Swimming Ideas Podcast 014: Teaching Adults to Swim

[smart_track_player url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/swimmingideas/SIP_014.mp3″ title=”Swimming Ideas Podcast 014: Teaching Adults to Swim” artist=”JSWIM” ]

Be patient

 

Ask where they are comfortable, drop down the checklist:

  • Go underwater?
    • Face, eyes, blow bubbles
  • Front Glide?
    • With Face in
  • Back Glide?
    • Relaxed ears in water
    • Hips near surface
    • Legs kicking
  • Front Crawl
  • Back Crawl

 

Remember be patient Start slow, be gentle and give clear incremental directions.

 

Example:

  • Doing a front glide
    • Common issues:
      • Fear of falling
      • Fear of not being able to breathe
      • Fear of not being able to stand up
    • Work on how to get underwater and glide AND how to recover
      • How to recover is just as important
        • Teach how to rotate and push water with hands to get feet under you
      • Do exercises where they learn how to push the water to move their body.
        • May seem trivial but necessary to learn
    • After teaching how to be comfortable getting feet underneath them move onto next incremental step.
      • How to get body line and position
      • How to kick
      • Right placement of face: look straight down.

 

Important to remember: Start at the beginning, teach things you may think are trivial. Be explicit, take it slow, and attempt to identify fear or pain points. Use repetition and a gentle support to prod them through to next step. Break down each skill until you find their hesitation and do a repetitive action to address that fear directly.

 


Better swimming.
Download FREE tools.

Download a free preview of our Premium Lesson Plans & unique SwimSheets.

Stay on our newsletter to enjoy more benefits like further free downloads, guides, and tools to make your swimming program better, easier, and more FUN!


Join the Swimming Ideas Newsletter

Join 2,178 other subscribers

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.