradual water introduction
- An emphasis on building trust and comfort
- Consistent support and positive encouragement
- Adaptive instruction techniques to meet the needs of individual swimmers
- Play-based learning
All designed to not just avoid trauma among little ones, but to work through previously experienced trauma toward developing a lifelong love of swimming.
Swimming is a complex life skill that requires regular practice and guidance โ it’s not a one and done activity. Ongoing lessons ensure children retain their skills, stay safe, and continue developing as they mature. While infant self-rescue programs can provide initial security, a comprehensive learn-to-swim curriculum is essential for long-term success, confidence, and a love of swimming.
Jaecie Montgomery | Program Operations Manager