New Year, New Goals: How to Improve Your Swimming and Swim Instruction in 2024

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are ready to dive into 2024 with enthusiasm and determination. As a swim instructor and a swimmer myself, I always look forward to the new year as an opportunity to set new goals and challenge myself to improve my skills and knowledge.

One of my main goals for 2024 is to continue working hard to improve swimming and swim instruction for myself and for others. I believe that swimming is a lifelong skill that can benefit anyone, regardless of age, ability, or background. Swimming is not only a great way to stay fit and healthy, but also a fun and rewarding activity that can boost confidence, creativity, and happiness.

That’s why I’m passionate about providing the best possible tools and resources for Aquatic Professionals, who play a vital role in teaching and inspiring others to swim. Whether you work at a park district, a YMCA, a private program, or as an individual, I want to make your life easier and more enjoyable by offering simple and effective solutions for your swim program.

Here are some of the exciting updates and improvements that I’ll be working on in 2024 to help you achieve your swimming and swim instruction goals:

• New Teaching Swimming Workbook and Online Course: I’m proud to announce that I’ll be releasing a new edition of the Teaching Swimming Workbook, a physical print book that guides you through the fundamentals of teaching swimming, from level structure and lesson plans to teaching techniques and games. The workbook is designed to be used in conjunction with the Teaching Swimming Online Course, which provides videos, images, and text to supplement the book and enhance your learning experience. The new edition will feature updated content, illustrations, and exercises to reflect the latest research and best practices in swimming instruction.
• New Tracking Tools: I know how important it is to keep track of your swimmers’ progress and achievements, as well as your own. That’s why I’ll be creating and updating new tracking tools, such as excel templates and Access templates, that will help you organize and manage your data efficiently and effectively. These tools will allow you to record and analyze your swimmers’ performance, attendance, feedback, and more, as well as your own goals, plans, and outcomes.
• Improvements to SwimLessons.Pro: SwimLessons.Pro is a web-based platform that allows you to create, edit, and share your own custom lesson plans, games, and challenges for swimming lessons, and to track swimmer progress through our level structure or your own. In 2024, I’ll be making improvements to SwimLessons.Pro, such as adding new features, fixing bugs, and enhancing the user interface and experience. You can get access to swimlessons.pro when you’re an All-Access Teams subscriber.

These are just some of the projects that I’ll be working on in 2024 to help you improve your swimming and swim instruction.

Self-evaluation and improvement are essential for any Aquatic Professional who wants to grow and excel in their field. Just as we observe and assess our swimmers’ progress and provide them with feedback and guidance, we need to do the same for ourselves. We need to reflect on our strengths and weaknesses, our successes and failures, our goals and challenges, and our opportunities and threats. We need to identify the areas where we can improve and the actions we can take to achieve our desired outcomes. We need to seek and accept constructive criticism from others and learn from our mistakes. We need to be open-minded and flexible, willing to try new things and adapt to changing situations. We need to be proactive and positive, taking initiative and responsibility for our own learning and development.

By doing so, we not only improve ourselves, but also our programs, staff, and co-workers. We create a culture of excellence and innovation, where everyone strives to deliver the best possible service and experience for our swimmers and customers. We foster a collaborative and supportive environment, where everyone shares their knowledge and skills, and helps each other overcome difficulties and achieve goals. We inspire and motivate each other, celebrating our achievements and encouraging our aspirations. We make swimming and swim instruction more than just a job, but a passion and a purpose.

I hope you’ll join me in this journey and share your feedback, suggestions, and questions with me along the way. Together, we can make swimming lessons better, easier, and more fun for everyone!