Learn to Swim

Anyone three and older of any skill level is welcome!

Our certified staff of instructors administers the Jeff Ellis Swimming program with a philosophy that:

• Students learn best when they participate in exploratory learning activities that are challenging and fun

• Students learn faster when they participate in group activities that promote peer competition

• Successful learning requires mutual trust between student and teacher

What makes an excellent lesson?

• Review of Old Skills

• Introduce New Skills

• Combine Old & New Skills

• Give Homework

• 30-minute lesson timeline

      - 5 minutes: Safety talk / rule review

      - 5 minutes: Warm up / review old skills

      - 5-10 minutes: New skill

      - 5-10 minutes: Combine new and old skill

      - 5 minutes: Homework / wrap-up

Parents play an important role in the overall progress of teaching swimming to their children. We encourage parents to observe and support their children during lessons. As you watch from the side of the pool, you'll learn the skills we teach your children. Parents should facilitate and reinforce student learning after every swimming lesson.

The swim instructor's training objectives are to:

• Set a safe climate for learning both physically and emotionally

• Motivate students to focus on positive achievement

• Demonstrate swimming strokes

• Ensure students practice and learn swimming strokes

• Reinforce student learning of swimming strokes and other skills

Instructors will use a progressive approach:

• Instead of teaching non-swimmers in shallow water where they can touch the bottom, steps, or side walls, we'll encourage them to leave their comfort zone

• We'll facilitate fun activities that build trust to accelerate and enhance student exploratory learning

• We'll honor all verbal commitments made in class settings, being completely truthful about learning expectations and never forcing students to perform skills without their consent

• We'll set student learning expectations for skills swimming strokes well beyond what they thought they could achieve

• We'll design lessons to assure that every student experiences some form of personal success or achievement before departing class

Please let us know which program the student requires:

• Splisher (basic floating, water movement, & water acclimation)

• Splasher (body movement and independent water movement)

• Paddler (basic stroke training, intro to advanced strokes such as breaststroke & sidestroke, & breathing techniques)

• Intermediate / Advanced Series (develop stamina, technique, and speed)